National Park

The National Park (Japanese: しぜんこうえん Nature Park) is a location in Johto. It is located to the north of Goldenrod City, between and. The Bug-Catching Contest takes place there every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Geography
The park is separated into two main areas. The southern part contains several benches and a patch of flowers. Several people rest in this area, including a with a  that gives a Quick Claw to the player.

The northern part is circular and resembles a Poké Ball, with a fountain in the center, a semi-circular patch of tall grass to the south and another of to the north, the first instance of this type of grass that is encountered in the games. Trainers can be battled only within these patches of grass, though there are no Trainers to battle during a Bug-Catching Contest.

In Generation II, most of the people talk about printing pictures off from the Pokédex, in order to promote the games' connectivity to the Game Boy Printer that was released two years before them. In Generation IV, they instead talk about using the Pokéwalker.

Bug-Catching Contest prizes

 * For the prizes received by competing in the Bug-Catching Contest, see .

Generation IV
The group of trees are located at the top of a hill, behind the fence at the north-east section of the National Park. It is accessible through.

In the anime
National Park appeared in The Bug Stops Here, where and  came by it just in time to see the Bug-Catching Contest starting. Ash and, who also appeared at the site, decided to participate the contest. Casey ended up catching a that Ash was trying to catch, but eventually Ash caught himself a. After dealing with 's latest scheme, during which Casey's Chikorita evolved into a, Ash was declared the winner of the contest, earning him a Sun Stone and allowing him to keep the Pokémon he had caught. Before the group parted ways with Casey, Ash decided to give Beedrill to Casey, knowing her love of yellow-and-black-striped Pokémon.

Trivia

 * A beta version of National Park was seen prior to the release of.
 * This is the only area in Generation II where it is impossible to hear the normal background music whilst riding a bicycle. This was changed in, where the player is now allowed to cycle in both gates.
 * School Kid Jack is the only Trainer not to have his Pokémon's levels increase between Generation II and Generation IV.

In other languages
Nationalpark Parque Nacional Parc Naturel Parco Nazionale しぜんこうえん 自然公园