Violet City is the third city in the Johto, and is one of the larger cities in the region. It has 7 buildings and a population of 40 people. The building in the bottom left corner of the map is actually part of the Ruins of Alph, and is not counted in the total for the city. It is also the city where the first Pokemon gym is for the Johto league. The city’s motto is “The City of Nostalgic Scents.”
The Pokecenter and Pokemart are back again. The Pokecenter is right inside the entrance of town, and doesn’t have anything new inside. The Pokemart is on the opposite side of town, and now stocks the “X” items, which give temporary stat boosts in battle. The name of the item is the stat that it increases (X-defend increases defense, and is the only one that’s name isn’t identical to its stat). The shop also stocks Escape Ropes, which allow trainers to leave caves without having to travel back to the entrance.
The building right above the Pokecenter is the Pokemon School. This building acts as a tutorial area for some basic concepts of the game. The two kids sitting at the table near the entrance are trading Pokemon, and show how Pokemon can be traded while still carrying items. The next student explains that Pokemon that are holding berries will use them whenever they are in need of them (for instance, if a Pokemon holding a regular Berry gets low on life, they will eat the berry to heal). The next student doesn’t say anything important, but his notebook has many notes on how to capture Pokemon easier, such as weakening them. It also explains how the confusion status works. The blackboard at the top of the room will explain each status effect in detail. The status effects are Poison, Paralysis, Burn, Freeze and Sleep. There are additional tutorials here, but they can only be accessed after talking to the character standing beside the gym. He is a rather eccentric character name Earl, who speaks in very broken English. He gives tutorials about how the first Pokemon on the list comes out first, and that any Pokemon who comes out in battle gets experience points. These are all the tutorials at this location, but more tutorials will come up along the journey.
The building to the bottom left of the Pokecenter (and the bottom middle of the city) contains two NPCs. One of them explains that traded Pokemon level faster. The other will offer a trade. The trade is his Onix for the trainer’s Bellsprout. This is actually a very good trade for two reasons. First off, Onix is a very hard Pokemon to capture in the wild. Second off, the gym in this town is Flying-type, and Onix is very effective against Flying-types. Coincidently, the next gym is Bug-type, which Onix is also very good against.
The building on the far west side of town contains two NPCs. They talk about giving Pokemon nicknames, but beyond that there really isn’t anything important here.
At the northern most point of town, above the gym, is the Sprout Tower. The most notable feature inside this tower is the moving column in the middle of each floor. This column is supposed to represent the root like body of a Bellsprout, which shakes back and forth (although this cannot be seen with Pokemon Gold and Silver’s static Pokemon models). This tower has several monks inside who are Pokemon trainers. All of these trainers have Bellsprout, and a few of them have Hoothoot too. The tower also has wild Pokemon inside, although ironically there are no wild Bellsprout. The two wild Pokemon here are Rattata and Gastly, although Gastly can only be found at night time (which in Pokemon Gold and Silver is from 6:00 PM to 3:59 AM). At the top of the tower, the trainer will see their rival, who just defeated the elder monk. He will leave without battling the trainer however. The trainer can then battle the elder and win the Flash HM, which can be taught to a Pokemon in order to light up dark caves.
The final building in the center of town is the Pokemon gym. The leader of this gym is Falkner, and this gym specializes in Flying-type Pokemon. The gym itself is incredibly straightforward, with just a simple path which leads straight to Falkner. Falkner himself is rather simple to defeat, especially if the trainer picked up a Geodude or Onix beforehand. His two Pokemon are a Pidgey and a Pidgeotto. An interesting fact about Falkner is the fact that he is the only first gym leader with an evolved Pokemon. Despite this, he also has the lowest level Pokemon of all the first gyms. His Pidgey is only level 7 and the Pidgeotto is level 9. Falkner should not be too difficult, although trainers who started with Chikorita will have more difficulty without the aforementioned Onix or Geodude.
Violet City has three exits, one to the east, west and south. The one to the east leads back to Route 31 and Cherrygrove City. The exit to the west leads to a small patch of grass and also the path to most of the Johto region. However, it is currently blocked by an odd looking tree, which will be taken care of much later. The southern exit leads to Route 32 and Azalea Town, and is also the path that must be taken to continue the journey. The south and west exits also have paths that lead to the Ruins of Alph.
Violet City is a tranquil town with a peaceful atmosphere. Despite its large population, it keeps its down to earth feel. It is also a very central town because of its location at the crossroads of many of Johto’s routes, and this allows it to be a thriving town.
This article focuses primarily on the aspects of Violet City in Pokemon Gold and Silver. To learn more about Violet City, visit the following website:
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