Following Route 22 to the west will take you to the Pokémon League HQ Front Gate, through which you cannot pass with getting your first gym badge, but there are some Pokémon available for capture here.
Spearow and Fearow - Recommended Spearow is a Flying-type as aggressive as its animedebut. It has a strong Attack stat and high Speed. Its Defense is not poor either. It evolves into the long-beaked Fearow at level 20. Even if you don't plan to use a Spearow, I recommend catching one for an exclusive in-game trade later, which is helpful for completing your Pokédex.
Spearow, unlike Pidgey, learns Drill Peck. As I explained in the Pidgey review, Drill Peck is the most powerful and efficient Flying move in the game. Also, as an attacker, it makes even better use of Hyper Beam and Double-Edge than Pidgey does. Personally, there is another Flying-type that I recommend more than Spearow, but it is a very good choice.
Nidoran♀, Nidorina and Nidoqueen - Acceptable
Nidoran♀ is a defensivePoison-type. She can be hard to raise if you catch her now, but she evolves early and easily. She evolves into Nidorina at level 16, and again into Nidoqueen with the use of a Moon Stone. She gains a Groundsubtype as a Nidoqueen, and, with it, an immunity to Electricity. Her Defense is her highest stat, but none of her stats are bad. The moves she learns by leveling up are poor, but she can use a variety of TMs including Toxic. Her diversity is completed when she evolves into Nidoqueen and gains the all-powerful Earthquake.She is fairly outdone by her counterpart Nidoking, who learns better moves by level up and has higher attacking stats.
Nidoran♂, Nidorino and Nidoking - Recommended
Nidoran♂ is an offensive Poison-type. As he evolves, he is another Pokémon fully capable of beating the game all by himself. He evolves into Nidorino at level 16, and again into Nidoking with the use of a Moon Stone. Like his counterpart, he gains a Ground subtype as a Nidoking.
At level 8, he learns Horn Attack, which, with 65 base power, is a lesser, but earlier Hyper Fang. As a Nidorino, at level 50, he learns Horn Drill, which has a dismal 30% accuracy and only works if the opposing Pokémon is slower than he is, but if it hits, is will knock out the opponent's Pokémon in a single hit. Please note that when you evolve most Pokémon by evolution stone, they do not learn any more moves by level up.
Nidoking has great Attack and good Special, but is weak to competitive staples Earthquake, Blizzard and Psychic. On the other hand, he can use all of those moves and more, including Surf, Thunder, Body Slam and Rock Slide.
Red Version players can save time by catching two Nidoran♂s and trading one of them for a Nidoran♀ later in the game. The trade is available in Blue Version as well, but Nidoran♀ is more common anyway.
When you're done, go back to Viridian City and head north onto Route 2.
Now that your ability to get free stuff is no longer in jeopardy, I will go over the Pokémon Mart stock in Viridian City. You can buy:
Poké Balls - P200, I recommend stocking up on these, because many Pokémon can be caught in the next few areas.
Antidotes - P100, these will heal the Poisonstatus ailment; however, many of them can be found for free.
Burn Heal - P250, these will heal the Burn status ailment, but you will not encounter this ailment for quite some time, at which point better items will be available.
Parlyz Heal - P200, these will heal the Paralysis status ailment, but you won't encounter this for a while either.
After restocking, head back to Route 22 to catch some more Pokémon.
Now that you are equipped with Poké Balls, you can catch Pidgey and Rattata on this route. Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot - Acceptable Pidgey is a sturdyFlying-type. It has an advantage against the third gym; however, it does not learn a Flying-type move until level 31. If you're playing with a full team of six, this can be very late. Likely well past the third gym; however, it becomes all the sturdier when it evolves into Pidgeotto at level 18 and again into Pidgeot at level 36. As discussed on Route 22, it learns Sand-Attack very early at level 5. This makes the opponents moves much less likely to hit, which is such a handicap that similar moves have been banned from the competitive scene. It is also noteworthy that it gains STAB from Normal-type moves like Quick Attack, Take Down and Double-Edge. Like most Flying-types, it can also learn Fly, a two turn Flying-type move that can be had before the third gym. It can be outclassed by other Flying-types, including Spearow, who learn a move called Drill Peck, which is the most powerful single-turn Flying-type attack in this generation. Sky Attack is a two turn move with 140 base power, giving it an effective power of 70 per turn, although on the first turn it is completely vulnerable. Fly is a two turn move with 70 base power, on the first turn it can only be hit by Swift; however, it has an effective power of only 35 per turn. Drill Peck is 80 power, every turn, no strings attached, and Pidgey does not get it. To be fair, like most Normal-types, Hyper Beam can be devastating, and, in the first generation, it does not have to recharge if it defeats the opposing Pokémon. Pidgeot also gets the versatile Mirror Move (at the excessive level of 54, mind you) which reiterates the opponents last Water, Grass, Electric, Ice, Psychic or Dragon move.
