10 Hardest Pokémon Battles in Gold, Silver, & Crystal

Game Freak’s Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal for the Game Boy Color were fantastic steps forward from their original Game Boy predecessors, including in challenge. As the Game Boy Color’s hardware allowed for more sophisticated game design, the turn-based battles became more engaging and complex.

This is also thanks to the 100 new unique Pokémon species and the introduction of two new Types — Dark-Type and Steel-Type. It allowed the toughest teams in the games to have more versatile teams, including Gym Leader Whitney’s infamous squad and the climactic final battle against Red — Generation I’s protagonist — in the post-game story.

10 Whitney Was an Infamous Early Roadblock For Many Players

Whitney — the third Gym Leader in Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal — is still the most infamous battle in the mainline games for many. She specializes in Normal-Type creatures, and while this seems straightforward, her Miltank alone is enough to send players back to the Pokémon Center.

The Normal-Type leader has a team of two Pokémon, Clefairy and Miltank, but the latter serves as her ace. The former won’t be much trouble, but Miltank’s loadout of Stomp, Attract, Rollout, and Milk Drink can easily stall and grind players into a wipeout. Attract can nullify a player’s male Pokémon, Rollout increases power with successive hits, and Milk Drink will restore her HP. She can easily be an early roadblock, but trading an NPC for a Fighting-Type Machop offers a counter.

9 Morty Uses Some of the Best Ghost-Type Tricks

The Normal-Type Gym Leader Whitney is the most memorable boss due to the unique challenge she poses. However, that mostly stems from the timing of her battle and the Machop trade in Goldenrod City going mostly unnoticed, making Morty a stronger challenger overall. The Ghost-Type specialist doesn’t use a unique team since it’s entirely made up of the Ghastly evolutionary line, but their movesets work to their advantage.

Morty’s Gastly and two Haunters are designed to tire the player out until his ace, Gengar, can finish off the player. Its moveset is nothing short of cunning — fitting for the Ghost typing. He can use Mean Look to lock a player’s Pokémon in battle, a Hypnosis/Dream Eater to immobilize players while sapping their health, and Shadow Ball for raw Ghost-Type damage.

8 Silver (Victory Road) Poses a Versatile Team Just Before the Elite Four

Players will be well acquainted with Silver by the end of the main Johto story and post-game Kanto campaign. One of the trainer’s toughest challenges comes in the last main-story battle, standing against the player at the exit of Victory Road.

This is classic timing to place a rival in the mainline Pokémon games, with Silver catching new players off guard if they haven’t healed their team’s HP and cured potential status afflictions. On a lighter scale than Red, Silver’s best attribute is Type diversity. On top of a fully evolved starter, players will likely find his Kadabra and Haunter particularly difficult. The player likely won’t get as many offensive opportunities as they’d hoped, between the Psychic and Ghost Pokémon’s uses of Psybeam, Recover, Disable, Shadow Ball, and Confuse Ray.

7 Clair’s Dragon-Themed Squad Was Tough to Break Down

The final Gym Leader of Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal‘s main story, Clair makes for a compelling penultimate test before taking on the Elite Four. The eight Gym Leader specializes in Dragon-Type species, and while there still aren’t many by Generation II, her team is more than robust enough to pose a challenge.

Clair fields a team of four — three Dragonairs and a Kingdra. The team isn’t as exciting as her squad in the remakes, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, but their movesets are enough to stun players. Her Dragonairs have Thunder Wave, Ice Beam, Surf, and Thunderbolt between them, and if players get past them, her ace can effortlessly ruin things. The dual Water/Dragon typing is incredibly defensive, leaving other Dragon-Types as her only weakness.

6 Silver (Rematches) Realizes His Team’s Potential

After defeating him in Victory Road, the final main battle against Silver comes in the Kanto-region campaign in Mt. Moon. Afterward, the player can continue battling their rival in a series of rematches in the Indigo Plateau, where the Elite Four is located. This team finally realizes the potential of Silver’s team, fielding them at their highest levels in the game and their fully evolved stages.

