Red | Blue | Yellow |
---|---|---|
Oddish |
Bellsprout |
Oddish Venonat |
After you defeat Misty, you should head north from Cerulean City. Your rival, Blue, who now has four Pokémon, blocks the bridge. So do six members of Team Rocket. If you can defeat them all, you'll receive a valuable Nugget and the freedom to head to the end of this path, where you can meet the world's greatest Pokémon enthusiast, Bill the Pokémaniac!
Psyduck | ✓ | ✓ | - |
Krabby | ✓ | ✓ | - |
Goldeen | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Seaking | - | - | ✓ |
Rival Battle #3
Pidgeotto Level 18 |
Abra Level 15 | ||
Rattata Level 15 |
Gary's Starter Level 17 | ||
Spearow Level 18 |
Sandshrew Level 15 | ||
Rattata Level 15 |
Eevee Level 17 |
You'll meet a familiar foe at the beginning of Nugget Bridge. Your Rival is back, and this time he's actually improved enough to pose a threat, though not much of one.
That same party of Pikachu, starter and sometimes Spearow will carry you to victory again in Red and Blue, presuming they're all L16+. Lead with Pikachu and zap Pidgeotto out of the sky; 1-2 Thundershocks will do the trick once again. Use your lowest-level Pokémon against Abra: it cannot negatively affect your Pokémon at all, so it's basically EXP for free. Rattata is hard, as usual; Quick Attack and Hyper Fang can cause problems if allowed to go unchecked. Use your strongest Pokémon available on Rattata. Finally, use Spearow's Peck against Bulbasaur, Pikachu's Thunder Wave and Quick Attack on Charmander (Thundershock gets STAB, but Quick Attack runs off of Pikachu's higher attacking stat and hits Charmander's lower defensive stat), and Pikachu's Thundershock against Squirtle.
In Yellow, you can use the same party of Spearow/Pikachu/Mankey from earlier and be victorious, but it's much better to make another acquisition. Get Bulbasaur from Cerulean City, train it on Route 4 to L13 to get Vine Whip, and prepare for a sweep. Pikachu leads against Spearow and Thundershocks it into oblivion. Use Bulbasaur and his Vine Whip against Sandshrew, and use Mankey against Rattata. Make sure you're using Low Kick, not Karate Chop. Eevee will fall to more of the Low Kick. Spearow is your backup: if someone (particularly Mankey, frail defensively and two enemies to defeat) falls, use the bird.
The challenge of Nugget Bridge
Once you've thrown down your rival, you can reclaim Nugget Bridge by besting the six Jr. Trainers blocking your progress.
Choose your weakest Pokémon for the rival battle against his Abra (Red/Blue). All Abra can use is Teleport so it is unable to do damage back to you.
On the other side, Yellow players will find a man (at the yellow A) willing to give a Charmander a good home, while Blue and Red players will only find TM 45 which teaches Thunder Wave. It's a weak skill for winning battles, but good for disabling Pokémon to make them easy to catch.
More interesting is TM 19 in Route 25. You'll need to be crafty to get it: Be at least three squares below the Jr. Trainer number 7 who's blocking it when you cross his line of vision, and he'll abandon his post to come fight you. Immediately after, loop behind him and grab it.
It holds Seismic Toss, which does damage equal to the level of the Pokémon using it to an enemy regardless of their type or defense.
1 | Hiker | 525 |
Machop | LV15 | |
Geodude | LV15 | |
2 | Hiker | 595 |
Onix | LV17 | |
3 | Youngster | 225 |
Rattata | LV15 | |
Spearow | LV15 | |
4 | Youngster | 255 |
Slowpoke | LV17 | |
5 | Lass | 255 |
Nidoran♂ | LV15 | |
Nidoran♀ | LV15 |
6 | Hiker | 545 |
Geodude | LV13 | |
Geodude | LV13 | |
Machop | LV13 | |
Geodude | LV13 | |
7 | Jr. Trainer♂ | 280 |
Rattata | LV14 | |
Ekans | LV14 | |
8 | Youngster | 210 |
Ekans | LV14 | |
Sandshrew | LV14 | |
9 | Lass | 195 |
Oddish | LV13 | |
Pidgey | LV13 | |
Oddish | LV13 |
Psyduck | ✓ | ✓ | - |
Krabby | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Kingler | - | - | ✓ |
Goldeen | ✓ | ✓ | - |
Note: The #4 Youngster on Route #25 is crucial to the performance of the Mew glitch and should be not be challenged until you are ready to perform the glitch. Additionally, the #7 Jr. Trainer on Route #24 can also be used to perform this glitch, depending on which method you choose to use.
Bill, the Pokémaniac
Bill has a problem. Help him out by going to his PC's keyboard and doing what he asks. Yellow players can enjoy some amusing Pikachu antics as well.
Rocket | 525 | |
Machop | LV17 | |
Drowzee | LV17 |
Once he's rewarded you with an S.S. Ticket, exit the cottage and enter again. Check Bill's PC once again for information on four rare Pokémon. When you're done, take the shortcut back to Cerulean City and go to the house that's guarded by a cop. Head on through it and fight the Rocket Team burglar (his roster is in the table to the left). Knock him out and recover the very cool TM 28, containing Dig. Dig is a doubly useful skill that can be learned by Sandshrew, Geodude, and even non-Rock Pokémon like Squirtle, Charmander, Rattata, and a couple of others. In battles, it does a ton of damage, delayed by a turn (during which point you're invulnerable), and you can use it out of battles to escape from dungeons!
While in town, you can sell your Nugget for 5,000 (that's all it's good for) and then cut through the burgled house's yard and head around Cerulean City to the south. You've got a ship to catch.
#69 Bellsprout | #63 Abra |
---|---|
Bellsprouts can thoroughly trash your opponents early in the game, since they get the powerful Wrap skill at level 13 and have the Geodude-beating Grass skill Vine Whip built right in.
Their next couple of skills are all Poison, Sleep, and Stun-type stuff, which isn't so great, but if you didn't pick a Bulbasaur early on and you need a Grass-type Pokémon, Bellsprouts are a good choice. |
Abras can be difficult. The only thing they know how to do is Teleport, removing them from battle instantly. So if you're lucky enough to see one in the wild, you've got one turn to snag it (unless its Teleport misses, which is rare). You have a couple of options: One is to have a Jigglypuff or Clefairy Sing it to Sleep or if you have Butterfree you can use Sleep Powder, which makes it easier to catch and also gives you an opportunity to knock it around a bit while it's dozing, The other is to use Wrap to squeeze it until it's low enough to catch, while keeping it from Teleporting away.
But are they worth it? Probably, since Psychic Pokémon are pretty powerful (skills like Psybeam and Psychic give enemies negative conditions like Confuse and do damage at the same time), and even Abra can learn good techniques from TMs to make up for his own temporary inability to attack. At level 16, Abra will turn into a Kadabra, which you can and should immediately trade to a friend to evolve it into a powerful Alakazam. |
#43 Oddish | |
Don't worry if you're playing Red: There may not be any Bellsprouts, but you can get an equally cool Oddish. The initial Absorb skill puts Leech Life to shame, and since it's Grass-typed, one Oddish can take down dozens of Water, Rock or Ground-typed Pokémon, healing as he goes. You need a Leaf Stone to reach the final stage of evolution, but don't do it until he gets his powerful late game techniques Petal Dance and Solar Beam. | |
#48 Venonat | |
Currently available in Yellow only, Venonats are quite rare, but hardly worth the trouble. It's just another Poison-Bug thing, albeit one that can learn fairly good Psychic skills later in life. |