When fans first picked up their copies of Pokemon Gold or Silver in 1999, they were yet to know that on completing their Johto Adventure they’d be allowed to re-enter a Kanto region set three years after the events of Red, Blue, and Yellow back in 1996. A lot had changed, with information from various characters and developments in the landscape being our only clues for what may have occurred within this three-year gap.
Many fans may not know that the stories within Pokemon games often cross over, with some games even running parallel to one another. The Pokemon franchise contains a very purposeful and carefully planned timeline, one that you may not even be aware of without doing some serious digging. Here are some of the things that happened within the three-year gap between the first two games, and ultimately changed the history and lore within the Pokemon universe as we knew it.
10 The Events in Pokemon Colosseum
Pokemon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness were the Pokemon franchise’s first dive onto the GameCube. Both games built up the franchise’s rich lore, and both remain an integral part of the series’ canon, with Colosseum, the first of the pair, having taken place between the events of Gens I and II.
Before the events of Gold & Silver had even begun, Wes was busy saving Orre with the help of Celebi.
9 Pokemon Eggs
Pokemon Eggs were brand new content for Generation II, discovered by Professor Elm who had you assist with delivering a Togepi egg to the visiting Professor Oak before eventually entrusting you with it.
But Elm’s discoveries don’t end there, as one of the townsfolk in New Bark tells you that it was Elm who ultimately discovered that Pikachu was an evolution of Pichu’s. This means that somewhere in these three years Professor Elm was the first to make these discoveries, passing this knowledge to other regions.
8 Team Rocket Hatch A New Plot
It’s fair to say Pokemon’s Team Rocket has changed a bit over the years. After the events of Red, Blue and Yellow, the evil organization had to go undercover. The events of the Generation II games closely follow the new developments of this evil group. In Fire Red and Leaf Green, we could travel to the Sevii Islands, an archipelago of nine islands containing the secret Rocket Warehouse
It is highly likely that due to the secretive location, this Team Rocket branch was the precursor to the Johto contingent that we’d see three years later. This is further proven by plans for the forced evolution of Pokemon, a device that appeared in Gen II that triggered Lake of Rage’s red Gyarados to appear.
7 Cinnabar Island Is Destroyed
Cinnabar Island was the home of the Pokemon Mansion and Blaine’s gym, a fan favorite from the original game.
In the first game, we already see that the island is beginning to erode with only a small population of people calling the town at the foot of this volcano home. It’s not shocking to then come back three years later and see that the island has been all but destroyed, with only a Pokemon Center now standing in the ruins and Blaine’s gym now inhabiting a small cave.
6 Silver’s Origin Story
Giovanni is one of the more elusive characters of the Pokemon franchise, and after the events of Gen I, we learn through a HeartGold & SoulSilver flashback event that Giovanni went into hiding for three years to await Team Rocket’s return, along with abandoning his son, your later rival Silver.
Silver is perhaps the most complex rival in the Pokemon franchise, not helped by being the leader of Team Rocket’s son. Silver’s abandonment in this flashback has him telling Giovanni that he’ll train to become stronger and better than him. This flashback also helps explain his hatred for Team Rocket throughout Gen II.
5 The Events of Gen III
Ruby & Sapphire may not have appeared to us until 2002, but chronologically it had already happened by the time we’d picked up our Silver & Gold Game Boy cartridges back in 1999.
Chronologically, our Gen III protagonist was fighting off Team Magma’s and/or Aqua’s grunts and quelling the destruction of the Weather Trio Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza at the same time Red was facing off against Giovanni. The Sevii Islands are found in both the Gen I remakes and Emerald, containing references to both regions and also being home to Mythical Pokemon Deoxys.
4 Lavender Town Sheds Its Creepy Image
Lavender Town used to be a Pokemon graveyard, home to spirits and mediums as well as an abundance of interesting points in Pokemon lore. However, in Gen II, the creepy town that fuelled our childhood nightmares underwent a startling transformation.
The future Lavender Town is now home to the Kanto Radio Tower, obviously bringing in money along with new inhabitants to live and work in the town. Whether Lavender Town’s change was down to Game Freak feeling the need to change it after scaring us all or because it may have fit better into the later Team Rocket radio takeover is unknown, but it was nice to see Lavender Town getting a refreshing remodel.
3 Cyrus Reveals His Ultimate Plan
We’ve already discussed how both Pokemon Colosseum and the Gen III games happened during this three-year period, but did you know Generation IV’s Diamond & Pearl also took place around the same time as the Johto games? Sinnoh as a region was thought to have been the first one created, with deep ancient lore and a connection with the Legendary Pokemon Arceus, so in a way, it makes sense that all the other regions would somehow find a connection to it.
As both Generation II and IV took place around the same time chronologically, it’s entirely feasible that, as Red vanquished Giovanni and dissolved Team Rocket (or sometime after), Team Galactic would have begun to busy themselves developing Cyrus’ plans to infiltrate the Distortion world to find Giratina and gain control of space and time. This places Team Galactic’s actions during Diamond & Pearl around three years later as Gold began his journey through the Johto region, meaning Galactic’s preparations took place between the Kanto games and the Johto games.
2 The Ditto Escaped
Ditto is one of many artificial Pokemon thought to have been created by humans, with theories it originated from the experiments performed in creating Mewtwo due to its transformative abilities and its location solely in the Pokemon Mansion.
However in Gen II, Ditto is found on Routes 34 and 35 leading in and out of Goldenrod City, so, unless it headed to Saffron and hopped on the Magnet Train, how was it this artificial Pokemon escaped Cinnabar Island to be found in a different region altogether three years later?
1 Red Forges A New Path
For fans wondering what happened to their Red & Blue protagonist after switching off their Gameboy cartridge for that very last time, the answer was found three years later when encountering Red on the peak of Mt. Silver. But, how did he end up here?
It seems upon becoming Kanto’s Champion, Red vanished, leaving to train his winning team at Mt. Silver — not too dissimilar to the eventual disappearance of Giovanni. Seeing as Kanto still treats him as a legend in Gen II, maybe Red just fancied stepping out of the limelight and looking for a new challenge. Your battle against him in Gold & Silver seems to do the trick, as this makes him leave Mt. Silver for new horizons.
NEXT: 10 Reasons HeartGold And SoulSilver Are The Best Pokemon Games To Nuzlocke
