Saffron City

Saffron City (Japanese: ヤマブキシティ Yamabuki City) is a sprawling metropolis in the Kanto region. It lies in between Celadon City, Vermilion City, Lavender Town, and Cerulean City. It is home to Sabrina, the city's Gym Leader.

It is modeled after Japan's capital city of and is the largest and one of the busiest cities in Kanto, being famous even in other regions. It is the tenth most populous city in the Pokémon world and one of the only cities in Kanto that has enough visible houses to accommodate its population in the games. The large Silph Co. headquarters building stands firm as the city's centerpiece while two Gyms dominate the north-eastern corner district. Not only is this the central business district of Kanto, it also holds the region's largest infrastructure, including the Magnet Train station, which allows ease of access between Kanto and Johto.

Generations I-III
Shining, Golden Land of Commerce (Japanese: ヤマブキ　きんいろ　かがやきのいろ Yamabuki is the color of golden radiance.)

Generation IV
Shining Big City (Japanese: ひかり　かがやく　だいとかい Shining big city)

Generations I and III
Traveling to Saffron City is impossible at first, as the guards at the city's gates are thirsty and will not let anyone through. After giving any of the guards a drink from the Celadon Department Store in the Generation I games or Tea in, they will let the undefined pass.

Generations II and IV
The undefined does not need to fulfill certain requirements in order to access the city.

Silph Co.'s headquarters
The Silph Co. Headquarters is the largest and tallest building in the city. They are the leading manufacturer of Pokémon technology in the world, and produce a variety of goods for s, such as the Poké Ball and the Silph Scope. Their status made them a target in the Generation I storyline, in which Team Rocket orchestrated the takeover of their headquarters in Saffron City. The undefined will arrive just in time to take on the mission of driving them out of the city, and the President of Silph will reveal afterwards the top-secret development Team Rocket was after: the Master Ball, which can any  without fail.

The Silph Co. Office Building is an eleven-floor skyscraper, and effectively a giant maze. People must navigate the building using warp tiles in order to reach different rooms. Some people hold a Card Key, which unlocks Silph's doors like a hotel key. During the events of the Team Rocket takeover, the player must find the Card Key on the fourth floor of the building. All the while, the player must battle numerous s, including the Rocket Brothers, and one. After this, the player may continue on to the board room to face Giovanni for the Master Ball. After driving Team Rocket out of the Silph headquarters, the player is free to explore the building and talk to the employees.

In Generation II, Silph Co. has increased security, and the player is not allowed to enter the upper floors. One of the guards, however, will kindly give the player an Up-Grade for talking to him, which will allow a to evolve, through a trade, into. In, one of the Hoenn region's starter Pokémon may be obtained here towards the end of the game from the Hoenn Champion himself,. The alternate forms of may also be accessed here in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, and the notebook present in the room Rotom's appliances can be found in indicates that Charon may have had past connection to the company.

Fighting Dojo
In addition to Sabrina's Gym, there is also a secondary Gym, the Fighting Dojo, which specializes in. It is where the undefined can obtain either or  in Generations I and  but only if the Karate Master Kiyo (mistakenly called Koichi in ) is defeated.

It has been established that the Fighting Dojo and the Saffron Gym once competed against each other to determine which one would be the Indigo League's sixth Gym. Due to the that the Psychic-type Pokémon that were trained at the Saffron Gym had over the Fighting-type Pokémon used by the Dojo, Saffron Gym easily won and became the official Gym.

The Dojo is closed in Generation II because the Karate Master is training in Johto's Mt. Mortar. In, the Gym Leaders of Kanto and Johto can be found here for a rematch, much like how the Sinnoh Gym Leaders can be found for a rematch in the Battleground in. Unlike Platinum, the Leaders have set times at which they will appear and they will not arrive at the Dojo until certain conditions have been met elsewhere in the game. Specifically, each Leader's Pokégear telephone number must be obtained while he or she is not in their Gym. Once the Gym Leader has been telephoned, he or she will accept multiple rematches, provided it is still within their allotted time period.

Magnet Train station
In the Generation II games and, the Magnet Train runs from Saffron City to Goldenrod City in Johto, connecting the two regions. It is one of the few methods undefineds can use to travel from region to region, and it will allow rapid travel between the two cities, going at over 340 miles per hour (550 kilometers per hour).

