Pokémon Gold and Silver were the sequels to the fabled Pokémon Red and Blue. They took players to the new Johto Region with a brand new generation of creatures to capture. On top of that, they introduced a new series of mechanics, story details, and movesets that would help flesh out the franchise.

Because these games were direct sequels to the first two, there were a lot of inherent connections that future games in the series wouldn’t quite have. Team Rocket returned for another world, the game included a fully explorable Kanto Region, and there were even characters who made a return appearance for the game, from Gym Leaders to main characters and Pokémon.

That said, with all of those connections, story details, and new mechanics, there are a lot of questions that came up about the games. Considering how little Game Freak has gone into the lore of the series (within the games that is), many of these questions and mysteries have been left unanswered for decades. There are even some plot holes that were never properly addressed.

Pokémon Gold and Silver are some of the best games in the series. Being near-perfect sequels, they improved on just about every aspect of the entries that came before them. However, there are still these 25 mysteries and plot holes that Game Freak left hanging since those games released. They weren’t even answered in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Are you ready to take a nostalgic trip back through the Johto Region?

25 When Were Baby Pokémon Discovered?

Gold and Silver introduced baby Pokémon on top of the breeding system. Certain Pokémon introduced in Gen 1 were no capable of having baby forms if they laid eggs while in the Daycare Center. However, the way the games treat it is as if those forms have been around forever.

This presents a plot hole in the continuity of Pokémon. Have the people of Kanto never known about baby Pokémon until the Johto Region made the daycare? Were they just ignorant?

24 What Happened To Red?

At the end of Red and Blue, Red defeated the Elite Four and became the Champion of the Kanto Region. After that, we’re not sure what happened to him. Gold and Silver does address where he went: on the top of Mount Silver, waiting for a trainer to challenge him. However, we’re never told why he went there.

What caused him to step down as the Champion? Did someone else come along and defeat him? Did he give up the title? No one knows.

23 Where Was Giovanni?

Team Rocket was the main evil team in Red and Blue, and they returned in Gold and Silver. The difference this time was that they were a shell of the organization they once were. They were trying to rebuild their numbers, but they didn’t have the leader, Giovanni, at their side.

The games see them trying to contact their leader, but to no avail. He never shows up, leaving them (and the player) to wonder where he went after the Kanto Region.

22 All The Snorlax

In Red and Blue, one route is famously blocked off by a Snorlax that the player must use a Poké Flute to wake up. You then battle the giant for a chance to capture it. Apparently, the Kanto Region is popular for a Snorlax to get in the way, because one returns to block another path in Kanto in Gold and Silver.

It does make us wonder why Snorlax are conveniently blocking paths in the Kanto Region. Furthermore, wouldn’t it make sense that the people in there would know how to move one after so long?

21 Koga Leaving The Gym

When returning to Kanto, players of Red and Blue might notice that there is a different gym leader at Fuchsia City. Instead of the classic Koga that we’ve all come to know, Janine is the leader there. She is related to Koga and uses a lot of the same Pokémon.

It’s revealed that this happened because Koga became one of the Elite Four. The only question is: when did he decide to fight them? Was he asked, or did he do it in the hopes of becoming the Champion?

20 Blue Not Reclaiming His Title

At the end of Red and Blue, the player must battle their way through the Elite Four to go face to face with the Champion, who just so happens to be the rival, Blue. Red wins the battle and Blue loses his short-lived title of Champion.

In Gold and Silver, Blue became the Vermillion City Gym Leader. It’s a bit interesting to us, considering that Red did leave the title of Champion somehow. Did Blue never try to take back his title or was he content being a gym leader?

19 Why Gold?

Gold and Silver began the trend of having Legendary Pokémon be the defining factor of the games. Ho-Oh and Lugia were the focus this time around. Being powerful and wise Pokémon, they only appeared to certain trainers who they deemed worthy.

What makes us question these beasts is why they showed themselves to Gold. All he did was help to fend off an already struggling organization and beat all of the gym leaders in Johto. There were plenty of other trainers with good hearts at the time.

18 The Son Of Giovanni

Blue was a fairly annoying rival in Red and Blue, but it was the rival Silver in Gold and Silver that really took the cake. This degenerate jerk made his Pokémon team by stealing creatures and using them in battle. He was downright mean.

What’s never properly addressed in Gold and Silver is the fact that Silver is the son of Giovanni. This is later dealt with in HeartGold and SoulSilver with an entire side story: decades after the original games.

17 A Dragonair Trade

In Blackthorn City, before you fight the final Gym Leader, you have the chance to trade with someone there. They are willing to give you a Rhydon and ask for a Dragonair in return. This doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially on Game Freak’s part when you remember that Dragonair is much harder to get than Rhydon.

