Pokemon Locations
"Find out where to catch every Pokemon across all mainline games, route by route."
LOCATION GUIDE
Pokemon locations aren't a single list per area. The same patch of grass or stretch of water can hide a different set of Pokemon depending on how you search it. Walking pulls one encounter table, surfing pulls another, and fishing splits again by which rod you're holding. This hub maps every mainline game that way.
That split is also why "where do I find this Pokemon" has no single answer. The same species can headline an early route in one game and not appear at all in the next, so start from the game you're actually playing. If you'd rather work backward from one Pokemon, the Pokedex lists every spot it shows up across all games.
Locations by Region
717 unique locations mapped across every Pokemon game
Each encounter slot has a fixed appearance rate. The common Pokemon in an area fill the 20 to 30% slots. The rare ones sit at 1 to 5%, which is why some species take dozens of steps to turn up. Every table here lists the exact rate next to each Pokemon, so you can tell a quick catch from a long grind before you commit.
Pick a game from the grid above, then open a location to see every method laid out with the species, level range, and catch rate side by side. Methods you can't use yet, like Surfing or the Super Rod, still show up so you can plan a return trip.
Version-exclusives only spawn in one game of a paired set, so the other version can't find them in the wild at all. The fix is a trade, either with someone playing the opposite game or by trading between two carts yourself. The exclusive tags on each game's page show which Pokemon you'll need to trade for, so you don't burn time searching grass that will never hold them.
Yes, and sometimes a lot. Paired versions like Ruby and Sapphire swap which Pokemon appear in shared areas, and remakes usually redraw the maps and reshuffle encounter slots from the original. FireRed and LeafGreen don't match Red and Blue slot for slot even though they cover the same regions. That's why each game gets its own index here instead of one shared list.
Most maps gate their best spots behind HMs. Cut gets you past blocking trees and Surf opens the water routes. Strength shifts boulders, and the later games add Waterfall or Rock Climb for areas you can't reach on foot. Fishing spots need the matching rod, and a handful of zones only open after the Elite Four, so each location notes its requirement.
Yes. Next to the encounter tables, each area lists its visible items, hidden pickups, and any TMs tied to that spot. Some hidden items sit under tiles you can only reach with the Itemfinder, so those are marked apart from the rest. Sweep a route's item list before moving on, since a missed TM can mean backtracking across half the region later.