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In the Game Boy video games Pokémon Gold and Silver, players must become Pokémon Trainers by exploring Johto, collecting the eight regional gym badges, and capturing Pokémon. At the beginning, players have a choice of starting Pokémon: Chikorita, Totodile, or Cyndaquil.
The New Region of Johto
The games were the first to introduce a country separate from the one in the original Pokémon titles (Kanto). This new region, named Johto, offers about a hundred new pokémon for players to capture and discover with a new version of the Pokédex; plus, there's also the addition of the Pokégear, Berries, special pokéballs, and breeding Pokémon to produce Pokémon Eggs from which baby Pokémon hatch. The game also introduces "shiny" Pokémon, i.e. Pokémon with a different coloring than normal, and also very rare to appear (it has been estimated to be a 1/8192 chance). Pokémon can now hold items, and the Pokérus (Pokémon virus) was introduced. The virus is almost as rare as "shiny" pokemon, and raises the amount of stats that the player's Pokémon gain each time the infected Pokémon levels up.
However, the games' path is not an easy one. To begin with, there's a character who steals a Pokémon from Professor Elm (the person who gives players their starter Pokémon) and becomes the player's rival throughout the course of the game. His excessively rough personality shows players what their attitude should not be like.
Additionally, Team Rocket—disbanded at the end of the previous games (Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow)—has reorganized and is active again, and it is part of the player's mission to stop them.
A different Kanto
Pokemon_Gold_Title_Screen.png
Pokémon Gold title screen
After beating the Elite Four at the Pokémon League, players can travel through Kanto, the region from the previous games, and see how things have changed over the past three years:
- The player can meet and battle many of the characters from the previous games, including the rival of the original games, Blue (Green in the Japanese versions). After completing the quests in Kanto, the player can access a new area in Johto and battle Red, the protagonist of the original games. Another quite notable difference is that Koga, gym leader of Fuschia City (now Elite Four member), has been replaced by his daughter, Janine.
- Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are no longer here, apparently due to being replaced by Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. The Unknown Dungeon and Mewtwo are also gone.
- Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town is replaced by a Radio Tower, similar to the one in Goldenrod City.
- The Power Plant has also been altered, and it is now in use. This is due to the Magnet Train in Saffron City where the Copycat used to live. She has moved to another home in the same city.
- The Safari Zone no longer exists. Some have speculated that the Safari Zone was not included in the Gold and Silver games because of the presence of the Glitch City trick, and once it was removed, it had to be put somewhere else, so it was moved to what is now the Johto bug-catching contest. Missingno and 'M are gone, too.
Manga
A manga series named Pokémon Gold & Silver, made by Saito Muneo, is based on the video games.
See also: Pokémon (video games)