10 most nostalgic moments from Pokemon Gold and Silver

Naming your rival

When you first encounter your rival, canonly Silver, he does a rather odd thing. He introduces himself as “???” after you battle him. I was confused. Was that…his name? Could I just not understand what he had said?

Of course, you find out shortly after that it’s just the game’s way of placing the Rival in your way to set you up to name him to the police officer later for a crime he never manages to get arrested for, despite being registered with the Pokemon League and regularly showing up at gyms. Sure, we all named Blue weird things like “BUTTS” or, you know, way worse, but something about Silver in Gold and Silver required more thought. Here was a guy who was beyond your usual degree of jerk-ward throwing out catchphrases like “Smell ya later!” This guy was…kinda bad, not just rude.

Silver’s arc in the games turns out to be an interesting one as he slowly learns to care for and love his Pokemon, going so far as to raise a Crobat, something he cannot evolve without having a strong friendship with it. We then learn in HGSS that he’s Giovanni’s son, hence his starting opinions on Pokemon and weird clothing choices. Turns out that ???’s characterization went several levels deeper than Blue!