Let's All Play: Rebirth #4: Pokémon Gold/Silver

On Friday Pokémon Gold and Silver appeared on the 3DS Virtual Console. Arguably the most improved sequel ever, with what might be the best post-game bonus of all time, Pokémon Gold and Silver expanded on the original games brilliantly. The games originally hit the European market in April 2001, close to a year and a half after the Japanese release of November 1999. Exactly one hundred new 'mon were created - sorry, waiting for us to capture in the new Johto region, said to be based on Japan's Kansai and Tokai districts (the southern central areas of the main island of Honshu). Gold/Silver also form part of the programming legacy of the late very great Nintendo giant Satoru Iwata, who programmed the games' infamous post-game bonus - the entirety of Red/Blue's region, Kanto - into the game.

Bonus fact: SoulSilver was the first video game my wife completed.

I went for Gold, after having played Silver (and SoulSilver!) back in the day and waited until I beat Metroid: Samus Returns before starting (which I still have yet to do). I asked Jay for a naming convention; he said "Ace Attorney characters", which is a great idea, so I'm all set. Let's go catch 'em all!

I think I''m going to go for Silver to fully tap into that nostalgia factor, but this will have to wait until Samus Returns is done and dusted. I'm thinking about either Dragon Ball characters or names of monsters in Monster Hunter for my naming convention. Decisions...

Jo randomly chose Chikorita for me to start the game with, which is fine: I chose him too back in the day! My Nuzlocke - yes - has started badly, though, as I accidentally beat the first catchable monster I found. Phoenix the Chikorita doesn't know his own strength.

I bloody loved Pokémon Silver, one of my all-time favourites, but I've got such a backlog just now . . . HMMMMMM.

Yellow honestly didn't take me that long - if you Nuzlocke it, you won't need to spend loads of time catching critters in each area.

Total disaster. Chikorita fainted due to poisoning. :shrink: This leaves me with Gant the Spinarak for the moment. It's going to be a long Nuzlocke... or a really short one.

Oh dear. You should have named your Chikorita Mia for canonical accuracy!

I sort of want to join in, as Crystal was the first Pokégame I played; but I didn't finish Yellow, so I know it's an inevitability.

Jimbob wrote:

I sort of want to join in, as Crystal was the first Pokégame I played; but I didn't finish Yellow, so I know it's an inevitability.

The more the merrier, Mr. Jim! Gold/Silver is another of those 4 hour experiences you were talking about elsewhere.

As for my progress, I'm feeling a bit calmer now I've added Dahlia the Bellsprout and Archie the Geodude to the squad. It's all about training for survival now... the first Gym appears to contain flying Pokémon. And me with my Bug and Grass 'mon...

JayMoyles wrote:

if you Nuzlocke it, you won't need to spend loads of time catching critters in each area.

Won't be Nuzlocking! I always play Pokémon games the same way, getting very attached to my Monsters and letting them come to life in my head. I don't tend to worry too much about catching and collecting anyway, so that's not an issue.

I have started my Silver adventure with a little session tonight. So far, I'm joined by Lagiacrus the Totodile and Malfestio the Hoot-Hoot. The nostalgia is overwhelming me - I'm remember how even the little things like an experience bar or an icon showing a caught Pokémon blew me away as a wee sprog.

I've also decided to Nuzlocke this one - Lagiacrus butchered a potential Rattata friend with a critical hit on the second route.

Double post!

The first gym has succumbed to my terrible trio. I've added Basarios the Geodude in addition to my Totodile and Hoot-Hoot, and Basarios tanked Faulkner's team with little difficulty. Malfestio the Hoot-Hoot is ascending Sprout Tower now. I've also captured Aye the Unknown (guess what letter I caught), but I've decided not to use it unless necessary as Hidden Power is a bit limited.

Beat the firs gym leader also, it was very very easy, my Totodile was a high enough level to sweep the pair of pigeons. My team also consists a Pidgey because a bird is always necessary and a Bellsprout because if Gen 2 is anything like Gen 1 then that sucker is gonna destroy everything in it's path.

