Gen 2 is my favourite by far. I have a weird nostalgic memory of being on a hike as a child and listening to some kids ahead of me gushing about all the new features of Gold / Silver, and my mind was just blown with anticipation.
I remember being a kid and my friends going "PIKABLU IS GONNA BE IN THE POKEMON MOVIE" in anticipation for the movie coming out, and that only feeding our hype for G/S
I remember all the rumors on the playground and early Internet, it was so fun. Pikablu was what Marill got called and rumors spread about him being a Pikachu evolution and stuff. So much hype and mystery.
@@DamienDarkside I still remember the theater EXPLODING in hype when all us kids in the audience saw Donphan for the first time battling Ash in the movie. The energy could be harnessed into a nuclear bomb 😂😂
Same I really like gen 2 and how it built on the originals and made things even better. Plus it had some great pokes like Tyranitar and the legendaries and starters
I remember someone in school imported a Japanese copy of Gold before it came out here in the UK. My mind was blown...of course, nobody could translate the dialogue, so it was hard to get beyond the first few towns. If only we had smartphones and Google translate...
I was in elementary school when these games came out and Pokémon blew up. Our school principal announced on the loud speaker that the cards were banned. And the adults always seemed to mispronounce Pokémon as pokeman lol
Generation 2 was really the epitome of passion and determination. Game freak has really lost its stream, and it's sad. Crystal is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time. Just like you said, it was a mind blowing moment when, after completing the game, they send you on a ship and send you back to Kanto. Then the last mt silver section with a final battle was truly the cherry on top.
It's only after we leave nostalgia at the door when we can understand that Gen 2 is nowhere near the best Gen. 2 regions is good, night and day, affection, held items, animated sprites, that's all great, not to mention the music. However, Gen 2's flaws when replaying it in modern times really show. -The Pokemon variety is near non-existant. Nearly every player is going to have the starter, red Gyarados, Ampharos, Crobat and the box legendary, on their team because most of Gen 2 Pokemon are either bad, hard to find, or overshadowed by Gen 1 Pokemon. Most Gym leaders have Kanto aces because Johto Pokemon suck stats-wise. Half of them ONLY have Kanto Pokemon. -That problem is aggravated further by some Pokemon's placement. We have Larvitar, Houndour, Murkrow, Misdreavus and Slugma, Gen 2 Pokemon, in KANTO, after already beating the game, meaning outside of trading you will never have them in a regular playthrough. Some people even think Slugma and Skarmory are Gen 3 pokemon because they were so obscure. -Pokemon that evolve with stones are screwed because you can't even get enough stones for all in Silver and Gold. You can in Crystal but it's RNG-based. -Most Pokemon's level up movesets are abysmal, and only get better and better with each gen. This is an objective fact. -Roaming legendaries start here, which is a neat concept, but one that sucks in practice, and only leads to wasting hours in desperation. -Hey new Poke balls!....but most of them are glitched and don't work, and you can only get one per day even if they worked. -It has no plot, and has the absolute worst criminal gang in all of the games (Team Rocket remnants), without even a climax. You fight an Admin and it just stops. But hey, most of that can be circumvented by trading. Not the worst problem though, one that wasn't even fixed in the remakes. -The level curve. It's atrocious. With a team of 6, you will never get to the pokemon league with all of them past level 40 without grinding, where you will promptly get your ass kicked over and over just to grind while losing money every time. They wanted a semi-open world where you could go to any gym past gym 4, but it led to all areas having weak trainers that aren't worth a damn. There's no place to train for the final boss Red with his level 70-80 Pokemon. The (supposed) 7th Gym leader has Pokemon in their 20s. His highest level pokemon is level 31. In Gen 6, the second gym already has two level 25 pokemon. Even in Kanto, the post-game region, has trainers in their 30s, and all gym leaders that aren't Blue have elite 4 levels, after you have already kicked their ass before even getting to Kanto. Nah, Gen 5 is where it's at, but the recent Pokemon games are all pretty good, with each one adding more and more quality of life updates.
YES! There it is! Your video to my favorite gen! I have so many fond memories with Pokémon Silver in particular. My best memory is when me and my parents made vacation in Scotland and I played the hell out of that game.
And for the three people that don't know this, Gen 2 was struggling to fit on the cartridge, until Iwata(former President of Nintendo) stepped in, and made compression tools so much better than GameFreaks, the amount of space that opened up, allowed them to put Kanto in. So, without Iwata, Gen 2 would not have its lauded post game.
I loved Crystal. That was my favorite. I didn't like how after this, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald took out the day and night cycle. They had it for Game Boy Color, but then Advance, no more. We had to wait until the DS for day and night changes again.
Didn't know about the minis. The educational and nostalgic aspect of these videos is great. Also, the increasing humor is spot on, keep the jokes flowing!
Not to dampen the mood--just the opposite--but having recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor (operable; I'll live), all of the nostalgic Pokémon and Starwars videos on this channel are just the ticket. Thanks for your work, Flandrew.
I absolutely love Gen 2. In fact, Crystal was one of the games that inspired me to get into game development myself as an indie developer ^u^. It's such a content-rich experience, you can really feel the love behind the games (which makes sense, considering Gen 2 was meant to be the last). Literally everything was improved from Gen 1, from graphics, to sound effects and music (Gen 2 does Kanto's tracks better than Kanto does its own tracks, haha xD) to the existing mechanics being polished. Of course, there are still some glitches and such, but not nearly as many as Gen 1, or as in your face. Aside from Kurt's Balls mostly being broken, there's not any crazy glitches you'll encounter just playing the game normally, unlike Gen 1 and the Badge Boost Glitch, lol. Crystal was my favourite up until HeartGold, which is basically the same game but also more polished, and has even more content. It's like the epitome of Pokemon adventure, which is what I look for in Pokemon. Lots of non-linear exploration (especially Kanto, since you have all the HMs and such at that point and can explore at your own pace and direction), and lots of nooks and crannies to check out. Lots of optional areas too, which is SORELY missing from the modern games (Sword and Shield were especially a joke, just being hallway after hallway, even in the caves!). Still has the puzzles and environmental manipulation (like the Strength puzzles with boulders affecting traversal) and such too, which really adds to the feeling of being on an adventure, instead of being taken on a tour.
