Pokemon Old Amber Walkthrough

Pokemon Old Amber Walkthrough

Category: Walkthrough, Guide

Language: English

Related: Pokemon Old Amber

Author: itman312

Source: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=417068

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Choosing a difficulty

During the new game intro sequence, you will be asked to choose a difficulty level. This game is intended to be played on Normal difficulty, and this guide is written with the assumption that you are playing on Normal difficulty. However, there are Easy and Hard modes should you wish it. These difficulty modes primarily affect the teams used by enemy trainers. It will usually affect levels, but may also give trainers entirely different teams. Additionally, easy mode decreases money earned from battles by 20% while hard mode increases the money earned by 30%. Furthermore, hard mode increases the experience gained by 33%.

Preparing for your journey.

When the game starts, go downstairs and talk to your mom. She will provide you with your surfboard. Yes, you can surf from the start in this game.

Once you have left the house, go into Professor Elm's lab. You will see your rival but you can't do anything with her right now. Talk to the professor and he will tell you to grab the pokeball on the table. SAVE YOUR GAME FIRST, then proceed to grab the pokeball. You will receive a Mareep. No, you don't get a choice. Mareep is a common sheep, and is therefore a more appropriate choice of starter pokemon for a child than a rare pokemon like Charmander.

As soon as you obtain your Mareep, you are immediately challenged to a battle by your rival. She has a level 4 Gible, because a level 5 could potentially pose a problem for you. Just keep spamming tackle until it goes down. You might get lucky and Gible will be paralyzed by your Static ability. You should win easily, but just in case Gible manages to score a critical hit, you already saved your game. Don’t use Thunder Wave at all against Gible, since it is immune.

After the battle, talk to the professor again to receive your pokedex. After that, you are off. You can exit the lab. You will notice a small body of water to the east. You can't go very far in that direction at this point in the game, but there are still some Wishiwashi and Wimpod there you can catch by surfing.

Heading towards Violet City

There are wild Mareep in the grass in New Bark Town, but if you are satisfied with the Mareep you already have, you can just ignore them and leave town by heading West onto Route 29.



You should reach Cherrygrove City soon. There isn't much to do here except catch some pokemon in the water if you want. However, as soon as you enter the city, you will be greeted by the gym leader Bugsy who is visiting from Azalea Town. He can tell that you're a new trainer. He knows about Professor Elm giving Mareep as starters and he actually disapproves of the Professor's approach of giving away common livestock as a starter.


Bugsy prefers a different approach. He thinks new trainers should be given a choice of starter among three pokémon of some sort of rarity. It would be nice to have a choice like that, but who is just going to give you that chance? Bugsy, that's who. Because he is a bug catching trainer, he has three Bug type pokémon available to choose from.


That's right. You're about to get a second starter pokémon. Your choices are Cutiefly, Nincada, and Yanma. Cutiefly evolves into Ribombee at Level 25, which not only has a really good speed stat, but it also learns very powerful Bug and Fairy type special attacks relatively early on. With Nincada, as long as you have a spare Pokéball (has to be the basic pokéball) as well as an empty space in your party when you evolve it at level 20, it will evolve into two pokémon: Ninjask and Shedinja. As long as you followed the aforementioned conditions, you will get both. Shedinja has only 1HP, but is immune to all moves that aren’t super-effective against it. Ninjask is the fastest pokémon in the game. Finally, Yanma has great stats for this early on in the game. It needs to learn Ancient Power before it can evolve, but its evolution Yanmega has a really good Special Attack stat. Yanma will either have Compound Eyes or Speed Boost as its ability, both of which are very useful, although it will lose Compound Eyes when it evolves for Tinted Lens.

After choosing a starter, Bugsy will give you 10 pokeballs. The only other thing worth doing in this city is visiting the Stats Judge house. He uses the IV system (more on that when you get to Celadon City) to assess how much potential a Pokemon has and where its strengths lie. When you're done, head north to Route 30.

Once on Route 30, you will start being challenged to battles by trainers. They shouldn't pose much of a problem. Several of them use Water and Flying pokemon, so this is a good opportunity to level up your Mareep.

If you take a small detour east and surf across the pond here, you can get the TM for Sunny Day.

Getting your first badge.

Once in Violet City, if your Mareep is leveled up enough, you can try battling Falkner for your first gym badge. The highest level opponents you will encounter in this gym is level 9, but don't let that low number make you overconfident. I recommend making sure your Mareep is leveled up to at least level 12. You will have two trainers to battle first before you can get to Falkner. The one part of Falkner's battle to watch out for is his Farfetch'd. It knows the move First Impression, a powerful Bug-type move that can only be used on the first turn. You may also want to grab the TM for Rock Polish in the southwest part of the city.

After you defeated Falkner and received your badge, you could head out west or you could stop by Sprout Tower first. There are some trainers to battle to get to the top of the tower. Be sure to pick up TM18 (Rain Dance) along the way. If you defeat the monk on the third floor, you get TM108 (Magical Leaf) as a reward. There is an Escape Rope nearby so you don't have to walk all the way down. There are some wild pokemon that you can catch here, including Oddish and Bellsprout. While these were good Grass/Poison pokemon in previous generations, you can probably do better now. Catch them if you want to, but one Pokemon that may be worth your time is Gastly. Also in Violet City is a berry stand. You can buy a wide variety of berries here. Most of them are pretty cheap. The Amica Berry is much more expensive but useful if you are trying to increase your pokemon’s happiness level.

Getting to Union Cave

As you head west on Route 36 from Violet City, you will notice that your path is blocked by a weird looking tree. That is actually a Sudowoodo but you can't do anything about it just yet. Instead, head south to the Ruins of Alph. You can go into the caves here to encounter wild Unown. There are 28 forms on Unown, one for each letter in the English alphabet as well as one for both the exclamation point and the question mark. You have to solve tile puzzles to open 4 out of the 5 doors. The 5th door doesn't have a puzzle and you won't be able to open it now. You will have to come back much later in the game. It's worthwhile to check out the 4 rooms that you are able to enter though, since you might find some rare pokémon. Talk to the researcher in the building to be given TM54 (False Swipe) as a reward for solving all four puzzles.

While you’re here, you can talk to the biker guy. He is a criminal selling stolen eggs on the black market. All of them contain a baby species. Unfortunately, since the eggs are stolen, he has no idea what each egg contains. If you buy an egg from him, there’s no way you can predict which one of the 18 species of baby pokemon it will contain, but some are more likely than others. For example, the chances of it being a Pichu are 6 times as likely as the chances of it being a Togepi.

Once you are done, head east to get on Route 32 and follow it south. There will be a few trainer battles that are unavoidable but eventually the path splits, and you can take the west route through tall grass or the east route through the docks where there are trainers who will battle you. There are some Ditto in the area, which can be useful for breeding.

Eventually, you will reach a truck. You can go inside to heal your pokémon. Once you are ready, head into Union Cave. The cave itself is pretty straightforward. Just follow the natural path and battle the trainers as you go. When you finally exit the cave, you will be on the very short Route 33, which leads directly into Azalea Town. If you go towards the west end of town, you will see a woman sitting on a bench. Talk to her and she will give you an egg. That egg will eventually hatch into an Eevee.

