What a fucking slog, holy hell. Every Pokemon is crippled by a retarded moveset. No one learns anything good until level 43! The TMs you can acquire are mostly a joke, or are encountered far too late in the game. The cruelest twist is how you can buy Punch TMs in Goldenrod, but the amount of Pokemon who can actually use these moves is like 15 total. Not only that but fucking QUILAVA can't learn punch moves until he evolves! Fucking EMBER is the only Fire move he gets until what, level 35 or something?

Not to mention the terrible level balancing with gym leaders and the dearth of in game experience. I fought every trainer with a 5 Pokemon team and I am going to need to grind out 5 levels just to be competitive for the Elite Four.

This game rightfully almost killed the Pokemon series. It's not even ostensibly bad; it just isn't fun to play on a game design level most kids wouldn't understand. I could see them playing this and suddenly thinking the magic of Pokemon was gone.

3/10