Pokémon Gold And Silver
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role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...
s developed by
Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the ''Pokémon (video game series), Pokémon'' series of role-playing video games. History Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' was a self- ...
and published by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
for the
Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...
. They are the first installments in the second generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. They were released in Japan in 1999, Australia and North America in 2000, and Europe in 2001. The games introduce 100 new species of Pokémon and follow the progress of the player character in their quest to master Pokémon battling. Both games are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and, while both can be played separately, it is necessary to trade between these games and their predecessors in order to fully complete each games' Pokédex. The Johto Saga of the ''Pokémon'' anime is based on the new region introduced in the games. A third game in the generation, '' Pokémon Crystal'', was released in 2001. ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' were critically acclaimed upon release. They are considered by some to be the best games in the entire series, as well as some of the most significant games of the
fifth generation of video game consoles The fifth generation era (also known as the 32-bit era, the 64-bit era, or the 3D era) refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately October 4, 1993, to March 23, 2006. The best ...
. They continued the enormous success of ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'' as ''Pokémon'' began to form into a multi-billion dollar franchise. The games almost matched the sales of ''Red'' and ''Blue'' and by 2010 had gone on to sell over 23 million units, making them the best-selling games for the Game Boy Color and the third-best-selling for the Game Boy family of systems. In 2009, on the 10th anniversary of ''Gold'' and ''Silver'',
remakes A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...
titled ''Pokémon HeartGold'' and ''SoulSilver'' were released for the
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
.


Gameplay

Like previous installments, ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' are played from a third-person, top-down perspective, with players directly navigating the protagonist around the fictional universe, interacting with objects and people. As the player explores this world, they will encounter different terrains, such as grassy fields, forests, caves, and seas in which different Pokémon species reside. As the player randomly encounters one of these creatures, the field switches to a
turn-based Timekeeping is relevant to many types of games, including video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and sports. The passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. In many games, this is don ...
"battle scene", where the Pokémon will fight. There are two main goals within the games: following through the main storyline and defeating the Elite Four and Pokémon Master Lance to become the new Champion, and completing the Pokédex by capturing, evolving, and trading to obtain all 251 creatures. A major aspect of this is developing and raising the player's Pokémon by battling other Pokémon, which can be found in the wild or owned by other Trainers. This system of accumulating
experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...
s (EXP) and leveling up, characteristic and integral to all ''Pokémon'' video games, controls the physical properties of the Pokémon, such as the battle statistics acquired, and the moves learned.


New features

While ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' retain the basic mechanics of capturing, battling, and evolving introduced in ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'', new features were added. A time system was introduced using a real-time internal clock that keeps track of the current time and day of the week. Certain events, including Pokémon appearances, are influenced by this feature. New items were added, with some designed to exploit a new mechanic: Pokémon being able to hold items. A new type of item able to be held was the berry, which comes in varieties and can restore health or cure status effects. Other held items can give boosts to the Pokémon during battle. More specialized Poké Balls were introduced, which make Pokémon catching easier in certain situations. A new item called the Pokégear was introduced, functioning as a watch, map, radio, and phone, allowing the player to call other characters who offer their phone number. Trainers will call for a rematch and others will call about rare Pokémon that can be caught in a certain area. The games introduce Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, some new types of
legendary Pokémon Legendary may refer to: * Legend, a folklore genre * Legendary (hagiography) * J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium Film and television * Legendary (2010 film), ''Legendary'' (2010 film), a 2010 American sports drama film * Legendary (2013 film), ' ...
that wander around Johto, changing locations frequently in a process known as Roaming Pokémon. They can be tracked by the Pokédex's habitat feature once encountered, and will always attempt to flee, but will retain HP loss. In addition, there is the possibility of encountering a shiny Pokémon, which have a different coloration than normal Pokémon of their species, and appear very rarely, around 1 in 8192 for games until
Pokémon X and Y ''Pokémon X'' and ''Pokémon Y'' are 2013 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. They are the first installments in the sixth generation of the main ''Pok ...
. Two new Pokémon types were added, the Steel-type and the Dark-type. Steel-type Pokémon are immune to Poison-type moves, and they have very high defense and resistance to other types, while Dark-type Pokémon are immune to Psychic-type moves and are strong against Psychic-type Pokémon (which provides an offensive strategy, formerly absent against Psychic-types), as well as having few weaknesses. In ''Gold'' and ''Silver'', new moves were added, but Pokémon knowing these moves are not allowed to be traded to the first generation games. To solve this, a move deleter was introduced, capable of erasing moves known by the Pokémon. Another major change was the splitting of the "Special" stat into "Special Attack" and "Special Defense", which increased aspects of strategy. With the introduction of Pokémon breeding, Pokémon are assigned to one or two breeding groups. When a male and female Pokémon that share at least one breeding group are left at a Pokémon Daycare, they may produce an egg, which will hatch into a young Pokémon. Do note that Ditto can breed with all but the Pokémon in No Eggs Discovered Group, even if the Pokémon other than Ditto is male. The young Pokémon will inherit the species of its mother, and moves from its father. However, legendary and mythical Pokémon, among certain other species, cannot breed.


