Ghost Grey Walkthrough: Full Route, Badges and Blood Hexes

Short answer: Ghost Grey hands out eight badges, but only some come from beating a gym leader. Two are found on the floor, one is bought with Game Corner coins, and the same leader hands out two of them. There is also a ninth badge item -- the Boulder Badge -- that is a joke the game sells you. This page walks the route in the order it plays, and marks which parts are verified ROM data and which come from a full v1.0.4 playthrough.

How this page was built

Two independent sources, and it is worth knowing which is which:

• ROM data (v1.0.4). The badge flags and their grant sites, the badge items themselves, every gym leader's team, the Elite Four and Champion rosters, and the full HM table all come out of the game's own tables.
• A full playthrough of v1.0.4, start to credits. That is where the route order comes from, and it is the only record of the sequence the game actually puts you through.

Where the two disagree, this page says so rather than picking one.

Story spoilers stay off this page on purpose. The League's dark turns, the choices that can end someone's life in-game, and where the rest of the spoiler material lives are on the spoilers page.

The badge bookkeeping, up front

Three things fall out of that table immediately:

• Two badges are found rather than won. Badges 1 and 6 have no trainer battle at their grant site at all -- the script hands you the badge and nothing else. That is why the Volcano Badge sits in the Seafoam Islands, a mid-game area with a Lv 65 Murkrow in it, instead of following the Shock Badge in difficulty. The numbering is flag order, not progression order.
• Maj. Voltage hands out two of them. The same trainer appears at Cerulean City and Vermilion City, so one leader covers two badges at two sites.
• The badge names are the items' own. Volcano, Shock, Plague, Chaos, Famine, Flood and Hope are what the game calls them; nothing in that column is our invention.

There is also a Boulder Badge, and it is not in the table because it grants no flag: it is a key item whose own text says it was purchased at Pewter Casino, and it goes for 150 coins at the prize counter there, listed beside Candy Corn and Ghost-B-Gone. Pewter's gym leader, Aston, will tell you as much to your face before he battles you anyway. Treat it as the joke badge it is.

The route, stage by stage

In the order it plays, with the hard checkpoints called out as you go.

Pallet Town to the Cerulean gym

Character creation is a short questionnaire -- one prompt offers Fame, Love, Power or Nothing -- and then three Poké Balls on Oak's table. Every starter is a Ghost dual-type: Rowlet (Grass/Ghost), Litwick (Fire/Ghost), and Spiritle, which becomes Wickortle and then Lichtoise (Water/Ghost). Rowlet arrives at Lv 5.

Shop properly before you leave. The first mart stocks Exp. Share (¥1000), Amulet Coin (¥100), Kinder Egg (¥100) and Coffee Crisp (¥1000). Your starting bag already sets the tone: Ghost-B-Gone, a repellant that "wards off weaker Ghosts for 250 steps."

Pewter's gym is optional, and it is the reason the badge count confuses people. Leader Aston tells you straight that the Boulder Badge can simply be bought downstairs at the Pewter Casino -- then battles you regardless, with a Kabuto and a Nosegast. The badge itself is a prize-counter purchase for 150 coins, sitting beside Candy Corn (25), Ragecandybar (75), Poké Ball (75) and Ghost-B-Gone (125). It grants nothing: eight real badge flags exist in this game and the Boulder Badge is none of them.

Summer, your rival, turns up on the road out with a Scarly and a Greavard. Then Cerulean: a security question disarms the gate, and Maj. Voltage leads with a Killtorb.

Vermilion side content, and the first two Blood Hexes

The Mushroom Key opens the Brotherhood of Bugs tunnels in Vermilion. On Route 6 an angler asks whether you have ever gone fishing and hands you the Bad Rod -- the first cast hooks a Remoraid, and yes, this dex retypes freely.

HM02 is Soul Shift, which replaces Fly. It fast-travels you to anywhere you have already visited and needs no badge, and Summer is the one who hands it over in the Vermilion stretch. Do not go hunting for a Fly HM.

Blood Hexes are events, not items. The first comes out of the Shaman Uriah encounter -- a Sableye fight, then the weather turns and the lights go out. The second lands on a Feral Woman and her Haunter, who tells you the pain is temporary but yours will be eternal. Play them as set pieces you walk through, not collectibles to chase.

Maximus fights you in between, fielding a Hexio, Killtorb and Pikaboo -- the same team Maj. Voltage uses, because Maximus Voltage is the Cerulean and Vermilion leader, and your friend.

