Play free retro games online!

Overview

The seventh game in the Pokemon series.  It was a remake of Gold/Silver with minor changes, as Yellow was to Red/Blue,  Emerald to Ruby/Sapphire, and Platinum to Diamond/Pearl.   The plot is generally the same as gold/silver with a few new subplots added involving the legendary Pokemon Suicune and the Unown.  This was also the first game in the Pokemon series where you could choose the gender of your trainer. Also it is the first pokemon game  where the opposing pokemon each have a unique entry animation.
Besides minor graphical changes, such as the new animated sprites for the Pokemon, the biggest addition was the battle tower, allowing players to participate in stadium-like battles.

Gameplay

Pokemon Crystal follows closely the formula of the previous games, most notably Gold/Silver. You start the game in your home town and star capturing and training Pokemon aspiring being the greatest Pokemon trainer in the world. For that the player has the chance to choose the gender of the main character, something new to the series then, and choose which Pokemon he wants to start the adventure from three choices given by Professor Elm, Chikorita, Cyndaquil or Totodile. The player is able to buy as much Poké-balls as he wants and try to capture as much Pokemon as he feels like, though only six can be held with the player for use against wild attacks or other Pokemon trainers, the rest will be stored and will be available for exchange at any PC found in Pokemon Centers.
 
The player will have to travel through the world of Johto training Pokemons and battling gym leaders for badges, used to be allowed into the Elite Four, the very best trainers around, and the Elite Champion. The battles are set in turns with each Pokemon having a maximum of 4 attacks each, the Pokemon have a health gauge which when an attack is received it goes down, when it reaches zero the Pokemon faints and is unable to fight, the winner is the trainer who succeeds in taking down all Pokemon from the opposing trainer. When a Pokemon faints it can be recovered using items or by stopping by at any Pokemon Center and requesting the services from Nurse Joy, the Pokemon recovery is free of charge.

Like before, this version features a rival for you character as well, this player will begin the adventure at the same time as you and will be advancing at basically the same pace as you do, at key points in the game the rival will appear and challenge the player to a fight. Aside from the rival the player can find several other players along the way, they will have increasing level of experience as you advance in the game, and can be a source of both experience for your Pokemon and money; though Pokemon that belong to other players aren't allowed to be captured, while wild Pokemon, even though generally handing away less experience points, give the opportunity for capture. The money can be used at Pokemon Marts to buy many types of items.

Along with many from the previous games, this game brings 100 more Pokemon reaching the number of 251 unique Pokemon available (151 of which come from the previous generation). To capture every single Pokemon the player has to exchange with the games it was based upon, Gold/Silver, and the previous generation, Red/Blue/Green/Yellow, though the Link Cable, connecting two Game Boy's and allowing two players to battle or exchange their Pokemon at will. This system of not having a main version with all Pokemon available has been in the series since the beginning, and is still present in more recent games.

This version also includes the day/night system, as well as the real time and the days of the week recorded in the cartridge. The has many influences on the game, for instance, some Pokemon only appear in the wild at night, while others will only appear in a certain day of the week. The Phone system is also present here, debuting in Gold/Silver, some Pokemon trainers in the game will get your phone number and eventually will call you giving some hints about the location of items, Pokemon, or inviting you for a battle. This makes possible for some trainers to be replayed even after you beat them, most of them will be a one battle only, like it was in the past and like happens with most trainers still.

Pokemon Gyms

The system where you have to get badges throughout the world to be allowed to enter the Elite Four and try to become the greatest Pokemon Trainer around came back in the sequel to Red/Blue/Green/Yellow. This time the region where the game primarily takes places is called Johto and the gym leaders are all different than its prequel. Eventually, when all 8 gym leader are defeated in the Johto region and the Elite Four is also defeated, you'll have the opportunity to go back to Kanto (the region of the Red/Blue/Green/Yellow generation) to a replay on all past Gym leaders, assuring you a total of 16 Gym Leaders and 16 possible badges, even though the adventure is nowhere near in length than it was back then, but for a few more hours of added gameplay it's more than enough.