Plot


Setting

''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' are set in the region of Johto, situated to the west of the Kanto region from the previous ''Red'' and ''Blue'' games, and three years after the conclusion of the previous games. The design of Johto was inspired by Japan's
Kansai The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...
and
Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is ...
s, with many of the region's temples and more traditional Japanese aesthetics finding their way into Johto.


Story

As with the previous games, the player character receives his first Pokémon, a choice between Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile, from the region's local Pokémon scientist, Professor Elm, and then begins his journey to win the eight Gym Badges of the Johto region and then challenge the Elite Four and the Johto League Champion to become the new Pokémon Master. Opposing him is his mysterious rival, a boy who stole one of the other Pokémon from Professor Elm and regularly challenges the player to test his strengths. The player also encounters the villainous Team Rocket, having reunited to seek out their previous leader Giovanni to return the group to their former glory. Eventually, the player thwarts Team Rocket once and for all and defeats the Elite Four and the Johto League Champion on Indigo Plateau. The player can then travel to the Kanto region from the previous games and challenge the Kanto Gym Leaders there, discovering how much has changed in the three years following the events of ''Red'' and ''Blue''. For example, Cinnabar Island has been almost completely taken over by a volcano eruption; only a Pokémon Center remains. After defeating the Gym Leaders of the Kanto Region, the player is allowed to enter the treacherous Mt. Silver area, home to very powerful Pokémon. Deep within Mt. Silver's caves is Red, the protagonist of ''Red'' and ''Blue'' and Kanto League Champion, whom the player can challenge for the most difficult final battle in the game.


