Pokemon Gold and Silver version release today on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, joining the likes of Blue, Red and Yellow that are already available. The release of the second generation of Pokemon games makes all generations of Pokemon available on the Nintendo 3DS either through the Virtual Console or by actually being available on the handheld.
One notable omission from the list is Crystal version. Crystal version was the third title in the second generation of games, joining Gold and Silver. Fans may recall that Yellow version was included with the initial round of Virtual Console games so why did Crystal get the shaft here?
One reason could be that Yellow represented a different game of sorts when compared to the other versions. Yellow gave players a Pikachu to start the game with and it followed in the footsteps of the anime. There may have been people out there who didn’t enjoy starting off with a Pikachu, I mean it certainly made the Pewter City gym a much harder challenge. There was a reason to buy Blue or Red over Yellow version and that may have been why it was included.
Crystal version arguably represents a straight up better version than Gold and Silver. You have better looking sprites with animations and the Battle Tower. Suicune also won’t flee from you in Crystal so you can get a good battle in with him. It’s possible someone decided somewhere that releasing Crystal with Gold and Silver would cannibalize sales and that’s not a bad assumption. By delaying the release of Crystal, we could see many people double dip on these Virtual Console titles. Gold and Silver have their differences as well but they don’t represent any quality of life changes over one another.
The same dataminer who revealed Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga DX has also revealed Pokemon Crystal for the Nintendo 3DS. This doesn’t mean 100 percent that Crystal is coming but it certainly does help us believe it a little more.
ahahaha they left the patches for Pokemon Crystal’s VC release in the GS VC ROMFS — “CGBBXTJ0.534.patch”. Classic.
Nintendo might just be waiting for the initial hype of the first two releases to die down before they decide to release Crystal. Keep in mind that we’re also very close to the launch of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon so Nintendo probably doesn’t want to take any attention away from that either.
As it stands right now, Pokemon Silver and Gold release today on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console for $9.99. Our best advice would be to just wait a while for the inevitable release of Pokemon Crystal. It just simply makes too much sense for it to not be coming. Besides, we now have some shreds of proof it exists in the first place and is just being held back for the time being.