Gate
Gates (Japanese: ゲート Gate) are prominent features of routes in the Pokémon world. They are located at junctions between different routes, or placed between a route and a city.
In the games
Generation I
In Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, gates serve to separate two areas, and also to guard the corresponding route, which is why an Officer usually resides inside. Upon speaking to the Officer, they may offer words of advice or information about the route or city that the gate guards. In Generation I, certain gates contained a second floor that contained a spot where binoculars could be used to see faraway landmarks, or even certain Pokémon. This generation also contained certain gates that prohibited entry until the Officer, who claimed to be thirsty, was given a drink that could be bought at the Celadon Department Store. These gates all lead to Saffron City.
Generation II
Much like Generation I, gates serve to separate two areas. Unlike other buildings, the player can often ride their bicycle through these buildings to guarantee fast transportation. Randy, a non-player character, will give a Spearow to the player in the gate north of Goldenrod City.
Generation III
Gates were sparse in the Generation III games set in Hoenn. There are just two gates, each connected to the Seaside Cycling Road. Players may not ride bicycles as they travel away from the Cycling Road, but are forced upon their bicycle if traveling toward it. If the bicycle has not been obtained, they may not enter.
In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, gates serve the same purpose as in Generation I. Because players can now trade items attached to a Pokémon, the key item Tea was introduced to prevent the player from advancing through the Saffron gates prematurely. This served the same purpose as the drink from the original games. Professor Oak's aides will meet the player on the second floor of some gates. He will check the Pokédex, and will reward the player if he or she has caught a given number. Gates exist also in the Sevii Islands, giving access from the port to each town.
Generation IV
Much like in past generations, the gates in Generation IV serve to separate two areas. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, the player cannot ride their bicycle through these buildings, but this is possible in Pokémon Platinum and HeartGold and SoulSilver. Officers do not watch over the route, but other travelers can be found inside, as well as a map showing the player's current location.
Generation V
There are gates on several routes in Unova, each with a receptionist assigned to the gate. Unlike in previous games, each gate has an electric bulletin board and a screen on one of its walls. The bulletin board displays the current date, the weather in a few adjacent routes and towns (including what location a wind storm or thunderstorm is brewing), information about a nearby town or city, and information about where Pokémon are swarming (once the player has obtained the National Pokédex). The screen shows images from the connected location. Also in these gates there are a trash can and two chairs for a quick rest.
There are also some gates that only connect bridges that have unique designs, though these gates don't have bulletin boards and monitors. Unlike previous generations, where gates share their music with that of a near route, all the gates now share a new background music and each gate has a name (although the same name may be shared by multiple gates) that can be viewed when saving inside one or hatching an egg there.
Practical use
The gates, however, also have a practical use within the games' programming. As a player moves from route to city, the map tilesets (textures in Generation IV) must be loaded for each. While this is easy when a city connects to relatively few routes, where all can use the same tileset, areas like Saffron City and Jubilife City, which connect to many different areas, would need to load multiple tilesets/textures, potentially slowing down the game or even crashing it. The programmers, realizing this, broke up the overworld with these gates to assure crash-free gameplay, and to properly display the routes/towns/cities. In the Generation IV games, a player can use a walk through walls cheat to go from location to location without going through the gates. By doing this, the map tilesets work as normal, except for many tilesets appearing as white tiles. Some buildings seem to be invisible as well. In the Generation V games, the walk through walls cheats can be also used to change locations without using the gates; however, the tileset problem is very limited, if not absent.
List of gates
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Trivia
- Despite having been a mechanic of the games since Generation I, these buildings as a whole did not have an official name until Generation V. "Guardhouse" and "gatehouse" were popular fanon terms to refer to these buildings when they had no official name.