Pokémon Red and Blue: Cerulean City

If you are playing on a Super Game Boy or Game Boy Color, then the first thing you will notice about Cerulean City is its eponymous blue color.

Starting right off, the man in the northwestern house will tell you the unique benefits of each of the region's gym badges. The BoulderBadge you already have increases your Pokémon's Attack by 10% and allows you to use the HM move Flash outside of battle. The next badge, the CascadeBadge, will allow the use of Cut outside of battle, and will make traded Pokémon obey your commands up to level 30, where they might otherwise refuse to attack, use the wrong move or go to sleep in battle. Go through the back door of this house and examine the area behind it to find a hidden Rare Candy.

The house next to the gym contains a man who wants to trade the only Jynx in the game for your Poliwhirl. Both of these Pokémon will be explained when Poliwhirl becomes available.

The southwest building is a steeply priced bike shop. You can never have more than P999,999, so the P1,000,000 bike is off limits to you for now.

The Pokémon Mart sells the following items:

• Poké Balls - P200, be sure to stock up.
• Potions - P300
• Antidotes - P100
• Awakenings - P250
• Burn Heals - P250
• Parlyz Heals - P200
• Repels - P350, these would have been most useful before the cave, because they prevent you from encountering Pokémon of a higher level than the one at the top of your party for 200 steps a can.

You have two options here. You can enter Cerulean's Gym Gym (which is really just a Gym) or you can head north onto Route 24. You can get as far as the next town without collecting Cerulean's Gym Badge, but you won't be able to advance to the third badge until you get this one.

Enter Cerulean Gym

Proceed to Route 24

Pokémon Red and Blue: Route 4 II

Route 4 is a short route connecting Mt. Moon with the next town in the game. There are a couple of gems to be found here.

On the small plateau east of the exit of the mountain, examine the empty space to find a hidden Great Ball, which is 1.5 times more likely to catch a Pokémon than a Poké Ball. Use this one wisely, because you cannot buy them in bulk for a while. If you're looking for a Clefairy, it can make the capture much less tedious, but be sure to lower its health first.

On the large plateau further east, you can find TM04 Whirlwind, which will allow you to flee from a wild Pokémon by blowing them away, but does absolutely nothing in trainer battles.

Note that when you jump down the ledge near the grass, you will not be able to return to Mt. Moon, Pewter City, or any past locations for a while. When you're satisfied with your perusing all of the locations so far, hop down the ledge and catch one new Pokémon, depending on the version you're playing.

	Rattata	Normal	L8-12	40%
	Spearow	Normal/Flying	L8-12	35%
	Ekans	Poison	L6-12	25%	0%
	Sandshrew	Ground	L6-12	0%	25%

Ekans and Arbok
Ekans specializes in Attack and Speed. It evolves into Arbok at level 22. It's stats are bad and it is weak to Psychic.
It's only potential is to train it for Speed in single player and use Wrap, but this is a time consuming strategy and it is outclassed by other Pokémon in every aspect.

Sandshrew and Sandslash

Sandshrew has decent Defense for an unevolved Pokémon, which makes it a good companion for beginning Blue players. Parallel to Ekans, it evolves at level 22, into Sandslash. It's Defense increases to a decent level for an evolved Pokémon and its Attack is okay.

Competitively, Sandslash is outclassed by the staples, Golem and Rhydon. Anecdotally, however, it can defeat them both. It makes good use of Swords Dance and Earthquake and has access to Hyper Beam, Rock Slide, Body Slam and Substitute. Swords Dance gives it an edge against its biggest counter, Exeggutor.

As its Attack stat is not great, Swords Dance and lucky Body Slams are required for its competitive use.

When you're satisfied with your perusing all of the locations so far, head east into Cerulean City.

Advance to Cerulean City

Pokémon Red and Blue: Mt. Moon

Welcome to Mt. Moon, a three story cave crawling with bats and filled with items.

Unique to caves is that you can encounter wild Pokémon at any time while walking. Specifically, these wild Pokémon.