Getting your second badge.

Once there, you will find that the gym is blocked by Team Rocket. Go talk to Kurt, who lives in the house in the northwest of town. He will tell you to break down the barricade to Slowpoke Well. Head over to the northeast of town and interact with the barricaded entrance to open it, and then go on through. Defeat all the Team Rocket members to drive them away. They are now gone from the town.

Don't attempt to leave town to the west just yet, unless you're ready for a rival battle. Instead, enter the Gym to get your second badge.

Bugsy will use three pokemon. Shuckle is the lowest leveled at level 14, but its high defensive capabilities might make it difficult to take down. Its ability Sturdy means that you won’t be able to take it out in one turn unless you use a multi-hit move.

Since Larvesta is dual Bug/Fire, the usual weakness to Fire won't apply here. It's move U-Turn means that it can quickly be switched out with another pokemon. Its move Leech Life can not only deal massive damage but it will also heal Larvesta. Rock type moves will do 4x damage to Larvesta, so this may be a good solution for damaging it faster than it can heal using Leech Life.

Finally, Bugsy has Yanma on his team. This Yanma has the ability Speed Boost. After every turn, its Speed stat will increase. It already has decent Speed to begin with, so taking out this pokémon quickly should be a top priority before it becomes too fast. Rock type moves will come in handy here as long as they don't miss.

Getting your third badge.

After defeating Bugsy, be sure to heal your pokémon and save your game before entering Ilex Forest to the west. Your rival will intercept you and challenge you to a battle. Her Togepi and Gastly shouldn't be very much of a challenge. The problem is going to be her Gible. Its move Dragon Rage may not be very good later on in the game, but at this point, it is absolutely devastating. Either take it out quickly with Ice moves to take advantage of its 4x weakness, or you could also use a Fairy pokémon to make it immune to Dragon Rage.

After defeating your rival, she will give you an Abra Pager. With this, you can teleport to any previously visited town as long as you are outdoors. This works basically the same as the Fly HM.

Before leaving town, be sure to check out the Poké Ball Shop in town. This is the only place in the entire game where you can buy certain types of specialty pokéballs. In particular, I recommend buying some Friend Balls. If you plan to catch any pokémon that evolve through happiness, this is by far the most useful ball to get. You can always use the Abra Pager to return here later though.

Proceed through Ilex Forest. There are no trainer battles at all in the Forest, but there are wild pokémon. I recommend catching a Cutiefly. Going off the path a bit will lead you to TM09 (Venoshock), which I highly recommend grabbing if you see yourself using a Poison pokémon at all. You will also pass by a wooden shrine. You can't do anything with it yet, but remember its location. You will be back much later. Near the exit to the north, there is a nurse who will heal your pokémon.

Proceed north along Route 34. There will be some tough trainer battles here. There is also TM83 (Workup) here, but that may not be worth your time. Near the north end of Route 34, you will see the Daycare Center.

Continue north to Goldenrod City. There may be a few things worth checking out here before your next gym battle. The first thing you should do is check out the Bike Store to get a free bike. You should also go into the Flower Store in the north of town to obtain the Squirt Bottle, which you will need to progress in the game.

For pokémon that evolve through happiness or beauty, you may want to check out the underground tunnel for some useful services.

The Department Store has some items you won't find elsewhere. Floors 3 and 4 in particular are definitely worth checking out. On Floor 3, you will find a lot of held items for sale, many of which have a lot of strategic value. There are 4 cashiers here simply due to the large variety of items.

On Floor 4, you can find vitamins that boost your pokémon EV stats up to a certain limit, but these are kind of expensive. There is also Secret Shampoo for sale, which increases the Beauty of a pokémon, but this is only useful when used on Feebas to help it evolve into Milotic sooner. One very useful item for sale here though are Ability Capsules. If a pokémon has two or more potential abilities, using an Ability Capsule on it will cause it to change abilities.

When you are done shopping, be sure to check out the Game Corner. One of the employees there will give you a Coin Case. You can then start obtaining coins. You can buy some coins from one of the employees to get you started, but buying coins isn't necessary. You can play to Voltorb Flip game for free. Slot machines cost coins to play.

It's possible to cheat here. If you have a Psychic-type pokémon in your party, you can inspect the management console in the lower-right corner. This will allow you to discover an access code for the slot machines. You now have the option to play on Easy Mode. You won't be guaranteed to win on Easy Mode, but you will probably win more than you lose overall. If you come back here much later in the game with a Rotom in your party, you can outright steal coins from the machines.

Before challenging the gym, you can head north through Route 35 to the National Park, where you can participate in the Bug Catching Contest. There will be pokémon that appear during the contest that won't appear in the park at any other time. The rewards aren't that great (although the Everstone for 2nd place might have some use for you), but the real reward are the rare Bug pokémon you can catch. It may be worthwhile you catch a Bug/Poison or Bug/Steel pokémon here since both of these secondary types will have a type advantage in the next gym.

When you are ready, enter the third gym. In the original G/S/C games, this was a Normal-type gym. However, in this game, it is now a Fairy-type gym. The design of the gym is based on Clefairy, which has now been reclassified as Fairy type, so the rebranding had to happen. Use Poison and Steel moves against Fairy pokémon. Avoid using Dragon or Dark pokémon. Note that it's common for Fairy pokémon to use Grass moves. In fact, some naturally learn more Grass moves than Fairy moves. Keep that in mind if you have Pokémon that are weak to Grass moves.

Whitney herself won't be significantly harder than the other gym trainers. Not having Miltank on her team makes this battle less frustrating than her infamous G/S/C battle. Her Clefable will certainly cause some frustration with moves like Sing and Minimize. Her Togetic is more powerful in terms of offensive capability, but if you still have your Mareep on your team (now hopefully a Flaaffy), you can take it out with some Electric attacks. Comfey will probably present the most challenge. Its moves Draining Kiss and Synthesis can be used to heal itself. Despite its appearances and moveset, it is NOT a Grass type pokémon. It's pure Fairy, so don't be deceived by appearances.

Getting your fourth badge

After defeating Whitney, be sure you stop by the Flower Shop to get the Squirt Bottle. You will need it.

Proceed through Route 35 and then through National Park, although you should be sure to grab TM90 (Substitute) from Route 35. You will end up back on Route 36, which connects to Violet City and Ruins of Alph. However, that tree is still in the way. Approach it and use the Squirt Bottle. The "tree" is actually the pokémon Sudowoodo, which will battle you. Catch it, defeat it, or simply flee from it. Despite its appearances, it is actually a pure Rock-type Pokémon, so don't try to use Fire or Flying types against it.

Once you have taken care of the Sudowoodo situation in whichever manner you choose, proceed north through the very short Route 37 and straight into Ecruteak City.

From here, the Johto region is pretty open. If you don't feel like taking on the gym here now, you actually proceed forward with the game and then simply come back to this gym later. Other than the gym, one place I highly recommend checking out is the Dance Theater. There are 9 dancers here. Each one of them has either an Eevee or one of its eight evolutions. If you defeat them all and then talk to the man, you will get the Exp. All as a reward. This can be toggled on or off in your bag, but it splits experience points gained from battle with members of your party who didn't participate.

