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Pokémon Crystal Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター クリスタルバージョン Pocket Monsters: Crystal Version) is the third and final Generation II core series game for Game Boy Color. It was released as a solitary version to Pokémon Gold and Silver, which were released one year before. It was released in Japan on December 14, 2000, in North America on July 29, 2001, and in Europe on November 2, 2001.

It featured various fixes and some new additions, most notably the introduction of the option to play as a girl. It takes place in the region of Johto like Gold and Silver, with access to Kanto granted later in the game, with the player's starting town being New Bark Town.

The Japanese version had far more new features, all related to a mobile phone-related linking technology usable through the Pokémon Mobile System GB when connecting a Mobile Game Boy Adapter to a Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance (original or SP).

The game was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on January 26, 2018.

Plot

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

The player is called to Professor Elm's lab to run an errand. He provides the player with one of three Pokémon: Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile to help them get to Mr. Pokémon's house. The player meets Kanto's own Professor Oak during the errand for Elm. Oak, convinced that the player has started their own Pokémon journey, gives them a Pokédex. On the way back, the player is attacked by a spiteful and mysterious Pokémon Trainer. Upon the player's return to New Bark Town, they are informed that someone has broken into Professor Elm's lab and has stolen a Pokémon, the same Pokémon that the Trainer from earlier battled with (the Pokémon that the player's starter is weak against); even more so, that very same Trainer fits the description of the Pokémon thief. This Trainer will become the player's rival for the course of the game, having several conflicts with the player as to what it means to be the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer.

Team Rocket has returned with a new attitude, since the disappearance of their leader Giovanni, and once again tries to take over the world, starting with the Johto region. They begin with petty things (such as cutting off the tails of Slowpoke to sell as food for a high price) before becoming more devious, such as a plan to use radio frequencies to artificially induce evolution in some Pokémon at the Lake of Rage near Mahogany town. When the player defeats or captures the Red Gyarados rampaging in the lake, Lance will arrive and congratulate the player for their battling and requests that the player help him find the source of the radio signals. When the player returns to Mahogany town and enters the Souvenir Shop, they will find Lance and his Dragonite threatening the man in the shop. A secret door will open to the Rocket base, which was revealed by a Rocket Grunt to be an old ninja hideout. After the player defeats the Rocket Executive found in the hideout, Lance asks the player to help him knock out the Electrode powering the machine producing the radio waves.

After completing this task, Lance thanks the player and gives them the HM Whirlpool. After the player defeats Pryce - the leader of Mahogany Gym - Professor Elm will call the player and tell them about unusual broadcasts from the Radio Tower in Goldenrod City. When the player reaches Goldenrod City, it is revealed that Team Rocket has taken over the Radio Tower, their intent being to try to contact their missing leader, Giovanni, and persuade him to return to Team Rocket. Also, the Director of the Goldenrod station has been kidnapped and replaced by an impostor. After the player defeats the impostor, he will tell them the location of the real Director. When the player frees the real Director, he will give the player the Card Key, which opens the door on 3F of the Radio Tower and leads to the Rocket Executive currently in charge of the group. The player defeats the executive and Team Rocket officially disbands for a second time. The Director rewards the player with a Clear Bell.

Throughout the adventure, the player will also come across Suicune, a Legendary Pokémon that traverses Johto after the player awakens the three Legendary beasts from their sleep at the Burned Tower. Unlike Raikou and Entei, Suicune takes notice of the player; similarly, Eusine shows interest in Suicune, having sought it for ten years and finally catching a glimpse of it thanks to the player. As Eusine challenges the player to a battle near Cianwood City, it becomes clear that Eusine wants to earn Suicune's respect so that he can find out what it is that it looks after. However, it is when the player is entrusted with the Clear Bell that the Wise Trio allow them to enter the Tin Tower, where Suicune has arrived to put them to the test. Later in the story, after the player has proven their ability to touch the souls of Pokémon by catching all three of the Legendary beasts, Ho-Oh returns to the Tin Tower after 150 years of testing humans from afar.

As in all previous games, the main goal of the player is to defeat all the Gym Leaders of Johto, win all eight Badges, and take on the Elite Four and the current Pokémon League Champion. Afterward, the player will be able to travel to the region of Kanto and take on the Kanto Gym Leaders for their Badges. After winning all eight Badges, Professor Oak will give the player permission to go to Mt. Silver and face the protagonist from Generation I, Red.

Spoilers end here.

Blurb

The latest in the Gold & Silver series!

Travel back to the world of Johto as the Gold & Silver series continues with brand new features! Whether you're reading the fresh descriptions in your Pokédex, using the unique sort function to organize your Pokémon in new ways, watching the all-new battle animations, or discovering another way to capture Suicune, you'll need all of your Poké-skills to master Pokémon Crystal on your Game Boy Color!

