For the longest time, Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver were my favorite games in the series. Generation two just charmed me with it's game-changing additions, cool but familiar Pokémon, and surprise inclusion of the original Kanto region. And who doesn't love the Dark type? Second gen was my favorite gen for many years, all the way until Black and White came along (fight me). But since I was a kid at the time, I came to learn that there's a lot about Gold and Silver that I never knew. If you were also a kid back then, chan🐼ces are there are a few things that wꦚould surprise you as well.

For instance, did you ever wonder what happened to iconic locations like the Safari Zone or Cinnabar Island? Did Kanto experience some sort of massive natural disaster between games? And were Lugia and Ho-Oh just harder to capture? It turns out that they actually were, because there was a glitch working againꩲst you. There were also many hidden quests, characters, and attacks that the developers and censors were trying to hide from you. Now's the time to reveal all these secrets.

So scroll on, if you dare, to find out some sinister truths about Johto, the land of myths and annoying roaming legendaries. Gold and Silver might be pleasantly nostal♊gic, but there's nothing wrong with taking away a bit of your childhood, is there?

25 🦹 Not All Bad ꦚ

Another fun fact about Dark-types is that the developers had a more extreme interpretation of them for their introduction in Gold and Silver. In Japanese, Pokémon's original language, the word for the Dark type is actually closer to Evil type. Meaning that, at first anyway, they weren't really meant to repr🌟esent the night or shadows. They were literal embodiments of sinister intentions and underhanded battle strategies. Of course, later generations would expand the Dark-type to give it a more diverse and nuanced impression.🥂 Absol, for instance, actually tries to help humans but is seen as evil because of its severe appearance. Zorua is a tricky illusionist but really just wants to make friends. Pokémon like that flesh out the Dark type, but in generation two it was all evil, all the time.

24 ﷽ 🌄 Bye Bye Buddy

Your old Pokémon games are probably gone, and your beloved Pokémon with them. You might feel a desire to dig out your old Gold or Silver cartridge after reading this list, but it's highly likely you'll find that the save data is no more. That's because Game Boy games use an internal battery to save game data. After all, there was no cloud or system memory in '90s gaming. Like any battery, your Game Boy cartridge batteries are destined to lose power. When that happens, your save data goes kaput. Even more tragic is that your games have likely already gone away in the twenty years it's been since the games were released. So your Feraligator, Entei, and other Johto friends are p꧃robably lost to the ravages of time.

23 ♊ Someone Actually Got Offended By This

When games are released outside of their country of origin, they have to go through the process of censorship al꧑l over again. Different cultures have different values, after all. It's common for Japanese games to contain certain grown-up themes that Western parents would freak out over.

While Pokémon has never been in trouble for adult humor, Gold and Silver did have Firebreather Dick.

As a Firebreather, Dick's entire character was that he likes Fire types. That's it. Even so, Dick managed to raise someone's ire with his name alone. We know this because Firebreather Dick was changed to Firebreather Richard in the DS remake. Because clearly, a guy named Dick in a video game has the potential to corrupt the nation's youth. Fortunately for his fans, Dick was restored in all his glory for the 3DS Virtual Console release of Gold and Silver.

22 🐓 ♑ No One Will Miss This

The Safari Zone was torn down, burned, and all the Pokémon sent away. Notice how it isn't present in the Gold and Silver version of Kanto? What h𓂃appened in the two years between gen🌺 one and two? Did the people of Fuchsia City just decide to destroy a Pokémon preserve? Probably not.

The real reason the Safari Zone didn't make it into Gold and Silver is that the team just ran out of time to put it in the game.

It was eventually restored Heart Gold and Soul Silver. But as a kid with an active imagination and a penchant for asking questions, I couldn't help but draw some grim conclusions when I first noted its absence. In f🌊act, much of Kanto seems to be gone in gen two, and there's that horrible volca🤪no incident on Cinnabar Island. It's enough to give fans fuel for fan theories about natural disasters in Kanto...