Strength, the Abyss Stone, and Celidon's gym

An Abyss Stone lies on the road out, and HM04 Strength is waiting in Opal Village, so double back for it if you skipped the village. With Strength in hand the route opens toward Celidon.

Erika runs the Celidon gym, and has held the post for over 50 years. She sizes you up with "I've noticed you. Your friends, they…", then fights with a Gourgeist (Lv 25), a Brambela (Lv 27) and a Viralplume (Lv 29). Her badge is the Plague Badge, and the game's own description of it is "When held, it makes me feel sick."

Flash, the Desert Palace and the Famine Badge

HM05 Flash is a Pewter City gift, so detour back if you skipped it. The Scooter turns up around the Desert Palace and makes the back half of the map far less tedious, and the Desert Key goes into your Key Items pocket once you are inside the palace walls.

The Desert Palace is a puzzle dungeon, and the Grey Soulstone is what solving it gets you -- a gift rather than a pickup, and the key to the post-game, so do not leave without it. The Famine Badge is also in these halls, and it is lying on the floor. No leader, no battle, just an item: two of the eight badge flags have no fight attached and this is one of them. The NPCs around here are racing you to the prize.

Saffron City and the Bruno Enterprises keys

Police Pass (Routes 5-8) gets you into Saffron, and while you are in town, buy evolution stones -- five of the six are sold here. Saffron has no gym, and the NPCs say as much. The city's real content is Bruno Enterprises: RM. 3 Key, RM. 4 Key and the Surgery Key stack up as you climb, and the Microchip unlocks the barrier of wires on the seventh floor.

HM06 Shatterpoint comes out of this building, and it is not a battle move you will care about: it uses psychic power to shatter invisible walls and barriers, which is the only way through several later sections.

The Safari Zone and the Chaos Badge

The Safari Zone is where the Hookshot sits as a ball on the ground, and where the Ornate Key turns up -- you will need it for Surf. Onibaba, classed in the ROM as "Demon Woman", ambushes you here; beat her and the Chaos Badge is left lying there to snatch off the ground, which its own item text admits, calling it a badge stolen from a murderous Onibaba. HM03 Surf is the reward for this stretch.

Amethyst Lane, Fort Sanguine and the Junko Sloop

Amethyst Lane is the game's shopping-and-kitsch street -- one vendor will sell you almost anything for ¥50 and points you at celebrity testimonials -- and Spectrier is wandering it as a catchable legendary, so bring balls. From there the route runs through Fort Sanguine to the Junko Sloop, where Hoopa appears and the fourth Blood Hex lands.

The Cannonball you pick up in this stretch is listed in the ROM at Davy Jones' Locker rather than on the sloop, so treat that location as approximate. Cap'n Steve is waiting in the Locker -- "Yarr... Who dare disturb me slumber?" -- and the Flood Badge is the one badge with two grant sites and a leader at each: him here, and Presence back on Cinnabar Island.

Lillie, the Volcano Badge and the Fuji Catacombs

Lillie turns up at the Paradise Moonbase and hands over a Sun Stone and Moon Stone; HM07 Waterfall comes from the same stretch. Then the decision the game is known for: a prompt on Takeshi, kill or spare. With three endings in the game, assume it matters.

The Volcano Badge is not a gym award. It is sitting in the Seafoam Islands, in the cold, with "A Terrifying" Presence and a Lv 65 Murkrow between you and it -- which is why a badge numbered first in the flag table arrives so late. The ROM's grant script for it contains no trainer battle at all.

Then the Fuji Catacombs under Lavender Town. The Hope Badge is handed over down there, the Grey Orb is down there, and Agatha is in the tunnels talking about death and life as two sides of the same coin. The ROM's data lists three unnamed battles at this grant site.

Route 12, Viridian's gym and the League

Route 12's Data Center holds the Rusty Drive. Viridian City's gym is still running, led by Professor Blue Oak, who fields an Alakazam and a Rhysaurus -- a real fight worth doing, but not one of the eight flag grants.

Then Victory Road, which is a proper dungeon with trainers in it, and the League. The first Elite Four fight is Whitney: flutermane and teddiursa at Lv 59 to 61, and a warning that these badges were made hard to get. The second is not a battle -- you find someone who cannot breathe and a system that is switched off, and you choose whether to turn it back on. Two more Elite Four fights follow, and then Champion Grey, whose team runs Lv 69 to 75 and swaps its final slot for your starter's line.

After the Hall of Fame and the credits, the post-game starts immediately and it is enormous. It has its own guide -- see the post-game and endings guide.