Violet City Gym

Leader - Falkner
Badge - Zephyr Badge
Pokemon Type - Flying
Pokemon Used - Pidgey, Pidgeotto
 

Azalea City Gym

Leader - Bugsy
Badge - Hive Badge
Pokemon Type - Bug
Pokemon Used -  Metapod, Kakuna, Scyter

Goldenrod City Gym

Leader -  Whitney
Badge - Plain Badge
Pokemon Type -  Normal
Pokemon Used -  Clefairy, Miltank

Ecruteak City Gym

Leader - Morty
Badge - Fog Badge
Pokemon Type - Ghost
Pokemon Used -   Gastly, Hunter, Hunter, Gengar

Cianwood City Gym

Leader - Chuck
Badge - Storm Badge
Pokemon Type - Fighting
Pokemon Used - Primeape, Poliwrath

Olivine City Gym

Leader - Jasmine
Badge - Mineral Badge
Pokemon Type - Steel
Pokemon Used - Magnemite, Magnemite, Steelix

Magohany City Gym

Leader - Pryce
Badge - Glacier Badge
Pokemon Type -  Ice
Pokemon Used - Seel, Dewgong, Piloswine

Blackthorn City Gym

Leader - Clair
Badge - Rising Badge
Pokemon Type - Dragon
Pokemon Used - Dragonair, Dragonair, Dragonair, Kingdra

When the Elite Four is beat you'll have the opportunity to go back to Kanto and re-battle the upgraded eight gym leaders from the previous game. Professor Elm will give you a ticket to S.S. Aqua docked in Olivine, if you decide to board you'll end up in Vermilion where S.S. Anne was docked back in Red/Blue/Green/Yellow. Now you can explore Kanto's Gyms, in a new order.  The only difference, except for the order, is that Koga is not longer a Gym Leader, since he's now on the Elite Four we can only assume he got promoted, and leaved his gym spot for his daughter, Janine.

Vermilion City Gym

Leader - Lt. Surge
Badge - Thunderbadge
Pokemon Type - Electric
Pokemon Used - Raichu, Electrode, Electrode , Magneton, Electabuzz
 

Saffron City Gym

Leader - Sabrina
Badge - Marshbadge
Pokemon Type - Psychic
Pokemon Used -  Espeon, Mr. Mime, Alakazan

Cerulean City Gym

Leader -  Misty
Badge - Cascade Badge
Pokemon Type -  Water
Pokemon Used -  Golduck, Quagsire, Lapras, Starmie

Celadon City Gym

Leader - Erika
Badge - Rainbow Badge
Pokemon Type - Grass
Pokemon Used - Tangela, Victreebel, Jumpluff, Bellossom

Fuschia City Gym

Leader - Janine
Badge - Sould Badge
Pokemon Type - Bug/Poison
Pokemon Used - Crobat, Ariados, Weezing, Weezing, Venomoth

Pewter City Gym

Leader -  Brock
Badge - Boulder Badge
Pokemon Type - Rock/Ground
Pokemon Used - Graveler, Rhyhorn, Omastar, Kabutops, Onyx

Seafoam Islands City Gym

Leader - Blaine
Badge - Volcano Badge
Pokemon Type - Fire
Pokemon Used - Magcargo, Magmar, Rapidash

Viridian City Gym

Leader - Gary
Badge - Earth Badge
Pokemon Type - Gary has a very varied team
Pokemon Used - Pidgeot, Alakazan, Rhydon, Exeggutor, Gyarados, Arcanine

The Elite Four

The Elite Four works pretty much like in the previous, you first face the four members of the elite to then battle against the Elite Champion for the title of greatest of all. Bruno from the previous Elite mark a come back, while the previously gym leader Koga appears as one of the four.
 