Development

''Gold'' and ''Silver'' were first publicly showcased at November 1997,
Nintendo Space World formerly named and was an annual video game trade show hosted by Nintendo from 1989 to 2001. Its three days of high-energy party atmosphere was the primary venue for Nintendo and its licensees to announce and demonstrate new consoles, accesso ...
Expo in Japan, becoming the most popular exhibit at the program. Unlike the previous game in the series, '' Pokémon Yellow'', the new titles were announced to be more than a small upgrade to ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue''. Instead, they would feature a new storyline, a new world, and new species of Pokémon. ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' were designed for the Game Boy Color, allowing them full color support and more detailed sprites. Other additions that were shown included Pokémon breeding, held items, an in-game gadget known as the PokéGear, a real-time internal clock, and
backward compatibility In telecommunications and computing, backward compatibility (or backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, software, real-world product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with Input ...
with the previous games in the series. During an ''
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
'' interview, president of Creatures Inc. Tsunekazu Ishihara gave insight into the brainstorming process for developing new Pokémon species. He explained, "The ideas for each of these monsters came from the imagination of the software developers at Game Freak who get these ideas from their childhood experiences, including from reading
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
, a style of Japanese comic books. Ideas come from scary experiences they had as kids, catching insects, and so forth. So from these experiences in childhood, these ideas for Pokémon came out". In the same vein as the Pokémon Mew of ''Red'' and ''Blue'', the exclusive Pokémon Celebi was included in the ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' games but is only accessible after attending a Nintendo promotional event. The first official event offering Celebi was
Nintendo Space World formerly named and was an annual video game trade show hosted by Nintendo from 1989 to 2001. Its three days of high-energy party atmosphere was the primary venue for Nintendo and its licensees to announce and demonstrate new consoles, accesso ...
2000 in Japan, in which 100,000 attendees would be awarded the rare Pokémon. In order to be selected, players had to send in a postcard to enter a lottery for one of 100,000 certificates of Celebi, allowing them to enter the event and obtain it. Ishihara stated that ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' started development right after ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Green'' were released in Japan. The original intention was to release the game in 1998, even synchronizing with the supposed end of the
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
's first season. Development issues, worsened by Game Freak being sidetracked with '' Pokémon Stadium'' and the localization of the first generation, led the game to be postponed, and the original release slate was taken over by '' Pokémon Yellow''. Programmer Shigeki Morimoto stated that part of why development took three and a half years was due to being a small team of only four programmers.
Satoru Iwata Satoru Iwata (; December6, 1959July11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer and producer. Beginning in 2002, he was the fourth president of Nintendo, as well as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo of America from ...
, then the president of
HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN, is a Japanese video game developer based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded on February 21, 1980 by Mitsuhiro Ikeda. The company started out developing games for home computers of the era, but has since establishe ...
who would later become Nintendo's CEO, helped the team by developing new tools for compressing the Pokémon graphic code.
Junichi Masuda is a Japanese video game composer, director, designer, producer, singer, programmer and trombonist, best known for his work in the ''Pokémon'' franchise. He was a member of Game Freak where he was an employee and executive at the company s ...
composed the game's music on an
Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...
computer, converted it to MIDI data and reconverted again for Game Boy Color.


Unused and cut content

In 2018,
ROM image A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory Computer chip, chip, often from a ROM cartridge, video game cartridge, or used to contain a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's arc ...
s of the early-in-development Japanese-language demo shown during the 1997 Nintendo Space World presentation resurfaced: two
debug In engineering, debugging is the process of finding the root cause, workarounds, and possible fixes for bugs. For software, debugging tactics can involve interactive debugging, control flow analysis, log file analysis, monitoring at the ap ...
versions of the games, and two versions that were modified to work on normal
Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...
hardware and most emulators. These ROM images were only rumored to exist until they were anonymously posted on the "''Pokémon'' Reverse Engineering Tools" (PRET)
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server in May 2018. The demo was quickly shared with members of the website '' The Cutting Room Floor''. The ROMs were analyzed and translated, and ''The Cutting Room Floor'' went on to release a spreadsheet containing all the information they had discovered, which includes a list of Pokémon species, Pokémon "moves", items, non-playable characters,
maps A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...
, and music. The ROMs were first released anonymously onto
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...
's /vp/ board in May, with a formal ''The Cutting Room Floor'' release coming later that day. The demo has a larger world map than the final game (which itself is based on the entire
Japanese archipelago The is an archipelago of list of islands of Japan, 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China Sea, East China and Philippine Sea, Philippine seas in the southwest al ...
, unlike the final region, which is based on the Kansai region of Japan), and includes around 100 unused and changed Pokémon designs. Earlier in May 2018, ''Pokémon'' artist Atsuko Nishida revealed that the popular creature Pikachu was originally supposed to have a third evolution, named "Gorochu". Additionally, ''Pokémon'' creator
Satoshi Tajiri is a Japanese video game designer and Creative director, director who is the creator of the ''Pokémon'' franchise and the co-founder and president of video game developer Game Freak. A fan of arcade games in his youth, Tajiri wrote for and ed ...
has revealed four unused designs that would have been included in the original ''Pokémon'' games. While cut content is not uncommon in video games, the volume of cut content in the ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' demo has been described as "overwhelming". Matthew Byrd, writing for ''
Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a UK and US-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a biannual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ' ...
'', stated that a lot of design work had gone into the Pokémon that were eventually cut, suggesting that Game Freak might have taken them out during the testing phase due to balance issues.


