Pokémon Gold & Silver: Prima's Official Strategy Guide

Pokémon Gold & Silver: Prima's Official Strategy Guide is an official player's guide published by Prima Games in 2000. It was authored by Elizabeth M. Hollinger and James M. Ratkos. It is an in-depth guide to the games . The companion to this guide is the Pokémon Master Pokédex—while this guide covers the walkthrough and strategy portion of the game, the Master Pokédex guide covers statistics, game locations, and learnsets for each Pokémon in the game.
==Blurb==
Meet your new best friends!
* New features explained, including all-new Pokégear
* Time- and day-dependent events detailed
* Day and Nighttime locations of Pokémon uncovered
* Locations of all items and TM/HMs revealed
* Battle tactics for collecting all the badges
* Comprehensive maps of the new regions
* Tips on breeding, capturing, raising, and training your new Pokémon
* Sealed section reveals all puzzles and mysteries
==Contents==
Pokémon Gold & Silver: Prima's Official Strategy Guide features in-depth strategies and walkthroughs for both the Johto and Kanto portions of . It provides an overview of the premise of the games, how Pokémon battles work, the differences between versions, and various new features that were introduced for Pokémon Gold and Silver, such as Pokémon breeding and Apricorn Poké Balls.
Every map in the game is covered in the walkthrough portion of the guide, with information on items found in the area, wild Pokémon available in that area, helpful NPCs, and events that occur on various days of the week. The walkthrough for each area also lists each occupying the area and the Pokémon that they have with them. Gym Leaders and Elite Four members have the movesets of each of their Pokémon listed as well. For major opponents such as Gym Leaders, strategies are given as to which Pokémon types are the most effective against their parties and examples of Pokémon which are obtainable at that point in the game to use.
After the walkthrough portion, there is an alphabetical index of all the moves in the game and their effects, followed by an organized list of all the items that are in the game and where they may be found.
At the back of the guide is a "sealed secrets section", which the reader must tear open by a perforated edge before they are able to read it. The reason given for this is that the content in this section contains more spoilers than usual with regards to plot or ending details, or other surprises in the game that are optional. Areas covered in this section are maps of Ruins of Alph, Tin Tower and Mt. Mortar; solutions to the puzzles in the Ice Path, Fuchsia Gym and Blackthorn Gym; details on how to get Evolution stones from Bill's grandfather at the Sea Cottage; strategies for challenging at Mt. Silver; details on chasing and capturing the legendary beasts; information on how to get special items from wild Pokémon and Pokémon transferred from the Generation I games; information on Mystery Gift items and decorations, as well as connecting to the Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS; an introduction to shiny Pokémon; and a detailed calendar of events that occur on various days of the week.
==Trivia==
* Several Pokémon species (such as and ) lack official artwork in this guide and are instead represented by a question mark next to their name. It is possible that this guide went to print before all the official artwork was revealed, forcing the book's creators to do without it.
===Errors===
* On page 5, is misspelled as "Chickorita".
* On page 5, a note explaining makes several factual errors.
** The guide claims that most U.S. states change their clocks to in winter. In reality, U.S. states that observe daylight savings change their clocks to daylight saving time in spring, then change back to standard time in fall.
** The guide claims that daylight saving time in the United States begins on the last Sunday in October and ends on the first Sunday in April. This is backwards—at the time the guide was published, daylight savings in the United States began on the first Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October.
* On page 14, is misspelled as "Eletabuzz".
* On page 15, the Fast Ball is stated to be effective against Pokémon with high "ratings"; however, the Fast Ball was intended to be effective against . The example Pokémon listed—, , and —are all Pokémon that can run from battle, however.
** While the Fast Ball was intended to be more effective against Raikou, Entei, and Suicune (the listed example Pokémon), due to a glitch, the Fast Ball is only effective against three Pokémon: , , and .
* On page 15, the Love Ball is stated to be effective against Pokémon of the opposite gender to the player's lead Pokémon. While this was how the Love Ball was intended to work, due to a glitch, it instead is more effective against Pokémon of the same gender as the player's lead Pokémon.
* On page 15, the Heavy Ball is stated to be effective against "larger-than-average Pokémon", with the provided examples being , , and . While Snorlax and Onix have their catch rate boosted by +40 and +20 when using the Heavy Ball, respectively, Chansey only weighs 76.3 lbs. (34.6 kg), so actually has its catch rate decreased by 20 when using a Heavy Ball.
* On page 15, the Moon Ball is stated to be effective against "Moon Stone-evolved Pokémon"; however, the Moon Ball is actually intended to be effective against Pokémon that can evolve using a Moon Stone, not those that have already evolved. The example Pokémon listed—, , , and —are all Pokémon that evolve using a Moon Stone, however.
** However, due to a glitch, the Moon Ball is not actually more effective against any Pokémon, as it mistakenly checks for Pokémon that evolve using a Burn Heal instead of a Moon Stone.
* On page 16, is misspelled as "Tyrogne".
* On page 17, and have their artworks swapped.
* On page 18, one of the listed ways to decrease a Pokémon's happiness is to "neglect to heal its Status Anomalies". While letting a Pokémon faint from outside of battle will decrease its happiness, failing to cure status conditions alone does not impact its happiness.
* On page 18, the guide claims that depositing a Pokémon in the Pokémon Storage System or Pokémon Day Care will reset its happiness. This is incorrect—Pokémon deposited in either retain the same level of happiness.
* On page 19, the guide claims that when Pokémon, the offspring inherits its "positive stats" from its mother, followed by the example "if the mother has a high Speed stat, the child will be fast, too". This is incorrect—offspring inherit their and s from the opposite-gender parent (or Ditto if it is one of the parents), while their and IVs are determined randomly.
* On page 19, the guide claims that when breeding Pokémon, the more the parents like each other, the more quickly they produce s and the more quickly Eggs they produce hatch. While more compatible parents do produce Eggs more quickly, their compatibility has no impact on how quickly Eggs hatch.
* On page 32, is misspelled as "Nitemare".
* On page 47, the recommended types to use against Bugsy are , , and . While Fire and Rock are super effective against Pokémon (Bugsy's specialty), none of his Pokémon are weak to Water.
* On page 102, Mahogany Town is misspelled as "Mohogany Town".
* On page 108, the is misnamed as the "Raging Badge".
* On page 125, Saffron City mistakenly reuses the description of Vermilion City.
* On page 131, the book mistakenly refers to TM47 as "Iron Wing" when it is really .
* On page 137, Celadon City is misspelled as "Celedon City".
* On page 142, the guide says "Earth" instead of "" when suggesting types to use against Janine at the Fuschia Gym.
* On page 148, the book refers to Brock as a Trainer who uses and Earth-type Pokémon. However, Earth is not actually a Pokémon type in the games. The authors likely meant to refer to the .
* On page 161, Viridian City is misspelled as "Veridian City".
* On the "Attached Items on Traded Pokémon" page of Sealed Section, the Light Ball is referred to as a "Lightbulb".
==See also==
* Official Pokémon Gold and Silver Adventure Guide
* Pokémon Gold and Silver: Official Nintendo Player's Guide
Category:Strategy guides