The Pokemon fandom is plagued by "Gen Oners" or those who believe the First Generation (Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow) were the best games in the series and everything that came after was crap. Personally, I would be inclined to agree with them, if I were as blinded by nostalgia as they were. It is no secret that I adore the First Generation of Pokemon. But, I believe it is the Second Generation (Gold, Silver, Crystal) that really brought the franchise to new heights. Allow me to explain how.
Although I have five points to show how the Second Generation improved the franchise, I can summarize those five points in one simple sentence: the Second Generation expanded the Pokemon World and made it feel more alive. To expand on that sentence, the five points are as follows.
The addition of 100 new Pokemon. Though some purists may disagree with me on this, I believe that the addition of new Pokemon has been key to keeping the franchise fresh, alive, and relevant to gaming. When Gold and Silver first came out, THE selling point was the addition of 100 new Pokemon species, which had been carefully teased throughout the anime since episode 1. The first season teased Ho-Oh and gave us our first named Second Gen Pokemon, Togepi. It's a bit hard to remember these days, but back then Togepi was quite popular, especially with girls.
The addition of new Pokemon kept alive that sense of wonder and discovery for players, that feeling of "what will I find next and where?" In particular, I believe that there are five Second Generation Pokemon that really helped bring new life to the franchise: Scizor, Steelix, Togepi, Ho-Oh, and Lugia.
Ho-Oh was the first Gen 2 Pokemon shown to the public, which got gamers and fans buzzing. Togepi was the first Gen 2 Pokemon formally introduced to the audience, which confirmed that yeah, NEW Pokemon were coming. Lugia was the main attraction of the second Pokemon movie, which was released during the waning days of Pokemania. And Scizor and Steelix? Well...
The addition of two new types. As great as Generation 1 is, it must also be admitted that, as far as typing was concerned, there was an AUTHENTIC hierarchy that determined which types were good and which were trash. At the very top was the Psychic type, which was close to invincible. At the rock bottom were Bug types, which were nigh useless, and the Fighting type, which would get devoured by Psychics.
Generation 2 added the Dark and Steel types, which brought some much needed balance to the Meta game. Suddenly, there was a type that could resist Psychic (Steel) as well as a type that was not only invulnerable to Psychic, it could DESTROY that typing as well (Dark). Further, having these two types be weak to Fighting made the latter type much, much more useful, especially since the strongest Dark type (Tyranitar) was doubly weak against Fighting.
I personally think that the addition of so many cool looking Steel and Dark types also really helped set the tone for what players could expect out of them. Houndoom, Scizor, Steelix, Skarmory, they all impressed in one way or another with their designs. From Houndoom's demonic look to Skarmory's badass armor, the new types were definitely impressing the players, and showed that Pokemon could look cool, too.
A new region. It would have been so easy to just recycle Kanto and stick some new Pokemon in there, some new towns, and call it a day. But Game Freak and Nintendo didn't; they made a NEW region for the player to explore, one considerably different from Kanto.
Johto is, in a word, more "rural" than Kanto in the sense that it seems to have more greenery; more trees, flowers, grass, and less people. Sure, there's Goldenrod City, but that's the full extent of Johto's urbanism. Azalea town is small and humble, nestled between a rocky tunnel and a deep forest. Cianwood City is an island town, unlike Cinnabar Island, which felt more like a city on top of an island. And of course, the mountain top city of Blackthorn, which truly felt like the kind of place you struggle to get to. In contrast, the cities of Kanto often felt very close to each other; in fact, Cerulean City, Saffron City, Celadon City and Vermilion City are literally a stone's throw away from each other, with very little in the way of obstacles between them.
The inclusion of the day/night cycle and days of the week. The passage of time helped the Pokemon games feel more alive than the original games. The day and night cycle, particularly, helped the game feel different every time you played it. If you played at night, different Pokemon appeared. Example given: Hoohoot only appeared at night, while Sentret appeared only during the day. This game mechanic was brilliant.
But what was beyond brilliant was that the passage of time occurred in REAL TIME, not just on the in game clock. If it was night time in your area, it would be night time in the game. Likewise, if it was daytime outside, it'd be daytime in the game. Of course, this all depended on if you'd set the in game clock.
