The main menu does not have many features at all. Upon pressing the you'll be brought to a screen with two options: NEW GAME and OPTION. NEW GAME will start a new game and get on with things. However, you might want to visit the OPTION menu to tune things to your idea of perfection. Below is a list of the settings and information about those settings.
Setting | Description | Options | Versions |
---|---|---|---|
Text Speed | Determines the speed at which letters and words appear in a text box. | Fast, Medium, Slow | All versions |
Animation/Battle Animation | Determines whether the appearance of graphical animations appear in battle, such as Moves, Weather, and Status Condition. | On, Off | All versions |
Battle Style | Determines whether or not the player is asked to change Pokemon when the opponent changes their Pokémon for any reason. | Set, Shift | All versions |
Sound | Determines the output of audio. | Mono, Earphone1, Earphone2, Earphone3 | Yellow |
Determines the contrast of printing. | Lightest, Lighter, Normal, Darker, Darkest | Yellow |
Moving around
To move around, press the UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT buttons on the D-Pad. You cannot move directly diagonally. Pressing a button on the D-Pad and holding it will make you walk in that direction until you let go. If you quickly tap a button on the D-Pad, you will turn in that direction. If you quickly tap a button that is in the direction you are already facing, you will move forward one tile.
For more information on this topic, visit the Controls section.
Battle
The whole game is centered around Pokémon battling. Battling consists of fighting an opposing trainer with Pokémon or fighting a wild Pokémon with your Pokémon.
For more information on this topic, visit the Battle page on Bulbapedia.
Items
To access the ITEM GUI, you have to press and click on the ITEMS tab. In other generation, this is called the PACK or the BAG. None of your items are organized at all, unlike future generations. Here's a complete list of all the items in the first generation of Pokémon(note that images of items do not appear in generation one games. However, pokeball sprites do appear and they all look like this.):
Pokéballs
Item | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
File:HGSSPokeBallSprite.png | Pokéball | A capsule used for catching Pokémon with a standard catch rate. |
Great Ball | Like a Pokéball, except with a higher catch rate. | |
Ultra Ball | A Pokéball with an even higher catch rate that an Great Ball. | |
Master Ball | A Pokéball that NEVER misses. Only given once in the game. | |
Safari Ball | The Pokéball given to you at the Safari Zone. |