Don't really follow the town names just read the whole thing. The town names mean you are CLOSE to there. Pallet town: When you start the game, you'll be inside your room. Go down and leave thehouse. Try and leave Pallet Town (by going through the north exit) and Professor Oak will come and stop you and lead you to his lab. If you went to his lab before exiting, you'll find out he wasn't there. Now, anyway, when you enter the lab, you will meet Gary, your rival. You will be fighting him in various places all over the world. After you talk to Professor Oak for a while, you will be allowed to pick any 1 of 3 Poké balls. In each one of them is a special Pokémon you can only get here. They are Bulbasaur (a Grass/Poison Pokémon), Charmander (a Fire Pokémon), and Squirtle (a Water Pokémon). Most people pick Bulbasaur here (since it is a two type Pokémon) but pick what you want. After you pick your Pokémon, Gary will pick his. The Pokémon he picks will always be stronger than yours. Next, the two of you will enter a battle. It is possible to win, but if you lose, your Pokémon will still be fresh. It would be good to win though, you get some money and advance a level. Leave the Lab now. If you ever need healing, go talk to your mom and she will heal your Pokémon for free. Now, go through the north exit. You'll pass through some high grass. When your in high grass, wild Pokémon may attack you. This is where you do your catching of Pokémon. But since you don't have any Poké balls with you, you can't capture them. Just kill the Pidgeys and Rattatas for experience for your first Pokémon. Talk to everyone along the way, some of them give you items. Viridian City: After some walking, you'll reach Viridian City. Talk to everyone here for some information. Visit the house with the studying girl and read her book. You can get some background information on Pokémon in general. Don't forget to check out the Pokémon Center as well. At the Pokémon center, you can heal all the Pokémon you have for free by talking to the lady behind the counter. You can also access the PC on the right side of the Center to Deposit/Withdraw Pokémon, Deposit/Withdraw Items, and Talk to Professor Oak. You can go through the west exit to a small patch of high grass and to fight Gary again. Gary grabbed another Pokémon, but you can beat him here too. The small patch of grass allows you to get Nidoran (Male & Female) and Spearows. If you try to exit to the north, your path will be blocked. The gym is also closed and will be until you get 7 badges. All you can really do is go to the Shop and get parcel for Oak by talking to the shop keeper. Go back to Pallet Town with the parcel and give it to Professor Oak. When all is done, Professor Oak will give you a Pokédex that keeps track of all the Pokémon you've seen and records information for Pokémon you have had in your possession. Go to Gary's House and talk to his sister. She will give you a Town Map that will be useful for you in the future. Go back to Viridian City and buy as many Poké balls and Potions as you see fit. Train your Pokémon a bit with the easy high grass areas and capture a few Pokémon as well. When your ready, go through the north exit (talk to the old man on the way if you need some help on capturing) and enter Viridian Forest. In Viridian Forest, you can capture four Grass Pokémon as well as the most popular Pokémon, Pikachu (note that Pikachu is very weak at this point, but you want to raise a Pikachu, now is the best time). Just walk in the high grass areas to fight some wild Pokémon. If you have a Blue version, you'll find Caterpie more often, Red version players will find Weedle. Weedle is somewhat better than Caterpie because Weedle can use Poison attacks and his last evolved form (Beedrill) is more powerful (attack wise) than Butterfree (Caterpie's 3rd evolved form). If you find wild Metapods or Kakunas (2nd evolved form of Caterpie and Weedle respectively) you can try to capture them, but I suggest using them for easy experience for your weak Pokémon (the shelled Pokémon can't attack). In the forest, you can take some of the other routes and find Poké balls on the ground. The Poké balls contain items and you should always try to get them (even if it means going through high grass). Also in Viridian Forest, you'll fight your first real Trainer battles. In Trainer battles, you and another person (computer-controlled) battle your Pokémon against each other (your battle with Gary is a small example of this). The Pokémon that is first in your lineup with go against whoever is first in your opponent's. This isn't much of a difference from fighting wild Pokémon except that you can't run, you can't capture