Pallet Town, Route 1
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Starting The Game
Welcome to the world of Pokemon on Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen. This is a remake of the original Pokemon RPGs, so many things are alike. The game starts with a cool intro that is almost exactly like the intros in the original games. It then prints instructions on which buttons does what. After reading what the game has to say, you'll see Professor Oak (Prof. Oak from now on), talking about Pokemon. He first wants you to know if you're a boy or a girl, and then allows you to choose your name. Then you'll choose your rival's name. After a bit of talking with the Professor, you'll find yourself in your bedroom in the peaceful Pallet Town.
The first thing you want to do is go to your PC at the top-left hand corner of your room and take out the Potion. This restores 20 HP, and will be helpful real soon as you're about to find out. Go downstairs, talk to your mom, and go outside. Go north into the grass area. Prof. Oak will come to tell you that it's dangerous to go on without a Pokemon. He'll take you to his lab, where your rival (known as Gary from now on) is waiting. He asks you to choose a Pokemon. Go to the table with the three PokeBalls and choose the Pokemon of your choice.
Choose Your Pokemon
 #001: BULBASAUR (Grass)A cute little frog-like Pokemon that can launch powerful attacks. This is the best choice for beginners, as it can take on the Pokemon in the first four Gyms easily. |
 #007: SQUIRTLE (Water)A turtle loaded with gallons of water. The level of difficulty of choosing Squirtle is medium. It has certain advantages in the beginning, but begins to have disadvantages faster than Bulbasaur. |
 #004: CHARMANDER (Fire)Little fire-breathing salamander. The hardest Pokemon to choose because of the many disadvantages in the beginning. However, it will become very powerful later on. |
Each Pokemon has its own advantages in the game, so choose wisely. It is suggested that beginners choose Bulbasaur, since it's a Grass-type and is strong against the Pokemon in the first Gym, which are Rock-type. After choosing your Pokemon, Gary will come over to the table and choose his Pokemon, which will have an advantage over your Pokemon. For example, if you were to choose Bulbasaur, Gary will choose Charmander. He'll talk to you afterwards, and as you leave, he'll challenge you to your first battle.
Be careful during this first battle, as Gary's Pokemon is stronger than yours, even though you both have lv. 5 Pokemon. The Potion may come in handy now. During this battle, you'll constantly be interrupted by Prof. Oak's tutorials. The good thing about this battle is that you get some money if you win, and your Pokemon's level is instantly raised to 6.
Now leave the city and go North into Route 1 and towards Viridian City.
Try to level up in this route. When you get damaged, be sure to either go back to your house for a free healing from your mom, or to the Pokemon Center in the next city. Talk to the first person you see for a free Potion. Sooner than you think, Route 1 is coming to an end.
| Locations (Route 1) |
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After a long walk in the wilderness, you finally arrive in civilization. This is Cerulean City, home of the second Gym. Heal your Pokemon and stock up on items. You won't be battling in the Gym first. Your rival, Gary, is waiting patiently for you. Let's not make him wait too long!
There are tons of trainers waiting to battle you on Route 25. Behind one of those trainers you will find TM43 - Secret Power. But that isn't the main reason you've come upon this route. You want to meet a scientist named Bill. Go all the way to the end of Route 25, and you'll arrive at a house called Sea Cottage. Go inside, and you'll see a Clefairy. It turns out that something went wrong with Bill's experiment, and the Clefairy is actually him. Talk to him, and he'll go inside his machine. Press "A" against his computer, and he'll be transported to the other end of the machine. Finally, he'll come out as Bill, a human scientist. Talk to him again, and he'll give you a S.S. Ticket for the S.S. Anne in Vermillion City. Now that that's taken care of, it's time to go back to Cerulean City and challenge the gym leader!
Cerulean City is the city of water. Naturally, Water Pokemon are what the trainers in the Gym use. There are two trainers you must battle before battling the gym leader, Misty.
Now that you're on the other side, go south, and you'll find a house. That's the Day Care Center. The old man inside will raise your Pokemon's level ($100 for each level) if you leave it with him. The only bad thing is that your Pokemon might learn some unwanted moves, and delete moves that you want. The good thing is, if you were to leave a weak Magikarp with him, and walk for a while, it'll be able to evolve in no time into a powerful Gyarados! I highly suggest that you catch a Meowth on Route 5. Meowth is a special Pokemon in that once in a while an item mysteriously attaches to it. Many times the item is a Berry, but the items are not just limited to Berries. The entrance to Saffron City is closed, so you'll have to detour through the Underground Path to the next route.
The S.S. Anne may seem small, but it's huge inside. It can be found by going south of Vermillion City, and "flashing" your S.S. Ticket to the guard. If you explore each and every room inside, you'll find tons of trainers and quite a few items. A girl in the second room from the right on the main deck can heal your injured Pokemon. In the ship's kitchen, you'll be able to find your first Berries, three of them to be exact, in the trash cans. From now on, all Berries will be stored in your new Berry Pouch. To end your stay at the S.S. Anne, fight Gary on the second floor.
Cut the tree blocking the path to the gym and go inside, where you'll face a few trainers who use Electric Pokemon. Now comes the hard part: Lt. Surge, the gym leader, has put electric locks on the door that leads to him, so you'll have to solve a puzzle. There are a bunch of trash cans. Press "A" on every one of them until it says that you've found and flipped a switch. You need to flip two switches for the door to open, so you'll need to find the second switch. The second switch is always either is always either above, beside, or below the first one. If you get it wrong, the switch will be reset, and you'll have to do everything over again. This is a very tricky and sometimes annoying puzzle, but hopefully, you'll get it sooner or later. And when you do open the doors, it's time to fight Lt. Surge.
If you go east from Vermilion City, you'll find Diglett's Cave on Route 11. This cave is no maze. It's simple to go through since there's only one road. There are no items to pick up. The only Pokemon you'll find are Diglett and the occasional Dugtrio. Head inside and go to the other end to go back to Route 2 for some important business.