I'm only a little ahead of both of you. I'm in Azalea, with Team Rocket beaten, and levelling up my team before taking on the second Gym. There have been two deaths so far: Phoenix the Chikorita and Klavier the Rattata. Life did hand me an opportunity, though, so I have a second Rattata that's named Kristoph. The full team is Tahrust the Zubat, Apollo the Togepi (whom I'm terrified of using: Metronome has called up Selfdestruct on me before now), Kristoph the Rattata, Gant the Spinarak, Dahlia the Bellsprout and The Star So Far, Archie the Geodude. There's also Ini the Paras from Ilex Forest. I'm aiming for Tahrust to get a Flying move before we start the next Gym.

There has been a Nuzlocke disaster, one worthy of a DoPo. I'd beaten Whitney without loss and was doing the Bug Catching Contest. Ini the Paras was playing. I stumbled on a nice Pinsir and, despite it being paralysed, it beat her. The Contest ended immediately. I replaced Ini with the recently caught Polly the Pidgey and stumbled outside, where a Psychic was waiting. His two Abras fell quickly but that Level 15 Kadabra... took out everyone except Polly.

My team is now Apollo, the Level 10 Togepi; Kristoph, the Level 14 Rattata; and Polly, the Level 15 Pidgey. Wish me luck.

Oh boy, Zero. I smell a bit of grinding in your near-future... you can do it!

I took out the Slowpoke Well Rockets and Bugsy with no casualties. Malfestio is now LVL 16 after soloing the gym.

You're already too late, sir - the lone Sudowoodo wiped out the sorry remnants of my team. There was no-one with a type advantage against Sooders, so that was that. It just gives me the freedom to rebuild.

Glad to see you're doing well - long may that continue.

Ach, sad to hear it. Are you starting from the top or just playing the game normally from here on out?

I'm going to do a normal playthrough from where I am. The team is now

Phoenix, the Level 9 Chikorita;
Polly, the Level 17 Pidgey;
Gant, the Level 17 Spinarak;
Tahrust, the Level 17 Zubat;
MUSCLE, the Level 20 Machop; and [in-game trade name, natch]
Archie, the Level 21 Geodude.

We're going to train up a bit and then wallop that ruddy Sudowoodo, right into the team.

That's better than my non nuzlocke team which I'm around the same point with, I've avoided filling my team up and only kept the Pokémon I fancied using which means I so far have the quartet of Croconaw, Pidgeotto, Bellsprout and Onix. I dispatched of Whitney and her Miltank much easier than I was expecting and now plan to take care of that pesky Sudowoodo.

Whitney's Miltank - the Legendary Beast - only ever gave me trouble in SoulSilver, so I've never really seen what the fuss is about.

It was a huge pain for me in Pokemon Go I know that much. I did have a hairy moment where rollout reaches critical levels of damage but it was at that point where Milk drink actually saved me and reset the multiplier. It did get me thinking though how that strategy could be useful if I manage to get my own Miltank in the playthrough.

Sent from Topic'it App

I'm back in the Pokésaddle! Just about to enter Route 44 Ice Path... or I was, until Liz the Picnicker (you know, Picnic Liz! ... Sorry, watched quite a lot of Gavin & Stacey this weekend ) called me up to battle. Hopefully my team of

Angel the Level 31 Staryu
Polly the Level 31 Pidgeotto
Phoenix the Level 32 Meganium
Archie the Level 33 Graveler
MUSCLE the Level 34 Machoke and
Cammy the Level 34 Hypno

will prevail. More on that story later.

Any plans to have this comeback again beyond getting high scores in NES games?

As the Switch even with a lack of a VC has a decent retro selection be it ACA, Ages and a few others along with newer reimaginings like Wonder Boy .

Chris Scullion runs a slightly less irregular retro game playalong if people are interested.  Discord link here.