Have you ever played Pokemon FireRed or LeafGreen?

If you were like me, you probably were in a rush to get either a male or female Nidoran to challenge Brock, the first gym leader. However, no matter how much time you spent in the grass on the outskirts of Viridian City, you wouldn’t come up empty handed.

Today we discuss why Nidoran migrated from Route 22 towards Mount Moon by the third generation.

The Origin of the Nidoran Migration Theory

As I shared above, when I got the redesigned remake of the classic Red & Blue Pokemon games, I was a very happy camper.

At least until I went on Route 22 to look for a Nidoran.

While most children loved their Charmanders, Squirtles, and Pikachus, I was a hardcore fan of the Nidoran family.

• I think Nidoran’s designs are adorable

• I love that their final evolution make a perfect matching set of a King and Queen

• Also for poison-types they are pretty awesome looking compared to Koffing and the various bugs that came with the 1st-generation of Pokemon.

But there was no Nidoran in sight on Route 22. Male or female.

I was devastated about not being able to start my brand new game with a poisonous princess or prince.

This got me thinking…

• Why did they vanish?

• What made the Nidorans that roamed freely nearby the gates of the Indigo League suddenly disappear?

But the reality was, they didn’t just vanish, they just relocated… To Mount Moon.

The Nidoran Migration Theory

My theory is that the Nidoran family had been either removed, they migrated from Route 22, or both.

Nidoran and the first generation Pokemon games

In the Red & Blue games, the encounter rate for Nidoran was 35% and 5%.

• In Red the females would be found 5% of the time

• In Blue they would be found at 35%. The opposite was true for the male Nidorans.

In the Yellow games the ratio of male to female were different.

• The males appear at the regular rate of 35% while females at 25%.

• However they would also be found on Route 2 at a lower rate of 15% for both genders.

With this information, one could assume that slowly but surely these Pokemon were starting to head north.

Nidoran and the second generation Pokemon games

By the time the second generation of games come around. There are no Nidoran in sight on Route 22 or Route 2. Why? Well they were still heading north and were in the outskirts of Pewter City, undetected by trainers.

Nidoran and the third generation Pokemon games

When third generation came along with LeafGreen & FireRed, the Nidoran have managed to sneak past human civilization in Pewter City and repopulate on Route 3. Their rates are even lower than before at 14% & 1% depending on which game you play, but it shows that they have started to place themselves once again on the map.

Why did the Nidoran leave Route 22 to go to Route 3?

The answer is simple, Mt. Moon.

Clefairy and Jigglypuff are rare pokemon that can be found on Route 3. They are cute pokemon who require Moon Stones to reach their full potential as a pokemon. Naturally Nidorans who require the same rock to get to their final evolution would be drawn to the north of Route 22 because of this fact.

Though this decision leads to their eventual downfall

When Nidorina and Nidoqueen start to use Moon Stones to get to their final evolution, both the 1st and 2nd stage of the Nidoran female are sterile. This means that while being close to Moon Stones do make them more powerful, it also means that passing down their genes eventually becomes impossible and by the time the third generation came around (HeartGold & SoulSilver), there are no more Nidoran available to find.

Now, I bet you all are saying. “But you can still find them in the Safari Zone and what about the other Routes in the pokemon games?”

I’m getting to that.

Nidoran and The Safari Zone

The Safari Zone is described as “An amusement park outside Fuchsia City where many rare Pokemon can be observed in the wild”.  Early on it’s acknowledged that due to the fact that the Nidoran family have issues with reproduction in the wild, they are endangered creatures who need to be protected in a safe environment so they do not die out for future generations of Pokemon trainers.

Let’s talk numbers

In the Red & Blue games, the Safari Zone would only have 1 of the gendered Nidoran available to capture.

• In Red it was Nidoran (m) at 25%

• In Blue it was Nidoran (f) at the same percentage.

One could assume that the owners of the Safari Zone were still in the early stages of capturing Nidoran for their sanctuary.

Nidorino and Nidorina were also available in the Safari Zone, but at lower rates of 5% and 10% depending on which version you were playing. Though as mentioned before, thanks to Nidorina being sterile, having the 1st stage female pokemon in both Red & Blue did not serve as much of a purpose as Nidorina (f) could.

In Yellow, the numbers in the various areas fluctuate.

Though the fact that one could obtain both gendered Nidorans show that their plan of repopulating the royal poison pokemon has been a success for the most part. While looking at the numbers, Nidorinas and Nidorinos are generally segregated in the various areas of the Safari Zone.

Why do Nidoran Migrate?

Why? Maybe it is because of the mating rituals of the Nidorino and Nidorina. Since the Nidorina are sterile, they probably have no desire to hang around the Nidorino and instead form their own groups in their areas to be babysitters for the young Nidorans.

When LeafGreen & FireRed come around, it seems as if the Nidorinos and Nidorinas have started to tolerate one another in certain areas. While their ratios are still off, they could be seen together. Because by then, the evolved Nidorinos still keep their bonds with their Nidorina caretakers.

Nidoran and the Johto Region

Now what’s really interesting is that in Silver & Gold, it seems as if the locals of Johto have desired to have the Nidoran population in their region as well. Both genders of Nidoran could be found on Route 35 & 36 pretty high 30% rate of encounter too.

What I believe is that these Nidoran are imported from the Kanto region.

While I did mention earlier, the reason the Nidorans weren’t on the Kanto routes in the 2nd generations was because some Nidoran were in the outskirts of Pewter City trying to get towards Mt. Moon… A large portion could have also been taken from their homes on Routes 2 and 22 to the Johto region.

Why Routes 35 & 36?

It was the Johto region that was known for a lot of research and discovery of Pokemon Breeding. South from Route 35 was a Daycare Center that was famous for having a couple who would find Pokemon Eggs for trainers who would leave their pokemon overnight.

It wouldn’t surprise me that Pokemon Breeders would find the sterile Nidorina & Nidoqueen fascinating.

Early on, they probably caught many to take back home and study. This could have led to the Nidoran family ending up on the northern routes of 35 & 36 if they escaped the Daycare.

The National Park

Another theory would be that they were taken to the National Park for the same reason they were taken to the Safari Zone. As a safe haven for them to frolic. Though due to the large amount of predators, they never stayed long in the National Park and instead remained in the outskirts of it on Routes 35 & 36.

By the time Crystal version came along, the Nidoran probably have adjusted to the new region and stayed in the National Park. Though they didn’t stay long as in HeartGold & SoulSilver, they retreated back to the safety of the Routes.

The TLDR of the Nidoran Migration Theory

Here’s the short and sweet version

Nidorans instinctually head towards Mt. Moon because of Moon Stone to evolve. However Nidorinas & Nidoqueen cannot breed, so trainers also have contributed in their migration patterns by taking them to safe havens such as the Safari Zone & National Park so that they could repopulate.

• Breeders could have also taken a special interest in them and contributed to their lack of numbers in Kanto by taking them to the Johto region.

What are your thoughts on this Nidoran Theory?

This was a theory I wrote several years ago, but I’m finally publishing it online because I’m curious as to what you all think. Have you ever thought about the migration habits of Nidoran?

Do you have any other Pokemon theories that aren’t mainstream? I’d love to see them!

Comment below if you have or share ones that you know so I can check them out!