The gym leaders

Every leader the ROM identifies, with the team they fight you with. The class shown is the game's own.

Aston -- Leader -- no badge flag -- Pewter City

• kabuto L10, nosegast L14 (pewtercity)

Aston is a genuine gym leader -- class "Leader", home city Pewter -- whose gym rewards you with a purchasable Boulder Badge rather than one of the eight flags. Fight him for the fun of it, not for the badge.

Maj.Voltage -- Leader -- badges 2, 3 -- Cerulean City, Vermilion City

• killtorb L18, hexio L21 (ceruleancity, vermilioncity)

Erika -- Leader -- badge 4 -- Celidon City

• gourgeist L25, brambela L27, viralplume L29 (celidoncity)

Onibaba -- Demon Woman -- badge 5 -- Fuchsia City

• sableye L42, oricorio L40, muk L45, gengar L43, scrafty L40 (fuchsiacity, safarizone)

Presence -- A Terrifying -- badge 7 -- Cinnabar Island, Davy Jones' Locker

• murkrow L65 (blklicorice), murkrow378 L65 (blklicorice) (cinnabarisland, seafoamislands)

Presence's second site is the Seafoam Islands, which is exactly where the Volcano Badge -- flag 1 -- is found. The Lv 65 Murkrow is what is standing on top of it.

Cap'n Steve -- Leader -- badge 7 -- Cinnabar Island, Davy Jones' Locker

• sharpedo L47, cursola L47, lichtoise L49, dhelmise L49, wailord L53, petey L5 (davyjoneslocker)

The Elite Four

Six trainers carry the "Elite Four" class in the ROM. Five are based at Indigo Plateau, at levels 59 to 70; the sixth, Domino, holds the class but fights on Route 25, out in post-game territory. Teams and levels below are as stored in the ROM's own trainer table.

Whitney -- Elite Four

• flutermane L59, greemsnarl L59, teddiursa L61, tinkotreat L62, blacefalon L60, miltank L65

Lance -- Elite Four

• dragonite L66, dragonite L66, dragonite L67, dragonite L68, dragonite L68, dragonite L70

Moa -- Elite Four

• magnatron L63, hauntolee L64, gholdengo L64, ursaring L62, ambeing L64, octillery L68

Pryce -- Elite Four

• unbomasnow L65, glalie L62, jynx L62, shivburr L66, froslass L63, piloswine L67

Agatha -- Elite Four

• gengar L66, celestar L66, mewthree L65, pikaboo L68, gengar L70

Domino -- Elite Four -- Route 25 (post-game)

• ambeing L68, octillery L69, hauntochan L69, golurk L71, typhlosion L70, skeledirge L77

The Champion

The Pokémon League Champion is Grey, classed "Champion" and based at the Pokémon League. Like the endgame pair below, his team has three starter-dependent variants, running Lv 69 to 75, and the slot that changes is his last one -- whichever starter line you picked, its final form is standing opposite you.

Grey (grey)

• gengar L70, jiangshao L69, suicune L72, draconite L71, aegislash L71, chandelure L75

Grey (grey2)

• gengar L70, jiangshao L69, suicune L72, draconite L71, aegislash L71, lichtoise L75

Grey (grey3)

• gengar L70, jiangshao L69, suicune L72, draconite L71, aegislash L71, decidueye L75

The endgame fights

Two more names, each with three team variants, classed "This is it..." and stored at level 95 to 99. The ROM keeps them at the Heart of the World, and they are the hardest fights in the game -- well above anything the League throws at you.

The variants are not cosmetic -- they are starter-dependent. One slot in each team changes with the starter you picked, and the three versions line up exactly: Lichtoise for the Water line, Chandelure for Fire, Decidueye for Grass. Everything else in the six teams is identical, down to the level 98 Entei.

Jonny Bones (jonnybones)

• lichtoise L99, entei L98, goodrome L97, flutermane L96, spiritomb L96, voivern L95

Jonny Bones (jonnybones2)

• chandelure L99, entei L98, goodrome L97, flutermane L96, spiritomb L96, voivern L95

Jonny Bones (jonnybones3)

• decidueye L99, entei L98, goodrome L97, flutermane L96, spiritomb L96, voivern L95

Junebug (junebug)

• lichtoise L99, entei L98, tinkotreat L97, scrafty L96, gholdengo L96, azumarill L95

Junebug (junebug2)

• chandelure L99, entei L98, tinkotreat L97, scrafty L96, gholdengo L96, azumarill L95

Junebug (junebug3)

• decidueye L99, entei L98, tinkotreat L97, scrafty L96, gholdengo L96, azumarill L95

The HM table

HM order and names are straight from the ROM. Two of them will surprise you: HM02 is Soul Shift, not Fly, and HM06 is Shatterpoint, a move this hack invented which shatters invisible walls and barriers rather than hitting anything. HMs are forgettable, and two of the seven share a source location.

