Décor de l'anime : sentier en pente de la Forêt de Jade, souche coiffée d'une Poké Ball sous de grands arbres

Viridian Forest: Kanto's Bug-Type Woods, Pikachu and Ash's First Catches

2087 words | Reading time: 10 minutes

Caterpillars galore in the tall grass, Bug Catchers lying in wait and a Pikachu that plays hard to get. On Kanto's Route 2, Viridian Forest is one of the adventure's very first stops in Red and Blue as well as in Let's Go, and the anime made it the setting for Ash's first catches.

Contents

Viridian Forest, between Viridian City and Pewter City

The forest takes up the heart of Route 2 in Kanto, the road that links Viridian City to Pewter City. In the games where the adventure begins in Kanto, you therefore cross it before you even earn your first Badge, the one that Brock awards in his Pewter City Gym. A detour to the east lets you avoid it, though: Let's Go reserves that route for those who have the Secret Technique Chop Down, the older games for those with HM Cut.

You pass through it in Red and Blue, in Yellow, in FireRed and LeafGreen, then, much later, in Let's Go, Pikachu as well as in Let's Go, Eevee. The second generation is the exception: Gold and Silver as well as Crystal keep only a handful of trees planted on Route 2, and the woods only grow back with their remake, HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Small wood or vast forest? The games' maps don't describe it the same way: Let's Go stresses its size and its dark thickets teeming with Bug types, while HeartGold and SoulSilver mostly highlight its lush vegetation. Its name echoes its neighbor, Viridian City, and other languages follow the same logic: Viridian Forest in English, Vertania-Wald in German, Bosque Verde in Spanish, Bosco Smeraldo in Italian and Tokiwa no Mori in Japanese each refer to that city's local name.

Caterpie, Weedle and the reign of Bug-type Pokémon

The Bug type dominates the local wildlife by far, with two families topping the bill: Caterpie, which becomes Metapod and then Butterfree, and Weedle, future Kakuna and then Beedrill. In Red and Blue, their share depends on the cartridge: Red gives half of its encounters to Weedle and a good third to Kakuna, while Blue reverses the numbers exactly in favor of Caterpie and Metapod. A small-scale foretaste of version differences.

Yellow reshuffles the deck: Weedle and Kakuna give way to birds, Pidgey for nearly a quarter of encounters and a Pidgeotto at just 1%. Caterpie and Metapod, for their part, stay at their posts, and you'd better not overlook them: the rest of the game offers none in the wild. FireRed and LeafGreen go back to an even split, with Caterpie and Weedle taking 40% each, and only the frequency of the two cocoons changes from one version to the other.

Let's Go keeps the two caterpillars at nearly equal shares, around a quarter of encounters each, and adds a touch of greenery: Oddish in Let's Go, Pikachu, Bellsprout in Let's Go, Eevee. Butterfree and Beedrill appear only sparingly, at 1%, each in its own version, and the forest can even spawn Bulbasaur as a rare appearance.

Let's Go screenshot: a Beedrill in the foreground in the tall grass of Viridian Forest, the player and their Eevee in the center, two Caterpie half-hidden in the grass at the bottom
In the tall grass of Let's Go, a Beedrill, which appears only sparingly, rubs shoulders with two Caterpie whose antennae are all that stick out.

Pikachu and the Viridian Forest curse

The forest owes a good part of its reputation to Pikachu. The series' mascot hides there in Red and Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen and Let's Go, but in only 5% of encounters, at a low level. HeartGold and SoulSilver have it appear both day and night. Yellow, for its part, doesn't offer it in this tall grass, but the player is already traveling there with a Pikachu at their heels.

This rarity has left its mark on players' vocabulary. Beating the tall grass for hours without catching so much as a glimpse of a Pikachu, then seeing several show up one after another once the first one is finally caught: some call this streak of bad luck the "Viridian Forest curse." As the first known example of the phenomenon, the forest lent it its name, which now applies to any bad luck of the same kind.

Let's Go also has a nod to the mascot in store. Once you've beaten the League, a Pikachu Master Trainer named Ikue waits for the player in the forest with a level 75 female Pikachu that knows Toxic, Reflect, Substitute and Slam. That name is no coincidence: it belongs to Ikue Ōtani, the actress who voices Pikachu in the anime.

⚡ The forest's Pikachu plays hard to get, this one far less so: find the mascot in our Pikachu collection.

Let's Go screenshot: the Pikachu Master Trainer in a red dress, with a Pikachu speech bubble, facing the player in Viridian Forest
Once you've beaten the League, Pikachu Master Trainer Ikue waits for the player in the Let's Go forest with a level 75 Pikachu.

Bug Catchers, Lasses and items: a training ground

Watch out for Bug Catchers: every Trainer passing through is a chance for them to try out the Pokémon they've just added to their collection. There are only three of them in Red and Blue, with Caterpie, Weedle and Kakuna between levels 6 and 9. Yellow lines up five Trainers, including a Lass accompanied by Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂, and goes up to level 10. FireRed and LeafGreen have five Bug Catchers, who now have names: Rick, Doug, Anthony, Charlie and Sammy.

