Alright, so I decided to jump back into the Hoenn region recently. Had a real itch to explore it again, you know? This time, though, I wanted to focus my efforts, really zero in on something specific. I landed on the idea of tracking down and maybe messing around with the poison types available there. Just seemed like an interesting little project for myself.
So, I basically started from scratch, wandering through the early areas. Fired up the old game, got going. My first goal was just to see what I could naturally encounter without going too far out of my way.
Digging In: Finding the Poisonous Critters
Naturally, the first thing you bump into, especially if you go poking around in caves like Rusturf Tunnel or Granite Cave, is Zubat. Loads of ’em. Annoying sometimes, sure, but they lead to Golbat and eventually Crobat. Getting a Crobat takes a bit of effort with the whole friendship thing, but it’s a seriously fast poison-flyer, pretty cool back in the day and still holds up.
Then, as I moved along, specifically around Route 110, under that big Cycling Road, I started running into Gulpin. Those little green stomach-looking things. They’re kinda common there. Caught one just to see. It evolves into Swalot, which is this big purple blob. Definitely more on the bulky side, less about speed.
I kept pushing, specifically wanting to find the ones I remembered were unique to Hoenn.
Specific Hunts and Catches
I made a point to check Route 117, near Verdanturf Town, because I knew Roselia could be found there. It’s Grass/Poison, so fits the bill for my little experiment. Took a few minutes wandering in the grass, but sure enough, popped one up. They look delicate but pack a decent special attack.
Finding Seviper required a bit more targeted searching. I remembered it was found later on, so I headed towards Route 114, near Fallarbor Town. Spent a good chunk of time running back and forth in the tall grass there. Honestly thought I might miss it, but eventually, one showed up. Pure poison type, cool snake design. Caught it just to add to my poison collection for this run.
Oh, and of course, you can’t really avoid Tentacool if you do any Surfing at all. They are literally everywhere on the water routes. Evolve into Tentacruel, a solid Water/Poison type. Ran into countless Tentacool while crossing the sea later in the journey.
Thoughts on the Hoenn Poison Lineup
Looking back at what I found, Hoenn doesn’t have a massive number of poison families compared to some other types, but the ones it does have are pretty distinct.
- You got the speedy flyer in Crobat.
- The bulky blob in Swalot.
- The dedicated snake attacker in Seviper.
- The special attacker mixed with grass in Roselia.
- And the watery special defender in Tentacruel.
It wasn’t too hard finding most of them, though Seviper took a little patience. Zubat and Tentacool are practically unavoidable. Gulpin was pretty common on its route. Roselia wasn’t too rare either.
It was a fun little exercise, really. Made me appreciate these specific Pokémon a bit more than I might have otherwise. Just going through the motions of catching them, checking their stats, remembering their spots. A good way to revisit a familiar place with a slightly different goal. Kept things fresh.