These battles aren't easy, but each dancer only has one Pokémon, and you can always go to the PokéCenter between battles to heal your party. One thing that makes these battles especially difficult is that the evolved forms of Eevee have special moves from the game Let's Go Eevee. Most of these moves are pretty overpowered, so they have been nerfed here. However, in this game, Eevee and its evolutions have had their potential movesets trimmed down quite a bit so they are really only good for moves of their own type and aren't much good as utility pokémon. Other than the Let's Go Eevee moves, you won't really find any surprises here.

If you look to the east of town, you will see your rival. She won't battle you yet. She will just tell you about a sick pokémon in Olivine City. You can't get past her until that situation is resolved though. Be sure to grab TM41 (Torment) from the north part of the city.

When you are ready, challenge the gym here. The trainers all use Ghost-type pokémon. They are immune to Normal and Fighting moves. However, Normal Pokémon are also immune to Ghost moves. If you have a Normal Pokémon that knows a decent Dark-type move, this would be a good choice for this gym.

Morty, the gym leader, can be quite difficult at this point unless you have leveled up significantly more than his team. Mimikyu has the ability to Disguise, which means that the first damaging attack you use against Mimikyu will simply bust its disguise and won't do any damage to it. It also has Fairy as its secondary type, so be careful about using Dark-type pokémon against it. Mismagius is a decent all-around attacker, and its move Perish Song can force you to switch out pokémon. The real threat on this team is Spiritomb. Its only weakness is Fairy. It's designed to be frustrating with status moves like Confuse Ray and Hypnosis. You should switch out sleeping pokémon immediately because its move Dream Eater will do massive damage and restore health for Spiritomb.

Getting your 5th badge

Head westward along Route 38 and then south along Route 39 to reach Olivine City. Some wild pokémon on these routes that may be worthwhile include Honedge, Exeggcute, and Eevee on Route 38, as well as Phanpy and Aron on Route 39. Along the way, you will see a house with some Miltank in front of it near the north part of Route 39. If you talk to the owner, she will tell you that she has a sick Miltank by the side of the house. She needs 10 jars of Honey in order to help it recover. If you can bring her what she needs, she will actually give you the Miltank for free. She will then give you TM46 (Thief)

She recommends obtaining Honey from the Teddiursa on Route 39, but this method of obtaining Honey can be extremely tedious. If you caught a Cutiefly in Ilex Forest with the ability Honey Gather, it will automatically acquire some Honey after every few battles as long as it wasn't holding an item to begin with. Just battle some wild pokémon and keep checking on the Cutiefly in your party so take the Honey it gathers. Your Cutiefly doesn't have to battle in order for this to work (although its evolution Ribombee can be a very good pokémon to have).

You can find TM59 (Incinerate) and TM78 (Bulldoze) on Routes 38 and 39 respectively, although you will have to pay attention to find the somewhat hidden paths to get to these TMs.

Once you reach Olivine City, you will notice the gym is locked. Jasmine, the gym leader, is at the top of the lighthouse. Unlike the G/S/C games, you don't need to go through a bunch of trainer battles at the lighthouse. Just take the elevator straight to the top like a normal human. Jasmine is tending to a sick Ampharos there. She will tell you about a pharmacy in Cianwood City that has the medicine Ampharos needs. That's right. Even though you reached Olivine City first, your next gym will be the one in Cianwood City.

Surf down through the very long Route 40, making sure to grab TM55 (Scald) from the tiny patch of land near the middle of the route. This continues on to Route 41 where you will have to go around the Whirl Islands. Before you do that though, check out the gap near the northern part of the islands to find TM99 (Dazzling Gleam). If you are still having trouble with Morty's Spiritomb, this will come in handy.

Once you go around the Whirl Islands in a clockwise direction, you should reach Cianwood City. Go ahead and go to the pharmacy and get the potion. You could head straight back to Olivine City at this point using the Abra Pager, but it's easier if you challenge the gym here first.

One thing you should definitely check out on this island is the Alolan Biodiversity Center. If you bring them certain pokémon, they will trade you an Alolan variant of that pokémon for yours. The Alolan variant you get will be the same level as your original pokémon. One variant that may be worthwhile is Alolan Grimer. Due to its dual Poison/Dark typing, it's really only weak to Ground moves, and this is a decent alternative to Drapion. Alolan Vulpix is also a good one to have. When it evolves into Alolan Ninetales, it will be dual Ice/Fairy type and it will have a pretty diverse movepool.

When you are ready, go ahead and challenge the Fighting-type gym here. I recommend having only pokémon in your party that will do well against Chuck, the gym leader. You might want to store the rest in your PC temporarily. The reason for this is Throh's move Circle Throw, which can force your pokémon to switch places with a random pokémon from your party. Other than this, his team is mostly straightforward. The biggest threat will likely be Medicham. Not only is it dual Psychic/Fighting type, but it has the ability Pure Power, which doubles its Attack stat. It can do a lot of damage and possibly OHKO your pokémon.

Getting your 6th badge.

After defeating Chuck, use the Abra Pager to return to Olivine City (or challenge Morty if you still haven't yet). Return to the top of the lighthouse and give the medicine to Jasmine. She will use it to recover health for the sick Ampharos. She tells you she will be waiting for you at the gym. Before you leave, talk to the lighthouse guard. He will give you TM44 (Rest).

Proceed through the gym here, defeating Steel-type trainers as you go until you reach Jasmine. Her battle is very straightforward. Her pokémon just have very high defensive capabilities, so focus on maximizing damage output and take advantage of type weaknesses. Despite having all Steel types on her team, she has a good variety when it comes to secondary typing. One move to watch out for is her Steelix's Heavy Slam. Its power is derived from the ratio of how heavy Steelix is compared to your own pokémon. So basically, don't use a lightweight pokémon against Steelix or you will be crushed. Heavier is better.

Getting your 7th badge

Go back to Ecruteak City and head east towards Route 42. Your rival still won't battle you, but she will let you pass. Proceed along Route 42. You will notice some cracked rocks on the ground. You can smash these once you have the Pickaxe. Some wild pokémon on this route that may be worthwhile are Growlithe and Rhyhorn. You will also pass by the entrance to Mt. Mortar. Going inside the cave is completely optional, but there are two fossils and a guy who will give you a free Tyrogue inside. That's pretty much all there is to see here.

Once you reach Mahogany Town, you will find that Team Rocket is in the area. You can defeat them first, or you can challenge the gym first. I recommend the gym, so go on in.

The trainers here use Ice type pokémon. This is a typical slippery ice puzzle. It's actually possible to reach Pryce, the gym leader, without having to battle any trainers. I still recommend battling them all though as preparation for Pryce.

If you really want to avoid battling these other trainers though and just want to get to Pryce, here is how to get to him. Stand on the northeasternmost square of dry land and then press the following buttons: Up, Up, Left, Down, Down, Left, Up, Right.

When battling Pryce, don't be fooled by the "Pryce is about to use.." text. He will use the Alolan forms of both Sandslash and Ninetales. If his Frosslass or Ninetales makes it Hail, then that will double the Speed of his Sandslash due to the Slush Rush ability.

