Pete Karsanow's notes for
         POKéMON Red/Blue as played on the Nintendo GameBoy

1. You get the lowercase é character on a PC by holding down Alt and 
pressing 1 then 3 then 0 (or 0 then 2 then 3 then 3, can't leave off 
the leading 0), or just use the Character Map accessory of Windows. In 
HTML it's é or é. The uppercase É is Alt with 1 then 4 
then 4 (or 0 then 2 then 0 then 1), and in HTML it's É or 
É. The game itself uses the lowercase one exclusively, but the 
manual uses the uppercase one where appropriate. Apparently, the 
limitations of the game force it to use "POKéMON" all the time, but 
the manual uses Pokémon mostly and POKÉMON only in headings.

2. You can't trade with another player until you've gotten a POKéDEX 
and at least returned to Viridian City. But if you want to get all 3 
starting Pokémon, you can have somebody start up a new game on a 
second GameBoy, choose a different one at start, and then trade it to 
you for something useless. Do that a second time with the other one, 
and now you have all 3 (#1, 4, and 7). All it costs you it $400 for 2 
POKé balls to capture the two you trade away, and the second machine 
is used for a while to start 2 new games. NOTE: the second machine 
will lose any saved game! This worked on the no$gmb emulator, although 
it can only do the same cartridge (Red/Blue) twice, not Red on one 
machine and Blue on another.
To be nice to the owner of the second GameBoy, you can partially 
repeat the whole process so you have an extra two out of the three 
initial choices, and when they pick the third one for their final new 
game (yes, this means starting and playing 4 games for a while on the 
second machine and keeping the 5th game), you can trade those 2 back.
Here it is again, with Red & Blue to make it easier:
   a. Red starts game #1, picks Bulbasaur, plays up to the point where 
      trading is possible, and has 2 or 4 "spare" Pokémon.
   b. Blue starts game #1, picks Charmander, plays up to the point 
      where trading is possible, trades Charmander to Red for any 
      "spare".
   c. Blue starts game #2, picks Squirtle, plays up to the point 
      where trading is possible, trades Squirtle to Red for any 
      "spare".
   (could stop at this point with Red happy, but Blue is not)
   d. Blue starts game #3, picks Bulbasaur, plays up to the point 
      where trading is possible, trades Bulbasaur to Red for any 
      "spare". Red now has 2 Bulbasaurs.
   e. Blue starts game #4, picks Charmander, plays up to the point
      where trading is possible, trades Charmander to Red for any 
      "spare". Red now has 2 Charmanders as well.
   f. Blue starts game #5, picks Squirtle, plays up to the point 
      where trading is possible, and gets 2 "spare" Pokémon. Now 
      trade both spares for Red's second Bulbasaur and Charmander.
      Red and Blue now both have all 3 starting Pokémon!
   (substitute your preferred starting Pokémon as necessary. all that 
    matters is that you get all 3. if you want to try cloning Pokémon 
    by turning off machines in mid-trade to avoid starting the extra 
    3 games, it's at your own risk.)

3. Before you get too far in the game, i.e. start meeting trainers in 
the Viridian Forest, you'll wonder how you get more $ (P) in the game. 
The answer is by fighting other Pokémon trainers, selling extra items, 
fighting Gym bosses, and the Pay Day attack. Don't spend too much on 
Poké Balls early on, and don't bother with other items at all. You'll 
only need 5 or 6 Balls for a while, since there aren't too many 
different Pokémon in the early stages, and one of each is enough near 
the start of the game.

4. In the OPTION command on the main menu (POKéDEX, POKéMON, ITEM, 
NAME, SAVE, OPTION, EXIT) is the cryptic "BATTLE RULES" setting. The 
two choices are "SHIFT" and "SET". The default is "SET," where you 
keep the same Pokémon out, even when the opposing trainer loses, until 
you explicitly switch it. The more useful setting is "SHIFT," which 
lets you switch to another Pokémon after defeating one. This is 
actually after you know what the enemy's next Pokémon will be, so you 
can make an optimum selection to beat it quickly (or start running 
away). SHIFT is very useful for combat with trainers; the first battle 
is still against whatever you have in front, until you switch, but 
after that you can go against the enemy's weak points without wasting 
a round. Too bad you can't do this against random single encounters.
Anyway, I strongly suggest using the SHIFT setting. For a challenge, 
keep it on SET. Check this setting when you resume a saved game and 
are going to fight other trainers or bosses.