		1F (entrance floor)		B1F (below, one floor)		B2F (below, two floors)
	Zubat	L6-11	79%	L7-11	60%	L9-12	49%
	Geodude	L8-10	15%	L7-9	26%	L9-10	30%
	Paras	L8	5%	L10	10%	L10-12	15%
	Clefairy	L8	1%	L9	4%	L10-12	6%

Zubat and Golbat - Not Recommended

Zubat is a Poison/Flying-type. It is rampant in most caves throughout the Pokémon series. All of its stats are poor. It evolves into Golbat at level 22. All of its stats become almost decent, with its Speed matching that of the fearsome Magikarp, 90.

Golbat does not have the speed to outrun its weaknesses to Ice, Electric and especially Psychic. Like Beedrill, Golbat is a potential finisher, when the opponent is on their last Pokémon and hindered by a status ailment. Like all Flying-types, it can always be used to dodge an Earthquake.

Zubat and Golbat's balanced stats suggest potential to evolve into something great. Unfortunately, that potential is not realized in this game.

Geodude, Graveler and Golem - Recommended

Geodude is a defensive Rock and Ground-type. It has glaring weaknesses to Grass, Water and Ice. When it evolves into Graveler at level 25, its Defense skyrockets, its Attack becomes almost usable and its other stats continue to be poor.

Like most Ground-types in this game, it is saved by its access to a boosted Earthquake, and it's ability to resist Normal-types. Graveler is unique compared to what we've seen so far in the way that it evolves again. Graveler evolves when you trade it to another game. If you don't have access to another game, then don't catch a Geodude. If you do, then allow me to explain Golem.

Golem has excellent Defense and good Attack. Despite its lackluster other stats, it is a competitive staple in RBY. This is because it resists Normal-types and has access to Earthquake, Body Slam, Rock Slide and Explosion. Explosion results in the demise of the user; however, it is the most powerful move in the game with a blazing 170 base power. Many competitive players prefer a certain Ground/Rock-type over this, however.

Paras and Parasect - Not Recommended

When Paras evolves into Parasect at level 24, its stats become bad. As a Paras, it's stats are dismal. Its attempt at a saving grace is the deceptively useful Spore, a 100% accurate sleeping move. The fatal flaw with this is that Parasect is slow, so it is likely to be knocked out or statused before it gets the chance to use Spore.

There is one reason Parasect might be useful. It learns the HM move, Cut. If you have other plans for that, don't go for it.

Clefairy and Clefable - Not Recommended

Clefairy is a balanced version of Jigglypuff. Like Jigglypuff it evolves into Clefable with the use of a Moon Stone.

While they both derive STAB from Hyper Beam, Body Slam and other essential moves, Jigglypuff has the advantage of having a pile of HP, while Clefairy isn't especially good at anything.

The cave is entered from the south. Make your way to point A and collect TM12 Water Gun, the basic Water attack. This can come in handy later if you bought Magikarp from the Pokémon Center outside. Head up to point B for another free Potion.

Trainer 1 is a Bug Catcher who uses a Weedle and Kakuna at level 11. Trainer 2 is a Lass who uses a single Clefairy at level 14, which knows Sing, which can put you to sleep. Also, it gains STAB from Pound, which can be a problem if you are underleveled.

Follow the path to the northeast and you will come to a ladder. This ladder takes you to B1F. Then, follow the path and take a second ladder to B2F.

You come out in the small room containing trainer 3 and item C. Trainer 3 is a member of the villainous Team Rocket. He uses a Sandshrew, Rattata and Zubat, at level 11. Be wary of Sandshrew's Sand-Attack and Zubat's Supersonic, which can confuse your Pokémon. This will give a Pokémon a 50% chance of attacking the opponent and a 50% chance of attacking itself each turn.

Item C is an HP Up, which means that your Pokémon's HP will increase a tiny bit more with each level gained.