Team Rocket

Now that you have your 7th badge, you will need to defeat Team Rocket before progressing. First, make your way north up Route 43 to reach the Lake of Rage, grabbing TM81 (X-Scissor) along the way. You will find Lance here, who will ask for your help dealing with the Gyarados in the lake. There are wild Gyarados to be found here, but he is referring specifically to the Gyarados that is visible in the overworld.

After you defeat it, you will notice that Lance is gone. Return to Mahogany Town. There was a large building in town that you couldn’t enter before. You can enter now though. Despite the big hole in the wall, the store is actually still open for business. You can buy essences here, which is useful for breeding to get certain species of baby pokémon that otherwise wouldn’t be created.

Go through the hole in the wall. It will take you to an underground hideout for Team Rocket. Just simply proceed all the way through battling every enemy trainer until you get to a boss in another room. When you defeat him, he will tell you that they have taken over the radio tower in Goldenrod City.

Teleport back to Goldenrod City and enter the radio tower. You previously couldn’t access the second floor, but you can now. Proceed all the way to the top floor and battle the boss here. She isn’t particularly difficult but still be prepared. Once you defeat her, talk to the man in the room. He will give you two Master Balls.

Getting your 8th badge

Teleport back to Mahogany Town and head east through Route 44. You will make your way to a cave at the eastern end. This is Ice Path. The floors here are slippery, but it’s not too difficult to find your way around. There are several TMs scattered around the area. Ice Path will eventually exit right into Blackthorn City.

One place of interest to check out here is the Move Relearner house. If a pokémon could have potentially learned a certain move by leveling up (regardless of whether or not they actually learned it), this person will teach your pokémon that move. In some rare cases, a pokémon may have more than 4 moves scheduled to be learned at level 1. This means that all level 1 moves except the last 4 will be impossible to learn naturally by leveling up. In cases like this, the Move Relearner can still teach these moves to your pokémon.

For example, Volcarona is scheduled to learn Bug Buzz both at level 1 and at level 70. Learning it at level 1 is impossible, but because it was scheduled to learn it anyway, the Move Relearner can still teach a Volcarona this move, even if its level is less than 70. Unfortunately, the Move Relearner requires Heart Scales in exchange for his services. At this point in the game, Heart Scales are very difficult to come by. Once you have the ability to smash rocks with the Pickaxe, you will have a much easier time with this.

South of Blackthorn City is Routes 45 and 46, which will eventually lead back to Route 29, next to New Bark Town. You can find the two eastern entrances to Dark Cave along these routes, but there is not much point in doing so now. The only reason to traverse this path is the TM102 (Fly), which is found near the last ledge in Route 46. You can also check out one of the two entrances to the eastern part of Dark Cave here and look around for TM117 (Foul Play). Go after these TMs if you want, and then it’s time for the gym.

There are actually two gyms in Blackthorn City. There’s the actual gym building, which houses a Dark-type gym, and then there is the Dragon’s Den, which is a very unique type of gym. Let’s handle the Dark gym first.

Once you enter the Dark gym, you will notice that it’s literally dark. If you have a pokémon that knows Flash, you can use it to expand your viewing capabilities, but with how tight the spaces in this gym are, it won’t really do much good. Karen is the gym leader, but every trainer in the gym looks exactly like Karen. All of them are imposters except for the real Karen at the far north end of the gym.

Her Scrafty knows Rest and Sleep Talk, which allows it to recover health while still being able to use very damaging moves like Crunch and High Jump Kick. Her Absol also is a versatile attacker. However, the real threat is her Malamar. It’s a dual Dark/Psychic type. The danger posed by Malamar is its move Superpower used in conjunction with its ability Contrary. Superpower is a very powerful Fighting type move. The tradeoff for this much power is that the user’s Attack and Defense stats decrease every time the move is used. However, the Contrary ability reverses all stat changes. This means its Attack and Defense will actually increase every time it uses this move. The only downside of this move is that it has a PP of only 5.

Getting your 9th badge… and failing

After getting your 8th badge, enter Dragon’s Den by going through the cave entrance behind the Dark gym. Dragon’s Den is one giant outdoor gym. You can find items scattered around and even catch wild pokémon. There are also trainer battles to contend with. Most of them use Dragon type pokémon, but not all “dragons” are Dragon type. The Dragon egg group also contains pokémon that aren’t Dragon type. One trainer uses two of these pokémon: Charizard and Sceptile. That’s right, you are entering the phase of the game where things are starting to get serious. Fortunately, the Ice Beam TM that Pryce game you will come in handy against these trainers. While you’re exploring, be sure to find TM82 (Dragon Tail) in the southeast corner.

Eventually, you will finally make your way to Clair, the gym leader. The only problem is that she thinks you are too weak to be worth her time. She will refuse to battle you until you have the other 17 badges. If you happen to have the 8 Johto badges when you talk to her, she will give you a Rail Pass, which will enable you to travel to Pewter City in Kanto. Regardless of whether or not you have the other 8 Johto badges though, she will still unlock an underground tunnel for you to use. This means that you don’t have to go back and forth through Dragon’s Den anymore. You can just use the tunnel to go from Blackthorn City straight to Clair.

Getting your 9th badge… for real this time

Teleport back to New Bark Town and surf past the small body of water to make your way east to Route 27. The man blocking the entrance to Tohjo Falls will leave if you have the Rail Pass from Clair. Enter Tohjo Falls, grab TM107 (Waterfall) and then exit out the other side. You can enter the house here to get TM37 (Sandstorm) if you want. Proceed eastward, battling trainers as you go. This connects to Route 26. If you surf to the east a bit, you can find a small patch of land with TM22 (Solar Beam). The trainers on Route 27 and 26 are particularly tough. Think of this as a testing ground to see if you are really ready for Kanto.

You will eventually find two buildings at the north end of Route 26. The one to your left is the Pokémon League Reception Gate. Without all 18 badges, you won’t be allowed entry. Since that option is closed to you, for now, your only other option is the building on the right. This is an underground train. Since you have the Rail Pass, you can take a train straight to Pewter City.

Before challenging the gym here, head on over to the large building in the north part of town. There is a lab here that helps you evolve pokémon that formerly had to be traded while holding an item. The first scientist you see here can help you evolve these pokémon a much simpler way. They use radiation to help pokémon get whatever attributes they need from the item. For example, if you have an Onix holding a Metal Coat, this radiation procedure will allow the Onix to fuse with the Metal Coat, therefore evolving into Steelix. The scientist towards the back of the room is Bill. He only has a very specific evolution he can help with: the simultaneous evolution of Shelmet and Karrablast. If you have both a Shelmet and Karrablast in your party, talk to him. He will make both evolve at the same time for free.

Finally, you are ready to earn your first Kanto badge. Enter the gym and defeat the single trainer who stands in your way, and then challenge Brock, the gym leader, who uses Rock type pokémon. Rock moves tend to be notoriously inaccurate, so moves like Flash and Sand-Attack that lower accuracy even further may be helpful here. This is most important for dealing with two of Minior’s moves in particular: Stone Edge and Rollout. That’s right, the notorious Rollout is back. What’s worse is that if you manage to get Minior’s health down to a certain amount, it will transform, lowering its Defense but raising its Attack. Since it would be almost defeated anyway, the lowered Defense doesn’t really matter, but the increased Attack can make its last stand much more effective.

