Viridian Forest: Pokémon FRLG Walkthrough Part 2

Standing in the middle of Viridian Forest in Pokémon FireRed

Quick Guide

  1. Stock up on Potions, Antidotes, and Poké Balls from the Poké Mart in Viridian City
  2. Catch a Mankey on Route 22, west of Viridian City (for battling Brock later)
  3. Battle your Rival on Route 22
  4. Head north of Viridian City to enter Viridian Forest
  5. In Viridian Forest, walk east, north, then follow the path west to find the exit into Pewter City

Preparation

Now we’re going to head through Viridian Forest into Pewter City, but before that, I highly recommend doing a couple of things.

First we’ll stock up on items from the Poke Mart that will help us later. Then we’ll go battle our Rival for some extra experience points and bragging rights.

Stocking Up on Items

Buying Potions and Antidotes from the Viridian City Poké Mart / Pokemon FRLG
Buying Potions and Antidotes from the Viridian City Poké Mart

Head to the Poké Mart in Viridian City (building with the blue roof). Talk to the cashier and stock up on some items. What you buy is up to you, but I recommend:

  • 3 – 5 Potions (until you have about 5 in your Bag)
  • 5 Poké Balls (about 10 in your Bag)
  • 2 Antidotes (maximum of 4)

This has been my time-tested method of filling my Bag with the essentials without buying too much. Having 5 Potions will be more than enough to get us through the next Rival battle and through Viridian Forest, and 10 Poké Balls total should be plenty for catching a couple of Pokémon.

Finally, Viridian Forest is filled with Bug-type Pokémon that can and will poison your party.

I hate crossing my fingers and hoping that I make it to a Pokémon Center before the poison KOs my Pokémon, so I always bring a couple of Antidotes just in case.

Pokémon Center

After you stock up on items, head to the Pokémon Center in town. This is the building with the red roof, and where you can heal your Pokémon.

Outside of the Viridian City Pokémon Center / Pokemon FRLG
Outside of the Viridian City Pokémon Center

Just walk in and talk to the pink-haired lady behind the counter. This will fully heal your Pokémon, and it will also set a check point at this Pokémon Center. So if all of your Pokémon faint, you’ll spawn here instead of all the way in Pallet Town.

It’s a good habit to always stop by and use the Pokémon Center of new towns / cities so you have a nearby checkpoint.

Route 22 Tasks

Before we head to Pewter City through Viridian Forest, let’s catch a specific Pokémon and battle our Rival one more time.

Walk left from Viridian City and you will enter Route 22. There’s a patch of grass right at the beginning of this Route where we will find a very useful Pokémon.

Standing in the tall grass on Route 22 / Pokemon FRLG
Standing in the tall grass on Route 22

Catching a Mankey

Mankey is a pure Fighting type Pokémon with a lot of anger issues. If you walk around in this tall grass for a few minutes, you’re bound to come across a Mankey or two.

Catching Mankey on Route 22 / Pokemon FRLG
Catching Mankey on Route 22

Mankey is a good Pokémon overall, and it will be very handy when we fight Brock at the first Gym in Pewter City.

Brock uses Rock-type Pokémon which are weak to fighting-type moves.

So if you want to make the fight easy (especially if you picked Charmander) then make sure to catch a Mankey here while you have the chance.

Battling Our Rival

After you get your Mankey and train up your Pokémon, walk north through the grass and your Rival will appear and challenge you to a battle.

This is actually a pretty tough battle, so I’d recommend having two or three Level 7 – 9 Pokémon.

Remember, you can swap out your Pokémon mid battle and both Pokémon will receive XP. This is an easy way to train low-level Pokémon without them constantly getting KO’d (known as switch training).

Once you’re ready, simply head north on Route 22, through the grass that we found Mankey in.

