Joey: The Route 30 Youngster and His Top-Percentage Rattata

His Rattata isn't like other Rattata, and he wants the whole world to know it. Joey is a Johto kid the player runs into in the very first minutes of their adventure, on Route 30. The game hands him three roles at once: physical obstacle, first non-player Trainer you can battle apart from the rival, and first Trainer whose number gets saved in the Pokégear. His bragging ended up earning him one of the most quoted lines in the series.

Contents

• Route 30: Two Kids Battling in the Middle of the Path
• The First Number Saved in the Pokégear
• "In the Top Percentage of All Rattata"
• In the Manga, the Boy Who Gets Gold His Pokédex
• Joey at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Route 30: Two Kids Battling in the Middle of the Path

After leaving Cherrygrove City, the player heads north and comes across a battle already under way: Joey's Rattata against another kid's Pidgey — Youngster Mikey in English, named Marin in the French Gold and Silver, and renamed Mandé in the French remakes. The two opponents have planted themselves right on the only path to the second half of the route, which therefore can't be crossed.

Interrupting them gets you nowhere. Joey just sends the intruder elsewhere, too caught up in his battle to look up. The game uses a children's squabble as a progression barrier, with no gate or guard: it's the story, not the scenery, that will reopen the way.

The path clears once you've faced the rival and brought the Mystery Egg back to Professor Elm. Joey has lost his battle, is looking for new Pokémon, and, when he runs into the player, figures he's dealing with someone weaker than him. Apart from the rival, he's therefore the first non-player Trainer you can battle in Johto — under a different name in French, by the way, since the Generation II versions called him Gaspard (in English, he has always been Joey).

The First Number Saved in the Pokégear

Defeat doesn't discourage him: the moment he's beaten, he asks for the player's number to set up a rematch. You don't have to accept, and turning him down earns you a sulky reply. In Crystal, he even makes his case: he's a beginner too, and these matches will train both sides.

The deal turns out to be a good one. Joey calls from time to time to suggest a new battle on Route 30, and every additional win costs him an HP Up that he gives to the winner. It works the other way too: if you call him while you're already on his route, he simply invites you to come and join him.

The Generation IV remakes widen the thread even further. Joey calls with no battle in mind, just to tell you how he's doing. It's Crystal that covers the most down-to-earth scenarios: there, Joey notices that the Pokégear's memory is full — a limit the remakes removed — and holds off on his gift when your Bag is overflowing.

"In the Top Percentage of All Rattata"

His team comes down to a single name: a Rattata, and nothing else. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, the kid's pride turns into a gentle obsession: his isn't an ordinary Rattata, it's in the top percentage of all Rattata.

His calls catalog his tiny exploits — a wild Caterpie defeated, a Metapod that got away, a strategy being worked out from his partner's moves. In Crystal, he even explicitly settles the question of his roster: he won't go catch any others, he's sticking with this one; the remakes have him say the opposite, since he heads off to look for more after his defeat.

Rematch after rematch, he genuinely improves, and his Rattata eventually evolves into Raticate. The gag survives the evolution: he keeps bragging about his Rattata, never his Raticate, as if the final stage had never happened.

🐭 A one-of-a-kind partner deserves its own showcase: see the section Pokémon figures.

In the Manga, the Boy Who Gets Gold His Pokédex

The manga adaptation gives him far more weight. Joey enters the story looking for a delivery bag that a Murkrow stole from him: Gold, convinced someone has messed with his antenna, storms out grumbling, realizes the misunderstanding, helps him get his property back and puts him up for the night.

The next day, Gold's bag disappears in turn and the two boys head to Professor Elm's lab, where a Totodile has just been stolen. The researcher suspects Gold; Joey vouches for his friend. He later helps him use a computer to correct the deliberately false composite sketch Gold had given the police, and tells him that Elm has been hospitalized.

The decisive scene comes in the rain: Joey's Rattata falls into a river, Gold risks his neck to fish it out and is rescued in turn by Professor Oak. It's Joey who then pleads his companion's case and gets him the Pokédex that the professor had just refused him. He reappears later in the background, on a ship arriving at the Battle Frontier, then briefly during a video call between Professors Elm and Rowan.

Joey at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where do you meet Joey?
  On Route 30, north of Cherrygrove City. You first find him in the middle of a battle against another kid, Youngster Mikey (Marin in the original French versions, Mandé in the French remakes), with the two of them blocking the only way to the rest of the route.
• Are Joey and Gaspard the same character?
  Yes. In French, the Generation II core games named him Gaspard; he goes by Farouk in the French HeartGold and SoulSilver. In English, he is Joey in every version.
• What do you get for beating Joey again?
  An HP Up after each new win, as long as you swapped Pokégear numbers after the first battle. He then calls on his own to set up the rematch on Route 30, and holds off on handing over his gift if your Bag is full.
• Which Pokémon does Joey use?
  Just one, a Rattata, which in Crystal he explicitly refuses to back up with other catches. His progress eventually makes it evolve into Raticate, but he still keeps talking about his Rattata.
• Does Joey appear anywhere other than the games?
  Yes, in the manga, where he's Gold's first companion: he clears him of the Totodile theft, helps him put together a composite sketch of the thief and gets him the Pokédex from Professor Oak. He then returns for two background appearances.

In short

Joey combines roles the games usually give to different characters: he blocks the path, serves as your first opponent, opens the list of Pokégear Trainers and feeds the only phone conversation thread many players will follow to the very end. The manga gives him a far more decisive role, since he's the one who lands Gold his Pokédex. What remains is the image that has outlived everything else: a kid who only ever had one Rattata and never doubted for a second that he had the best of the species.