Finding your Rival

If you attempt to leave Pewter City to the East, you will be stopped by a man who tells you that a girl wandered into Viridian Forest and has been gone a long time. He is referring to your rival. Enter the forest to the south. There is only one enemy trainer in the forest. He is near the beginning. You can find TM111 (Leech Life) in the forest, so be sure to grab that. Once you get near the end of Viridian Forest, there will be an open area to the west of the exit. There is a lone hut there. Enter the hut to find a dark room. This is the home of Agitha, formerly of the Elite Four before it was disbanded. She will challenge you to a battle. Her team consists of a Trevenant, Gourgeist, and Dhelmise. After you defeat her, she will offer to teach special moves to your pokémon. Dream Eater can be learned by numerous pokémon, but Forest’s Curse and Trick-or-Treat are exclusive to the Phantump and Pumpkaboo lines respectively. These moves are also necessary for these pokémon to evolve.

When you exit the forest, you should see a truck like the one on Route 32. This is another mobile PokéCenter. Use it to heal your pokémon because you are about to have another rival battle. When you are ready, head north of the truck where you will find your rival staring at a ledge. She was chasing a thief when he somehow climbed the ledge, leaving her unable to follow. She will challenge you to a battle.

Her team of five is pretty well-balanced at this point. Exeggcute’s status moves as well as Gabite’s raw Attack power may pose difficult challenges, but if your own team is well-balanced, you should be able to handle this battle just fine. Her pokémon are all decent but not extraordinary. If this were your last battle with her, she would be pretty underwhelming as a rival. Fortunately, this isn’t your last battle with her.

Once she is defeated, she will give you an Old Amber. You can’t do anything with that now, but you can use it to get an Aerodactyl later on. Your rival won’t leave right away, but you can go ahead and go back to Pewter City. The man who stopped you before won’t bother you this time. You can proceed east through Route 3, battling trainers as you go.

Along the way, you will see a set of small stairs with an item ball on a tiny plateau. Grab it. This is the Pickaxe. You can use it to smash those cracked rocks you keep seeing. Rocks reappear if you enter a building or a cave and then exit again. Smashing rocks can cause pokémon to appear (25% chance). This can also cause Heart Scales (5% chance), Bottle Caps (2% chance), and Gold Bottle Caps (1% chance) to appear. There are also other items such as Nuggets, Big Nuggets, and Max Revives that can be obtained this way.

The Heart Scales can be traded to the Move Relearner in Blackthorn City in order to relearn old moves. The Bottle Caps and Gold Bottle Caps can also be traded to important people in exchange for valuable services, but that will come later in the game.

Getting your 10th badge

Enter Mt. Moon and make your way through the winding paths. There are only two trainer battles here, but they can be a bit tough. There are 4 fossils here as well as TM28 (Dig), so be sure to look around. Dig will come in handy against the gym in Vermilion City, although the Bulldoze TM you got from Route 39 is also helpful as well. Once you find your way through Mt. Moon, head east along Route 4 to reach Cerulean City.

North of Cerulean City is Route 24, which connects to Route 25. There are a bunch of trainers a long Route 25 who will challenge you to battles. Defeating them all will earn you a Big Nugget as a prize. At the end of Route 25 is Bill’s house. Bill won’t be home but his grandfather will be. He will ask you to show him certain pokémon. He will give you evolutionary stones as rewards. There are two TMs here on Route 25: TM119 (Play Rough) and TM34 (Sludge Bomb). That’s pretty much all you need to see up here, so head back to Cerulean City and enter the gym.

The gym here is Water-type. You can try to avoid the trainers here, but it’s best to just battle them for the experience. One of them has a Lanturn, so just be careful that you aren’t relying solely on Electric attacks in this gym. Misty herself has three incredibly powerful pokémon on her team. Fortunately, you can just spam Electric moves against all of them.

Getting your 11th badge

Head south along Route 5. You will see a lone house on that route. It’s the home of the Eevee Trainer. He can teach an Eevee’s evolutions certain special moves from Let’s Go Eevee. For example, Jolteon is able to Learn Buzzy Buzz. However, its base power has been lowered from 90 to 40 because it’s just too powerful.

Among the ledges just north of the Eevee Trainer house is TM72 (Volt Switch), so be sure to grab that.

There is a gate leading to Saffron City at the south end of Route 5, but the gate guard won’t let you pass. Since you can’t get to Saffron City, you have to use the nearby building to gain access to the underground path leading to Route 6. Once on Route 6, proceed south to Vermilion City. You can stop by the Pokémon Fan Club if you wish to get a Rare Candy from the club President, but other than that, there isn’t much to do here except challenge the Electric-type gym here.

Access to Lt. Surge, the gym leader, is blocked by two force fields. There are trash cans scattered around the room. Two of these trash cans contain switches that will each remove one force field. Investigate them until you find both switches. One switch is located in the trash can directly northwest of the old man. The other switch is the northwesternmost trash can. It’s actually possible to get through this entire gym without battling any of the three trainers in this room if that’s what you want.

Proceed into the next room to battle Lt. Surge. His Luxray has the move Ice Fang, which can cause some issues for Ground-type pokémon, and its Superpower move is always a heavy-hitting move. The Ampharos has a diverse movepool of some pretty powerful Special moves. If you kept your Mareep in your party, then you are already familiar with Ampharos by now. The real curveball is the Raichu. This is an Alolan Raichu. Not only that, but it’s an Alolan Raichu that knows Surf. This can cause issues for a Ground-type pokémon if you were going to rely on that. Fortunately, the Alolan Raichu’s dual typing gives it a weakness to Ghost, Bug, and Dark moves, so you don’t need to rely on Ground pokémon.

Getting your 12th badge

After defeating Lt. Surge, head east of Vermilion City to find Diglett’s Cave. The cave has expanded over time and has merged with the part of Rock Tunnel that connects to Lavender Town. The part of Rock Tunnel that leads to Cerulean has collapsed, so Diglett’s Cave is your only option for proceeding. The cave splits off into two paths. The left path leads you back to Route 2, while the right path leads you straight to Lavender Town. You obviously want to go right. TM80 (Rock Slide) is located near the exit to Lavender Town. Diglett’s Cave also contains a strong magnetic field, which you can use to evolve Nosepass, Magneton, and Charjabug. If you don’t need to do that though, just proceed to Lavender Town.

Lavender Town has several things you can do here, but none of them will be of any use to you until later in the game, but first, enter the tower and grab TM65 (Shadow Claw). After that, just proceed west on Route 8. You will battle some trainers on bikes. They are partial to Poison and Fire type pokémon, so plan accordingly. You will reach another gate to Saffron City with another guard who won’t let you pass. Once again though, there is an underground path you can use to go west until you reach Celadon City. You can find TM121 (Smart Strike) towards the end of this path.

