This is an old page - it still exists for archival purposes, but it hasn't been on the menu since 2005, possibly earlier. That means I wrote it as a young teenager and found it embarrassing or redundant enough to disown it even when I was fifteen. Thus, it is probably outdated, poorly or childishly written and presented, and otherwise of questionable quality, and I do not necessarily endorse any views and opinions expressed here today. If you've stumbled upon it, treat it accordingly.

Who am I? Where am I?? What is my purpose???

- Mewtwo, Pokémon the First Movie

Anyway, this section is to help you get started on a Pokémon RPG for the Gameboy series. That is, Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby or Sapphire. This is of course assuming that you've never played a Pokémon game before. In other words, if you're asking similar questions as Mewtwo, you either have amnesia or you should read this section.

Who am I?

Who you are? Well, no one knows except you at the moment. Put your game in the gameboy system, turn it on, and after the animation starting the game, press either A or Start. Doesn't matter, although the screen probably tells you to press Start. What a conspiracy.

When you've pressed A or Start, you should see a picture of a guy on the screen unless you're playing Crystal (in which case you will be asked whether you're a boy or a girl, just choose and then you'll get the guy), you're blind or if you're located in total darkness. If you're blind, then I don't know why you're even trying to play gameboy games. In fact, I don't understand how you're reading this section if you're blind, so I'll just assume that you're not. And if you're located in total darkness, I suggest that you move out of it or turn the light on (or if the darkness is everywhere and you can't turn the light on, just try saying "Let there be light" and hope it works). At least, when you finally have the picture of that guy, there will be some text under him and hopefully an arrow pointing down. Press A and the text will go on so you can read it. He will introduce himself as a professor with a last name that happens to be a type of tree, and say everyone calls him the Pokémon professor (although not a single person in the whole world calls him that). He will welcome you to the world of Pokémon, showing you what a Pokémon is, tell you that some people use Pokémon as pets, others for battles. If you're playing Ruby or Sapphire, you will now be asked whether you're a girl or a boy. Just a tip: choose the boy. The field sprite of the girl looks HORRIBLE. At least, now you should have a picture of a kid, and be asked for the name. Now it comes to answering the question: This is you. So choose a name. Not necessarily your real name, unless you really like your real name. Just use a name you like. If you're playing Red, Blue or Yellow, the professor will now give you a picture of his grandson, whose name he doesn't remember and asks you to help him out. And here's the nice part: You can get him to think his own grandson is named ANYTHING! You can call him by a swear word if you want. He is your rival, in the other games your rival will be introduced a little later. At least, when you're all set, you should see that you're shrinking... into almost nothing... and then you'll see the field, but you're nowhere to be seen.

Where am I??

No, wait. You ARE there. Just a smaller version of you that should be in the middle of the screen. If you still don't find yourself, you may need glasses, but otherwise, try pressing any end of the button that looks like a +. The thing that moves when you do that is you. And to where you actually are: You are in the Pokémon world. More accurately, if you're playing Red, Blue or Yellow, you are located in the middle of your room on the second floor of your house in Pallet town, Kanto. If you're playing Gold, Silver or Crystal, same, but in New bark town, Johto. If you're playing Ruby or Sapphire, you're in the moving truck, which is just arriving in front of your new house in Littleroot town, Hoenn, although there are no roads there at all. But now you may be asking yourself, "What the heck am I doing in that Pokémon world?" If you are, then it's time to answer the next question...

What is my purpose???

Well, in the Pokémon world live creatures called Pokémon. For more information on that, read the "What is Pokémon?" section. In the games, Pokémon happen to be very polite, staying in tall grass (almost as tall as you), caves or water, but when you dare come to that area, they will attack you in swarms. That also means you'll find different Pokémon wherever you look. It's easy to recognize the caves and water, but the tall grass is the grassy thing. Although you'll recognize the tall grass right away, as there will always be some blocking your way to the next town. You can walk through it, but it's almost guaranteed you'll find a Pokémon there (as long as you've gotten a starter Pokémon, which will always happen before you get the chance to walk around in the grass searching for Pokémon). When you find a Pokémon, the screen will flash while a special music plays, and then black will fill the screen in some way. Then you will see yourself from the back, facing a wild Pokémon. You will then be replaced by the first Pokémon you have, and you'll be given four choices: Fight; PKMN (Pokémon); Item, Pack or Bag; and Run.

