Pokémon Gold & Silver (along with Crystal and the HeartGold & SoulSilver remakes) are often called the best games in the series, due to the sheer amount of content that they offer compared to the other Pokémon titles. The second generation of Pokémon games gave you the brand new Johto region to explore, before letting you return to the Kanto region from the first game and seeing how the world had changed since Red had defeated Team Rocket and took on the role of Champion.
The new content in Pokémon Gold & Silver wasn't just limited to the size of the regions, as the new internal clock and day & night cycle allowed for all kinds of new events in the game world, with some Pokémon now becoming nocturnal. The fact that most of the areas in Johto have different events occurring on different days has meant that many fans have missed a lot of the content in Pokémon Gold & Silver, as most players can breeze through the whole game within a few days and are given few reasons to return to old areas as the story progresses.
We are here today to reveal the side quests in Pokémon Gold & Silver that fans may have missed - from the method for acquiring new Master Balls to battling the creators of the series.
Here are the 20 Side Quests Fans Completely Missed In Pokémon Gold And Silver!
20. Winning The Lottery
The Pokémon games generally only give you a single Master Ball on your journey, which you can use to automatically catch any single Pokémon. Pokémon Gold & Silver has an alternate method for acquiring Master Balls, but it might take a long time for you to win them.
The Goldenrod Radio Tower runs the weekly Lucky Number Show, which offers prizes to the owners of Pokémon whose OT ID numbers match the numbers drawn that week. If there is an exact match between the numbers, then you will win a Master Ball. The Pokémon that you keep in the Storage System are also checked for their numbers, which means that you can increase your chances of winning by performing lots of trades with other players in order to add their OT ID numbers to your list.
19. Returning The Shuckle To Its Owner
There is yet to be a Pokémon game that lets you play as a member of a villainous team and steal Pokémon from other trainers. Pokémon Gold & Silver offers you the opportunity to be a stealing scumbag, though, and most players missed it.
When you travel to Cianwood City, you can visit a man named Kirk who had one of his rare Pokémon stolen by your rival. He will offer to give you his Shuckle for safekeeping. If the player returns to Kirk later in the game, then he will ask for the Shuckle back, unless it has a high friendship stat. You can either give the Shuckle back or tell him where to stick it, allowing you to steal his Pokémon for yourself.
18. Finding The Remnants Of Mewtwo
The fate of Mewtwo in Pokémon Gold & Silver is unknown, as the dungeon in which he resided is now destroyed. It's possible that Red caught Mewtwo on his journey, but it's never explained why he doesn't use it in the final battle with you. Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver had a new version of Cerulean Cave with Mewtwo still inside, which confirmed that Red never caught it.
While Mewtwo might be gone in Pokémon Gold & Silver, there is still a remnant of him left behind in the form of the Berserk Gene. The waters near the Cerulean Cave entrance hide a powerful held-item called the Berserk Gene, which drastically boosts the Pokémon's Attack score, while also confusing it.
17. Printing Off Your Hard Earned Diploma
The Pokémon series dropped the "Gotta Catch 'Em All" from the logo starting with Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire, due to how difficult the task was becoming due to all of the new Pokémon that were being added in each generation.
Pokémon Gold & Silver & Crystal had an additional benefit to catching them all, which was no easy task when you consider the fact that the number of Pokémon had increased to two hundred and fifty-one. If you are playing Pokémon Gold & Silver & Crystal on an original Game Boy, then you can hook up a Game Boy Printer and create a physical print out of your diploma, which you can then frame and hang next to any university degree you may have earned in the past, while secretly being more proud of the Pokémon diploma.
16. Finding The King's Rock
The King's Rock is a useful item for players who want to complete the Pokédex in Pokémon Gold & Silver, as it can be used to evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed and Slowpoke into Slowking. You can find the King's Rock in the Slowpoke Well, but you need to return there at a later point in the game, as you will need access to both Surf and Strength, as well as defeating both Whitney and Morty in order to use them.
Once you have the necessary badges and HMs, you can return to the Slowpoke Well and access the lower floors, where you will find a man who will give you the King's Rock. It's also possible for a wild Slowpoke or Poliwhirl to be holding a King's Rock when you catch them, but there is only a 2% chance of this occurring.
15. Acquiring The Frustration TM
Pokémon Gold & Silver introduced the friendship mechanic for every Pokémon, which was influenced by how well you treated your Pokémon. It's generally easier to have a high friendship score with a Pokémon, due to how the score increases every time you level up.