A Lv. 50 starter completes this team, with the rival’s Golbat now a Crobat and could stall the player into knockouts with moves like Toxic and Confuse Ray. Meanwhile, Gengar and Alakazam will continue to test the player’s mettle. The latter now has access to Psychic for high damage and Reflect to buff its team’s Defense.

5 Will Begins the Elite Four Challenge Strong With Psychic-Types

Will might be the first Elite Four boss fight, but he arguably puts up a more compelling challenge than the two that follow him. This boss fight opens the player’s League run with Psychic-Types, which are some of the most reliable battlers in the mainline Pokémon games.

While Psychic-Type Pokémon aren’t overpowered in the Gen II games as they were in Gen I due to more capable Bug-Type options and the introduction of Dark-Types, they’re still immense Special Attackers. Will’s team includes two Xatu, but some of his best teammates are his Exeggutor and Slowbro. These Pokémon are well known for their defensive bulkiness, with Slowbro’s Amnesia turning it into a defensive wall, while both of their Psychic attacks inflict heavy damage.

4 Karen Uses Dark-Type Pokémon With a Twist

The final member of the Elite Four before the League’s Champion, Karen gives players plenty to fight for thanks to her unique team. Since Pokémon Gold and Silver introduce two new Types and Gym Leader Jasmine already showcases the Steel typing, Karen gives the Dark-Type a chance at the spotlight. Karen undoubtedly has some proper Dark-Type Pokémon who can frustrate and trip up players.

The incredibly sturdy Umbreon is quite the test, tanking hits and whittles the player’s team down with a combination of Feint Attack and Confuse Ray. Others like Houndoom offer important coverage for Karen’s team, bringing Flamethrower into the mix. However, she mixes things up by throwing in the Ghost/Poison-Type Gengar and Grass/Poison-Type Vileplume to throw players off.

3 Lance Has Stepped Up Since His Gen I Appearance

Back from his role in the Elite Four “proper” in Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, Lance returns as the Johto region’s League Championship battle. Fittingly as Clair’s cousin, the Champion is also a Dragon-Type specialist but steps up the challenge with his more well-rounded team.

After overcoming Will, Koga, Bruno, and Karen, Lance will tackle the player with a stronger and more diverse team of Dragon and Dragon-like Pokémon, with his three Dragonites posing the biggest problems. They know Thunder Wave, Thunder, Blizzard, Fire Blast, and Outrage between them. However, Gyarados, Charizard, and Aerodactyl can deal lethal damage with the Types they attack with. It’s a powerful team emphasizing overwhelming power with moves offering broad coverage for Lance.

2 Red Was an Epic Finale to the Post-Game Story

Red appearing at the end of Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal is the best example of fan service in the mainline games. Players can travel to the Kanto region and earn eight more Gym Badges after conquering the Elite Four, with Red standing in the player’s way afterward with a diverse and high-level team.

Red’s strongest assets are how high-level his squad is combined with Type diversity, forcing players to plan accordingly. Admittedly, part of the challenge comes from the sluggish grind to at least get close to the levels of his team. Despite the infamous “level curve” of Gen II feeling unbalanced, Red’s flexible team — all three Kanto starters, Pikachu, Snorlax, and Espeon — is enough to send players back to the bottom of Mt. Silver if they don’t think ahead.

1 Crystal’s Battle Tower Narrowed the Gap Between In-Game and Competitive Challenges

While it isn’t part of any story-related or required battle, the hardest fights in Gen II appear in Pokémon Crystal. In the Johto region’s “third-version” game, this title marks the first appearance of the Battle Tower facility.

The Battle Tower — and every subsequent battling facility it paved the way for — is the closest in-game feature to emulating the competitive meta against other players. Limited to teams of three, players have to form the most dynamic team to take on seven consecutive and random teams. The non-playable characters here deploy more nuanced strategies and tactics than players will find in the story, especially with the new species mixing up the power hierarchy and the introduction of Held Items.