Speak to the gate attendants to receive 30 Safari Balls. To catch any wild Pokémon you find, toss Safari Balls at them. Often you'll have to throw food or rocks to distract certain Pokémon, so try many different combinations when a particular Pokémon keeps escaping. When you run out of Safari Balls, or walk 600 paces, you'll warp back to the gate automatically.
Catching Safari Pokémon
The nice thing about the Safari is that you don't have to fight with Pokémon before you can catch them. Unfortunately, you can only catch them with the weak Safari Balls they provide you.
But you do have a few new options: you can throw rocks at Pokémon, making them angry. This makes them easier to catch, but they run away more quickly. Or you can toss out some bait, which makes them stick around longer, but they'll be harder to catch (despite the idea that they are distracted while eating food).
To make matters worse, the rarer the Pokémon, the harder they are to catch! You may see a Chansey only one time in twenty, but when you do you'll probably need to nail her with two rocks before you can snare her in a Safari Ball. And since she runs at a hair trigger, it may take ten or twenty tries until you can catch her, so be patient - really patient. Here's the icing on the cake: you only get 600 paces (steps) and 30 Safari Balls.
| #102 Exeggcute | #114 Tangela |
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 An awkward hybrid of Grass and Psychic-types, Exeggcute has a variety of weaknesses, but few strengths. He doesn't learn any actual Psychic attacks, and his Grass attacks, which include Leech Seed at level 28, and Solar Beam at level 42, aren't too great. That leaves him a handful of Normal attacks, but his Attack is pretty low, so... Don't waste a lot of effort unless you "gotta catch'em all." If you do, you can evolve him into an Exeggutor with a Leaf Stone. |
 Grass Pokémon are good against Water, Earth, and Rock, and fairly resistant to a couple of other types. So they're pretty good in some situations, and Tangela's arguably the best of the lot. Tangelas are hard to get here, though. They appear extremely infrequently, and it takes a couple of rocks to soften them up to the point where they can be captured. |
| #113 Chansey | |
 Chanseys are really rare in every version, and they're a pain to catch, since you need to nail them with a couple of rocks before you stand a chance of snagging one with a Safari Ball. But you may find it worth your trouble of grabbing one. Here are some of Chansey's highlights. She may look absolutely ridiculous, but her hit points are literally off the scale, and best of all, she's the only Pokémon in the game who can learn Softboiled. That obscure skill comes from TM 41, (get it by surfing across that pool in Celadon City), and can heal your other fighters outside of battle! That's an incredible ability... It's too bad Chansey's so weak in battle, with the lowest Attack and Defense in the game (but an OK Special). | |
Learn how to surf
You'll be able to get around a lot better if you can cross the many ponds here, so your top priority should be to get to the Treasure House (containing HM 03) in the northwest corner of Area 3.
This is more complicated than it sounds, especially in under 500 steps. Head east to Area 1 from the Main Entrance, cross the two cliffs, and out to the Northwest to Area 2, then head all the way around to the exit in Area 2's Southwest corner.
The house is just ahead, but don't forget to grab the Gold Teeth while you're in the neighborhood (see below). HM 03's Surf can be taught to just about any Water Pokémon, and is a surprisingly strong Water attack when used in battle.
| #127 Pinsir | #123 Scyther |
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 Pinsir, available only in LeafGreen, is arguably the strongest of the straight Bug-type Pokémon. This is important since Bug is one of two types that are good against Psychic Pokémon, and that's the type you're likely to see most often among both the Elite Four and humans who play Pokémon competitively. Pinsir's techniques are a little iffy though. Guillotine can K.O. in one shot, but only about 30% of the time, and Seismic Toss just does damage equal to his level. |
 Instead of the Pinsir in LeafGreen, FireRed players get Scyther. Scyther is part bug and part flying, an unfortunate mixture that leaves him vulnerable to six different attack types. However, he's quick. sturdy, and strong on the attack, and he'll fare almost as well versus Psychic Pokémon as Pinsir. His weaknesses make him a little risky to use under normal circumstances, but he sure looks cool. |
Lost Teeth and HM #04
Seems like you just got a new HM, doesn't it? Well, there's one more in Fuchsia City, and then you'll have the whole set.
