11 05 2022

Crystal: Kanto was edited down way more. Definitely a time/space saving measure. Though, it feels way more like an editor taking a skilled hand and making delicate cuts. The whole post game is a victory lap. Sure, the levels in the Johto half were a little low compared to Gen I and this looks like just more of the game they balanced around, but Kanto side doesn’t really have a satisfactory ending. It just feels like a victory lap for us, and maybe Game Freak. A condensed and polished Kanto. S.S. Aqua is a smoother trip compared to S.S. Anne. The smaller areas in places combine with the improved scrolling to just make Kanto feel fast. Not too short, but fast. Less roadblocks, so I did certain things in a different order compared to a guide. 

    I actually hadn’t kept a pokemon with Cut in my party for a while, so I went and swapped Poliwhirl for my Bellsprout. After beating the gym with Miltank, Entei, and Raikou I realized I could’ve surfed around the roadblock. Oops. I check ahead and Sabrina is listed as next. I know she’s going to be tough, I’m not running anything with a direct counter. Feraligator, had I gotten to it, can learn the new dark move Bite. That would’ve made her easy. So, I decide to take a detour. I’m relying on catching in-game event pokemon like the Snorlax and the remaining GSC box legends. The only major ‘quest chain’ in Kanto is the power plant. In the time since GRBY, they retook the power plant to build a high speed rail between Johto and Kanto. Right now, it’s down because of something. Can’t walk in the north south underground walkway, can’t take the train, can’t use the radio that has a channel dedicated to broadcasting the Pokeflute which is what’s needed to wakeup another dang Snorlax, and may also gate Misty’s event to get her into the Gym. 

    First stop on this detour is Lavender town. The giant tower cemetery is now a big radio tower. The Mart is now a house where pokemon graves are. Pretty sure even the Japanese script is pretty hand-wavey about moving all those graves. It’s kinda weird, just going to chalk it up to missing context and GSC Kanto being barebones. The radio tower manager is worried he’ll lose his job. No power, no radio. That seems a little weird, but makes sense. Area probably only needed a residential grid or something. 

Dark Cave returns. And I really need Flash, there’s no cheating a darker color palette. One swap later and I run through. See, none of the Pokemon so far have been that close to my current team’s levels. I still have Repels sitting around from chasing Entei and Raikou, so I use them whenever. I’m avoiding trainer battles for now. This game is still like how the previous generation was where Trainer battles are pretty limited and at a certain point it’s experience you just need to put on pokemon no matter how much lower the levels are. 

    The power plant is all cleaned up. The inside isn’t a maze anymore. And the manager is angry because a part had been stolen! On the way out we’re asked to cooperate and help out, some shady dude has been spotted in Cerulean. Get to Cerulean and walk into the gym and oh hey a rocket grunt. Who.. speaks.. In an accent. Very… stereotypical (of the 90’s) ESL for someone from probably asia. This is so late in the game, but I am curious what the japanese script is for this part. The short of this part of the quest is he did a Team Rocket thing to make the Team Rocket people happy and he never got the memo the Team has disbanded. He maybe didn’t even get the memo they disbanded twice. Okayyyy… I take the part back, power’s back on. Get Copycat’s Clefairy doll back to her. In another fun nod to Gen I events she grew attached to the doll that Red got her. Her house used to be where the train station is and they gave her a pass as compensation for moving. Now we have it. One last chore before taking the train: I talk to Eusine in Celedon to start the event for Ho-Oh. I want one for backup in case I need more firepower and to xfer later. 

    The little jingle when you ride the high speed rail is so perfect. Back in Johto I clean up a few things I forgot. I got the Eevee from Bill and started the GS ball event. GS ball has a day waiting period. Back in Ecruteak, the Rainbow Wing I got from Eusine start up the Tin Tower to Ho-oh. I was doing this a little tired, so even checking a guide to keep me on track on a few floors still made me mess up. Ho-oh took a while because I actually didn’t keep a good sleep maker at a decent level. I could only stun with Raikou. My pokemon are still at most in the 40-50 range, barely 50. Ho-oh and Lugia are 60. Having legendary stat bulk is making up for things. After 40 minutes, Ho-oh is in a ball. I did not make this easy. Had to re-damage to keep Ho-oh in the red. 

    Back in Kanto, I finally decide to buckle down and run through a few more gyms. Sabrina goes down with greater difficulty. The level gains are terrible in this game and Miltank isn’t bulky enough for the level gap. I go back to Cerulean to take out Misty. Had to first go through a no-bridge nugget bridge gauntlet and find her on the cape on a date. She gets mad at this kid for messing up her date by… showing up? Misty, I think you need to date better people. For Misty, I only regretted not having a solid grass move for Quagsire. Took a little longer than her other pokemon, but easier than Sabrina. Returned to Celadon and won solidly with mostly Entei. I’m having fun just being powerful with the legends, but even then these don’t feel that powerful in practice. If exp was easier to come by, I maybe would’ve used less special pokes. Time for another detour to get Lugia and anything else on the way. 