@@aamirrazak3467 I should also mention that Gen 2 was the only time the sequels felt like proper sequels. Not just because the previous game and characters returned, but also, this was the only generation where we didn't lose anything coming to it. Starting with Gen 3 is when GameFreak would start the pattern of taking a couple steps forward, but also a couple steps back each generation, and for no apparent reason. For example, going from Gen 2 to Gen 3, you lose animated Pokemon (until Emerald, and even then it's not as polished as Crystal's animations), lose the day and night cycle, lose most daily event things you can do, and lose a 2nd region to explore, being back down to only 8 badges. We gain Abilities and Natures along with the Stat Experience to Effort Value system change, some new moves and mon and a full Battle Frontier in Emerald. Coming off of Gen 2, Gen 3 felt underwhelming as a result in that regard; Emerald is still a good game, but it definitely didn't feel like a celebration of the series up to that point like Gen 2, with it missing so much. And the pattern only continues after that, with every generation adding things and also removing things for no apparent reason.
@@tamerkoh Actually, the Gen 3 games do have the day and night cycle, though pretty much only the berry mechanic and the day/night evolutions utilize it. You're right about the other points though.
@@tamerkohRegion specific features are the only things ever removed to give the region itself more of an identity, such as johto's 8 badges, hoenn's contests and whatever else. Everything else regarding overworld convenient features stay absolutely untouched, and this idea starts in gen 2 but it doesn't nearly end there. Since gen 3, the PC Pokemon box storage wasn't literally trash as it was in gens 1 and 2. Since gen 4, we've always had free, dedicated online since gen 5, TMs have always been a permanent item. Since gen 6-7 we've always had amie and gen 7 by itself introduced rides, removing HMs to traverse the world. Pokemon is quite definitely the only game series that was completely obsessed with keeping content, as everything involving the Pokemon themselves were expanded upon and updated from gen 1-7. Speak about any imbalances of which Pokemon were treated better, it doesn't matter, every Pokemon was still in every game with an updated sprite or model and updated abilities for 7 generations. The point of which you had 807 Pokemon, 728 moves, and all of their alt forms. Game freak makes other Nintendo games look like a joke because their standards for keeping forms, abilities, and characters were much higher. Zelda Majora's mask included a ton of awesome forms and abilities that are absent in the rest of the series, TP also added a ton of sword tech that's just gone in botw and totk. 3D Mario also couldn't even give us fludd back. Mario kart also removed character specific special reel items and the back seat mechanic from double dash. There's tons upon tons of examples obviously that I'm not going into, but I will say that it speaks volumes when people act like it's such a big deal when smash ultimate finally decided to include every character from every previous game when no character should have been dropped in the first place.
@3:15 i really felt that, this Miltank was really hard to defeat, the first time i came across this gym. "Angel of Death" is a good description of it 🤣
Well done! Gen 2 was lightning in a bottle. I grew up on Crystal, so that one is my favorite, but there is a sweet spot in my heart for Pokemon Stadium 2. I'll be looking forward to your Gen 3 and remakes video! Keep up the good work!
Playing through Gen 2 for the first time and it's awesome to see how the game set the groundwork for so many features that would be seen in later games. I can't wait to see your Gen 3 video! It's my favorite generation.
Gen 2 was my introduction to Pokémon and i still think it's the best Pokémon has ever been. The towns, the gym leaders, the music, the designs of the Pokémon, even the orientation of the map itself was all done so perfectly. The attitude at Game Freak really felt like it was "go big or go home." They delivered on that in spades.
Just a heads up about the Machine Part in Cerulean City: there's a Team Rocket Grunt on Nugget Bridge who when you beat him, tells you the location in broken English. He also shows up in Black and White 2.
0:51 Huh the final product has two less cities/towns but two more dots on the map. Wonder how the number of route tiles on the map adds up, can't be bothered to count (and the water parts are harder to measure).
4:53 Considering some pokemon are capable of completely wrecking gyms or giving them free skylights even if the walls are reinforced against electrodes bouncing all over the place (okay both of those things happened at different gyms but still), I'd say Pokemon gym insurance is probably insanely lucrative. Insurance involving pokemon attacks in general really, though I doubt they'd cover dialga de-aging people and pokemon because that happened exactly once while a dialga was under control of an alternate universe more competent version of the Team Rocket trio.
Personally, I prefer the original GBC Gold and Silver to the remakes, despite not playing it until years after playing HG/SS. The spritework and music are much more charming in the Game Boy versions, and the only thing that's really worse is that Gen 2 doesn't have as much move variety as the future games.
Ah I had such fond memories of playing silver and crystal back in the day, my favorite Pokémon games of all time! And the remakes were somehow even better imo, they took all that made those games great and enhanced it!
So refreshing to see some positive content about gen 2, there's been an uptick lately on content about gen 2 being bad. While there's some valid arguments (some you mentioned), they are still great games.
