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Continuing the Pokemon Journey: Second Gen Pokemon Review | Culture of Gaming

We’ve enjoyed reliving the classic Pokemon games and were ecstatic playing Pokemon Gold once more on Gameboy Advance. Gold was my first Pokemon game. It was the second-gen that got me into the franchise. After playing it again, We’ve picked up on some apparent faults it had. Don’t get me wrong, I love the game. It is the perfect sequel. It’s the best of all the other sequels I have seen, and it’s by a long margin as well.

Characters

Compared to the original Pokemon games, the second generation of games had a vast improvement with the characters and story. An example is the rival. Instead of being a childhood friend and choosing a starter Pokemon with you, he is an outsider who steals a Pokemon from Professor Elm’s laboratory. But what is more amazing is his character. He starts off as an arrogant and mysterious person with a low opinion of you. However, throughout the story, he does develop into a caring person. He belittles you, almost through the whole story, but eventually he gains respect for you. Your final battle against him is not out of his usual malice, but as a means of seeing if he is a good trainer. He also plays a big role in the story, both as your rival, and as an ally against Team Rocket.

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What I definitely didn’t like though, were the introduction of the genders, which is of course needed for breeding. Don’t get me wrong, I think it was a good addition to the game, but there were problems with it. The first being that there were different stats for different genders. Specifically, the female Pokemon stats were slightly weaker to male counterparts. I found this unnecessary, and plain insulting to the female gender. Another infuriating thing was the grind. In the first game, it wasn’t as compulsory. You didn’t need high level Pokemon to complete the game, but to battle Red successfully you needed to grind far more than the first game. I personally don’t mind grinding in the games, I’m used to it, but plenty of people find it stale and boring within time.

Graphics and music

Honestly there wasn’t much change in the sound effects and music, but boy did the artwork improve. I can’t really express how much changed. Overall it still doesn’t compare to modern day games. However, if you were to compare how far it has come with defined colours, the day-night mechanic, and just the better pixelated art, the game has improved. Still a bit disappointed by the audio parts, but second gen has already changed for the better, so I can live with it.

Conclusion

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The second generation of Pokemon games had come a long way since the first. It is beautifully designed, with a more realistic characterization and an expanded plot. There are still many changes that could be made, but what has been changed and added is satisfactory and makes the second gen one of the greatest generations of the franchise. It is by far one of the better ones, and is personally my favourite. So if you love Pokemon games, and loved the first generation, This game is compulsory. You will not regret it.

Pokemon Second Gen Summary

A perfect sequel. It added more to the world of Pokemon, the story was great with new mechanics while leaving the original mechanics that made this game perfect. It has a huge grind, but once you get past that, this game is perfect and a definite must for everyone.

Overall
95%
95%

Pros

  • Great storyline
  • Great characters and rival
  • Expansive and huge
  • More Pokemon

Cons

  • Outdated Graphics and Music
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