Reascend the ladders to 1F and head south to trainer 4. He is a Super Nerd, who uses a Magnemite and a Voltorb at level 11, both of which are Electric-types we have not yet seen. Voltorb knows a move called Screech, which will cut your current Pokémon's Defense in half.

Item D, nearby, is another Potion. Head east and you will find item E, a Rare Candy. Rare Candies are much better in this game then they are in future Pokémon games, because their downside can easily be made up.

Technical Stuff

Rare Candies raise your Pokémon's level by one; however, this means that you do not get the stat experience of fighting Pokémon. Stat exp. is analogous to modern EV's. The base stats of every Pokémon you fight are added to a counter for each of your stats that caps at 65536. Filling these counters will greatly increase your stats once you reach higher levels. Nowadays, the counters are on a different scale, peaking at 252 points in six stats, but with the limitation of only 510 points maximum between them. In this game, that limitation does not exist, and each Pokémon can have 65536 stat exp. in every stat. Even when your Pokémon reaches level 100, you can deposit it into the PC and withdraw it again to recalculate its stats. This is frequently called the box trick and allows your stats to increase at any time if more stat exp. has been collected and they are not already maxed out.

Head northwest to fight trainer 5, a Bug Catcher, who uses a Caterpie, Metapod and another Caterpie, at level 10. Head southeast again and northeast from there to reach item F, an Escape Rope. An Escape Rope is an item that can be used outside of battle to instantly return to the last Pokémon Center that you used or your house. This is useful in caves where wild Pokémon can finish off your Pokémon that are low on health and paralyzed, as your ability to run from battle is dictated by your active Pokémon's Speed, which is halved when it is paralyzed.

Follow the path north, and then head west to find trainer 6, a Lass, who uses an Oddish and Bellsprout, both at level 11. Oddish's only move is Absorb, which drains your Pokémon's HP and restores its own. Bellsprout only knows Vine Whip, the basic Grass-type attack, and Growth, which can increase Vine Whip's power. These can be problematic if you are using Squirtle or Geodude, and they resist Pikachu's Electric attacks, so other Pokémon or additional training may be needed.

Head west, then south, and descend the ladders to a different room in B2F. Trainer 7 is another Rocket, who uses a Zubat and Ekans at level 12. Zubat knows Supersonic and Ekans knows Wrap, so beware. Collect item G from the plateau. It is TM01 Mega Punch, a strong Normal-type move at this point in the game. Then, examine the rock in the east side of the room to find a hidden Ether, which will restore a move's PP by 10. If you haven't noticed, when a move runs out of PP, you can't use it until you heal your Pokémon at a Pokémon Center. An Ether allows you to solve this problem on the go.

Return to 1F and head southwest to battle trainer 8, a Youngster who uses two Rattata and a Zubat, at level 10. Go to the northwest corner of the floor to find a Moon Stone, which can be used to evolve Nidorina, Nidorino, Clefairy or Jigglypuff. Then, double back and fight trainer 9, a Hiker who uses two Geodude and an Onix, which crumble when faced with Water, Grass or Psychic-type moves. Descend the ladder above him, follow the path, and drop to B2F again.

Follow the path right, go down the stairs and, if you are prepared, fight trainer 10. This Rocket uses a single Raticate at level 16. This was revised in later games, because this Raticate is very strong. Its Hyper Fang can devastate even and evolved starter, so this would be a good battle for a Geodude.

Head northeast and follow the path all the way west to trainer 11, a Rocket who uses a Rattata and Zubat at level 13. Head north, then east in the narrow path. Examine the wall to collect a second Moon Stone. Go back and head north to fight trainer 12, a Super Nerd, who uses a Grimer, Voltorb and Koffing, at level 12. Koffing knows the Poison move Smog, which is extremely likely to poison your Pokémon.

After defeating the Super Nerd, you are given the choice between two items: the Helix Fossil and the Dome Fossil. Much, much later, you will be able to turn these items into Pokémon, but for now, just note that the Pokémon the Dome Fossil yields is more recommended.

Follow the path, north, west and south, then ascend the ladders to emerge onto Route 4.

Advance to Route 4