So, real story, first time I beat Lance in Pokémon Crystal, my battery was dying during the fight....and the red light started blinking rapidly during the credits WHICH YOU COULD NOT SKIP...and then, RIGHT when the game asks if you want to save...my batteries died....AND IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO BEAT LANCE TOO I almost chucked my gameboy advance right then and there xD and no, I couldn't plug it in, it was a gameboy advance, AA batteries all the way.
gen3-5 were my childhood but I remember watching my stepbro play crystal and an early memory was us naming hitmonlee chip(he looked like a potato chip and I still do this on my frlg nuzlockes) and seeing teh confusion ducks. can't wait to see you go through the other gens and hopefully remakes!
Gen 2 is my favorite! It was the first Pokemon game I played and it wasn't as confusing as the first one. I played the Gold version though. Thank you so much for making this video. 😊
Great video as always. I have super fond memories of this gen as its the first time I really got into pokemon as a kid. The pokemon craze was insane back then. I'll always remember playing Stadium 1, 2 (especially the mini games) and Snap with my mum as a wee kid. Probably major nostalgia but I'd argue Gen 2 is the best gen by far.
More recently, it’s not anymore, a lot of people criticize the shit out of Johto/Gen 2 in general but now even HG/SS gets slandered I don’t get how anyone can say Diamond and Pearl are good at all but then turn around and argue that HG/SS are bad LMAO
@@kozo213 Pokémon fans have the same mentality of Sonic fans. Suddenly start thinking good games are bad and bad games are good. Being through so many bad games is going to do it to you.
@@kozo213 I'm still at a loss as to how anyone can think Gen 3 and 4 are good. Gen 2 improved on Gen 1 in every way, but Gen 3 actively removed features from Gen 2 (like the day/night cycle) and expected us to just be okay with it.
Fun fact: if you had a shiny pokemon that is also used in the mini-games, you would see it in the shiny color if your game cartridge was hooked up with the transferpak
Cleffa laughing at the unsettling mess of whatever is supposed to be a Pokemon is going to haunt my nightmares for a while. Gen 2 really was a fine time, I vastly enjoyed it as a youth and it has some nice challenges (go for all Grass types, watch your blood pressure spike!) The Puzzle Challenge is even better in some ways than its console counterpart, with Pokemon you can obtain and a real sense of loss when you... well lose.
Thanks Flandrew for doing this video, i hoped you would. Silver is my favourite Pokemon release, few days ago i began to watch 4 hour long gameplay on youtube, after so so many years. And oh my god the memories. Although I wish it would be longer, your video actually made me download the game with the proper emulator right now :D Love your videos, and the top 3 for me are Pokemon Red/Blue/Silver, Harry Potter 1(PS 1 Hagrid FTW) and ofcourse Star Wars Episode 1 : Gungan murder simulator. Wish you all the best and looking forward to see your next work. Dodo from Slovakia
7:06 I have to say, I loved EXACTLY that as a child. Defeating the old "me" in the next generation. To grow beyond myself and become even better to become the very best. Honestly, I would like to see a graphic remake of Silver, like I did with shining Diamond, which is the graphic remake of Diamond. Not like Soulsilver (which was also great) but in the current state of technology like shining Diamond.
Say what you want about youngster Joey, but he actually made an effort to reconnect with you while waiting for you to achieve your dream. That's a good friend right there. The getting his money part was pretty good too.
I have some many fond memories of Generation 2 Pokémon, I was in kindergarten when the original Gen 1 came out and I immediately became obsessed like many other kids around that time, and since I didn't have Internet or read any magazines the only way I was able to find new info about Gold and Silver was a television show about video games. Sadly, I didn't have a GameBoy growing up but I never missed an episode of the anime
Looking back with The Kanto substory I do have a theory after what happen with Cinnabar Island that after what happen with Cinnabar might've made some people living in Kanto worry about other future issues like earthquakes or forest fires so most of the people living in Kanto left to join other area in the pokemon world and with Red it hinted due to what happen at Cinnabar might've made him feel unworthy of being the hero Kanto needed as he might've fail to save Cinnabar making him unable to show his face and went into hiding
It's true, by gen 2 it died down significantly and by 3 I completely forgot about it until I got a blue sp and Sapphire for my birthday outta nowhere lol. I was like da only kid playing it in my neighborhood lmao.
@@boodeesparx1192 The initial craze definitely ended but the franchise certainly lives on. I think its popularity has gone through ups and downs though.
Gen 2's Gold, Silver and Crystal is literally the best sequel of any game ever made and it's not even close. And yes: Of any game ever made which includes: Halo 2, Super Mario World, Zelda sequels, etc
You have no idea how right you are with the whole Ice Path problem. If it weren't for that puzzle, I could have finished the entire game within a week and in the end, I had to get help from someone else to get past it. Interestingly, once that was done, I steamrolled the rest of it within a couple of days. I still think it's one of the best Pokemon games out there.
I remember as a kid getting pokemon yellow and a pokemon gbc and a couple of years later getting gold. Always used to get a new pokemon game for my birthday/christmas. I hope they remake gold, silver and crystal again for switch or the next system.
Gen 2 was my first gen. I already knew about pokemon blue, yellow and red, but I was only able to convince my dad to buy me a game boy 2 years after that
Crystal was actually my first Pokémon game in gameboy color. I remember I got it as a Christmas present and it was awesome. My favorite region is Hoenn but Johto will always have a special place in my heart (plus HGSS were the best remakes in my opinion)
What if Gen 2 was a standalone game like subsequent titles? What would've changed about it? And how'd Gen 1's more features(as I mentioned in your Gen 1 comparison video) have changed Gen 2?
I played Crystal way back when I was around 4-5 years old. The biggest issue I found myself with was that I couldn't read English at the time. I simply guessed myself forward and found myself at the fourth gym. There I got stuck and simply played a bit more around the area before I dropped the game for Pokemon Ruby. Never really picked it back up since I played Ruby until my Gameboy finally had enough and gave out.
