Pokémon Crystal


is a role-playing video game developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. It is an enhanced version of Pokémon Gold and Silver, and is part of the second generation of the Pokémon video game series. It was released in Japan on December 14, 2000, North America on July 29, 2001 and Europe on November 2, 2001.
On January 26, 2018, Pokémon Crystal was re-released worldwide via the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Pokémon Crystal is largely the same as in Gold and Silver, although it has several new features. It is the first Pokémon game to allow players to choose the sex of their character, while previously the character was always male. Pokémon have animated sprites; for example, when a Cyndaquil enters battle, the flames on its back flicker. This feature was absent in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, before reappearing in Pokémon Emerald and all subsequent games. In addition, a couple of subplots were added, one involving the legendary Pokémon Suicune, featured on the front cover of the game, and the other involving the Unown. The game's most significant addition is the Battle Tower, a new building which allows players to participate in Pokémon Stadium-like fights. The Japanese edition of the game was exclusively bundled with the a device that allowed for connecting with other players via a mobile phone.

Setting and story

The setting and story remains largely the same as Pokémon Gold and Silver.

Reception

Pokémon Crystal was well received 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. Craig Harris of IGN gave the game an "outstanding" 9 out of 10 stating, "The final Game Boy Color edition is definitely the version to get if you aren't already one of the upteenth billion owners of the previous games, with Crystals slight updates to the design and graphics. But there's not much in this edition that makes it a "must buy" for folks who already own a copy or two of the previous editions". In Japan, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 34 out of 40.
It was the second best-selling Game Boy Color game in Japan, with 1,871,307 copies sold.