Strategy Guide

Pallet Town

You start out in Pallet Town, There you will get your first Pokémon from Prof. Oak. You get him to bring you to his laboratory, you must first go North into the tall grass, you will hear someone say, "Don't go in there!" It's Prof. Oak, He'll take you to his lab and you'll have the choice of three Pokémon, Charmander the fire Pokémon, Squirtle the water pokémon, or Bulbasaur the grass Pokémon. If you pick any one of these Pokémon, Gary will pick the Elementally superior. Water beats Fire, Grass beat Water, Fire beats Grass. Pick Bulbasaur, he seems to win the most battles and beat the most trainers, but if you want you can take one of the others. Gary will challenge you right after that, hes not too hard to beat, just keep attacking and he'll go down (Your Pokémon will grow a level).After that you will have to go North to Viridian City.

Road to Viridian City

Along the road the first guy you see will give you a potion. Also you cannot catch Pokémon right now so just defeat the Pidgeys and Rattatas for exp. points. If your Pokémon get hurt you can take them to your house and your mom will heal them.

Viridian City

Once you reach Viridian City you should go to the Pokécenter and heal your Pokémon. Go to the Mart and the clerk will hand a parcel to you to deliver to Prof. Oak, You can jump over the little barriers, you will save time and also you'll encounter less battles. Upon delivery, Prof. Oak will hand you the PokéDex Gary will note to get a map from his sister (you can too).You won't have to battle Gary this time so get the map and head back to Viridian. There you should buy Pokéballs, Potions are not needed really because you are close to a pokécenter. In the area, Pidgeys and Rattatas are the only Pokemon found.(For exp. points, you can head West and battle Gary, but your Pokemon should be level 12 or above).Now Head North to Viridian Forest. If you go west of viridian (where you battle gary again) you can catch Nidoran male and female.

Viridian Forest

You cannot pick up the items to the right just yet, but you will go back later in the game. In the forest there are 3 trainers, they use bugs so if you chose Charmander this should be REALLY easy, if you picked Squirtle or Bulbasaur then it will still be easy but not as easy as Charmander. Go West from the beginning and you can pick up a Pokéball, but you do have to walk through the grass. Go Northeast of the beginning to fight a trainer(You have to fight this one), His Pokemon are: Weedle level 6 (Bulbasaur is immune to the poison in poison sting),and Caterpie level 6. From there go North along the road (The next trainer is optional) Keep going North and you'll find a Antidote. Go along the road and you'll find a split towards the end, go South and you'll find another item. A certain Pokemon you should look for is Pikachu, Although Pikachu is here, he is weak and doesn't have many moves. But he is effective against Misty. Once out of the forest, You'll have to go to Pewter City.

Pewter City

In Pewter city you must fight Brock. If you don't you cannot proceed to Mt. Moon. Brock's Pokémon are Geodude level 12, and Onix level. 14. Brock's Pokémon are easily beaten by Squirtle or Bulbasaur, Charmander's just out of luck and will have to make it with what he has (Evolving a Caterpie and/or a Weedle is a good choice if you're using Charmander).The BOULDER BADGE increases you Pokémon's power a bit, also flash can now be used(Badge moves such as FLASH, CUT, FLY, STRENGTH, and SURF can only be used when a HM is equipped to a pokémon.)Get some supplies and head to Mt. Moon. You'll want to get some potions, an Escape Rope or two, and some more Pokéballs if you need them. Now whould be a good time to level up your begining Pokémon, you can gain them to as high of a level as you want and they will still obey you (my friend had a level 38 Blastoise before he beat misty!!) Get it to about level 20 or so.

Mt. Moon

Before entering Mt. Moon you should catch a Jigglypuff in the grass outside Mt. Moon. Mt. Moon is long. Once inside you can find various items, and many people to battle. Team Rockets first appearance comes in here, They're easy so don't worry. At the end you'll fight a Super Nerd, After you beat him you'llget the choice of two fossils, The Helix fossil or the Dome fossil. Which oneyou pick matters on what Pokemon you'll get later, Helix: Omanyte, Dome: Kabuto. You can't get these Pokemon until later in the game so store it in your PC as soon as you get to Cerulean City. You should get a Clefairy, Zubat, Geodude, and Paras here.

