Pokémon Center

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The inside of a Pokemon Center

Within the fictional Pokémon World, Pokémon Centers (or Centres) are special buildings where Pokémon Trainers take their Pokémon to be healed, similar to a real world veterinary clinic. They also have connection areas and P.C.s. All these services are completely free of charge. Pokémon Centers have appeared in the Pokémon (anime) and video games, although their roles differ in both. Pokémon Center was also the name of a store selling Pokémon merchandise, which was managed by Nintendo.

1 In the Games
2 In the anime
3 Store
4 References

[edit] In the Games

Non-player character Trainers and their own Pokémon are often found hanging around in Centers, offering general advice and information on the events in the town or area it is situated in. In the Pokémon anime the Centers also serve as an inn for Trainers, who often spend the night there before continuing their journey the next day. In the fourth generation of Pokémon video games, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, a new level is introduced to the Pokémon Center. The protagonist may now venture into the basement to interact with friends online via the Nintendo Wi-Fi feature. The roof color, historically red, is orange (similar to the Net Center). The trademark blue roof of the Pokémart remains however. They are also merely referred to as Pokémon Centers.

[edit] In the anime

In the anime, Pokémon Centers serve the same function of recovering the health of Pokémon. However, they also treat illnesses not present in the Pokémon video games, and are places where Trainers can eat free meals and stay overnight. It is not clear where the funding for these facilities comes from, though the world in general is largely aware of Trainers and society may be understanding of their efforts. The Centers have varying architectural designs, but always have a red P on or near them. Every Pokémon Center is operated by a family of identical nurses, all named Joy (hence, the term Nurse Joy refers to one or all of these such nurses), as well as the Pokémon Chansey or Blissey.

A significant difference from the games is the time it takes to treat Pokémon. In the games, the Pokémon Center's nurse (who resembles Nurse Joy, but is not named as such) puts the Pokémon's Poké Balls into a machine, which restores them to full health almost instantly. In the anime, recovery takes much longer, depending on the Pokémon's illness or injury, and treatment ranges from simple bedrest to the use of devices similar to those in real-life hospitals. They are also used to treat humans, and most injured trainers are seen to be treated in a Pokémon Center instead of a hospital, probably because they are more numerous and accessable in otherwise unihabited areas than hospitals.

[edit] Store

On November 16th, 2001 Nintendo opened a store called the Pokémon Center in New York, in New York's Rockefeller Center ^[1], modeled after the two other Pokémon Center stores in Tokyo and Osaka Japan. ^[2] The store sold Pokémon merchandise on a total of two floors, with items ranging from collectible shirts to stuffed Pokémon plushies.^[3] The store also featured a , Pokémon Distributing Machine in which players would place their game to receive an egg of a Pokémon that is being given out at that time. The store also had tables that were open for players of the Pokémon Card Game to duel each other or an employee. The store was closed and replaced by the Nintendo World Store on May, 14 2005.^[4]