Elite Four Will

Pokemon Type - Psychic
Pokemon Used - Xatu, Exeggutor, Slowbro, Jynx, Xatu

Elite Four Koga

Pokemon Type - Bug/Poison
Pokemon Used - Ariados, Forretress, Muk, Venomoth, Crobat,

Elite Four Bruno

Pokemon Type - Fighting
Pokemon Used - Hitmontop, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Onyx, Machamp
 

Elite Four Karen

Pokemon Type - Dark
Pokemon Used - Umbreon, Vileplume, Gengar, Murkrow, Houndoom

Elite Four Champion Lance

Pokemon Type - Dragon
Pokemon Used - Gyarados, Charizard, Aerodactyl, Dragonite, Dragonite, Dragonite 

Legendary Pokemon

Legendary Pokemon are Pokemon generally found in a very limited amount in the world of Pokemon, so unique there is only one of each of them. These Pokemon have more experience than the rest, and can be found in already high levels ranging from 30 to 70. Like Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos were the legendary birds of the previous games, this time there are Legendary Dogs, called Entei, Suicune and Raikou. There's also two new birds, Lugia and Ho-oh. And a time-traveler Pokemon called Celebi.

Entei

Type - Fire
Level - 40
Location - After receiving the Clear Bell in the Radio Tower, head to Tin Tower and you'll battle Suicune, both Entei and Raikou will be there too, but the manner to capture them is the same as Gold/Silver, you'll have to first find them in the wild to then start hunting them down in the world of Johto.

Suicune

Type - Water
Level - 40
Location - After receiving the Clear Bell in the Radio Tower, head to Tin Tower and you'll battle Suicune with a chance of capturing.

Raikou

Type - Electric
Level - 40
Location - After receiving the Clear Bell in the Radio Tower, head to TIn Tower and you'll battle Suicune, both Raikou and Entei will be there too, but the manner to capture them is the same as Gold/Silver, you'll first have to find them in the wild to then star hunting them down in the world of Johto.

Lugia

Type - Flying / Psychic
Level - 60
Location - With the Silver Wing in hands, acquired in Pewter City, head to Olivine City and use Surf to surf south, Lugia is inside the caverns.

Ho-oh

Type - Flying / Fire
Level - 60
Location - The way to find Ho-oh is substantially harder than it was in Gold/Silver. Ho-oh sits on Tin Tower like always and to reach him you need the Rainbow Wing. Getting the Rainbow Wing is the problem, you need to have captured all legendary dogs, Entei, Suicune and Raikou, and have all the 16 badges. Then head to Tin Tower and talk to the upper center old man, he'll hand you the Rainbow Wing and the stairs to the higher levels of the Tin Tower will appear, go climbing your way through until you reach the chamber of Ho-oh.

Celebi

One of the aspects of Pokemon Crystal that got most players excited prior to the release was the rumor about being able to capture the Pokemon number 251 named Celebi, while it is possible to get in the Japanese version of the game, the Pokemon was removed from the American and European releases. The Goldenrod Pokemon Center was originally a larger place and had the possibility to allow the player to connect the Game Boy to a cellular phone, since the cellphone industry on the rest of the world wasn't as advanced as it was in Japan, it was later removed from the European and American versions of the game. In the original, the player would receive the GS Ball, then would have to go to Azalea Town and give it to Kurt, who would hold the ball for a day for examination before handing it back to the player. The player would then be able to put the ball into the shrine in Illex Forest, and Celebi would appear giving the player a chance to capture it at level 30.

The only possibility for non-Japanese players to catch the Pokemon was participating in Nintendo events or by Game Shark.

Battle Tower

Arguably the biggest addition in Crystal is the battle Tower,  if you walk west through the beach part in olivine you certainly will come across a house that wasn't in Gold/Silver, going through this house will take you to an open area and north of this area will be a huge tower, this is the Battle Tower. Unfortunately, like the Selebi case, in the American and European releases, the Battle Tower suffered major changes, in the original you can also utilize the cellphone features. In the Battle Tower you can register Pokemon in rounded levels going from level 10 to level 100, battling seven trainers for prizes. Here you don't receive experience points from beaten Pokemon and can't use similar Pokemon in the same party or have Pokemon hold the same items.

Cellphone Network (Japan only)

One of Crystal's biggest features only in was the ability to trade and battle with the use of the Game Boy Color Cellphone adapter. This feature allowed players to make use of their cellphone's networking capabilities to make trade requests and engage in trainer battles with anyone playing the game in japan. This was performed in game from the Goldenrod City Pokemon Center. This Pokemon Center was changed to include a cell tower on the roof where players would go to make use of the Cellphone networking feature. this feature is similar to the Wi-Fi feature of Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, albeit limited only to Japan.