Seafoam Islands: Articuno's Icy Cave and Blaine's Exiled Gym
1641 words | Reading time: 8 minutes
Beneath two islets lost at sea lies an icy cave that plunges four basement levels deep. The Seafoam Islands block the sea route leading from Fuchsia City to Cinnabar Island: you cross them from underneath, you battle Articuno there and, in Gold and Silver, you come for the Volcano Badge of a Gym Leader whose Gym was wrecked by his island's volcano.
Contents
- Two Kanto Islets Sitting on an Undersea Cave
- Articuno, the Legendary Hidden Deep in the Seafoam Islands
- Blaine and His Makeshift Gym
- What the Seafoam Islands Hold in Each Version
- The Seafoam Islands in the Anime and Beyond
- The Seafoam Islands at a Glance
- Frequently Asked Questions
Two Kanto Islets Sitting on an Undersea Cave
Two sea routes in Kanto run up against these islets, with Cinnabar Island as their neighbor to the west: Route 20 approaches the archipelago from the southeast, Route 19 from the northwest. No waterway goes around the obstacle, so the Trainer has to head down beneath the islands to come out on the other side; traveling by sea from Fuchsia City to Cinnabar Island means taking this underground detour.
What you can see from the sea is only a small part of the site: beneath the waves, the network of tunnels goes all the way down to a fourth basement level. The cold there is biting, which delights the species that thrive on it: Dewgong, Jynx and Seel abound there. The archipelago's Japanese name, Futago Jima, even calls them the twin islands.
Articuno, the Legendary Hidden Deep in the Seafoam Islands
All the way down, on the fourth basement level, lives Articuno, the Ice- and Flying-type bird grouped with Zapdos and Moltres among the legendary trios. Whichever version you play, it's at level 50 that it greets those who come to challenge it.
Getting to it is another matter, since undersea currents block the way. Red and Blue, Yellow and their remakes require you to push boulders across several basement levels: once in place, they divert the flow and clear the path to the bird.
Several games have added their own twist to this encounter. Let's Go, Pikachu and its twin version, Let's Go, Eevee, turn it into a race against the clock: the player has five minutes to defeat the bird, and Poké Balls only come into play once that battle is won. FireRed and LeafGreen hide a Water Stone on a rock facing the legendary, while HeartGold and SoulSilver tuck a Zinc right beneath the very spot occupied by Articuno.
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Blaine and His Makeshift Gym
In Gold and Silver , then Crystal, the setting changes completely. Stripped of his Gym, which was ruined by an eruption of Cinnabar Island's volcano, Gym Leader Blaine has moved his battles to these islets. The Fire type remains his specialty, and beating him earns you the Volcano Badge.
The move comes with a closure. The underground tunnels are now sealed off: of the whole archipelago, the player can only reach the southeast islet, whose single entrance leads straight to the Gym. In these three games, there's no point looking for Articuno there.
With HeartGold and SoulSilver, the archipelago regains its depth: the cave can be explored again from the first basement level to the last, and the legendary bird is back in its place at the very bottom. Blaine, for his part, now receives his challengers on an upper level of the southern islet, in a Gym that is more lavishly fitted out.
What the Seafoam Islands Hold in Each Version
Dewgong and Seel have no other wild habitat in Red, Blue and Yellow, and Golduck is in the same situation in Red and Blue: if you want to complete your Pokédex in the first generation, the cave is a stop you can't miss. The wildlife in the tunnels also varies by version: you'll mostly run into Horsea and Slowpoke in Red, Krabby and Psyduck in Blue.
HeartGold and SoulSilver fill the tunnels with three Trainers, a Skier and two Boarders, and leave a TM13 to pick up on the fourth basement level. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, Cameron sets up on the first basement level to take a portrait of the player and their team.
Both Let's Go games bring their own mechanics. Once picked up, a hidden item comes back after 24 hours, and your partner Pikachu or Eevee sometimes digs up a Heart Scale by wagging its tail in front of a row of three blocks of ice; a Squirtle can also pop up as a rare spawn. On the ground floor, Coach Trainer Yas sends out Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon; once the League is beaten, three Master Trainers take over, and one of them fields a Dragonair at level 75.
The Seafoam Islands in the Anime and Beyond
In the anime, the archipelago has more islands than on the console screen. It first appears in "The Evolution Solution" (EP066), in season 1: under the pretext of a meeting with Professor Westwood, Ash Ketchum skips training there for a day at the beach with his mom Delia, along with Brock and Misty. The place is also home to a villa belonging to Giovanni.
The archipelago later serves as a starting point: Ash takes off from there by blimp for the Orange Islands of season 2, then, later on, sets sail from there for Hoenn. From there, the spin-off series Pokémon Chronicles in turn sends off Tracey and Professor Oak, bound for the Sevii Islands: that's where Gary Oak is carrying out his research, and where he brings an Aerodactyl back to life.
The anime returns there in episode JN102 of season 25. Ash and Goh, joined by Gary and Horace, take on Articuno in a raid there, but the bird has the last word; Goh doesn't leave empty-handed, though, since a Cloyster, a Graveler and a Golbat join his list of catches. Pokémon Origins also stops there for a scene in "File 4: Charizard," where Red arrives intending to catch Articuno.
The Seafoam Islands at a Glance
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Region | Kanto, with Cinnabar Island as its neighbor to the west |
| Access | Between Route 19 and Route 20, by crossing through the cave |
| Depth | Four basement levels sunk beneath the sea |
| Legendary | Articuno, level 50, at the very bottom of the cave |
| Games | From Red and Blue to Let's Go, remakes included |
| Gym | Blaine's (Fire, Volcano Badge), in Gold, Silver, Crystal and their remakes |
| In the anime | EP066, JN102, Pokémon Chronicles and Pokémon Origins |
| Japanese name | Futago Jima, the "twin islands" |
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Where are the Seafoam Islands?
At sea, between Route 19 and Route 20, with Cinnabar Island as their neighbor to the west. You have to cross through their cave to travel by sea from Fuchsia City to Cinnabar Island. -
Where in the Seafoam Islands do you find Articuno?
On the fourth and lowest basement level, at level 50. To reach it, Red, Blue, Yellow and their remakes make you push boulders that divert the undersea currents. It doesn't appear in Gold, Silver and Crystal. -
Why is the Cinnabar Island Gym in the Seafoam Islands?
Because an eruption of Cinnabar Island's volcano ruined the old building. In Gold, Silver, Crystal and their remakes, Blaine now takes on challengers on the islets, and that's where he hands out the Volcano Badge. -
How do you catch Articuno in Let's Go?
You have to beat it within five minutes, in Let's Go, Pikachu and Let's Go, Eevee alike. Only after that victory can you try to catch it. -
Which anime episodes feature the Seafoam Islands?
They first appear in EP066, then Ash and Goh take on Articuno in a raid there in JN102. Pokémon Chronicles and Pokémon Origins also make a detour there.
In short
The Seafoam Islands are only a passage on the map of Kanto, but a passage you have to earn: you have to tame the currents to reach Articuno, come here for the Volcano Badge after Cinnabar Island's eruption, and the anime turned the islands into a port where many journeys begin. Even the Trading Card Game got in on it: an expansion released only in Japan, on November 24, 1998, made them for the first time the theme of a deck.