Pokémon Crystal was released in 2000 by Nintendo for the Gameboy Color only, and it is a solitary version to the other second generation games: Pokémon Gold & Silver. In this game you’d choose between two different characters to play as in this specialized version of the Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver.
When Pokémon Crystal had hit the store shelves it was only a week and a half before Christmas in Japan. It had released on the 14th of December 2000 which would make for a nice Christmas present for kids 11 days later. However, for the rest of the world the dates would be July 29th 2001 for North America, September 30th 2001 for Australia and November 2nd 2001 for Europe.
Probably the most notable change from Gold & Silver would be introduction of the playable female character Kris alongside Ethan (the male counterpart). After the female trainer was made it became compulsory. Another change made about the game was that with a wild any type of battle the front sprite of the opposing Pokémon would have a little animation when it appears in a battle. Pokémon Crystal had been the first game to include the animations for front sprites. Even if they wouldn’t be used again until Pokémon Emerald, they would become another compulsory requirement when making future games.
My opinion on Pokémon Crystal is that it’s a great game, even if it is a solitary version to Pokémon Gold and Silver. This version (in a way) actually changed the Pokémon series, and that’s something that we should be grateful for. The fact that the game is slightly different doesn’t make this a third variant of Pokémon Gold & Silver or a second Pokémon Yellow having a different storyline. Although some people consider that it’s too like Pokémon Gold & Silver, as it only has subtle changes. One of these changes was that after you beat the Elite Four at level 60 then you can get them with Lugia being caught after getting the Silver Wing in Pewter City, and Ho-Oh after catching all three legendary dogs.
Something that could have been improved was that when the Celebi-event occurred in 2002 they could have added the event to the English variant since the text was already there ready for being added into the game.
Overall Pokémon Crystal did alright in reception, and it’s sales were crazy. In Japan Pokémon Crystal got 549,135 sales in its first week. And six years later, it sold 1,001,563 more cartridges.