Unlock the mysteries of the Unown! All-new puzzles and rewards await you in the Ruins of Alph!

Fight through the Battle Tower, a challenging tournament featuring Johto's best trainers!

For the first time, play as a male or female trainer!

Trade with Gold, Silver, Red, Blue, and Yellow versions to catch 'em all!

Compatible with Pokémon Stadium 2 for the Nintendo 64!

Changes from Pokémon Gold and Silver

Aesthetic changes

Pokémon sprites are now animated.

Pokémon sprites have been updated: Front sprites for every Pokémon now play a short animation upon entering battle and a longer one when the Pokémon's profile is viewed. This feature wasn't carried forward again until Pokémon Emerald. While most of the Pokémon retain their sprites from either Gold or Silver, certain Pokémon, such as Houndoom and Croconaw, were given new ones. This includes some Pokémon who had identical sprites in both Gold and Silver, like Sneasel and Suicune. The W Unown was redesigned, and its new design is used in all subsequent games. A few Pokémon, such as Spinarak, Magnemite and Sneasel, were recolored to more closely match their official artwork. Several of the Pokémon that were redrawn have different back sprites.

Certain Trainers have different dialogue to Gold and Silver.

Raikou, Entei, and Suicune have their own unique battle theme when the player encounters them in the wild, making Crystal the first game to sport special Legendary Pokémon battle music.

The user interface used during Game Link Cable trades was redesigned. Gold and Silver used a simple black on white trading interface that was identical to the one used in the Generation I games, mainly to retain compatibility with older Game Boy systems. In Crystal, the menus were revamped with full color on a black background, a design which better suits the capabilities of the Game Boy Color.

Location changes

Gameplay changes

Ho-Oh and Lugia can only be caught after completing the game and reaching Kanto. They are both at level 60. Ho-Oh can be caught after Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are all caught and Eusine is spoken to in Celadon City. Lugia can be caught after obtaining the Silver Wing in Pewter City, like in Pokémon Gold.

Changes have been made to the Ruins of Alph. This includes more common Unown, as well as a new subplot—completing enough puzzles allows the player to read a secret message left behind by the Unown. It suggests that the Unown were left behind by the ancient civilization that constructed the Ruins of Alph, and that the statues that line the interior were made by those people.

Trainers who call the player on the cell phone now have distinct personalities (one talks about shopping, another about grooming etc.), and call for reasons other than battling, such as giving the player items, or informing them of a rare Pokémon appearing (Wade gives the player Berries, Alan gives them a Fire Stone, etc.). In Gold and Silver they all say the same phrase, with only the names of the Pokémon they reference changing.

A new radio show, Buena's Password, has been added. Players can listen out for a password on their Pokégear radio and tell Buena the password to receive points, which can be spent to redeem prizes.

The function to reset the clock in non-Japanese and non-Korean versions of Gold and Silver remains, although it is now more difficult to access. On the title screen, the player must first hold the ↓ , SELECT , and B buttons. While holding SELECT , they must release ↓ and B . Still holding SELECT , they must now hold ← and ↑ . Finally, the player must release SELECT .

Kurt can now make multiple Balls from same colored Apricorns simultaneously.

The Odd Egg can be obtained from the Day-Care Man after speaking to him for the first time.

Some Pokémon have changed level-up movesets; however, all but one of them have only one change.

Some bugs with the battle mechanics were fixed; however, the game performs a check when it detects a Link battle to use the older and buggy mechanics in order to maintain compatibility with Pokémon Gold and Silver. This occurs even between linked players of Pokémon Crystal games. Likewise, the game also performs a check that partially converts Kris into Ethan at the Cable Club and Time Capsule rooms, even if all the players using the Cable Club rooms are specifically playing Pokémon Crystal.

A Pokémon's friendship can be increased more effectively by training in the same location where the Pokémon has been caught or hatched.

Storyline changes

These Pokémon must be traded from the other games of Generation I and II, as they cannot be found in Pokémon Crystal.

Note that "G" indicates a Pokémon that can be caught in the Japanese Green, and thus in the Western Blue as well.

Localization changes

The localized releases of Crystal, while improving on the mechanics of Pokémon Gold and Silver, did not reprise a number of newer features that the Japanese version had received:

Connectivity

This section is incomplete.

Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

Differences in the Virtual Console release

As with Pokémon Gold and Silver, the Crystal Virtual Console releases include a few changes:

Legacy

While Gold and Silver introduced the majority of Generation II's contributions to the game mechanics, Crystal also featured several additions to the franchise that continue into the future. First, Crystal introduced the option to play as a female character. The game also featured the first Move Tutor of the series, as well as the first Battle Tower. This was the first game to include animated sprites for Pokémon, though this only applied to front sprites (back sprites remained still as they did in previous games). This feature was absent in later games until it was reintroduced in Pokémon Emerald, after which it became standard. Back sprites did not become fully animated until Pokémon Platinum, which also added animations for important Trainers such as Gym Leaders. In Pokémon Black and White, sprites remain animated throughout the battle; before these games, Pokémon Crystal was the only game that had more than two frames per animation.

