Mr. Pokémon: The Route 30 Researcher Who Gets Johto Going

His title isn't "professor" but "researcher." Mr. Pokémon lives in a house on Route 30, north of Cherrygrove City, and his home is where the very first mission of Gold and Silver sends the player. His method comes down to one habit: he gets his hands on rare items and has other people examine them.

Contents

• The Researcher at the End of Route 30
• The Mystery Egg, and What the Remake Changed
• Red Scale for Exp. Share: A Taste for Rarity
• The Orbs of HeartGold and SoulSilver
• Mr. Pokémon at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Researcher at the End of Route 30

Johto's adventure begins in New Bark Town, and the first instruction is to leave it. Professor Elm sends the player to a contact living farther north, beyond Cherrygrove City, on Route 30: a researcher who wrote to him about a discovery.

The item in question is a Mystery Egg, which Mr. Pokémon entrusts to the player to take back to New Bark Town for analysis. The visit takes just a few lines of dialogue: he hands over the egg, offers to let the team rest before the trip back, and sends his visitor back where they came from.

It's a standard tutorial round trip, but it sets up two things at once: the player works for a lab, and the game will be all about hatching. Mr. Pokémon is never an obstacle to overcome; he's the pretext that sets the map in motion.

The Mystery Egg, and What the Remake Changed

Why Elm rather than anyone else? Mr. Pokémon explains it himself: nobody knows more about evolution than he does, and Professor Oak readily acknowledges it. So Elm's reputation is established by a third party before the player has had time to form an opinion.

Where the egg comes from, though, changes from one version to the next. In Gold, Silver and Crystal, he got it from a couple of friends who run a Pokémon Day Care; in HeartGold and SoulSilver, it comes from an acquaintance in Ecruteak City.

Neither the mission nor the reward changes: only the line that sets them up was rewritten. It's a touch-up you'd only spot by comparing the two versions, and it shows how much this character's presence hinges on a single item placed in his hands.

Red Scale for Exp. Share: A Taste for Rarity

His second scene also hinges on an item. Players who have battled the red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage come away with a Red Scale, picked up without even having to look for it — and Mr. Pokémon recognizes it at first glance.

He asks for it on the spot and offers a trade: his Exp. Share for the scale. The item isn't originally his; he got it from Kanto's most famous researcher, so he's trading away a gift he received for a curiosity he doesn't own yet.

The scene sums up the character better than any job description. He doesn't try to explain the scale; he wants to have it, and if the player refuses, he simply expresses polite regret and lets the matter drop. His motto, repeated between visits, is that the world never stops offering things to discover.

The Orbs of HeartGold and SoulSilver

The remakes give him a third appearance, reserved for the post-League game. He only brings out his last item for a player who has beaten the Champion and received their Kanto starter from Professor Oak — two conditions he explicitly cites as his reason for trusting them.

The package comes from a contact in Hoenn: a Blue Orb in HeartGold, a Red Orb in SoulSilver. He links it to the Embedded Tower, a very old structure standing somewhere along the rugged route past Cianwood City, which only the best Trainers can reach.

That's where you unlock Kyogre with the blue one and Groudon with the red one. Mr. Pokémon stays vague to the end about the exact location, which he only knows by hearsay, and he plays completely dumb when the player comes back to tell him about the Kimono Girls.

🔴 The two giants his Orbs awaken have their own shelf: check out our Legendaries.

Mr. Pokémon at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where do you find Mr. Pokémon?
  In his house on Route 30, north of Cherrygrove City. It's the first destination Professor Elm gives the player after leaving New Bark Town.
• What should you do with the Mystery Egg he gives you?
  Bring it back to New Bark Town so Professor Elm can examine it. Mr. Pokémon turns to him because he considers him the leading expert on evolution, a view Professor Oak shares.
• How do you get the Exp. Share from him?
  By bringing him the Red Scale, which you get automatically after the battle against the red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage. He then offers to trade the scale for the Exp. Share Professor Oak gave him; refusing doesn't block anything.
• What are the Orbs in HeartGold and SoulSilver for?
  The Blue Orb in HeartGold unlocks Kyogre and the Red Orb in SoulSilver unlocks Groudon, at the Embedded Tower near Cianwood City. Mr. Pokémon only hands them over after you've beaten the Champion and received your Kanto starter.
• Is Mr. Pokémon a Pokémon professor?
  No: he's presented as a researcher, not a professor. He works very closely with Professors Oak and Elm, and they're the ones who analyze what he digs up.

In short

Mr. Pokémon brings no theories to Johto: he brings objects. An egg whose contents he doesn't know, a scale he covets, an orb sent to him from far away — each time, it's the player who goes off in his place to find what comes next. The game uses him as a signpost, and his enthusiasm as a curious collector justifies three trips that nothing else required. A researcher whose most famous find remains the one he couldn't identify himself.