If you visit the Goldenrod Department Store on a Sunday, then you can meet a woman who will give you a TM for free. The fact that most players will have a Pokémon with high friendship means that she will almost certainly give you the TM for Return. If you go out of your way to lower the friendship score of your Pokémon (by making them faint in battle or feeding them horrible food), then you will receive the Frustration TM from the same lady, which is a move that is powered by how low your Pokémon's friendship score is.
14. Finding The Week Siblings
The introduction of the working clock and weekly calendar in Pokémon Gold & Silver meant that certain events could only be completed on certain days, which prompted players to check in at specific times.
One of the quests that is tied to the clock is the hunt for the Week Siblings, who reside in different parts of Johto on different days of the week, which means that you can only meet them on specific days. The benefit of hunting down Monica, Tuscany, Wesley, Arthur, Frieda, Santos, and Sunny is that they will each give you an item when you meet them, as well as giving you a ribbon if you encounter them in Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver.
13. Acquiring The EXP. Share
One of the first tasks that you need to complete in Pokémon Gold & Silver involves picking up a Pokémon egg from a man named Mr. Pokémon, who later entrusts you with the egg and encourages you to carry it around until it hatches into a Togepi.
The game never prompts you to return to Mr. Pokémon and you might even forget that he exists, but he does have one more role to play. If you return to Mr. Pokémon after having acquired the Red Scale from the Lake of Rage, then he will ask you to trade it for an EXP. Share, which is the easiest way to acquire the item, unless you want to keep playing the lottery.
12. Helping Your Mother To Buy A Huge Snorlax Doll
The mother of the main character in Pokémon Gold & Silver will offer to save some money on your behalf, which is taken out of the cash you receive from winning battles, but you can refuse if you feel you don't need her help.
Pokémon Gold & Silver is a pretty easy game for the most part so most players would rather keep their money, especially for the moments when they will need to spend a lot of cash on healing or restorative items for the trickier battles. If you let your mother save some of your money, then she will occasionally buy rare items for you. If you acquire over one hundred thousand Poké Dollars, then there is a chance that she might spend around twenty-three thousand on a Big Snorlax Doll, which you can use to decorate your room.
11. Finding A Friday Lapras
In Pokémon Red & Blue, you were given a Lapras as part of the story, which ensured that you always had a Pokémon that could use Surf. It was possible to catch wild Lapras in Pokémon Gold & Silver, but they only showed up on a single day of the week.
Once you have acquired both Surf and the Fog Badge, you can venture to the water beneath the Union Cave and try and catch a Lapras. You will have to do this on a Friday, as it will only show up on that day for some unknown reason. You can only encounter a single Lapras on Friday and will have to wait a week to try and catch another one if you screw it up the first time. The Friday Lapras can also be found in Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver.
10. Fighting The Hidden Ace Trainers
Route 34 is one of the few routes that you might bother returning to over the course of Pokémon Gold & Silver, as it contains the Pokémon Day Care building, where you can level up and breed new Pokémon, which is especially important for those with an interest in competitive battling or a desire to complete the Pokédex.
There is a small body of water on Route 34 that can't be traversed until you have found Surf and defeated Morty in battle. If you search the water, then you can find a small stretch of land that contains three Ace Trainers who use Water-type Pokémon in battle. If you are playing Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver, then two of the Ace Trainers will take you on in a Double Battle.
9. Healing The Sick Miltank
One of the new healing items introduced in Pokémon Gold & Silver was Moomoo Milk, which would restore one hundred hit points when used in battle. It's possible to purchase Moomoo Milk, but you need to complete a quest first.
The Moomoo Farm on Route 39 can no longer produce milk, as one of the Miltank has fallen ill. If you want to heal the Miltank, you need to feed her berries, but chances are you won't have enough berries during your first trip, so most players tend to forget about the quest. If you feed the Miltank seven berries (or seven Oran berries in HeartGold & SoulSilver), then she will start feeling better and you will be able to purchase milk from the farm again.
8. Defeating The Karate King
In Pokémon Red & Blue, you can visit the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City and challenge its leader in order to win a free Pokémon in the form of either Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee. In Pokémon Gold & Silver, if you return to Mt. Mortar with both Surf and Waterfall, then you can find the former leader of the Fighting Dojo hidden at the end of a maze, where it is revealed that his name is Kiyo.
Kiyo has sequestered himself away from his former students in order to train. If you defeat him in battle (where he uses the same team from Pokémon Red & Blue), then he will give you a Tyrogue for free. Kiyo would later return in Pokémon X & Y, where he travels to the Kalos region in order to start a new dojo.
