This place is so old.

There’s something that’s been on my mind for a while, and with recent speculation that the upcoming Pokemon game on Nintendo Switch may be a reboot of the 1st gen games, it gets a new sense of urgency. That concern is that Pokemon has been doing a bit too much to attempt to relive its past.

I do understand the strong attachment to the Kanto region, its pokemon, and the characters associated with it. After all, that’s the place where the Pokemon franchise got its start. My concern is that, if 1st gen elements are over-represented, they can wear old, especially for faithful players that have been playing Pokemon for a long time.

One of the main concerns that Pokemon’s development team has had over the years is that Pokemon can be perceived as a game that one can “graduate” from, and move on to other games. This is an understandable concern, as Pokemon’s more complex strategic elements may not be immediately evident. This being the case, I question the effectiveness of continually returning to Kanto as a means of appealing to players that were involved in the early stages of the franchise but moved on to something else, or as an appeal to nostalgia.

For one thing, a continual return to Kanto and repeated nostalgic appeals can create the impression that Pokemon hasn’t been doing much since its early days. A person who hasn’t played Pokemon in a long time might see continual returns to Kanto and over-representation of 1st gen pokemon, and think the franchise isn’t really doing anything new. And if it doesn’t give us an experience we haven’t already had, that makes it easier to skip it.

We’re still hoofing through Viridian Forest, on the way to Pewter City to get a Boulderbadge. We’re still taking on Team Rocket at Silph Co. and having repeated battles against Giovanni. We’re still going through several consecutive routes packed with trainers that have either Normal/Flying or Grass/Poison pokemon, with little variation. We’re still battling a rival for the championship.

Is it really necessary to buy a new game for the same experience we’ve already had in several games we already own?

That question is not hyperbole. Consider for a moment just how many core Pokemon titles have included the Kanto setting:

First Generation: The Red, Green and Yellow versions all take place in Kanto. I’m not including Blue in this tally, since it’s pretty much the same game as Green.
3/3

Second Generation: Gold, Silver and Crystal each include the Kanto region.
6/6

Third Generation: Ruby and Sapphire take place in an entirely new setting, but we see the first Kanto remakes in FireRed and LeafGreen before we see the Emerald version.
8/11

Fourth Generation: Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum all take place in a new region, but Kanto is included in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
10/16

Fifth Generation: Four new games, all taking place in the new Unova setting.
10/20

Sixth Generation: Two games taking place in the new Kalos region, and two rebooting the Hoenn region.
10/24

Seventh Generation: Four new games in the new Alola region.
10/28

Considering this information, there are a couple noticeable trends. For one thing, it’s that we’ve gone three generations without treading in the Kanto region. While this can be viewed as a sign that Pokemon has been moving forward and not leaning too heavily on nostalgia, this could be used as an argument that we’re somehow overdue for a Kanto reboot.

The second noticeable trend is that nine-fourteenths of the core games have included Kanto, which comes to nearly one-third! This wouldn’t be that much of a big deal if the franchise were still young, but considering that it’s at over two dozen core games, that’s a massive over-representation of an old setting!

Even during more recent times, we’ve been noticing a certain favoritism towards more nostalgic concepts. In the Kalos games, we got a choice between the three Kanto starters before long into the game, and they received mega evolutions. One of the early areas is a very close recreation of Viridian Forest, and one of the Gyms even reused the layout for the Saffron gym in Kanto! That’s a pretty obvious use of throwbacks.

What’s more, in the seventh generation, we were treated to special variants of Kanto pokemon. While this was a breath of fresh air in its own sense and gave us some great designs (such as Alolan Raichu), it’s notable that only Kanto pokemon got this special treatment.

And while speaking of the Alola region, the recent games (Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon), featured a team called Rainbow Rocket, which was a new Team Rocket. This team had Giovanni as it’s head, and saw the leaders of the other teams serving under the Team Rocket banner. That all these leaders with their conflicting visions could be united under Giovanni and Team Rocket are a clear expression of favoritism to the franchise’s more nostalgic concepts!

