Pokemon Gold & Silver turned 25 years old this week, just as our collective bones turned to dust. I could write about how I think it is the best duo of Pokemon games (I do, and it is), but this will be a fairly unshakable opinion for most people. I don’t necessarily write on TheGamer just to convince people to my point of view, but saying any given game is the best Pokemon game is akin to naming your favourite pizza topping. The easy rebuttal is ‘I disagree’, and you’d be right.
So I don’t want to do that today. Even though I really do, and it really is. Instead, I want to talk about how Pokemon Gold & Silver is the most ‘Pokemon’ of any Pokemon game. It doesn’t have the most Pokemon, which would be Pokemon Go, or Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, or Pokemon X, or Pokemon Legends: Arceus depending on how technical you want to be about it. But it does feel the most Pokemon in terms of the sense of adventure and broad horizons it offers.
Pokemon Used To Try Harder
Pokemon Gold Silver Mom Farewell
They say your favourite Pokemon game is the one you played first. I mildly buck that trend (Pokemon Gold was second or third for me, depending on whether we count Blue and Yellow as different entities), but the point largely still stands. Pokemon has a strangely compelling aura to it, one that keeps you coming back, despite the turn-based shortcomings it has. For that reason, playing when you’re young, when vibes count for more and strategy is something you learn piece by piece, is the most magical time to play Pokemon.
But it’s not just that I am a jaded old soul. Pokemon games have become more aware of their younger audience, and have coddled them too much. The demographic of Pokemon fans is not too different now than it was 20 years ago. In fact, it likely trends older as fans who grew up with the series have stayed with it. But despite this, each Pokemon game has made itself easier and easier, with friendlier rivals, more hints, longer tutorials, and a complete lack of challenge.
Pokemon Sword & Shield is completely without a difficulty spike, and its caves are short and lifeless. Compare that to facing Whitney in Gold, or getting lost in caves across the first few Generations. Pokemon games have made themselves increasingly kid-friendly, and as a result have lost that wondrous feeling they offered players of my age when we were kids. A feeling that is best encapsulated by Pokemon Gold & Silver.
Pokemon Is Afraid To Challenge Its Players
You don’t really go on a Pokemon adventure now. You travel through a basic route without much intrigue, and play out the same story in a slightly different shade of beige. Because it has all happened before, it doesn’t seem like it needs your input at all. Any variety has long since lost its spice and it feels like you’re just going through the motions even as minor tweaks, like the villainous team being over-exuberant football hooligans, try to liven things up.
It feels like Pokemon couldn’t recreate the feeling of Gold & Silver if it tried. The proof? It did try. Scarlet & Violet billed itself as an open world Pokemon adventure, but rather than something channelling the free spirit of Breath of the Wild, it still featured a linear path to travel, with acres of nothingness between the towns instead of short roads. The lack of level scaling, ambition, or any environmental storytelling whatsoever made Scarlet & Violet simply feel like a bigger, emptier version of the same old Pokemon.
Gold & Silver may borrow some beats from Red & Blue with Team Rocket and the eight gyms, but each city in Johto has a unique personality (Goldenrod still a standout), and the story is fresh. At every turn, there is something new. There are hidden secrets, there are challenges. The world has its own personality, not just some foreign names or loose cultural tropes draped over the same bland set dressing. Gold & Silver was a sequel to Red & Blue, not just a new version of it. Modern Pokemon games would struggle to argue that, even as Sun & Moon added trials, Sword & Shield the Wild Area, and Scarlet & Violet the open world. Pokemon doesn’t seem to trust itself and its players the way it did with Gold & Silver.
There’s still so much I haven’t mentioned. The Ecruteak Tower. Acorns. Sudowoodo. Silver as the GOAT rival. The radio contest. The Bug-catching contest. Fighting Red! Being able to play through Kanto all over again! Gold & Silver believed in the power of Pokemon, not just its merchandising potential. I hope Pokemon returns to those glory days soon, but if it doesn’t, we’ll always have Johto. Happy birthday.