The "where" column is the ROM's primary site for each HM, not the only one. Soul Shift is also given to you in the Vermilion stretch -- which is where our route picks it up -- and a third copy is hidden in Pallet Town. Read the table as where each HM is stored, not as the only place you can get it.

In the order a playthrough collects them: Cut, Soul Shift, Strength, Flash, Shatterpoint, Surf, Waterfall.

Blood Hexes

There are four Blood Hexes, and they are events rather than collectibles -- hauntings the game stages, in a fixed order, at fixed points in the route. The ROM's own data does not document what one does, and neither does any published guide; what is certain is that they are scripted and unmissable.

• The first comes out of the Shaman Uriah encounter in the Vermilion stretch: cold winds, cloudy skies, a scream, and a Sableye.
• The second is the Feral Woman and her Haunter, who promises that the pain is temporary but yours will be eternal.
• The third lands in the Bruno Enterprises and House of Puppets stretch.
• The fourth is in the Amethyst Lane, Fort Sanguine and Junko Sloop run, somewhere between Hoopa and the sloop.

How long does Ghost Grey take?

Longer than the badge count suggests. The reference playthrough behind this page's route order runs 11 hours, and this is where the time goes:

Three things fall out of that:

• The story is roughly eight hours and the post-game is another three. Hall of Fame lands just under eight hours in; the post-game runs from there to eleven.
• The difficulty curve is back-loaded. Two badges in the first hour, then a long middle, then the last two badges and the League inside the final 40 minutes of the main story. Budget for the end, not the start.
• It is not padded, and it is not short. Most of the length is dungeons -- Victory Road, the Desert Palace, Castle of Greed, the Abyss -- rather than grinding, but no one is finishing this in an afternoon at normal speed.

The one number that would make it shorter: the player who recorded that run says it can be finished in two to three hours with emulator speed-up. That is the same content at several times normal speed, not a shorter route. This is one thorough player's pace, and it includes the entire post-game.

Level curve, honestly

The numbers that matter, all from the ROM rather than estimated:

• Gym leaders ramp from around Lv 18-21 (Maj. Voltage) through 25-29 (Erika) and 40-45 (Onibaba), up to 47-53 (Cap'n Steve).
• The gyms are not where the difficulty lives. The Lv 65 Murkrow sitting on the first badge flag in the Seafoam Islands is a bigger jump than any badge fight, the Elite Four sit at Lv 59 to 70, and the Champion's team starts at Lv 69.
• The endgame pair are stored at Lv 95 to 99.

If you are coming from a normal FireRed run, the back half of this game is longer than you are budgeting for.

Where the rest of the data lives

This page is the route. The lookup tables that go with it are three pages, all generated from the same ROM data:

• Wild encounters by area -- every area's grass, surfing and rod tables with levels and slot rates.
• Legendary and static Pokémon -- the 47 fixed encounters, gifts and eggs.
• Item locations -- all 717 item placements, hidden ones included.
• The 100% checklist -- everything above as tick boxes, phase by phase, with the story branches hidden behind a click.
• Challenge runs -- Nuzlocke rules with level caps taken from the boss teams on this page.
• Lore and setting -- what the ROM will tell you about its own world, and where it deliberately stops.

The bits still open

How many badges are there, really? The ROM stores eight badge flags, the game's own listing text says 7 Gym Badges, and a full playthrough collects labels up to a "9th". Those counts do not reconcile, and nothing published explains why. The eight flags, with their grant sites and their badge items, are the version this page trusts: eight badges, two of them found rather than won, plus a joke Boulder Badge you can buy.

Elite Four, four or five? Six trainers carry the class, five of them at Indigo Plateau. A playthrough meets four of those before the Champion, then meets Agatha again in the post-game, so the main-game quartet is not the whole set. Which of the five the game intends as its "four" is a question the ROM does not answer.

What this guide does not claim

It does not walk you turn by turn through any dungeon. It tells you what order things happen in and which key item opens the next stretch; it does not tell you where the switch is.

It also does not claim the route order is forced. The badge flags prove where badges are granted; they do not prove the game funnels you down a single linear path through a game with this much optional content.

Related: the post-game and endings guide, key items, getting started, the evolution guide, and what's different from vanilla.