Another point to bring up is the release of the virtual console games during the 6th and 7th generations. These re-releases gave us access to the old first and second generation games. And, as noted above, this is a handful of games that each featured the Kanto region. This means that the 6th and 7th generation actually did see games with Kanto in them! What’s more, this recent over-representation of a single region would blunt any nostalgic feeling one would get from yet another Kanto game, such as the theoretical Kanto remakes for Switch.

This retreading of the 1st gen isn’t something that’s limited to the video games, either. We see it in the trading card game, as well. Within a few years of the debut of the initial Base Set expansion, we saw the release of Base Set 2, which mainly contained reprints of cards from the Base Set, and was widely regarded as a rip-off. More recently, we saw the release of the Generations expansion. While the cards were mostly redone with the game’s power creep in mind, that it was intended to be a throwback to the original Base Set is obvious.

As far as the anime goes, one needs only look to the more recent movies to see the nostalgic appeal. Last year’s movie was a retelling of Ash’s first departure from Pallet Town with Pikachu. This year’s movie will have a story featuring Lugia, who was a staple character of the second movie. Even the main anime recently had a story arc with Ash making a short visit to Kanto to visit Brock and Misty.

Pokemon is a great franchise, but it spends way too much time living in the past. And if GameFreak is going to be leaning on the same feelings of nostalgia that they have been for the upcoming installment on Switch, I might not be feeling very strongly about it. Considering that Pokemon was one of the most innovative and creative games of all time when it made its debut, I think it appropriate that the game’s maker, GameFreak, continue to demonstrate that they’re capable of innovation and forward-thinking. After all, we saw a watch with a touch screen in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl about a decade before they became commercially available!

Pokemon Crystal is now on 3DS Virtual Console, with a special bonus: the game has been modified so that the Celebi event is now a part of normal gameplay! Not only that, the event can be accessed earlier than the original Japanese event would have allowed, so players can obtain one after beating the Elite Four!

This being the case, many players will make it their mission to breeze through the game as efficiently as possible in a mission to obtain Celebi. That’s where this guide comes in. This is a team building guide for Pokemon Crystal with the aim to choose the most proven and effective pokemon to get you through the game.

There are a few things I would like to point out about this guide. This guide is different from most teambuilding guides that you’ll find on the internet in several respects.

For one thing, this guide does not recommend for you a team of six battling pokemon, and there are a couple good reasons for this. First, most teambuilding guides out there don’t include dedicated HM users that can keep your team clean for you. The other reason is that leveling a team of six pokemon is cumbersome, and can take up a lot of time. Later in the game, the trainers that you see will not provide nearly enough experience to keep a full team of six decently leveled. All that experience spreads easier among only three or four pokemon, and it’s generally better to have a few stronger pokemon that can get the job done than a full team that can’t quite cut it.

Next, you’re going to want to get comfortable with boxing pokemon that are no longer pulling their weight. That’s especially true in this game, where there are several water types to choose from that can serve the team decently well, some for HMs.

What’s more, this guide assumes that you’re not exploiting glitches to get through the game fast. It’s also not a speed run guide, and the assumption is that you won’t be using external tools to get through the game. If you intend to use a code altering device or software, and intend to use it, much of this guide might not apply to you.

Okay, now for the pokemon. First up is your choice of starter:

Out of the starters, the best choice is Cyndaquil. This is something you should have seen coming. Cyndaquil is useful against the most major in-game opponents, such as Bugsy, Jasmine, Pryce, Koga, Karen, and so on. Fire is a great type to have in this game, but there aren’t many that are available early on, and of the ones available through most of the game, Cyndaquil is the best. Not only that, it’s evolved form Typhlosion can learn Thunderpunch to hit the Water types that usually give it trouble. Also, it’s a pokemon that’s also an explosion. It’s not just strong, Typhlosion wins on principle.

Why not Totodile? There are many, many superb Water pokemon to choose from in Crystal, and they are abundant. Totodile’s evolved form Feraligatr would simply be outclassed by many pokemon of the same type. And why not Chikorita? Because it’s a punching bag. It has too many weaknesses and too few useful offensive moves.

