Pokémon Gold & Silver were part of the second generation of Pokémon games, and for some players, this is the best generation to ever exist. This mostly due to the fact that you can visit two regions, Johto and Kanto, which is something that other generations of Pokémon games haven’t done again.
The Johto region had many unique things, like its roaming legendary dogs, the ever-interesting Johto radio, and the Pokégear, which could be used by NPC trainers to make random useless calls to players. Fans have taken inspirations from these and many other things about Johto to make comics about this region, and we’re sharing the best of them with you!
10 Pushover
HM moves are one of the most hated mechanics found on the Pokémon games, as these moves are often weak and can’t be forgotten by Pokémon by normal means. They’re basically used to limit the player’s movement across regions, so hating them it’s pretty much normal.
They’d have been more fun if you could experiment with them, as they’re really useful moves to use on the overworld. Maybe this player is onto something, as he’d rather use Strength on a guy rather than keep progressing through the game story.
Source.
9 Seriously?
The Johto games had a unique contest that let players look for Bug-type Pokémon to battle and catch. This contest was held on certain days of the week at Johto’s National Park, and it rewarded players with evolution stones.
On the original games, the score was based on the stats of the chosen Pokémon to be judged, which lend to things like players catching a rare Pokémon like Pinsir or Scyther, only to be beaten by a trainer that just caught a mere Caterpie or Weedle.
8 I’ll Be Back, Eventually…
Ahh the Pokémon Daycare, that useful place that lets players leave a Pokémon at the hands of very experienced trainers. Many players have left a Poke there that they wanted to raise, but that didn’t have a spot in their teams or that was too weak to stay in the party.
The funny thing is, that many often forgot that they had left a Pokémon there, and players were charged based on how much time had passed since they left their Pokémon. This led to Daycare workers asking players for insane amounts of money in exchange for their Pokes.
7 How?
The Legendary Beasts were one of the most entertaining -and frustrating- parts of the Johto games. These dog-like beasts could appear at random places in Johto, and they were extremely hard to catch, as once they ran away the player had to track them again.
These beasts had a very weird mechanic that forced them to flee even if they were under status effects. This was very frustrating to players as their first instinct was to paralyze, sleep or freeze them, also, they could force the trainer’s Pokémon to run away using the move Roar.
6 Oh No…
Pokémon Gold & Silver were the first games to introduce a Pokémon Daycare with breeding mechanics. This left many players astounded, as they never thought that a Pokémon game would let players obtain eggs from their Pokes to raise them.
One interesting feature that the Pokémon Daycare has, is that you can mate a Ditto with any gendered Pokémon as long as it’s able to produce eggs, and this will always result in an egg that’ll contain a Pokémon of the other’s species. This led players to leave a single Ditto at the Daycare so they could just leave any Pokémon to obtain specific eggs. Gross.
5 Stop Calling!
Youngster Joey is perhaps, the most (in)famous regular trainer to ever exist, as a variation of him has been in every mainline Pokémon game. But his most known appearance has been that of the Johto games, and for a very good reason.
Once you defeat Youngster Joey, he will add you to his Pokégear so he can call you later. The thing is, that he always called the player to annoy it with totally random facts about his Rattata and other pointless banters, so it wasn’t rare for players to outright hate him.
4 Don’t Mess With Shuckle
Shuckle is probably, the most memeable Pokémon of the Johto games. This little bug has the highest Defense and Special Defense stat of all Pokémon, but due to its mediocre HP, Speed and offense stats, he isn’t used at all in the competitive scene.
The fact that this Pokémon is worthless in battle has earned him a meme status, which led to fans making fun of it in fan art, animated shorts, and memes. But here’s a word to inexperienced trainers, don’t try to fight Shuckle if you can’t defeat it quickly, as once it starts using Rollout he can deal considerable amounts of damage.
3 Never Underestimate Chickorita
Chickorita might be one of the most underrated starter, as it didn’t gain enough fanbase even when it was one of Ash’s most used Pokémon during the Johto saga. Ash’s Chikorita was pretty brave, as she was bold enough to face his Charizard.
So don’t let other trainers laugh at you for choosing Chikorita, as this Pokémon can hold its own even under pressure. Fun facts: During the Johto saga, Chikorita was the starter Pokémon most used by trainers, it’s also the only starter Pokémon that keeps its Japanese name in the English localization.
2 Best Feature Ever.
One of the most loved feature of some Pokémon games is the one that lets players choose a Pokémon to follow them. It gets kind of boring the fact that Pokémon are always inside Poké Balls, so having them out in the overworld is surely a breath of fresh air.
The Hearthgold & Soulsilvergames have this feature, and sure, Pokémon models are often tweaked so they don’t show their true sizes, and NPCs rarely react properly to them, but it’s better to have it than not. Just imagine how an ordinary trainer would react if they saw how powerful your Pokémon are before the battle.
1 Obstacles Are No Joke
Do you remember that thing about how HM were one of the most hated things of earlier Pokémon games? Well, this is another example of why players hated them. There are some Pokémon moves that could do what HM moves did, but they just didn’t for gameplay purposes.
A Tyranitar’s Giga Impact would probably be enough to break rocks, mountains too probably, but due to game mechanics being a thing it can’t be used to break a single pebble blocking the way. It’s sure a good thing that newer games have been implemented ways to block player’s pathways without them having to rely on HM to pass through them.
NEXT: Pokémon: Every Johto Starter Evolution, Ranked
