Two Game Boy Colors face to face, a little red window on top: with the Mystery Gift, Gold, Silver and Crystal were the first Pokémon games to use the console’s infrared port. A daily ritual in playgrounds in 2001.
Unlocking the Mystery Gift
The option doesn’t appear right away in the main menu. Go to the fifth floor of the Goldenrod Dept. Store and talk to the young woman who introduces the feature: the next time you start up, “Mystery Gift” will appear in the title screen menu.
How it works
- You need two Game Boy Colors and two Gold, Silver or Crystal cartridges. The infrared port doesn’t exist on the original Game Boy or on the Game Boy Advance.
- Choose “Mystery Gift” on the title screen on both consoles and place them face to face, windows aligned and close together.
- Each player receives a random gift: an item (Berries, healing items, sometimes rare ones) or a decoration for their room in New Bark Town (dolls, rugs, plants, posters, consoles…).
- The number of exchanges is limited each day, and you can only exchange once a day with the same person.
The Mystery Gift and the Trainer House
In Viridian City, the Trainer House offers you one battle per day against a virtual trainer. Its team is none other than that of the last player you exchanged a Mystery Gift with. Exchanging with a friend therefore also means giving yourself an opponent worthy of you.
Pikachu 2 GS
The Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS pedometer, released at the same time as the games, also communicates by infrared. The “watts” accumulated while walking can be exchanged for items sent to Gold, Silver or Crystal through the Mystery Gift feature.
