1.02 | En Route to Mr. Pokemon (ft. BERRY)

11/10/2024, 03:40 PM

as always, there's a guy ready to give you a potion the first he gets. he even admits that he and Elm are the only ones working at the lab...

heading out west, we arrive at our first route...

Route 29!

yeahhhh... 29, huh? that always bugged me as a kid. i got started with pokemon with this game and Ruby, and i never got why the first route wasn't just called... Route 1. now i know that Route 29 is a continuation of Kanto's routes, and route 101 is a clever way of "restarting" the route count, but back then i didn't have the cognitive skills to think "oh, this must be because it's a follow up to another region's route numbers, because the two are connected!" anyways, side tangent aside, this is our first introduction to tall grass. a staple in the series, this is how we meet new Pokemon. i'll get into the Pokemon in this area once we get the ability to catch them, but for now let's just move along.

our little man Jano starts out with two moves, as most starters (from this era...) do. tackle is notable for not being 100% accurate in this generation, instead only being 95%. growl is just as basic, lowers an opponent's attack by one stage.

heeeey, it's BERRY! good to see ya, pal! jokes aside, there's a tree at the end of route 29 that has a free berry in it. as stated before, gen 2 introduced a lot of big features into Pokemon, and a realtime clock was one of them. berries you get from trees regrow every day, so they are a renewable resource.

and with that, route 29 is already done with. really short and sweet route, only got one encounter on the way. now we're in Cherrygrove City, a similarly small town. something a lot of people don't know is that this old guy right here gives you a pretty neat item if you talk to him.

he'll lead you around town, explain a couple of things (hey, that's my job!) and then give you the town map! in this game, instead of being a separate item, it's a program in your PokeGear. i really like the implication that all of the PokeGear programs come on specific cards, i'm imagining the PokeGear as being a modular device that has a set number of card slots for programs that you can swap out whenever you like... ahhh, technology is incredible. also, fun fact, this guy is officially named the Guide Gent, which is funny. also he specifically tells you about the sea to the west of town, even though later when you're able to swim in it, you find out it is very clearly a lake. weird.

i'm sure you know what a Pokemon Center is, but just in case you don't, here's a rundown. you can heal your Pokemon for free, deposit or withdrawl Pokemon (or items) in the PC, and there's all sorts of multiplayer fun going on on the second floor. we'll go more in depth with those last two later, so for now let's head north to...

Route 30!

if you know what's coming up, hold your horses because you're wrong, that doesn't happen until we're done with our business with Mr. Pokemon. speaking of that guy, he's at the top of this route, and we gotta trek all the way up to his house.

there's another berry next to this house here, though i'm sure you'd have figured that out already. however, what most people don't know is that if you go into the house, there's a guy in there who gives you another one for free! pretty cool stuff. if i recall, they changed this in the remake so the guy gives you an Apricorn case instead. not only that, but all the berry trees become Apricorn trees. we'll get to explaining Apricorns in the future, but for now we won't see them for a while.

if you try to head left, you'll see these two guys duking it out. bud, that's a WEIRD looking Ratatta. what are you feeding that thing to make it look like a Rhydon? and can i have some? Jano's gonna need all the help he can get...

...i'm kidding, of course. Jano, i love you just the way you are, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. one thing i find interesting about these NPCs in particular is that talking to them makes the battle theme play, just so you know they're really in a battle. just thought that was neat.

on my way to Mr. Pokemon's house, Jano got his first level up! good for him. you've found your way to this niche corner of the internet, so i trust that you know how levels work in RPGs. if you don't, then i think it's funnier if i don't explain it and leave you in the dark.

you know, i really should be focused on the big pink house that has the sign outside saying "MR. POKEMON'S HOUSE", but i really just can't act natural when there's a PSNCUREBERRY ripe for the picking.

immediately upon heading inside, we're greeted by Mr. Pokemon himself. you know, i was expecting something more interesting for a guy named "Mr. Pokemon" than some chump with a hat and a mustache. he gives us the excellently named MYSTERY EGG, and tells us that we gotta take it to Elm. then some guy named Oak or whatever gives us some random doohickey, i dunno. for real though, completing the Pokedex has always been my personal white whale. i've never had the patience to do it. i got really close in Leaf Green, but gave up once i realized there was no one i knew in person in 2018 who had Fire Red to trade the exclusives to me with. i've also come close in Crystal Clear, but once i caught everything, the last thing left to do was get all the evolutions by levelling up pokemon, and that just sounded so booooooring. they always tell you "gotta catch 'em all!" but never "gotta grind to evolve 'em all!" because (a.) that's not as catchy and (2.) that sounds fun to exactly zero people. someday i'll complete the Pokedex... but not this time.

as soon as we walk outside, we're called by the man himself. Elm tells us that "it's a disaster!" and then refuses to elaborate. sounds dangerous, and fun! let's go check it out!