Even though Pokémon Gold and Silver were the first games to use Legendary Pokémon (specifically Ho-Oh and Lugia) as game mascots, it was Crystal that incorporated them into the plot for the first time. The story additions involving the Legendary beasts (most prominently Suicune), Ho-Oh and Unown were unprecedented, since up until then no Pokémon had been referenced in the dialogue on more than one occasion. This was also evident in the fact that the Legendary beasts received a unique battle theme, and in that the plot climax was no longer limited to thwarting Team Rocket, instead culminating in the battle against Suicune at Tin Tower. Later generations focus on their game mascots as part of the plot involving the villainous team of the respective region (with the only exception being the remade versions; Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen follow Pokémon Red and Green's footsteps, and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver are similar to Crystal in keeping the two stories separated).

The Japanese version of Crystal notably introduced the ability to link to a wireless connection and interact with other characters (via cell phone). The Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter also enabled this ability in Generation III (albeit to a far lesser extent, due to the Wireless Adapter's limited range), and the Wi-Fi capabilities of the Nintendo DS completely optimized the concept in Generation IV games. The GS Ball event was the first time where an event Pokémon (in this case Celebi) could be caught in-game as opposed to being directly downloaded to the cartridge; this went on to be the case for several such Pokémon in subsequent generations.

Reception

Pokémon Crystal received good reviews, although they were not quite as positive as those of Pokémon Gold and Silver. Like Pokémon Yellow before it, and subsequently Pokémon Emerald, it was criticized for being too similar to its sister games, with IGN commenting "there's not much in this edition that makes it a 'must buy' for folks who already own a copy or two of the previous editions."[4] IGN still gave the game an "Amazing" rating of 9.0/10.[4] It holds an average score of 79.86% on GameRankings,[5] about 10% lower than Pokémon Gold and Silver.[6]

Sales

Japanese sales

Pokémon Crystal sold 549,135 units on its first week on the Japanese market. By December 31, 2006, the end of its 316th week, it had sold 1,550,698 copies.

Battery life

Cartridges of the Generation II games typically lose the ability to save in a shorter time frame than copies of other Pokémon games due to the battery maintaining both the saved game and real-time clock data, causing it to drain quicker. A symptom of a battery running dry is the game's inability to keep track of the time correctly and the error message TIME NOT SET may also appear on the title screen.

The cartridge memory is powered by a CR2025 or a CR2032 battery. Since it powers the memory containing the save file, the battery running out or interrupting the power by removing the battery will cause any current save file to be erased and internal clock to be reset. External power sources and third party devices have been used to maintain or backup and restore the save file to and from an external memory or a personal computer.

Staff

Main article: Staff of Pokémon Crystal

Music

Most of the game's music comes from Pokémon Gold and Silver, which have not had any sort of official soundtrack release of the games' original tracks. The closest approximation to such a release is Disc 3 of Pokémon HeartGold & Pokémon SoulSilver: Super Music Collection, which is based on the GB Sounds item and the Pokémon Past Archive radio program of HeartGold and SoulSilver that is meant to emulate the style of chiptunes. However, not all of the old-style music is available on the CD. Additionally, Discs 1 and 2 of the aforementioned soundtrack contain remixes of the music originating from Pokémon Gold and Silver (and Crystal). Moreover, several tracks that are exclusive to Japanese Crystal have not received official releases.

Version history

Japan

Only one version was released.

International

Version Changelog 1.0 Initial release (English version only) 1.1 Adds a new memory address for the page number value in the Pokédex, fixing a potential glitch. [7]

Unintentional encoding change. This corrupts the graphics in the unused Mobile Stadium screen [7] (also applies to the non-English European localizations).

(also applies to the non-English European localizations). Fixes a glitch in v1.0 in which Battle Tower Trainers use text belonging to the list of female Trainers only.[8]

Development cycle

Main article: Pokémon Crystal beta

Gallery

This section is incomplete.

Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

Reason: Super Game Boy title screens, Virtual Console icons.

Title screens

English Pokémon Crystal title screen

Japanese Pokémon Crystal title screen

Flyers

Front of Japanese flyer

Back of Japanese flyer

Trivia

kashō (仮称) means "tentative title") An early logo for Japanese Crystal (the word(仮称) means "tentative title")

English equivalent logo

The unused title screen of Pokémon Crystal

In other languages

See also

References