To board the train, the player must have a Pass. The in Saffron City has one and is willing to give it up as a reward for returning her the Poké Doll that  gave to her three years before. Initially, the train is out of service as a minion of Team Rocket has stolen a valuable part from the Kanto Power Plant. After defeating him on, the player can retrieve the part from the Cerulean Gym and return it to the Power Plant. With the component back in place, the train will have the necessary power to run.

In, Vermilion City's Gym Leader Lt. Surge will come here and offer to trade his for the player's Pikachu. This Pikachu is notable because it originates from a different language than that of the player's game: in the English releases, it is French and in all other releases, it is English.

Mr. Psychic's house
Mr. Psychic lives in a small house that is located on the southeastern side of the city, being better accessible by entering Saffron City from the southern entrance. He sits at a table in the middle of the room. When talked to for the first time in every game he is featured in, he will claim to know that the undefined really wants to receive a gift from him, giving away to the player.

Copycat's house
In the Generation I games and, Copycat lives in a house that is located in the northwestern suburb of the city. She will give the TM for in the Generation I games or serve as the Move Tutor for it in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, in return for a -style Poké Doll. In her bedroom, there is an SNES with a that has  with a bucket on his head.

In between the events of Generations I and, Copycat's house in Saffron City was torn down to make room for the Magnet Train station.

In the Generation II games and, Copycat's Clefairy doll goes missing, being found by a member of the Pokémon Fan Club in Vermilion City. When the undefined returns her lost doll, Copycat will reward them with a ticket to ride the Magnet Train that travels between Kanto and Johto.

Pokémon Trainer Fan Club
People gather to discuss their favorite celebrity s at the Pokémon Trainer Fan Club, which only exists in.

Saffron Gym
The Saffron Gym is the official Gym of Saffron City. It is based on. The Gym Leader is Sabrina. s who defeat her receive the. The Saffron Gym is a maze of warp tiles and nine rooms, seven of which contain Trainers, while the other two are Sabrina's room and the entrance. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, this was changed to four rooms with trainers in.

Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow
In, the population is 50, not including the members of Team Rocket who eventually leave.

Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal
, the population is 35. This drastic decrease is due to both the Fighting Dojo shutting down and the restriction of access to Silph Co.'s upper floors.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen
In, the population is 63, making it one of the biggest cities in the Pokémon world and the second biggest in Kanto.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
In, Saffron City's population is 47.

Trainer Tips

 * Generation I


 * Generation III

Differences in generations
In between the events of Generation I and, 's house in Saffron City was torn down to make room for the Magnet Train station.

In the Generation I games and, there is a sign advertising Silph Co.'s "latest product" with a release date not defined.

Unused map
In, if the overworld's collision data is bypassed in order to skip any of the gates surrounding the city, the player will access an alternate version of Saffron City, whereby all warps and events are absent. This is because the real Saffron City is not directly connected to its adjacent routes so the game loads a copy of the map that assures the continuity of the overworld.

This is not the case in the Generation I games. The map of "fake" Saffron City is also very similar to that of the original games in that its boundaries are set so that it leaves the gates outside of the map. Its in-game behavior is alike the Generation I games as well.

In the Super Smash Bros. series
 appears as a playable stage, specifically the roof of Silph Co., in Super Smash Bros. In the background, the text "Gotta Catch 'em All!" and "" can be seen. A mountain range in the background may be the same one that contains Mt. Moon,, Cerulean Cave, and Mt. Silver. There is also a minor building with some blurry text that seems to start with "F", so it could possibly be the Fighting Dojo.

Certain Pokémon will emerge from the elevator in the Silph Co. building and attack briefly, similar to Pokémon summoned from. Occasionally,, , , and will appear in the background.

During the game's intro, can be seen rolling on a Poké Ball as a person walks by.

In Pokémon Pinball
In, Saffron City appears on the Blue table. Catchable include, , , , , ,  and.

In the main series
In the original series, Saffron City debuted in Abra and the Psychic Showdown. ,, and were initially caught and trapped by , but were soon freed by a mysterious little girl, who turned out to be Sabrina's doll. Wanting to earn the, Ash entered the Saffron Gym and challenged Sabrina into a battle, using his against Sabrina's. During the battle, Abra evolved into a and easily overwhelmed Pikachu, making Ash eventually give up. Following the advice of a mysterious man, Ash headed to Lavender Town to obtain a  so he could have another battle with Sabrina.

