The Kanto Diaries #0: Pre-Game

A little housekeeping before I launch into the first phase of my “Pokémon Grand Tour”. Just some decisions I want to write down before I get into the game proper.

My Trainer

When Professor Oak asks, I will identify myself as a girl called Drake. She wants to travel and study Pokémon, though unlike Red and Ash before her she dreams not of being a Pokémon Master or Champion but a Pokémon Professor someday, albeit a more successful one who has actually done some field work and research (which few, if any, of the series' Pokémon Professors ever seem to achieve before handing off a Pokédex to the first random child who turns up).

More background for this character will develop as I play.

My Starter

Back in the day, Bulbasaur was my boy, my dude. Fantastic design in all his evolutions, best of the starters in my humble. I used him in the original Gen I game (I am old) and chose him again in Kalos when I was given my choice of the original starters by Professor Sycamore.

Still, I want to shake things up this time around. That leaves me with Charmander and Squirtle and I hate Charmander. He looks bland, Charmleon looks worse and Charizard looks nice but he's a dragon who isn't a Dragon-type. So, as much as Wartortle looks like pants, I choose Squirtle.

Rules

I am not doing Nuzlocke, I have neither the discipline nor the patience and the objective is to play through these games from start to finish.

But I am going to institute one rule on myself: one capture per area. For one thing, not combing through the long grass trying to capture one example of everything in Kanto will cut down the time this will take. For another, it feels in keeping with the theme of following in Ash Ketchum's footsteps that I'd only capture one Pokémon per “episode”, as it were.

I'm not going to go into it blind, though, if nothing jumps out at me immediately (metaphorically, obviously things will be literally jumping out at me constantly) then I will consult Bulbapedia to see what's available in the area.

I want an Ekans, so that's Route 4 sorted for a start.

Also, I will be naming every Pokémon I capture. I like coming up with the nicknames and I do feel it helps to personalise the team and make it feel like its something that belongs to you rather than just a jumble of sprites and statistics.