Cerulean City

Did you get a Pikachu in Viridian Forest? If you did and you own a Squirtle or a Charmander gain them to high levels before the fight, If you have Bulbasaur it'll still be easy so don't worry. If you need to you can catch Oddish\Bellsprout to help you You only HAVE to fight one other trainer, the one near the beginning of the gym is optional. Misty is difficult if you chose Charmander. Her Pokémon are Staryu at level 18 and Starmie at level 21. If you win you'll receive the CASCADE BADGE, it allows ALL Pokemon up to level 30 to obey, also lets you use CUT. If you go to the 1st house on the Northwest side of the city, you can go into the backyard and find a Rare Candy, You'll have to search a bit but its in the middle of the two rows going horizontally (Rows meaning spaces North to South in space).Bikes are too expensive rightnow (But you'll get one soon enough).

Road to Bill's house

From Cerulean City, head North and fight Gary, go across the bridge and fight all the trainers there. Go into the grass to the West and get a grass Pokémon (Bellsprout in Blue and Oddish in Red) and get an Abra also. To catch an Abra, just throw a Pokéball at it (its not a guaranteed catch but its the best way right now).Go East to get to Bill's house, there are lots of trainers in the way so you mayhave to go to the Pokécenter in Cerulean. Once you get to Bill's house you'll see a Pokémon but no Bill. Talk to the Pokémon and do as he asks. After that Bill gives you a ticket to the S. S. Anne. Go back to Cerulean and you'll see that the Police man \ woman?? has moved so you can get into the house. You'll find a ROCKET in the back, beat him and get TM #28 (DIG) go back in the house and the guy doesn't care anymore so just keep it! Head South and you'll find a tunnel, go through it and you'll end up in Vermilion City (In the tunnel there is a Full Restore but You'll have to search for it because its invisible, like the Rare Candy). Catch a Mankey or a Meowth on your way to the tunnel.

Vermilion City

In Vermilion you have a few things to do: 1.Get the Old Rod from the fishing guru (Next to the Pokécenter), 2.Beat Lt. Surge and get the Thunder Badge, 3.Get the Bike Voucher from the Pokémon Fan club president, 4.And also get on the S .S. Anne. First thing first though, Lt. Surge is an electric type Pokémon gym leader so use a Diglett from the cave to the East or a Geodude from Mt. Moon. The They should be almost totally immune to the attacks of the electric Pokémon. To fight Lt. Surge you have to search the trash cans for a switch (It's random), and the a neighboring can for the second switch. Lt. Surge's Pokémon are Voltorb at level 21, Pikachu at level 18, and Raichu at level 24, the THUNDER BADGE speeds up your Pokémon a bit and lets you use FLY. Get the Bicycle with the Bike Voucher and use that, The Bike speeds your journey up A LOT. There is someone in one of the houses here that trade a spearow for a farfetche'd.

S.S. Anne

On the S. S. Anne there are many good trainers so make sure your Pokémon's levels are high and look for the Capt. Because the Capt. gives you the CUT HM. If you go into the kitchen you will find a Great Ball in one of the trash cans. Try to search all the rooms because there some great things in there. From here you should go through the Diglett’s cave.

Diglett's Cave

Not much here, Ride your bike through and catch a Diglett. Once through the cave you'll see a house. There you can get the Flash HM and the items you couldn’t before (with CUT equipped onto a Pokemon).Go back and East through the mini-maze. You can trade a abra for a Mr. Mime here.

Mini-Maze

Just stay on the middle track and go North on the last turn if you're going on a track where at the beginning there was a man near a sign your going the wrong way, you should see a track going left, a man, and another man but not in the same place. Go Northeast and you should be on a direct track where a Jr. Trainer(Female) is waiting for you, fight her and go East. Here you can catch: Ekans (Red), Sandshrew (Blue), Spearow, and Drowzee.

Rock Tunnel

Just before the Rock Tunnel you should be at a river with a nearby field and a little barricade you can jump over. Go South to the Pokécenter and heal your Pokémon, now go North and catch a Voltorb. Equip Flash on it and proceed into the cave. Go through the cave, its semi-direct not TOO confusing. Here you should catch: Zubat and Geodude (if you don't have them) Onix and Machop.