5. Do NOT use a Poké Ball on a trainer's Pokémon. It will be destroyed 
and you waste that turn. Too bad the warning in the game about this 
appears after you've already met a few trainers with Pokémon that you 
don't have, where you would be most tempted to try to grab one... 
[RTFM]

6. Poké Balls are gone when used, regardless if capture is successful 
or not. You don't get experience for a fight that results in a 
successful capture. So, don't waste time switching Pokémon during a 
"capture" combat as if you're trying to spread experience points 
around; just knock down the enemy's HP quickly.

7. As soon as you have more than 1 Pokémon in your hands (stable just 
doesn't sound right, considering you are supposed to wear the Poké 
Balls at your waist), you should start doing the cheeziest move in the 
game: put a weak Pokémon in the top position, so it starts off every 
new combat, and immediately switch (PkMn option) to your "real" 
Pokémon for the rest of the battle. This gives your weak one a share 
of the experience with no risk to itself. Unfortunately, this means 
that the Pokémon you choose to switch to suffers at least one attack 
before it can do anything. Use this trick to power up weak Pokémon 
until you get the "Exp. All" much later in the game.

8. Another cheezy move, which will save you money but drag out your 
game, is to run back to the nearest Poké Center (or Mommy) when you 
get the least bit worried about the next combat. When first entering 
a new area, don't go too far in, and get used to the Pokémon in the 
grass just inside. Fight the trainers one at a time if necessary - 
nobody says you can't be grossly unfair and face each one completely 
fresh.

9. Other than the top Pokémon slot, which starts every combat, it 
really doesn't matter which order you put your other Pokémon in. 
Even if one's HP goes to 0, and you are forced to switch to another, 
you are still allowed to choose the replacement.

10. Once you get 6 Pokémon in your hands, any new ones that you 
capture go immediately into "Someone's PC" (the name changes later to 
Bill's) at the Poké Center. You have to go to one to see or retrieve 
them. They are filed at the top of the default "box", so you have to 
Deposit one or more (to get to less than 6 out) to be able to 
Withdraw. Each box has a limit of 20.
If you have any "spare" Pokémon (second or more of a type, or one you 
captured just so you have it in the POKéDEX), I suggest you put all 
those Pokémon in one box, and leave the default at another so you can 
quickly find all your "new" Pokémon. Remember to heal up any new 
acquisitions before trying to use them in combat!
I use at least 3 boxes: #1 is low level extras to trade (read ahead 
in a walkthrough and stock up); #2 is the lower-side ones that need to 
go up 1 level to keep up; #3 is the upper-side ones that are at least 
the level you want all your usable Pokémon to be at. Add extra boxes 
for these roles once you get lots of Pokémon. Switch the #2 and #3 
boxes as you change the minimum level. Start using #4 and higher as 
you get more and more.

11. Before you go into the Viridian Forest (or after, your choice), I 
suggest you head west from Viridian, but take the north path. If you 
go the right way, you'll get to the Pokémon League building, which 
you can't enter without badges. You will fight Gary here much later, 
but the important part is the two patches of grass before you get to 
the Pokémon League building. You can find Rattata, Nidoran (female), 
Nidoran (male) and Spearow here! Spearow may be too tough until you 
build up your group - come back later if necessary. The Nidorans can 
only be found elsewhere in the Safari Zone, much later in the game 
than now. Most walkthroughs tend to ignore this area, since you can't 
go far in the Pokémon League building - you can pass one more guard 
each time you get a Badge from defeating a Gym Leader. Anyway, Route 
22 shouldn't be ignored!

12. Nidoran comes in both male and female versions. The actual display 
on the GameBoy shows a Greek male or female symbol, which doesn't 
have an ASCII character equivalent. I'll use "(m)" or "(f)" from now 
on for these. Actually, the male symbol shown by the game is modified 
from the "real" thing, but its close enough.

13. The Metapod and Kakuna are two of the more useless Pokémon in the 
game, and you can find them as early as the Viridian Forest. Rather 
than wasting a Poké Ball on one, you could raise the level on your 
Caterpie and Weedle to 7 - they will then evolve into (respectively) a 
Metapod or Kakuna unless you stop it. Because the "base" Metapod and 
Kakuna only know Harden, yet the Caterpie and Weedle have two useful 
moves, you'll save yourself the trouble of pushing a purely defensive 
Pokémon (the "base" Metapod and Kakuna) into lots of battles. See the 
discussion of evolution below.