You’ll want to catch a Sentret. Sentret can learn Cut, but so can Cyndaquil. Sentret’s main selling point is that it can learn Surf, and it’s the earliest available pokemon (besides Totodile) that can learn it and is available in grass rather than on water. Sentret can be found on Route 29 during the morning or day. But if it’s night and you don’t want to wait, you can instead catch Poliwag on Routes 30 and 31 during the night. Poliwag doesn’t learn Cut, but can learn Surf. Whichever one you catch, it will be quickly replaced once you can catch a better pokemon that can use Surf.

Next, catch a Hoothoot. You can catch it on Route 29 at night. Don’t bother leveling it up, its purpose on your team is to later learn Fly and Flash. It also helps to have a different pokemon to switch into to end status effects in battles. This is helpful against Falkner, because he likes to lower accuracy.

After this, you’re only going to have a few pokemon on your team. You’ll be relying on Cyndaquil a lot, so don’t be afraid to level it up. You’ll also want to save your money for later on, so being higher leveled means relying less on items. The ones you find lying around usually suffice. Early on, saving up money is important, and I’ll get into why shortly.

With this single-battler approach, the most troublesome opponent you’ll face along the way is your rival, who will have a level 16 Croconaw with Water Gun when you encounter him at the entrance to Ilex Forest. If you’re leveled sufficiently, you should be able to overcome it.

It’s Casey! Most of you likely saw this coming. Abra is just too good to pass up. You can obtain one from the Game Corner, but it’s only level 5 in Crystal, so you may as well try getting a level 10 one from Route 34. Abra teleports at first chance, so your best bet is to try catching it as soon as it appears.

Abra is the reason you’ve been saving your money up. In the Goldenrod Dept. Store, you can buy the TMs for Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, and Ice Punch for 3000 yen each. You’ll want to teach your Abra all three. Once it evolves to Kadabra at level 16, it will learn a Special attack to match it’s type, and will have phenomenal Speed and Sp.Atk stats! With it’s awesome selection of moves and great stats for using them, you might find yourself relying on Kadabra a little too much!

And it gets better: Kadabra can evolve into the unnecessarily-strong Alakazam by trading! If you have the option to do this, the rest of the game might not be much of a challenge. But that’s the idea; you’re trying to win.

The next pokemon you’ll want to catch is another Abra on Route 34. This Abra won’t be for battling, but trading to a guy at Goldenrod Dept. Store for a…

Machop. This Machop serves just one purpose on your team: to take on Goldenrod Gym. It can just about solo it, depending on its level. It can level up fast due to being a traded pokemon, which also helps. You might have a better time of Goldenrod Gym if you level Machop a bit first, but that’s only a minor inconvenience.

Whitney herself takes a bit of strategy. One approach that works for me is sending Quilava (Cyndaquil) against Miltank first, then have it use Smokescreen as long as it can get away with it, or until it has lowered its accuracy as far as it can go. Miltank’s Rollout might seem like a problem, but it starts weak and gains in strength with successive hits. But if its accuracy is lowered, it’s really hard for it to get those successive hits in. After that, Machop shouldn’t have much trouble cleaning up.

After Whitney is beat, you can just box Machop. It’s served its main purpose for this team. However, if you want to keep it in your team, that’s not a bad choice. It evolves into Machoke at level 28, and performs decently well against Jasmine and Pryce, and if you have a friend to trade with, you can get a superstrong Machamp. It’s your call.

Gyarados is basically a glorified HM slave as far as this team goes, but it can hold it’s own until you get Suicune if you choose to use it in battle. After beating Morty, your pokemon can use Surf out of battle, so use that to get to the shiny Gyarados in the middle of the Lake of Rage. It’s a one-off encounter, so be sure to save the game beforehand just in case you mess it up. Once you catch it, your Poliwag can be boxed if you caught one, as its purpose was to get you to Gyarados. Sentret can remain if you didn’t teach your Cyndaquil Cut.

Gyarados can learn Surf, Strength, Whirlpool and Waterfall, so it can grant you some serious mobility. Not only that, its stats are great, so using it as a battling pokemon isn’t a bad idea. Thrash is a recommended move if you choose to have it battle. Just know that there are no Water physical moves in Gen II, and Gyarados gets no offensive Flying moves, so much of its Attack potential goes to waste.

The phenom. Suicune has excellent stats all around, you can teach it Surf, and it’s only one level away from learning an Ice type move once captured. And it has a majestic appearance on top of all that.

