Following your adventure through the Pokemon League, and your defeat of reigning Pokemon League Champion Lance, you will now be the cream of the crop for the continent of Johto, which is the primary region you spent most of your time on throughout the game. However, your game isn't over yet. There's no doubt that after 40+ hours worth of gameplay in Johto, most gamers aren't going to want to go any further. That much time spent with any Pokemon game is going to be more than enough for most. But if you're one of the gamers who want to see all of HeartGold or SoulSilver, this abbreviated section of the guide is for you.

Defeating Lance at the Pokemon League is no easy feat, but if you managed to do so, you've basically proven your mettle, and should know plenty-well how to handle yourself for the rest of the game. Kanto, Johto's sister region, is our next destination. But believe it or not, you're not going to find a great deal of difficulty there. Quite the opposite, in fact, because the eight Gym Leaders you'll fight in Kanto barely have stronger parties than Lance's. So if you defeated Lance, you should be fine in taking out the Gym Leaders in Kanto, though you may want to level up once or twice in between Gym Leaders.

First things first -- let's get to Kanto. Doing so is easy enough. Following the game's ending, you'll be prompted to save your game. Do so. When you reboot your save from there, you'll find your character in his or her house in New Bark Town. Upon going downstairs, you'll run into your character's mother, who will instruct you to visit Professor Elm at his laboratory at the northwestern end of the small town. When you do, you'll receive the SS Ticket, which will grant you access to the rest of Kanto (as you saw just a smidgen of it when going towards the Pokemon League). The SS Ticket can be used to board the SS Aqua, a steamer that heads in and out of Olivine City. So, Fly to Olivine City, go on board the ship docked there, and we'll begin our simplistic journey towards Kanto.

The SS Aqua won't arrive at your destination immediately. For it to arrive in Kanto, you'll need to battle all of the trainers on board (these are, by far, the most difficult non-Gym Leader trainers you've faced in the game so far). You'll also need to do two favors for two separate people (one favor each). You'll need to find someone in the bowels of the ship who says he's looking for a friend of his. Speak to the man in another room sleeping in bed, and the two will reunite. The other favor is in regard to an elderly man's missing granddaughter, who can be found in the captain's quarters. Agree to play hide and seek with her, and when you're done, you should be free to leave the ship.

The vessel, which left Olivine City in Johto, should now be in Vermilion City in Kanto. And thus, our adventure in Kanto begins in earnest. From here on out, you will find a sort of numeric approach to our guide, with brief instructions on what to do next. Gold and Silver are far from new games, and it's been known for some time that their gyms can theoretically be completed in any order. Theoretically, of course, because completing them in any order but one or two makes absolutely no sense, and will require plenty of backtracking. Thus, while the order we've employed in this brief walkthrough isn't the only order you can follow, it's really the only one that makes sense. So without further ado, let's conquer Kanto.I.) Explore Vermilion City in its entirety. When you're healed-up and ready to go, you can then head to the city's gym, where we can fight the first of eight Kanto-based Gym Leaders in earnest. However, we highly recommend that all of your Pokemon are on or around level 53. Since we recommended being at level 50 to take on the Pokemon League back in Johto, grinding to level 53 shouldn't take too much effort. Waiting for you in Vermilion City's gym is Lt. Surge. He has five Pokemon, between levels 47 and 53, and they are all Electric-based. Thus, you'll want to come here with Pokemon that deal well with that type of creature, namely in the form of Ground-type attacks. Lt. Surge has two Pokemon worth worrying about -- a level fifty-one Raichu and a level fifty-three Electabuzz -- but overall, this should be an easy battle to survive. The Thunder Badge will be yours for surviving the fray.II.) When you're done in Vermilion City, you can leave the locale in a northerly direction, which will bring you directly across Route 6. Though there are trainers to do battle with on Route 6, it's still an extremely short thoroughfare, so you won't be on it for longer than a minute or two. On Route 6, you'll find something that reigns true for most of Kanto, as least in the early-going -- the wild Pokemon are extremely weak, and aren't really worth your time, as far as experience points are concerned. If you need to grind levels for the time being, we recommend Flying back to Victory Road, where you'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