7. Delivering The Spearow
It's rare for a trainer to be given a Pokémon for a temporary period of time in the Pokémon games, as you generally only catch and trade Pokémon. The cities of Johto feature guard posts that separate them from the different routes, which often include guards that most players will ignore.
If you speak to the guard at the post connecting Goldenrod City and Route 35, he will ask you to deliver a Spearow named Kenya who is holding a mail to a person on Route 31. Completing the quest will grant you an item and a TM, but there is nothing stopping you from taking Kenya on your Pokémon journey, evolving it into a Fearow, defeating the Elite Four and Red, and then delivering him to the guy on Route 31.
6. Fulfilling The Fishing Guru's Dream
Magikarp might be one of the weakest Pokémon in the series, but it has still acquired a huge fanbase who love the dopey fish, regardless of his uselessness in battle.
One character in the Pokémon universe who loves Magikarp is the Fishing Guru, who lives near the Lake of Rage and whose dream involves seeing the world's biggest Magikarp. If you keep fishing for Magikarp until you find one that is big enough, then you can show it to the Fishing Guru and make all of his wildest dreams come true. The reward for completing this task is only a paltry Ether, but that pales in comparison to the satisfaction of fulfilling an old man's dream.
5. Defeating Cal & The Johto Starters
One of the new features introduced in Pokémon Gold & Silver is the Mystery Gift, which allows players who are using the Game Boy Color to share data through the infrared port. There is a location in Viridian City called the Trainer House that actually makes a copy of another player's team if you shared a Mystery Gift with them.
If you have never used the Mystery Gift option, then you can only battle a trainer named Cal who uses the same sprite as the male protagonist of the game and uses a team composed of the final forms of the three Johto starter Pokémon. The Trainer House and Cal returned in Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver, with the new trainers being added with the aid of the Pokéwalker device.
4. Watching The Secret Clefairy Ritual
The Pokémon anime once suggested that Clefairy and Clefable were extraterrestrial Pokémon, which is something that is rarely alluded to within the Pokémon video games, save for the fact that the Pokédex mentions that they like to dance in the moonlight.
There is a strange event in Pokémon Gold & Silver involving the Clefairy that only happens in a very specific time and place. If you travel to Mt. Moon Square after 8 pm on a Monday (but before 4 am on a Tuesday), you will see two Clefairy dancing around a rock. The Clefairy will run away when they see the player, but you can smash the rock in order to acquire a Moon Stone.
3. Finding The Copycat's Doll
The player's first journey to Kanto in Pokémon Gold & Silver involves a sea voyage, as the Magnet Train that links the region to Johto is out of commission. You need to complete a quest involving Team Rocket and the Power Plant in order to fix the Magnet Train, but you can't actually ride it until you find a ticket.
In order to receive a ticket for the Magnet Train, you need to visit the Copycat in Saffron City and help her find her lost Clefairy Doll. The doll was found by a member of the Pokémon Fan Club in Vermillion City. Once you return the doll to Copycat, she will give you a train ticket.
2. Uncovering The Secret Password
The shows that are broadcast from the Goldenrod Radio Tower made the most out of Pokémon Gold & Silver's clock mechanics, which always gave the player a reason to check back in on the game on different days of the week.
One show that required you to listen at specific times was Buena's Password, as the host gave out a password at some time between 6 pm and midnight. Once you have heard the password, you can travel to the Goldenrod Radio Tower in order to answer a short quiz, which will reward you with points if you succeed. The points you earn from Buena's Password can buy you useful items, such as Rare Candy, Nuggets, Full Restores, and the stat-boosting items like Iron and Protein.
1. Defeating The Creators Of The Game
Pokémon Crystal introduced the Battle Tower to the series, which was an idea that was expanded upon in later games with places like the Battle Frontier. The Battle Tower will throw random opponents at you, with their teams being selected based on the level of challenge that the player selected beforehand. Two of the trainers that you can face in the Battle Tower are references to two of the people who created the Pokémon series.
There is a trainer called Masuda, who is named after Junichi Masuda; one of the founders of Game Freak, a director or sub-director for every Pokémon game since Crystal, and a composer for almost every Pokémon game. There is also a trainer named Tajiri, who is named after Satoshi Tajiri; the man credited with creating the concept of Pokémon and who has worked on almost every game in the series. Tajiri is a bug-catcher trainer, which is a reference to how Satoshi Tajiri's love of collecting insects helped to inspire the creation of Pokémon.
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Are there any other hidden quests in Pokémon Gold & Silver? Let us know in the comments!