Release

In September 1999, the games were announced for release in Japan on November 21, 1999, and a North American release date was estimated for September 2000. Nintendo announced the release of the Pocket Pikachu Color, a full-color portable
digital pet A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet, or pet-raising simulation) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment, or as an alternative to a real pet. Digital pets have no conc ...
similar to the one released the year before. The unit is compatible with ''Gold'' and ''Silver'', allowing the transfer of in-game currency known as "watt points". Pocket Pikachu Color was slated for release in Japan on November 21, 1999, the same day as the release of ''Gold'' and ''Silver''. In addition, an officially licensed Pikachu-themed
Game Link Cable The also known as ''Video Link'' in early versions, is an accessory for the Game Boy line of handheld consoles. Introduced in 1989 alongside the original Game Boy, it was revised over four generations with varying degrees of backward compatibil ...
developed by
Kemco , from Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd., is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984. It is headquartered in Kure, Hiroshima. Its best known franchises are the '' Kid Klown'' and ''Top Gear'' series, the ...
was set for release in Japan on November 18, 1999. The product functions like a normal Game Link Cable and consists of a yellow cable with a figure of Pikachu on one end, and a Poké Ball on the other. Anticipating high sales, Nintendo set its first production shipment for the games in Japan at three million, predicting that eventually more than eight million copies would be sold in the country alone. However, they were soon forced to cut the first shipment number in half following an earthquake in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, which Nintendo claimed had damaged their cartridge manufacturing facilities. Regardless, speculation arose that Nintendo was instead using the event as an excuse to limit shipment and keep the demand high. As a precursor to the North American release, ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' were displayed for audiences to interact with at the 2000 American International Toy Fair in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. To further promote the games, Nintendo modified five Chrysler PT Cruisers to resemble the new Pokémon Lugia and had them driven around the United States. The vehicles had fins and tails attached to them and were painted with logos and images of the ''Pokémon'' franchise. In addition, they were equipped with a television set hooked up to game consoles which allowed spectators to play '' Pokémon Puzzle League'', '' Hey You, Pikachu!'', and ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver''. The television series ''Pokémon GS'', based on the games, was announced to be a part of the fall lineup on
Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming block that originally aired on The WB from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006, and later on The CW from September 23, 2006, to May 17, 2008. Initially launched as a co ...
. The show features the same protagonist Ash Ketchum in a new region with different Pokémon species from the games. The localized English names of the 100 new Pokémon were kept confidential by Nintendo, with the company releasing names periodically. The domain names 'pokemongold.com' and 'pokemonsilver.com' were registered for this very purpose, and such names released included Chikorita, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Togepi, Hoothoot, and Marill. In September 1999, Nintendo announced that ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' would be released in North America in September 2000. In May 2000, Nintendo announced the official North American release date of ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' would instead be October 16 of that year. The release date was later changed to October 15. In North America, Nintendo started accepting
pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...
s for the games in August; a
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
was available as a pre-order bonus that included clips and music from '' Pokémon the Movie 2000'', screenshots from ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'', a Pokémon-themed desktop wallpaper, an offer for a ''Nintendo Power'' Player's Guide, and Pokémon-related trivia. The games had record pre-order sales — approximately 600,000 copies of the games were pre-ordered in just two months, compared to 150,000 copies for ''Pokémon Yellow''. As the release date neared and retailers began to receive shipments of the games, some retailers—such as Electronics Boutique—opted to sell them immediately upon receiving the games; first using them to fulfill pre-orders, and then selling the remaining copies to walk-in customers. The games were reportedly obtainable as early as October 11. The games were released in Australia on October 13, 2000 and in Europe on April 6, 2001. Nintendo spent between $12 million and $14 million to market the game in the United States.


