Pokémon Tarnished Gold is a creepypasta based on Pokémon. This one comes with a framing device of a person getting a strange email from an anonymus source, in which the sender talks about the strange copy of Pokémon Gold that they got from their grandmother.
The sender explains their love for Pokémon, and how Gold was their favourite entry, and how they wished to play a new game of it, but due to not wanting to reset their childhood copy, were looking for a new copy. Eventually, their grandmother returns from an auction having bought a used copy of the game, minus the label.
After a bit, they receive their GBA, and insert the game, choosing to start a new game rather than look at the previous owner's file. Oddly, instead of the usual intro with Professor Oak introducing the world of Pokémon, a black screen shows while an unknown figure states that Pokémon are just tools to use and throw away, after which they're greeted with a cutscene of The Rival, Silver, heading to Professor Elm's lab. After he arrives, the cutscene ends, and they find out that this copy has them play as Silver, to their delight.
After playing out Silver's theft of his starter Pokémon, Totodile in this case, and being denied the chance to nickname by the intro's mysterious voice, the story begins proper. There are some odd gameplay changes, but otherwise, the game seems built to tell Silver's side of the original game's story. But eventually, the game's story is found to diverge into an ending completely different from the original game.
Pokémon Tarnished Gold provides examples of:
- Another Side, Another Story: The game the story is about starts as this for Silver, before eventually turning out to have a completely different ending.
- Archnemesis Dad: The climax of the story has Silver confront his father, Giovanni, and attempt to stop his murderous rampage.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: When Mewtwo kills Giovanni, he screams for much longer than any of Mewtwo’s other victims, which the sender concludes to be an indication of Mewtwo torturing the Rocket Boss.
- Despair Event Horizon: Implied for the sender, as their email address is “Hope_abandoned”.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: When Silver makes it to Giovanni's hideout, Mewtwo proceeds to kill Gold's Typhlosion, Gold, Giovanni, and finally Silver.
- Framing Device: The story starts with someone getting a strange email, and then the plot proper is told through the text of that email.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Gold and the Gym Leaders are this, due to gameplay changes making it nigh-impossible for Silver’s Pokémon to level up enough for them, leading to Silver stealing the gym badges instead. The final battle of the story against Mewtwo is the same, with Silver having no Pokémon to defend himself from the Legendary’s assault.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Giovanni uses Mewtwo to murder others, but eventually his words anger Mewtwo, who proceeds to torture and kill Giovanni.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Silver gains key items and the gym badges by stealing them from the relevant characters.
- Luck-Based Search Technique: The sender has Silver walk into a wall in Viridian Gym just to hear the bumping noise, only to find out out that wall hid the stairway to a Secret Underground Passage.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The major hint that Viridian City is where things hit the fan is that it's empty, No music plays, and all the characters are missing.
- Secret Underground Passage: The Viridian Gym hides a staircase that leads to a set of hallways that are the passage to Giovanni’s hideout.
- Shout-Out: The sender's email gives their name as "NO MORE", one of the final Unown messages in Pokémon Lost Silver.
- Starter Mon: Notably, only Totodile is available to the player, with Gold having Cyndaquil to fit with this. The Chikorita from the original game is completely unaccounted for.
