Rarest Pokémon in Gold, Silver, & Crystal (2024)

The Generation II Pokémon games were a significant leap in quality and technical capabilities from the original Game Boy titles, offering a batch of exciting and rare new species along the way. Game Freak became more creative with how many of these creatures could be found across Gold, Silver, and Crystal.

These methods included unique gimmicks for evolution and particularly challenging wild encounters, making even certain non-Legendary species difficult to come by. From the wild Heracross hiding inside the Johto region's forests and trees to the debut "roaming" gimmick through the wild encounters of the Legendary Beast trio, Gen II has plenty of rare Pokémon.

Updated on July 31, 2024, by Antonio Samson: Generation II introduced a handful of fan favorite Pokémon to this day. However, some of them have been hard to obtain ever since they made their first appearance. This article was updated to include more Pokémon and to meet CBR's editorial and formatting standards.

15 Smeargle Is Hard To Find and Harder To Use

Mastering Smeargle's Unique Move and Encounter Locations

Smeargle is a unique Normal-Type Pokémon famous for its exclusive move, "Sketch," which permanently copies any move it witnesses. This flexibility allows for diverse battle strategies, but it can be tricky to manage in a team. In the Generation II games, Smeargle is found in select locations like the Ruins of Alph, Artisan Cave, and Route 43 in Crystal. The challenge comes not only from its rarity but also from effectively utilizing its unique move in battles.

Catching Smeargle is a test of patience due to its elusive nature and low encounter rate. Moreover, trainers must be strategic about which moves to copy with "Sketch," as this decision determines Smeargle's utility in various battle scenarios. The move can only be used once per level-up, making every encounter and every choice crucial for maximizing Smeargle's potential.

14 Miltank Requires Specific Timing to Encounter

Navigating Miltank’s Timed Appearances for a Strategic Capture

Miltank, the Normal-Type cow Pokémon, is well-known for its impressive defensive stats and the move "Milk Drink," which heals its HP, infamous in the Gym Battle against Whitney. In Generation II, players can encounter Miltank on Route 38 and Route 39, but its encounter rate is relatively low, and the time of day influences its appearance. Trainers must be patient and strategic about when to search for Miltank to add this durable Pokémon to their team.

Miltank's appearance is tied to specific times of the day, with its presence being more common during certain hours. This adds a layer of complexity to the hunt, as players must sync their in-game activities with Miltank's schedule. Furthermore, its robust defense and unique healing ability make Miltank a valuable asset for sustaining long battles, making the effort to catch it worthwhile.

13 Yanma Is a Frustratingly Rare Find

Strategies for Locating and Utilizing Yanma’s Speed and Typing

Yanma, the Bug/Flying-Type Pokémon, is another creature that's notoriously difficult to find in the Generation II games. It only appears on Route 35 with a mere 1% encounter rate. Its high Speed and unique typing make Yanma a valuable addition for players willing to put in the effort to track it down. This rarity, coupled with its decent battle capabilities, makes Yanma a sought-after but challenging catch.

Beyond its rarity, Yanma's Speed makes it an excellent candidate for outmaneuvering opponents in battle. The search for Yanma can be a persistent exercise, as players may spend hours combing Route 35 for just a glimpse of this elusive Pokémon. However, its abilities, such as "Speed Boost," which increases its Speed each turn, and "Compound Eyes," which raises accuracy, make the pursuit rewarding for dedicated trainers.

12 Lapras Only Appears Once a Week

Planning and Timing for Capturing Lapras in Union Cave

Lapras is a Water/Ice-Type Pokémon known for its high HP and versatile move pool. In the Generation II games, capturing Lapras requires careful timing, as it only appears in Union Cave on Fridays. This once-a-week encounter means players must plan their game schedule around this rare opportunity, adding more difficulty to obtaining this powerful Pokémon.

The anticipation builds as players wait for the specific day, making the encounter with Lapras feel like a special event. Known for moves like "Ice Beam" and "Surf," Lapras is a formidable opponent and a valuable ally in battle. Its impressive stats and diverse move set make it worth the wait, rewarding players with a Pokémon capable of easily handling various battle situations.

11 Sneasel Can Only Be Found at Night

Optimizing Night Searches for Sneasel's Rare Encounter

Sneasel is a dual Dark/Ice-Type Pokémon that stands out with its high Speed and Attack stats. In Generation II, Sneasel can only be found on Route 28 and in Mt. Silver during the nighttime. This time-specific encounter and its rare appearance make Sneasel a challenging Pokémon to capture. Players must diligently search during the right hours to add this swift and cunning Pokémon to their roster.