Pokémon, you have to beat all of them to win, and you get money for winning Trainer battles. The trainers in Viridian Forest are only Bug Catchers who use (guess) only bug Pokémon. They should be no match for your Pokémon. When you exit the forest, you'll be back outside, on the path to Pewter City. Pewter City: In Pewter City, there isn't too much that is different from Viridian City. Two exceptions are that there is a Pokémon museum (with a back exit you can't access now) and a Pokémon Gym that is open. The museum doesn't offer that much, but it only costs 50, so if you want to see it, go ahead. If you try to leave the city without facing the Gym Leader, you'll be stopped by someone and led to the Gym. Train as much as you want and then go inside the gym. The gym is pretty small for its large size. You can read the statue to find out who has already beaten the gym leader (and find out that Gary has!). Also, talk to the man near the entrance, he will be your helper throughout all of the game so listen to his advice to prepare your Pokémon. There is a trainer inside the rock structure. If you want to fight some Ground Pokémon (Diglett and Sandshrew) you can for some extra exp., but if you already have enough, go straight to the top and talk to the person there. You'll find out that he is Brock, the Pewter Gym Leader and a specialist in Rock Pokémon. After a few words, you'll enter a battle. In the battle, Brock uses only two Pokémon, a Level 12 Geodude, and a Level 14 Onix. If you got Squirtle as your starting Pokémon, use water attacks of all sorts (Rock is weak against Water). Also, if your Bulbasaur knows Vine Whip, use that since Rock Pokémon are weak against Grass as well. If you beat Brock's two Pokémon, he will give the Boulder Badge (which increases the attack power of all your Pokémon) and he will also give you TM 34, Bide (Bide is an attack where when an enemy Pokémon attacks your Pokémon, your Pokémon will attack back with twice the damage of the attack). Your work in Pewter City is done, go towards Mt. Moon. Mt.Moon: As you just leave Pewter City through the east exit (it will be open now since you beat Brock), you will face a lot more Pokémon trainers. If you find your Pokémon too weak after a Pokémon battle, don't hesitate to go back to Pewter City and heal your Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. The trainers you face are not too strong, so they should be good ways from your Pokémon to get some experience. Once you get through all the trainers, you will be at the foot of the mountain. Before going in, go walk around in the small grassy area just south of the Pokémon Center. This is the only place to find a Jigglypuff, so if you want one, you'll have to get it now. Don't forget about the Pokémon Center if your Pokémon get hurt a lot. Inside the Pokémon Center is a man selling a Magikarp for 500, but you shouldn't do it since you can get a Magikarp for free later on in the game. When your inside the cave, you'll notice something different. Every part of the cave acts like high grass areas outside. This means, you are vulnerable to attack anywhere you go. This may mean more battles, but it also means more chances for catching Pokémon as well as more exp. The trainers in the cave get more diverse as well. A few of them like to specialize in Rock and Electric Pokémon. Walk around the cave. If you find Poké Balls, go for them since they contain good items. After some walking and many battles, you'll finally be near the end. Towards the end, you'll have to fight a Pokémon trainer (the one that specializes in Electric). Beat him, and he'll allow you to choose from any one of two fossils. The Helix Fossil will allow you get Omanyte later in the game, the Dome Fossil will allow you to get Kabuto. Continue on your way out of the cave. Cerulean City: Once you get outside of the cave, keep heading east. Soon enough, you'll end up in Cerulean City. Nothing too new here, Poké Shop, Pokémon Center, Gym, and some houses. There is a bicycle shop where you can get a bicycle (you can't pay 1,000,000 for it, it is impossible to do so) by getting Bike Voucher later on in the game and giving it to the shopkeeper. You can't get out of the city (going North leads to the Sea Cottage, but you'll end up going back to Cerulean City) so you have two choices at this point (which can be done in any order). You can beat the Gym Leader Misty, master of Water Pokémon, for the Cascade Badge. Or, you can go visit the Sea Cottage. But, getting badges is the main point of the game, so let's do that first. You will have to fight two trainers before you reach Misty (well, you can avoid the swimmer if you wish). Just by fighting the