Appendix:Diamond and Pearl walkthrough/Section 1
In the Beginning......
After an opening cutscene, press the Start Button on the title screen to begin. An introduction is given by Rowan, who is "the Pokémon Professor" of Sinnoh. He asks if it's your first adventure and offers advice, basic control and adventure information. Next, you're requested to press the button in the middle of the Poké Ball that appears on the bottom touch screen. 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 must then select your character gender, either a boy or a girl. Next, a character name must be entered, up to seven characters long. The characters can either be selected by directly tapping them on the touch screen or, in a more traditional method, by using the directional pad and the A Button. Tapping the yellow boxes or pressing the Select Button toggles between uppercase, lowercase, and the "Others", which are punctuation and symbols. Once finished, tap "OK" or press Start and the A Button. You are asked once more to confirm. Selecting "No" returns you to the gender selection screen and requires re-entering a name. Select "Yes" when satisfied. Remember that your in-game gender and name cannot be changed once confirmed.
Next, Professor Rowan introduces your in-game friend and rival, asking for his name. One of four default names can be chosen, or a new name can be entered. For the sake of this walkthrough, he will be referred to by his official name Barry.
Once done, you are shrunk and transported into the world of Pokémon to begin your adventure!
Twinleaf Town
The journey begins at your home in Twinleaf Town, a small town in the southwest of Sinnoh. Much like Pallet Town in the Kanto region, it is a four-square setup. You and your mother live in the southeastern house, while Barry lives in the northwestern house. The other two houses are home to NPCs that are not significant.
The first scene is a television screen describing a team searching for a red Gyarados in a far-off lake (which is presumably the Lake of Rage in Johto). You learn it is a special report titled "Search for the Red Gyarados!" you are watching on the television in your bedroom. The news broadcast states that the team has not observed the Pokémon in question.
After finishing the program, you are free to move about using the directional pad. Unlike previous generations, the PC in the upper left corner does not provide item storage, only some basic trainer information. Your Bag will have enough storage to not require PC item storage. Head toward the staircase in the upper right corner of the room.
The sign on the wall before the stairs lets you know that "The X Button opens the menu!" The only thing you can do for now with the menu is Save and change Options, like Text Speed. Once you're ready, head down the stairs.
As you exit the bottom of the stairs, your mother will immediately come over to tell you your rival is looking for you and it's an emergency. Then, as you're about to exit the house, she also warns you to stay out the tall grass as wild Pokémon may attack.
Head to Barry's house. Just as you enter his house, Barry exits and bumps into you. He tells you he's headed to the lake and tells you he will fine you $1 million if you aren't there promptly. As he is about to leave, Barry notices that he has forgotten something and runs back inside the house. Head inside and upstairs, where Barry is deciding what to bring. He then notices you, threatens to fine you $10 million (10 times the original amount!) and rushes out of the house. He will now be waiting for you on Route 201. Head north to reach the route.
Route 201
Barry sees you and follows you. If you turn east and try to go through the tall grass, your Mom's words will suddenly pop up out of nowhere and prevent you from entering tall grass. Head west and go to Verity Lakefront.
Verity Lakefront
This is a short path that leads you to the lake. Follow the path and head into Lake Verity. Once you can go to Route 201, you can get a hidden bottle of Potion here that is accessed from the route.
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Lake Verity
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. Walk to Lake Verity. Upon your arrival, you see Professor Rowan, and either Lucas or Dawn (whoever 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 tall grass, you are each attacked by a wild Starly. You then open the briefcase to find three Poké Balls, containing the Sinnoh first partner Pokémon — Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup.
 Turtwig |
 Chimchar |
 Piplup | |||
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| Grass | Fire | Water | |||
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Grotle | 
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Monferno | 
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Prinplup |
| Grass | Fire | Fighting | Water | ||
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Torterra | 
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Infernape | 
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Empoleon |
| Grass | Ground | Fire | Fighting | Water | Steel |
When you choose one, that Pokémon will become your first partner Pokémon, and Barry will automatically select the one with a type advantage over yours. All 3 of them are at Level 5. Choosing the correct first partner Pokémon for your style of battling is an important choice.
Turtwig, the Turtle Pokémon, is a solid choice. Turtwig family has great Physical Attack and Defense, but is rather slow. If you don't rely on Speed to win, and like physical attacks, this Pokémon is a good choice for you. It should acquire Razor Leaf around the time you battle in your first Gym, which will help out considerably with the type advantage. Turtwig evolves into Grotle at Lv. 18, which is rather late in all traditional first partner Pokémon, but it evolves into the Grass/Ground-type Torterra at Lv. 32 — the second earliest among all first partner Pokémon. Torterra also learns Earthquake upon reaching its final form on time at Lv. 32, providing a full-field powerful attack. Torterra also gets Wood Hammer from the Move Reminder, but be noted that while this attack is even stronger, it causes recoil damage. 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 a wide range of other moves. Also it gets TM Rock Polish to sharply boost its Speed every time it is used, which helps patch up Torterra's horrific Speed stat. Swords Dance is also good to sharply boost the Attack stat, but you should choose to use either this or Curse— not both. It can learn Cut, Strength, Rock Smash and Rock Climb for HM moves, which will help on your adventure. Torterra does have a major weakness to Ice-type attacks, so be wary of that. In any case, Turtwig does quite well in the Gyms for the most part and is a very good choice.