Are you planning to do one video for all the remakes, or including them in the generation they were released? Fire Red and Leaf Green are Gen 3 games so I imagine you’d have decided by now. Anyway, looking forward to it
I think Gen 2 is when Pokémon peaked. Not in terms of technological advancements but in terms of the actual games themselves. The fact that they were able to fit Gen 1 in it, keep it a surprise and the final battle being essentially your character from the first game, will never be topped by another game. And to think that if it wasn’t for the late Saturo Iwata none of that would have been possible.
I've never really played any of the Pokemon games, but I really enjoy watching your videos. I'd like to see you do comparison videos for every version of every Mortal Kombat game to tie in with the upcoming Mortal Kombat 1 reboot; and although I'm not really a Power Rangers fan either, I'd like to see you do comparison videos for every version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, and maybe also videos for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition and Power Rangers Zeo Battle Racers (yeah, Power Rangers had a Mario Kart game).
Gen 2 is my favorite in terms of visuals and sound, not just gameplay. While there are a couple features from later generations I would prefer if they could be in Gen 2 (Physical/Special split and Abilities; perhaps replacing DVs/IVs with Nature but absolutely not having all these multiple systems that represent the same thing), and all these years later I'm _still_ not fond of the introduction of the Dark typing and somewhat iffy on Steel (the former is just "Ghost, but slightly different" and the latter is just "Rock, but better"). It also introduces a couple of my all-time favorite Pokemon (Marill and Quilava) and some of my all-time least-favorites (Sneasel especially).
Just wait until you get to gen 4. That one has the Ranger games, Conquest, Mystery Dungeon and of course some Wii games. Gen 3 probably has the best spin offs on GameCube
I love gen 2, it was my favorite region for a long time. I didnt get to play gsc when it came out, nor did i watch the johto season of the anime, so most of my knowledge came from stadium 2's quiz game. I got a lot of city vibes from the region (in part due to the pichu bros short and the junkyard with the houndour) and i thought it was really funny when i discovered johto is much more rural and traditional than kanto Of all the gen 2 games, stadium 2 is my favorite. Even with rentals only, i had so much fun with it. Earls pokemon academy was a real hilight for me, i loved the lectures and tests and the library. I really wish scarlet and violet's academy was as good, i was really disappointed with most of the classes and the lack of a resource library for moves, egg groups, etc
i played gold and silver and really enjoyed them, and crystal was amazing, playing as a girl was a nice change of pace, glad they eventually gave you a choice, and stadium 2 was really fun as well, i wish scarlet and violet were made with that quality
3:25 - Not sure if this was a joke. But if not, you need a better emulator or fix whatever you’re playing/recording on/with😅 It’s not supposed to be so stuttery
Honestly I wouldn’t have the remakes have there own video. I would include them in the generation that they are a part of such as Pokémon Alpha Sapphire being in the generation six video.
Literally every gen up to 7 includes all Pokemon, that really doesn't make gen 2 special and Pokemon regions have been bigger since then like hoenn which includes subterranean levels and mirage spots. With gen 7 though, they stopped caring about how big a region was and just cared about what was actually in the region content wise as there's just tons of stuff to obtain and a lot, and I mean a lot of conveniences.
Johto is my favorite, but I do prefer the quality of life in the Gen4 remakes... especially the physical/special split. Silver/SoulSilver are my favorite Pokemon games. I also think Gen4 was the peak "graphics" for a Pokemon game, despite a few Pokemon like Typhlosion losing their badass Gen2 color palette.
Just imagine how much better gen 2 could've been if there was an extra what like 2 megabytes. TWO. The vast amount of quality is why this game still stands out as my fav. HGSS are also great. I'm overdue for a playthrough of them
Gen 2 is my favourite by far. I have a weird nostalgic memory of being on a hike as a child and listening to some kids ahead of me gushing about all the new features of Gold / Silver, and my mind was just blown with anticipation.
I remember being a kid and my friends going "PIKABLU IS GONNA BE IN THE POKEMON MOVIE" in anticipation for the movie coming out, and that only feeding our hype for G/S
I remember all the rumors on the playground and early Internet, it was so fun. Pikablu was what Marill got called and rumors spread about him being a Pikachu evolution and stuff. So much hype and mystery.
@@DamienDarkside I still remember the theater EXPLODING in hype when all us kids in the audience saw Donphan for the first time battling Ash in the movie. The energy could be harnessed into a nuclear bomb 😂😂
Same I really like gen 2 and how it built on the originals and made things even better. Plus it had some great pokes like Tyranitar and the legendaries and starters
I remember someone in school imported a Japanese copy of Gold before it came out here in the UK. My mind was blown...of course, nobody could translate the dialogue, so it was hard to get beyond the first few towns. If only we had smartphones and Google translate...
I was in elementary school when these games came out and Pokémon blew up.
Our school principal announced on the loud speaker that the cards were banned. And the adults always seemed to mispronounce Pokémon as pokeman lol
Its pokeMON grandpa!! Haha the memories
Generation 2 was really the epitome of passion and determination. Game freak has really lost its stream, and it's sad. Crystal is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time. Just like you said, it was a mind blowing moment when, after completing the game, they send you on a ship and send you back to Kanto. Then the last mt silver section with a final battle was truly the cherry on top.
It's only after we leave nostalgia at the door when we can understand that Gen 2 is nowhere near the best Gen.
2 regions is good, night and day, affection, held items, animated sprites, that's all great, not to mention the music.
However, Gen 2's flaws when replaying it in modern times really show.
-The Pokemon variety is near non-existant. Nearly every player is going to have the starter, red Gyarados, Ampharos, Crobat and the box legendary, on their team because most of Gen 2 Pokemon are either bad, hard to find, or overshadowed by Gen 1 Pokemon. Most Gym leaders have Kanto aces because Johto Pokemon suck stats-wise. Half of them ONLY have Kanto Pokemon.
