I never played Crystal myself. I have Pokemon Black but I haven't played all the way through it yet. I don't think it's as addicting as some of the other games. I keep putting it down and not picking it back up until months later. I like some of the changes they've made to the games, like being able to use TMs as many times as you want, but I absolutely hate that they've upped the encounter rate. It seems like every five steps I stumble into a wild Pokemon. It gets frustrating after a while. I never really felt the need to use that many repels in previous games but this one is driving me batty in that respect. V_V