We now come to another edition of Pokemon Bird Watch. And for this week’s post I’ve decided to cover one of the stranger birds of the original games. Presenting the odd duck of Generation One, Farfetch’d.
I’m not crazy about the image I used for this post, but it was the best one I could find without doing an extensive search. Yet the above image is actually rather appropriate. Because in the Pokemon World, Farfetch’d are quite rare in the wild. And the reason for this has been implied (in the anime at least) to be because Farfetch’d is also quite delicious. It doesn’t really help the duck much that it carries around an onion leek all the time. That just seems to be asking for trouble. Still, for some strange reason Farfetch’d just can’t live without its leek. The onion leek does have a practical purpose though. For one thing, Farfetch’d can use it as an emergency food supply. Plus the leek allows Farfetch’d to use several cutting attacks, including Leaf Blade.
In the Games: In the original Red and Blue games, as well as FireRed and LeafGreen, the only way to acquire Farfetch’d is to trade a Spearow to a kid living in Vermilion City. Spearow is a common enough bird, so it’s an easy trade to pull off. Yet it might be better for most to just hold onto Spearow, as they evolve into a much more powerful bird. Where as Farfetch’d do not evolve and has pretty lack luster stats. Of course I usually made the trade when I played the games and kept it on my team in order to use Fly. The main reason is because I’d usually replace whatever bird I was using with Articuno or Zapdos later in the game.
Anyway, the only place to find Farfetch’d in the wilds of Kanto is in the Yellow Version on Routes 12 and 13. Farfetch’d seem to be a lot more common in Johto. Depending on the version of the game they can be found on Routes 38, 39, 43, 47, and 48. The odd ducks can also be found in the Johto Region’s Safari Zone. In the Sinnoh Region, the only place Farfetch’d can be found is on Route 221. While in the Generation Five Games they can be found on Unova’s Route One.
Illex Forest Farfetch’d: Not only is Farfetch’d a more common bird in Johto. It also played a fairly important role as one of the early obstacles in the Gen. Two games. When the player reaches Illex Forest they have to run a small errand before they can proceed on. And that errand is to corral a runaway Farfetch’d. To do that, the player has to chase the bird around the forest. I always found that part of the game a little irritating because while you’re trying to get that dang Farfetch’d back to its owner you’ve got all these wild Pokemon coming at you every five seconds. Anyway, once the Farfetch’d is chased back to its owner, the player receives HM 01, Cut. And thus can proceed further through the forest. I’ve never played the Gen. Two remakes, but as I understand it the player has to chase back two Farfetch’d instead of one. And that they can only be approached a certain way. So what, chasing one wasn’t annoying enough for the game designers?
That’s in for this week’s post. Next week I think I’ll be covering one of the greater birds of the Kanto Region. So until then, stay tuned.
