Pokémon 2 (InstanceTopic, 18)

From Compile Worlds

Pokémon 2 is the second generation of mainstream Pokémon games, encompassing Gold, Silver and Crystal. This is probably the best damn game in the entire Pokémon series, period. They are also the longest. Yeah, that's right, Diamond and Pearl don't hold a candle to these masterpieces... well, only a dim one at any rate. This version has the best of everything (aside from the Emerald UI).

Remake

Too bad Nintendo doesn't actually want to acknowledge one of their greatest successes of all time. Nearly six years of avoiding it's remake, and now thanks to their newest DS model, the DSi, they'll be paying for it. Thanks to the removed GBA slot, people can no longer trade Pokémon from their GBA games via Pal Park. This makes certain Pokémon unavailable now to players of the Generation IV games. Gee thanks shit heads. They always make this mistake, causing them to make more games to replenish the lost supply.

DAI NYUUSU!

Nintendo actually are going to make a remake! Surely this couldn't be happening, after 5 years of Sevii Islands, right? Well bring out your WSOD caps, because it's true! The remakes, known as Heart Gold and Soul Silver, are being made using Platinum's engine, and will be able to trade with D/P/Pt in much the same way as R/S/E can trade with FR/LG. The best estimate of a European release we have right now is January 2011.

That looks weird...

Yeah, you're right. Heart Gold does indeed have the same acronym as Hard Gay!

Characters

The Crystal version introduced the ability to pick the gender of your trainer, meaning there are now two awesome trainers to pick from, Gold and Krys (Soul in the remake). Your rival is Silver, whom despite stealing Pokémon himself, hates Team Rocket with a passion. Team Rocket is now trying to reform their broke assess after Giovanni ditched them and took all their $9000, and thus, they resort into committing even more crimes. Red the awesome trainer from the last games (and their remakes Fire Red and Leaf Green), now resides on Mt. Silver... waiting for you, so he can kick your ass with his Pikachu.

Available Pokémon

In addition to the original 151, 100 new Pokémon were added, including Espeon, Umbreon and Misdreavus, probably the three most awesome new Pokémon. All of them sans Mewtwo, Mew, and Celebi are obtainable via normal gameplay means and trading. Hackers have discovered that Celebi could've been available in the Crystal version, but was removed for unknown reasons. Using a Gameshark, you can give yourself an item that will allow you to encounter the Celebi via normal gameplay and unused events. In the Remakes, Mewtwo and the Cerulean Cave were revived for capture at the player's leisure, though the Mewtwo in HG/SS has the worst move set of all Mewtwo ever.

Setting

There are two settings in this version. The first is the Johto region, an entirely new region with its own set of Gym leaders and badges. These include the awesome Jasmine, the sexy Clair and some ugly old hooligan named Pryce. They apparently have their own Indigo Plateau. The Elite Four between Kanto and Jhoto seems to be the same though. For some reason, the awesome Agatha got kicked out for lord knows what reason, and she and Lorelei were replaced by some masked idiot named Will and a sexy girl named Karen, who owns a Murkrow and an Umbreon to prove how awesome she is. Lance moved to the champion's space, and Koga took his place.

However, after defeating the Elite, you can go back to the Kanto region of the first games, and conquer the gyms their. Their leaders are identical, expect for Koga and Giovanni, who were replaced by Janine and Green/Blue respectively. Green was that awesome asshole of a rival you had in R/G/B/Y/FR/LG, while Janine is just Koga's daughter or something.

After beating them though, you still aren't done. The final challenge awaits you at Mt. Silver, some place between Kanto and Johto or something. There, the Pokémon Master awaits you with the most awesome Pokémon team ever... ~~until Pearl showed up in Pokémon Platinum with a better, but more boring and stupid team.~~ As of HG/SS, Red reclaims and defends his rightful title as the Pokémon Master, though at the cost of his Espeon (for a pathetic Lapras).

Other stuff first seen in this game

This is the first Pokémon game with a day and night system. This made the evolutions of Espeon and Umbreon possible. Also, it allowed certain trainers only to fight you at certain times, such as Silver after his final lose, or the Police officers at night.

This was also the first game to feature Hold items and a berry system, which in turn, also depended on the time system. For the first time, Pokémon could hold items and utilize them in battle. Berries were among these items, and they could be grown in fertile soil and picked for your team. Isn't that just awesome?! ISN'T IT?!?