first two, you can see that this is a Water Pokémon gym. Rock Pokémon are out, Grass and Electric Pokémon are in. If you grabbed a Pikachu in Viridian Forest a while back, you can use his Electric attacks to do a lot of damage on the Water Pokémon. All Misty has are Staryu and Starmie. If your Pikachu or a Grass Pokémon are high in level enough, they should be able to beat them both easily. Getting the Cascade Badge will make traded Pokémon up to Level 30 obey you. You also get the TM 11 which teaches Bubblebeam. Heal up at the Pokémon Center, and head through the north exit towards Nugget Bridge. But, right before you step a foot onto it, you'll meet Gary again, and fight in a battle. Your Pokémon should be more than enough for him now. If most of your Pokémon are around Lvl. 15-20, you'll be in good shape. After your finished with Gary, continue north. You'll have to get through a gauntlet of trainers (with easy Pokémon). After you finished with all of them, you have to fight one more at the top (A Team Rocket member) who will give you a nugget (sell this for money) when you beat him. Heal up if you need to and then go east of Nugget Bridge to the high grassy areas to grab some new Pokémon. Most notable is a grass Pokémon which varies on your Pokémon version (Blue = Bellsprout, Red = Oddish) and Abra, your first Psychic Pokémon. However, you may find Abra hard to catch since they like to teleport away during your first turn. Put one to sleep and you'll have a better chance of grabbing it. Make sure to get at least one extra Abra since you'll have to trade for it later on. When your done capturing Pokémon, go east towards the Sea Cottage. You'll have to face various Pokémon Trainers along the way, so make sure your ready for them. After you fight your way through them, you'll reach the Sea Cottage. Go inside and talk to the Pokémon there. He'll identify himself as a person and asks you to activate the computer when he goes inside the machine. Do so, and he'll reward you with the S.S. Ticket. You can also look at the computer again for some Pokédex Information on 4 Pokémon (Eevee and its evolved forms). From now on, you'll also have Bill's P.C. instead of Someone's P.C. when you use a computer. Go back to Cerulean City and go inside the house where a policeman used to stand guard. Inside, you'll see the house is in disarray. Go through the crack in the wall and talk to the person in the backyard. He is a member of Team Rocket. You'll engage him in a battle and you get TM 28 which teaches Dig. Dig is a good attack since you can use it to leave dungeons easily and go to last Pokémon center you went to. You can try to return the TM to the man in the house, but you he won't accept it. Anyway, you can now exit the town, so go through the south exit. Jump down the hill instead of going on the east and west paths. If you keep jumping down, you will reach a house. In this house, you can leave your Pokémon with the man here. If you fail to see the point of this, just note that if you leave a Pokémon here, every step you take with net that Pokémon 1 exp. The more steps you take, the more experience that Pokémon will get. If you want the Pokémon back though, for every level the Pokémon advanced, you need to pay 100 + 100 times the number of levels. You can't go through the gate to Saffron City, the guard there is particularly cranky at this point. You'll have to use the tunnel (the entrance is just east of the gate). You can trade a Nidoran male for a Nidoran female with the person here if you wish. In the tunnel, there are hidden items in the floor (press A when on a floor tile to see if there is a hidden item here). When you reach the end of the tunnel, exit and you'll only have to go a bit south to reach Vermilion City. You'll have to fight trainers, but you can try to catch some Pokémon in the high grass. Vermilion City: n Vermilion City, you can visit the Pokémon Fan Club and even visit the S.S. Anne. First, visit the Pokémon Fan Club in their house (the one just north of the Pokémon gym). Talk to chairman and if you listen to him, you will get the Bike Voucher. If you wish, go back to Cerulean City at this point and turn in the Bike Voucher at the Bicycle Shop to receive the Bicycle. The Bicycle is a great item because it allows you to move faster on the overland map and it works in all areas except buildings. From the Pokémon Fan Club house, just go to house that is right next to it. In here, you can trade Spearow for a Farfetch'd (the only way you can get this Pokémon). Then, finally, go the house just next to the Pokémon Center and talk to the man there. He will give you an Old Rod (which you can use to engage in battles with