Chimchar, the Chimp Pokémon, is speedy and has high attacking stats, but at the cost of being fragile (these are usual for Fire-type Pokémon). It can use both physical and special moves well. It evolves at Lv. 14 into Monferno, a Fire/Fighting-type Pokémon, and gains a ton of power, even immediately learning Mach Punch after evolving and learning one of the second strongest Fighting-type moves, Close Combat, at Lv. 36. At this level, Monferno will evolve 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 evolutions focus primarily on offense and speed, having very high Attack, Special Attack and Speed. Its Defense and Special Defense are low, but it is capable of taking out most Pokémon in the game within a couple of hits before they even get a chance to strike, so it isn't really that bad unless there is a type disadvantage. Some good moves Monferno and Infernape get are Flame Wheel, Close Combat and eventually Flare Blitz (Infernape learns at Lv. 57). Close Combat reduces the user's defensive stats, while Flare Blitz induces recoil just like Wood Hammer, so be careful when using these overpowered attacks. Chimchar can also learn Flamethrower at Lv. 41 if you don't evolve it until then, but even if you evolved it, Monferno and Infernape can still learn via TM35, 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, and even learns Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Earthquake and Dig for type coverage. It gets the HMs Cut, Strength (a good attacking option as well), Rock Smash and Rock Climb. In comparison to the other two first partner Pokémon, Chimchar is probably the best for trainers who love the battle style of being fast and all-out offensive. Also, if you don't choose Chimchar, note that Ponyta evolutionary line is the only other Fire-type Pokémon available in the main storyline of this game.
Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon, has high defenses and Special Attack. Its Physical Attack and Speed aren't that great, unfortunately. It evolves into Prinplup at Lv. 16. When it evolves further into Empoleon at Lv. 36, it gains the Steel type, making it a unique Water/Steel-type Pokémon. 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-type, Fighting-type and Ground-type attacks are what you need to watch out for — nearly everything else is resisted. Unfortunately, this good typing comes at a high cost: a movepool that isn't the best. Basically, Piplup is stuck with Bubble for the first couple of Gyms, even beyond the point it is supposed to evolve into Prinplup. With Piplup family's sub-par Attack stat, it is better off using Special-based attacks such as BubbleBeam and Brine, which Prinplup learns at Lv. 24 and Lv. 33 respectively, instead of Physical moves like Aqua Jet, Metal Claw or Drill Peck. If you are fine using TMs and HMs on Empoleon, HM03 (Surf) and TM91 (Flash Cannon) are both very strong attacks for Empoleon to learn. Also, Empoleon does eventually get the second strongest Water-type attack Hydro Pump at Lv. 59, but it has low PP and accuracy. In comparison to the other two first partners, Piplup is probably the hardest to use early on. It will struggle with sub-par attacks until you get the HM for Surf (right before the fifth Badge), but will then become significantly more useful. Teach it Flash Cannon as soon as you acquire that TM, and it will be very powerful. Don't think that Piplup is a bad choice — it's a great Pokémon and the extra effort of training one is well worth it.
All of the first partner Pokémon are good choices and it is down to your personal preference to make a decision. Following the tradition of all other first partner Pokémon, their Abilities are Overgrow, Blaze and Torrent respectively — once their health is reduced to ⅓ of its max HP or below, attacks of Grass-type, Fire-type or Water-type will be boosted by 50% correspondingly. In any case, it's 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
From this point onward, you can open the menu and select "Pokémon" to check the status of your on-hand Pokémon. 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 Rowan's lab and then hurries off.
After that, you will automatically return to your house at Twinleaf Town. You explain the situation that occurred at the lake, and Mom gives you a pair of Running Shoes, then asks you to visit Professor Rowan at Sandgem Town. With Running Shoes, you can travel considerably faster by holding down the B button to run.
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Route 201
Head north to reach Route 201. This time, head east through the tall grass. Two Pokémon species can be found here, but they cannot be captured yet. One of the species is Starly, which you just battled in Lake Verity. The other one is Bidoof. Remember to make the afore-mentioned detour above the ledge to Verity Lakefront and pick up the hidden bottle of Potion.
Head north through another patch until you reach a woman. She works for the Poké Mart and will give you another bottle of Potion for free. Continue east until you reach Sandgem Town.
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Sandgem Town
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 rushes 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. Starting from here, the "Pokédex" selection is added onto your menu, where you can check the data of any Pokémon you've seen and caught. For Pokémon species seen, only their names and pictures will be shown. You'll have to catch the Pokémon to register their complete information — for now only your first partner Pokémon has its full info available in the Pokédex.
Upon leaving the lab, Lucas/Dawn will give you a tour and show you the Pokémon Center, as well as Poké Mart. Veteran players know what these facilities are for, but in case you're a beginner, Pokémon Center is essentially a hospital for Pokémon and provides express Pokémon healing services free-of-charge, while the PC system can also be accessed to deposit or retrieve Pokémon from storage. On the other hand, Poké Mart is a convenient store for restocking on supplies like Poké Balls (which are not available at the moment) and medicines, such as bottles of Potion or Antidote. Lucas/Dawn 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 at Twinleaf Town.
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Sandgem Beach
Before the return trip, make a short detour and head south to Sandgem Beach, where you can pick up a bottle of Antidote. This is a part of Route 219, but you cannot explore the rest of this route until you can use Surf much later.
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Later......
Once you gain access to HM Surf and acquire the fifth Gym Badge, come back to Sandgem Beach for exploring Routes 219 to 221.
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. She also tells you to make sure to come back and 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 by now.
Leave Twinleaf and return to Sandgem Town. Use the healing service of Pokémon Center if necessary, then proceed north of Sandgem Town to reach Route 202.
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| Diamond and Pearl walkthrough |
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This article is part of Project Walkthroughs, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive step-by-step guides on each Pokémon game. |