At this point, your team should look like:

Typhlosion (battler)
Kadabra (battler)
Suicune (battler)
Hoothoot (Flash, Fly)
Gyarados (Surf, Strength, Waterfall, Whirlpool)
Sentret (in case you’d rather not teach Typhlosion Cut)

With that, you should be set for the rest of the game. One thing I recommend is making sure that Kadabra and Suicune are leveled well, because strong Ice users will come in handy against Lance. It’s possible to solo him with Kadabra, but it would take either a high level or careful play.

But what about…

There are a few options that are left out, so I’ll go over them.

Lapras is an excellent Water type for your team. It can learn Surf, Ice Beam, and Thunder, and you can obtain it right after you get to use Surf. The catch is, you can only catch one on Fridays. You’re not likely to be playing through the game pretty quickly if you’re waiting for a certain day of the week to catch a certain pokemon. Therefore, you’re likely much better off not concerning yourself with getting a Lapras for your playthrough.

Dratini is available too late in the game at too low a level, and even once fully-evolved, there are still better choices against your late-game opponents. The Extremespeed Dratini gift in Blackthorn City is more of a trophy pokemon than one that you’d use in a serious playthrough.

You might think that that Unown there is a joke, but you’d be surprised how many people get distracted during what is supposed to be a focused playthrough. You’re trying to get through Crystal quickly, getting distracted by ridiculous side-quests isn’t helping. Especially that Ruins of Alph side-quest. If you can find all the different forms of Unown, so what?

So, for your playthrough of this 17-year-old game, what’s your prize? Here it is:

A Celebi! Once you beat the champion, go to the Goldenrod Pokemon Center, take a step up, and try to leave. Someone will give you the GS Ball. Take it to Kurt. After that, you’ll have to wait a day for the event to continue, but then you can visit Kurt again, and he’ll give the ball back to you. Take it to the shrine in Ilex Forest to make a Celebi appear there! It’s a good idea to save the game before interacting with the shrine, in case you mess up catching Celebi.

The Celebi is at level 30. Sadly, its level will be high enough that it will have replaced its more competitively viable moves with different moves on its learnset, and there is no move relearner in Gen II. However, you can transfer it up to a Gen 7 game, and have it learn its moves in those games.

Also, you have the opportunity to get a shiny Celebi this way, though the odds of any encounter with one being shiny is 1 in 8192. Have fun soft-resetting, shiny hunters.

With Pokemon Gold and Silver being released to Virtual Console today, there will be many players out there that will look up teambuilding guides, considering that the Gold and Silver versions were hard.

Some would look up things like “Best Team For (Pokemon game or region)”. While these guides seem well-thought-out and comprehensive, they are flawed and are generally terrible for making in-game teams. The reason for this is because these guides usually suggest full teams of six pokemon with the idea being to be prepared for what the game throws at you, but these guides are terrible for the late game, when you face much higher-level opponents, and the EXP you get from battle doesn’t spread as well among six pokemon, leaving you underleveled and struggling against the later, more powerful opponents. This can be overcome with grinding, but it’s a serious chore to level up six pokemon one-at-a-time.

A better way to play the game is to focus on a core of three or four pokemon of different types, so you’ll have that balance of team diversity, and be on par with most opponents you face. The other two team members can be there for HMs so you can overcome the numerous obstacles that these games throw your way.

So, on to the team:

Your starter should be Cyndaquil. It’s hands-down the best Johto starter, and is well-equipped to take on many of the game’s challenges. It’s a fire type in a region where it’s great to be a fire type, having an advantage against gym leaders such as Bugsy and Jasmine, and against the common Grass and Bug types that you see many trainers use. Fire types are hard to come across in Johto, but this one is available to you at the start of the game.

Not only that, Typlosion rocks. It can learn Thunderpunch and Earthquake, which gives it excellent coverage against pokemon it would normally struggle against.