Fight is used to make your Pokémon attack the enemy Pokémon with an attack it knows. The enemy Pokémon can attack you, too. If you select Fight (by pressing A when the arrow points at "Fight"), you will get four choices of attacks, but at the start, one, two or three of them might be just like that: -. That means this Pokémon doesn't have an attack in that slot, but might learn one to put there later. Pokémon can only have four attacks at a time. After that, older attacks have to be deleted. If you press A when the arrow points at an attack, your Pokémon will use that attack. As Pokémon battles are turn-based, not real-time, you can take your time selecting the attack.

If you select PKMN or Pokémon, you will see a list of the Pokémon you have with you. Those Pokémon can be up to six. When you catch Pokémon and you already have six Pokémon, the Pokémon you caught will be transferred to a box on your PC. If you select one of the Pokémon in your party and press A, you can select Switch (Shift), Stats (Summary) or Cancel.

Switch or Shift will take the Pokémon already battling for you back and sends the Pokémon you selected out instead. You will lose a turn if you do this.

Stats or Summary brings up a picture of the selected Pokémon and its current status. The green (or yellow, or red) meter displays the Pokémon's Hit points. When a Pokémon is attacked by a damaging attack, it will lose Hit points. If it runs out of Hit points, it faints, and can't be used in battle unless you heal it.

If you choose Item, Pack or Bag on the battle screen, you will get a list of your items. In Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby and Sapphire, there are several pockets in your pack that you can scroll through by pressing right or left. In Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby and Sapphire, there is a special ball pocket where Pokéballs are stored. In Red, Blue and Yellow, Pokéballs are just in the same place as other items. If you select an item that ends with "ball", you will throw the ball at the opposing Pokémon and attempt to catch it. The Pokémon will disappear into the ball, and then the ball will wobble. Usually, it wobbles three times before the Pokémon is caught, but if you're using a very strong ball on a very weak Pokémon, it might wobble two times or maybe only once, and in rare cases, it will wobble four times before the Pokémon is caught. Some Pokémon are harder to catch than others. High level Pokémon are harder to catch than low level ones. When the ball is wobbling, the Pokémon is trying to break out. If it breaks out, you will see a message like "Oh, no! The Pokémon broke free!" If you catch the Pokémon, you can give it a nickname if you want and then it will either join your party or, if there are already six Pokémon in your party, it will go to the PC. You can get it by going to a Pokémon center, turning on the PC and depositing one Pokémon and withdrawing the new one. When you have 20 Pokémon on your PC, you will have to change boxes if you're playing any game except Ruby and Sapphire, but when you change boxes, the game has to be saved. The 20 Pokémon you caught already will still be on the box they were originally transferred to. Other items you can use in battle are Potions and cures.

Run runs from the battle. Then, if your Pokémon is quick enough to run from the enemy Pokémon, you will see the message "Got away safely!". If not, you will see the message "Can't escape!" and your oppoment will attack.

Some attacks lower the enemy's or highten the user's Attack, Defense, Speed, Special attack or Special defense (In Red, Blue and Yellow, Special defense and Special attack are the same stat, called Special). Attack shows the power of this Pokémon's physical attacks. Defense shows how well this Pokémon defends against physical attacks. Special attack shows the power of this Pokémon's special attacks. Special defense shows how well this Pokémon defends against special attacks. (In Red, Blue and Yellow Special shows both.) Speed shows how quickly this Pokémon attacks. In battle, the Pokémon with the highest Speed attacks first. Some attacks, like Quick attack, allow the user to go first regardless of its Speed, though. As Pokémon fight other Pokémon, they gain experience, and as they gain experience, they gain levels, and when they gain levels, their stats improve.

On the Pokémon Status screen, you can also see its type or types. All Pokémon have one or two types that are the key to a Pokémon's strength. Attacks also have types. The Pokémon types are: Normal, Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Psychic, Bug, Rock, Ghost, Dragon, Dark and Steel, but Dark and Steel are not in Red, Blue and Yellow. Here, I will describe the types and their strenths and weaknesses. If type A has a weakness for type B, attacks of type B inflict double damage on Pokémon of type A. If type A has a resistance for type B, attacks of type B inflict half damage on Pokémon of type A. If type A is immune to type B, attacks of type B have no effect at all on Pokémon of type A. When a Pokémon has two types, type A and B, and one of them has a weakness for type C but the other has a resistance for type C, attacks of type C will inflict normal damage on the Pokémon. But if type A would be immune to type C, no matter what type B is, attacks of type C would ALWAYS have no effect on that Pokémon. Also, when a Pokémon uses an attack of its type, like if an elecrtic Pokémon uses an electric attack, the damage is multiplied by 1.5. Well, on with the types, here we go:

