Pokemon: Kanto

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This article is about the Pokémon region. For the region of Japan, see Kantō region.
Kanto's map from FireRed and LeafGreen, edited to show the routes added in Gold, Silver and Crystal.
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Kanto's map from FireRed and LeafGreen, edited to show the routes added in Gold, Silver and Crystal.

Kanto (カントー Kantō?) is a region in the Pokémon fictional universe, the first of several, such as Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, to be featured in the popular series of games. It is modeled and named after the Kantō region, a geographical area of Honshū, in Japan, which includes, amongst other cities, the Japanese capital Tokyo. The resemblance between the bay formations seen on the in-game map and the actual Sagami Bay, Suruga Bay and Tokyo Bay formations is particularly striking.

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[edit] Location

Kanto and Johto are in very close proximity, the two of them making up what is presumably a small continent; Kanto is to the east and Johto is to the west. In Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal, the player was able to travel from Johto to the retroactively titled "Kanto" via the S.S. Aqua (which would take them to Vermilion City) or the train in Goldenrod City (which would take them to Saffron City). South of Kanto are the Sevii and Orange Islands. Hoenn, introduced in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, is supposedly further to the southwest. Kanto's location in relation to Orre is unknown.

[edit] In the games

[edit] Red, Blue and Yellow

Kanto Region in the First generation
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Kanto Region in the First generation

In the first generation of games, Pokémon Red and Blue for the Game Boy, and Pokémon Yellow for the Game Boy Color, Kanto was the only explorable region, featuring a variety of environments, such as urban locales and mountainous, wooded and oceanic routes. The names of the cities and towns in Kanto are based on colors, with the exception of Pallet Town; "Pallet" is a spelling mistake, as the city was intended to be named "Palette" after the tool that a painter uses. If Red or Blue are played on a Super Game Boy, or if Yellow version is played on a Game Boy Color, each area will be appropriately colored to match its name.

[edit] Gold, Silver and Crystal

Kanto Region in the Second generation
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Kanto Region in the Second generation

In the next wave of games, after completing their main journey through the new region of Johto, players were able to visit Kanto once again and challenge all eight of the Gyms. Since Gold and Silver took place later than Red and Blue, some differences appeared. Koga, who had been Fuchsia City's Gym Leader, joined the Elite Four; his daughter Janine replaced him. Blue, the protagonist of the previous generation's rival, has become the Gym Leader of Viridian City. A recent volcanic eruption has destroyed all but the Pokémon Center of Cinnabar Island, forcing Blaine to relocate his Gym to the Seafoam Islands. Certain aspects of gameplay, such as the length of some areas (like Victory Road and Viridian Forest), were compromised.

[edit] "Advanced" generation

Kanto Region in the Third generation
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Kanto Region in the Third generation

Kanto, while referred to by various characters in Hoenn, was not playable. However, in late 2004, Red and Green were remade as new titles for the Game Boy Advance called Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. The quality of the graphics was upped, and new elements of gameplay from games in the series which followed Red and Blue were added, such as genders and breeding for Pokémon and two-on-two battling.

[edit] Appearances in Smash Bros.

Two areas of the Kanto region, Saffron City and the Pokémon Stadium, are playable in HAL Laboratory's popular Super Smash Bros. fighting games. In the Nintendo 64 version, Saffron City is a city-esque battlefield complete with skyscrapers and the Silph. Co. It's hazard would be random Pokémon popping out of doors, such as Porygon (which uses Takedown), Venusaur (which uses Razor Leaf), Electrode (self-destructs), Chansey (throws out eggs), and Charmander (who uses Flamethrower). In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Pokémon Stadium is a basic arena and transforms to water, grass, rock and fire type battlefields. By playing 200 VS matches, one can also unlock the stage Poké Floats, which is said to be in "Kanto Skies". Despite being in Kanto, there are floats of Pokémon from the Johto region (such as Wooper and Sudowoodo).

Kanto Region in the Anime
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Kanto Region in the Anime

[edit] Places in Kanto

[edit] Pallet Town

Pallet Town as it appeared in FireRed and LeafGreen.
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Pallet Town as it appeared in FireRed and LeafGreen.

Pallet Town (Masara Town in the original Japanese) is a small town north of Cinnabar Island and south of Viridian City in which the protagonists of such games in the Pokémon series as Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed and LeafGreen, have began their journeys through Kanto. In the anime series, Pallet Town is the hometown of Ash Ketchum.

