The Pokemon craze originally hit stateside on September 30th, 1998, with the simultaneous Pokemon Red & Blue Versions releases. It was an instant success worldwide, and the term 'Pokemon' can be heard uttered from the mouths of children and young adults alike, around the world. I had my first experience with Pokemon at the age of 5 during Christmas '98 with Red and Blue versions on a brand new Game Boy Color, my first system of any kind. At that age, my reading skills were good enough so that I understood a large part of the game, but it wasn't until Christmas 2000 that I really got into the Pokemon craze.

On that Christmas 2000, I received Pokemon Gold and Silver. Being 7, I got everything, and boy, was I hooked. For some reason, my attention was drawn to the golden color of Gold rather than Silver first. It was the game I put in first, and the game that I finished first, and the game that I logged the most time in. I may not have even beaten Red in Silver, I will never know. Sometime in mid 2004/5, I lost nearly all of my games, and it wasn't until Monday of last week that I got a copy of Gold again. It was like being back with an old friend.

The Gold/Silver world is interesting in that you are given 100 new Pokemon to catch, new moves, new gyms, and of course, a new storyline. What was also neat was the fact that after you beat the Elite Four, the game still continues for 8 more Gyms! That's right! 16 Gyms, 1 Elite Four, and then Red, the hardest Challenger in the game. While the current speed-run time is 4 hours, 15 minutes from start to end, I know that it took me upwards of 50 hours to finally get to Red and beat him.

Now, to the Nitty Gritty of it all; the review:

The Learning Curve:
Well, it is difficult to say that ther is a learning curve at all. Pokemon games follow a very structured path of 'Get the Badges, Beat the Elite Four, and Catch 'em All!', but how you do that can be affected by many variables. Some battles in this game can be considerably hard, while others, mediocre at best. A 5 out of 5 is merited because anyone can really pick up this game and play. 5/5

Gameplay and Story:
This game has a very lush storyline, which does redeem it from the fact that it is Pokemon: battles tend to get repetitive, especially random encounters. If you have a goal set, and it takes forever to reach it because of pesky Pidgeies, then you do have the urge to just shut the game off. This is a big aspect of all Pokemon games, but it can be remedied with a Repel or Super Repel. 4.5/5

Replay Value:
It is difficult to say why, but Pokemon games are such in that when you restart them (at least for me), you have just as much fun playing them as you did the first time. The story doesn't change, but how you go about achieving your goals can vary greatly, changing the game up, giving a new experience. 5/5

Music:
I love the music in this game. It has old, familiar tunes that have been revamped and made better to fit to the Game Boy Color's improved audio capabilities. I just can't get the 'Team Rocket' theme out of my head!!! 5/5

In conclusion, if you are a Pokemon fan, or are new to the franchise, or even want to try a Pokemon game, Gold Version is a great place to start. It earns a:


It misses perfect by the fact that repetitive random encounters can tend to be annoying. Happy Gaming!

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