Mt. Moon: Kanto's Lunar Cave, Fossils and the Clefairy Dance

On the road from Pewter City to Cerulean City, a mountain riddled with tunnels awaits Kanto's Trainers. Mt. Moon sees meteorites fall, seems to appeal to Clefairy and draws Team Rocket, which covets its fossils; as for the player, they can take one home after beating the Super Nerd who guards them.

Contents

• Mt. Moon, a cave between Pewter City and Cerulean City
• Meteorites, Moon Stones and the Clefairy dance
• Fossils and Team Rocket on the lower floors
• Zubat, Geodude, Paras: the Pokémon of Mt. Moon
• From Gold and Silver to Let's Go, an ever-changing Mt. Moon
• Mt. Moon in the anime and beyond
• Mt. Moon at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Mt. Moon, a cave between Pewter City and Cerulean City

In the region of Kanto, Mt. Moon stands on the way from Pewter City, to the west, to Cerulean City. Coming out of its tunnels, travelers are back in the open air on Route 4, which they still have to follow all the way to the city. Red and Blue, Yellow, FireRed and LeafGreen and the two versions of Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee alike, make the cave an enclave within Route 4. Gold and Silver, Crystal and HeartGold and SoulSilver instead place it between two routes, Route 3 to the west and Route 4 to the east.

You never climb its slopes: exploration is limited to three levels, the entrance level and two basement floors. How busy it is, on the other hand, varies a lot between versions: twelve Trainers in Red, Blue and Yellow as well as in FireRed and LeafGreen, sixteen in Let's Go, but only one in Gold, Silver, Crystal and their remakes.

Meteorites, Moon Stones and the Clefairy dance

Perched high up, this peak has the distinction of receiving meteor showers. The map descriptions each echo this image in their own way: in HeartGold and SoulSilver, they mention stars fallen from the sky and endowed with a mysterious power; in Let's Go, a true celestial bombardment on a mountain where people happily go fossil hunting.

The French name gives it away, since the word "Sélénite" refers to the supposed inhabitants of the Moon. Other languages follow the same lead, from Mt. Moon in English to Mondberg in German and Monte Luna in Italian. There's no shortage of Moon Stones either: you pick up two in Red, Blue and Yellow, as many in FireRed and LeafGreen and in Let's Go, where they hide at the bottom of craters. This item evolves Clefairy into Clefable, and Clefairy does seem to feel at home here.

Gold, Silver and Crystal, then their remakes, bring this link to life. A rest area there holds a huge block of Moon Stone, around which Clefairy come to dance and pray on Monday nights.

Fossils and Team Rocket on the lower floors

On the second basement floor, two fossils are guarded by a Super Nerd, whom FireRed and LeafGreen, as well as Let's Go, name Miguel. Beating him lets you take only one: the Dome Fossil, which holds Kabuto, or the Helix Fossil, which holds Omanyte. Our guide to fossil Pokémon details how each line continues.

If Team Rocket is searching these tunnels, it's because it's counting on the fossils to bring extinct species back to life. Players of Red and Blue, then of FireRed and LeafGreen, fight their very first battles here against its Grunts, who send out Rattata, Zubat, Ekans or Sandshrew. Red and Blue add one last Grunt, armed with a single Raticate at level 16.

Jessie and James show up in turn in Yellow and in Let's Go. In Yellow, the duo counts as a single opponent, sending out Ekans, Meowth and Koffing at level 14. In Let's Go, the two Trainers battle together, Ekans for Jessie and Koffing for James, both at level 12.

🚀 Grunts, Jessie and James: Team Rocket prowls the mountain's lower floors. Find them in our Team Rocket collection.

Zubat, Geodude, Paras: the Pokémon of Mt. Moon

From one generation to the next, the wildlife keeps the same face: Zubat and Geodude make up most of the encounter tables, Paras completes the trio, and Clefairy generally remains an uncommon sight. In fact, Yellow players have nowhere else to catch it, while Red and Blue players can also get it at the Game Corner in Celadon City.

Each version adds its own touch. Crystal makes Clefairy much more common at night, with 25% of encounters versus 5% during the day. Sandshrew appears in Yellow, Gold, Crystal and HeartGold, Sandslash in Gold and HeartGold only. The Johto remakes add surfing and fishing, which bring up Poliwag and Magikarp, while the radio's Hoenn Sound and Sinnoh Sound attract Makuhita, Absol, Chingling or Bronzor. Let's Go slips in rare Onix and Chansey, along with an occasional Clefable on the second basement floor.