Celadon City has a Department Store like the one in Goldenrod City. However, this one sells evolution items, so if you don’t want to play for coins in Goldenrod City’s Game Corner, you can buy these items here. However, I don’t recommend doing that unless you have a lot of money to spend and want to evolve your pokémon as quickly as possible. If you just wait a bit longer though, you can get these items for free.

There is still something important you must do here though. Go to the rooftop of the Department Store and talk to the cop there. He needs money for the vending machines. Give him some money ($200). As thanks, he will talk to the gate guards so that you can enter Saffron City.

There are also four houses near the south of the city. These are the Super Trainer, Hyper Trainer, Ability Trainer, and Nature Modifier houses. The Super Trainer accepts Bottle Caps as payment and can either reset your pokémon’s EV values to 0 to give that pokémon a fresh start or he can increase a selected EV value by 21 points.

The EV system may be unfamiliar to some players. Basically, every pokémon has a certain number and type of EV points associated with it. Every time you defeat a Pokémon, you get its associated EV points. For example, defeating a Pikachu gives you 2 EV points to your Speed stat, while defeating a Charizard will give you 3 EV points to your Special Attack stat. You can have a maximum of 252 EV points in a single stat and a maximum of 510 EV points total. 4 EV points will increase the associated stat by 1 point, so 252 EVs in a Speed stat will increase the Speed stat by 63 points. That’s a pretty significant amount. This maximum is why it may be in your best interest to have this trainer reset your EV points. You can’t really see the EV points your pokémon have accumulated and looking up the EV point yield of each and every wild Pokémon you come across is extremely tedious. That’s why it may be in your best interest to stock up on Bottle Caps, so you can influence your pokémon’s stats the way you want.

The Hyper Trainer next door deals with IVs. This is also a hidden game mechanic that isn’t very discernable to players. The Stats Judge you encountered in Cherrygrove City was basically giving you a good indication of which of your pokémon’s stats had the highest IV value as well as an overall assessment of your pokémon’s potential. Normally, you have no control whatsoever over your pokémon’s IVs. Those values are randomly generated and hidden from you. The only thing you could do was keep breeding a pokémon until you got lucky and hatched one with good IVs. Well the Hyper Trainer can max out a pokémon’s IV values completely. In terms of overall potential, this makes your pokémon “perfect”. He accepts Gold Bottle Caps as payment.

The Ability Trainer can unlock a pokémon’s hidden ability if it has one. If you want to simply change between two regular abilities, you can use an Ability Capsule purchased from the Goldenrod or Celadon department stores to do this. This special trainer only changes to hidden abilities. This change is permanent. Once you change to a pokémon’s hidden ability, there is no going back. If you aren’t sure of a hidden ability, research it first or save your game before committing to it. He accepts Heart Scales as payment.

The Nature Modifier can alter you pokémon’s nature, which will affect its stats. He accepts Bottle Caps as payment. Is it ethical to change your pokémon’s inherent personality? Well, it can’t be worse than forcing them to battle for your amusement, or storing them in a PC and forgetting about them. So… welcome to the world of Pokémon!

Unfortunately, these trainers won’t provide their services to just anyone. They only work with the best, so you will have to wait until you are the Champion before you can utilize their services. For now, go ahead and enter the Grass gym.

This gym contains a bunch of trellis structures to walk under. Some of them contain trainers, but they are hidden from view until you try to enter one and they spot you. If you want to make it through all three rows without being challenged to a battle, the correct order to go in is right, center, and finally left. This will bring you to Erika, the gym leader.

Both Erika’s Bellossom, as well as her Vileplume, can be expected to use Giga Drain to recover their health. Due to the apparently close relationship between the Grass and Fairy types, you can also expect them to have the powerful Fairy-type move Moonblast. There isn’t much you can do about the Giga Drain. The somewhat mediocre Pokémon Swalot with the ability Liquid Ooze can cause Giga Drain to damage these pokémon instead of healing them, but that’s about all you can really do. Her third pokémon, Lurantis, has very good offensive capabilities, especially with its Leaf Blade move.

Getting your 13th badge

Now that you have access to Saffron City (assuming you helped the cop on the roof of the Department Store earlier), head east from Celadon City to Saffron City. It’s worth your time to stop by the Move Tutor house. He can teach your pokémon some pretty good moves for free.

There is also a Fighting Dojo in the city. If you defeat the trainer there, he will give you a choice of one of Tyrogue’s three evolutions. The trainer himself uses those three Pokémon in battle, all at level 50.

When you’re ready, enter the Psychic-type gym here. The rooms of the gym contain warp panels. You will just have to use trial and error to find the correct path, or you can just follow my guide here. Step on the first warp panel you see in the gym (the only option you have), and then proceed in the following order: top-left, bottom-left, bottom-left. This will take you right to Sabrina and will let you bypass two trainer battles.

Sabrina can be a tough battle. Her Mr. Mime will likely be used for one primary purpose, which is to use Light Screen and/or Reflect to make her team harder to take down. Enemy trainers in this game very rarely use held items, but this Mr. Mime is holding Light Clay. This will extend the duration of Light Screen and Reflect from 5 turns to 8 turns. Additionally, its ability Filter will reduce the damage done by super-effective moves by 25%. Sigilyph isn’t anything special. Just use an Electric pokémon against it. However, her Alakazam is the real threat. Its HP stat is very low, but if it’s being protected by Light Screen or Reflect, this can prevent you from easily taking it out in one hit. Its Special Attack power is very high, and it will use a variety of moves to take advantage of this to do a lot of damage. It knows Focus Blast as a means of taking out any Dark type pokémon you might try to use against it, and Shadow Ball for the Ghost types, so you might want to stick with Bug pokémon.

Secrets

Before proceeding further, go back to Lavender Town. You were previously unable to enter the Mart here, but defeating Sabrina proved you a strong enough trainer to handle it. This isn’t a Mart where you can go shopping though. It’s haunted by Rotom. As you can imagine, the refrigerators in the Mart would be especially attractive to Rotom. This is the only place in the entire game where you can catch wild Rotom.

Once you have a Rotom, there are two cool things you can do with it. One of them is to take it to the Volunteer House in town, where you will find a mess of scattered electronics. Interact with the computer to make Rotom change forms. If you have more than one Rotom in your party, the form change will affect only the first one. Changing forms will force your Rotom to learn a certain move associated with that form. For example, changing to its Frost form, will force it to learn Blizzard. However, changing forms again after that will replace Blizzard with another move. This means that you can’t have a Rotom with a moveset like Blizzard, Overheat, Air Slash, and Leaf Storm.

Another thing you can do with Rotom in your party is return to Goldenrod City and enter the game corner. You can now use Rotom to hack the slot machines and force it to give you to maximum payout of 300 coins each time. You can keep doing this to get unlimited coins, and basically get all the evolution-inducing items for free. This is pretty late into the game though, so you may have already obtained them through more ethical means.