Normal is weak to Fighting, resistant to nothing, immune to Ghost, nothing is weak to Normal attacks, Rock and Steel are resistant to Normal attacks and Ghost is immune to Normal attacks. The Normal type is a physical type, so all Normal attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Fire is super effective on Bug, Steel, Grass and Ice and is not very effective on Fire, Water, Rock and Dragon. No type is immune to Fire. Water, Rock and Ground are super effective on Fire Pokémon and Fire, Grass, Bug, Ice and Steel are not very effective on them. The Fire type is a special type, so all Fire attacks are counted as special attacks.

Water is super effective on Fire, Rock and Ground, not very effective on Water, Dragon and Grass, its weaknesses are Grass and Electric, and Ice, Water, Fire and Steel attacks are not very effective on Water Pokémon. The Water type is a special type, so all Water attacks are counted as special attacks.

Electric is weak to nothing but Ground. Electric Pokémon resist Flying, Electric and Steel attacks but Electric, Grass and Dragon resist Electric attacks and Ground Pokémon are completely immune to them. The Electric type is a special type, so all Electric attacks are counted as special attacks.

Grass attacks are super effective on Water, Ground and Rock, but they are not very effective on Poison, Fire, Grass, Flying, Bug, Dragon and Steel. Grass Pokémon are weak to Fire, Bug, Poison, Flying and Ice, but they are resistant to Water, Electric, Grass and Ground. The Grass type is a special type, so all Grass attacks are counted as special attacks.

Ice is weak to Fire, Fighting, Rock and Steel and resistant to Ice. Water, Ice and Steel resist Ice attacks and Ice is super effective on Flying, Grass, Ground and Dragon. Ice is a special type so all Ice attacks are counted as special attacks.

Fighting is super effective on Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark and Steel, but it is not very effective on Flying, Bug, Poison and Psychic and does no damage on Ghost. Fighting Pokémon resist Dark, Rock and Bug, but are weak to Flying and Psychic. Fighting is a physical type, so all fighting attacks count as physical attacks.

Poison is one of few types that don't have the same strengths and weaknesses in Red, Blue and Yellow as in the other games. In R/B/Y, Poison is weak to Bug, Psychic and Ground, resists Grass, Fighting and Poison, is super effective on Bug and Grass, and not very effective on Poison, Ground, Rock and Ghost. In the other ones, Poison is super effective on Grass, not very effective on Poison, Ground and Rock, Steel is immune to it, Ground and Psychic are super effective on it and it is resistant to Bug, Poison, Grass and Fighting. Poison is a physical type, so all Poison attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Ground is super effective on Electric, Poison, Rock, Fire and Steel and is immune to Electric and resistant to Rock and Poison. It is not very effective on Grass and Bug and does not damage at all on Flying. Ice, Grass and Water are super effective on Ground. Ground is a physical type, so all Ground attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Flying is immune to Ground and resists Fighting, Bug and Grass, but it's weak to Electric, Rock and Ice and it's not very effective on Rock, Electric and Steel. Flying attacks are super effective on Fighting, Bug and Grass. Flying is a physical type, so all Flying attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Psychic is in Red, Blue and Yellow weak to Bug, resistant to Fighting and Psychic, immune to Ghost, super effective on Fighting and Poison, and , resists Fighting and Psychic, is super effective on Fighting and Poison, and is not very effective on Psychic. In the later games, it is weak to Bug, Ghost and Dark, resistant to Fighting and Psychic, super effective on Fighting and Poison,not very effective on Steel and Psychic, but does no damage on Dark. Psychic is a special type, so all psychic attacks are counted as special attacks.

Bug has changed since Red, Blue and Yellow. In Red, Blue and Yellow, it is both weak to and super effective on Poison, but neither in the later games. Its other weaknesses are Fire, Rock and Flying. It's also super effective on Psychic, Dark and Grass. It resists Ground, Fighting and Grass, and Fire, Fighting, Flying, Ghost and Steel resist it. Bug is a physical type, so all Bug attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Rock is weak to Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground and Steel. It resists Normal, Fire, Poison and Flying. It is super effective on Flying, Bug, Fire and Ice and not very effective on Fighting, Ground and Steel. Rock is a physical type, so all Rock attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Ghost is weak to Ghost and Dark and it's the only type with two immunities, Fighting and Normal. Ghost Pokémon resist Bug and Poison, Ghost attacks are super effective on Ghost and in G/S/C also Psychic and not very effective on Dark and Steel. Normal is immune to Ghost and in R/B/Y, Psychic was too. Ghost is a physical type for some reason, so all Ghost attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Dragon is only super effective on Dragon, but it's also only weak to Dragon and Ice. Dragon is only not very effective on Steel. Dragon resists Fire, Water, Electric and Grass. Dragon is a special type, so all Dragon attacks are counted as special attacks.

