Blog
Beginner’s guide: your first hour in Pokémon Fight
Your first hour covers the trainer creator, a choice of four starters, a rival battle that teaches real-time combat, your first catch on Route 1 and the road to Viridian City. Here is what happens and what to do at each step.
Make your trainer
Open Story Mode, sign in with Google and choose New Game. Name your trainer, then build their look in the creator: pick the boy or the girl, then their skin tone, hair, outfit, bag and headwear, with a live 3D preview. Name your rival, and the journey begins at home in Pallet Town.
Choose your first Pokémon
Talk to Mom, then walk to Professor Oak’s lab. Four Poké Balls wait on his table: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and Pikachu. Click a ball to open it and see the Pokémon inside; Look at another sends it back, and Yes! takes it. You can give it a nickname or keep its name.
Your rival picks the starter that beats yours: Charmander against Bulbasaur, Squirtle against Charmander and Bulbasaur against Squirtle. If you take Pikachu, they take Oak’s Eevee instead.
Win your first battle
Oak hands you three Potions and your rival challenges you on the lawn outside. This battle teaches the controls as you fight: you steer your Pokémon with W A S D, attack with a left click, pick a move with 1–4 and press the same key again (or click) to use it, dodge with Shift and hold the right mouse button to guard. Each move costs SP and has a cooldown, so mix basic attacks in while your moves recharge.
Afterwards Oak heals your team and gives you a Pokédex and five Poké Balls. The real-time battle guide has the full list of controls.
Catch your first Pokémon
The quest card in the top right now reads “Catch a wild Pokémon”. Head north into the tall grass of Route 1. When a wild Pokémon appears, wear its HP down without knocking it out, then press C to throw a Poké Ball. The battle bar shows your chance before you throw, and a breakout lets you try again.
On to Viridian City and Brock
Follow Route 1 north to Viridian City, heal at the Pokémon Center and stock up at the Poké Mart. The minimap and quest card keep pointing to the next stop: through Viridian Forest to Pewter City, where Brock’s Rock-type Gym is your first badge. The Gym Leader guide lists every Leader and the types that work against them.
Three things worth knowing early
- A Pokémon that gains a level gets all its HP back, so levelling during a battle can turn it around.
- Your journey saves itself online. Refreshing the tab takes you straight back to where you were, and you can carry on from another device by signing in.
- Hold Shift to run when you are exploring. Later you get a bicycle, and Pokémon you can ride.