Cyndaquil can solo the game until you get to Goldenrod City, but it’s not a bad idea to get it a Pidgey companion until then. For one thing, Cyndaquil is weak to Mud Slap, which is spammed by Falkner, and lowers its accuracy. Pidgey is immune to the move, and gives you another pokemon to switch into to bring Cyndaquil’s accuracy back to normal. Also, later in the game, you can have Pidgey use Fly to get you around. You can instead get yourself a Hoothoot to do the same thing, if you think Pidgey is too mainstream. Also, Hoothoot can learn Flash, so it’s actually better in that regard.

Once you make it all the way to Route 34, you can catch yourself two pokemon that do your team big favors. One is Abra. Abra only knows Teleport, so catching it mostly involves chucking Pokeballs at it right off the bat and hoping they work. Once you catch an Abra, it doesn’t do much of anything until it reaches level 16. But when it does, it evolves to a superstrong Kadabra, and immediately gains a useful attack move. Not only that, Kadabra tends to learn strong moves sooner than it really needs to. Its defensive stats are low, but with the kind of speed and special attack stats it has, it might not matter very often. Glass cannon.

If you know someone else with Gold or Silver, you can evolve it to Alakazam through trading. This makes an already great pokemon even better, but still isn’t necessary because Kadabra can still get you through the game.

The second pokemon you want to catch on Route 34 is Drowzee. Not to raise, but to trade to someone in the Goldenrod Dept. Store for a Machop. Machop is great for a number of reasons. For one thing, it can just about solo Goldenrod’s Gym. Not only that, it can beat the many Normal and Rock types that you run into with ease. It learns strong moves that match its type by itself, has a high attack stat, and stays useful throughout the game. The fact that it levels up faster due to being a traded pokemon is the cherry on top.

Now, some might wonder about how to handle Whitney herself. She has a reputation for having a Miltank that’s so strong, that it brings many playthroughs to an end by discouraging players from continuing any further.

While Stomp and Milk Drink are moves to watch out for, the main concern with Miltank is its move Rollout, which starts out weak but gets to the point of wiping out teams as it’s used consecutively. However, this can be easily beaten by lowering Miltank’s accuracy. Cyndaquil might be weak to Rollout, but it starts out as a weak enough move that Cyndaquil might get a few uses of Smokescreen in. If Rollout can’t hit consecutively, it doesn’t gain in strength. After that, Machop can clean up with ease. With this strategy, Whitney will be crying away in no time. For those who never beat her, that literally happens. Be ready for it. Oh Whitney, why do you have to make things hard for us, every step of the way?

For your next team member, you have a pick between two equally-good choices. One is Gyarados from the Lake of Rage. It’s convenient in that you get it as part of a scripted event, so you can’t miss it (though you can fail to catch it, so save the game before battling it). Once you catch it, it can clear through most opponents just using Thrash, which it can use several times in a row with just one PP. It can also learn Surf, Waterfall, and Strength, which are good as attack moves or to use Gyarados as an HM slave. The drawback for Gyarados is that it doesn’t learn any moves that both match its type and utilizes its outstanding attack stat. All Water moves are special attacks in gen 2, and Gyarados doesn’t learn any Flying moves.

It’s more inconvenient, but Lapras is an excellent alternative. It can only be found in Union Cave on Friday after having beaten Morty (Surf is needed to get to it), but it’s well worth the effort. It’s a little on the slow side, but it has high HP and its stats are otherwise balanced, and it’s a Water/Ice type that can learn Ice Beam by itself. You’d have Surf at that point, so you’ll have a strong move for it already, and you can teach it Thunder if you want.

The other two pokemon on your team can be HM slaves, which can include things like Pidgey/Hoothoot to fly you around, something that can use Whirlpool if you prefer not to teach it to Lapras, or if you’re going with Lapras, you can still keep Gyarados around for HMs.

You can use either Lugia or Ho-oh on your team, depending on which version you’re playing. If so, it might be better to use it as a substitution for another pokemon on your team, if to avoid type redundancy. Lugia might make a good replacement for Lapras/Gyarados or Kadabra, to avoid having too many weaknesses to Electric or Dark. Players might be a little squeamish about subbing out their starter, but Ho-oh can replace Cyndaquil/Quilava/Typhlosion pretty well. It might add another weakness to electricity to your team, but Ho-oh’s special defense is very high, so Electric attacks might not do much damage, anyway.