Pallet Town has always featured only three buildings, the house of the protagonist, the house of his rival and the laboratory of Professor Oak, an accomplished and renowned expert in the field of Pokémon. The protagonist's rival lives in the house to the right along with his sister. In all of the games featuring Kanto, excluding Gold, Silver and Crystal, the rival's sister presents the player with a map of Kanto. In the other games she will groom one of the player's Pokémon for free.

The anime depicts Pallet Town more realistically; in the first episode, a sizeable group of people appear at Oak's laboratory to celebrate the beginning of Ash's journey. Though only the same three aforementioned buildings are shown, we can presume that the group of people live in Pallet Town and therefore take residence somewhere.

[edit] Towns

  1. Pallet Town
  2. Viridian City
  3. Pewter City
  4. Cerulean City
  5. Vermilion City
  6. Celadon City
  7. Lavender Town
  8. Fuchsia City
  9. Saffron City
  10. Cinnabar Island

[edit] Other areas

[edit] Routes

Routes in Kanto are numbered 1 to 25, with three routes being added in the second generation games to connect to Johto areas.

[edit] In the Anime

In the anime, Ash began his journey by touring through Kanto with Misty and Brock, defeating the eight gym leaders of the Indigo League and coming in the Top 16 at the Indigo Plateau. He left for the first time by flying to the Orange Islands, and, upon winning the Orange League tournament, returned to Pallet Town. He left shortly thereafter for Johto, and, after competing there, he returns to Kanto again, stopping in Viridian City and then going to Pallet Town. After only a day, Ash leaves yet again for Hoenn. After his adventures in Hoenn, Ash comes back to Kanto a fourth time, and, like after the Johto League, first stops in Viridian City and then goes to Pallet Town. This time, his stay in Kanto is longer. After learning about the Battle Frontier from Scott, he takes another tour through the region, this time with May and Max, revisiting certain cities and seeing places he missed out on the first time around. He leaves for the Sinnoh Region at the very end of the Advanced Generation.

[edit] Towns in the Anime
  1. Hidden Village
  2. Porta Vista
  3. Hop Hop Hop Town
  4. Scissor Street
  5. Gringy City
  6. Sunny Town
  7. Stone Town
  8. Dark City
  9. Neon Town
  10. Mossgreen Village
  11. Rifure Village
  12. Sayda Island
  13. New Island
  14. Rota

[edit] Other areas in the Anime
  • Pokémon Tech
  • Pokémon Land
  • Maiden's Peak
  • The House of Imite
  • Leaf Forest
  • Gaiva Dam
  • Grandpa Canyon
  • The Tree of Beginning
  • Next Stedos Paradise

[edit] Gym Leaders

[edit] Elite Four

[edit] Champion

[edit] See also

Pokémon Gym Leaders and Frontier Brains
Kanto Gym Leaders Brock | Brock's family | Misty | Daisy, Lily, and Violet | Lt. Surge | Erika | Koga | Janine | Sabrina | Blaine | Giovanni | Blue | Agatha
Orange Island Gym Leaders Cissy | Danny | Rudy | Luana | Jeremy | Drake
Johto Gym Leaders Falkner | Bugsy | Whitney | Morty | Chuck | Jasmine | Pryce | Clair
Hoenn Gym Leaders Roxanne | Brawly | Wattson | Flannery | Norman | Winona | Tate & Liza | Wallace | Juan
Sinnoh Gym Leaders Hyouta | Natane | Sumomo | Maxi | Melissa | Tougan | Suzuna | Denji
Leaders of Unofficial Gyms Kiyo | A.J. | Yas & Kas Gym | Dorian
Frontier Brains Anabel | Brandon | Spenser | Greta | Noland | Tucker | Lucy
Pokémon regions and locations
Kanto: Pallet Town | Viridian City | Pewter City | Cerulean City | Vermilion City | Celadon City | Lavender Town | Fuchsia City | Saffron City | Seafoam Islands | Cinnabar Island | Indigo Plateau
Johto: New Bark Town | Cherrygrove City | Violet City | Azalea Town | Goldenrod City | Ecruteak City | Olivine City | Whirl Islands | Cianwood City | Mahogany Town | Blackthorn City | Mt. Silver | Silver Town
Hoenn: Littleroot Town | Oldale Town | Petalburg City | Rustboro City | Dewford Town | Slateport City | Mauville City | Verdanturf Town | Fallarbor Town | Lavaridge Town | Fortree City | Lilycove City | Mossdeep City | Sootopolis City | Pacifidlog Town | Ever Grande City
Other: Orange Islands | Sevii Islands | Orre | Fiore | Sinnoh
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