As classic RPGs go, Pokémon Gold and Silver have to be two of the best-loved games out there. After the success of Pokémon Red and Blue, it was perhaps inevitable that sequels would come along before long—and, lo and behold, Gold and Silver hit the shelves in Japan in 1999. Over the next two years, the rest of the world was treated to them too, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Johto region and its inhabitants are still much-loved among Pokémon fans, to the extent that these games got a Nintendo DS remake a few years back. We may now be on Generation VII of the Pokémon video game franchise, but the Generation II 𝕴games still have a special place in a lot of fans' hearts.
That's not to say that Pokémon Gold and Silver were perfect games, of course. Even the best games have sore points—and, in some cases, straight-up errors! Pokémon Red and Blue were notorious for their glitches and mistakes, but Gold and Silver are just as bad in this regard. Some errors only take hold if you deliberately trigger glitches or hack illegal Pokémon into your game, and frankly, all players should know this is a risky business. However, other mistakes are pretty prevalent throughout gameplay. You've got to how some of these goofs slipped past Gold and Silver's editors.
However, slip past they did, and we Gold and Silver players were left to pay the price. Here are just some of the ridiculous mistakes in Gold and Silver that somehow made it into the final games.
25 Lance's Illegal Dragonites 🅘
Lance mayꦕ be the Champion of the Pokémon League, but he's by no means the perfect trainer. Sure, he comes across as something of a hero when he's helping you to defeat Team Rocket, but a mistake by the games' developers makes him look pretty bad.
There's something fishy about his three Dragonites.
Dragonair doesn't evolve into Dragonite until level 55, but all three of Lance's Dragonites are at lower levels than this. How did they evolve so early? Either Lance has been up to something weird, or Gold and Silver's editors didn't pick up on this inconsistency.
24 ൲ 🔯 What's His Name?
At the very beginning of Gold and Silver, the player character encounters a flame-haired trainer who steals one of Professor Elm's starter Pokémon. As you'd expect, a police officer comes to investigate this crime, and he asks if you got the perpetrator's name. Not many Pokéfans realize that this exchange with the police officer contains a hidden error! If you leave your riv𒁃al's name blank, the game will automatically name him Silver. The police officer will then say "OK, so Silver was his name." The thing is, your character didn't tell him that. Is the police officer ps♛ychic now?
23 𒈔 🍸 An Egg In A Poké Ball
This Gold and Silver goof is pretty minor, but you s♔till have to wonder how it got past the discerning eye of an editor. If you're carrying five Pokémon plus an egg, you're technically only carrying five filled Poké Balls—the egg doesn't get a ball to itself. It presumably just sits loosely in your bag (which is slightly risky, really). However, if you go to a Pokémon Center while carrying an egg, you'll see that six Poké Balls end up in the healing machine. Where has that extra ball come from? It's a mystery... or just🔜 a minuscule mistake.
22 Aerodactyl's Rock Slꦿide
Lance, Lance, Lance. As if it's not bad enough that you carry three illegal Dragonites, it turns out that your Aerodactyl isn't entirely above-board either. Does this trainer have no shame? In Gold and Silver, Lance's Aerodactyl knows the move Rock Slide, which is technically impossible. Areodactyl can't learn it naturally, and the Rock Slide TM didn't exist at this point. It looks like Lance has been hacking illegal moves onto his 'Mons! Not cool, Lance. Not c♒ool. Seriously, isn't this guy supposed to be a role model? What is he playing at?
21 Fishing... In A Gym? ꧟
This particular Gold and Silver mistake is actually a remnant of a Red and Blue glitch. When your character makes it to Kanto after beating the Elite Four, they'll be able to challenge Cerulean City's Misty in her Wat🅰er-type Gym. As you might expect considering Misty's type of choice, her Gym houses a pཧretty big pool.
Weirdly, though, this body of water is populated with Pokémon!
You can go fishing ꦓin the pool, and it's no big deal. That shouldn't be possible considering it's an indoor swimming pool, but thanks to a glitch, you can fish away.
20 🌄 The Moon Ball🌟 Mistake
If you weren't aware that the Moon Ball existed in Gold and Silver, don't worry—it's a pretty niche item. Azalea Town's Kurt can craft this ball if you give him a yellow Apricorn. In theory, it's supposed to make it easier to catch Pokémon who evolve using a Moon Stone. However, this wasn't the case in Gold and Silver thanks to a very frustrating mistake. The Moon Ball was accidentally programmed to increase the catch rate of Pokémon who evolve using a Burn Heal. Spoiler alert: no Pokꦬémon evolves in this w𓆉ay. The Moon Ball is utterly useless.
19 Tele💮porting Between Regions 🍃
While most of us merely know "Teleport" as the move that makes it really hard to catch an Abra, it actually does have a purpose. If you use Teleport in the field, you'll be taken back to the last Pokémon Centre you used. In Gold and Silver, Teleport mosꦅtly worked in the way it was supposed to, except in a particular set of circumstances. If you Teleport just after travelling between Kanto and Johto, you won't be taken to the last Center you used. Instead, you'll go to either Vermillion City or Olivineಌ City, depending on which region you're in.
18 The Sinister Firebreather ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ ♏
As the player character travels across the Johto region in Pokémon Gold and Silver, they encounter dozens of trainers. Each trainer fits a specific character mould: they're a Youngster, a Lass👍, or sometimes a Cooltrainer. Most trainer encounters are fairly ordinary, aside from one notable exception. A Firebreather who battles you in Ecruteak City's Burned Tower is subject to a very sinister glitch. Aftꦉer you defeat him, his sprite seemingly drains of all colour! The poor guy is left standing there in black and white. It's pretty spooky!
17 🌌 Crystal's Battle Tower ꧟
The Battle Tower is an impressive building that sits right next to Olivine City in Pokémon Crystal. As its name suggests, it's a building you can visit to battle other trainers in a controlled environment. The Battle Tower mostly ran pretty smoothly, a💦side from a weird error with its trainer text🐼.
For some reason, every enemy trainer speaks with female text.
You can't really t🐬ell just by speaking to them, but data miners have confirmed that the problem is there💃! This error doesn't impact gameplay at all really, but it's still weird that it made it into the final game.
16 Level 255 Pokémon 🍨
Everyone knows that Pokémon can only grow up to Level 100... Right? Well, not in the world of Pokémon Gold and Silver's glitches! A weird error in these games meant that you could use Rare Candies to take a Pokémon all the way up to Level 255. However, there's a catch: for this glitch to work, your Pokémon had to be a🔯t level 101 or higher when you obtained it. Since this is only possible through hacking, not many players managed to exploit this error!