III.) At the northern end of the brief Route 6, you'll encounter Saffron City. Like you did in Vermilion City, explore Saffron City in its entirety, so you can see all it has to offer. You'll find plenty of people to speak with, shops to visit, a Pokemon Center to utilize, and much more. So, be thorough here. Then, when you're ready, and your active party of Pokemon are fully healed, you can head to Saffron City's gym. The leader of Saffron Gym is a woman named Gym Leader Sabrina, and she fights with Psychic-type Pokemon. Although her Pokemon are between levels 53 and 55, she only has three of them, and overall, this battle is actually easier than when you fought Lt. Surge mere moments ago back in Vermilion City. As always, Dark, Bug and Ghost-type attacks work best on Psychic-types. A victory will net you your second Kanto-based badge (and tenth overall), the Marsh Badge.IV.) With the Marsh Badge in hand, it's time to voyage westward out of Saffron City. When you do, you'll encounter an extremely short road named Route 7, much like you did with Route 6, which led northward to Saffron City in the first place. If you're curious, voyaging northward from Saffron City will allow you to reach Route 5, but for the time being, there's nothing you can really do there (indeed, you could have also left Vermilion City to the east, reaching Route 11, but you would have been stopped there as well, unable to proceed). So, head west along Route 7 from Saffron City, and in mere moments, you'll run into Celadon City. We're making quick progress!
V.)Celadon City is a big, big location, much like Goldenrod City back in Johto. So, when you arrive, you're going to find a whole lot to see and explore. And that's great. There's a six-story department store here, so feel free to spend some of your hard-earned cash on needed items. There are also plenty of people to speak with, and a whole slew of other attractions at Celadon City, so take your time to see them all. When you're ready, you can then head to the city's gym. To access it, you'll need to have a Pokemon with you that can use Cut. Indeed, that same Pokemon will be needed within the gym as well. Once you've traversed the labyrinthine interior of the gym, you'll face off with Gym Leader Erika and her four Grass-type Pokemon. Our Fire-type Pokemon did massive damage here. Be careful, though! Erika's two level fifty-six Pokemon in particular, Victreebel and Bellossom, can do quite a bit of damage if left unchecked. For defeating Erika, you'll earn the Rainbow Badge. You've now earned three badges in Kanto overall, for eleven total!
VI.) Now that you've earned the Rainbow Badge, you're free to leave Celadon City at your earliest convenience. To continue, leave Celadon City to the west, which will bring you to Route 16. But fear not -- while Route 16 is extremely short, Route 17, which is attached to the western portion of Route 16, is anything but. Route 17 will force you to voyage southward, but you'll need to have your bicycle equipped and actively engaged, or you won't be able to proceed (so we hope you got that bike back in Johto!) Route 17 is completely littered with hostile trainers, so it's a great place to earn some much-needed experience points (be sure to explore both southward conduits on this route to fight all of the trainers). At the southern end of Route 17, you'll then be able to connect with Route 18. This shortened route will in turn lead you to Fuchsia City.

VII.) Compared to the other cities we've explored thusfar in Kanto, Fuchsia City is tiny, and won't take you very long at all to explore in its entirety. When you're prepared and fully-healed, you can go ahead and travel to the small village's gym. Within, you'll find Gym Leader Janine. Janine's roster of five Pokemon are simple enough to defeat, with a variety of slants, including Poison and Flying. Sheer brute force is going to win the day here, but there's really good news. Considering the relative strength of the three trainers in Kanto you've already felled up to this point, you'll find Janine to be nothing more than a pushover. Her strongest Pokemon, a level fifty Venomoth, doesn't exactly instill fear in your heart, now does it? For defeating Gym Leader Janine, you'll earn cash and experience points as always, but you'll also acquire the Soul Badge. Nice!
VIII.) Now that you're the owner of a shiny new Soul Badge, it's going to be a little while before you can get another badge. But that's okay -- we got four badges in pretty quick sequence, so some hard work is necessary every once in a while to acquire another. From Fuchsia City, leave the locale to the east. You'll now be on Route 15. While not 100% necessary, you should try to have a Pokemon capable of using Cut with you. It will make your life easier, since you'll be able to exploit some shortcuts you otherwise wouldn't have access to. There are myriad trainers on this (and subsequent) routes, so as usual, get ready for some fierce battles. Route 15 will eventually meander directly into Route 14.

