Pokemon Crystal: the new and improved game

Vocabulary (essential before reading this review unless you know Pokemon already)

Pokemon: One of 251 creatures that can use special attacks. You train them and get them Experience Points to level them up.

Trainer: A person who catches pokemon with pokeballs and trains them to battle with other Trainer's pokemon.

Pokeball: A ball thrown at wild Pokemon to catch them.

PokeGear: A Trainer's key device. It includes a real-time clock w/ the day of the week, a Town Map, a cellphone, and a Radio.

Battle: A 'fight' between Pokemon. You issue them commands to damage the opponents HP(health points).

Evolution Stone: A rock which you use on your pokemon to evolve (change) them.




Pokemon Crystal is the new installment in the Gold/Silver series. The storyline is the same: you set out as a young boy trying to catch all 251 Pokemon to fill your PokeDex.

Except this time it's different.

Instead of starting out as a boy like in all the previous Pokemon games, this time you can play as a boy or a girl! Since I'm a girl, this is one of the coolest changes in the Pokemon Games (it was sometimes awkward to be called 'sir' when I'm really a girl). You also start out in a new continent called 'Johto', and new town called New Bark Town with a new professor named Professor Elm. The three starter Pokemon are: Totodile, a water crocodile, Cyndaquil, a fire mouse-type thing, and Chikorita, a grass element 'dinosaur'. You can only choose one.

Another new improvement...the Pokemon actually move! Now when you encounter an enemy Pokemon, they do a little animation before the battle starts.

You also get the PokeGear (a Pokemon trainer communication device), radio, cellphone, and clock, but there's a change here too. The color scheme for the Pokegear is either red for the boy or blue for the girl. Also, when you beat some trainers they will call you for a rematch. However, some do more than ask for a rematch. Some special trainers like Lass Dana on Route 38 will call you with an evolution stone! You can get ALL the evolution stones in Crystal! Some other trainers call you with battle tips or sales at the department store in Goldenrod City.

There is a new station on your radio called Buena's password. You listen for the password, then go to the Radio Tower in Goldenrod City with the password. You get a point for each correct password and those points can get you free items (i.e.Rare Candy, Nugget, PP up, etc.)

You can also have an old man and an old woman raise and/or breed your Pokemon with one another at the Day Care center, as long as they are either male and female. When you first go to drop off your Pokemon, the old couple will give you an Odd Egg to hatch into a Pokemon (you simply walk around and it hatches eventually). You will know when your Pokemon have had an egg when the old man is standing where the pokemon are.

There is now a new building called the Battle Tower. In it you have to beat 7 trainers straight with only 3 different pokemon that hold different items. You can get special prizes for beating these trainers, but they're really hard to beat.

You also have 16 Gym Leaders to beat (8 Johto, 8 Kanto), as well as the same Elite four from G/S (Will, Koga, Bruno, Karen, and Lance).

You also have quite a few legendary Pokemon to catch. Instead of the three birds (Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres) and Mewtwo as legendaries, you now have Suicune, Raikou, and Entei (the legendary dogs), as well as Ho-oh(a fire bird) and Lugia(a psychic bird).

In the Ruins of Alph (ancient ruins), you have to move some stone panels around like a puzzle in some rooms. When you have solved one correctly, a hole will apppear where you are standing and you fall through into a room where you must catch all the Unown. These are a set of 26 pokemon that all take the shape of each of the 26 letters in the Roman Alphabet. They don't really have much significance in the storyline.


At least there aren't any Pokemon ugly enough to give you nightmares in this game.