The loot, for its part, is tailored for a beginner: in the first- and third-generation games, Potions, Antidotes and a Poké Ball lie on the ground. Two hiding spots carry over from one version to another: the big lone tree marking the southern entrance hides an Antidote, and a Potion sits in the northwest grass, right under a Bug Catcher's nose. Signs also hand out tips, reminding you in Yellow that Pokémon already raised by someone else can't be caught, or suggesting in FireRed and LeafGreen that you have your Pokédex rated by Professor Oak.

Let's Go expands the cast with nine Trainers in all. On your very first visit, three Lasses, armed with a Pidgey, a Rattata or a Nidoran♀, and four Bug Catchers each hand the winner three Poké Balls on top of the prize money. After the League, Weedle Master Trainer Scott joins the Pikachu Master Trainer with a level 65 Weedle.

Day and night: the forest in HeartGold and SoulSilver

The second-generation remake makes the forest change with the time of day. By day, each version keeps its own Bug family: Caterpie and Metapod in HeartGold, Weedle and Kakuna in SoulSilver, with their final form in the morning. Pidgey and Pidgeotto show up as long as it's daylight, then night changes everything: Hoothoot then takes up 80% of encounters, backed by its evolution Noctowl.

The trees hold other surprises for anyone who shakes them with Headbutt, each with its own odds: Seedot, Shroomish, Hoothoot and Noctowl in both versions, Spinarak and Ariados in HeartGold, Ledyba and Ledian in SoulSilver. A Swarm can bring a flood of Kricketot, and the radio even draws in species from outside the region: Spoink and Numel on the Hoenn Sound, Carnivine and Budew on the Sinnoh Sound.

The Bug Catchers, meanwhile, have moved up in the world, with teams ranging from level 28 to 60: Dion counts on an Ariados, and Stacey sends out three Metapod from level 52 to 60 that have never evolved. You can also get the phone number of Bugsy: the Azalea Town Bug-type Gym Leader, who has traveled all the way from Johto, waits every Thursday near the southern entrance to give it to the player. Finally, the ground yields a Leaf Stone, a Dire Hit, a Blue Flute and TM77.

Viridian Forest in the anime and the Trading Card Game

In the first season of the anime, the forest marks a turning point for Ash Ketchum, who grows his team there on his own for the first time: a Caterpie and a Pidgeotto, the latter destined to become Pidgeot, join Pikachu. The series' fourth episode also stops there.

Pokémon Generations stops there in its very first episode, "The Adventure." Red catches a Pikachu there with a single throw of a Poké Ball and, without giving it a moment's rest, pits it against a Caterpie, under the wings of a Zapdos passing overhead.

As for the Trading Card Game, the forest has had its own card since Team Up, a Sun & Moon series expansion released in France on February 1, 2019, and it also appears on other cards in the collection.

Pokémon Generations: a close-up of Zapdos flying over Viridian Forest, above a clearing where a tiny Red stands on the left
In "The Adventure," the first episode of Pokémon Generations, a passing Zapdos flies over Viridian Forest during Red's battle.

Viridian Forest at a glance

Feature Detail
Region Kanto, on Route 2
Location Between Viridian City and Pewter City; can be bypassed to the east with Cut or Chop Down
Games Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, SoulSilver and Let's Go
Absent from Gold, Silver and Crystal, which keep only a few trees
Key Pokémon Caterpie, Weedle, their evolutions and a rare Pikachu
Trainers 3 to 9 depending on the game, mostly Bug Catchers
Visitor Bugsy, every Thursday, in HeartGold and SoulSilver
In the anime Ash catches Caterpie and Pidgeotto there

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Where is Viridian Forest?
    On Kanto's Route 2, between Viridian City and Pewter City. You can avoid it by going around to the east with Cut, or with Chop Down in Let's Go.
  • Can you catch Pikachu in Viridian Forest?
    Yes, in Red and Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen, HeartGold and SoulSilver and Let's Go, but it's still rare: about 5% of encounters. Yellow is the exception: it doesn't appear there in the wild, and the player is already traveling with their own.
  • What is the Viridian Forest curse?
    A nickname players gave to a well-known stroke of bad luck: searching for a Pikachu for hours without success, then seeing several appear right after catching one.
  • Does Viridian Forest exist in Gold, Silver and Crystal?
    No: in its place, Route 2 in those three games keeps only a small cluster of trees. You have to wait for their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver, to see it again.
  • Which Pokémon does Ash catch in Viridian Forest?
    His first two catches in the anime: a Caterpie and a Pidgeotto, which later becomes Pidgeot.

In short

From one generation to the next, Viridian Forest has changed its look without losing its role as the place where you take your first steps: erased from Gold, Silver and Crystal, it's reborn in their remake with encounters set by the clock, then Let's Go fills it with more Trainers. Its fame also reaches beyond the games, between the curse that bears its name among Pikachu hunters and Ash's first catches in the anime.

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