Current Events > Which had better exclusives: Pokemon Gold or Silver?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Skarmony was my fav

Assuming Crystal is not in discussion...

Gold has:
Mankey, Primeape
Growlithe, Arcanine
Spinarak, Ariados
Gligar
Teddiursa, Ursaring
Mantine
Ho-Oh w/Sacred Fire

Silver has:
Meowth, Persian
Vulpix, Ninetales
Ledyba, Ledian
Delibird
Phanpy, Donphan
Skarmory
Lugia w/Aeroblast

Primeape vs Persian
Persian has speed but not much else. Primeape is a rare fast fighting Pokemon that gets Cross Chop, which can come in handy for things like Red's Snorlax. Primeape wins.
Gold 1; Silver 0

Arcanine vs Ninetails
Both of these aren't as good as Typhlosion/Magmar who manage to get ThunderPunch to deal with Water Pokemon. I guess I'll give this to Ninetails though, with Vulpix getting Flamethrower at level 31 and evolving into Ninetails, while Growlithe has to be level 50 to get it (delaying evolution to Arcanine). Growlithe can just get Flame Wheel at level 34 and evolve then...but even with better Special Attack isn't outdamaging Ninetails. Ninetails wins.
Gold 1; Silver 1

Ariados vs Ledian
Ledian is weak to all of the elemental punches and is setup specially defensive, but at least gets some coverage moves in ThunderPunch and IcePunch (despite only having meh Special Attack) and has good speed. Ariados, while having better defensive types, isn't as fast (40 Base Speed Blows) and doesn't have access to the elemental punches. However, after taking care of the rockets in Mahogany Town, you get the Sludge Bomb TM...which gives it a Stab option. Not many noteworthy Pokemon are weak to poison though, and several resist it... So it's Ledian's Coverage Moves + Special Defense + Speed vs Ariados's better attack and Sludge Bomb... This is not an easy call. Due to being able to hit lots of weaknesses though with the Elemental Punches with Poison being meh as an offensive type, I will give it to Ledian. Neither Pokemon is all that good however...
Gold 1; Silver 2

Gligar vs Delibird
Gligar really got the short end of the stick offensively. It doesn't get Dig or Earthquake (outside Stadium 2) and for Flying only gets Wing Attack as an egg move. Delibird at least can use Icy Wind from Pryce and help with Claire and Lance. There are better users of the moves, but Delibird at least has some use. Gligar...just doesn't.
Gold 1; Silver 3

Ursaring vs Donphan
I want to like Donphan, really, but why can't it learn Dig? Having to make due with Mud-Slap until getting Earthquake just before the Elite 4 is just really bad... Ursaring on the other hand has huge Attack and Stab Return to destroy most things. It also can learn Earthquake and all of the Elemental Punches for coverage if you want (its special attack isn't that good, but they still have their uses). Ursaring wins.
Gold 2; Silver 3

Mantine vs Skarmory
Mantine gets easy access to a Stab Surf and an Ice Move in Icy Wind. Its Special Defense at 140 is stellar and its Special Attack and Speed at 80 and 70 are also usable. It has an Electric weakness, but smart people aren't leaving it in against Pokemon with such moves anyway. It's a great Pokemon that could help you the entire game, although is generally outclassed by Lapras or Feraligatr, who get stronger Ice Moves. Lanturn also is arguably better with an excellent offensive typing and trades Ice moves for Electric moves. Skarmory is very different. It is a defensive beast on the defensive side and gets access to a Stabbed Fly to handle most threats that can't hit it super effectively on the special defensive side. Steel type is also something. It is the best Steel type you can realistically get without trading. A pity that it doesn't get Steel Wing until level 49 or by TM. Both are good in their own way, but Skarmory has a stronger niche, so I will give it to Skarmory.
Gold 2; Silver 4

Ho-Oh w/Sacred Fire vs Lugia w/Aeroblast
Ho-Oh doesn't need Sacred Fire that much when Fire Blast exists...and has the same amount of power points and is effectively stronger (Att * Accuracy). Burn is also nice, but with most enemy mons not lasting long, it doesn't help all that much ingame. Lugia on the other hand really wants Aeroblast, as Fly isn't as strong. I also find Lugia to be more useful than Ho-Oh, with the Fire type not being as helpful as hitting with strong Flying attacks (which hit many of the same things super effectively). I'm giving this to Lugia.
Gold 2; Silver 5

So when all is said and done, I give it to Silver. Skarmory and Lugia w/Aeroblast are great in particular.

^I liked the analysis!

NeonOPPAl posted...

^I liked the analysis!

Thanks!

Skarmory and Donphan > Gold exclusives

Though I grew up with Crystal, so rip Mareep family.

PowerOats posted...

Remember when Crystal version made Mareep unavailable

Wtf was up with that

"Please don't stop buying our other games"

Girafarig and the Remoraid Line were also cut

Umbreon posted...

Skarmory and Donphan > Gold exclusives

Though I grew up with Crystal, so rip Mareep family.

