Pokémon Crystal is the third game in the Pokémon video game series' incarnation for the Nintendo Game Boy Color. It follows Pokémon Gold and Silver.

The game was released in Japan on December 14, 2000 and on July 21, 2001 in North America. It was followed by the Game Boy Advance games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.

Game information

Pokémon Crystal was an enhanced remake of Pokémon Gold and Silver.

In addition to the new 100 Pokémon introduced to the series in Gold and Silver, Pokémon Crystal featured the ability to allow players to finally choose what sex they want to play as, male or female. This is a feature that has been used in all games made after Crystal except for Pokémon Colosseum.

One of the game's biggest additions was the Battle Tower. A new building was added west of the city of Olivine which allowed players to participate in Pokémon Stadium-like fights.

A focus on the Pokémon Suicune was also added as a subplot. Some Crystal-only events involve running into a man named Eusine, who is hunting Suicune as well.

Another feature introduced in Crystal and later reused is the Move Tutor. After the Elite Four is defeated, a man would start appearing twice a week who would teach the player's Pokémon one of three moves – Flamethrower, Ice Beam, or Thunderbolt – if they could learn the move. In Crystal, this required Game Center coins.

The player would also receive a new egg from the Daycare Couple for free. This was in addition to the egg players would receive earlier in the game, making two eggs they would get in the game without doing any breeding.

In the Japanese version of Crystal, the player could link up with others through the use of a mobile phone. The Goldenrod City Pokémon Center was replaced by a much larger building which included the machine to use this feature. Using the mobile phone link-up would give the player an extra item, a GS Ball. After taking the Ball to Kurt in Azalea Town to examine, the player must place the GS Ball in the Ilex Forest shrine. This causes a level 30 Celebi to fly down and attack the player. Two Gameshark codes can be used to activate the GS Ball related events and eventually catch Celebi in the English version of Crystal.

The Pokémon

In total, there are two 251 Pokémon that can be used in Pokémon Crystal. However, in Crystal alone, there are only two 222 Pokémon that can be caught or seen. For the additional 28 Pokémon, the player would have to trade with other games.

For ten of the Pokémon, one would have to at least trade with Pokémon Gold and Silver. These Pokémon can be traded from Gold and Silver:

The ten Pokémon are:

• Mareep
• Flaaffy
• Ampharos
• Girafarig
• Remoraid
• Octillery
• Mankey (can also be caught in the Red/Blue/Yellow era)
• Primeampe (can also be caught in the Red/Blue/Yellow era)
• Vulpix (can also be caught in the Red/Blue/Yellow era)
• Ninetales (can also be caught in the Red/Blue/Yellow era)

However, there are a total of seventeen Pokémon that can't be caught in Gold, Silver or Crystal. To capture them, a player must trade with Pokémon Blue (or Pocket Monsters: Green in Japan), Red, or Yellow.

These seventeen Pokémon are:

• Bulbasaur
• Ivysaur
• Venusaur
• Charmander
• Charmeleon
• Charizard
• Squirtle
• Wartortle
• Blastoise
• Articuno
• Zapdos
• Moltres
• Omanyte
• Omastar
• Kabuto
• Kabutops
• Mewtwo

The final two Pokémon, Celebi and Mew, are not obtainable in any of the games themselves without a cheating device. They must be received directly from Nintendo.