Likewise, the addition of the passing of weeks was brilliant. The fact that each day of the week had something different to offer ensured that gamers would not quickly feel bored playing the game. For example, on Tuesdays, players could go to the National Park and participate in the Bug Catching contest, where the winner could win a Sun Stone, a special item for evolving certain Pokemon. And Fridays were the ONLY day of the week where the player could catch a Lapras.
In game mythology and folklore. Ultimately, I think the best thing Gold and Silver did for the franchise was adding mythology to the game. This helped make the Pokemon world seem deeper, more unique in gaming than anything before it.
Particularly, the Ruins of Alph proves to be one of the most intriguing parts of the franchise. These are a set of old ruins located between Azalea Town and Violet City. These ruins are the ONLY place in the games to find Unown, a mysterious Pokemon with 26 different forms, one for each letter of the Latin alphabet, plus the interrogation and exclamation points. The ruins themselves are a mystery; no one knows why they exist, or why Unown roam them.
In Azalea Town there exists a place called Slowpoke Well, This town integrates Slowpokes into their identity due to an incident from long ago, where a Slowpoke's yawn helped end a drought. Likewise, Ecruteak City has two towers, one that houses the legendary bird Ho-Oh, and the other houses the three Legendary Dogs: Entei, Raikou, and Suicune. The three dogs were created from Ho-oh's fire, which accidentally killed three Pokemon, but then brought them back to life. This fire, in turn, burned the tower they were in.
The addition of mythology and folklore added more layers of complexity to the Pokemon world; there's suddenly more to explore in the world besides nature and technology. The original games did have some ways in which Pokemon influenced the world around them, notably in Diglett's Cave, a natural structure made by Diglett. But Gold and Silver showed the way humanity interpret Pokemon, rather than just use them. In Azalea Town, we see reverence towards a Pokemon. In Violet City, we see Pokemon inspiring architecture (Sprout Tower). And in Ecruteak City, we see Pokemon serve a mystical role in Creation stories.
The addition of these myths and bits of folklore is what, ultimately, truly shows that Pokemon are an integral, not incidental, part of that world. Further entries in the series would continue adding bits of mythology to the games, but it all started with Gold and Silver.
Although I have five points to show how the Second Generation improved the franchise, I can summarize those five points in one simple sentence: the Second Generation expanded the Pokemon World and made it feel more alive. To expand on that sentence, the five points are as follows.
The addition of 100 new Pokemon. Though some purists may disagree with me on this, I believe that the addition of new Pokemon has been key to keeping the franchise fresh, alive, and relevant to gaming. When Gold and Silver first came out, THE selling point was the addition of 100 new Pokemon species, which had been carefully teased throughout the anime since episode 1. The first season teased Ho-Oh and gave us our first named Second Gen Pokemon, Togepi. It's a bit hard to remember these days, but back then Togepi was quite popular, especially with girls.
The addition of new Pokemon kept alive that sense of wonder and discovery for players, that feeling of "what will I find next and where?" In particular, I believe that there are five Second Generation Pokemon that really helped bring new life to the franchise: Scizor, Steelix, Togepi, Ho-Oh, and Lugia.
Ho-Oh was the first Gen 2 Pokemon shown to the public, which got gamers and fans buzzing. Togepi was the first Gen 2 Pokemon formally introduced to the audience, which confirmed that yeah, NEW Pokemon were coming. Lugia was the main attraction of the second Pokemon movie, which was released during the waning days of Pokemania. And Scizor and Steelix? Well...
The addition of two new types. As great as Generation 1 is, it must also be admitted that, as far as typing was concerned, there was an AUTHENTIC hierarchy that determined which types were good and which were trash. At the very top was the Psychic type, which was close to invincible. At the rock bottom were Bug types, which were nigh useless, and the Fighting type, which would get devoured by Psychics.
Generation 2 added the Dark and Steel types, which brought some much needed balance to the Meta game. Suddenly, there was a type that could resist Psychic (Steel) as well as a type that was not only invulnerable to Psychic, it could DESTROY that typing as well (Dark). Further, having these two types be weak to Fighting made the latter type much, much more useful, especially since the strongest Dark type (Tyranitar) was doubly weak against Fighting.