Your next gym challenge will be in Fuchsia City. You can get to Routes 16, 17, and 18 by going west from Celadon City. Grab TM112 (Roost) from the northern part of Route 16, and then head down the path southward. It’s a long path down, but it will eventually lead you to Fuchsia City. There is a secret on this path but I recommend visiting Fuchsia City first just so it’s registered in your Abra Pager, and then head back to Route 18. You may also want to bring some Repels with you. At the bottom of Route 18 is some open water you can surf on. Surf to the left and then go up, following alongside the path on land. Continue surfing until you are able to get back on land just north of Route 16. Continue north on land to reach Hidden Village

There is a house here to heal pokémon. If you enter the other house though, an angry man will demand to know why you are there and how you discovered this secret location. He will calm down quickly though. He will unlock the tunnel in the village, which will take you straight to a now unlocked building in Celadon City. You can use the building and the tunnel to travel back to this Hidden Village anytime you want. So why would you even want to come here anyway? It’s for the rare and powerful pokémon. Although all of the wild pokémon you encounter in the tall grass are non-evolving pokémon, most of them are pretty powerful. Tauros, Miltank, Hawlucha, and Scyther are some of the pokémon that may be worthwhile to catch. Additionally, this is the only location where you can catch Bouffalant.

Getting your 14th badge

When you return to Fuchsia City, you may also want to check out the Safari Zone here. This Safari Zone is the only place where you can catch the traditional Grass/Fire/Water starter pokémon from all 7 generations. This is all you can really do for now, so go ahead and enter the Poison-type gym here.

There are invisible walls all over the gym here. You can kind of see it if you look closely, but it may be easier to just feel your way around. All the trainers here are disgusted as Janine, the gym leader, but they will reveal their true forms when you battle them. Poison types are weak to Psychic and Ground moves, and Steel pokemon are immune to Poison moves. If you have a Steel/Psychic Pokémon, you will likely have an easier time here.

Janine's team isn't really much more powerful than Sabrina's team in terms of level, but she does have some tricks to watch out for. Her Seviper knows Flamethrower, just in case you are using a Steel pokémon against her. For players using Ground Pokemon, her Drapion also knows Aqua Tail. Her Crobat is likely to be the biggest threat though. Although it's weak to Psychic moves, its high Speed stat will probably allow it to get in a move like X-Scissor to do a lot of damage to a Psychic pokémon. You may be better off using Electric moves here. A Steel/Electric pokemon like Magnezone would be a great choice.


Getting your 15th badge

Head south from Fuchsia City to reach Route 19, which immediately connects to Route 20. Surf West on Route 20. It's a pretty long path. You will pass the Seafoam Islands on the way, but you can't do anything with them just yet.

You will eventually reach Cinnabar Island. Despite the name, it would be more appropriate to use the word “Islands” now that. There are two of them. In order to reclaim land lost to a volcanic eruption, the people of Cinnabar Island created a second island from the igneous rock, and then built a bridge to connect the two.

Aside from the gym, the only thing if interest here is the Fossil lab. Hopefully, you have some fossils to revive. At the very least, you have the Old Amber you received from your Rival. Since their method of reviving fossils is non-destructive, you don't actually lose the Fossil you used to revive the Pokemon, so you can use it over and over again. However, the procedure is kind of expensive, so I wouldn't recommend it.

When you are ready, enter the Gym. There are three locked doors to pass through. Each door can be unlocked by interacting with the quiz machine connected to the door. If you get the question wrong, you have to battle the trainer standing beside you. Either way, the door will open. You might choose to intentionally answer incorrectly so you can battle for experience points.

Blaine can be a challenging battle. His Turtonator is dual Fire/Dragon type, which means it's not weak to Water. Use Rock or Ground against it instead. His Arcanine is an all around powerful pokémon that also knows the move Morning Sun to heal itself. The real surprise is his Ninetales. It's ability Drought will automatically triggers harsh sunlight, and its Heat Rock will extend the duration of this to 8 turns.

Not only does it make Fire type moves stronger, but it will allow Solar Beam to be used in one turn instead of two. Ninetales happens to know Solar Beam. If you came in with a Pokemon like Barbaracle expecting to have an easy time with this, a OHKO from a Ninetales may come as a shock. Blaine can be one of the more difficult gym leaders, but you will eventually win.

Getting your 16th badge

Use the stairs to the west side of the bridge to get to the water and surf north along Route 21 until you reach Pallet Town. Due to rumors of a serial killer in the area, the people of this town tend to stay indoors. You should go check out the house in the northwest part of town though. The woman inside will give you a Masterball. She doesn't know how valuable it is since she isn't a trainer herself.

The only person you will see standing outside is Norman, the Normal-type gym leader. You can't get to him though since he is surrounded by a white picket fence. Instead, you need to enter the front door of the house in front of the fenced-in backyard. Yes, his house is the Normal-type gym. The gym trainers are all his family, and they are a bit… uh… creepy. Deal with them and exit through the back door to reach Norman.

Norman's Kangaskhan knows all three elemental punch moves, so it has pretty good move coverage. His Exploud has some surprising moves like Surf and Earthquake that can do plenty of damage. However, the real danger on his team is his Komala. Its ability to Comatose means that it's always asleep. It will use its move Sleep Talk to trigger its only other move: Last Resort. It's holding a Choice Band, so this already powerful move will be even more powerful. Unless you are using a Ghost-type Pokemon against this Komala, there is a real risk of a OHKO. If you're having trouble with this battle, just go catch a Ghost-type in Viridian Forest. It will make this so much easier.

Getting your 17th badge

Leave Pallet Town and travel north along Route 1 to reach Viridian City. All the doors are locked due to criminal activity in the area. Whether it's the serial killer in neighboring Pallet Town or the Team Rocket presence in Viridian City is left undisclosed. Head north back to Route 2 and grab TM120 (Giga Drain). The cop who was blocking access before is gone now. You might as well go straight to the Ground-type gym here after getting the TM. The gym turns out to be a Team Rocket base. All the gym trainers are Team Rocket members.


Giovanni can be a challenging battle simply because of how much damage his pokémon are capable of doing. You can obviously expect the move Earthquake to feature prominently in this battle, but be prepared for some Ice and Rock moves to be thrown in there in case you decide to avoid Earthquake by using a Flying Pokemon. Ice moves will be especially useful against his Gliscor. Just make sure your Pokémon are around level 55 or more, and use appropriate type matchups and you should be OK.

Getting your 18th badge

Now that you have 17 badges, teleport back to Blackthorn City, and use the underground tunnel to reach Clair in Dragon's Den. As long as you have 17 badges, she will agree to accept your challenge.

Be careful about using contact moves against her Druddigon due to its Rough Skin ability, which can damage you quite a bit. Use Ice moves against her Altaria, which has a 4x weakness to Ice. Just be wary of its Flamethrower move. You might want to avoid using a pure Ice type Pokemon for this very reason. The biggest threat is her level 60 Haxorus. This Pokemon is a real heavy hitter and has a variety of strong attacks at its disposal. If you use a Fairy Pokemon against it, be mindful of its Poison Jab move. This will likely be your toughest badge to earn precisely because of that Haxorus.

Reaching the Indigo League

Now that you have 18 badges, you are ready to compete in the tournament. Your first stop is the Pokemon League Reception Gate. There are two ways to get there: taking the train from Pewter City to its South entrance or entering from Route 22 from the East. Using the Pewter City train is the faster method, but do whatever you prefer. If you don't have 18 badges, the guards will turn you away, but since you do, they will let you pass. Head through the door to the north of the room and you will end up in Victory Road.