Dark is weak to Bug and Fighting, immune to Psychic, resistant to Ghost and Dark, super effective on Psychic and Ghost and not very effective on Dark, Steel and Fighting. Dark is a special type for some really, REALLY strange reason, so all Dark attacks are counted as special attacks.

Steel is resistant to Normal, Grass, Ice, Flying, Rock, Ghost, Dragon, Dark and Steel, it is immune to Poison, weak to Fire, Ground and Fighting, super effective on Rock and Ice and not very effective on Electric, Fire, Water and Steel. Steel is a physical type, so all Steel attacks are counted as physical attacks.

Also, some attacks inflict Status changes. The "visible" status changes are shown on the battle screen and Status screen, on the battle screen as three letters where the Pokémon's level would usually be, and on the Status screen as three letters where it says "Status/OK" normally, that is, if the three letters were ABC, it would say "Status/ABC". The "visible" status changes are Paralysis (PAR) Poison (PSN), Sleep (SLP), Freeze (FRZ) and Burn (BRN).

Paralysis is cured with a Paralys heal. A paralyzed Pokémon's Speed is lowered, and it has a 30% chance to be "fully paralyzed" when it attacks and then it doesn't make a move. Examples of moves that paralyze Pokémon are Thunder wave and Stun spore. Also, Pokémon might be paralyzed randomly when hit by electric attacks or Body slam.

Poison is cured with an Antidote. A poisoned Pokémon will lose 1/16 of its maximum Hit points every turn. Out of battle, poisoned Pokémon lose 1 Hit point for each three steps you take. Also, the move Toxic makes your Pokémon a little differently poisoned. The first turn, it will lose 1/16 of its Hit points as normal. But the next turn, it will lose 1/8, the next 1/4, and so on. Examples of moves that poison Pokémon are Poisonpowder and Poison gas. Also, Pokémon might be Poisoned randomly when hit by Poison attacks.

Sleep is cured with an Awakening. A sleeping Pokémon can't make a move. Sleep lasts for a random number of turns. Examples of moves that put Pokémon to sleep are Sleep powder and Hypnosis. Also, when Rest is used, the user will fall asleep for two turns, but recover completely.

Freeze is cured with an Ice heal. Frozen Pokémon can't move. This is the best status change to my opinion (best if your oppoment is frozen, I mean) and in Red, Blue and Yellow, I don't think it wore off at all, but in the other games, it wears off in a random number of turns like Sleep, I think, except when Rain dance is in effect. If Fire attacks are used on a frozen Pokémon, it will thaw out. There are also two moves Pokémon can use to thaw themselves out, Flame wheel and Sacred fire. Also, when Sunny day is in effect, Pokémon can't become frozen, it seems (at least by all my attempts to freeze Ho-oh while Sunny day was in effect). Freeze can only be inflicted as a 10% side effect with Ice attacks, like Blizzard and Ice beam.

Burn is cured with a Burn heal. A burned Pokémon's Attack and Speed is lowered and it also inflicts 1/16 of maximum Hit points of damage each turn, like poison. Out of battle, however, it will not lose any Hit points. I think it's the second best Status change, but it can only be inflicted with the move Will-o-wisp, which is only in Ruby and Sapphire, and as a 10% side effect of Fire attacks, except it's 50% when using the attack Sacred fire.

The "invisible" status changes are not shown anywhere. They all wear off when Pokémon are switched or the battle is exited. They are Confusion, Seeding, Attraction and Flinch.

Confusion causes a Pokémon to have a 50% chance to attack itself instead of its opponent. Confusion is a very useful status change and can be inflicted randomly when Confusion and Psybeam are used. Also, it can be inflicted as the only effect of the attacks Sweet kiss, Confuse ray and Supersonic. There is also Swagger that also raises Attack of the enemy along with confusing it. That causes it to to double confusion damage, but its physical attacks will also be twice as powerful. Confusion can be cured with a Bitter berry (G/S/C item) or a Yellow flute (R/S item), but otherwise it wears off in 2-5 turns.