Furthermore, Rhydon doesn’t help much in the Blackthorn City gym battle. Dragonair’s attacks are super effective and, thus, are much more useful.

16 The Dog Trio

Entei, Raikou, and Suicune are the other three Legendary Pokémon that can be obtained in Gold and Silver. Apart from being cool and powerful, there is are a few interesting facts about these three. They were once regular Pokémon that perished in a fire and were revived into Legendaries by Ho-Oh.

What has us scratching our heads is that we’re never told what those regular Pokémon are. Some speculate that they were Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon, but that has yet to be confirmed.

15 The Former Elite Four

When Gold gets to the Indigo Plateau, he comes face to face with the same organization that Red fought at the end of Red and Blue. However, the Elite Four that stand in his way are a bit different this time around. Lorelei and Agatha are gone. Bruno has moved up and Lance became the Champion.

While we get some explanation for some of those, we’re never told what happened to Lorelei and Agatha. Did they leave voluntarily or were beaten too many times?

14 Umbreon And Espeon

Many of the original Pokémon were given new evolutions in Gold and Silver. One of them was Eevee, who was given two in the form of Umbreon and Espeon. While they are cool, it makes us wonder when these were “discovered” and why the people of Kanto wouldn’t have known about them beforehand.

The two evolve using friendship, so it’s unlikely that it was a new evolution method that had yet to be discovered. It’s another recurring plot hole in the Pokémon franchise.

13 Purpose Of The Unown

The Johto Region is home to some interesting Pokémon, the most intriguing being the Unown. These Psychic-type Pokémon can only learn Hidden Power. They can’t learn anything else and they don’t have stats that warrant using them on your team.

Considering that there are 26 different types of Unown, it makes us wonder why they were in the game. They even have their own place that you can explore. But remind us why we need to catch on, let alone 26.

12 Ruins Of Alph Reward

The useless Unown are found in the Ruins of Alph. At first glance, it seems that there is something exciting hiding in those ruins that can be discovered if players explore enough or catch all of the Unown.

Believe it or not, though, there is no real reward for fully exploring the Ruins of Alph. Instead, the satisfaction of exploring and capturing Unown is the only reward you get. Because those Pokémon are so useless, it makes us wonder why Game Freak included it in the first place.

11 Time Capsule Working Backward

In Gold and Silver, players have the option of transferring their old Pokémon from Red and Blue into the game by using a time capsule. Place your Pokémon in there in the past and dig them up in the present to use them. Sounds easy enough.

However, it gets more complicated when you remember that it works the other way around. Kanto Pokémon can be placed in the capsule and sent back to Red and Blue. That makes no sense in the context of time capsules.

10 Picking A Fight With Gyarados

Team Rocket is greedy. They will do their very best to capture all sorts of rare Pokémon, but they’re not overly stupid. Even in Gold and Silver, they had to dial it back because they didn’t have the numbers or power that they once did.

That said, they still went to the Lake of Rage and agitated a Red Gyarados that was causing problems for everyone at a nearby town. Team Rocket thought they could easily win and lost miserably.

9 Skipping Gym Leaders

The Pokémon games have a linear structure thanks to how the slow increase of Pokémon and trainer levels. In Red and Blue, you have to fight the eight gym leaders in a specific order due to certain people, Pokémon, or obstacles blocking your path.

That’s mostly true for Gold and Silver as well until you get to Ecruteak City. You can go West and challenge another gym or two, or you can go East and straight to the seventh gym. Their levels don’t change though. Why would Game Freak allow this break in progression?

8 Trading With Items

In Red and Blue, some Pokémon could only be evolved by trading. This was to encourage players to connect with each other and get separate versions so that they could eventually have all of the Pokémon.

Gold and Silver kicked that function up a notch. A few Pokémon from the first generation were given new evolutions that could only be accessed by trading them with extremely rare items. Why this was added to make evolutions even more difficult to obtain is anyone’s guess, and there’s no reason why an item and a trade would result in an evolution.

7 No Legit Way For Celebi

Mew was a Pokémon in Red and Blue that couldn’t be acquired through normal means. Only through a glitch were players able to capture it. The same can be said of Celebi in Gold and Silver.

In Japan, there was a special method players could use to capture it. Anyone else had to use glitches. We’re not sure why Game Freak insisted on making these Pokémon so exclusive and time sensitive. At least that was fixed in the 3DS eShop re-release.

6 So Many Aerodactyl

Aerodactyl is a rare Pokémon. Not living in present-day organically, the only way to find one is to dig up an Old Amber and revive it into the Pokémon. It’s not an easy thing to do. However, the people in Gold and Silver seemed to have no trouble.

Not only did Lance get himself an Aerodactyl, but there was also a trainer in the Kanto Region who had one lying around and wanted to trade it for a Chansey. When did reviving ancient Pokémon become so easy?