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Gen 2 was made in such way to be the ultimate pokemon entry, they quite literally went all out on this one. Sure it might not have more advanced features like natures, move split, 3d grafix etc but it brought a lot to the table with breeding, real-time clock, held items, shinies, berries and more. Also despite of what some people might say, gen 2's gameplay flaw isnt tiresome and encourages replayablity, there's not a moment in the game where it feels like a drag because the things you do along the way are enjoyable and rewarding, the side activities are nice and there's no shortage of battles even in the end game.
As for why play the original? Well, despite having amazing remakes, the original gen 2 is pretty different both in gameplay and feel, you got all the modern aspects i mentioned earlier which are a nice addition in the remakes but change the whole feel of the game. So the remakes are less about "gen 2 in better graphics" and more like "gen 2 with gen 4 mechanics" hence you'd rather play what gen 2 is really all about in this case, in pokemon crystal.
