Pokémon Center

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A screen shot of a Pokémon Center in the video game Pokémon Emerald

Within the fictional Pokémon World, Pokémon Centers are special places where Pokémon Trainers take their Pokémon to be healed free of charge. The Pokémon anime also shows they serve as an inn for Trainers to spend the night at before continuing their journey the next day.

Pokémon Centers in the real world are stores dedicated to selling Pokémon merchandise, exclusively.

1 In the video games
2 In the anime
3 Real-world Pokémon Centers
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] In the video games

In the video games, Pokémon centers serve a vital function: the player uses them to restore their Pokémon to full HP and PP, the latter of which does not recover without using rare items or berries. The nurse at a Pokémon Center will also automatically tell the player if one of their Pokémon has Pokérus.

Pokémon Centers always have a sign by the door marked "P.C.". In the recent games, they have red roofs with a Poké Ball design. They can usually only be found in towns and cities. Exceptions to this are the Pokémon centers near Mt. Moon and Rock Tunnel in Pokémon Red and Blue, Yellow, and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Certain locations in other games will also restore Pokémon to full health, although they are not Pokémon Centers. These include a house on the way to the Elite Four in Pokémon Gold and Silver, and an old lady's home between Routes 111 and 113 in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.

If all of a trainer's Pokémon fall unconscious and are unable to continue the battle, they are taken urgently to the last Pokémon Center they visited. The trainer also loses half of his or her money, regardless of who he or she was battling at the time, even if it was a wild Pokémon. The only exception to this rule is in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, in which the amount of money lost for losing a fight reflects on the overall strength of the player's Pokémon team (i.e. the stronger the team, the greater the penalty).

Pokémon Centers are also used to trade or battle with friends via link cable, as well as access the Pokémon and item electronic storage network via PC. Starting from the third generation games, the game-to-game connection utilities have been relocated to the second floor.

In the new generation of Pokémon video games, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, a new level is introduced into the Pokémon Center. The protagonist may now venture into the basement to interact with friends online via the Nintendo Wi-Fi feature. The roof color, historically red, is orange (similar to the Net Center), as marked by preview shots. The trademark blue roof of the Pokémart remains however.

[edit] In the anime

In the anime, Pokémon centers serve the same function of recovering the health of Pokémon. However, they also treat illnesses not present in the Pokémon video games, and are places where Trainers can eat free meals and stay overnight. They have varying architectural designs, but always have a red P on or near them. Every Pokémon Center is operated by a family of nurses, all named Joy (hence, the term Nurse Joy refers to one or all of these such nurses), as well as the Pokémon Chansey or Blissey.

A significant difference from the games is the time it takes to treat Pokémon. In the games, the Pokémon Center's nurse (who resembles Nurse Joy, but is not named as such) puts the Pokémon's Poké Balls into a machine, which restores them to full health almost instantly. In the anime, recovery takes much longer, depending on the Pokémon's illness or injury, and treatment ranges from simple bedrest to the use of devices similar to those in real-life hospitals.

[edit] Real-world Pokémon Centers

Outside of the Pokémon world, Pokémon Centers are stores that exclusively sell Pokémon merchandise. In Japan, there are currently five Pokémon Centers, found in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka. These stores are managed by The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン), a subsidiary formed by Pokémon's copyright holders for the purpose of managing the franchise.

There was only one Pokémon Center in the USA, located at Rockefeller Center in New York City. This store closed down in February 2005. The Nintendo World store opened in the same location, and continues to sell Pokémon merchandise on the bottom floor of the store, under the Pokémon Center brand.