If you go West instead of North, it will take you to Route 28. You won’t be able to enter Mt. Silver until later on, but you will be able to enter the Safari Zone at the base of Mt. Silver. There are some decent pokémon you can catch there as well as finding TM02 (Dragon Claw) in the first room of the Safari Zone. You can also catch the evolved forms of Eevee here. Route 28 is also a strong magnetic field, and can evolve Nosepass, Magneton, and Charjabug.

Victory Road isn't actually a road at all. It's just a cave, and this cave is full of strong trainers. Items like Potions and Revives aren't as useful in this game since they can't be used in battle, but for Victory Road, I highly recommend stocking up on these items anyway for use in between battles. Some of these battles will be quite damaging to your pokémon. The path through the cave is pretty clear, even if it is all over the place. It will feel like a long week but you will eventually reach the exit. Just follow the stairs up to reach Indigo Plateau.

There is a Pokemon Center here so you can heal your team and use the PC to organize your party appropriately. There is also a Mart here as well, but don't waste your money there. Your team will be healed in between tournament battles, so the items sold here won't be of much benefit now. When you are sure you are ready, save your game and then head up the stairs. Talk to the attendant, who will move out of your way. Once you enter the door at the top of the stairs though, there is no going back.

The Tournament

There are 32 trainers participating in the tournament, but since this is single-elimination, you only have to battle five of them. As it so happens, the five trainers that are skilled enough to stand out from the rest are Kukui, Cynthia, Blue, Oak, and your rival. Yes, that's right. Your rival actually doesn't suck this time.

Every trainer you battle has a very well-balanced team with a diverse moveset. I really can't provide a good strategy for these battles because there are so many variables and no way of predicting what type of team you will have. Just make sure your own team is well-balanced.

Your rival is the last trainer you battle in this tournament. This time, she has gotten much better. Her team consists of Lapras, Volcarona, Exeggutor, Togekiss, Gengar, and Garchomp.

In terms of sheer power, Garchomp is arguably the most powerful non-legendary Pokemon in the game, but it has a 4x weakness to Ice. Just watch out for its Iron Head move if you use an Ice or Fairy pokemon against it.

Her Volcarona has attacks that deal a lot of damage. Even if the moves it uses aren't super-effective against your pokémon, they could still possibly OHKO you due to its high Special Attack stat. You can use Rock moves against Volcarona for 4x damage, but be mindful of its Giga Drain move.

Although Lapras is a pretty decent Pokemon, it has a lot of weaknesses. Using Electric attacks is probably your best option though. The same goes for her Togekiss. Just stick with Electric. If you try using a Rock-type against her Togekiss, it will just use Aura Sphere against you.


Her Exeggutor is another big threat, but it has a 4x weakness to Bug. If you got a Pinsir or Scyther from Hidden Village, this would be a good opportunity to use it.

Her Gengar is another big threat. Its Poison typing would normally make it weak to Ground moves, but its ability Levitate will make Ground moves miss. Unless you have a way of nullifying that ability, you should find a different strategy. If you use a Dark-type against it, be wary of its Dazzling Gleam move. Psychic pokémon and Gengar are super-effective against each other but Gengar will likely come out on top in such a matchup due to its very high Speed and Special Attack stats. Like Sabrina's Alakazam though, it's really quite frail if you can manage to get a hit in. Consider using priority moves like Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch to counter its Speed.

Once you defeat your rival, go through the door behind her and enter the Hall of Fame. After the ceremony, you will be transported back to New Bark Town.

Champion Privileges

A few new opportunities will open up for you once you become the Champion. The Super Trainer, Hyper Trainer, Ability Trainer, and Nature Modifier in Celadon City will all be open to you. These trainers can help your team become much more powerful, and you will probably need their assistance. You will also be able to access Cerulean Cave, which is accessible from Route 24. There are some fossils and strong Pokemon to catch in there, but you may want to wait to come here later on.

Rematches

You will now be able to challenge all the gym leaders to rematches. When you battled them the first time, they were just testing you. They weren't battling with their utmost skill. This time though, it will be different. All of the gym leaders will be using high-leveled teams of six Pokémon, and they will be using powerful moves and devious strategies.

When you defeat a gym leader in a rematch battle, they will give you their endorsement to enter Mt. Silver. You need the endorsement of all 18 in order to be allowed entry though. You can view these endorsements in the Endorsements pocket of your bag. There is another use for them though. They each contain fragments from a book called “Myths & Legends”. Once the sleeping Legendary and Mythical Pokemon awaken, these fragments will provide clues for locating these Pokemon. Don't bother looking for them yet though.

The Final Battle

When you have the endorsement of all 18 gym leaders, go to Route 28 and talk to the guard. He will let you in. Mt. Silver is the only location where you can catch the Ultra Beasts. Additionally, due to the weird properties of the mountain, there are evolved forms of Pokemon that shouldn't be able to evolve naturally without special items or evolutionary stones.

When you reach the top of Mt. Silver, you will find another trainer here. If you think you are up for it, you can battle him. His pokémon are all at level 75. His team consists of Roserade, Metagross, Tyranitar, Kommo-o, Volcarona, and Togekiss. Kommo-o is powerful but its 4x weakness to Fairy is a big disadvantage. If you have a Ribombee of a high enough level, you could probably OHKO Kommo-o before it can use any moves. Roserade's poison attacks can be rendered useless by a Steel pokemon. If you have the choice between using a pokemon with a type advantage against Roserade or a Steel pokemon, it's probably better to go with the Steel pokemon. Tyranitar is especially vulnerable to Fighting moves. Watch out for its Stone Edge attack. It's much more accurate in a Sandstorm. Metagross is another big threat. Spam moves like Earthquake against it. You have already faced Volcarona and Togekiss, so no further explanation is needed there.

Finding the hidden pokemon

After you win the final battle, you will be transported back to New Bark Town. If you talk to Professor Elm, he will tell you that your battle on Mt. Silver has caught the attention of certain rare Pokemon. The Pokemon referenced in the clues you received from the gym leaders (check your Endorsements pocket to view them again) are now accessible. Follow the clues to find and battle the pokémon.

Obtaining all of the Legendary and Mythical Pokemon uses a “checkmate” system. These Pokemon are divided up into 18 groups. If you capture the “alpha” if the group, the others will automatically join you. For example, capturing Lugia will cause Latios and Latias to join you. In order to avoid accidental spoilers, please see my separate walkthrough specifically for finding these pokémon. However, the clues really aren’t that hard to figure out. Just pay attention to small subtle changes, such as a boulder that previously blocked your path no longer being there, or a cave entrance that wasn’t there before.

Save your game before attempting to capture any of these pokémon, and make sure you don’t accidentally release any of them. Unlike all other species of pokémon, there is only one of each species of Legendary and Mythical pokémon. The only possible exceptions are the Cosmog line and Phione.

You can keep battling the gym leaders and participate in the tournament again if you want, but the only thing that’s really left to do is to catch them all.