our hometown of New Bark Town may be small, but it's packed with places, people and items

that are extremely important to you. Your adventure begins with an errand that your neighbor,
Professor Elm, asks you to run for him. He gives you a wonderful gift for helping him!

Your room.
After Professor Oak leaves you in your room, you take control of a boy (or a girl in Crystal).
Explore the room if you want; there is only a PC. Now go downstairs to talk to his mother.

Set up your PokGear

Obtaining your PokGear

When you head downstairs, Mom will present you with a PokGear, the very first item you
receive which your mother says is back from the repair shop. The PokGear is a multi-functional
device that initially acts as a phone. With it, you can call important people like your mother or
your neighbor, Professor Elm. Your mother will explain how to use the device, and she'll also

help you set the day of the week. After she's done helping you, your mother will send you to
Professor Elm's lab, but not before giving you her phone number, so you can call her any time
you'd like. As you progress, you can gain Cards that expand the PokGear's abilities. Now you
are ready to face the challenges of the Pokmon world! Leave home to meet his new city: New
Bark Town!

Exploring the town

New Bark Town

The town is small, with only four buildings. The house in the southeast is the home of Professor
Elm along with his wife and son. If you talk to the woman in the southwest house, she will tell
you that Pikachu is an evolved Pokmon. While this wasn't true in the first generation games,
there is now a new Pokemon that evolves into Pikachu. If you try to leave town, a woman
appears and does not let you leave. You need to have a Pokmon before leaving. The building in
the northwest is the laboratory of Professor Elm.

The House of Professor Elm.


The woman's house.

Visit Professor Elm

Choosing The First Pokemon

Professor Elm, busy with his studies, wants you to find an old colleague of his. He asks you to
visit Mr. Pokmon in Route 30 to pick up an interesting item. It's a tough journey, but Professor
Elm will provide you with a Pokmon of your choice (see the profiles below) for protection. He
offers you one of his PokmonChikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodileto keep you company on
your journey. These three starters can be found nowhere else in the game. Also note that each one
will be holding a Berry.
The Professor will call you several times during your adventure, and each time he will have a gift
for you. The lab assistants will give you your first five Pok Balls after you return from the
errand. When you hatch the egg, you will get an Everstone. After you win your eighth badge in
Johto, Professor Elm will call you back to the Lab and give you the Master Ball. Once you have
defeated the Elite Four, Professor Elm will give you the S.S. Ticket so you can continue on to
Kanto.
When your Pokmon gets wounded, you can heal it here in Professor Elm's lab. As you leave,
you will be given a Potion to use whenever your Pokmon gets into trouble.

#152 Chikorita

#155 Cyndaquil

Charmander's successor is also a Fire-type, and it is

strong when fighting against Ice, Grass, or Bugtypes and is weak when fighting against Water,
Rock, or Ground types. While Chikorita excels in
Like Bulbasaur before it, Chikorita is a
Defense, Cyndaquil is the quickest and has the best
Grass-type that is strong against Rock,
Special Attack score. It's Fire moves are a little
Ground, and Water-types, and is weak
weak in the early game, though, so it's hard to take
against Fire, Bug, Poison, and Flying types. advantage of its strengths at the beginning of the
Chikorita learns the powerful Razor Leaf
game. Cyndaquil learns Ember at level 12, and
attack at level 8, making it a very strong
only learns another fire-type move at level 27.
Pokmon in the early game. But the problem Even with a minimal moveset, Cyndaquil is still a
is that Chikorita doesn't learn any other
good Pokmon and the most recommended starter.
powerful moves until very high levels. And His weakness of water-type moves can be negated
being Grass-type, it has a lot more Pokmon when Cyndaquil reaches its final form, if you teach
of its type that you can catch. Chikorita
it Thunder Punch.
learns Reflect at level 12 which is very
useful combined with its high defense. She
also learns Poison Powder and synthesis that
will be useful. Body Slam and Solar Beam
learned at high levels must be maintained.
#158 Totodile

Totodile is a Water-type like Squirtle, and it

is strong against Fire, Ground, and Rocktypes. It is weak when it faces Grass or
Electric-type Pokmon and sometimes other
Water-types. Totodile learns a variety of
strong attacks, but only a few Water ones.

That's just as well, since its Attack is higher

than its Special Attack. Totodile is probably
the strongest starter, but Water-type
Pokmon are much more common than
Grass or Fire Pokmon. With its great attack
power, you will have an easy time training it
on Route 29. Totodile only learns two watertype attacks: Water Gun at level 13, and
Hydro Pump at level 58 after Totodile
reaches its final form. After learning, Bite
should be kept forever.