From StrategyWiki, the video game walkthrough and strategy guide wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

It's time to journey north to Viridian City. You can't capture new Pokémon just yet, but you can take this opportunity to build your Pokémon's experience levels. If your Pokémon enters too difficult a battle, use the Run command to escape. If it faints, head home to get a little tender loving care from Mom, then continue onward to Viridian City.

Route 1
Route 1

Cross the wilds to Viridian City[edit]

Ledge Jump
A useful time-saving trick is to leap off the low ledges on the ground. You can only jump from a ledge when you're moving down. Just be careful not to end up in grassy areas.

You begin your journey at the southern end of Route 1, and must travel north. Route 1 is very peaceful, and doesn't contain many interesting features. As a result, there's not a lot of things to do as you make your way to Viridian City. The first person you will encounter is a man who offers you a free Potion. Don't miss out on that.

Wild Pidgey and Rattata appear here at almost equal frequency (except in Pokemon Yellow, where Pidgey are a lot more common than Rattata), but without any Poké Balls of your own, the only thing fighting them is good for is EXP. Be careful that they don't wear you down, and stick with your damage-dealing regular attacks. To avoid the fights altogether, spend as little time as possible walking through the grassy areas. They're the only areas where wild Pokémon lurk, so they're the only places you're at risk of being attacked. Just keep in mind that your Pokémon will level up faster if you participate in more fights. Even though it may not seem reasonable, you should level up your starter to Level 10. Also note that players in the Yellow Version get a better deal here, since Pikachu can fry up all the Pidgey and anyways, the Pidgey are at higher levels and therefore are basically just free experience.

Pokémon found[edit]

Red and Blue
Pokémon Level Rate
Pidgey Pidgey 2-5 50%
Rattata Rattata 2-4 50%
Yellow
Pokémon Level Rate
Pidgey Pidgey 2-7 70%
Rattata Rattata 2-4 30%

New Pokémon[edit]

#16 Pidgey
Pokemon 016Pidgey.png

Pidgey is probably the single most common Pokémon at this point in the game, so it's not like you'll be looking for opportunities to catch one. They're not exceptional, but their Flying-type status has an advantage over Grass- and Bug-types. Also, Ground-type moves will not affect Flying-types. Unfortunately, Pidgey doesn't learn much in the way of flying attacks, learning only a single weak one by level-up, so you'll have to just think of it as a Normal-type for now. Spearow is likely a better choice for a Flying-type. But there is one decent strategy you can use with Pidgey: Sand-Attack, which Pidgey learns at Level 5, will decrease enemy accuracy enough after a few uses to completely prevent your opponent from attacking! Just keep in mind that Pidgey still needs to be properly leveled to execute this or it will be knocked out before it can finish. Pidgey's okay for the beginning of the game, and it gets better towards the end.

Recommended Moves: Fly (HM02), Sky Attack (TM43), Double-edge (TM10), Quick Attack

#19 Rattata
Pokemon 019Rattata.png

Not the sturdiest of Pokémon, but Rattata can learn the awesome 80 base power Hyper Fang at a mere level 14, which is enhanced by the type-matching bonus. At level 20, Rattata evolves into the stronger Raticate. Much later on, it can learn Super Fang to help in efforts to weaken a target Pokémon for capture; it will cut the target's current HP in half with each use. Rattata makes a great choice for the early portion of the game, learning a couple of good TMs and being able to handle almost any Pokémon once it learns Hyper Fang. Even so, Rattata is not a good team member for getting through the entire game: you may want to leave it in the computer around the time you defeat Erika, later in the game.

Recommended Moves: Hyper Fang, Super Fang, Dig (TM28), Bubblebeam (TM11)