Lavander Town

Once out of the cave you should be just North of Lavender Town.You don't have to fight the trainers so just go to the Pokécenter and heal up. Now Proceed West and through the tunnel. (You'll have to fight at least 1 trainer) Now you should end up in Celadon City. Catch a Growlith (red) or Vulpix (blue)to the left of here.

Celadon City

You have a number of things to do here in Celadon: 1.Defeat Erika and get the Rainbow Badge, 2.Get the Silph scope, 3.Get Eevee, 4.Get the Coin Box for the Game Corner, 5.Get a Fresh Water From the Mart (top floor) and give it to the road guard. Erika isn’t too hard to beat, Just Use a fire or bird Pokemon that’s around the same level as her Pokémon. You're gonna have to battle at least 3 trainers. You MUST come with a Pokemon with CUT equipped. The easiest way to go is on the right and hug the left side. Erika's Pokémon: Victreebel lvl29, Tangela lvl 24,Vineplume lvl 29. The RAINBOW BADGE make Pokémon up to level 50 obey, and you can use STRENGTH. Next your gonna have to go into the Game Corner, fight the guy who is guarding the poster and press the switch behind it. Go in the door and go down another flight of stairs. There will be a number of puzzles to solve and Rockets to fight. One guy at the bottom should drop a lift key. Now take the lift and go to the bottom floor, You'll have to fight two Rockets and then fight Giovanni, he has a level 24 Rhyhorn a level 25 Onix and a level 29 Kangaskhan. Now after you've fought Giovanni,he should drop the Silph scope, the one for the ghosts in the Poketower. Now go back to Lavender Town.

Lavander Town 2

Nothing has changed, just go to the Poketower and fight the ghosts. When you fight the ghosts the silph scope works automatically. Once you've made it to the 2nd to the top floor a ghost will fight you (pre-programmed battle)This ghost is Marowak and you cannot catch her. Use a water Pokémon and it should be easy.Beat all the Rockets on the top floor and you'll recieve the Pokeflute from an old man. Now you should be able to wake up the sleeping Pokemon to the South (Snorlax) Also make sure to capture him because there are only 2 Snorlaxes in the entire game. In the Pokémon Tower: Gastly, Haunter, and Cubone.

Saffron City

Once you've beaten the ghosts in the Poketower you should go to Saffron City to Battle Sabrina. But First your gonna have to save the town from Team Rocket. By now, the guy in front of the Silph co. building has fallen asleep (He'll be off to the side and won't stop you). Once you go inside its a maze, First you must fight many people (this includes scientists) and find the Key Card, This will allow you to get into all the locked areas. Next you must find a portal that leads you to Gary (You'll have to battle him) once you defeat Gary, A nearby man will give you Lapras. Go through the other portal and defeat Giovanni once again. He is easy with Squirtle or Bulbasaur, since he uses ground Pokemon Water and Grass Pokémon are effective. You'll get the Master Ball from the President of Silph co. SAVE IT! Its VERY important! Store it on your PC. Now Team Rocket has left town so you can now Go and defeat Sabrina.She uses Psychic Pokémon and isn't too difficult.Still be careful, you don't have to fight any trainer besides Sabrina, just go into the opposite portal unless you want Exp. points, You'll know when you reach her. Sabrina's Pokemon are Kadabra level 38 Mr. Mime level 37 Venomoth level 37 and Alakazam level 43. Your Pokemon should be about level 30 or above. You get the MARSH BADGE for beating her, Pokémon up to lvl 70 will obey you. Next to Sabrina's Gym is the Fighting Dojo. This Gym is fighting Pokemon only, and if you beat all the trainers you get the choice of Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan. Hitmonlee is a Kicking based Pokémon and Hitmonchan is a Punching based Pokémon. Now you should head to where you met Snorlax (South of Lavender Town) along route 12 to Fuschia City. On the way to Fuchsia City you should catch: Ditto, Venonat, Bellsprout and Weepinbell (blue), Oddish and Gloom (red),Pidgey and Pidgeotto.

