Pokémon Gold and Silver/New Bark Town

Your hometown of New Bark Town may be small, but it's packed with places, people and items that are extremely important to you. Your adventure begins with an errand that your neighbor, Professor Elm, asks you to run for him. He gives you a wonderful gift for helping him!

New Bark Town

Set up your PokéGear

Obtaining your PokéGear

When you head downstairs, Mom will present you with a PokéGear, the very first item you receive which your mother says is back from the repair shop. The PokéGear is a multi-functional device that initially acts as a phone. With it, you can call important people like your mother or your neighbor, Professor Elm. Your mother will explain how to use the device, and she'll also help you set the day of the week. After she's done helping you, your mother will send you to Professor Elm's lab, but not before giving you her phone number, so you can call her any time you'd like. As you progress, you can gain Cards that the expand the PokéGear's abilities.

Visit Professor Elm

Professor Elm, busy with his studies, wants you to find an old colleague of his. He asks you to visit Mr. Pokémon in Cherrygrove City to pick up an interesting item. It's a tough journey, but Professor Elm will provide you with a Pokémon of your choice (see the profiles below) for protection. He offers you one of his Pokémon—Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile—to keep you company on your journey. These three starters can be found nowhere else in the game.

The Professor will call you several times during your adventure, and each time he will have a gift for you. The lab assistants will give you your first five Poké Balls after you return from the errand. When you hatch the egg, you will get an Everstone. After you win your eighth badge in Johto, Professor Elm will call you back to the Lab and give you the Master Ball. Once you have defeated the Elite Four, Professor Elm will give you the S.S. Ticket so you can continue on to Kanto.

When your Pokémon gets wounded, you can heal it here in Professor Elm's lab. As you leave, you will be given a Potion to use whenever your Pokemon gets into trouble.

#152 Chikorita	#155 Cyndaquil
Like Bulbasaur before it, Chikorita is a Grass-type that is strong against Rock, Ground, and Water-types, and is weak against Fire, Bug, Poison, and Flying types. Chikorita learns the powerful Razor Leaf attack at level 8, making it a very strong Pokémon in the early game. But Chikorita doesn't learn any other powerful moves until very high levels, and being Grass-type, it will have big trouble with the first gym.	Charmander's successor is also a Fire-type, and it is strong when fighting against Ice, Grass, or Bug-types and is weak when fighting against Water, Rock, or Ground types. While Chikorita excels in Defense, Cyndaquil is the quickest and has the best Special Attack score. It's Fire moves are a little weak in the early game, though, so it's hard to take advantage of its strengths at the beginning of the game.
#158 Totodile
Totodile is a Water-type like Squirtle, and it is strong against Fire, Ground, and Rock-types. It is weak when it faces Grass or Electric-type Pokémon and sometimes other Water-types. Totodile learns a variety of strong attacks, but only a few Water ones. That's just as well, since its Attack is higher than its Special Attack. Totodile is probably the strongest starter, but Water-type Pokémon are much more common than Grass or Fire Pokémon.