-That problem is aggravated further by some Pokemon's placement. We have Larvitar, Houndour, Murkrow, Misdreavus and Slugma, Gen 2 Pokemon, in KANTO, after already beating the game, meaning outside of trading you will never have them in a regular playthrough. Some people even think Slugma and Skarmory are Gen 3 pokemon because they were so obscure.
-Pokemon that evolve with stones are screwed because you can't even get enough stones for all in Silver and Gold. You can in Crystal but it's RNG-based.
-Most Pokemon's level up movesets are abysmal, and only get better and better with each gen. This is an objective fact.
-Roaming legendaries start here, which is a neat concept, but one that sucks in practice, and only leads to wasting hours in desperation.
-Hey new Poke balls!....but most of them are glitched and don't work, and you can only get one per day even if they worked.
-It has no plot, and has the absolute worst criminal gang in all of the games (Team Rocket remnants), without even a climax. You fight an Admin and it just stops.
But hey, most of that can be circumvented by trading. Not the worst problem though, one that wasn't even fixed in the remakes.
-The level curve. It's atrocious. With a team of 6, you will never get to the pokemon league with all of them past level 40 without grinding, where you will promptly get your ass kicked over and over just to grind while losing money every time. They wanted a semi-open world where you could go to any gym past gym 4, but it led to all areas having weak trainers that aren't worth a damn. There's no place to train for the final boss Red with his level 70-80 Pokemon. The (supposed) 7th Gym leader has Pokemon in their 20s. His highest level pokemon is level 31. In Gen 6, the second gym already has two level 25 pokemon. Even in Kanto, the post-game region, has trainers in their 30s, and all gym leaders that aren't Blue have elite 4 levels, after you have already kicked their ass before even getting to Kanto.
Nah, Gen 5 is where it's at, but the recent Pokemon games are all pretty good, with each one adding more and more quality of life updates.
YES! There it is! Your video to my favorite gen!
I have so many fond memories with Pokémon Silver in particular. My best memory is when me and my parents made vacation in Scotland and I played the hell out of that game.
And for the three people that don't know this, Gen 2 was struggling to fit on the cartridge, until Iwata(former President of Nintendo) stepped in, and made compression tools so much better than GameFreaks, the amount of space that opened up, allowed them to put Kanto in.
So, without Iwata, Gen 2 would not have its lauded post game.
I loved Crystal. That was my favorite. I didn't like how after this, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald took out the day and night cycle. They had it for Game Boy Color, but then Advance, no more. We had to wait until the DS for day and night changes again.
Didn't know about the minis. The educational and nostalgic aspect of these videos is great. Also, the increasing humor is spot on, keep the jokes flowing!
Not to dampen the mood--just the opposite--but having recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor (operable; I'll live), all of the nostalgic Pokémon and Starwars videos on this channel are just the ticket. Thanks for your work, Flandrew.
Thank you! Wishing you a speedy recovery!
While a pretty common topic, Flandrew has a way to make a video funny to watch
Gen 2's music is peak "Childhood nostalgia"
I absolutely love Gen 2. In fact, Crystal was one of the games that inspired me to get into game development myself as an indie developer ^u^. It's such a content-rich experience, you can really feel the love behind the games (which makes sense, considering Gen 2 was meant to be the last). Literally everything was improved from Gen 1, from graphics, to sound effects and music (Gen 2 does Kanto's tracks better than Kanto does its own tracks, haha xD) to the existing mechanics being polished. Of course, there are still some glitches and such, but not nearly as many as Gen 1, or as in your face. Aside from Kurt's Balls mostly being broken, there's not any crazy glitches you'll encounter just playing the game normally, unlike Gen 1 and the Badge Boost Glitch, lol.
Crystal was my favourite up until HeartGold, which is basically the same game but also more polished, and has even more content. It's like the epitome of Pokemon adventure, which is what I look for in Pokemon. Lots of non-linear exploration (especially Kanto, since you have all the HMs and such at that point and can explore at your own pace and direction), and lots of nooks and crannies to check out. Lots of optional areas too, which is SORELY missing from the modern games (Sword and Shield were especially a joke, just being hallway after hallway, even in the caves!). Still has the puzzles and environmental manipulation (like the Strength puzzles with boulders affecting traversal) and such too, which really adds to the feeling of being on an adventure, instead of being taken on a tour.
Yes crystal was awesome! And somehow HG SS were even better than the originals they took everything that made those games great and made them better!
@@aamirrazak3467 I should also mention that Gen 2 was the only time the sequels felt like proper sequels. Not just because the previous game and characters returned, but also, this was the only generation where we didn't lose anything coming to it. Starting with Gen 3 is when GameFreak would start the pattern of taking a couple steps forward, but also a couple steps back each generation, and for no apparent reason.
For example, going from Gen 2 to Gen 3, you lose animated Pokemon (until Emerald, and even then it's not as polished as Crystal's animations), lose the day and night cycle, lose most daily event things you can do, and lose a 2nd region to explore, being back down to only 8 badges. We gain Abilities and Natures along with the Stat Experience to Effort Value system change, some new moves and mon and a full Battle Frontier in Emerald.
Coming off of Gen 2, Gen 3 felt underwhelming as a result in that regard; Emerald is still a good game, but it definitely didn't feel like a celebration of the series up to that point like Gen 2, with it missing so much. And the pattern only continues after that, with every generation adding things and also removing things for no apparent reason.
@@tamerkoh Actually, the Gen 3 games do have the day and night cycle, though pretty much only the berry mechanic and the day/night evolutions utilize it. You're right about the other points though.
@@tamerkohRegion specific features are the only things ever removed to give the region itself more of an identity, such as johto's 8 badges, hoenn's contests and whatever else.
