Great Game Stories, No. 7: A Trainer's Journey Across Kanto (Pokemon)

The Characters

Our hero is a quiet young trainer from the sleepy little village of Pallet Town, setting out on the very first morning of a very large life. Their guide is the kindly and famously forgetful Professor Oak, the region’s great scholar of these pocket monsters, who dreams of a book that records every last one of them. He is the one who sets the whole journey in motion in Pokemon Red, and in its sister tales the Green, Blue and Yellow editions.

Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Game Boy box art

Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Game Boy box art

Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Game Boy box art

Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Game Boy box art

No hero is complete without a rival, and this one is close to home: Oak’s own grandson, a cocky and gifted young trainer who always seems to be one town ahead, one badge richer and one smug remark ready. Along the road wait eight Gym Leaders, each a master of their craft, and a shadowy gang of thieves called Team Rocket, led by the cold and calculating Giovanni. And in the deepest cave of all sleeps a secret: Mewtwo, a creature made by human hands, waiting for a trainer brave enough to face it.

The World

The whole tale takes place in the wide land of Kanto, a region of rolling routes, winding caves and bustling towns, all rendered in the Game Boy’s cosy shades of grey. From Pallet Town the road runs north and outward, through Viridian and Pewter, past the sparkling waters of Cerulean, down to the busy port of Vermilion, into the neon glow of Celadon and Saffron, out to seaside Fuchsia and across to the volcanic island of Cinnabar.

Each of these towns guards a Gym and a Gym Leader, and each Leader hands out a single hard-won Badge to those who can beat them. Eight Badges are the keys to the kingdom, for only a trainer who holds all eight may pass through Victory Road and climb at last to the Indigo Plateau, where the very strongest trainers in the land are waiting.

Pokémon Yellow - Branded & Fan Art Items

The Adventure

It all begins with a choice. Professor Oak offers the young trainer their very first partner: the leafy Bulbasaur, the fiery Charmander or the watery Squirtle. From that moment the journey has two great threads woven together. One is Oak’s dream, to travel far and wide and record every kind of Pokemon for his grand encyclopedia. The other is the trainer’s own dream, to collect all eight Gym Badges and become the greatest of all.

And so our hero walks the long roads of Kanto, catching creatures in the tall grass, raising and befriending them, and battling the rival again and again at every crossroads. But there is trouble to face too. The thieves of Team Rocket lurk everywhere, stealing Pokemon and bullying honest folk, from the tunnels of Mt. Moon to a hidden lair beneath a Celadon game parlour and the towering offices of Silph Co. in Saffron City. In time our trainer discovers the terrible truth: the boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni, is none other than a Gym Leader himself, hiding his crimes behind a badge.

In the Yellow edition, this old tale is told with a wink toward the animated show that had captured everyone’s hearts. There the trainer’s first partner is a single cheerful Pikachu, and rather than riding inside a ball it trots along faithfully at the hero’s heels, its mood written all over its little face. The rival, meanwhile, sets out with a mischievous Eevee, and the familiar journey feels fresh and companionable all over again.

Spoiler Alert: How It Ends

With all eight Badges in hand, the trainer braves the long dark of Victory Road and emerges at the Indigo Plateau, where the Elite Four await: four champion trainers who must each be beaten in a single unbroken run, with no chance to rest between them. One by one they fall, and just as the crown seems won, one final challenger steps forward. It is the rival, who reached the top first and crowned himself Champion of the whole region.

And so the story comes full circle. The two neighbours who set out on the same morning face each other one last time, and this time our hero prevails, taking the title of Champion at last. Professor Oak arrives to record the moment for all time. Yet even then the world holds one more secret. Deep within Cerulean Cave, revealed only to the new Champion, waits Mewtwo, the mightiest and most mysterious Pokemon of them all, so that the greatest trainer in Kanto still has one legend left to chase.

Want to see these four little cartridges that launched a phenomenon? Step into the Game Boy Museum and explore our full catalogue, where every Game Boy game keeps its own story alive.