Appendix:Diamond and Pearl walkthrough/Section 1

In the Beginning...

When you first turn on the game, Professor Rowan introduces himself and but says to just call him the Pokémon Professor. He then asks if it is your first adventure and is willing to give advice as needed such as the basic control and adventure information. Then, he talks and asks you to touch the button in the middle circle of the Poké Ball. A Munchlax then appears from the Poké Ball, and Rowan goes on to speak about the human relationship alongside Pokémon as friends. He then states that his job as a professor is to conduct research on these Pokémon.

You are then asked if you are a boy or a girl, so choose wisely as you will be unable to change gender once you have started your adventure. You then choose a name, which will also stay with you for the remainder of the game. You are than asked what your friend's name is, and he will be your rival for the game.

Your adventure now begins, so it's time to jump into the world of Pokémon!

Twinleaf Town

Your rival takes you to Lake Verity

The journey begins at your home in Twinleaf Town. You are watching the television special report titled "Search for the Red Gyrados!" when a news broadcast describes a team searching for a red Gyarados in a far-off lake (presumably the Lake of Rage in Johto). The broadcast states that the team has not observed the Pokémon in question.

On your way out of the house, your mother will tell you that your rival Barry wishes to see you as it is an emergency. She also warns you to stay out the tall grass as wild Pokémon may attack. Just as you enter his house, Barry bumps into you. He tells you to come with him to the lake and says that he is fining you $1 million if you aren't there. As he is about to leave, Barry says he has forgotten something and runs back inside the house. Head inside and upstairs, where Barry is deciding what to bring. Barry then notices you and rushes out of the house. Barry will now wait for you on Route 201.

Lake Verity

Lake Verity

First Battle

After you reach Route 201, Barry tells you about the news report on TV about the Red Gyarados. He wants to go to the local lake to see if there is a similar Pokémon, and he will now follow you. The only place you can walk to is Lake Verity. Upon your arrival, you see Professor Rowan, and either Lucas or Dawn (whichever is the opposite gender of your selected player character). The two are searching the lake for something and discuss Rowan's return to Sinnoh after four years. They push past you, and Lucas/Dawn apologizes. Barry goes to investigate the briefcase Rowan left behind, but when you enter the long grass you are each attacked by a wild Starly. You then open the briefcase to find three Poké Balls, containing Piplup, Chimchar and Turtwig.

Turtwig		Chimchar		Piplup
Grass		Fire		Water
	Grotle		Monferno		Prinplup
Grass		Fire	Fighting	Water
	Torterra		Infernape		Empoleon
Grass	Ground	Fire	Fighting	Water	Steel

When you choose one, that Pokémon will become your starter Pokémon, and Barry will automatically select the one with a type advantage over yours. Choosing the correct starter Pokémon for your playstyle can be an important choice in the game.

Turtwig, the Turtle Pokémon, is a solid choice. Turtwig evolves into Grotle, and then Torterra at level 32. Turtwig is a Grass type Pokémon, and Torterra gains a Ground type. Torterra has great Attack and Defense, but low Special Attack and Speed. It gets Razor Leaf and Crunch pretty early on, and Earthquake eventually. Torterra also gets Wood Hammer from the Move Tutor. Another good move for Torterra is Curse, which boosts its Attack and Defense, its two best stats, while decreasing its Speed, which is already very low. It also gets Synthesis for healing itself. For TM moves it gets Bullet Seed, Return, Giga Impact and so on. Also it gets TM Rock Polish to sharply boost Speed every time it uses it, which helps patch up its horrific speed. Swords Dance is also good to sharply boost the Attack stat, but you should choose to use either Curse or Swords Dance. It can learn Cut, Strength, Rock Smash, and Rock Climb for HM move. Torterra does have a 4x Ice weakness, so be wary of that. It any case Turtwig does good at the gyms for the most part and is a good choice for your starter.

Chimchar, the Chimp Pokémon, has high speed and high attacking stats, but at the cost of being quite fragile(having low defenses). It can use physical and special moves well. It evolves at Level 14 into Monferno, a Fire/Fighting-type Pokémon, and gains a ton of power, such as immediately learn Mach Punch after evolving(assuming you let it evolve at Level 14) and learning one of the second strongest Fighting-type move, Close Combat, at Level 36, which Monferno will start evolving into Infernape. If you make sure Chimchar evolves before or in the first Gym, you shouldn't have trouble with the Rock-type Pokémon. Chimchar and its evolution line focus primarily on offense and speed, having very high Attack, Special Attack and Speed. Its Defense and Special Defense are low, but it has the power to take out most Pokémon in the game with 1 hit or 2 hits before they even get a chance to strike, so it's not really that bad unless there is a type disadvantage. Some good moves Chimchar gets are Flame Wheel, Close Combat and Flare Blitz. Chimchar can also learn Flamethrower at Level 41 if you don't evolve it until then, but if you evolved it, Monferno and Infernape can still learn it by TM, which can be obtained before the sixth Gym. Brick Break, Focus Blast and Fire Blast are some TM moves to consider, although it learns many, many more, even learning Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Earthquake and Dig. It gets the HMs Cut, Strength (a good attacking option as well), Rock Smash and Rock Climb. In comparison to the other two starter Pokémon, Chimchar is probably the best. Also, if you don't choose Chimchar, you will be left with only 1 choice for your Fire-type Pokemon.

Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon, has high defenses and special attack. Its attack is not good and its speed is also not good. When it becomes Empoleon, it gains the Steel type. The addition of the Steel-type will give it a wide variety of resistances, making it take very little damage from quite a few attacks. Pretty much, only Electric-, Fighting-, and Ground-type attacks are what you need to worry about — nearly everything else is resisted. Unfortunately, this good typing comes at a high cost: a bad movepool. Basically its best level up moves are Metal Claw, Aqua Jet, Peck, and Drill Peck and with Empoleon's sub-par Attack stat, it is better off using Special-based attacks such as Bubblebeam, which Prinplup learns at Level 24. If you are fine using TMs and HMs on Empoleon, Surf (HM03) and Flash Cannon (TM90) are both very powerful attacks for Empoleon to learn. Also Empoleon does eventually get Hydro Pump at level 59, but surf is preferred for general utility. In comparison to the other two starters, Piplup is probably the hardest to use. It will struggle with sub-par moves until you get the HM for Surf (right before the 5th Badge), but will then become much more useful, and very powerful after getting Flash Cannon.

All of the starters are good choices and it is down to your preference and playstyle. In any case, time to move on.

Battle the Level 2 Starly, and defeat it to give your new Pokémon 16 experience points. Suddenly, Lucas/Dawn returns and remarks that Rowan would be very angry if he/she forgot the briefcase. When Lucas/Dawn realizes that you have used the Pokémon from the briefcase, he/she takes the briefcase and hurries off.

On the way back

Getting the Running Shoes

On the way back to Twinleaf Town, you meet Lucas/Dawn and Professor Rowan, who takes a look at the Pokémon you and Barry have and returns to his lab. Rowan's assistant mentions that you should stop by Rowans's lab and then hurries off.

After that, you will automatically return to your house in Twinleaf Town. You explain the situation that occurred at the lake, and Mom gives you a pair of Running Shoes and asks you to visit Professor Rowan in Sandgem Town.

Route 201

Once you are on Route 201, head east, through the tall grass. Two Pokémon, Bidoof and Starly, can be found here, but they cannot be caught yet.

If you head west to Verity Lakefront after the first patch of grass, you can find a Potion near the flowers nearest to the lake's entrance. Back to the east, head north through another patch until you reach a woman. She works for the Poké Mart and will give you another Potion for free. Continue east until you reach Sandgem Town.

Available Pokémon

Pokémon Games Location Levels Rate Starly D P Pt Grass 2-3 50% Bidoof D P Pt Grass 2-4 50% Special Pokémon Doduo D P Pt Swarm 2-4 40% Nidoran♀ D P Pt Poké Radar 3 20% Nidoran♀ D P Pt Poké Radar 2 2% Nidoran♂ D P Pt Poké Radar 2 2% Nidoran♂ D P Pt Poké Radar 3 20% Growlithe D P Pt Dual-slot FireRed 2 8% A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.

Sandgem Town

The professor gives the player the Pokémon

Upon reaching Sandgem Town, Professor Rowan's assistant will stop you and have you go with him/her. You are then shown the Pokémon Research Lab, the largest building in town. As you are about to enter, Barry zooms out and says that Rowan isn't as intimidating as he first seemed, and then departs for Jubilife City. After entering the lab, Professor Rowan examines the Pokémon you chose at the lake and lets you keep it as a gift. You will then be given the option to give it a nickname. The professor formally introduces himself, and entrusts you with a Pokédex to record the data of all the Pokémon that are found throughout the Sinnoh region. Lucas/Dawn also says that he/she is on a Pokédex quest and mentions the first Pokémon that he/she used, which happens to be the one not chosen by you or your rival at the lake.

Upon leaving the lab, Lucas/Dawn will give you a tour and show you the Pokémon Center and Poké Mart. He/she then insists that you tell your mom that you are leaving on a journey and leaves to Route 202, where he/she won't let you pass until you complete your mission in Twinleaf Town.

Back to Twinleaf Town

Backtrack on Route 201 and head to your house. After you get some rest, your mother is happy to hear the news and will give you the Journal to keep a record of your day-to-day activities, and she tells you to make sure to come back to visit. Barry's mother then stops by and admits that Barry left so fast that he forgot the Parcel, but your mother suggests that you can delivery this to Barry personally. Barry's mom mentions that Barry should be in Jubilife City right now.

Leave Twinleaf and return to Sandgem Town. Head south to Route 219 to pick up a Antidote, but you cannot explore the rest of this route until you can use Surf. Head north of Sandgem Town to reach Route 202.

This article is part of Project Walkthroughs, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive step-by-step guides on each Pokémon game.