I personally think that the addition of so many cool looking Steel and Dark types also really helped set the tone for what players could expect out of them. Houndoom, Scizor, Steelix, Skarmory, they all impressed in one way or another with their designs. From Houndoom's demonic look to Skarmory's badass armor, the new types were definitely impressing the players, and showed that Pokemon could look cool, too.
A new region. It would have been so easy to just recycle Kanto and stick some new Pokemon in there, some new towns, and call it a day. But Game Freak and Nintendo didn't; they made a NEW region for the player to explore, one considerably different from Kanto.
Johto is, in a word, more "rural" than Kanto in the sense that it seems to have more greenery; more trees, flowers, grass, and less people. Sure, there's Goldenrod City, but that's the full extent of Johto's urbanism. Azalea town is small and humble, nestled between a rocky tunnel and a deep forest. Cianwood City is an island town, unlike Cinnabar Island, which felt more like a city on top of an island. And of course, the mountain top city of Blackthorn, which truly felt like the kind of place you struggle to get to. In contrast, the cities of Kanto often felt very close to each other; in fact, Cerulean City, Saffron City, Celadon City and Vermilion City are literally a stone's throw away from each other, with very little in the way of obstacles between them.
The inclusion of the day/night cycle and days of the week. The passage of time helped the Pokemon games feel more alive than the original games. The day and night cycle, particularly, helped the game feel different every time you played it. If you played at night, different Pokemon appeared. Example given: Hoohoot only appeared at night, while Sentret appeared only during the day. This game mechanic was brilliant.
But what was beyond brilliant was that the passage of time occurred in REAL TIME, not just on the in game clock. If it was night time in your area, it would be night time in the game. Likewise, if it was daytime outside, it'd be daytime in the game. Of course, this all depended on if you'd set the in game clock.
Likewise, the addition of the passing of weeks was brilliant. The fact that each day of the week had something different to offer ensured that gamers would not quickly feel bored playing the game. For example, on Tuesdays, players could go to the National Park and participate in the Bug Catching contest, where the winner could win a Sun Stone, a special item for evolving certain Pokemon. And Fridays were the ONLY day of the week where the player could catch a Lapras.
In game mythology and folklore. Ultimately, I think the best thing Gold and Silver did for the franchise was adding mythology to the game. This helped make the Pokemon world seem deeper, more unique in gaming than anything before it.
Particularly, the Ruins of Alph proves to be one of the most intriguing parts of the franchise. These are a set of old ruins located between Azalea Town and Violet City. These ruins are the ONLY place in the games to find Unown, a mysterious Pokemon with 26 different forms, one for each letter of the Latin alphabet, plus the interrogation and exclamation points. The ruins themselves are a mystery; no one knows why they exist, or why Unown roam them.
In Azalea Town there exists a place called Slowpoke Well, This town integrates Slowpokes into their identity due to an incident from long ago, where a Slowpoke's yawn helped end a drought. Likewise, Ecruteak City has two towers, one that houses the legendary bird Ho-Oh, and the other houses the three Legendary Dogs: Entei, Raikou, and Suicune. The three dogs were created from Ho-oh's fire, which accidentally killed three Pokemon, but then brought them back to life. This fire, in turn, burned the tower they were in.
The addition of mythology and folklore added more layers of complexity to the Pokemon world; there's suddenly more to explore in the world besides nature and technology. The original games did have some ways in which Pokemon influenced the world around them, notably in Diglett's Cave, a natural structure made by Diglett. But Gold and Silver showed the way humanity interpret Pokemon, rather than just use them. In Azalea Town, we see reverence towards a Pokemon. In Violet City, we see Pokemon inspiring architecture (Sprout Tower). And in Ecruteak City, we see Pokemon serve a mystical role in Creation stories.
The addition of these myths and bits of folklore is what, ultimately, truly shows that Pokemon are an integral, not incidental, part of that world. Further entries in the series would continue adding bits of mythology to the games, but it all started with Gold and Silver.
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