Searching for Sneasel adds an element of adventure, as players must navigate through the game's day-night cycle to find it. Its swift Speed and sharp claws make it a formidable adversary, with moves like "Slash" and "Ice Punch" taking full advantage of its high attack stat. Sneasel's unique typing also gives it useful resistances and attack advantages, making it a strategic addition for those willing to hunt during the dark hours of the game.

10 Heracross Is Only Found Through A Monotonous Gimmick

Effective Headbutting Techniques to Encounter Heracross

Bug-Type Pokémon are typically known for being frail in battle. However, Generation II's Heracross bucks that trend, with the dual Bug/Fighting-Type creature benefiting from an impressive Physical Attack stat (125) and a strong secondary typing to compensate.

Still, Heracross was an infamously finicky Pokémon to capture, as it was only found after using Headbutt on certain trees. It's found on multiple routes, but what makes it difficult to flush out is the bug is only found in the select "high-encounter" trees. To add to the difficulties, the more common species it shares a habitat with have markedly higher encounter rates than Heracross.

9 Hitmontop Has Meticulous Stat Requirements

Achieving the Perfect Stat Balance for Evolving Hitmontop

Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal experimented with some rather convoluted evolution methods with Hitmontop. The Fighting-Type species evolves from Tyrogue — the 1st stage creature that can also evolve into Gen I's Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan. Getting a Hitmontop requires a meticulous stat spread, at least by Pokémon standards.

Before that, players must pick up the sole Tyrogue found in the games as a gift from the Fighting Dojo's Kiyo in Mt. Mortar. Then, its Attack and Defense must be equal by the time it evolves at Lv. 20. If not, it will evolve into Hitmonlee (Attack higher than Defense) or Hitmonchan (Defense higher than Attack). Players are advised to save the game before it reaches Lv. 20 and have certain Vitamins on hand to manipulate its stats.

8 Blissey Requires High Friendship After A Rare Encounter

Raising Chansey’s Friendship and the Quest for Blissey

See Also

Celebi’s Urban Legend from Pokémon Gold and Silver Came True in Pokémon Crystal

Blissey is another new Pokémon species to Johto that evolves from a Kanto monster — in this case, Chansey. Also a pure Normal-Type, this Pokémon is known for being a potentially menacing defensive tank, boasting a stunning 255 HP and 135 Special Defense.

Players will need patience to obtain a Blissey, as it only evolves from Chansey after raising its friendship level to 220 and then leveling it up. There's no natural in-game way to measure this number precisely. Adding to the tediousness, wild Chansey have a painfully low 1 percent encounter rate on Routes 13, 14, and 15 in the Kanto region.

7 Tyranitar Is Johto's Resident Pseudo-Legendary

Evolving Larvitar and Accessing Rare Encounters on Mt. Silver

"Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon" is one of the most consistent traditions of the mainline games, offering unique creatures with almost Legendary-tier strength. Tyranitar is the Johto region's resident Pseudo-Legendary, with the dual Rock/Dark-Type holding up even in Gen IX as one of the strongest non-Legendary monsters.

On top of the long-term commitment to evolve Larvitar into Pupitar (Lv. 30) and Pupitar into Tyranitar (Lv. 55), it was even more elusive to get than Gen I's Dragonite. Before the Nintendo DS remakes (HeartGold and SoulSilver), Larvitar could only be found as a rare encounter on Mt. Silver. This locale is locked until earning all 16 Gym Badges across Johto and Kanto. It frustratingly limited party composition despite being a Johto species. Crystal only marginally improves things by letting players buy a Larvitar for thousands of coins at the Game Corner.

6 Raikou Is A Roaming Legendary

Tracking and Capturing Raikou's Random Encounters Across Johto

Raikou, Entei, and Suicune make up the fan-favorite Legendary Beast Trio from the Johto Pokémon games. These three creatures involve another unique encounter mechanic, with Raikou being the group's Electric-Type representative. Like its contemporaries, Raikou can only be found after encountering them in a brief cutscene inside the Burned Tower.

After that, it'll randomly roam the Johto region for players to find spontaneously. In addition to only being one Raikou in the games, the most tedious element of these random encounters is that Raikou will run from the battle the first chance it gets. This will force players to try their luck again in the wild, but there are clever ways to manipulate its travel path.