''Pokémon Crystal''

is a third version after ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'', developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on December 14, 2000, North America on July 29, 2001, and in Europe on November 2, 2001. The plot and gameplay of ''Crystal'' is largely the same as in ''Gold'' and ''Silver'', although it includes several new features. ''Pokémon Crystal'' was received well by critics, although many commented that there were just not enough new additions and features to significantly set it apart from ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver''. ''Pokémon Crystal'' has sold nearly 6.4 million units worldwide.


Nintendo 3DS re-release

In June 2017, The Pokémon Company announced via a Pokémon Direct broadcast that the games would be re-released worldwide via the
Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on past ...
on September 22, 2017.


Reception

''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' were met with critical acclaim, with many saying that the extended length of gameplay and the new features were valued additions that kept the sequels as interesting as the original games. Craig Harris of ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' gave the games a "masterful" 10 out of 10 rating, stating that: "As awesome as the original Pokémon edition was, ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' blow it away in gameplay elements, features, and goodies. There are so many little additions to the design it's impossible to list them all". There was particular praise given to the innovative internal clock feature, with Frank Povo of ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'', noting: "The first major addition to Pokémon GS is the presence of a time element... Although it may sound like a gimmick, the addition of a clock adds quite a bit of variety to the game". Povo went on to give the games an 8.8 rating of "great". ''
Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...
'' listed ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' combined as the sixth best Game Boy / Game Boy Color games, praising them for the new Pokémon, features, and full-color graphics. Overall, ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' were stated to be solid gaming additions that would please a large audience. "After playing the game dozens of hours, I really can't think of a bad point to make about ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver''. Nintendo and Game Freak have tweaked the original and built a sequel that's long, challenging and tremendous fun to play. There's a reason why ''Pokémon'' is so popular, and ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' is going to help the series move further into the 21st century", said Harris.


Sales

''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' continued the enormous success of ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'', beginning the formation of ''Pokémon'' into a multi-billion dollar franchise. Upon its first day of release in Japan, the game sold 1,425,768 units. As of April 2000, roughly 6.5 million copies of the games had been sold in Japan. ''Silver'' proved to be the slightly more popular version, edging out ''Gold'' by approximately 100,000 copies. In the U.S., the game generated
pre-sales Presales is a process or a set of activities/sales normally carried out before a customer is acquired, though sometimes presales also extends into the period the product or service is delivered to the customer. There are many job titles associ ...
about three weeks before release. Upon the first week of release in the U.S., the games had eclipsed '' Pokémon Yellow''s previous record sales of a little over 600,000 copies; selling a combined total of 1.4 million copies to become the fastest-selling games ever. The commercial success was expected, as Peter Main, the executive vice president of sales and marketing, stated "There's no question about it; kids love to play Pokémon. So far in 2000 the best-selling game in America for any home console is Pokémon Stadium for
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
, and the best-selling game for any handheld video game system is Pokémon Yellow for Game Boy Color, but Pokémon Gold and Silver will eclipse even those impressive sales totals. We project sales of 10 million units total of these two games in less than six months time". The game sold copies in the U.S. within a few weeks. In Germany, ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' received two Double Platinum awards from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) for sales above 800,000 copies by 2002. In the United Kingdom, ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' received two Platinum awards for sales above 600,000 copies. By 2010, ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' had sold units worldwide.


Legacy


Remakes

and are enhanced remakes of ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'', developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
. First released in Japan on September 12, 2009, the games were later released in North America, Australia, and Europe during March 2010. Game director Shigeki Morimoto aimed to respect the feelings of those who played the previous games, while also ensuring that it felt like a new game to those that were introduced to the series in more recent years. Reception to the games was positive, the two being amongst the highest-rated DS games of all time on
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. Commercially, they are among the best-selling Nintendo DS games of all time, with combined sales of 10 million units as of July 2010.


Notes


References


External links

* (US) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal 1999 video games Game Boy Color games Game Freak games Games with Transfer Pak support Japanese role-playing video games Video game sequels Multiplayer and single-player video games Gold, Silver, and Crystal Role-playing video games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in Japan Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Video games scored by Junichi Masuda Video games scored by Go Ichinose Video games directed by Satoshi Tajiri Video games designed by Satoshi Tajiri