Rattata and Raticate - Recommended Rattata and Raticate have not aged well, but in these games, they are very well rounded Pokémon. The Normal-type was bested only by the all-powerful Psychic type in generation 1. Rattata is a strong attacker and becomes more so when it evolves into Raticate at the early level of 20. Also, at the one badge level of 14, Rattata learns a move called Hyper Fang. With 80 base power, Hyper Fang can sweep through the beginning of the game. The other move that makes these Pokémon unique is Super Fang. Super Fang cuts the opponent's HP in half. This is powerful, because it disregards Attack and Defense entirely. This allows Raticate to devastate competitive staples like Starmie. Super Fang also almost guarantees getting double the value out of Hyper Beam by negating the recharge. Also, in a single player game, Raticate can get good use out of other essentials like Body Slam and Double-Edge.
After catching Pokémon, continue on to Viridian City again.
The first thing to do upon entering any town is to head to the Pokémon Center, where the nurse will heal your Pokémon for free. This restores their HP, PP and status. In the northeast corner of the Center is a PC. Not only can this one store items, but it can store Pokémon as well, up to 240 of them. If you have access to another Game Boy with Red or Blue Version and a link cable, you can battle or trade with them by talking to the attendant on the right. After finishing up at the Center. Head northeast to the Pokémon Mart. Upon entering, the clerk will identify you as being from Pallet Town, and give you Oak's Parcel, which you need to deliver to him. You can't buy anything until you do, so exit. One more thing you can do here is walk clockwise around the clump of trees in the northwest part of town. Examining the cuttable tree with A will yield a hidden Potion. Next, head back to Pallet Town.
Welcome to Route 1, the first place in the game where you can encounter wild Pokémon. They are as follows.
Pidgey
Normal/Flying
L2-5
50%
Rattata
Normal
L2-4
50%
If you talk to the first person you run into, you will learn that he is a Pokémon Mart employee and he will give you another free Potion. You can't catch Pokémon for now so continue heading north until you reach Viridian City.
Spearow is a Flying-type as aggressive as its anime debut. It has a strong Attack stat and high Speed. Its Defense is not poor either. It evolves into the long-beaked Fearow at level 20. Even if you don't plan to use a Spearow, I recommend catching one for an exclusive in-game trade later, which is helpful for completing your Pokédex.
Spearow, unlike Pidgey, learns Drill Peck. As I explained in the Pidgey review, Drill Peck is the most powerful and efficient Flying move in the game. Also, as an attacker, it makes even better use of Hyper Beam and Double-Edge than Pidgey does. Personally, there is another Flying-type that I recommend more than Spearow, but it is a very good choice.
Nidoran♀ is a defensive Poison-type. She can be hard to raise if you catch her now, but she evolves early and easily. She evolves into Nidorina at level 16, and again into Nidoqueen with the use of a Moon Stone. She gains a Ground subtype as a Nidoqueen, and, with it, an immunity to Electricity. Her Defense is her highest stat, but none of her stats are bad.
The moves she learns by leveling up are poor, but she can use a variety of TMs including Toxic. Her diversity is completed when she evolves into Nidoqueen and gains the all-powerful Earthquake.
She is fairly outdone by her counterpart Nidoking, who learns better moves by level up and has higher attacking stats.
Nidoran♂ is an offensive Poison-type. As he evolves, he is another Pokémon fully capable of beating the game all by himself. He evolves into Nidorino at level 16, and again into Nidoking with the use of a Moon Stone. Like his counterpart, he gains a Ground subtype as a Nidoking.
At level 8, he learns Horn Attack, which, with 65 base power, is a lesser, but earlier Hyper Fang. As a Nidorino, at level 50, he learns Horn Drill, which has a dismal 30% accuracy and only works if the opposing Pokémon is slower than he is, but if it hits, is will knock out the opponent's Pokémon in a single hit. Please note that when you evolve most Pokémon by evolution stone, they do not learn any more moves by level up.
Nidoking has great Attack and good Special, but is weak to competitive staples Earthquake, Blizzard and Psychic. On the other hand, he can use all of those moves and more, including Surf, Thunder, Body Slam and Rock Slide.