Fuchsia City

Once your in Fuschia City, The first thing you should do is go beat Koga, the poison gym leader. If you picked Bulbasaur this will be an easy task, Bulbasaur is almost completely immune to poison, for Charmander or Squirtle I'd suggest a Victreebell or Vileplume depending on which version you have. There are invisible walls here so you'll have to fight at least 3 trainers if you don't know where you're going. now I can't give exact directions but here’s what you do, first go above the Pokémon statue and carefully walk to the right. Hug the right wall and walk up, you'll have to fight a Juggler. After you beat him go to the top wall and walk left, You'll have to fight another trainer here. Now carefully walk right and down to get to Koga. Now, I'm doing this from memory but his Pokémon should be around level 35-40.He'll have poison Pokémon so carry allot of antidotes unless using Bulbasaur. For beating him you receive the SOUL BADGE, the defense of your Pokémon increases a little and it allows you to use SURF. Next you should go to the Safari Zone. Here there are many Pokemon that can only be caught here, but first you must find the GOLD TEETH and the SURF HM. Get in there and get on your bike and ride East, now from here ride to the hill and up onto it, ride West and off of it, from here ride Northeast and then Westwhen you get to the wall. Now you should go Northwest over another hill, you should be in a spot where there are 3 mini-lakes, you must go Northeast around the Lakes,there should be a sign next to a bush barrier that says "Trainer Tips: The secret house is still ahead!". Go South and you should find a Pokéball item which is the GOLD TEETH, from there go Northwest until you see a house, go inside and a man should give you the SURF HM. Try to go outside (Time should have run out by now) and go to the Warden's house. Give him the teeth and he'll hand you the STRENGTH HM. A Rare Candy is in the ball on the other side of the room. Next door to the warden is the Fishing Guru's brother. get the GOOD ROD from him. Go in his backyard and fish out some Pokémon. Go West and go on the Cycle Road and go up to Celadon City. Save your game and try to catch the Snorlax. Take a Pokémon with CUT and cut the nearby bush, go around the back and a woman there will give you the FLY HM. Equip SURF on either Lapras or a Water Pokémon you don't really need. Now, if you're still in Celadon City go to the grass patch just before the Cycling Road and catch a bird. Equip FLY to it and fly to Pewter City, Go North to the Museum and CUT the bush in the front. In the back talk to the guy near the item on the pedestal. He'll give it to you. Now its time to go to Cinnabar Island.

Cinnabar Island

First you must FLY to Pallet Town. Save your game and go South. From here SURF down south, catch a tentacool on your way you should eventually find Cinnabar Island. Here you'll want to take the fossil from earlier and go into the research center to the left of the Pokécenter. Go to the 3rd door down and give the man in the back a fossil, go to the Mart and then back into the center to pick up your new Pokémon. Repeat with the amber and you'll get Aerodactyl. Now go and heal your Pokémon, buy some supplies, buy some Burn heals, and save. Go into the burned out building (This is a rough walkthrough, not exact) in here, go North and examine the statue(A), it should have a switch, press it and go upstairs. Do the same on this floor (Read the notes if you wish, they tell the story of Mew and Mewtwo). On the 3rd floor you should press the switch and go South, don't fight the scientist but instead go(there are two exits, a big one to the left and a smaller one to the right) take the exit to the left, you should land on the 1st floor but in an area you couldn’t get to. Defeat the scientists and get the Secret Key. Now exit the building (If you have an Escape Rope its better) and you can now fight Blaine, the Fire gym leader he has: Growlithe 42, Rapidash 42, Ponyta 40, Arcanine 47.If you chose Squirtle or Charmander this will be a cinch. Use A strong Water Pokémon or a semi-strong water Pokémon and a semi-strong fire Pokémon to absorb the damage. You will have to defeat almost every trainer here to advance. The VOLCANO BADGE increases your Pokémon's abilities a little. Now your ready to go to the Seafoam Islands. In the mansion you can catch: Koffing, Weezing, Growlithe (red), Grimer, Muk, Vulpix (Blue), Magmar (Blue), and Ponyta.