Everything else regarding overworld convenient features stay absolutely untouched, and this idea starts in gen 2 but it doesn't nearly end there.
Since gen 3, the PC Pokemon box storage wasn't literally trash as it was in gens 1 and 2.
Since gen 4, we've always had free, dedicated online
since gen 5, TMs have always been a permanent item.
Since gen 6-7 we've always had amie and gen 7 by itself introduced rides, removing HMs to traverse the world.
Pokemon is quite definitely the only game series that was completely obsessed with keeping content, as everything involving the Pokemon themselves were expanded upon and updated from gen 1-7. Speak about any imbalances of which Pokemon were treated better, it doesn't matter, every Pokemon was still in every game with an updated sprite or model and updated abilities for 7 generations. The point of which you had 807 Pokemon, 728 moves, and all of their alt forms.
Game freak makes other Nintendo games look like a joke because their standards for keeping forms, abilities, and characters were much higher.
Zelda Majora's mask included a ton of awesome forms and abilities that are absent in the rest of the series, TP also added a ton of sword tech that's just gone in botw and totk.
3D Mario also couldn't even give us fludd back.
Mario kart also removed character specific special reel items and the back seat mechanic from double dash.
There's tons upon tons of examples obviously that I'm not going into, but I will say that it speaks volumes when people act like it's such a big deal when smash ultimate finally decided to include every character from every previous game when no character should have been dropped in the first place.
@3:15 i really felt that, this Miltank was really hard to defeat, the first time i came across this gym. "Angel of Death" is a good description of it 🤣
Well done! Gen 2 was lightning in a bottle. I grew up on Crystal, so that one is my favorite, but there is a sweet spot in my heart for Pokemon Stadium 2.
I'll be looking forward to your Gen 3 and remakes video! Keep up the good work!
Gen 3 is gonna be a treat. The debut of GBA, first remake, Mystery Dungeon debut, hoo boy!
Playing through Gen 2 for the first time and it's awesome to see how the game set the groundwork for so many features that would be seen in later games. I can't wait to see your Gen 3 video! It's my favorite generation.
0:32 That Pikachu is just living its best life.
Gen 2 was my introduction to Pokémon and i still think it's the best Pokémon has ever been. The towns, the gym leaders, the music, the designs of the Pokémon, even the orientation of the map itself was all done so perfectly. The attitude at Game Freak really felt like it was "go big or go home." They delivered on that in spades.
Just a heads up about the Machine Part in Cerulean City: there's a Team Rocket Grunt on Nugget Bridge who when you beat him, tells you the location in broken English. He also shows up in Black and White 2.
0:51 Huh the final product has two less cities/towns but two more dots on the map. Wonder how the number of route tiles on the map adds up, can't be bothered to count (and the water parts are harder to measure).
4:53 Considering some pokemon are capable of completely wrecking gyms or giving them free skylights even if the walls are reinforced against electrodes bouncing all over the place (okay both of those things happened at different gyms but still), I'd say Pokemon gym insurance is probably insanely lucrative. Insurance involving pokemon attacks in general really, though I doubt they'd cover dialga de-aging people and pokemon because that happened exactly once while a dialga was under control of an alternate universe more competent version of the Team Rocket trio.
Personally, I prefer the original GBC Gold and Silver to the remakes, despite not playing it until years after playing HG/SS. The spritework and music are much more charming in the Game Boy versions, and the only thing that's really worse is that Gen 2 doesn't have as much move variety as the future games.
You sir, are a real man of culture.
Ah I had such fond memories of playing silver and crystal back in the day, my favorite Pokémon games of all time! And the remakes were somehow even better imo, they took all that made those games great and enhanced it!
Beautiful review and great humor 😊
The Joey calls popping up insanely often was a good running gag. Hiker Anthony always used to hit me up every five steps
So refreshing to see some positive content about gen 2, there's been an uptick lately on content about gen 2 being bad. While there's some valid arguments (some you mentioned), they are still great games.
4:08 𝑀𝒶𝒽𝑜𝑔𝒶𝓃𝓎
Always enjoyed whenever youngster Joey would call me for a rematch.
Mans like Krillin, knows he's gonna lose, but still wants the fight. Legends.
that ice cave is so fucking easy, but as a kid, hours and hours of my life were stuck on it, and when i got through it it was by accident
So, real story, first time I beat Lance in Pokémon Crystal, my battery was dying during the fight....and the red light started blinking rapidly during the credits WHICH YOU COULD NOT SKIP...and then, RIGHT when the game asks if you want to save...my batteries died....AND IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO BEAT LANCE TOO I almost chucked my gameboy advance right then and there xD and no, I couldn't plug it in, it was a gameboy advance, AA batteries all the way.
was waiting for it and you delivered, great video
gen3-5 were my childhood but I remember watching my stepbro play crystal and an early memory was us naming hitmonlee chip(he looked like a potato chip and I still do this on my frlg nuzlockes) and seeing teh confusion ducks. can't wait to see you go through the other gens and hopefully remakes!
Unless you touched on it in the last video, you missed the gen 2 Trading card game that was only released in Japan
If you mean Pokemon TCG2 it doesn't cover Gen II, just Rocket sets with new promos and Togepi, Lugia and Marill.
Gen 2 is my favorite! It was the first Pokemon game I played and it wasn't as confusing as the first one. I played the Gold version though. Thank you so much for making this video. 😊
Great video as always. I have super fond memories of this gen as its the first time I really got into pokemon as a kid. The pokemon craze was insane back then.
I'll always remember playing Stadium 1, 2 (especially the mini games) and Snap with my mum as a wee kid.
Probably major nostalgia but I'd argue Gen 2 is the best gen by far.