IX.) Unlike Route 15, Route 14 swings you northward. Route 14 is brief, and will eventually run you into Route 13, which will again force you eastward (as opposed to continuing to the north). Like Route 14, Route 13, heading ever-eastward, is another brief conduit. But Route 13 itself leads to Route 12, and Route 12 is anything but short. There are trainers galore to do battle with on Route 12, so feel free to Fly back to Fuchsia City to heal-up or switch-up Pokemon as needed. Otherwise, Route 12 will eventually bring you northward enough that you'll run headlong into Lavender Town. But don't get too excited! Lavender Town hasn't a gym for you to earn a badge at. Indeed, there's precious little to actually see in Lavender Town, so you should be able to explore thoroughly in mere moments. Be sure to heal your Pokemon when you arrive, since you'll be thrust into more battles before very long.

X.) The key to leaving Lavender Town is via Route 10, which is due north of the village. You can swing westward along Route 10 for just a brief time, where you will find the entrance to a cave called the Rock Tunnel. It's important that you have a Pokemon with you that knows Flash, since you won't be able to see anything within the Rock Tunnel without using it, which will exponentially complicate your life. There are some Pokemon within the Rock Tunnel that are native to Kanto, so if you're trying to catch some rare Pokemon that you couldn't get in Johto, now is a good time to do so. Otherwise, simply use Repel while going through the Rock Tunnel, since as usual, the wild Pokemon in Kanto are so low-level that they are barely worth your time. When you finally get through the meandering Rock Tunnel, you should find yourself on yet another brand new road, Route 9.

XI.) Route 9 leads almost exclusively to the west. There is a watery conduit on the far eastern end of the route that leads southward, however; keep that in mind, since we're going to have to use it in a few. For now, however, go westward along Route 9, which will lead to Cerulean City (after surviving quite a few trainer battles, that is). Explore this metropolis in its entirety, as there's quite a bit to see here. However, when you visit the gym, you'll currently find it vacant. We can fix that problem, but doing so will require us to get the broken Power Plant going. You've no doubt heard many a character talk about this problem up to this point, so now we're going to do something about it. Remember that watery conduit we mentioned earlier, the one on the far eastern end of Route 9? Go there now, making sure you have a Pokemon with you that can use Surf.

XII.) At the far eastern edge of Route 9, you can Surf southward a ways. You'll eventually come across the Power Plant, an ornate building on your west. Enter the Power Plant, and you'll find all of the inhabitants frantically working. The manager will inform you that a piece of their generator has been stolen, and he needs it back to get things running normally. The piece is easy enough to find. Go outside and Fly back to Cerulean City. Enter the gym, and run to the northwestern section of the structure. Explore the floatation devices, and you should find the missing piece (this is after you have a strange encounter with a Team Rocket representative, by the way, one who apparently had no idea that Team Rocket is effectively defunct back in Johto). With the piece in hand, and the Team Rocket guy fought and obliterated (you'll have to head northward from town to find him), travel back to the easternmost segment of Route 9, return to the Power Plant, and return the missing piece. The generator should now be functioning just fine.XIII.) With the Power Plant now properly functioning, we can finally go after out fifth Kanto-based badge. But first, we have to find the missing gym leader, and implore her to return to her station. Doing so isn't exceptionally hard. Spanning north from Cerulean City is Route 24. This is where you fought the Team Rocket operative earlier. Northward from there is Route 25, which heads eastward. At the far eastern end of Route 25, after successfully doing battle with several trainers along the way, you'll find Misty. You'll have effectively interrupted some private time with one of her friends, and in a huff, she'll run back to the gym in Cerulean City. All that's left to do now is to Fly back to Cerulean City, head to the gym, fend off the lesser trainers, and do battle with Misty herself. Her Water-type Pokemon can be fried with Electricity, so keep that in mind. You'll earn the Cascade Badge as a result of getting through this fight successfully.XIV.) With the Cascade Badge in hand, it's time to move onward. The first thing you're going to want to do is use Fly to reach Lavender Town in short order. Once in Lavender Town, visit the Radio Tower at the northeastern edge of town. Within, find a man along the northern wall. Since you activated the Power Plant and solved the radio station's problem, that man will hand over the EXPN Card. You'll need this EXPN Card to continue. With it now obtained, use Fly once more, this time to go to Vermilion City. Eastward of Vermilion City is Route 11. Almost immediately, you'll run into a Snorlax in your path. The idea here is to use the EXPN Card with your Pokegear, to play the Poke Flute Channel. With that particular radio station activated, examine the dormant Snorlax, and you'll be quickly thrust into battle with it. Catch it or simply slay it -- it's up to you.

