I think probably the most novel thing gold/silver did back I the day was a real-time clock and day of the week tracker. This meant you had to log in at certain times to hunt certain pokemon, or attend certain events. This isn’t as impressive today, but at the time was a whole new level of immersion fans had never seen before, in any handheld game really.

It was also incredible that they had the new jhoto region, but also the entire gen 1 kanto region also (set a few years in the future). I remember that was just mind blowing that this was even possible.

But if you’re not feeling it, don’t force yourself through it. The Pokemon games aren’t for everybody.