Gen 2 is my favorite generation of Pokemon games, and I've put hundreds of hours into the original GSC. So it's high praise when I say that I think this take on it is genuinely better. The scrapped beta Pokemon are a ton of fun to play with, and I think gamefreak missed a massive marketing opportunity getting rid of the adorable baby mons. The narrative dialogue also makes a lot more sense in places; you start your journey with Professor Oak giving you a starter, which means it actually makes sense when Professor Oak tells you that you can't ride your bicycle in certain places.
The late game is also a ton of fun, even pulling from some of the old TCG and anime content like the Southern Islands. It's just so clear that such care, thought, and creativity was put into this, and it really honors the fandom. As some folks noted, the clock doesn't work (you can press select + down + B on the start menu to reset the clock to whatever time you want), which is a bummer, but not state breaking. There's almost no online game guides for it, which for me was a positive because it felt like the old days where you needed to just persevere with effort through problems... or look at the code on Github, which was the only way I found Mewtwo. But I can confirm you can get all 253 (yup, 253) pokemon in the dex on a single cart alone.
But all in all, this game is a fan-masterpiece that any Gen 2 lover should play. Highly recommend.
