Let's Look at Pokémon Gen 1 Part 1: How Are Trainers Kept Within City Boundaries?
Taking a look at what keeps a player within the bounds of a city in the first generation of Pokémon games.
I once had a goal to explore how the humble 8x8 tile could express so much with so few pixels:
- Looking At Pixels Part 1: Characters
- Looking At Pixels Part 2: Buildings in Gen 1 Pokémon Cities
- Looking At Pixels Part 3: Let's Look at Each Building Type in Gen 1 Pokémon
But as time moved on, it became much more Pokémon RBY based. So this post kicks off a more apt name for this series of posts, Let's Look at Pokémon Gen 1.
We're back at looking at cities and understanding how a player is confined to the rectangle limits of a city. We've looked in depth already at each city in Looking at Pixels Part 2 so we can almost think of this as an addendum to that post.
Note that come most cities will have a combination of any of the below to create their limits. I'll also be giving an idea of the amount that tile is used with low/medium/high indicators. Note: if the boundary tile is within the city but not used as a boundary itself, it is not counted in the city list.
Large Fence
I'm not entirely sure what this is named, but often it's seen in a line on land and in water to close up a city. I almost see it like a concrete pylon or a large white floating tank when in the water. Great examples include Pallet Town, Cerulean City, Cycling Road, and Cinnabar Island.
Extensively used when water needs a boundary.
All cities with this boundary:
| City | Amount of this boundary |
|---|---|
| Pallet Town | High |
| Viridian City | Low |
| Pewter City | Medium |
| Cerulean City | High |
| Vermilion City | High |
| Fuchsia City | Low |
| Saffron City | Medium |
| Cinnabar Island | High |
Small Fence
Classic fence posts. Neat that they come in pairs.
All cities with this boundary:
| City | Amount of this boundary |
|---|---|
| Viridian City | Low |
| Lavender Town | Low |
| Vermilion City | Low |
| Saffron City | Low |
Tree
Dotted all over the place, the single tile tree is an easy way to add a natural wall. Celadon City is the only city to use exclusively use trees as a border with Fuschia City a close second.
All cities with this boundary:
| City | Amount of this boundary |
|---|---|
| Viridian City | Medium |
| Pewter City | Low |
| Cerulean City | Low |
| Vermilion City | Low |
| Fuchsia City | High |
| Saffron City | Low |
Cliff/Mountain/Hill/Rock Wall
Whatever you want to call it, it's made of rock and it's impassable. Super common among the more northern and north eastern routes, it can also be seen in a a few cities too.
All cities with this boundary:
| City | Amount of this boundary |
|---|---|
| Viridian City | Low |
| Pewter City | Medium |
| Lavender Town | High |
Buildings
Some cities throw in some dense building zones to wall off the player.
All cities with this boundary:
| City | Amount of this boundary |
|---|---|
| Vermilion City | Low |
| Fuchsia City | Low |
| Saffron City | Low |
| Cinnabar Island | Low |
Sign
A cute one I nearly missed and it's only found in Vermilion City and three times at that.
All cities with this boundary:
| City | Amount of this boundary |
|---|---|
| Vermilion City | Low |
Conclusion
RBY has only six ways to keep a player from getting out of bounds in a city - with fences, trees and rocks being by far the staple. A lot simpler than I originally thought.