Pokémon Red and Blue/Pallet Town

Template:All Game Nav Pallet Town might seem like any other humble hamlet, but someday the whole world will know that this was where you began your quest to become the greatest Pokémon trainer ever! The famous Professor Oak, known for his Pokémon studies, also lives in Pallet Town. He'll give you your very first Pokémon. That's one down, 149 more Pokémon to go!

File:Pokemon RBY PalletTown.png

Starting Pokémon

Red	Blue	Yellow
Bulbasaur Charmander Squirtle		Pikachu

Choose your Pokémon

Home, sweet home

Grab a Potion out of the computer in your room just in case your rival puts up a good fight. And if your Pokémon get hurt. Mom will heal 'em for free.

File:Pokémon RBY Oak warning.png

Professor Oak finds you.

You can wander around and look for Professor Oak all you like, but you won't find him until you try to leave town.

Back at the lab, he'll give you a Pikachu in the Yellow version, or your choice of three other Pokémon in the Blue and Red versions.

Choose carefully: Not only will the Pokémon you pick be your strongest ally for the next few hours, but it will determine which Pokémon your rival picks as well.

Your rival awaits...

Gary's house

Your lifelong rival, Gary, isn't home, but his sister is. Gary carries a grudge againsy you, but his sister thinks you're OK. If you stop by a little later, she'll give you a useful item, no matter what Gary says.

When you head for the exit, you'll be confronted by your rival (names Gary in the TV show) who's eager to test out his Pokémon in combat.

While Pikachu vs. Eevee is an even fight in the Yellow version, people playing Red or Blue will have a tougher match ahead of them, since your rival has shrewdly chosen the Pokémon that has an advantage over yours. Fortunately, your rival isn't mush of a fighter, and wastes time with defensive techniques like Growl and Tail Whip instead of just choosing the attacks and going for the quick K.O.

If you lose, though, no big deal: All you miss out on is your rival's File:Pokébuck.png175 and a bit of EXP. And you'll get plenty of opportunities for a rematch.

Starting Pokémon for Pokémon Red and Blue

#7 Squirtle
Water-based Squirtle is tough on defense but only so-so as an attacker. Still, his aquatic attacks are great versus Fire enemies and the soon-to-be very annoying Rock and Ground Pokémon. If you take him, your rival will pick Bulbasaur.
#1 Bulbasaur
Bulbasaur double specializes in Grass and Poison, so he's good versus a variety of foes but seriously hurt by the fact that this also doubles his weaknesses. He does get a lot of HP, which you'll need when your rival takes Charmander, who rocks against Grass.
#4 Charmander
Charmander doesn't get as much HP as the other two, but his attacks are damaging, and you'll learn the powerful Fire technique Ember as early as Level 9 Your rival will pick Squirtle, who is very strong against Charmander.

Starting Pokémon for Pokémon Yellow

#25 Pikachu
Instead of having a choice, Yellow players are always given a Pikachu by Dr. Oak. But that's certainly not a bad thing: Pikachu compensates for his weak defense with a good dose of power and its lightning speed. Electric is also one of the best all-around types in the game and while it makes Pikachu weak against Ground enemies and Grassers, Electric attacks absolutely shred the game's plentiful Flyers and Water-based creatures... You can see this at work as Pikachu's Thundershock still fries the Pidgeys hanging around in Route #1. Unfortunately, Pikachu cannot evolve in Yellow, so he's really only useful early in the game.
#133 Eevee
Just as you always get Pikachu, your rival always gets an Eevee as his first Pokémon. And that's fine, because Eevee's not that much of a threat at this point. It's a weak, slow Pokémon that learns only Normal skills, and only rarely. When it evolves, though, that's a different story...