Pokémon Crystal: the complete guide to Johto's third version

A playable heroine, sprites that move and a legendary feline that becomes the focus of the game: Pokémon Crystal is the most polished version of the second generation, and paradoxically the worst-selling entry in the main series. Released in Europe in early November 2001, this Game Boy Color-only cartridge revisits Johto and Kanto and adds what was missing — a real quest built around Suicune, a Battle Tower, a phone that is finally good for something and, in Japan, a groundbreaking online service. Here's the complete guide: the console, the French release dates, what Crystal really changes, the Pokémon you won't find in it, and what the series owes it.

Contents

• The first Pokémon cartridge exclusive to the Game Boy Color
• From Japan to France: November 2001
• Johto and Kanto, fine-tuned down to the last detail
• Kris: the first playable heroine in the series
• Suicune, the real reason this version exists
• What's new: the Battle Tower, the phone and small pleasures
• Same starters, reshuffled legendaries
• The missing Pokémon: twenty-eight gaps to fill
• What players remember
• The legacy: what Crystal handed down to the series
• Pokémon Crystal at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The first Pokémon cartridge exclusive to the Game Boy Color

Pokémon Crystal is the third version of the second generation, following the path Pokémon Yellow had opened. The principle is familiar: take the existing pair, fix it, expand it, rewrite a little. Development began in 1999, when Gold and Silver had only just come out in Japan.

The big difference lies in the hardware. Where Gold and Silver still ran on an original Game Boy, Crystal requires a Game Boy Color: it's the first main-series Pokémon game that won't run on the 1989 monochrome console. That choice frees up memory and color, and makes room for additions the first two cartridges couldn't afford.

The most visible one is also the simplest: the Pokémon sprites come to life as they enter battle. A flap of wings, a jaw opening, a wagging tail — barely a few frames, but the effect is striking after five years of static drawings. The series would never go back.

From Japan to France: November 2001

Japan got Pokémon Crystal on December 14, 2000, thirteen months after Gold and Silver. North America followed on July 30, 2001, and Australia on September 30, 2001.

Europe came last, on November 2, 2001. French players therefore had only seven months to digest Gold and Silver, which arrived on April 6, 2001, before an enhanced version of the same games landed — a tight turnaround that partly explains its lukewarm commercial reception.

The cartridge came back on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on January 26, 2018, four months after Gold and Silver. That re-release also gave Western players something they had never had: access to the Celebi event, which had stayed Japan-only for seventeen years.

Johto and Kanto, fine-tuned down to the last detail

The storyline is still that of Gold and Silver. You set out from New Bark Town, fetch an Egg from Mr. Pokémon, watch a rival steal a Pokémon from Professor Elm, take on eight Johto Gyms and then the Elite Four, and finally return to Kanto for sixteen badges in total. The Gym Leaders and the Elite Four are unchanged.

🧵 Eight Johto Gyms, then Kanto on top of that: sixteen badges to earn before you're done. The same kind of emblem, actually stitched onto the sleeve of your jacket? That's where our Pokémon crests and patches come in.

It's the locations that were reworked, sometimes heavily. The Dragon's Den, Union Cave, the Ice Path and the Burned Tower were extensively redesigned, and the puzzle rooms in the Ruins of Alph now feature inscriptions in Unown script at the back of each chamber.

The stop in Blackthorn City gains a whole ritual. After beating Gym Leader Clair, the player has to go to the Dragon's Den and answer a personality quiz set by the elders of the Dragon Shrine about the way they raise their Pokémon. They then receive a Dratini that knows Extreme Speed — and only after that, their badge.

A host of small details make the game more comfortable: a sign shows where you are as you enter each location, saving is faster, Kurt makes up to 99 Poké Balls of the same kind per day instead of just one, and you can go up to the rooftops of the department stores in Goldenrod City and Celadon City to catch the sales.

Kris: the first playable heroine in the series

For the first time in five years and six games, the series lets you choose. Alongside Ethan, the hero of Gold and Silver, Crystal introduces Kris, a brand-new character, and asks the player to choose between boy and girl.

The staging matters: the choice comes right at the start of the introduction, before the professor's speech even begins, rather than midway through a questionnaire as in later games. A way of saying that it isn't an option, but the starting point.

