>>51355134If I had to take a guess. Vastly superior selection of early game mons.
You can catch Phanphy and Teddiursa right away for example, like before the first gym badge and it actually requires you to either get extremely lucky or use a gastly with mean look. Teddiursa is especially difficult to catch because gastly doesn’t learn any moves that harm it in early levels. You can also get sneasel in ice path iirc. I don’t remember what other lategame mons are changed to be caught significantly early though I do know larvitar is still locked to endgame.
You also give up a few good mons for this, on the top of my head mareep, vulpix, and remoraid aren’t available in crystal and have to be traded.
Either way, IMO I wouldn’t call crystal better than HGSS but it does have some nice things that makes it worthwhile to play if you enjoy mainline pokemon.