21 🐽 Winking Without Consꦬent

Some trainers in the original Gold and Silver were apparently too adult for Western audiences. We already saw what happened to poor Firebreather Dick, but the actual appearances of certain trainers that players battled on the various routes also needed to be altered from their original Japanese versions. In those releases, Fisherman smoked and Sages and Mediums appeared to be praying. However, both the cigarettes and prayers were removed for Western release. Even more bizarre are the Swimmer and Beauty, who were changed from winking at the player to not winking. But their poses remained the same, so it was literally just the winking that was a problem. Apparently winking is too spicy for American children. Even though we have full on 3D-modeled bikinis and jokes about the female anatomy in Sun and Moon.

20 Chimeras For Kids! 🙈

Since Mewtwo wasn't able to be captured in the original Gold and Silver, the developers wanted to leave a piece of him behind. Literally. The Unknown Dungeon outside of Cerulean City is sealed up in Gold and Silver, meaning players cannot access Mewtwo's lair. It might still be sitting there, it might be in Red's PC box, or it could be spreading its reign of carnage and terror around some other region. However, there is an item called the Berserk Gene sitting right outside the cave. Due to Mewtwo's history with genetics, it makes sense that the item has some connection to it. The item raises a Pokémon'🍌s attacks but confuses it. Which seems an awful lot like the way Mewtwo itself acted. So...apparently it's so easy to make your own horrifying genetic mutant Pokémon that even a ten-year-old can do it!

19 🐟 🎐 What Happens In Celadon...

It turns out the whole EA lootbox fiasco wasn't the first time gambling in video games came under fire. Many fans of early Pokémon will remember the Game Corner. A staple of those first Pokémon games, the Game Corner was a casin🙈𒅌o in Celadon City where players could trade their Poké-dollars for coins to gamble with.

Rare Pokémon like Dratini could even be won if you were lucky enough to rake in the coins.

Unfortunately, European censors didn't like the idea of gambling being present in a kids game. Game Freak seemed to not care at first, but eventually folded under the pressure and eliminated the Game Corner from Black and White on. 🍌So if kids want to gamble in modern gaming they'll have to be content with lootboxes.

18 Supposed To Be A Good Guy ဣ

Drowzee's Pokédex entry has some dark implications. "It remembers every dream it eats. It rarely eats the dreams of adults because children's are much tastier." The idea that Drowzee creeps up on innocent children has terrified fans for years♔. In fact, Drowzee and Hypno taking children and trapping them in endless nightmares just to taste their sweet fear has inspired countless fan art and even a song.

The truly bizarre thing is that Drowzee should actually be a helpful monster.

Drowzee's design is inspiredꦬ by the Baku, a Japanese mythological creature that looks like a Tapir. The Baku are known to eat the dreams of humans through our n🌄ostrils, but they tend to like eating bad dreams. Because of this, they are seen as benevolent creatures. So really, the kids should want Drowzee in their rooms at night. Wait that came out wrong.

17 Th🍨e Light Screen♔ Ceiling

Pokémon Gold and Silver introduced the concept of Pokémon genders. This opened the doors for a variety of new game features that took advantage of newfound diversity. Pokémon could mate and produce eggs. Certain 🐷attacks like Attract only worked on the opposite gender (they could only be progressive with one thing at a time). However, the introduction of ✅gender also came with an odd bias.

In Gold and Silver, gender was determined by the Attack IV.

A side effect of it being that way was the female Pokémon could never reach the highest possible attack stat. Essentially, boys were always stronger than girls. A weird statement to make, especially in the generation that introduced the female playable trainer.𒁏 It certainly wouldn't fly in 2018.

16 🎀 ꦅ Don't Look At Me Like That You Monster

Heart Gold and Soul Silver were remakes for the Nintendo DS that brought Gold and Silver into the fourth generation of Pokémon. They introduced many of the newer monsters to Johto, including the cute balloon ghost known as Drifloon. Unfortunately, Drifloon wasn't visiting with the best of intentions. As the Heart Gold and Soul Silver Pokédex says,

"It is whispered that any child who mistakes Drifloon for a balloon and holds on to it could wind up missing."

Just imagine grabbing a balloon and then never seeing your parents again. Worst. Vacation. Ever. Maybe Poké parents should skip the trip to Johto and vacation in Alola instead. The worst thing there is a cuddly ♔bear that might hug you until your spine breaks. Yo🌟u know...maybe just never travel in the Pokémon world ever.