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PokéGear (Japanese: ポケギア PokéGear) is an electronic device made by Silph Co. introduced in Johto (Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal) in Generation II. It is an important tool for Trainers giving you Time, Map, and Phone functions. It's not a device that you can see; you access it through the main menu and its functions are added to by cards along the way.
Functions[]
The Pokegear has Four Features, the First Three are available immediately, the fourth, is obtained in Goldenrod City after passing a quiz.The Radio is the only upgradable feature of the PokéGear. In the original games, the PokéGear had no color scheme, but in the remakes, the player has six skins to choose from, including a Team Rocket one.
Time[]
PokéGear Time Function
In the original versions of Gold and Silver and in Crystal as well, the time had to be manually entered, and had a Daylight Savings Time Feature. In the remakes, the time was based on the clock in the DS. In addition to having a time function, days of the week were introduced in Generation II, and with it came certain events, like the Bug-Catching Contest in the National Park. Thanks to the clock feature there were changes in what Pokémon appeared on the routes, such as Sentret and Pidgey during the day and Hoothoot at night. Eevee's Dark Evolution, Umbreon, was made possible by attaining a high level of friendship coupled with leveling Eevee up at night. The same applies to Eevee's Physic Evolution, Espeon, but during the day rather than at night.
Map[]
PokéGear Map Function
The Map feature like the Clock and the Phone features are in the PokéGears to start. Much like the Town Map in Red,Blue and Yellow, it displays your current location and the locations of the Towns and Cities ahead, as indicated by red squares on the Map. Points of interest are displayed by red diamonds. The most prominent ones being the Ruins of Alph, just outside of Violet City, Lake of Rage, North of Mahogany Town and the Whirl Islands located en route to Cinawood City. When you first enter the Kanto region traveling from New Bark Town, the Map automatically adds a new page for Kanto, with all the routes and cities marked.
With the remakes, new points of interests were brought up and could be seen within the Town and City markers. As introduced in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, the Town Map could now be marked with notes to remind the player important things about the Town/City/Route/Place of interest. In addition to this feature A new route was opened up to the east of Cinnawood City leading to a new Safari Park, with the Pal Park taking it's original location in Kanto.
Phone[]
PokéGear Phone Function
With the PokeGear's Phone Feature, the player can call their mom initially, then Professor Elm. As the player travels through Johto and then Kanto, they could swap numbers with other Trainers and most notably, Gym Leaders, for rematches. With the original games, however, there was a limited amount of Trainer's Number the Player could have. The most important numbers the player receives in the game are the ones from their mother, as calling her would enable saving money or changing if it was Daylight Saving Time or not, Professor Elm, as he would keep you updated on things early on in the game, Professor Oak, A rating for your PokeDex, and Bill, the creator of the Pokemon storage system.
With HeartGold and SoulSilver, the limited amount of numbers that could be stored was eliminated and all numbers could be stored. The Daylight Savings Time Question was also removed thanks to the DS Clock tie in.
Radio[]
Another feature on the PokeGear was a Radio. It has four to five stations depending on the region. One was a Pokemon Music Station playing music that would either cause Pokemon to Appear or to cause them to fall asleep, Pokemon March and Pokemon Lullaby, respectively. However in the Ruins of Alph the radio would emit a strange music after solving the first stone puzzle. Upon entering the Kanto Region, the Radio fails to work until an expansion card is obtained from the Lavender Town Radio Tower, much like the Radio card was received at the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. The Radio in Kanto has a Poke Flute station which helps in moving a Snorlax that blocks the Path in two Spots in the region.In Johto there are two times when the radio clues the Player in on something isn't right. Once in the Lake of Rage area where a Red Gyarados is running rampant, thanks to Team Rocket. Then a second time before heading off to Blackthorn City, where the members of Team Rocket are making a Broadcast out to Giovanni to rejoin them.