If I somehow got it in me to play game boy GSC again, I’d to a one to three pokemon team and just funnel exp into a Miltank. Time to replace before going for Lugia. I remember to get the upgrade card for my Pokegear, courtesy of a now employed station manager thanks to me finding a part. I know these games are kids being effective in their world type of thing, but the idea that major infrastructure relied on a pre-teen girl to fix it… I don’t know. I love it. It’s funny. The next time TPC funds an anniversary anime, would love for a hyper gag comedy surrounding this. Time to wake the Snorlax. Once again I have a powerful Snorlax on my team. Sorry other bulky normal types. If I became a gym leader, I’d be one of the most annoying Normal gyms ever. Snorlax comes in at level 50. Going to leave at default moveset until I figure out where everyone else goes. 

    With the big guy, I race through Diglett cave and go to pewter. I don’t challenge the gym yet, there’s an old man here with a silver wing for me. Quickly talk to the poor grandpa who was well traveled and grab a shinkansen back to Johto. Whirl Islands are super annoying. I need Whirlpool. I need Flash. I had to fly back for Flash. I may need waterfall. I leave Entei in the box and bring my two HM pokes. It’s not too long, but is still annoying layout wise. Four islands to enter and the guide I have open to reference is focused on picking up items. I don’t care about items. I want bird. I find Lugia at the bottom aaaaand easiest non-master ball legend catch I’ve had in Crystal? Lucky! Xatu rests in the box, and I burn the Psychic TM on Lugia. Ho-oh and Lugia do not have their signature moves in Crystal. 

    Now with powerful psychic bird, Janine goes down between Lugia and Entei. Entei still needs something better than Ember. And Fire Spin. I’ve had Fire Spin fail 5 times in a row. Maybe I’ll stuff Sunny Day/Solar Beam on it. It’s so nice to finally have actual psychic damage moves now. I’ve been playing at night so I forgot to get Eevee for Espeon. Suicune and Raikou take care of Brock easily. Love the Brock’s team has the kanto fossils in it. Mt. Moon has a Rival battle and I’m so happy this weird bully has mellowed out. The Mt. Moon square is cute, one of the things in GSC Kanto that make me dream of a higher fidelity game where it can be a different kind of cozy spot. 

    On the way to Blaine, I ran into Blue who was mulling over the Volcano. This reads a little darker to adult me than kid me, but Cinnabar’s Volcano erupted and destroyed the island there’s a rebuilt poke-center and nothing else. Blaine’s gym is on the seafoam islands. GSC Kanto has a lot of natural disaster stuff, I wonder if the scale of the region reads differently to Japanese folk in the era. Is this supposed to be Tohoku scale? Mt. Moon, Victory Road, the islands, all have major changes that feel like major wear, major destruction, or wreckage. Dark cave and Viridian Forest just feel redacted. Well, I go and visit poor Blaine and kick his ass. Poor Guy’s gimmick went from being funny old man with quiz gym to living in a cave. Heck, the gym advice guy only shows up after I beat him. Sometimes I wonder if this influenced making Blaine seem so much more interesting in manga, tcg, or other side things. Pokespe/Adventures Blaine is cool. Chuuni cool.    

    I visit Blue in Viridian and it goes way smoother than expected. The level jump forces me to use potions more. Blue is still a jerk. With 16 badges I talk to Oak and gain access to Mt. Silver. After going over to the Pokemon Victory Road checkpoint crossroads, I make it to the Mt. Silver checkpoint and wait. I love how the area is technically in Johto. It’s like finding out certain mountain neighborhoods are in a different city. I finally hit another day and do the GS ball event with Celebi. We handed the GS ball to Kurt, he’s found something special. Suddenly he senses that the forest is disturbed and asks me to go check on it with the GS ball. The Ilex forest has a tree swaying animation. Celebi has a very easy catch rate, I personally think they should’ve tied GS ball to the Rocket event to match how some later gens would give event legends early into launch, giving the option for a unique weird powerhouse. 

At this point, I’m fairly content with Gen II. Beating Red unlocks nothing. Catching specific pokemon for transfer seems interesting but I have nothing specific. I got the legends. May get some Gen II specific pokemon. I haven’t run into a hidden ability pokemon I really felt a need for. It’s been nice finally running around a pokemon game with powerful legends and Kris’s sprite. I’m going to slowly return to this one just to grind a little bit, I’m close to being minimum stats for going after Red’s team. No idea how I’m going to deal with his Snorlax if I do.