The remakes are still considered the best Pokémon games
Because they are
They are my favorite
More recently, it’s not anymore, a lot of people criticize the shit out of Johto/Gen 2 in general but now even HG/SS gets slandered
I don’t get how anyone can say Diamond and Pearl are good at all but then turn around and argue that HG/SS are bad LMAO
@@kozo213 Pokémon fans have the same mentality of Sonic fans. Suddenly start thinking good games are bad and bad games are good. Being through so many bad games is going to do it to you.
@@kozo213 I'm still at a loss as to how anyone can think Gen 3 and 4 are good. Gen 2 improved on Gen 1 in every way, but Gen 3 actively removed features from Gen 2 (like the day/night cycle) and expected us to just be okay with it.
Fun fact: if you had a shiny pokemon that is also used in the mini-games, you would see it in the shiny color if your game cartridge was hooked up with the transferpak
Cleffa laughing at the unsettling mess of whatever is supposed to be a Pokemon is going to haunt my nightmares for a while.
Gen 2 really was a fine time, I vastly enjoyed it as a youth and it has some nice challenges (go for all Grass types, watch your blood pressure spike!) The Puzzle Challenge is even better in some ways than its console counterpart, with Pokemon you can obtain and a real sense of loss when you... well lose.
Thanks Flandrew for doing this video, i hoped you would. Silver is my favourite Pokemon release, few days ago i began to watch 4 hour long gameplay on youtube, after so so many years. And oh my god the memories. Although I wish it would be longer, your video actually made me download the game with the proper emulator right now :D Love your videos, and the top 3 for me are Pokemon Red/Blue/Silver, Harry Potter 1(PS 1 Hagrid FTW) and ofcourse Star Wars Episode 1 : Gungan murder simulator. Wish you all the best and looking forward to see your next work. Dodo from Slovakia
Thank you very much
7:06 I have to say, I loved EXACTLY that as a child. Defeating the old "me" in the next generation. To grow beyond myself and become even better to become the very best. Honestly, I would like to see a graphic remake of Silver, like I did with shining Diamond, which is the graphic remake of Diamond. Not like Soulsilver (which was also great) but in the current state of technology like shining Diamond.
i remember walking for hours far from home as a kid in search of a place where i could buy Crystal
Say what you want about youngster Joey, but he actually made an effort to reconnect with you while waiting for you to achieve your dream.
That's a good friend right there. The getting his money part was pretty good too.
I appreciate the focus on Pokemon Mini, a current update of Pokemon Tetris is my dream game
I have some many fond memories of Generation 2 Pokémon, I was in kindergarten when the original Gen 1 came out and I immediately became obsessed like many other kids around that time, and since I didn't have Internet or read any magazines the only way I was able to find new info about Gold and Silver was a television show about video games. Sadly, I didn't have a GameBoy growing up but I never missed an episode of the anime
Looking back with The Kanto substory I do have a theory after what happen with Cinnabar Island that after what happen with Cinnabar might've made some people living in Kanto worry about other future issues like earthquakes or forest fires so most of the people living in Kanto left to join other area in the pokemon world and with Red it hinted due to what happen at Cinnabar might've made him feel unworthy of being the hero Kanto needed as he might've fail to save Cinnabar making him unable to show his face and went into hiding
I loved playing Crystal back then and I remember how happy I was when I realized I could go to Kanto later on.
Please do all of the gens I love the first two you did and would love to see the rest!
Sir, you have a collected call from a kid named Youngster Joey, would you like to pick up the phone 🤣he has been blowing up our lines all day lol
This was a nice trip down memory lane. First I've heard that they thought the Pokemon fad was going to die out though.
It's true, by gen 2 it died down significantly and by 3 I completely forgot about it until I got a blue sp and Sapphire for my birthday outta nowhere lol. I was like da only kid playing it in my neighborhood lmao.
@@boodeesparx1192 The initial craze definitely ended but the franchise certainly lives on. I think its popularity has gone through ups and downs though.
I played the hell out of Silver and finally got Lugia! Gave the game a break for like a month and my game was reset.
Gen 2's Gold, Silver and Crystal is literally the best sequel of any game ever made and it's not even close. And yes: Of any game ever made which includes: Halo 2, Super Mario World, Zelda sequels, etc
3:54 that made me laugh more then it should.
Great video glad to support the channel. Kudos
7:02 You battled Red with only three pokemon?
Whywouldyoueven
You have no idea how right you are with the whole Ice Path problem. If it weren't for that puzzle, I could have finished the entire game within a week and in the end, I had to get help from someone else to get past it. Interestingly, once that was done, I steamrolled the rest of it within a couple of days. I still think it's one of the best Pokemon games out there.
Gen 2 will probably always be my favorite until we get another game that allows you to go through two complete regions.
I remember as a kid getting pokemon yellow and a pokemon gbc and a couple of years later getting gold. Always used to get a new pokemon game for my birthday/christmas. I hope they remake gold, silver and crystal again for switch or the next system.
"Comparing" is not "reading the plot of the game that everyone already knows"
Lol you're right
chair!
Gen 2 was my first gen. I already knew about pokemon blue, yellow and red, but I was only able to convince my dad to buy me a game boy 2 years after that
Crystal was the ultimate Pokémon experience, we never saw anything getting close to this game.
Crystal was actually my first Pokémon game in gameboy color. I remember I got it as a Christmas present and it was awesome. My favorite region is Hoenn but Johto will always have a special place in my heart (plus HGSS were the best remakes in my opinion)
also that FUCKING MILTANK!!!
No, I'm still not over it, even after 20 years!!!!
7:08 Joey Calling
What if Gen 2 was a standalone game like subsequent titles? What would've changed about it? And how'd Gen 1's more features(as I mentioned in your Gen 1 comparison video) have changed Gen 2?
