I'm just retooling a review from elsewhere with this, but I think it's the most I have to say about this game and this series.
Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal weren't the best work Game Freak had to offer as video games. The Kanto region is a cool way to top the experience off, but once the wonder of stepping back into it wears off it's ultimately unpopulated and missing any real attractions past a boss gauntlet. The battle system doesn't push R/B/Y's too far forward. The low level curve is terrible to play through, evidence of the game's rushed and troubled production. And in a horrifically poor design decision so many of the cool new Pokémon are trapped in the post-game, robbing you of what makes a new Pokémon journey so exciting. Even from a music perspective, I'd maybe say Black/White had the objectively "better" soundtrack? It made the transition to a modern electronic style without compromising the Pokémon sound; G/S/C's soundtrack was merely evolution of a winning formula.
Despite the games' flaws, forum keyboard warriors have raved since the dawn of Web 2.0 about Gen II. Their battlecries bellow: "Gen II was the best generation!" "Stepping into Kanto will forever be the best thing in a Pokémon game!" "Gen I but better!" "Night/day!" The inane arguments rage into eternity. I know - I was one of those saps tilting at windmills on GameFAQs. But why? Why do we hold this inferior game so close to our hearts?
To other zillennials the hype for EVEN MORE POKEMON behind this game could be a ubiquitously happy memory of the pervasive optimism in the 90's and that '00-'01 bonus round that bred Pokémon before the everyday edgy brown grit aesthetics of the mid 00's were dumped into the media young nerds consumed. Nostalgia lets us regress to a younger view where Satoshi Tajiri's design didn't seem so escapist; a landscape of exploration, of collaboration, of unfettered freedom to blaze your own trail with friends. The notion that even when you think your journey is done, there's the rest of the world to discover - with even more to return home to! Maybe that's the shared siren song dragging us back to Gen II?
Nah. Here's a spicier take to snap you back to the present with alllll those feelings intact: every one of those emotions were firmly rooted in, and still drip from, the glory of the GSC soundtrack. Stop trying to farm upvotes on here or reddit about which generation is best, and go find a well-mixed recording of this soundtrack. Play it from start to end. Even if the nostalgia itself doesn't resonate, the ~117 tracks between these 3 cartridges are just as wonderful, majestic, melancholic, triumphant, eerie, tranquil, competitive, and satisfying today as they were 20 years ago, despite - or maybe due to - its primal simplicity. It pushes the GBC sound system with more dense and varied sounds and arrangements, emulating kotos and shakuhachis to paint Johto's traditional Japanese countryside style. The entire rearrangement of Red/Blue's soundtrack complements the Kanto backdrop, framing its sparsely produced map instead as a quiet country past its tale, events already transpired, its king atop its summit awaiting your challenge... Masuda and Ichinose stuffed all that emotion between the seams of 3-4 MIDI tracks, playing out of a piece of 90's tech for children. They nailed it. Is that not the coolest fucking shit? With the humble Game Boy sound hardware, it holds the narrative of the journey all on its own. But you still need to get those tracks to play back; the actual game, through all its flaws and imperfections, still pieces that magical adventure together.
This game is far from the best in the series, sure. I do not care. I adore it. There's plenty of things that I'm still fond of from my youth that I can maintain a critical standpoint on, but I'm long gone for Pokémon. Nostalgia and bias will always color the memory and emotions surrounding things dear to our young hearts, and for me that's less about the Pokémon series or games themselves - it's a dinosaur of a franchise that's always too afraid to invent instead of iterate in the chase for EVERYone's money. (Gotta catch 'em all!) My undying love for it stands instead with its stellar library of music; there is absolutely nothing that conveys the simple, kiddish optimism in the journeys these soundtracks tell, and it makes me feel forever young. Right here at Gen II is the peak of it, and even as a continuing, jaded member of the Church of Pikachu I doubt any other entry will ever have music that strikes closer to my heart than a lovely rendition of the National Park theme.
