It all begins in an upstairs bedroom in a Pallet Town house. A console, a bed, a PC… and an adventure that will take you to every corner of Kanto. This first step teaches you how to choose your first Pokémon and win your very first battle.
- Objective
- Get your first Pokémon
- Battle
- Blue, your rival (Lv. 5)
- To collect
- A Potion from the PC
- Next
- Route 1, toward Viridian City
🏠Your Bedroom and Pallet Town
Before heading downstairs, turn on the PC in your bedroom: the “Withdraw Item” command gives you a Potion, stored there just for you. It will come in handy during the first battles. Downstairs, your mom wishes you a good journey: later, talk to her to heal your team for free.
Outside, Pallet Town is little more than two houses, Professor Oak’s lab and a path of tall grass heading north. Try to venture into it: Professor Oak catches up with you right away, explains that you can’t go into the tall grass without a Pokémon, and takes you to his lab.
🔴Choosing Your Starter Pokémon
Three Poké Balls are waiting for you on the lab table. No choice is a bad one, but it greatly changes the difficulty of your first few hours of play. Your rival, Blue (the Professor’s grandson), will always pick the Pokémon that has the advantage over yours.
BulbasaurNo. 5GrassPoisonThe easiest choice: very effective against Brock (Rock) and Misty (Water), the first two Gym Leaders. It learns Vine Whip at Lv. 13 and evolves into Ivysaur at Lv. 16, then Venusaur at Lv. 32.
CharmanderNo. 5FireThe challenge for veterans: its Fire-type moves do almost nothing in the first two Gyms. Be sure to catch a support Pokémon quickly (Nidoran♂, Butterfree...). It evolves at Lv. 16, then into Charizard at Lv. 36.
SquirtleNo. 5WaterA good compromise: Bubble (Lv. 8) is enough to sweep Pewter City Gym. It evolves into Wartortle at Lv. 16, then Blastoise at Lv. 36, one of the best Pokémon in the adventure.
In Pokémon Yellow, there is no choice: Professor Oak hands you the Pikachu he just caught on Route 1. Blue grabs the last Poké Ball and gets an Eevee. Your Pikachu refuses to enter its Poké Ball and follows you everywhere. Talk to it (press the A button while facing it) to see its mood: the more it likes you, the more benefits you will get from it, including a Bulbasaur as a gift in Cerulean City.
⚔️First Battle Against Blue
As soon as you have your Pokémon in hand, Blue challenges you. Both Pokémon have only two moves: an attack (Tackle or Scratch) and a move that lowers the opponent’s stats (Growl or Tail Whip). Don’t waste time with the latter: attack every turn. If your HP drops below half, drink the Potion from the PC.
Blue
📍 Professor Oak's Lab
- Scratch
- Growl
- Tackle
- Tail Whip
- Tackle
- Growl
- Tackle
- Tail Whip
A balanced battle that you will win one time out of two by playing at random, but almost every time by using only the direct attack. Even if you lose, the adventure goes on: you are simply healed and sent back home. Winning earns you a little money and a handful of experience points.
🧭What Now?
Your Pokémon is healed by the Professor or by your mom. Take the road north: Route 1 climbs up to Viridian City through tall grass, where Pidgey and Rattata live. You can’t catch them yet, since you have no Poké Balls: more on that in the next step.
Pallet Town
🗺️Map
🌿Wild Pokémon
🎒Items
- 🧪PotionIn the PC in the hero's bedroom.
- 🎁Town MapGiven by Daisy Oak in Blue's house, once the hero has obtained the Pokédex.
