>>37641366In Silver, for all intents and purposes, Ho-Oh is the Mewtwo of the game at level 70 in an post-League dungeon, though it's a shame about it not having Sacred Fire. Sprout Tower is one of the first great examples of time differences with Pokémon and you can get a Gastly before the first Gym if you go at night. You can also get a Bellsprout to trade for an Onix nearby.
National Park: Technically optional if you take Route 35 to Route 36 directly. Bug-catching contests every weekend was pretty cool and you could nab favorites like Scyther and Pinsir, along with already-evolved Butterfree and Beedrill. But it also allowed you to net Caterpie/Weedle, which were version-exclusive outside of it. Plus you could get Sunkern normally, and if you got first prize, you'd get a Sun Stone to evolve it to Sunflora. The tileset was fairly unique with its weird grass, fences, benches, pond, and big trees, and I remember feeling so smart when I found TM28 by finding the hidden fence gap. And the music is unlike any other theme of the time, and is one of the finest tracks on the Game Boy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XjouKSkSeMGoldenrod City: I can actually picture myself walking through this place. The Game Corner with its amazing theme, getting the expansion card for your PokéGear, the department store with the basement leading into the underground tunnels which already had two entrances, getting a bike, getting an Eevee, getting the Squirt Bottle for Sudowoodo, haircuts, Sunday sales, the Team Rocket takeover, and the cheerful metropolis feeling all make it one of the best cities.
Honorable mentions: Whirl Islands, Lighthouse, Dragon's Den, Lake of Rage, Ilex Forest, Slowpoke Well, Union Cave's optional half, Route 39, Mt. Mortar, stepping into Kanto (a whole other page of text), etc.
Gen II instilled into me everything I love about Pokémon. It's probably the reason I don't like most of the recent games which railroad you and halfheart optional content.