So, there you have it. With this team, Pokemon Gold and Silver will be much easier. Certain opponents such as Lance and Red still won’t be a cakewalk, but this can get you through much of the game, without having to power-level too much. If you want a challenge, the Gold and Silver versions don’t have a Hard Mode. But you can go with Chikorita as your starter. That would make the game plenty hard.

Disagree with some of my team choices? Comments section.

Another Pokemon World Championships has come and gone, and we get to look at another batch of winning teams. I saw the VGC Masters Division finals match live, which was a treat. But it was one pokemon in finalist Wolfe Glick’s team that had me watching with particular interest: Raichu!

Because I like Raichu, was was interested in seeing Glick take the title (also, I didn’t like the attitude of his opponent much). And I was not disappointed. After years of living in the mascot pokemon’s shadow, Raichu actually made the champion’s team, and as a key member!

It almost never happened. One of the Raichu’s key moves was Endeavor, a move a Pikachu can only have if it were a special gift Pikachu given to participants of a special tournament that only permitted Electric type pokemon, and that Pikachu would only have been awarded as a prize if Pikachu were used enough in the competition. (I participated in this competition, by the way.) The Pikachu was made available, and it’s evolved form, Raichu, made it into the champion’s team!

Here’s the breakdown of Raichu’s moveset, as made available on the official Worlds website:

Raichu
Timid Nature
Ability: Lightning Rod
Item: Assault Vest
– Fake Out
– Volt Switch
– Endeavor
– Nuzzle
HP 36 / Def 204 / SpAtk 20 / SpDef 68 / Speed 180

Glick switched Raichu in when he predicted that his Primal Kyogre would take a Thunder attack, which activated Raichu’s Lightning Rod ability, which draws Electric type attacks to itself, nullifies them, and gives Raichu a Special Attack boost for its trouble. Fake Out wouldn’t do much damage, as evidenced by the Attack-reducing Timid nature. It’s apparently there to disrupt the opponent’s plays, such as preventing Primal Groudon from attacking. High Speed gives Raichu a faster Fake Out, which can land before many opponent’s priority moves. Volt Switch can then get Raichu out of there while simultaneously attacking, so Raichu can get another Fake Out in later, and disrupt future Thunder attacks. The surprise for me is the presence of the Assault Vest item, which gives Raichu plenty of Special Defense. This Raichu can take an Origin Pulse attack, and then come back with an Endeavor to make the opponents easier to clean up for its opponents. Nuzzle gives Raichu a means outside of Thunder Wave to paralyze opponents, and isn’t restricted by the Assault Vest item.

Raichu’s EV spread is pretty specific, but it’s designed with some specific circumstances in mind. For example, one of the most popular pokemon in Worlds is Mega Kangaskhan, which also has the move Fake Out. Between dueling Fake Outs, the fastest one wins out. This EV distribution allows Raichu to outspeed Mega Kangaskhan by one point. This spread also enables Raichu to survive attacks to allow it to get some nice Endeavor damage.

Glick was apparently one of three participants in the top 8 with the same strategy, so it seems like the idea to use Raichu in this way has been going around. Being someone who likes Raichu, I think it’s great to see Raichu finally get some love. And not just in the form of a Worlds victory, but also with a new form in the upcoming games, Pokemon Sun and Moon.

Was I talking about this new form? Yeah, I was talking about this new form. I was talking about it for days. This new Raichu uses its tail like a hoverboard. Not one of those has-wheels-and-touches-the-ground-but-we’ll-call-it-a-hoverboard-anyway kind of hoverboard that exists as a concession between our dreams and what we can currently produce, but this Raichu actually floats in place standing on its tail. So there.

This Raichu even gets a neat new ability, which doubles its Speed when electric terrain is active. Considering that Raichu is already very fast, this probably isn’t necessary, but it’s still cool. The one thing that might hold it back, however, is its new secondary Psychic typing, which isn’t a very good type competitively speaking. It’s weak to Knock Off, which is one of the most common moves on the competitive scene. There’s also Pursuit to watch out for, which would effectively trap Raichu in certain circumstances. Assuming its base stats remain the same, Raichu’s normally low Defense wouldn’t help much.

But, who knows? Some genius might figure out a way to get this Raichu on a Worlds winning team.