It's HM 04, which the Warden will hand you when you return the Golden Teeth you found in Area 3. Use this on one of your larger Pokémon, and he'll learn Strength, a technique that lets you bat aside boulders like the one on the right side of the Warden's office.
Use Strength on office boulder to get at the Rare Candy that's just beyond your reach, and make sure you have easy access to the Pokémon you taught it to, since it will be a necessary item in later dungeons.
In battle, Strength doubles as a basic attack, comparable in power and accuracy to Tri Attack and Drill Peck. Like all HM's, it can't be unlearned, so give it to a Pokémon who needs a source of damage and doesn't get a lot of good skills, like your brand new Tauros.
| #111 Rhyhorn | #115 Kangaskhan |
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 There are many Pokémon that never learn a single skill in their own type. With no attacks to get meaty bonuses on, types can be more of a weakness then an asset, unless you spend a couple of TMs on them. And this is the problem with Rhyhorn. He's got lots of HP, a good Attack score, and a handful of good Normal attacks, but with two useless types (Rock and Ground) he's weak against Water, Grass, Ice, and Fighting, and strong against relatively little. |
 If you like goofy-looking Pokémon, you will definitely like Kangaskhan. Her attacks aren't great, but at least she can use a lot of Hitmonchan's Normal attacks (including the built in Comet Punch) without having to deal with her general feebleness in other areas. But for a normal Pokémon, Tauros certainly has better stats. Still, you gotta love the little guy in the pouch. |
| #128 Tauros | |
 There are a lot of players who believe that Tauros is the strongest of the Normal-type Pokémon. He certainly has some of the best stats: Fast, tough, and with a good chunk of HP, Tauros' only problem is merely average offensive strength and lack of interesting attacks. Stomp is pretty good, since it can cause a Flinch effect, but there's nothing worth much between that attack (at level 21) and Take Down (which works well with his high HP) at level 51. He can learn Strength though, and that's a pretty good match. | |
Don't Forget the Fish
Fishing is a great way to pick up some rare Pokémon, especially since it doesn't count against your "time." You need the Super Rod to catch high level Pokémon, but the Good Rod can catch a Dratini, the best of the fishing lot. He may be dangling at the end of your rod, but you'll still need to use some stones to seal the deal.
| #54 Psyduck | #79 Slowpoke |
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 Players can fish up one of these Water-type Pokémon if they really want to. Psyducks start with nothing in the way of viable attacks and don't get good stuff like Fury Swipes and Hydro Pump until much later. They can do some damage with Surf, but their stats are just too low, even after evolving into Golduck. |
 Slowpokes, on the other hand, grow to be strong. Water and Psychic makes for a weird combo, but Slowpoke (and its evolved form Slowbro) learns some strong techniques in both, and have good enough stats to make good use of them. Also, they can learn Surf, so fish one up. |
| #147 Dratini | |
 The Dratini family are the only Dragon-type Pokémon in the game. As types go, Dragon is pretty cool, in that it has partial immunity to Fire, Water, Thunder, and Grass, and is weak only to Ice. On the down side, there aren't really any Dragon type attacks for them to take advantage of (except for Dragon Rage, which does 40 damage, no matter what type the user is). Dratini and his later forms are strong on offense and defense, but you'll probably need to teach them some normal-type TMs. | |
Treasure abounds
The Main Area contains an island, and if you can reach it, you can claim a valuable Nugget. In Area One, the Poké Ball on the ledge contains a Carbos. To the left of the house nearby, you will find a Full Rest. On the patch of ground that extends into the lake, a TM 37 can be found in the grass. And close to the entrance to Area Two, there's a Max Potion on the ground. There are just two treasures to find in Area Two, a TM 40 between two trees, and Protein to the left of the house. Searching Area Three is vital in order to find the Gold Teeth which lies just to the South of the left entrance to Area Two. To the left of the teeth, you will find TM 32, while south of the teeth, you can collect a Max Revive. Make it all the way to the bottom left corner of Area Three to find a free Max Potion.