Finally, Red and Blue hold a curiosity for glitch fans: the Trainer-Fly glitch. You start the trick in front of a Grunt on the lower floors, with an Escape Rope in your bag. You then have to beat a Youngster on the ground floor whose last Pokémon, a Zubat, has a Special stat equal to the internal index number of Gengar, then go back to where the glitch was triggered without running into a wild Pokémon: a Gengar appears, even though Cerulean City is still far away.

From Gold and Silver to Let's Go, an ever-changing Mt. Moon

Warning: this section reveals a battle against Silver in Gold, Silver and Crystal. These three games offer a much more compact version of the mountain, which their remakes keep. It's in this setting that Silver gives the hero the last battle of their rivalry along the way, before the rematches that the Indigo Plateau holds on Mondays and Wednesdays. He fields Sneasel, Golbat, Magneton, Gengar, Alakazam and his fully evolved starter. His team tops out at level 45 in Gold, Silver and Crystal, and at level 50 in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Items also change from one remake to the next. FireRed and LeafGreen scatter mushrooms across the first basement floor, Tiny Mushrooms and Big Mushrooms, which grow back with each step the player takes. HeartGold and SoulSilver, for their part, hide nothing more than a simple Revive on the ground floor.

In Let's Go, a Fighting-type Pokémon walking alongside the player sometimes digs out of the walls a Stardust, a Star Piece or a Nugget. Once the League is beaten, four Master Trainers settle in the cave with a single Pokémon each: a level 70 Paras, Kabuto and Omanyte, and a level 80 Clefable.

Mt. Moon in the anime and beyond

Warning: this section gives away the ending of several episodes. It's in EP006 of season 1 that Ash Ketchum, Misty and Brock discover the mountain. There they meet Seymour, a researcher studying the Pokémon of the tunnels, and have to thwart Team Rocket, who came to steal a gigantic Moon Stone; Brock leaves with a Zubat he caught along the way. Three episodes later, in EP009, the place is only mentioned, through the mineral water from there that Brock pulls out of his bag.

Season 8 brings the group back there in AG134, with Misty along, while Ash is heading to the Battle Factory, where his first Battle Frontier challenge awaits. Along the way, they all help a Cleffa separated from its family, then, once the family is reunited, go with Clefable, Clefairy and Cleffa into the depths to witness the moon dance. The very next day, Misty has to return to her Gym, called back once again by her sisters.

In Pokémon Origins, the mountain only gets a fleeting shot in "File 2: Cubone": Red stands next to a Super Nerd, with the Dome Fossil and the Helix Fossil in plain view, their battle having played out off-screen. Collectors, for their part, have been able to find it since November 10, 2004, the French release date of EX FireRed & LeafGreen, the first Trading Card Game expansion to depict it.

Mt. Moon at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which fossils can you find on Mt. Moon?
  The Dome Fossil, which gives Kabuto, and the Helix Fossil, which gives Omanyte. The player keeps only one, chosen once the Super Nerd on the second basement floor is beaten.
• Where can you catch Clefairy in Pokémon Yellow?
  Only on Mt. Moon, where it's rare. Red and Blue players have a second option: the Celadon City Game Corner.
• When can you see the Clefairy dance on Mt. Moon?
  On Monday nights, in Gold, Silver, Crystal and their remakes. Head to the rest area, where the Clefairy gather around a large Moon Stone.
• Who do you battle on Mt. Moon in Gold and Silver?
  Silver, the hero's rival. In Gold, Silver, Crystal and their remakes, he's the only Trainer in the cave.
• In which anime episode can you see Mt. Moon?
  In EP006, where Team Rocket tries to steal a giant Moon Stone. The group comes back in AG134 and helps a lost Cleffa there.

In short

Just an underground passage for anyone heading to Cerulean City, Mt. Moon nonetheless brings together a fossil to choose and a Team Rocket to fend off, watched over by Clefairy that seem to live in time with the Moon. Every return to Kanto has reworked it, from the compact layout of Gold and Silver to the Master Trainers of Let's Go, without ever taking away its lunar atmosphere.