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Pallet Town, also called マサラタウン or Masara Town in the original Japanese, is a fictional town, and the town of origin for the player's character in the Pokémon Red, Pokemon Blue, Pokémon Yellow, Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen series of video games. It is also the starting point for Ash Ketchum, the main character of the Pokémon anime.
Pallet Town in the games
Aside from being the starting location for the player in Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed and LeafGreen, Pallet Town is a visitable city in Pokémon Gold and Silver, once the Kanto region is first visited. It is situated south of Viridian City and north of Cinnabar Island. The route to the north, Route 1, is separated from Pallet by dense grass, and the route to the south, Route 21, is a large expanse of water. This route can be used by the Gold/Silver player immediately, assuming he or she owns a Pokémon that knows the move Surf, but as the player in the other games does not have this move at the beginning of the game, and has to prove himself in order to use it when he does get it, this route is impassable until the player learns the move.
Within the game, there are only three buildings in Pallet: two residences in the north and a laboratory belonging to Professor Oak to the southeast.
Red/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/LeafGreen
The house in the northwest of Pallet is the residence of the player's character. The first floor of the house is the living room, and the second floor is the player's bedroom. Other than a PC that holds one Potion at the beginning of the game, there is little to do in this house. The character's mother is seen in the house whenever the player enters; unlike the player's mother in Gold and Silver, this mother does little to further the game's story, although she can heal the player's Pokemon, making the house the equivalent of a Pokémon Center. The father is never seen.
The house to the northeast is the residence of both Professor Oak and his grandchildren. His grandson, your rival, never appears in this house, but his granddaughter does appear, and gives the player a map of the Kanto region.
The laboratory in Pallet is where Professor Oak does most of his research. The first time the player attempts to leave Pallet Town, Oak leads the player into the lab to choose his first Pokemon. There is also a computer in the corner that displays an e-mail to Oak, inviting him to watch a battle at the Indigo Plateau.
Given the lack of Pokemon professors in the game — only the town of origin in Pokémon games has a professor — and their level of expertise, it can be assumed that most if not all trainers in the continuity of the game travel to Pallet in order to start a Pokémon trainer's journey. This assumption is merely fanon, however.
Gold/Silver
The same three houses exist in the Gold and Silver version of the game. The player's house is now the residence of a non-player character named Red, in reference to the Red version of the game; Red's rival's name is Blue. Blue's sister, rather than giving a map to the player, will groom one of the player's Pokémon once a day, if the game's internal clock reads between 3:00PM and 4:00PM.
In Gold and Silver, a player can fish for Pokémon like Lanturn off its shore.
Pallet Town in the anime
The version of Pallet depicted in the anime is much more visually stunning than in the game. Although only the same three buildings — Red's (Ash Ketchum's) house, Blue's (Gary Oak's) house, and Professor Oak's laboratory — are seen, given the general lack of buildings in the game it can be assumed that there are more residences in Pallet. In fact, a sizable group of people arrive at the laboratory in the first episode of the anime to celebrate the beginning of Ash's journey, and it can be presumed that these people live in Pallet. The Professor's laboratory sits on a sizable hill overlooking the rest of the town.
Misspelled name (Pallet instead of Pallette)
When giving names to the cities in Kanto, the translators chose to name the cities after colors; hence, Pewter City, Viridian City, Saffron City and so on. Because of this naming scheme, and since the player's character will, in a way, be affected by each town he starts in, the translators chose to name the city "Pallet". However, this was a misspelling on the translators' part. A pallet is a platform used in conjunction with a forklift to move stored goods in a warehouse; presumably, the translators meant to refer to an artist's palette. As the town name has been long established, it shows no signs of changing.
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