One new change concerns rare Pokemon spawns throughout Kanto. Hard to find Pokemon like Chansey, along with Pokemon you normally can’t obtain outside scripted events – including Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle – have a small chance of appearing at certain points in the game, making it easier than ever to fill out the Pokedex and eventually take on Master Trainers.
Increasing Your Chances of Rare Pokemon Spawns
If you’re incredibly patient, you might run across one of these rare spawns without doing anything special. But if you want to increase your chances of encountering rare Pokemon, there are two things you can do.
The first is using lures, just like you would in Pokemon GO. These items make you more likely to run across a rare spawn for a set period of time, with regular Lures being the least effective, and Max Lures obviously being the most.
The other way is through Catch Combos. You can learn more about those in our catching guide, but here’s a breakdown of how they affect your chances of coming across rare Pokemon:
Chains of 1-5 double your chances of encountering rare Pokemon Chains of 5-10 triple the chance Chains of 10-20 means you’re 4 times as likely to encounter rare ‘mon, and so on, until. . . Chain of 31 and beyond stay at 6 times more likely to run across a rare spawn.
How to Find Bulbasaur
There are two ways to find Bulbasaur. One of the lasses in Viridian Forest mentions her friend saw a Bulbasaur there but didn’t record it with a Pokedex, so she doesn’t know whether it’s real or not.
Rest assured, dear trainer, it’s real and you can come across one here.
The other way is through normal gameplay, since the woman in the house next to Cerulean City’s Pokemon Center gives you a Bulbasaur, assuming you’ve caught 30 Pokemon or more by then (and they don’t have to be 30 unique Pokemon either).
How to Find Charmander
You can also get a Charmander in a few different ways. Routes 3 and 4 provide your first chances of acquiring the fire lizard. It seems fairly common as well, since a 10-chain catch combo made Charmander show up regularly until the chain broke.
Charmander also has a chance of appearing throughout the Rock Tunnel.
If you want a faster way of obtaining Charmander, though, head to Route 24, just north of the Trainer Bridge. You’ll find a man standing there with a Charmander, looking for a better trainer to care for it. If you’ve caught over 50 Pokemon, that trainer is you.
How to Find Squirtle
Squirtle follows the same pattern as the other starters. With a good catch combo or lure – plus some patience – you can find Squirtle in the little grassy patch on Route 25, right next to where you obtain your gift Charmander.
Whether these are intentionally easier to find remains unclear, but a catch combo chain of 2, then later of 11 caused Squirtle to spawn multiple times.
But, if you’d rather spend that time doing something else, speak with Officer Jenny next to the Pokemon Center in Vermillion City after you’ve caught 60 or more Pokemon, and Squirtle shall be yours.
Rare Pokemon Spawns
Apart from the starters, there are several other rare Pokemon spawns you can encounter. Here are some choice ‘mons you can catch, provided you’ve got a good Catch Combo.
Chansey: Routes 5, 6, 8, 9, 10-21, 23, Diglett’s Cave, Mt. Moon, Pokemon Tower, Power Plant, Pokemon Mansion, Victory Road Porygon: Route 7 Lapras: Routes 19 and 20 Hitmonlee: Victory Road Hitmonchan: Victory Road Snorlax: Cerulean Cave
Rare Pokemon in the Sky
There’s another set of rare spawns you’ll find on your journey: Sky Encounters but there’s an important caveat to these. You won’t run into Pokemon in the sky until you’ve become the Pokemon Champion, so don’t spend your time trying to find Moltres on Route 2 until then.
Charizard: Routes 2-4, 7-8, 10-25 Dragonite: Routes 2-4, 7-8, 10-25 Articuno: Routes 2-4, 7-8, 10-25 Zapdos: Routes 2-4, 7-8, 10-25 Moltres: Routes 2-4, 7-8, 10-25
With these Pokemon easier to obtain than ever before, you’ve got even more options to build your favorite team with. Let us know in the comments what your team looks like, and be sure to check out our other Pokemon Let’s Go! guides!
Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee! Catching and Combo Catch Guide Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee! TM Locations