I played Crystal way back when I was around 4-5 years old. The biggest issue I found myself with was that I couldn't read English at the time. I simply guessed myself forward and found myself at the fourth gym. There I got stuck and simply played a bit more around the area before I dropped the game for Pokemon Ruby. Never really picked it back up since I played Ruby until my Gameboy finally had enough and gave out.
Silver 🥈
Man, day n night ✨
Haha the daycare center was the best 🤣
IIRC the Virtual Console release of Crystal for the 3DS added the Celebi event for all regions.
Are you planning to do one video for all the remakes, or including them in the generation they were released? Fire Red and Leaf Green are Gen 3 games so I imagine you’d have decided by now. Anyway, looking forward to it
I think Gen 2 is when Pokémon peaked. Not in terms of technological advancements but in terms of the actual games themselves. The fact that they were able to fit Gen 1 in it, keep it a surprise and the final battle being essentially your character from the first game, will never be topped by another game. And to think that if it wasn’t for the late Saturo Iwata none of that would have been possible.
I've never really played any of the Pokemon games, but I really enjoy watching your videos. I'd like to see you do comparison videos for every version of every Mortal Kombat game to tie in with the upcoming Mortal Kombat 1 reboot; and although I'm not really a Power Rangers fan either, I'd like to see you do comparison videos for every version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, and maybe also videos for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition and Power Rangers Zeo Battle Racers (yeah, Power Rangers had a Mario Kart game).
No one will top you. No one can top you. You are the best. Hands down.
Gen 2 is my favorite in terms of visuals and sound, not just gameplay. While there are a couple features from later generations I would prefer if they could be in Gen 2 (Physical/Special split and Abilities; perhaps replacing DVs/IVs with Nature but absolutely not having all these multiple systems that represent the same thing), and all these years later I'm _still_ not fond of the introduction of the Dark typing and somewhat iffy on Steel (the former is just "Ghost, but slightly different" and the latter is just "Rock, but better").
It also introduces a couple of my all-time favorite Pokemon (Marill and Quilava) and some of my all-time least-favorites (Sneasel especially).
Absolute peak Pokemon era. Gold and silver have the best game OST of all time
Ahhh, these were the days when Nintendo couldn’t patch glitches…eyes on you TOTK.
What a pleasure to watch! Love it
Just wait until you get to gen 4. That one has the Ranger games, Conquest, Mystery Dungeon and of course some Wii games.
Gen 3 probably has the best spin offs on GameCube
I had Gold and Silver, I loved exploring Kanto.
RIP Pokemon Pikachu 2 GS
The remakes wouldn't be part of gen 2, it would be gen 4
I love gen 2, it was my favorite region for a long time. I didnt get to play gsc when it came out, nor did i watch the johto season of the anime, so most of my knowledge came from stadium 2's quiz game. I got a lot of city vibes from the region (in part due to the pichu bros short and the junkyard with the houndour) and i thought it was really funny when i discovered johto is much more rural and traditional than kanto
Of all the gen 2 games, stadium 2 is my favorite. Even with rentals only, i had so much fun with it. Earls pokemon academy was a real hilight for me, i loved the lectures and tests and the library. I really wish scarlet and violet's academy was as good, i was really disappointed with most of the classes and the lack of a resource library for moves, egg groups, etc
i played gold and silver and really enjoyed them, and crystal was amazing, playing as a girl was a nice change of pace, glad they eventually gave you a choice, and stadium 2 was really fun as well, i wish scarlet and violet were made with that quality
3:25 - Not sure if this was a joke. But if not, you need a better emulator or fix whatever you’re playing/recording on/with😅
It’s not supposed to be so stuttery
Not sure why, but I expected this to be Pokémon Gold and Silver compared with Crystal and then Heart Gold and Soul Silver.
Honestly I wouldn’t have the remakes have there own video. I would include them in the generation that they are a part of such as Pokémon Alpha Sapphire being in the generation six video.
Literally every gen up to 7 includes all Pokemon, that really doesn't make gen 2 special and Pokemon regions have been bigger since then like hoenn which includes subterranean levels and mirage spots. With gen 7 though, they stopped caring about how big a region was and just cared about what was actually in the region content wise as there's just tons of stuff to obtain and a lot, and I mean a lot of conveniences.
Johto is my favorite, but I do prefer the quality of life in the Gen4 remakes... especially the physical/special split. Silver/SoulSilver are my favorite Pokemon games. I also think Gen4 was the peak "graphics" for a Pokemon game, despite a few Pokemon like Typhlosion losing their badass Gen2 color palette.
Crystal was my first Pokemon game, and I loved it so much
These were regular Gameboy games. Silver was GBC only.
*crystal
Still hoping for another remake for like Steam and MP battles with a huge community
It crazy how much gen 2 introduced and had one of the best remakes, yet it overlook cause of K.a.n.t.o.
My favorite gen. The post game was insane.
I remember being 10 and pulling out my gameboy to use silver to check the time.
If you think gen 2 had the best soundtrack, just wait til you get to gen 3 and play Colosseum and XD Gale of Darkness.
Silver was and is still my favorite of the Gameboy Games😃
Togepi fell into the void
i only ever played the remake, so i guess you know my oppinion on the game.
I love the soul silver remake. It was 🤌💋
I finish both rounds of pokemon stadium 2 it was a real headache
Just imagine how much better gen 2 could've been if there was an extra what like 2 megabytes. TWO. The vast amount of quality is why this game still stands out as my fav. HGSS are also great. I'm overdue for a playthrough of them
Am I the only one who thought the old ladies were possessed? 🤣🤣
always loved pokemon crystal ... I played it on my Nokia aaah good times😊
That red kid is still my fave rival.