Pokémon Crystal

From Pokemon - Wiki on Neoseeker

Pokemon Crystal
Pokemon Crystal boxart
Developer	Game Freak
Publisher	Nintendo
Release Date(s)	JP: December 14, 2000 NA: July 29, 2001 EU: November 1 2001 AUS: September 2001
Ratings	3+ E
Players	2
Compatible with	Gen I Gen II
Paired with:	Pokémon Gold Pokémon Silver
Succeeded by:	Pokémon Ruby Pokémon Sapphire

Journey back to the world of Johto as the Gold and Silver Pokemon series continues with brand-new adventures. As a male or female Pokemon trainer, you embark on a quest to become the greatest trainer ever (as always)! Explore all-new areas in the Johto region. Make use of handy new features introduced in the Gold and Silver versions. Swap Mystery Gifts with your friends via Game Link cable, and transfer Pokemon data to Pokemon Stadium 2 for the N64.

Gameplay:

It's up to you to find, capture, and train all 251 Pokemon in the Johto region. This can be accomplished by trading with the Gold and Silver versions. You also must become the greatest trainer in the region, which means you must defeat the eight gym leaders, then finally defeat the Elite Four, who are the top trainers of Johto.

But it doesn't stop there. Once you've defeated them, you can head on over to the Kanto region and prove yourself there. Can you get all 16 badges?

Features

New region: Pokemon Crystal takes place three years after the events in Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow. Now you get to explore the newly discovered region of Johto, full of grassy areas, bodies of water, forests, and other environments suitable for the Pokemon inhabitants. Like any other Pokemon game, it's up to you to find and capture all the Pokemon and become the top trainer of the region. But this time the story extends further than that...

Pokemon: Johto is home to 100 new species of Pokemon as well as a few from the original 151. Also new is breeding Pokemon. Breeding is essential for getting that perfect Pokemon you've always dreamed of and for reproducing rare species of course. With new Pokemon comes new attacks, like Whirlpool and Dynamicpunch, and new items, like the berries and new Poke balls. Speaking of items, Pokemon are now able to hold items, which gives you more strategies for combat.

Day/Night system: Also new is the day/night system. All you have to do is input the correct time and it will go through day and night just like in the real world. This hugely affects what types of Pokemon that you'll be able to find. for example, Hoothoot can only be found at night, while Sunkern is only found in the morning.

Trading between older versions: Some Pokemon you simply are not going to find in Crystal, which is why you can trade from your R/B/Y versions to Crystal. Bring over your hard trained Pokemon to complete your Pokedex and have a better edge at battles. You cannot trade any Pokémon introduced in Johto to the previous versions.

Shiny Pokemon: The Johto generation was the first to introduce Shiny Pokemon, they have different coloration and are very rarely found. Johto is also the only generation to implement the use of shiny Pokemon having superior stats to those that are not shiny. The only exception where receiving a shiny is by chance is the Red Shiny Gyarados which can always be found at the Lake of Rage.

Pokeballs: In this specific generation we see the introduction of more specialized Pokeballs. These are made from Apricorns, picked from a special plant which can be found all of Johto. A man in Azalea Town called Kurt then fashions a Pokeball depending in the color of the Apricorn.

Pokerus: Pokerus, the Pokemon Virus was first introduced in this generation and will double the effort values gained from a battle. To catch this virus you must battle an infected wild Pokemon, this however is even rarer than to see a Shiny.

Pokemon Eggs: Pokemon eggs are a fantastic new feature to the Pokemon World. With the introduction of the Pokemon breeding concept, baby forms of old favourites are now available along with many other perks. This is done at the Pokemon Day Care Center.

Go back to Kanto: In this generation you have the only chance so far to go back to a previous region, in this case Kanto, the home of the Games Red/Yellow/Blue/FireRed/LeafGreen. This then increases the possible gym badges to 16.

Battle Animations: In Pokemon Crystal, battle animations were added. For example, every Pokemon has a specific animation it performs after being released from it's Pokeball in battle.