Route 32 - Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Guide - IGN (2024)

Almost immediately upon walking southward along Route 32, you'll realize that there's a place directly to your west. This location is entirely optional, and not entirely important to us right now. It's called the Ruins of Alph, and more information on it can be found in the Side Quests section of this guide, but not right here, right now. As you continue southward, you'll begin to run into some items and plenty of trainers, but the first person you'll encounter is actually an elderly man who will hand over a Miracle Seed when you speak with him. The Miracle Seed will allow a Grass-type Pokemon to increase his or her Grass-powered moves when held, so it's an extremely useful item that you may or may not be able to use at this point in the game, depending on what Pokemon you've captured.

As far as items "out in the wild" are concerned, you should find three as you head to the far southern end of Route 32. In order, you should run into Repel, TM09, and a Great Ball, and you should find and add all three to your inventory. In addition, you should be prepared to deal with some trainers -- eight of them, to be exact. Fortunately, none of these trainers should even remotely present a challenge to you. The most difficult one you'll face is likely the one that can be found furthest to the south. There, Bird Keeper Peter will come at you with two level six Pidgeys and a level eight Spearow. But even then, this shouldn't be anything you can't handle.

Otherwise, heading southward down Route 32 is pretty uneventful. Keep in mind that the path splits into two parts as you head south (or, subsequently, as you head north), so to find all of the trainers and items, you're going to need to explore both the path on the left and the docks on the right (especially the latter, when referring to the trainers). And be absolutely certain that as you head southward towards Union Cave's entrance, you explore the Pokemon Center you randomly run into. Not only is this a great place to bring your Pokemon to heal them, but when you speak to all of the inhabitants within the building, you should acquire two Lure Balls, and far more importantly, the Old Rod. The Old Rod is a fishing pole that will allow you to finally fight and capture water-bound Pokemon. Unfortunately, with such a weak fishing pole (the weakest in the game), you really only have a reasonable chance of catching a useless Magikarp in the water back to the north. If you have the patience to make your Magikarp high-level, however, you'll be rewarded with one of the most powerful water-type Pokemon in the game. So it may just pay off for you!

Youngster Albert

128 Pokedollars

Rattata (Male) Lv6

• Type:Normal
• Ability:Run Away or Guts (Not Sure Which)
• Attacks:
  • Tackle (Normal/Physical)
  • Tail Whip (Normal/Other)
  • Quick Attack (Normal/Physical)
• EXP:72

Zubat (Male) Lv8

• Type:Flying/Poison
• Ability:Inner Focus
• Attacks:
  • Leech Life (Bug/Physical)
  • Supersonic (Normal/Other)
• EXP:90

Picnicker Liz

128 Pokedollars and a phone number

Nidoran (Female) lv8

• Type:Poison
• Ability:Poison Point or Rivalry (Not Sure Which)
• Attacks:
  • Growl (Normal/Other)
  • Scratch (Normal/Physical)
  • Tailwhip (Normal/Other)
• EXP:98

Camper Roland

144 Pokedollars

Nidoran (Male) Lv9

• Type:Poison
• Ability:Poison Point or Rivalry (Not Sure Which)
• Attacks:
  • Leer (Normal/Other)
  • Peck (Flying/Physical)
  • Focus Energy (Normal/Other)
  • Double Kick (Fighting/Physical)
• EXP:114

Youngster Gordon

160 Pokedollars

Wooper (Male) Lv10

• Type:Water/Ground
• Ability:Water Absorb
• Attacks:
  • Water Gun (Water/Special)
  • Tail Whip (Normal/Other)
  • Mud Sport (Ground/Other)
  • Mud Shot (Ground/Special)
• EXP:110

Fisherman Henry

256 Pokedollars

Poliwag (Male) Lv8

• Type:Water
• Ability:Water Absorb
• Attacks:
  • Watersport (Water/Other)
  • Bubble (Water/Special)
  • Hypnosis (Psychic/Other)
• EXP:132

Poliwag (Male) Lv8

• Type:Water
• Ability:Water Absorb
• Attacks:
  • Watersport (Water/Other)
  • Bubble (Water/Special)
  • Hypnosis (Psychic/Other)
• EXP:132

Fisherman Justin

160 Pokedollars

Magikarp (Male) Lv5

• Type:Water
• Ability:Swift Swim
• Attacks:
  • Splash (Normal/Other)
• EXP:20-21

Magikarp (Male) Lv5

• Type:Water
• Ability:Swift Swim
• Attacks:
  • Splash (Normal/Other)
• EXP:20-21

Magikarp (Male) Lv5

• Type:Water
• Ability:Swift Swim
• Attacks:
  • Splash (Normal/Other)
• EXP:20-21

Magikarp (Male) Lv15

• Type:Water
• Ability:Swift Swim
• Attacks:
  • Splash (Normal/Other)
  • Tackle (Normal/Physical)
• EXP:63

Fisherman Ralph

320 Pokedollars and a phone number

Goldeen (Male) Lv10

• Type:Water
• Ability:Swift Swim or Water Veil (Not Sure Which)
• Attacks:
  • Peck (Flying/Physical)
  • Tail Whip (Normal/Other)
  • Water Sport (water/Other)
  • Supersonic (Normal/Other)
• EXP:236

Continue South and you'll run into a man selling slowpoke tail for a million pokedollars. Next to the man is a Pokemon Center and a girl above it named Freda. On Friday she will appear and give you a Poison Barb. Go inside the pokemon center to heal your pokemon. Exit the center and you'll run into another trainer:

Bird Keeper Peter

256 Pokedollars

Pidgey (Male) Lv6

• Type:Flying/Normal
• Ability:Keen Eye or Tangled Feet (Not Sure Which)
• Attacks:
  • Tackle (Normal/Physical)
  • Sand Attack (Ground/Other)
• EXP:68-70

Pidgey (Male) Lv6

• Type:Flying/Normal
• Ability:Keen Eye or Tangled Feet (Not Sure Which)
• Attacks:
  • Tackle (Normal/Physical)
  • Sand Attack (Ground/Other)
• EXP:68-70

Spearow (Male) Lv8

• Type:Flying/Normal
• Ability:Keen Eye
• Attacks:
  • Peck (Flying/Physical)
  • Growl (Normal/Other)
  • Leer (Normal/Other)
• EXP:98

Go south and in the right corner you'll see a breakable rock. If you still have a pokemon that knows rock smash you can break that and grab the Shell Bell. Next you need to enter Union Cave!