Summary
The world ofPokemonis a wondrous, almost utopian place where humans and Pokemon (and, presumably, animals, too) live together in harmony. It might be nice for 10-year-olds to be able to set off into the world on their quest to catch ‘em all, but at a certain point, it’snice to put roots downand put all those match winnings to good use. But just like in real life, there are good neighborhoods and there are bad ones.
Many places in thePokemonfranchise might seem exciting or pleasant while passing through, but in reality, life there would be harder than mountaineering would be for a level-two Magikarp. Others are dead-end Diglet dumps, obvious even to wandering trainers passing through to get their badge. If a “for sale” sign gets hung up in any of these places, even someone desperate for a place of their own should slip on their running shoes and sprint as fast as they can until the music changes.
Every kid dreams of being able to live in a treehouse out in the forest. It’s an immediately compelling place to imagine living andmust have some incredible views, but as one resident points out inRuby & Sapphire, living with bugs just isn’t all that fun. Anyone who has ever gone camping will know that insects (especially the blood-sucking ones) are a menace, especially at night.
Being so surrounded by so many trees would make using repellents an exercise in futility, as there wouldn’t be enough cans of the stuff in the world to keep the bedbugs at Bayleef. Not only that, but imagine having to haul groceries or water up and down those ladders. Nice to visit once in a while, but after one night sleeping in those huts, even the biggest kids at heart would bug out and leave.
The giant, haunted cemetery tower is probably the only thing anyone from outside knows about Lavender Town, and it’s the only thing any house hunter should know about the place. Although the Pokemon Tower of thePokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/Let’s Goera was demolished and replaced by a radio tower by the time ofPokemon Gold & Silver, and the bodies of the deceased were exhumed and placed in the House of Memories, those ghostly Pokemon andthe stories of their hauntingsstill likely remain.
Radio listeners’ sets could go haywire with creepy sounds in the night, whispers from long-dead Pokemon. Terrifying! For anyone whose favorite color isn’t purple and whose favorite music isn’t the creepiest tune ever played in aPokemongame, Lavender Town might not be the most relaxing place to settle down.
Welcome to Ever Grande, population: approximately zero. For a “city,” it sure is sparse, even for a settlement depicted in aPokemongame. InRuby & Sapphire, and their remakes (in which Game Freak had the chance to expand the population but didn’t), there’s a Pokemon Center, a Poke Mart, and the Elite Four building, and that’s about it. The place is so small that it makes eventhe smallest Kanto hamletslook like mega metropolises.
Even for those looking for a secluded spot, there aren’t even any houses to buy. Good luck getting building materials up the waterfall, which is the only way in. Anyone climbing it probably has their minds entirely focused on the final battle ahead. The city is cut in half by a cave system filled with dangerous, high-level Pokemon, so even the idea of starting a family and raising a young Pokemon trainer seems pretty irresponsible here.
InPokemon Red & Blue, the fire gym’s ominous and foreboding “Volcano Badge,” awarded for being able to beat its leader, almost made it obvious that something hot was rumbling underfoot on Cinnabar. Who would possibly have wanted to make their home on the island even before the eruption in theGold and Silverera? Not a soul seemed to live there, although there was a convenient Poke Mart and Pokemon Center located right next to the gym, as well as a lab and an abandoned mansion.
Perhaps the mansion’s owner also knew about the disaster ahead of time, hence the empty, Koffing-infested ruins. Even at a low price, property near a recently active volcano makes for a poor investment. It’s also rumored thata glitchy Pokemonmakes its home off the island’s coast, and who knows what living near such an entity could do to someone exposed to it for so long?
Home of the Electric-type gym, Mauville is arguably the blandest and copy-pasted town in all thePokemongames. Nothing really distinguishes it from other places besidesthe extremely expensive bikesat the bicycle shop, which have been thoughtlessly left outside to rust. Economically, there isn’t much going on. The only business in town, Greater Mauville Holdings, seems cursed, as every one of its projects has been doomed to failure.
During the development of theOmegaandAlpharemakes, it’s possible that a Game Freak designer misheard their supervisor when they were told to “make Mallville” (presumably the Japanese word is the same as in English) because, in the next-gen rendition, the nothing and nowhere town ends up resembling an oversized mall where people just happen to sleep. Its confusing layout and the lack of sunlight are sure to shock any house hunters who come to poke around with thoughts of putting down a deposit for one of its weird homes.
This place is the very definition of a “bad neighborhood,” and stands out as a dark and foreboding place in one of thebrightest and most beautiful regionsin thePokemonworld. Team Skull have basically taken over Po Town, including the big mansion at the end of the road, known as the Shady House, and all the services and amenities expected of a regular town or city. InUltraSun & UltraMoon, trainers are even expected to pay in cash (instead of a “please” and “thank you”) at the Pokemon Center.
Only an evil organization like Team Skull could come up with something as dastardly as making people pay money for their healthcare. Besides that, Po Town has many abandoned houses, which may seem enticing for someone looking to buy property, but any potential homeowner should probably ask why they ended up abandoned in the first place (the answer probably has something to do with crime).
