Pokemon Crystal is Coming to the Nintendo 3DS eShop

Pokemon Crystal, the Pokemon game that many consider to be the most influential to the series, will officially be coming to handheld, again. Nintendo announced in a press release that Pokemon Crystal will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS eShop on January 26, though not without a few changes.

Players will be able to battle and trade wirelessly in this version of the game. The technology wasn't at that point back in the games initial release, so the game has been updated to take advantage of the 3DS' wireless capabilities. This includes interacting with Pokemon Bank, a separate service for storing Pokemon between games.

Announcing the eShop version of Pokemon Crystal today (December 14) has significance. The original game released in Japan on December 14, 2000. That's exactly 17 years ago.

Pokemon Gold and Silver was released for 3DS eShop not long ago, why is this so important?

It's true that 2nd generation Pokemon has already made its way to the 3DS, but the differences between Gold/Silver and Crystal was where some of the best quality of life changes were made to the series. The ability to choose as a boy or girl started with Crystal, and has remained in every Pokemon game since. Animated sprites are also in Crystal, which at the time was mind-boggling. Fortunately, there are also some storyline changes, in case you don't feel like the same old thing from Gold/Silver

Pokemon Crystal will be available on the 3DS eShop on January 26 for $9.99.