Pokemon Crystal is the first in the series made specifically for Game Boy Color. The result is slightly better graphics, but not enough to really make the title stand out from its predecessors. This is also the first game in the series that allows you to choose play as a girl. This is a welcome feature for those girl gamers out there who love the Pokemon games. Other than these two improvements, the only other thing that’s new in the game is the addition of several quests. Otherwise the game is a clone of Pokemon Silver and Gold.

For those unfamiliar with the Pokemon games, your quest is to capture the monsters in Pokeballs and raise them to fight other monsters. The key ingredient to the game is to collect all of the Pokemon. This is made easier when two players link up different versions of the game and trade monsters. The one player mode features an intricate storyline and plenty of monster fighting. The internal clock will remember what time it is in the real world so if you play the game at night, it’s nighttime in the game. In addition, some quests and events will only take place on a given day, thus enticing the player to come back at that specific time to take part in the event. By placing your monsters in tournaments in the local gyms you will earn medals with your goal being to become the best Pokemon trainer in the world.

The gameplay is fairly complex for the younger kids, but they seem to eat it up anyway. The game is an RPG that features a ton of text. Battles are turn-based so it does take some skill to combat the monsters effectively. Certain monsters are stronger against others. For example, a water Pokemon works wonders against a fire Pokemon. The monsters will eventually level up via experience points and can actually transform into another monster once enough experience has been earned. When all is said and done the gameplay is identical to every other traditional Pokemon game released on the Game Boy system.

As I mentioned before, the graphics are slightly better this time around. The colors are more vibrant and the animation is better. Nintendo has added animation clips to the beginning of battles to showcase the Pokemon better. The color in the backgrounds is also more solid instead of the outlined colored look that the older games had.

By now you’ve should have noticed that Pokemon Crystal garnered an average score. Is it a bad game? Of course not, it’s arguably the best version available since it features more quests and slightly improved graphics. However, without innovation comes stagnation. This game simply does not offer enough enhancements to warrant a higher score. What Nintendo is doing by releasing Crystal is saying it’s alright to release the same exact game with minor improvements, despite the fact that the game it’s improving upon was released less than a year ago. At least in Japan the game introduced a new feature that allowed gamers to trade Pokemon via cell phones. That was nixed in our version due to compatibility problems. Too many versions of the same game in such a short timeframe can seriously hurt a series. One only has to look at the Tomb Raider franchise to see the result. Even Nintendo themselves have stated that too many companies are making too many sequels with little improvement over the previous title. They demonstrated this to great effect at their E3 press conference. The thing is, Nintendo is cashing in on the Pokemon franchise and I expect more from them. The bottom line is that if you own Gold or Silver there is absolutely no reason to fork out more money for Crystal. However, if you’re looking to buy your first Pokemon game, then Crystal is the best place to start.