XV.) The death of the pesky Snorlax will open the path to the dungeon entrance it was blocking, towards Diglett's Cave. Diglett's Cave is extremely easy to navigate, completely linear, and full of easy-to-kill Digletts and Dugtrios. You'll end up on the other end of the cave before very long, but be sure you have a Pokemon with you that knows how to use Cut, or you won't be able to proceed. Once out of the cave on the far end, you should find yourself on Route 2. Immediately to your west is a little sapling. Use Cut to knock it down, and then run northward. You should run directly into yet another new locale, Pewter City.

XVI.) As usual, explore Pewter City in its entirety when you arrive. It's actually a fairly large town, so there will be plenty for you to see and do here (there are quite a few items to acquire, as well). But ultimately, you'll no doubt be drawn to the gym in this city. Believe it or not (you probably believe it, come to think of it), you can go to the gym to fight the gym leader here straight-away. Just be sure to heal your Pokemon and save before you go! Gym Leader Brock fights mostly with Rock-type Pokemon, so bringing some Water-type Pokemon with you to the battle should go a long way in assuring your victory. For defeating him, you'll earn the Boulder Badge. If you're following our walkthrough, you should now have six Kanto-based badges, and fourteen overall.XVII.) From here, there are actually two ways to go forward. But there's a more straight-forward way to go about things, and that involves heading southward from Pewter City. Doing so will bring you to Route 2, but only for a very brief time. Eventually, to continue southward, you'll either need to use Cut to get through a series of saplings, or easier yet, go south into the Viridian Forest. The Viridian Forest is extremely straight-forward, linear, and easy to get through, but if you think it will be easier to use Cut myriad times and stay on Route 2 as you voyage southward, you can do that too. If you opt to take the Viridian Forest, you'll eventually be deposited back on Route 2 (otherwise, you would have never left Route 2 at all). Not surprisingly, you'll run into the aptly-named Viridian City at the far southern end of Route 2.

XVIII.) Viridian City is a mid-sized locale, so take the time to explore it in its entirety. The one thing you'll no doubt notice above all else is the fact that Viridian City's gym is vacant. You won't be able to head inside. We'll rectify that situation soon enough, but in the meantime, all that's left to do is to exit Viridian City to the south. Now, you're on Route 1. Fight trainers and wild Pokemon on Route 1 as you continue to head to the south. This will run you headlong into Pallet Town. Pallet Town is an extremely, extremely small New Bark Town-like location, with only a few buildings. Be sure to visit Professor Oak in his laboratory while you're here! He'll be able to give you some advice, check up on the status of your Pokedex, and more!

XIX.) Continue southward from Pallet Town. To do so, you'll need to have a Pokemon with you that's capable of using Surf, since Route 21 is a completely aqueous location. There are a plethora of water-bound trainers and wild Pokemon to deal with as you go southward down Route 21, so don't hesitate to fly back to previous locations to heal-up, if you happen to be taking a beating out there. At the far southern end of Route 21, you'll run into another new location known as Cinnabar Island. Here, you'll find a Pokemon Center, and little else. It appears that a violent volcanic eruption destroyed a town that once stood here. Outside and to the west of the Pokemon Center is a man named Blue. Speak to him, and he'll see if you're strong enough to fight him. At this point, you won't be, but remember this man and his location. Once you have seven Kanto-centric badges, everything will change in that respect.

