Pokémon Crystal Version

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Description

Pokémon Crystal is an upgrade of the parallel Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver. The game is to its parallels like Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition and Pokémon Emerald are to to theirs. This means that the storyline, characters, and gameplay are basically the same, only there have been made several updates and changes to make this game more exciting and fun.

• The player can now play as both a male and a female character.
• The Pokémon Suicune plays a much bigger role, both as a character and a Pokémon. The player will meet it earlier and be able to catch it easier at Tin Tower as well as encountering it three times before.
• New characters: Eusine, The Poké Seer and more.
• New interface, a sign will appear at the bottom of the screen when entering a new area showing where the player is (route, area).
• New animations: Pokémon move when entering combat screen.
• New Pokémon locations, exceptions, moves and additions.

These are among the most significant changes to the upgrade version. However, the player will find many new details in the gameplay and interface that makes the game more exciting.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "Pokémon X" -- Working Title
• "Pokémon Versione Cristallo" -- Italian title
• "Pokémon Version Cristal" -- French title
• "Pokémon Kristall-Edition" -- German title
• "Pokémon Edición Cristal" -- Spanish title
• "Pocket Monsters Crystal" -- Japanese title
• "ポケットモンスター クリスタルバージョン" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Gameplay feature: Creature breeding / fusion
• Gameplay feature: Day / Night cycle
• Gameplay feature: Fishing
• Gameplay feature: Gambling
• Gameplay feature: Importable characters
• Gameplay feature: Interior decorating
• Gameplay feature: Monster capture / training
• Games made into comics
• Games made into movies
• Games made into TV series
• Games released as complementary versions
• Pokémon main RPG series
• Pokémon universe

User Reviews

Girl Power!

Game Boy Color

Lawnmower Man (149)

Critic Reviews

IGN	Game Boy Color	Jul 30, 2001	9 out of 10	90
Consoles Plus	Game Boy Color	Feb, 2001	90 out of 100	90
64 Power / big.N / N Games	Game Boy Color	Nov, 2001	88 out of 100	88
GameSpot	Game Boy Color	Jul 30, 2001	8.4 out of 10	84
Gamezone (Germany)	Game Boy Color	Oct 31, 2001	7.5 out of 10	75
Jeuxvideo.com	Game Boy Color	Oct 30, 2001	15 out of 20	75
Game Informer Magazine	Game Boy Color	Oct, 2001	7.25 out of 10	72
RPGFan	Game Boy Color	Sep 09, 2001	70 out of 100	70
Legendra	Game Boy Color	Oct 21, 2007		70
Game Informer Magazine	Game Boy Color	Oct, 2001	6.75 out of 10	68

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Trivia

"Vietnamese Crystal" Bootleg

A pirated version of the game, colloquially called Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal due to the country in which it was first known to be sold, became infamous after being featured in a Let's Play series on YouTube. The game is based on the official Japanese release, and seems to have been translated to at least one intermediate language before being translated into English. This has resulted in numerous mistranslations that are widely regarded to be comedic, as well as several severe bugs that make it difficult to play the game to completion.

Virtual Console Alterations

Since the Nintendo 3DS isn't compatible with the long-obsolete Game Link Cable, Virtual Console releases of this game use the system's local wireless features for link trades and battles. Several attack animations have also been toned down for the safety of players with photosensitive epilepsy or other sensory conditions, and Jynx's sprite in the Japanese release was changed to match its depiction in international versions.

In addition, one particular in-game event is significantly altered for the Virtual Console version. In the Game Boy Color version, capturing Celebi required use of the Pokémon Mobile System GB service, which was only available in Japan until the end of 2002. Although data for the sidequest was left in international releases, it was inaccessible through normal gameplay. The Virtual Console release makes this sidequest available to all regions without use of an outside event or service, and alters or removes several aspects of the quest to make it accessible much earlier in the story.

Regional Differences

In addition to the Celebi sidequest mentioned above, the Japanese Game Boy Color release of Crystal Version allows players to access wireless features through a peripheral called the Mobile Game Boy Adapter. These include trading and battling with other players online, shared details about other players' activity, and the ability to download event-exclusive content. The peripheral was not sold outside of Japan, so only a single event download was fully localized and implemented in international releases, where it was available through a slightly different method. None of these mobile features are functional in the Japanese Virtual Console release.

Awards

• Retro Gamer
  • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #3 Best Game Boy Game (together with Pokémon Gold Version and Pokémon Silver Version)

Related Web Sites

• Pokèmon Elite 2000 (A Pokèmon fan site good at covering the latest news about coming and existing Pokèmon games.)
• Psypokes (A comprehensive Pokèmon site that covers all there is to know about the Pokèmon games.)