Magikarp). You can go to the S.S. Anne now, or go through the Diglett Cave. But, before doing any of those, I like to battle the trainers past the entrance to the cave and capture wild Pokémon in the high grass. You can find Drowzee in the high grass, a very good Hypnosis (Psychic) Pokémon. In the gate building far east of Vermilion City, you can to the second floor and talk to the scientist there. If you have at least 30 types of Pokémon in your Pokédex, you will get the Itemfinder, an okay item. The boy there will also trade Nidorina for Nidorino. You can try to go through the east exit of the gate building, but a Snorlax will block the way, so you'll have to go back to Vermilion City. Now, go inside the Diglett cave (AFTER healing of course) and make sure you got an Abra you want to trade. In the Diglett cave, you will only find Diglett (and very rarely, Dugtrios). The Diglett are ground Pokémon, so if you have some Water Pokémon, you should use them since Water is strong against Ground. The Digletts vary in levels, but the Dugtrio are very high level (but you don't find them too much), around 30. When you go through to the other side, you can't do too much except go to the house just south and trade an Abra for Mr. Mime with the boy there. You'll come back to this place after you get an important item. Go back to Vermilion City using the Diglett Cave again. When in Vermilion City, heal up and go inside the S.S. Anne. Make sure to visit every room and grab all the items (check even the trash cans for some) in the Poké Balls. The trainers here aren't too hard, but if they are, just leave and heal up. After you are done searching, go towards the Captain's Cabin. Gary will encounter you along the way. His Pokémon shouldn't be too hard for yours. After you beat him, go inside the Captain's Cabin. Rub his back to cure his seasickness and he'll give you HM 01 which teaches Cut. Teach it to a Pokémon as soon as possible. Cut will be a very valuable move throughout the game. Make sure you are done with everything on the S.S. Anne. Once you exit, the S.S. Anne will go away forever. Go back to Vermilion City. You can do 3 things with your new ability, Cut. You can go back to Pewter City and cut the tree that blocks the way into the back exit of the museum. Go back through the Diglett Cave and cut the tree just south of the house where you traded Abra. Probably, the most important right now, cut the tree blocking the way to the gym. Let's beat the Gym Leader first. Cut the tree blocking the way to the Gym and go inside. Inside the gym, there are a few trainers, but you may only have to fight a few of them. Make sure to search all the trash cans for a switch. If you find one, check a trash can just next to it. If you find another switch, you will open the door leading the Gym Leader. If you don't, the first switch moves somewhere else and you'll have to start over again. Once you do open the door, go and talk to the Gym Leader. He will identify himself as Lt. Surge, a master Electric Pokémon trainer. He uses a Voltorb, Pikachu, and Raichu. Put your Grass and Ground Pokémon in, they're strong against Electric. Hopefully, you can stop them easily enough. When you do, you get the Thunder Badge which increases the Speed of all your Pokémon. Your TM prize is TM 24 which teaches Thunderbolt, a powerful Electric attack. Now, go through the Diglett cave again and cut the tree that is south of the house where you traded the Abra. Go inside the house there and talk to the Scientist. You will get HM 05 (that is, if you have at least 10 Pokémon in your Pokédex) which teaches Flash. Flash is somewhat useless in battle, but is needed for completing an area. You can also grab some items in the area. I also suggest cutting one the trees blocking the way back onto the main path. You can then go to Pewter City and cut your way to the back exit. In the back of the museum, talk to one of the scientists so you can get the Old Amber (you can get Aerodactyl from this item later on in the game). Rock Tunnel: From where ever you may be, make your way to back to Cerulean City. Use the east exit out of the city and cut the tree blocking the way eastward. Get through the gauntlet of trainers. Keep going eastward. When you reach the big patch of high grass, your almost there. From the large patch, go south towards the Pokémon Center. In the Pokémon Center, do any healing and make sure you have a Pokémon that knows Flash in your lineup. Enter the cave entrance when your ready. The moment you enter the cave, it will be totally black. Use the ability Flash to light it up (it will last as long you are in the cave). The cave is very straight forward. This is mostly like