Challenging our Rival on Route 22 / Pokemon FRLG
Challenging our Rival on Route 22

Your Rival will stop you in your tracks and come challenge you to a battle. His Pokémon are pretty tough, so don’t be afraid to use a Potion or two if you need.

If you lose the battle, don’t worry, you’ll just spawn back at the Pokémon Center and can come back and try again.

Your Rival has:

Pokémon Level
Pidgey 9
Squirtle / Bulbasaur / Charmander 9

Both of your Rival’s Pokémon will be Level 9. Remember he chose the Pokémon that is strong against your starter, so you’ll want to avoid having your starters battle 1v1 – because your opponent will have a strong Water/Grass/Fire Type move that will really hurt your Starter.

Viridian Forest Walkthrough

Once you have your Mankey and the honor of besting your Rival in battle, you can head back to Viridian City.

Heal up at the Pokémon Center, and continue north of the city to the Viridian Forest entrance.

Crossing into Viridian Forest, north of Viridian City / Pokemon FRLG
Crossing into Viridian Forest, north of Viridian City

Simply cross through the yellow brick building and you’ll be in Viridian Forest. Feel free to chat with the NPCs inside of the building, but these two won’t give you anything.

There are a lot of trainers to battle, bugs to catch, and hidden items to find in Viridian Forest. If you just want to speed through, though, you can simply:

  1. Walk east from the entrance until you reach the corner patch of grass
  2. Walk north from the corner until you reach the tree line
  3. Walk west and follow the trail until you reach the exit (yellow brick building)

Now, if you want to take your time and take in all of the bountiful loot that Viridian Forest has to offer, this next section is for you.

Hidden Items in Viridian Forest

1. Hidden Antidote

When you walk into Viridian Forest, there is a single tree just north of the entrance. Walk to the bottom left corner of the tree, press A, and thank me later!

Picking up the hidden Antidote in Viridian Forest / Pokemon FRLG
Picking up the hidden Antidote in Viridian Forest

There are many hidden items like this throughout Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, isn’t that exciting?

2. Hidden Potion

Towards the end of Viridian Forest, you will fight a Bug Catcher named Tommy. Just left of him, there is another hidden item, a Potion!

Picking up the hidden Potion in Viridian Forest / Pokemon FRLG
Picking up the hidden Potion in Viridian Forest

There are also a lot of visible items lying on the ground in Viridian Forest that you can pick up.

If you see a random Poké Ball on the ground, just press A on it and you’ll pick it up. If you explore every inch of Viridian Forest, you can find a couple more Potions, an Antidote, and even a Poké Ball.

Training

Viridian Forest is a great place to train up your Pokémon.

If you have Squirtle or Charmander, then they’ll learn Bubble / Ember very soon. You can use these moves to absolutely decimate the Bug Pokémon in the forest.

Pidgey will also wreak havoc on the poor bugs in this forest once it learns Gust at level 9. You don’t have to sit in the forest grinding your day away, but I’d definitely recommend picking up a few easy levels while you can.

New Pokémon

You either like Bug Pokémon or you don’t.

Weedle and Caterpie are going to be the two most common Pokémon in the forest.

If you want one, catch one! If not, don’t worry about it, they won’t help nearly as much as the Mankey we caught earlier will. Although they do each have pretty cool final evolutions!

Getting To Pewter City

Once you make your way to the northwest corner of Viridian Forest, you will see the exit. This leads to Pewter City. If you don’t believe me, just read the sign.

Leaving Viridian Forest to Pewter City / Pokemon FRLG
Leaving Viridian Forest to Pewter City

Cross through this building, walk north on Route 2, and you’ll enter Pewter City.

Here you can battle Brock and get the Boulder Badge. Just make sure to stop by the Pokémon Center before attempting anything too risky.

ReOcelot

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A jack of all trades when it comes to gaming. I can sit down for hours in a casual playthrough of Pokémon, or I can spend months trying to hit Diamond in League of Legends. I love and appreciate everything about games, and love sharing that passion with my readers.

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