Seafoam Islands

From the Pokecenter, heal your Pokémon and go to the Mart. First prepare with Ice Heals, the highest potion at that time,2 escape ropes, and lots of Ultra balls.Take a Fire Pokémon(Ponytas a great choice if you don't have Charmander),an Electric Pokémon (A well leveled Pikachu or Raichu is good),a Pokémon with STRENGTH, a Pokémon with SURF,and Your starting Pokémon (If you don't have Charmander),you should also bring a high level Butterfree or a high level grass Pokemon (With sleep powder).SURF East until you get to the Seafoam Islands. Here prepare to face level 50 Pokémon(They won't all be level 50 but I know one will...).Save and go inside, then get on your Bike and ride downstairs. Ride until you reach the water and SURF, you should be swept into another screen. Go East and you should see a blank space(only a 1 step space) search it and you should find an item. From there do North and get onto land, get on your Bike and Ride West (Not up the stairs) and go up the new set of stairs (DO NOT SURF! You'll be swept away).You should go Southeast and Push the Top Left boulder North 2 spaces, Push the opposite boulder you just pushed into the hole (but don't go in yourself). And push the remaining boulder in the hole opposite to the one you just were using. Once you've completed that, jump in the hole. Now SURF North until you reach a island with a Pokémon just standing there. Save your game and fight him, use your fire Pokemon and weaken him.Now take the Pokémon with sleep powder and put him to sleep. Now throw Ultra Balls until you catch him (Make sure you do or else you'll have to start all over). Articuno is level 50 and very difficult to beat, also he only appears once per game (like all other Pokémon just standing there).Now use an escape rope and save. Here you can catch: Seel, Dewgong, Slowpoke, Slowbro, Psyduck, Golduck, Horsea, Seadra, Krabby, Kingler, Zubat, Golbat, Shellder, Staryu

Viridian City 2

From Cinnabar Island Fly to Viridian City. Save and go to the gym. Squirtle and Bulbasaur will easily beat all Pokémon in here, Charmander should be substituted for a high level bird Pokémon (level 50 Fearow is a good choice) a high level Water or Grass Pokémon (In here either is good) If you have a high level dugtrio or other guy with dig I would use him against the posion type Pokémon. I won't reveal the gym leader for spoiler reasons but his/her Pokémon are: Dugtrio 42, Rhydon 50, Nidoking 45, Nidoqueen 43,and Rhyhorn 45. Beating him/her gives you the EARTH BADGE which makes all Pokémon obey. Now that you have all 8 badges, go to Pokémon league.

Pokémon League/Victory Road

You'll have to fight Gary along the way to Victory Road. He's hard but easy enough to beat. You have to bring a Pokémon with STRENGTH and one with SURF. Bring some Ultra Balls, Max Potions, Escape Ropes, and a few Full Heals. Now go through Victory Road and be careful (Moltres is in there but I cannot give directions).I can't give directions but here’s some tips: 1.If you see a boulder with somewhere to push it, Do it, 2.Try To avoid trainers because its hard enough without them, 3.Try to run from most battles, the enemies here are just too strong to fight them all. Once through victory road you'll be at Indigo Plateau.

The Elite 4

Now its time to beat the Elite 4,but you have to prepare first. Get LOTS of Full Restores (You'll need them more than anything). You don't need much else in items, a Pokeflute you should take too. Now, bring only your strongest Pokémon and
try to make sure they're over level 60.

Now first you must fight Lorili, her Pokémon are Dewgong, Cloyster, Slowbro, Jynx, and Lapras . Use a strong Electric type for the first 3 then use a fire type for the last 2.

The next person is Bruno, his Pokémon are Onix, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Onix, and Machamp. I'd suggest a water or grass Pokémon.

Agatha's next, her pokémon are Gengar, Golbat, Haunter, Arbok, and Gengar. I usually put them to sleep first and then attack.

The last one is Lance,his Pokémon are Gyarados, Dragonair, Dragonair Aerodactyl, and Dragonite. Start out with a strong electric type for Gyarados and then use a ice type.

Now for Gary

First he'll send out a Pidgeot, then Alakazam, then Rhydon, after that it vary's a little depending on who you chose as your starting Pokémon.

If you chose Squirtle he would have: Gyarados, Arcanine, and Venesaur

If you chose Bulbasaur he would have: Exeggutor, Gyarados, and Charizard

If you chose Charmander he would have: Arcanine, Exeggutor, and Blastoise

League Champ

Now that you're league champ you can get Pokémon #150, Mewtwo go to Cerulean City, and go north surf in the water downwards and then go into the cave, I won't tell you where to go it's pretty simple. The Pokémon in the Unknown Cave are: Dodrio, Venomoth, Kadabra, Rhydon, Marowak, Electrode, Chansey, Wigglytuff, Ditto, Parasect, Raichu, Arbok (Red), Sandslash (Blue). There is more stuff you can do, but this just tells you how to beat the game, you still need to get all 150, have fun!