14. Pokémon gain in their 5 statistics (HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, 
Special) when they go up a level. Abbreviate these to HP, ATK, DEF, 
SPD, and SPL or SPC. The amount is usually from 1 to 4 (highest I've 
seen so far is 4). These are based on the "effort points" of the 
Pokémon that you've been fighting, and the random hidden values for 
your particular Pokémon too. So ignore what you may have read from 
me earlier about these being completely random numbers...

15. The appeal of letting a Pokémon evolve is that the new form 
usually has better level gains, but the disadvantage is often that it 
also gets new moves at a higher level than the old form.
When a Pokémon evolves to a new form, its statistic values are 
REPLACED by those calculated for the new form at the new level, which 
MAY be lower than the previous values.
Moves known by the Pokémon before it evolves aren't forgotten, but any 
moves already known by the new form usually aren't gained either. For 
example, a Weedle evolves to Kakuna, and never learns Harden. Same 
thing for a Caterpie and Metapod.
However, when an Abra evolves into Kadabra, it learns Confusion! And 
when a Magikarp becomes Gyarados at level 20, it learns Bite!

16. Advice for defeating Brock (first Gym fight):
I hope you picked a Bulbasaur as your initial Pokémon. I have no idea 
what works otherwise. Anyway, at level 13 Bulbasaur learns the Vine 
Whip attack, which is super effective on Geodude and Onix - one hit 
will probably do it.
One thing other people forget to mention is that you get a large (for 
that time in the game) amount of money for defeating Brock, P 1386, 
in addition to the Boulder Badge and TM 34 (Bide).
For Misty, you get P 2079, the Cascade Badge and TM 11 (Water Gun).

17. Spend some time in Viridian Forest until you get a Pikachu. Not 
because they're so cute or the Pokémon mascot, but because they will 
literally rip through Pidgey, Spearow, and Zubat with one-hit-kills 
when as low as 6th level. You can easily raise your Pikachu to be 
your highest level Pokémon before you get through Route 3 and 
Mt. Moon.

18. If you're near the west (Route 3) entrance to Mt. Moon, you can 
see the exit to your right, and your Town Map thinks you're on Route 
4 already!

19. Most walkthroughs don't mention it, but on Level 3 of Mt. Moon, 
in the room where you find the TM01 on a small platform, press A at 
the solitary rock past the Rocket guy to get an Ether.

20. You get $595 for defeating your rival just north of Cerulean 
City. His 4 Pokémon include a Pidgeotto, Abra, Rattata and his 
starting one (Charmander, Bulbusaur or Squirtle).

21. You get the first (and worst) fishing pole, the Old Rod, in 
Vermilion City. All it can catch are Magikarp (#129). Those are found 
in the water in many places, starting with Vermilion City and Route 6 
(all at Level 5). Also Route 11, 24, 25 and the Cerulean City Gym. 
You can also fish in the statues at Lt. Surge's Gym!
Plus Routes 12, 13, 17 and 18?

22. Teleport (from Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam) can save you a lot of 
steps going back to heal. You have to actually do something (heal or 
use PC) in a Poké Center for Teleport to switch to it as your 
destination. Luckily, Teleport will still work outside battle, even if 
the Pokémon that has it has fainted. However, you have to be 
"outside" for it to work, which doesn't include inside buildings (even 
rooftops) or caves or tunnels.

23. Here's some advice on choosing/keeping moves when a Pokémon learns 
a new move when going up a level or evolving (sorted by level):
#012 Butterfree @ 16 Stun Spore   - replace String Shot
#012 Butterfree @ 17 Sleep Powder - replace Stun Spore
#069 Bellsprout @ 18 Sleep Powder - replace Growth
#015 Beedrill   @ 20 Twineedle    - replace Poison Sting
#012 Butterfree @ 21 Supersonice  - ignore
#029 Nidoran (m)@ 21 Focus Energy - forget Tackle
#032 Nidoran (f)@ 21 Tail Whip    - forget Scratch
#025 Pikachu    @ 25 Swift        - replace Growl
#001 Bulbasaur  @ 27 Razor Leaf   - replace Vine Whip
#065 Alakazam   @ 31 Recover      - forget Confusion
#025 Pikachu    @ 33 Agility      - ignore
#069 Bellsprout @ 21 Stun Spore   - forget Vine Whip
#001 Bulbasaur  @ 34 Growth       - ignore