Musical Genius

The men who brought you the first games music, Junichi Masueda and Go Ichinose, have done it again. This time, with over 80 songs both old and new, it is arguably the best Pokémon soundtrack ever, but it is most likely the most awesome Game Boy soundtrack ever. Unfortunately, Nintendo has managed to avoid this wonderful work too, probably banning any remixes of these kickass songs in Brawl, sans the battle theme medley recycled from Melee.

In the remakes, the soundtrack of HGSS far exceeded that of Diamond and Pearl, and possibly R/S/E, but failed to surpass FR/LG as an all around well remastered soundtrack. Many of the arrangements from the original were hit and miss, whilst several new songs for new events and encounters were implemented. Lugia and Ho-oh now have their own battle themes; with Ho-oh's far surpassing Lugia's.

This just in; Black and White's soundtrack has made some of HGSS's glory tracks...well...not so glorious.

The Jynx controversy

Main article: The Jynx controversy

Yes, old versions of G/S, Jynx had black skin. However, this seemed to spark a lawsuit in someones mind, and quickly Jynx was called a "racist stereotype" and "politically incorrect Pokémon", and Nintendo was probably sued shortly thereafter. This caused Jynx to suffer an unfortunate leopard fail afterwards. This attack raises some eyebrows though, such as why this crazy bitch didn't attack other characters like her, such as Mr. Popo from DBZ.

Changes from the originals to the Remake

The following elements were changed from the originals to the remake:

The cast, notably Silver and the Kanto Gym Leaders, were all given revamped or updated designs to match the Generation IV theme. The Rocket Executives were given unique designs as well.
The male player character informally known as Gold(ヒロキ, Hiroki in the Japanese versions) was renamed officially as Ethan (ヒビキ Hibiki)
Krys, the original female version of Ethan was replaced by Lyra.
The chosen player will now appear in minor events throughout the story, much like Lucas and Dawn did in Diamond and Pearl.
A minor redistribution of Pokémon levels throughout the game was made to balance the gameplay and slow down the story slightly.
- Some Pokémon teams, notably those of the later foes, were altered slightly. An example is Blue/Green having Machoke instead of Alakazam.
Many characters, such as Lance, the Kimono Girls, and Clair, had their roles expanded to make them reoccurring characters, much like in the vain of Cynthia.
Many more events, including some from Crystal, were borrowed to lengthen the story to a more Diamond and Pearl like scale.
- Additional events revolving around Giovanni and Silver, as well as a new event battle with Giovanni were also included.
- Some events were moved around slightly. This also allowed the player to possibly fight the Gym Leaders Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce, as well as the Rocket executives in Mahogany Town out of sequential order, much like how Platinum allowed players to face Fantina on their first visit to Hearthrome.
The Rocket Executives were given names, although the grunts continue to uphold the tradition of being nameless.
All of the original soundtrack was upgraded(?) to Diamond and Pearl quality.
Ho-oh, Lugia, have their own battle themes. In addition, Entei, Raikou and Suicune were all given personalized remixes of their original battle theme in Crystal, and several other battle themes from Generation IV exist in the ROM, much like how FR/LG contained R/S/E's battle music.
New event music for the Kimono Girl's summoning ritual and a theme for Ethan and Lyra were added.
The 16 Gym Leaders, Elite four, Champion, Silver and Red all have animated sprites, much like Platinum.
- These Trainers, as well as the four Rocket Executives and the Player Characters, were given VS. face graphics as well.
Select few battles were changed into double battles.
A new Pokéathlon minigame was added, where players could earn points with their Pokemon to spend on prizes.
- Ethan and Lyra have a seperate outfit for this minigame.
- Additionally, a Safari Zone west of Cianwood was added to replace the one in Fuchsia City.
All of the Maps were upgraded to use 3D as Platinum did before. New details, such as the swaying pillar in Sprout Tower, were now able to be realized by the use of the 3D.
- Additionally, select locations now display a picture upon their entrance, like FR/LG.
Like Platinum, the Gym Leaders can all be rematched by activating new events with them and calling them via Pokégear.
The Pokégear's interface was updated to use the touchscreen, like Diamond and Pearl's Pokétech, but no new features were added.
Items, such as the key item, and the Running Shoes, now have buttons on the touch screen for easy use.
- The Running Shoes were added as a key item, as in FR/LG
The Johto Pokédex was expanded to include some of the new evolutions and pre-evolutions introduced in the previous games that could be obtained before the National Pokédex could be obtained.