XX.) When you're prepared, Surf eastward from Cinnabar Island. This new aqueous route is known as Route 20, and yet again, there are plenty of trainers and wild Pokemon to do battle with as you head to the east. At the far eastern edge of Route 20, you won't be able to continue in any direction, except for through a small cave entrance sitting on a little island. Enter this cave entrance, and immediately take the ladder leading upward sitting in front of you. This leads to a gym, believe it or not. This gym is new, having been created after the gym on Cinnabar Island was decimated. Fight all of the lesser trainers here to get them to move out of your path, and then do battle with Gym Leader Blaine. Blaine has three Fire-type Pokemon, so come prepared to deal with them (this is a surprisingly easy battle for this late, late point in the game). For taking Blaine out, you'll be rewarded with his Volcano Badge. Now, we only have one more badge to chase, and we can go after it presently.XXI.) With the Volcano Badge in hand, leave the gym and use Fly to head back to Cinnabar Island. Remember Blue, the rogue trainer sitting outside to the west of the Pokemon Center there? Speak to him again. Now that you have fifteen badges, he'll offer to fight you. Believe it or not, Blue is the Gym Leader back in Viridian City. After he flees, use Fly to follow suit. The gym there will no longer be vacant. When you head inside, use the arrows on the ground to carefully navigate this gym (this looks a hell of a lot harder than it actually is, for the record). With all of the lesser trainers felled here, you'll be pitted in a battle against Gym Leader Blue himself. Blue, unlike just about all of the other Gym Leaders in the game, has a party of six Pokemon as varied in type as your own no doubt are. So take a look at what he has, and come to battle with a party of your own Pokemon that you think would correspond properly. For taking him out (which is no easy feat), you'll be rewarded with the game's sixteenth and final badge, the Earth Badge.With all sixteen badges acquired (eight in Johto and eight in Kanto), there's nothing left to do but to finally beat the entire game. Worry not -- even if you beat the game, you can still come back to your save to do whatever you may have missed. So there are no worries in that regard. The real worry is how you will beat the game, because the last boss in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver is absolutely, positively no joke. Pokemon Trainer Red is the last boss, and he means business above all else. He has six Pokemon, and they are leveled between 80 and 88. That's right; level 88. To be on the safe side, your Pokemon should be around level 80-85, and you should have a versatile party with you to meet his equally-versatile party. Unfortunately, you're probably gonna have a solid twenty levels to grind for each of the six Pokemon you choose to bring with you to Mt. Silver.

Thankfully, Pokemon Trainer Red sits at the top of Mt. Silver, and getting to him will require you to fight some of the most powerful wild Pokemon in the entire game. It's not necessarily that the type of Pokemon you'll be fighting are difficult, but they are all well-leveled, in the high 40s or 50s. Thus, you should be able to extract a healthy amount of experience from them. But how do you get to Mt. Silver? Well, it's easy! Once you've earned Rock Climb following your acquisition of the eighth badge in Kanto, which is the only special skill you'll need to get through Mt. Silver, you'll be good to go. Immediately use Fly to reach Viridian City in Kanto, and then head out of the city to the west. This should bring you to Route 22.

Once you're on Route 22, continue to the west. This will bring you back to the Pokemon League building via an entrance/exit that was earlier sealed for your use. Once you're back inside the Pokemon League building, you can continue through the door on the western edge to reach Mt. Silver, which is where Pokemon Trainer Red is located (you could also go northward to face-off against the Pokemon League again, though you need to have a high-leveled and powerful crew of Pokemon to easily survive). It's important that you come to this location with plenty of curative items, because there's really nowhere you can go as you climb the mountain to heal up. You're going to have to rely on yourself, and what you have with you.

Climbing Mt. Silver itself is a fairly easy endeavor, though you can make it harder on yourself if you choose to search various locales for items and goods you may want to acquire. You'll be brought in and out of the mountain endlessly, but as long as you have a Pokemon with you that knows Rock Climb, you should be as right as rain in getting through in one piece. The higher you scale the mountain, the snowier it will become, and the more difficult and high-leveled the enemies will become. Remember -- you absolutely, positively must level your Pokemon here, and they must be at level 80 at least before you face-off with Pokemon Trainer Red. And even that's a stretch. But don't be too daunted here. Mt. Silver seems big, but it's hard to get lost, and although you'll be running into enemies constantly both inside and outside, chances are you'll need to face-off with wild Pokemon in every fight you can muster. It's your only chance to level-up, and thus your only chance to survive.

When you finally reach the tippy-top of the mountain, you'll find the solitary Pokemon Trainer Red. And this guy, as you're about to find out, is no joke. Before you speak with him, make sure your Pokemon are ordered the way you want them to be, and more importantly, make sure everyone's fully healed. Red will almost certainly come out of the gate with his strongest Pokemon, a level eighty-eight Pikachu (Ground-type attacks are his weakness). Next, expect to do battle with a level eighty-four Blastoise (Grass and Electric-type attacks are his weakness). Following that, a level eighty-four Charizard and level eighty-four Venusaur will join the fray (Water, Rock and Ground-type attacks, and Fire, Ice, Poison, Bug and Flying-type attacks are their weaknesses, respectively). Thereafter, expect to fight a level eighty Lapras (use Grass, Electric, Fire, Fighting, Rock or Steel type attacks). And finally, a level eighty-two Snorlax, who is a Normal-type Pokemon and thus weak to just about nothing at all (except Fighting-type moves) will round it out. With all six of those Pokemon slain, the game will be won! Congratulations!

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