Pallet Town

Wake up by the shoreline

Pallet Town's sign promises that "shades of your journey await," and the town keeps that promise by being almost too quiet. Your house sits on the west side, your rival's house faces it from across the path, Oak's Lab waits below, and the water to the south hints at a return trip long before you can make it.

Start upstairs before the adventure pulls you outside. The TV is playing a movie about boys walking along railroad tracks, and the PC in your room has a Potion waiting. Take it now; Kanto will ask you to fight before it gives you many other comforts.

• Withdraw the Potion before you leave home.
• Talk to Mom downstairs. Before you have a Pokémon, she points you toward Professor Oak.
• After you have a Pokémon, Mom heals your whole party whenever you come home.

Let Oak pull you from the grass

Walk north toward Route 1 and Oak rushes in before you reach the grass. Wild Pokémon live beyond town, so he brings you back to Oak's Lab and lets you choose Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle.

Your rival is already waiting in the lab, impatient and loud. He takes another starter after you choose, then challenges you before either of you has seen the world outside town.

• Face the first rival battle in Oak's Lab: Rival.
• Talk to Oak afterward if you want his reminder that your Pokémon can fight wild Pokémon for protection.
• The two Pokédexes on Oak's desk matter after the Viridian errand.

Carry Oak's Parcel home

The first real walk out of Pallet is the north road through Route 1 to Viridian City. When you enter the Viridian Mart, the clerk recognizes that you came from Pallet and gives you Oak's Parcel. Bring it home to Oak's Lab instead of wandering too far.

Oak thanks you for the custom Poké Ball, gives both you and your rival the Pokédex, and hands you 5 Poké Balls so catching can begin. Your rival runs off boasting that his sister has a map, which is your cue to visit the house across from yours.

• Visit Blue's House after receiving the Pokédex.
• Daisy gives you the Town Map if your bag has room.
• Once you have Poké Balls, Route 1 becomes your first catching road instead of just the path to Viridian.

Read the town before you leave

Take a lap while Pallet is still small enough to hold in your head. The girl outside is raising Pokémon too, the fisher praises PC storage, and the signs mark your house, your rival's house, the lab, and the town's famous promise. There are no wild encounters in the town grass itself; the danger starts when you step north.

• Use home as your first free healing stop.
• Use Oak's Lab for the starter choice, the rival battle, the parcel return, the Pokédex, and later progress checks.
• Use Blue's House for Daisy and the Town Map.

Return with the sea open

Pallet looks like a beginning, but it also becomes a quiet way back into southern Kanto. Once you can travel by water, Route 21 carries you south toward Cinnabar Island. If you fish from Pallet with the Super Rod, the shore can bring up level 15 Tentacool and Poliwag.

• Come home for Mom's healing whenever the route back is convenient.
• Return later if you want the Route 21 sea road.
• Fish the hometown water with the Super Rod if you want Pallet's own late-game encounters.