so suck on that, xx_SephirothLover1998_xx
Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal weren't the best work Game Freak had to offer as video games. The Kanto region is a cool way to top the experience off, but once the wonder of stepping back into it wears off it's ultimately unpopulated and missing any real attractions past a boss gauntlet. The battle system doesn't push R/B/Y's too far forward. The low level curve is terrible to play through, evidence of the game's rushed and troubled production. And in a horrifically poor design decision so many of the cool new Pokémon are trapped in the post-game, robbing you of what makes a new Pokémon journey so exciting. Even from a music perspective, I'd maybe say Black/White had the objectively "better" soundtrack? It made the transition to a modern electronic style without compromising the Pokémon sound; G/S/C's soundtrack was merely evolution of a winning formula.
Despite the games' flaws, forum keyboard warriors have raved since the dawn of Web 2.0 about Gen II. Their battlecries bellow: "Gen II was the best generation!" "Stepping into Kanto will forever be the best thing in a Pokémon game!" "Gen I but better!" "Night/day!" The inane arguments rage into eternity. I know - I was one of those saps tilting at windmills on GameFAQs. But why? Why do we hold this inferior game so close to our hearts?
To other zillennials the hype for EVEN MORE POKEMON behind this game could be a ubiquitously happy memory of the pervasive optimism in the 90's and that '00-'01 bonus round that bred Pokémon before the everyday edgy brown grit aesthetics of the mid 00's were dumped into the media young nerds consumed. Nostalgia lets us regress to a younger view where Satoshi Tajiri's design didn't seem so escapist; a landscape of exploration, of collaboration, of unfettered freedom to blaze your own trail with friends. The notion that even when you think your journey is done, there's the rest of the world to discover - with even more to return home to! Maybe that's the shared siren song dragging us back to Gen II?
Nah. Here's a spicier take to snap you back to the present with alllll those feelings intact: every one of those emotions were firmly rooted in, and still drip from, the glory of the GSC soundtrack. Stop trying to farm upvotes on here or reddit about which generation is best, and go find a well-mixed recording of this soundtrack. Play it from start to end. Even if the nostalgia itself doesn't resonate, the ~117 tracks between these 3 cartridges are just as wonderful, majestic, melancholic, triumphant, eerie, tranquil, competitive, and satisfying today as they were 20 years ago, despite - or maybe due to - its primal simplicity. It pushes the GBC sound system with more dense and varied sounds and arrangements, emulating kotos and shakuhachis to paint Johto's traditional Japanese countryside style. The entire rearrangement of Red/Blue's soundtrack complements the Kanto backdrop, framing its sparsely produced map instead as a quiet country past its tale, events already transpired, its king atop its summit awaiting your challenge... Masuda and Ichinose stuffed all that emotion between the seams of 3-4 MIDI tracks, playing out of a piece of 90's tech for children. They nailed it. Is that not the coolest fucking shit? With the humble Game Boy sound hardware, it holds the narrative of the journey all on its own. But you still need to get those tracks to play back; the actual game, through all its flaws and imperfections, still pieces that magical adventure together.
This game is far from the best in the series, sure. I do not care. I adore it. There's plenty of things that I'm still fond of from my youth that I can maintain a critical standpoint on, but I'm long gone for Pokémon. Nostalgia and bias will always color the memory and emotions surrounding things dear to our young hearts, and for me that's less about the Pokémon series or games themselves - it's a dinosaur of a franchise that's always too afraid to invent instead of iterate in the chase for EVERYone's money. (Gotta catch 'em all!) My undying love for it stands instead with its stellar library of music; there is absolutely nothing that conveys the simple, kiddish optimism in the journeys these soundtracks tell, and it makes me feel forever young. Right here at Gen II is the peak of it, and even as a continuing, jaded member of the Church of Pikachu I doubt any other entry will ever have music that strikes closer to my heart than a lovely rendition of the National Park theme.
so suck on that, xx_SephirothLover1998_xx