Seeding can only be caused by the attack Leech seed. When seeded, a Pokémon will lose 1/16 of its Hit points per turn and give half of them to the oppoment. To get rid of Seeding, Rapid spin can be used. Also it will stop when the seeded Pokémon is switched, but not when the Pokémon that used Leech seed is switched.

Attraction doesn't exist in Red, Blue and Yellow. Pokémon can only become attracted when a Pokémon of the opposite gender uses Attract, which is not in Red, Blue and Yellow, or in the Advance games, when a Pokémon of the opposite gender that has the Cute Charm ability is struck by a direct contact attack. Attracted Pokémon have a 50% change of not attacking. Attraction only wears off if either Pokémon is switched.

Flinch is a side effect of many moves, such as Rock slide, Bite and Headbutt. Flinch can only be inflicted when striking first. When flinched, a Pokémon can't attack. It lasts only for one turn, but switch can't get rid of it as you will already have selected your attack when your Pokémon flinches. Confusion, Paralysis, Attraction and Flinch work great together, reducing the enemy's chance of attacking to almost nothing.

Now, we have only been talking about Wild Pokémon battles, but when you walk past a Pokémon trainer that notices you, you will be forced into a trainer battle. Trainer battles work just the same, except that you can't catch another trainer's Pokémon, the music is different, the trainer can have many Pokémon just like you, some attacks work differently or don't work at all in trainer battles, and you get money for beating trainers. In G/S/C, you can get phone numbers from some trainers. Also, some trainers don't challenge you until you talk to them, like Gym leaders.

In all towns in the Pokémon world except your home town is a Pokémon center and a Pokémon mart. Pokémon centers are the houses with the "pok" beside the door. Pokémon marts are the houses with the "Mart" beside the door. In one town, there's always a Department store which sells almost everything that can be bought. Pokémon gyms are also in eight towns. Gyms are the buildings with "Gym" written on them (surprise, surprise). In the gyms, you can test your skills against junior trainers, then battle the Gym leader, a strong trainer that focuses in some cerain Pokémon type. After the battle, the Gym leader will give you a badge and a TM.

TM stands for Technical Machine or Technique machine. Each TM contains an attack that can be taught to certain Pokémon. For example, TM 26 in all the games is Earthquake. Earthquake is a strong Ground attack. You can either select "Use" or "Quit" when you select a TM. If you select "Use", you will get a list of your Pokémon, each with either "Able" or "Not able" written beside it. If a Pokémon is "Able", you can select it and the game will either say it learned Earthquake or ask which move should be forgotten, if it already knows four moves. Then you will no longer have the TM, because you already used it. There are also HMs (Hidden machines) that work just the same except that you can use the same HM as often as you like, and that out of battle, you can use the HMs in special situations, like one is Surf and if you face some water, you can use Surf to swim in the water. Some TMs can also be used out of battle. To use TMs and HMs out of battle, press Start, select Pokémon, then select the Pokémon with the TM or HM, and in addition to Stats, Switch and Cancel, you will have all out-of-battle TMs and HMs this Pokémon has as choices. Or, in the newer games, just "talk to" the thing you have to face to use the TM or HM. Like, if you press A when facing water, the game will automatically ask you if you want to Surf - if you have a Pokémon with Surf.

Now, who are Gym leaders? Time to go on to your purpose, finally... In the Pokémon games, you play as a Pokémon trainer who wants to be a Pokémon master. To be a Pokémon master, you have to travel across the whole world, beating eight Gym leaders to gain access to the Pokémon League. In the Pokémon League, you fight the Elite four one by one without healing your Pokémon between, and finally, you face the Champion. After you beat the Champion, the credits roll and you will see a "The end" message. But the game is not over yet. In Red, Blue and Yellow, you now gain access to Cerulean cave, and deep inside it, Mewtwo is planning to take over the world... In Gold, Silver and Crystal, you can now go to Kanto by the S.S Aqua, to beat eight more gyms and get to Mount Silver to fight Ash Ketchum himself! And in Ruby and Sapphire, you can go to the Sky pillar, catch Rayquaza and win all the Pokémon contests.

After completing those goals, you still have to catch 'm all! Trade with your friends to get every single Pokémon in the world!

Hope you now won't start stealing other people's Pokémon to prove that your life is worth something...

Page last modified August 13 2016 at 02:34 UTC