Yeah...although I feel Crystal made significant improvements over both Silver/Gold, it not having the Mareep line in it is regrettable and feels...arbitrary. There are enough Pokemon that get ThunderPunch before the Elite 4 and plenty that can use Thunderbolt after the Elite 4 that not having the Mareep line doesn't hurt that much though. Still a shame.

Skarmory and Donphan carry Silver hard here. You could give the entire rest of Silver's list to Gold and Silver would still win~

Fun story, when I was a kid and first played Gold, I really wanted to use Donphan thanks to its appearance in the first movie. But at the time, I had no idea how to get it. Somehow, I discovered Dunsparce and got it into my head that, because their names were kinda similar, Dunsparce must evolve into Donphan. I took that Dunsparce to the mid-40s before starting to think maybe it wasn't gonna evolve after all!

comicfire posted...

"Please don't stop buying our other games"

Girafarig and the Remoraid Line were also cut

Remoraid is gotten late enough (after 7 badges) losing it doesn't hurt that much. Suicune owns the Water/Ice slot on your Team hard in Crystal, so unless you are actively choosing not to use it, you wouldn't be using Octillery long-term...and Lapras is still overall better and can be gotten earlier.

As for Girafarig...not sure why that change was made. It was my sister's favorite Pokemon in Gen 2, and was kind of a jack of all trades attacker, with pretty good normal and psychic moves as well as a late game Crunch for other psychic Pokemon. It faces competition from Kadabra/Alakazam and Espeon on the Psychic side and more competition on the Normal side.

Neither omission hits as hard as losing the Mareep line though, as you get it so early and it does help out with lots of threats all the way until Red in Gold/Silver.

SydnieStarlight posted...

Fun story, when I was a kid and first played Gold, I really wanted to use Donphan thanks to its appearance in the first movie. But at the time, I had no idea how to get it. Somehow, I discovered Dunsparce and got it into my head that, because their names were kinda similar, Dunsparce must evolve into Donphan. I took that Dunsparce to the mid-40s before starting to think maybe it wasn't gonna evolve after all!

Interesting you brought up Dunsparce. On my very first run of Pokemon Silver, I was lucky enough to encounter Dunsparce in Dark Cave despite a 1% encounter chance) and managed to catch it. Really was impressed by its HP stat in particular, and I used it the entire game. It dealt with most threats with a Stabbed Return, had Dig for dealing with Rock & Steel Pokemon, and also had the Rollout+Defence Curl combo for rolling over difficult opponents. Had a lot of fun with that Pokemon.

Wow this is the first time I've seen anyone say anything negative about Arcanine.

Takes are getting hotter and hotter by the day it seems.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


LMAO I knew Ledian was bad, but I forgot how bad he is >_>

Man, I bet Iron Fist will fix that 35 Attack no prob

Silver.

Also fuck whoever decided to remove the Mareep line from Crystal.

littlebro07 posted...

Silver.

Also fuck whoever decided to remove the Mareep line from Crystal.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/04ff3fea.jpg

I had Silver, but Gold has better ones. I picked Silver because of Lugia.

NeonOPPAl posted...

LMAO I knew Ledian was bad, but I forgot how bad he is >_>

Man, I bet Iron Fist will fix that 35 Attack no prob

If ledian had all its stats increased by 50, it still wouldnt be good

What item did lugia have when it was caught?
Ho-oh had sacred fire iirc and was probably the best recovery item in the game

kage_53 posted...

If ledian had all its stats increased by 50, it still wouldnt be good

I played a fan game that gave it a held item that helped a lot.

If held by a Ledian, this item allows its holder to use punching moves (e.g. Power-Up Punch, Ice Punch, etc.) 4 times in a row. Secondary effects of these moves can only trigger on the first 2 uses, the effect also applies to Comet Punch so you can deliver from 8-20 punches.

Absolute bullshit.

DrizztLink posted...

I played a fan game that gave it a held item that helped a lot.

Absolute bullshit.

That's fucked up, like hitting twice would be good. Four times is just broken.

Looks like one of them finally has a lead >_>

DrizztLink posted...

I played a fan game that gave it a held item that helped a lot.

Absolute bullshit.

Let me guess, buggsy had one with iron fist ability and spammed comet punch.

Tsukasa1891 posted...

Let me guess, buggsy had one with iron fist ability and spammed comet punch.

It's an original story, so no Buggsy.

https://rejuvenation.fandom.com/wiki/Crests

There's a lot more than I remember.

Drayano also buffed Ledian in their Storm Silver/Sacred Gold hack. Not by too much though:
#166 Ledian
+ Ability: Iron Fist {1}
+ Stat Changes: Attack (95), Special Attack (55 35), Total (430)
+ Level Up Moves: Bug Bite [1], ThunderPunch, Ice Punch, Dizzy Punch (18)

Surprised they didn't make it Bug/Fighting too. I remember they made Farfetch'd Flying/Fighting and one on a random trainer outside of Goldenrod absolutely fucking over half of a streamer's Nuzlocke team.

Since we're comparing them, they buffed Ariados a little bit too, but not nearly as much.
168 Ariados
+ Ability: Sniper {1}
+ Stat Changes: Speed (80), Total (430)