The addition seems trivial today, so standard has it become — every generation since offers the choice. It wasn't in 2001, for a game with a huge audience of girls and boys alike, and of all Crystal's choices it's probably the one that has most lastingly changed the series.

Suicune, the real reason this version exists

In Gold and Silver, Suicune is a roaming legendary just like the other two. In Crystal, it becomes the through-line of the story: it's the one on the box art, the one you run into several times at specific spots, and the one you have to chase across Johto before you can finally battle it.

The game pairs it with a tailor-made character. Eusine, a Pokémon scholar from Celadon City, introduces himself as a PokéManiac obsessed with Suicune, which he has been chasing in vain for ten years. The first meeting takes place at the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City, and from then on he never lets the player out of his sight.

This treatment changes everything: where Gold and Silver let the trio of Raikou, Entei and Suicune flee on the first turn, Crystal turns one of them into a character in its own right. A dedicated encounter theme was even composed for the three legendary beasts.

It was the first time the series had built a narrative quest around a box-art legendary. Ruby and Sapphire, and every generation after them, would make it a rule: the Pokémon on the box is no longer a hidden reward, it's at the heart of the story.

What's new: the Battle Tower, the phone and small pleasures

The most far-reaching addition is the Battle Tower, set up on Route 40, just outside Olivine City. It's the first in the series: streaks of battles with a locked-in team, no story, purely for the thrill of the challenge. Every post-game battle facility in later generations descends from it.

The Pokégear phone finally becomes useful. Some Trainers you meet now give you their number not just for rematches, but to give you items — evolution stones, Berries — or to tip you off about sales at the Goldenrod City department store. Their lines are far more varied than before.

📱 A Trainer who calls to give you an evolution stone or tell you about the sales in Goldenrod City: that's what the Pokégear is for once Crystal gets its hands on it. Your own phone will never have that contact list, but it can wear one of our Samsung Pokémon cases.

The radio gains Buena's Password, a daily game where the host broadcasts a password that you have to remember and then repeat to her in person to earn points. A seer sets up shop north of Cianwood City and reveals where, when and at what level a Pokémon was caught — unless it was traded.

The rest comes down to delightful little details: a fishing contest devoted to Magikarp at the Lake of Rage, where beating the size record now earns you an Elixir, Kurt's granddaughter who moves around while her grandfather is working, Lance's redecorated chamber, the touched-up ending cutscene. Crystal is a game of finishing touches.

Same starters, reshuffled legendaries

At the start, nothing changes: Professor Elm still offers Chikorita, Cyndaquil or Totodile, and the Egg fetched from Mr. Pokémon hatches into Togepi. The rival still steals the starter that's strong against yours.

The major legendaries, on the other hand, are reshuffled. Since Crystal has no twin version, it offers both Ho-Oh and Lugia in the same playthrough, at the Tin Tower and the Whirl Islands. That's a strong selling point for anyone who wanted to avoid buying two cartridges.

Then there's the case of Celebi. The game does contain a complete event: a GS Ball handed over at a Pokémon Center, taken to Kurt for analysis, then placed on the shrine in Ilex Forest, where a level 30 Celebi appears. But the GS Ball was never distributed in the West: it came through a Japanese service. The event, even though it was translated in Western versions, stayed out of reach until the 2018 3DS re-releases.

The missing Pokémon: twenty-eight gaps to fill

A third version doesn't have exclusives in the usual sense, since it has no twin. What it does have is a list of missing Pokémon, and Crystal's is a long one: twenty-eight Pokémon are absent and have to be brought over from another game by trading.

Eighteen come from the first generation, exactly as in Gold and Silver: the three Kanto starter lines, the two fossil lines, the three legendary birds, Mewtwo and Mew. So you have to dig out a copy of Red, Blue or Yellow.

Ten more have to come from Gold and Silver: Vulpix and Ninetales, Mankey and Primeape, the line from Mareep up to Ampharos, Girafarig, as well as Remoraid and Octillery. The Link Cable is still a must to reach all 251 entries.

🎒 Twenty-eight empty slots in the Pokédex, and nothing fills them without the Link Cable and a Red, Blue or Yellow cartridge pulled out of the drawer. The day you carry all that gear over to a friend's place, it's exactly the kind of load made for one of our Pokémon backpacks and schoolbags.