Ash, Misty, and Brock returned to Saffron City in Haunter versus Kadabra, accompanied by a Ash had befriended. Unfortunately, Haunter preferred comedy over battling, and disappeared before the rematch. Ash managed to find Haunter again, but it disappeared yet again when Ash re-entered the Gym. To protect Ash, Pikachu faced Sabrina's Kadabra. After a while, Haunter appeared and made Sabrina laugh for the first time in years. As her Kadabra was rendered unable to battle by the laughter, Sabrina gave Ash the Marsh Badge and kept Haunter with her.

In the, the city was first mentioned in On Cloud Arcanine, when Drew informed that a Pokémon Contest was scheduled to be held there. Ash, May, Max, and Brock arrived in Saffron City in The Saffron Con, in which they visited the Contest Hall and met Lilian for the first time. Later, the group met up with Harley at the Pokémon Center, who revealed he was working as an assistant to Nurse Joy after she treated his. He also told May that, in the Kanto region, Pokémon Coordinators are allowed to switch between the Performance Stage and the Battle Stage. Initially, May did not believe him, but Nurse Joy confirmed he was telling the truth. Harley then informed her that she could use her Hoenn Contest Pass to sign up for the Saffron Contest until 11 AM the next day. This time, however, he was lying.

Later that day, Team Rocket managed to steal several Pokémon belonging to Coordinators who were in the city to take part in the Saffron Contest, but thanks to Harley and May, their scheme was foiled. The other day, when May went to register, the lady in the registration desk told her that she needed a Contest Pass from Kanto and that the deadline was 10 AM, and May realized that Harley had lied to her. Luckily for her, Lilian appeared and told the receptionist that if it were not for May rescuing the Coordinators' Pokémon, there would be no Pokémon Contest. After that, May received her Kanto Contest Pass and was registered in the Saffron Contest.

During the competition, which took place in A Hurdle for Squirtle, Harley used his Cacturne, Jessebella used her, and May used her in the Performance Stage. The three of them were able to impress the Contest Judges enough to advance to the Battle Stage. There, Harley defeated Jessebella and quickly made his way to the final round, where he found himself up against May. Using his against her, Harley held the upper hand for most of their battle, having lowered May's score considerably. However, Squirtle ended up knocking out Ariados, making May the winner of the Saffron City Pokémon Contest. This victory gave May the Saffron Ribbon, her first Kanto Ribbon.

The Battle Arena is also located near Saffron City.

In Pokémon Origins
Saffron City appeared in File 3: Giovanni. Soon after arriving into the city, encountered, and together they saved a woman from being harassed by Team Rocket. The woman revealed herself to be the Silph Co.'s president's secretary, and told the two Trainers that Team Rocket had taken over the company, intending to steal the Master Ball they were developing. Wanting to free the Pokémon used in the development tests, Red stormed the Silph Co., releasing all the imprisoned Pokémon and s inside. At the top floor, he encountered the Boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni. He had a battle against the criminal leader, but was easily defeated, and Giovanni got away.

Following the Silph Co. incident, Red challenged Sabrina to a Gym battle and defeated her, earning the Marsh Badge. Afterwards, he challenged the Karate Master at the Fighting Dojo and won, earning himself a or  as a reward.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Saffron City first appeared in Holy Moltres and Kalling Kadabra, where it was revealed that Team Rocket had managed to capture all three Legendary birds and was keeping their base at the Silph Co. building. Due to guards blocking the gates and an invisible barrier surrounding the city, it seemed impossible to get in. However, thanks to some cooperation between and, they were able to discover that the barrier was actually a  cast by a , and defeat it using teamwork between Pika's  clone and Blue's Golduck, lifting the barrier and allowing the Pokédex holders to enter the city.

The Pokédex holders subsequently stormed Silph Co. and battled against the evil Gym Leaders serving for Team Rocket; Lt. Surge, Koga, and Sabrina, and the Legendary birds they controlled. With a device called the Badge Energy Amplifier, accidentally fused the three Legendary birds into one being,. With their combined efforts, the three Pallet Town Trainers managed to defeat the creature and separate it back into its three original forms, which then fled.

During the Silph Co. battle, lower members of Team Rocket tried to escape the city, but were all caught by the Gym Leaders of Justice (Brock, Misty, and Erika) and their allies outside of the city gates.

Two years later, Agatha was seen picking up the Badge Energy Amplifier from the ruins of Silph Co.

In the Pokémon Zensho manga
arrives in Saffron City in the seventh chapter, Saffron City. With Sabrina's help, Satoshi defeated Giovanni, who had taken over the city and the Silph Co. office building. For his help, Satoshi earned the.

Name origin
Saffronia City Ciudad Azafrán Safrania Zafferanopoli ヤマブキシティ 金黄市