24. The Official Nintendo Player's Guide for Pokémon has errors:
POISON POWDER is POISONPOWDER in the game, ...

25. There's a Hyper Potion in the bed of the room at the left end of 
the hallway in the basement of the S.S. Anne.

26. When you fight your rival on the S.S. Anne, he will have:
Pidgeotto @ level 19, Raticate @ 19, Kadabra @ 18, and the evolved 
version of his starting Pokémon at level 20. In my case that was 
Charmeleon (from Charmander). I think I saw him use a Potion once 
during the battles.

27. The Thunder Badge that you get from Lt. Surge will add 1 to the 
Speed (SPD) of all your Pokémon. Just so you don't go crazy, if you've 
been keeping careful records and suddenly they're all thrown off...

28. If one of your Pokémon is asleep (SLP), it will show up 
momentarily during combat as a black ball instead of the usual 
green/yellow. If it's in the front, you have to choose another one at 
the start of combat.
Fainted (FNT) Pokémon show up as a yellow ball with a black X through 
it. Again, if it's in the front, you have to choose another one at the 
start of combat.
A burned (BRN) or poisoned (PSN) Pokémon is shown as a black ball, but 
you can still start combat with it. It may lose HP during combat and 
while walking around, displayed as a flash on the screen.

29. There's an Escape Rope in the bush all by itself near the 
northeast corner of Route 11.

30. The nickname man in Lavender City will NOT change the nicknames 
of Pokémon traded to you. So you're stuck with DUX and MARCEL...

31. At Erika's Gym in Celadon City, the "CoolTrainer(f)" did 
withdrawal of Pokémon from battle, and used a Hyper Potion once. Even 
if you're using the "SET" setting, you don't get to change your 
Pokémon on a withdrawal.

32. Although the money isn't as important as it used to be, Erika 
gives you $2871 for defeating her. The other trainers nearby are 
worth up to about half that each. A Beedrill at level 20 is enough to 
take on most of them single-handed (Twineedle attack!).

33. While in Celadon City, go to the west exit. You'll be on part of 
Route 16. While you can't get past the Snorlax blocking the road, if 
you have Cut you can go north and sort of around it. There's grass 
nearby with Raticate - the toughest capture I had so far! - and Doduo. 
And through the building, you can find a house where you're given HM2 
(Fly). You can use it outside of combat if you beat Lt. Surge. For 
some reason, the 2 guide books that I bought ignore the possibility of 
Route 16 until long after Celadon City.

34. While trying to reconcile some errors in the published versions of 
the "battle chart" (which Pokémon types have an advantage over other 
types), I found some "cycles". These are like "rock-paper-scissors." 
One of them is pointed out in the manual:
Fire > Grass > Water (> Fire).
Here are several others ("return to the beginning" is assumed):
Ice > Rock (yes, > Ice)
Bug > Psychic > Poison
Fighting > Ice > Flying
Grass > Rock > Bug
Grass > Rock > Flying
Grass > Rock > Fire
Grass > Rock > Ice
Ground > Rock > Ice
Ground > Fire > Ice
Ground > Fire > Grass
Ground > Poison > Grass
Ground > Electric > Water



#. The second fishing pole, the Good Rod, is from a man in Fuchsia 
City. It adds the Goldeen (#118) and Poliwag (#60) to your possible 
catches. You should now go fishing at Pallet Town, Viridian City, 
Route 22, Cerulean City, Cerulean City Gym, Routes 4, 24, 25, 19, 20, 
and 21, Cinnibar Island, Seafoam Island and Fuchsia City, in addition 
to the locations listed for the Old Rod.

#. The best fishing pole, the Super Rod, is from a man in a building 
on Route 12. This lets all possible POKéMON be caught, which adds 
Tentacool, Psyduck, Krabby, Shellder, Slowpoke, Dratini, Poliwhirl, 
Staryu, Horsea, Seaking and Kingler to the list. Only the 
Secret/Unknown/Champion's Dungeon as an additional location though.

#. Can you go fishing at Route 9? Route 7?, Silph Co. Level 1?, Route 
14?, outside the Power Plant?


Pete Karsanow - p.karsanow[AT}sbcglobal{DOT)net
http://www.geocities.com/hentaihelper/p_rpgame.htm