Pokémon Blue Version: I Beat Up Animals For Money (And Items)

It took no time at all to reach Cerulean City. I think that might have been the shortest route so far. The Pokemart there carried repels thankfully, so I stocked up on those and on Pokeballs. Bikes costs a ridiculous amount of money, so I assume I’ll get one as a reward for something. And the gym leader here is Misty! Maybe my Squirtle will have to fight one of its own kind soon.

Is it actually possible to buy this?

Cerulean feels like the first town that is actually a decent size. There were a decent few houses with random people chilling inside. It looks like I will need to learn Cut before moving on. The gym had some easy water-type trainers inside. My Squirtle is resistant against water attacks, but he knows Mega-Punch so he did alright.

I liked Misty's description

Mist was easy too. Didn’t have to use any other Pokémon even. Her badge apparently lets me use Cut anywhere, so it seems like there aren’t any HMs in this game? Fine with me. I didn’t want to make a slave anyway. 

But when I went to the plant blocking my path, I couldn’t do anything with it. I missed a path northward though, so I headed that way first. After a massive amount of trainers, I finally found Bill’s house. Unfortunately I was not able to see his Pokémon collection, but he did give me a cruse ship ticket. 

Team Rocket is a bit more evil in this game

Back in town, I noticed that a cop no longer was blocking off one of the houses. Team Rocket had robbed the owners. I always thought that Team Rocket was a joke, but they are actually committing some serious crimes! They’re dumb though, and the perpetrator was still in their backyard. I beat him up and took the TM he stole and kept it for myself. Am I as bad as Team Rocket? Caught myself a Meowth soon after and left them at the daycare nearby. The above ground path to the next city is closed, so I had to use the Underground Path. Bit sketched because at the end of it, a lady said that people often loose stuff down there.

Vermilion City was packed full of stuff. An old man gave me a fishing rod and the slightly creepy Pokémon Fan Club leader gave me a bike voucher.

Game changer

Getting the bike was a huge step up. I was starting to get fed up with how slow Blue is at walking. I explored the Diglette Cave and caught one of them (thanks Reddit for suggesting I catch one ASAP!). Time to check out the S.S. Anne.

The exterior is much prettier than the interior

The S.S. Anne was a fairly tedious area. I generally play RPGs as a completionist; I enjoy talking to every NPC and fully exploring areas before moving on. For the sake of my sanity, I cannot do this here. Fighting ~20 trainers in one area just takes too much time. I rubbed an old man’s back for the Cut HM and found a Great Ball in the trash. I was wrong about there not being HMs in this game. I’m not sure what the point of unlocking the skill in the last gym was, given that I don’t believe I could have progressed this far without having beaten Misty. Now that I have Cut I can get into Vermilion’s gym.

The leaders name is Lt. Surge, but people call him the “Lightning American.” Further proof that Pokémon takes place in our own world!

Is this what Game Freak thinks Americans look like?

After beating Surge I started making my way towards Lavender Town, but Snorlax blocked my way. Apparently I gotta go through the Rock Tunnel to get there, so it looks like it’s time to backtrack. Rock Cave was too dark to see anything, so time for more backtracking to find out where I can get Flash.

I looked up what area Flash was in, and it didn’t take long to find it once I got there. I only have one Pokémon that was able to learn it though (thanks Dorwzee). Along the way my Wartortle evolved into Blastoise!

The Pokemon that will carry me for the rest of the game

Rock Tunnel was quick and easy with repels in hand. I don’t like areas with little Pokémon diversity, and there only seemed to be Zubats there. Lavender Town was only a few steps away from the cave exit. I can see why this town had creepy pastas written about it; the music was very strange and the Pokémon Tower is a bit morbid.

I understand now why there are so many creepypastas about this place

The Pokémon Tower requires a scope to see Pokémon in it, so I’m gonna come back once I find that. There wasn’t much south of town, so I went west and ended up in Celadon City. What a big town! There are actually skyscrapers, which isn’t something I expected to find for some reason. The department store was filled with unique stuff. I bought a bunch of lemonade in hopes that I can use it to open up the closed roads all around the game. There were some meta characters in Celadon that seem to be aware that they are in a video game.

Unexpected meta

There was a secret Team Rocket base inside the casino. The base had a rudimentary puzzle throughout it, which is a first for the game. There are tiles that move you in a specified direction. While not hard whatsoever, it was still nice to see the game try something like this. Giovanni, presumably one of the leaders of Team Rocket, was at the bottom of the dungeon. He left a Silph Scope for me, which means it’s time to go back to Lavender Town after I’m done with Celadon. 

Potential antagonist?

Celadon’s gym was the hardest so far. Grass type Pokémon are the most annoying type to fight, as they have binding and sleep attacks. It really draws the battles out. My Squirtle was at a type disadvantage, but he was still able to single-handedly take the leader down.

I like that gym leaders have unique portraits

The guard east of Celadon was happy to take a Lemonade in exchange for allowing me to go through. Right past them was Saffron City, which evidentiary is controlled by Team Rocket. The gym was the first place I noticed, so I knocked it out real quick. Instead of getting a badge, I got a Hitmonchan. There’s another gym next to it though, so I imagine I’ll be going there eventually.

That was all I could do in Saffron at the moment, so next I went back to the Pokémon Tower. This place is pretty sad for a kids game. The tower was being haunted by Cubone’s mother, but I bashed her to death so no more hauntings I guess.

What the hell is this thing?

The old man at the top gave me a flute to wake Pokémon up with, so I finally was able to get the Snorlax out of my way. After a pretty long trip, I got to Fuchsia City, though I’ll admit it took me an embarrassingly long time to find where the gym was (it’s tucked away amid the huge Safari Zone!) Finding the gym took longer than beating it, though Koga did put up more of a fight than anyone else so far.

That’ll be all for this post. I’ve gotten five of the eight badges, so I think I’m getting decently close to finishing the game. I’m hoping that it’ll only take one more post on here until I’m finished with the game. Looking forward to move on!

Time played so far: 10:46