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: Route 3

Due to the amount of trainers on this route, they have been numbered for easy reference.

Trainer 1 is a Lass who uses two Pidgey at level 9.

Trainer 2 is a Bug Catcher who uses a Caterpie, a Weedle and another Caterpie, at level 10.

Trainer 3 is a Youngster, who uses a Rattata and an Ekans. Ekans knows a move called Wrap. Wrap exhibits another broken feature of this game. Wrap lasts for two to five turns and prevents you from attacking therebetween. This is called a trapping move. If one Pokémon is faster than the Pokémon it is facing and uses a 100% accurate trapping move. The enemy Pokémon will not be able to attack until the Pokémon runs out of PP for the move. Your Pokémon are probably faster than Ekans, though, so this is little to worry about.

Trainer 4 is a Bug Catcher, who uses a Weedle, Kakuna, Caterpie and Metapod, at level 9.

Trainer 5 is a Youngster who uses a single Spearow at level 14. This is a job for Pikachu's advantageous Electric moves, or for Pidgey or Squirtle's bulk.

Trainer 6 is a Lass, who uses a Rattata and a Nidoran♂, at level 10.

Trainer 7 is a Bug Catcher, who uses a Caterpie and a Metapod, at level 11.

Trainer 8 is a Lass, who uses a single Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff knows a move called Sing. This move, while inaccurate, can put you to sleep for one to seven turns. Jigglypuff's Pound attack probably isn't powerful enough to take you out in your sleep, but beware.

There is one new Pokémon to catch on this route.

	Pidgey	Normal/Flying	L6-8	45%
	Spearow	Normal/Flying	L5-8	45%
	Jigglypuff	Normal	L3-7	10%

Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff - Acceptable

Jigglypuff has crap defenses, but a pile of HP. It's HP is the sixth highest of all Pokémon in the game, as an unevolved Pokémon. It is a pure Normal-type, and it's movepool encompasses the versatility that comes from being a Normal-type.

It evolves into Wigglytuff with the use of an item called a Moon Stone, which will be available very soon. Wigglytuff's HP is the third highest of all Pokémon in the game.

Competitive experts recommend another Normal-type better, but Wigglytuff is a little more resilient, and can reciprocate its opponent's attacks with Counter. In a single player game, it makes a good shield for beginning players to have.

That's all there is to do on this route, so when you're done, head north onto Route 4.

Advance to Route 4