5 Entei Is Another Tricky Roaming Pokémon

Strategies for Encountering and Capturing Entei in Johto

The Legendary Beast Entei is the trio's pure Fire-Type and is typically found in the same manner as its counterparts. The beast has some impressive power backing it, but it's partially hampered by leaning toward its Physical Attack (115) rather than Special Attack (90).

All Fire attacks were categorized as Special in the Generation II games, meaning Entei couldn't max out its offensive potential. Still, it's a Pokémon worth catching, and it's similarly difficult to hunt down due to the roaming mechanic. Entei can be found alongside Raikou and Suicune randomly across Johto in Gold and Silver. It only shares this method with Raikou in Crystal, as Suicune gets its own gimmick in the "third-version" game.

4 Suicune Is More Lenient Depending On The Game

Crystal Has an Enhanced Encounter Method for Suicune

Due to its Crystal role, Suicune is the most forgiving Pokémon to catch of the three Legendary Beasts. The pure Water-Type representative can be found the same way in Gold and Silver as its partners Entei and Raikou.

Being Pokémon Crystal's mascot, however, Suicune gets a longer and more scripted encounter through a side storyline involving the Legendary Beast researcher Eusine. The Water-Type Pokémon will appear in select cutscenes before being summoned by the player on the ground floor of Tin Tower using the Clear Bell. It's a much more convenient capture method but to keep things balanced, there's still one Suicune in Crystal​.

3 Ho-Oh Gives Players One Chance To Catch It

Unlocking and Capturing Ho-Oh at Tin Tower

The flagship Legendary of Pokémon Gold, Ho-Oh is a powerful beast heavily inspired by the mythology of the phoenix. It's a dual Fire/Flying-Type species with immense offensive (130 Physical Attack, 110 Special Attack) and Special Defense stats (154), easily making it one of the strongest Fire Pokémon.

Unlike later mainline games, which typically lock mascot Legendaries to their respective versions, Ho-Oh can naturally be caught across all three Gen II games. In Gold, it's part of a tense encounter during the main story at the top of Tin Tower, while players have to wait until the post-game portion to catch it in Silver and Crystal. Regardless, there's only one Ho-Oh per game, its attacks hit incredibly hard, and its capture rate is low.

2 Lugia Is Found At The End Of A Winding Dungeon

Navigating the Complex Whirl Islands to Capture Lugia

The counterpart of Gold's Ho-Oh, Lugia is Pokémon Silver's Legendary mascot. It's a dual Psychic/Flying-Type creature and is arguably harder to catch than Ho-Oh due to its more complicated location. Lugia can be found during Silver's main story but not until the post-game portion of Gold and Crystal.

Like its counterpart, this Pokémon has an entire dungeon dedicated to it, this time in the form of the Whirl Islands. However, the Whirl Islands are more labyrinthine than the Tin Tower, with its HM move requirements to traverse the dungeon being more demanding and the overall map's layout more complex. Otherwise, Lugia offers a similarly tough challenge to players trying to stall it long enough to capture, as the Pokémon's moves can decimate players' teams.

1 Celebi Is An Elusive Event-Only Pokémon

Event and Glitch Methods for Capturing Celebi in Generation II

Like Gen I's extremely elusive Mew, the Mythical time-traveling Pokémon Celebi is easily among the hardest creatures to come by in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. A dual Grass/Psychic-Type, this Pokémon has Mew's perfectly balanced stat spread (100 across the board) and was mostly locked behind special in-person events.

Celebi can't be legitimately found in Gold or Silver, requiring an elaborate glitch involving a Sneasel to be triggered. It's slightly easier in Crystal, as the previous event-only method to catch it can be accessed naturally in-game when playing through the Virtual Console version on the Nintendo 3DS. After obtaining the GS Ball from Kurt, Celebi is summoned to the Ilex Forest shrine. Still, this is the only Celebi in the game and the 3DS' eShop has since been taken down.

Pokemon

Expanding across a multitude of media, including TCGs, video games, manga, live-action movies and anime, the Pokémon franchise is set in a shared world of humans and creatures with a wide variety of special abilities.

Created by

Satoshi Tajiri

First Film

Pokemon: The First Movie

Latest Film

Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle

First TV Show

Pokémon

Latest TV Show

Pokémon Horizons

First Episode Air Date

April 1, 1997