What players remember

In Japan, Crystal was much more than a third version: it was the first Pokémon game to go online. Plugged into the Mobile System GB through a phone adapter, it let you trade, battle remotely and receive official distributions, including the famous GS Ball. None of it ever made it outside Japan.

In the West, what people remember are the animated sprites and the Suicune quest. Watching your Pokémon shake itself off as it entered battle left a lasting impression on the players of 2001, and the hunt for the legendary feline gives the game a backbone that Gold and Silver lacked.

Commercially, though, the verdict is harsh: at 6.39 million copies — the latest published figure, as of December 2014 — Crystal remains the worst-selling game in the main series. The public had grown tired of enhanced versions, the Game Boy Color was nearing the end of its life, and the Game Boy Advance came out a few months later.

The tide eventually turned. Now hard to find, the cartridge is one of the most sought-after by collectors, and its critical reputation has only grown: many consider it the best version of Johto, remakes included.

The legacy: what Crystal handed down to the series

The most obvious legacy is the choice of character. Since Crystal, no main-series game has offered a single fixed hero, and the boy-or-girl selection screen has become a fixture of every new generation.

Next comes the Battle Tower, the blueprint for all competitive post-game content: Battle Frontier, Battle Subway, Battle Maison, Battle Tree. Each generation has its own take, but the principle laid down in 2000 — fixed-rule battles, no story — hasn't changed.

A third legacy, subtler still: the way the box-art legendary is staged. Suicune, chased across Johto, paved the way for Groudon, Kyogre, Dialga and Palkia, all of them woven into the story rather than tucked away in an end-game cave.

As for Johto, the region got a full reimagining with Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, released in Europe on March 26, 2010 for Nintendo DS. Those remakes borrow plenty of ideas from Crystal, starting with Eusine and his quest — proof that the third version had gotten it right.

Pokémon Crystal at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• When did Pokémon Crystal come out in France?
  Pokémon Crystal was released in Europe on November 2, 2001, just seven months after Pokémon Gold and Silver, which arrived on April 6, 2001. Japan had already discovered it on December 14, 2000, and North America on July 30, 2001.
• Does Pokémon Crystal work on an original Game Boy?
  No. Pokémon Crystal is the first game in the series that isn't compatible with the original Game Boy: it requires a Game Boy Color. Pokémon Gold and Silver still ran on both consoles.
• What does Pokémon Crystal add compared to Gold and Silver?
  Crystal lets you play as a girl, Kris, for the first time, animates Pokémon sprites as they enter battle, and adds the Battle Tower, Buena's Password on the radio, an expanded phone system, the Dratini from the Dragon's Den, and above all an entire quest devoted to Suicune alongside the character Eusine.
• Who is Eusine in Pokémon Crystal?
  Eusine is a Pokémon scholar from Celadon City who describes himself as a PokéManiac obsessed with Suicune and has been chasing it in vain for ten years. You first meet him at the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City, then keep running into him throughout the pursuit of the legendary feline.
• How do you get Celebi in Pokémon Crystal?
  The event does exist: a GS Ball handed to you at a Pokémon Center, taken to Kurt for analysis, then placed on the shrine in Ilex Forest makes a level 30 Celebi appear. But the GS Ball was never distributed in the West on Game Boy Color: players had to wait for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console re-release on January 26, 2018.
• How many Pokémon are missing from Pokémon Crystal?
  Twenty-eight Pokémon are absent from the game. Eighteen come from the first generation, namely the three Kanto starter lines, the two fossil lines, the three legendary birds, Mewtwo and Mew. Ten more have to be traded over from Gold and Silver: Vulpix, Ninetales, Mankey, Primeape, Mareep, Flaaffy, Ampharos, Girafarig, Remoraid and Octillery.

In short

Crystal met the thankless fate of third versions: out too late, sold too few copies, overshadowed by the next generation. And yet it's the one that gave Johto a story, handed the whole series a choice of character and laid down the first Battle Tower. Twenty-five years later, you're still playing with its ideas without knowing it. And Suicune, made a star by this cartridge, has never left the pantheon of the most beloved legendaries of all.