Mt. Moon, except you can capture wild Onixes and Machops. The only way you can usually get lost is by turning around and going the wrong way. When you reach the end and exit the cave, head south (and fight a few trainers on the way). You will reach Lavender Town. Lavender town and Celedon city: Like Pallet Town, Lavender Town has no Pokémon gym. But, their claim to fame is the Pokémon Tower, also known as the Graveyard of Pokémon. You can try going in there, but you won't get anything out of it, the "Pokémon" there are ghosts which can't be captured. I suggest not going in until later on in the game. Going through the south exit will only lead you to the Snorlax that blocked your way all the way back in Vermilion City. The only choice, is going west. On the west path, you can't go through the Saffron Gate (the gatekeeper he is also cranky), so use the underground path to Celadon City. Celadon City has to be the biggest city. There is a very good Pokémon Shop, a Pokémon Mansion, a Casino, and a bunch of houses (plus the usual Pokémon Center and Pokémon Gym). Go through the back of the Pokémon Center and then into through the gap in the trees to the open backyard. Go through the back exit of the Pokémon Mansion. Go through all the steps until you reach the small room. Go into the small room and grab the Poké ball on the desk. It contains Eevee, a very odd Pokémon (it can evolve any of three ways). You may remember hearing about it back in the Sea Cottage. Anyway, leave the way you came in and then go towards the south of the city. You'll find a tree that can be cut along the way, so cut it. Go through the gap, and follow the path all the way to the Pokémon Gym. The Gym here specializes in Grass Pokémon. I suggest getting your best Fire Pokémon now. There are a number of ways to reach Erika (the black haired one), but whichever one you take, you'll face at least 2 trainers. When you do finally reach her, you have to face some tough Grass Pokémon (Victreebell probably one the hardest), but if your Fire Pokémon are good enough (especially if you worked with Charmander since the beginning), you can defeat her. You get TM 21 which has Mega Drain, and the Rainbow Badge which makes traded Pokémon up to level 50 obey you. After this, make sure you to go to the store. You can buy whatever you want, but first, go all the way to the top (onto the roof terrace). Press A when in front of the vending machines (look a lot like bookshelves to me) and buy a drink. You can also buy drinks and give them to the girl on the same floor. When you give her a drink, she will give you a TM. Just make sure when you leave the store, you have some sort of drink in your inventory. Next, go to the first house you encounter on the bottom row of the houses. Talk to the man in the upper-left corner on the room. He will give you a Coin Case, which you need to have if you want to play in the casino. Now, go to the casino. You can fool around with the games if you want (and you will need to if you want Porygon). You can find coins all over the floor (by pressing A in right spots) and talking to some of the casino players will net you some coins. The most direct way to get coins is by paying for them from the man at the counter. Some slots are easier/harder than others, you'll have to experiment. Just note that some slots will make it impossible to win. Stick with a good slot where you win big. Also in the casino, talk to the person next to the picture on the north wall. You'll engage in a Pokémon battle with another of Team Rocket's members. Beat him, and then go directly east (behind the shelves). A new passage leading down will have opened up. When you just enter the secret area, take the nearby passage of stairs down. Then, on that floor, take the other passage of stairs down. Now, on this floor, you'll have to get through this odd maze. Really, it is made up of slide bars and stop points. The slide bars (marked by the arrows) will slide you in the direction it points. The stop points (four square spaces) will stop your slide. It is easy to get through it, but if you can't, he is the direct route through it. First, take the left slide point. Go down onto the right-pointing slide point. From the stop point, go left 2 spaces, down 3 spaces, left 3 spaces, down 2 spaces and then take the slide point just right of where you stand. Then, you can easily exit (you don't have to face the Team Rocket member if you don't go too far). Take the nearby set of stairs down. Go all the way to the upper-left room. Beat the Team Rocket member and take the Lift Key he drops. Use the Lift Key to now use the Lifts. Go back all the way to the first floor. Reach the lift there and
