Regarding GSC/HGSS's level curve, while I agree Johto's level curve is very flawed, I think there is one big way to work
with the level curve and the structure of the game as a whole. One thing I did in my latest run of HeartGold is that once I had the means to do so, I went out of my way to explore the region's caves and side dungeons. Dark Cave, Union Cave, Mt. Mortar, Whirl Islands, etc. The games ever since GSC itself have more or less taken it as a given that once you have a certain HM, you backtrack and go access locations you didn't have access to beforehand. Union Cave, for example, has the lower floors inaccessible until you get Surf. Once you get Strength, you can get to Route 46 through Dark Cave and find a few Trainers there. In both cases, not only do you find a handful of Trainers, you can also find a handful of Pokemon you wouldn't be able to find otherwise. The Trainers are all in the mid 20's roughly, and in some cases the 30's when you get Waterfall. Union Cave, Whirl Islands, and Mt. Mortar all have wild mons in the mid 20's, and given you can go to the lower floors of Union Cave and Mt. Mortar as soon as you get Surf, while the mons on the main path are all in the lower levels, this is pretty nice for grinding purposes to get EXP faster when necessary. Route 34 also has a few Ace Trainers across the lake who make for a bit of good grinding too once you get Surf.
Given the overall structure of Johto, with its shortcuts to go back to earlier routes here and there, I'm inclined to believe the region was specifically meant to be explored off the beaten path. Granted, the non-linearity is already apparent with how you can choose to go either to Mahogany and the Lake of Rage first, or to Olivine and Cianwood first, but the way many side dungeons have Trainers and Pokemon closer in level to where you will be when you can first access them, they definitely want players to go out of their way to explore every nook and cranny and rewards the player for exploring.
I think one overlooked thing HGSS does that helps with leveling a lot compared to GSC is that it allows you to get almost every Pokegear number you can get, so you can have every rematchable Trainer's number at once, and once you have eight badges and before the League you can call all of them (or they call you) for rematches, and that can help a lot with grinding levels. They level up again after beating the League, which is good grinding before you head into Kanto, and those Trainers are stronger than in GSC so they give you more experience. And there are even more rematchable Trainers in Kanto who offer that extra EXP when you call them for rematches too, and after 16 badges everyone upgrades their teams again, which also adds some sweet EXP too. Another cool thing is the Gym Leader rematches: this is one of the most praised things about HGSS, but it's not only incredibly fun to rematch Gym Leaders, it's also a great source of grinding, especially in tandem with the upgraded Elite Four rematch teams. This means getting to the right levels for Red is even easier than ever with so many new sources of grinding EXP to gain levels.
Granted, there is one problem which is that you have to wait until a certain time of day and a certain day of the week to rematch certain batches of Trainers (or manipulate the system clock accordingly), which makes this less convenient than DPP's Vs. Seeker, but I think it offers a very good source of grinding experience all the same, and using it as a source of grinding is not only fun but helps with EXP gain all that much more easily.
And lastly, Silver’s personality is explained by the abusive relationship between him and Giovanni in HGSS, something that isn’t addressed in Blue and Bede.
It's worth noting that in HGSS it's also revealed through an event cutscene that Silver is actively trying to differentiate himself from his father after being disappointed in his decision to leave and his claims that he will form an even bigger Team Rocket, and how he relies on the potential of his posse of Grunts. Granted, this is only in a special Celebi event, but it's notable. Silver is clearly shown to be angered that Giovanni relies so much on having a big organization of Grunts to feel "powerful", while supposedly being a weak man on his own, and from there he expresses that he wants to be nothing like Giovanni, who derives his strength not from himself but from having a large gang of Grunts to do his bidding, and he wants to be strong all on his own terms.
His obsession with pursuing strength and dislike for the weak stems from that, and he's so fixated on his Pokemon being "strong" and picking the best of the best Pokemon, trying to become a strong Trainer on his own terms, but initially he falls into the trap that his father does, in that he doesn't treat his Pokemon well in doing so, just like how Giovanni basically just uses his team for his own gain. Silver learning how to become kinder and more caring towards his Pokemon, and accepting them as his friends and partners, not only allows him to truly achieve better strength, but is what ultimately does separate him from Giovanni and allow him to become strong on his own, and not like Giovanni who straight up just uses his team and his Pokemon without caring that much about them, seeing them as merely tools for his own benefit.
In all seriousness, I find Silver a lot more interesting because he’s less of a snob compared to Blue and Bede ( The only rivals I consider jerks ). Unlike Blue, who doesn’t change at all even when you beat him ( In the Sevii Islands he is still saying “ Smell you later “. ) while Bede just vanishes during the half of the story and makes a random appearance in the Climax as a gym leader. While Silver does do a lot behind the screens, he also shows the most change between the two, becoming different person in the end of the Johto games. And lastly, Silver’s personality is explained by the abusive relationship between him and Giovanni in HGSS, something that isn’t addressed in Blue and Bede. In HGSS, he even lets his starter follow him. That being said, most of Silver’s growth was explained in the remakes, not the original, so understandable why you may not like Silver.
