Pallet Town is the iconic little town that players start out their Pokémon adventures in many of the games in the series. It’s also the birthplace of Ash Ketchum in the anime series. In the games there’s not much to see and the anime only visits this place now and then, meaning it’s never fully explored.
In reality there are number of interesting facts regarding this place that many fans aren’t aware of. From the hidden references, the phantom Pokémon living in the woods, and the tragic even that occurred here, here’s what you might not know about Pallet Town.
10 Smallest Town
It is the smallest town in all of the games, period. Since generation one Pallet town has had a population of eight people. The main character’s mother, the rival's sister Daisy, Professor Oak, two residents wandering outside, and Professor Oak’s three aides inside his lab.
Given there’s only two houses and one place of business it’s understandable that this town would be small, but it is interesting that the developers have made very few changes to Pallet Town while other areas have seen significant growth and development.
9 Other Two Trainers
In the Pokémon anime series it’s established that there are three starters for new trainers to pick from at Professor Oak’s lab, but Ash arrives late and finds that the three starters have all been picked. It’s later revealed that Gary, Oak’s grandson, picked Squirtle, but the identity of the other two trainers that grew up in Pallet Town remained a mystery, save for two clues.
In episode 10 of the original series a girl named Melanie is a girl watching over Pokémon, including an abandoned Bulbasaur. In episode 11 Ash finds an abandoned Charmander on the side of the road after it’s owner Damien discarded it.
8 Your Console Upgrades
Even though your character has to share a bedroom with their mom, they do have some nice toys to play with. In addition to the computer that deposits physical items like potions into your hands, there is also a gaming console for you to enjoy.
But like any dedicated gamer this console sees some upgrades over the years. In the generation one games it was a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), then in generation three it randomly downgrades to a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), but in generation seven it’s a Nintendo Switch. Talk about product placement.
7 Movie References
An interesting reference many young players never caught was the movie playing on the TV in the main floor of your character’s home. In the first few games or if you were a male in the latter games it will say it’s a movie about four boys walking down train tracks, a reference to the movie Stand By Me based on Stephen King’s novella The Body.
But if you’re a female it will say the movie playing is a girl in pigtails walking down a yellow brick road, a clear reference to the movie Wizard Of Oz.
6 Entire Town Was Once Kidnapped
It turns out that crime is a problem even in little towns. In the Kalling Kadabra manga Team Rocket managed to kidnap every resident of Pallet Town and transport them to Saffron City where they hold them hostage in Silph Co.
It’s an impressive feat by Team Rocket, but thankfully the resident’s were freed by the heroes. It’s understandable that such a tragedy would leave the residents of Pallet Town a little shaken and concerned about their lack of security.
5 A Mew Lives Here
In the same manga series Red and Blue discover a local gang of Team Rocket looking for what they call a Phantom Pokémon hiding out in the forest around town. Later Red and Blue encounter the Phantom Pokémon revealing it to be a powerful Mew.
It’s discovered that the Mew has been living there for some time and prefers Pallet Town because of it’s size and lack of major pollution. In the manga this is the same Mew that led to the creation of Mewtwo, it also makes you wonder if this Mew’s presence is somehow responsible for the talented trainers that come out of Pallet Town.
4 Birthplace Of Legends
There must be something in the water of Pallet Town because this small town has put out a staggering number of powerful and successful Pokémon Trainers. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Gary, Professor Oak, and Ash are just some examples of trainers who were born and raised here.
In fact it’s stated that everyone who has ever won the Indigo Plateau Pokémon League came from this tiny town. Not to say every trainer is successful as the earlier entry proves that some will abandon their Pokémon and give up the Trainer life, but you might want to think twice about going up against a Pallet Town resident in battle.
3 Based On Satoshi Tajiri’s Hometown
Pallet Town is actually based off of the hometown of Satoshi Tajiri. Satoshi is the founder/CEO of Game Freak who was responsible for creating the Nintendo Pokémon games and its respective universe.
His hometown, Machida, Tokyo, was a small rural town at the time and was a place where Satoshi was able to pursue his favorite childhood hobby, bug collecting. Now the town has grown to a thriving city with lots of residents. While it’s doubtful that Machida had only eight residents and three buildings, it’s a heartwarming nod to where Satoshi got his start in life before becoming a Pokémon master.
2 Interesting Name
The name Pallet Town is considered something of an etymological joke. The original name in Japanese is Masara Town which could be based on the word Masshiro meaning pure white. Considering the Japanese slogan for the town is roughly “Masara is the color of pure-white beginnings” this is likely the case.
Pallet is based on the word palette which means a range of colors. The other towns in the game all have similar references to names of colors both in English and Japanese. But only Pallet Town is drastically different from the Japanese name.
1 Starters Were Caught Nearby
In the original games of the Pokémon series Professor Oak makes an offhand comment that all three starters, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle were caught in a grassy field on the east end of Pallet town.
It turns out this grassy field exists in the game but is blocked off by the fence. Hackers who’ve entered this area have revealed that it’s a large and expansive field of tall grass, but there are no Pokémon there. Unlike Bill’s garden it’s a place that actually exists and a character references it. No wonder Professor Oak decided to settle down in Pallet Town to study Pokémon, he has a private wildlife reserve full of rare and powerful types.