Pokémon Diamond and Pearl/Route 201

Route 201 is the first place in the game to catch Pokémon, but more will come soon. Connecting Twinleaf Town to Sandgem Town, Route 201 tests the power of new trainers and their Pokémon

Route 201

First Time

When you first arrive to Route 201, you will bump into Barry and he will ask you if you saw the news about the Red Gyarados and he will say that there must be a mysterious Pokémon in the nearby lake and he wants to check it out with you

As its your first outing, you have no Pokémon, meaning if you even attempt to go in the grass, your mom will come and tell you not to go in the grass so go to the left to reach Verity Lakefront, and continue from there.

Second Time

On your second visit to this route, go back towards Twinleaf, and Rowan and his assistant will be in your way, apparently very annoyed. The assistant says to come see them at their lab in Sandgem Town. The game cuts out and you are back home in Twinleaf Town.

Third Time

On your third visit, go right and go through the grass. Then go left along the ledge to grab the hidden Potion mentioned on the Verity Lakefront page. Head back to talk to the Poké Mart salesman to receive a free Potion. Continue up through the grass, and go to the right to reach Sandgem Town.

Since you have your starter pokémon now, you can fight wild pokémon and level it up. You can't catch any pokémon yet until you visit Professor Rowan. You will only run into Starly and Bidoof.

Platinum

First Time

When you meet your rival here, he will attempt to make a run through the long grass, stating "If we jump over to the next patch of grass before a pokemon attacks we'll make it to sandgem town in no time!". Before he can go however, Prof. Rowan and Dawn (if the player is a boy) or Lucas (if the player is a girl) appear. Prof. Rowan gives you and your rival a Pokémon after some discussion.

Items

• Potion - given to you by the woman in the grass

Pokémon found

Diamond and Pearl
Pokémon		Level	Morn.	Day	Night
	Starly	2-3	50%	50%	40%
	Bidoof	2-3	50%	50%	60%

Platinum
Pokémon		Level	Morn.	Day	Night
	Starly	2-3	50%	50%	40%
	Bidoof	2-4	40%	50%	50%
	Kricketot	3	10%	0%	10%

New Pokémon

#396 Starly

Starly are the basic Normal/Flying Pokémon in this game. Like Pidgey from earlier games, Starly evolves twice, making it a good Pokémon to pick up when you can. The Flying attacks it learns will be helpful throughout the game, and we also need a Fly and Defog slave for this game.

#399 Bidoof

Bidoof is a strange little Pokémon, similar to Rattata in the sense that they are annoying and actually evolve into something useful. Picking one of these guys up also wouldn't hurt, especially as a HM slave.

#401 Kricketot

Kricketot is only available on Route 201 to players playing Platinum. Straight out of the box Kricketot isn't worth anything let alone the Poké Ball you caught it with. Its one saving grace is at level 10 it evolves into the fairly decent, pure bug type, Kricketune. Besides that, it will sit in your PC.