PLATINUM EMERALD

Player guide

Wild Pokemon, items, shops and evolutions for all four regions, read from the game itself (version 0.33), so the levels and odds are Platinum Emerald's own, not the original games'.

Getting to the next region

Beating a region's Champion opens one more region, of your choice. After all four Champions every region is open. No ticket is needed: talk to the region's ferry sailor and pick where to go.

  • Hoenn: the sailor in the Slateport City harbor.
  • Kanto: one of the two sailors on Vermilion City's pier: the one standing at the corner where the pier turns, or the one walking along it. The man at the gate at the end of the pier only runs the Seagallop to the Sevii Islands. If the sailor walking along the pier only talks about the S.S. ANNE, your game is older than 0.20: update it (your save carries over), or talk to the sailor at the corner.
  • Sinnoh: the sailor on the quay in Canalave City, by the ship. The sailor on the gangway runs the boat to Iron Island.
  • Johto: the clerk in the Olivine City port building.
Vermilion City's pier in the game: the player stands next to the sailor at the corner where the pier turns, and the man at the gate is at the bottom
The sailor at the corner of the pier (next to you here). The man at the gate at the bottom is the Seagallop man.

Assist menu (cheats)

Cheat codes for Emerald (GameShark, Action Replay) do not work on Platinum Emerald: its memory is laid out differently, so a code changes the wrong thing. The ASSIST menu gives you the usual ones instead. Open OPTION, either from the menu after the title screen (CONTINUE, NEW GAME, OPTION) or from the START menu in the game, go down to the ASSIST row and press A. Every setting starts at the normal game, and you can change them at any time.

  • EXP. GAIN: 1x, 1.5x, 2x or 3x the experience from battles.
  • EXP SHARE: ALL: ON gives every Pokemon in your party experience from each battle, the way the Exp. Share works in the newer games: the Pokemon that fought get the full amount and the rest of the team gets half. OFF (the default) is the normal game.
  • SHINY STARTER: ON makes every starter a professor gives you shiny, the first one and the extra ones after a Champion.
  • SHINY ODDS: 1x, 4x, 16x or 64x the chance of meeting a shiny Pokemon, or ALL, which makes every wild Pokemon, static Pokemon (legendaries and the like), gift and egg you get shiny. Trainers' Pokemon stay as they are.
  • IV/EV VIEW: ON shows each Pokemon's IVs and EVs on its summary.
  • EASY FISHING: ON takes the button timing out of fishing. When "Oh! A bite!" shows, the Pokemon is hooked by itself with no A press, and an A press while you wait does nothing. OFF (the default) is the normal game, where you press A within about half a second of the bite. Whether a Pokemon bites at all is still chance.
  • RARE CANDY +10: press A to get 10 Rare Candies, up to 99 in the bag.
  • MASTER BALL +1: press A to get 1 Master Ball, up to 99 in the bag.
  • MONEY +10000: press A to get 10000, up to the most you can carry, 999,999.

The three gifts work only in the game, from the START menu's OPTION; on the title screen's menu they say IN GAME ONLY. With 99 Rare Candies or 99 Master Balls already, or the most money, nothing more is given.

OPTION also has FOLLOWER: ON (the default) has your first Pokemon walk behind you, OFF turns it off.

Getting the other starters

You can get all three starters of every region, 12 in all. Each region's professor gives you one when you begin there or first arrive. After you beat that region's Champion, go back to the professor's lab: as you walk in, the professor offers the two you did not choose, one at a time. If your party is full they go to the PC.

  • Hoenn: Professor Birch's lab, Littleroot Town
  • Kanto: Professor Oak's lab, Pallet Town
  • Sinnoh: Professor Rowan's lab, Sandgem Town
  • Johto: Professor Elm's lab, New Bark Town

The offer comes once, so say yes to both.

Field moves and badges

Johto and Sinnoh only let you use a field move out of battle once you hold the right badge (read from the game). In the order you earn the badges: Johto: Rock Smash, Cut, Strength, Surf, Fly, (none), Whirlpool, Waterfall; Sinnoh: Rock Smash, Cut, Fly, Surf, Defog, Strength, Rock Climb, Waterfall. Flash needs no badge in either. Rock Climb in Johto needs a Kanto badge.

Levels

Your first region keeps its own game's levels. Each region you open after it is scaled to how many regions you have finished, so trainers and wild Pokemon there are stronger (the fourth region ends in the 80s and 90s), and scaled trainers' Pokemon are evolved for their level.

When you sail to a new region, the sailor asks whether you bring your team:

  • Bring your team: the region is scaled up as above.
  • Start fresh: the region plays at its own game's levels, like a first region. Your team waits in the PC, locked, until you sail back to a region you have finished or reach that region's Pokemon League.

The levels on this guide's pages are each area's own, as in a first region.

Moving your save to another emulator

mGBA adds 16 bytes of clock data to the end of the save; Delta and most phone apps want the plain 128 KB save. The save tool trims it in your browser, and says where each emulator keeps its saves.

Found a bug?

Tell us on the bug report page. Say what happened and where, and attach a screenshot, a video or your save file if you can. No account needed.

What is new

See what changed in each version on the updates page.

About this guide

Every page is generated from version 0.33 of the game: the encounter tables with every time of day, the swarms, Safari Zones, Poke Radar, honey and Headbutt trees, the item balls and hidden items of every map, and the shops. Nothing here is art from the games.