Quick Guide:
  • Explore Polder Town
  • Cure a TV-Watching Epidemic
  • Obtain a Rotom and Change its Form
  • Visit the Safari Zone
  • Challenge the Polder Gym and obtain HM07 Waterfall
  • Enter Cootes Bog

Polder Town

(Click for full-size)
Polder Town map
Points of Interest
Pokémon Center
Poke Mart
Croagunk Show
Fishing Mission House
Move and TM Mission House
TV Mission House
Polder Gym
Exits
West Borrius
Cootes Bog
Safari Zone
Items

Items
Zygarde Cell
Tiny Mushroom
(hidden)
Wild Pokémon

Wild Pokémon
Surfing
Palpitoad
Water/Ground
Stunfisk
Ground/Electric
Gastrodon
Water/Ground
Sliggoo
Dragon
Fishing
Magikarp
Water
(Old Rod)
Poliwag
Water
(Old Rod)
Poliwhirl
Water
(Good Rod)
Barboach
Water/Ground
(Good Rod)
Poliwhirl
Water
(Super Rod)
Politoed
Water
(Super Rod)
Whiscash
Water/Ground
(Super Rod)
Polder Pokemon Center / Pokémon Unbound
Polder Pokemon Center

You’ve just arrived in West Borrius, and the first place open to you is Polder Town.

You’ve got a Gym to beat and HM Waterfall to obtain, but exploring Polder first will be very rewarding.

Exploring the Town

The north end of town / Pokémon Unbound
The north end of town

North of the Pokémon Center and the ferry dock is:

  1. The Poke Mart
  2. A blonde woman with a row of Croagunk next to her
  3. And a house
The Croagunk show is worth a visit / Pokémon Unbound
The Croagunk show is worth a visit

Talking to the woman with the Croagunk is interesting – her Pokémon will put on a show for you, and it’s kind of like a shell game. One of the Croagunk will hold an item, and you need to pay attention to which one is holding it as they dance around each other.

If you guess correctly, you win a prize.

One possible prize is a Big Mushroom, but there may be others – you can try once per day.

Once you’re finished, go into the house just east of here.

The Fisherman has a series of tasks for you / Pokémon Unbound
The Fisherman has a series of tasks for you

The Fisherman who lives here gives you a series of missions that ask you to fish for more and more Pokémon.

If you catch 10 Pokémon while fishing, he’ll give you 10 Dive Balls.

Fish for 50, and he’ll give you 10 Heart Scales.

His final mission is for you to fish for 100 Pokémon, and your reward is the Pokémon Feebas.

This house’s occupants are obsessed with moves / Pokémon Unbound
This house’s occupants are obsessed with moves

From the Fisherman’s house, go south through the crowd of dancing people and you’ll see another house. Head on inside.

This woman wants to see a particular move / Pokémon Unbound
This woman wants to see a particular move

Each day, the woman in the hat would like to see a Pokémon that can perform a particular move. If you manage to do so, she’ll give you a Heart Scale.

Collect all the TMs you can / Pokémon Unbound
Collect all the TMs you can

The other person in the house has a mission for you – there are 120 TMs in the world, and she wants you to find all of them.

If you do so, the reward is a Gold Bottle Cap.

After you’re done with this house, go to the southwest corner of town.

Too Much TV

The child inside here has a problem / Pokémon Unbound
The child inside here has a problem

There’s a family here in a house that needs your help.

Help save this little girl / Pokémon Unbound
Help save this little girl

A little girl has lost her mind to watching TV, and her worried father wants you to help.

He sends you to find a scientist that knows all about brain waves, and there’s one particular place you’ve been that has a whole institute devoted to it – Tarmigan Town.

The Dream Research Lab in Tarmigan Town / Pokémon Unbound
The Dream Research Lab in Tarmigan Town

Fly to Tarmigan Town and head to the Dream Research Lab, which is in the northwest of town.

The clown of the sand / Pokémon Unbound
The clown of the sand

The scientist you need is in the northwest corner of the building.

According to him, there are five children around Borrius that have this condition, and you need to scan the brains of the remaining four.

You may have seen them in your prior explorations, but here they are as a reminder:

TV Children to Scan
Bellin Town
Southwest house
Blizzard City
2F, house next to KBT Expressway entrance
Crater Town
Central south house, same kid that gives you Swarm info
Seaport City
1F, Alolan Starter Pokémon and landlord rescue mission building

When you’ve finished the brain scans, return to the Lab and the Scientist will go off and cure the children. Apparently it was all because of a strange Pokémon.

After the scans, the Scientist does the legwork / Pokémon Unbound
After the scans, the Scientist does the legwork

Return to the house in Polder Town after that.

The father is grateful / Pokémon Unbound
The father is grateful

The man who gave you the mission is grateful that his daughter is now cured, and says he caught a Pokémon leaving her body when the Scientist was curing her.

If you have an empty spot in your party, he’ll give you a Rotom.

Using the Rotom

The Antisis Warehouse / Pokémon Unbound
The Antisis Warehouse

Now that you have a Rotom, head to the Antisis Warehouse, which is in the northwest corner of Antisis City.

The Warehouse is where you can change Rotom forms / Pokémon Unbound
The Warehouse is where you can change Rotom forms

There are a bunch of broken-down appliances here that Rotom can possess – and when it does so, it can change its typing and receive a powerful move of a particular type. You can change types at will with no limit or cooldown, though you’ll have to return to the warehouse each time you do.

Rotom Appliances
Heat Rotom
Electric/Fire
Microwave Oven
Wash Rotom
Electric/Water
Washing Machine
Frost Rotom
Electric/Ice
Refrigerator
Fan Rotom
Electric/Flying
Electric Fan
Mow Rotom
Electric/Grass
Lawnmower

The Safari Zone

The gate to the Safari Zone / Pokémon Unbound
The gate to the Safari Zone

Polder Town is home to the Safari Zone, which is a fantastic place to catch weird and wonderful Pokémon. The gate to the Safari Zone is in the east part of town.

The Safari Zone has difficulty settings / Pokémon Unbound
The Safari Zone has difficulty settings

Unlike most other versions of the Safari Zone, in Unbound there’s no map to explore – it’s essentially just a catching minigame.

Each play costs you P500, and you get 30 Safari Balls.

There’s no limit on time, and the session ends when you run out of Balls.

You move the target in order to catch moving Pokemon / Pokémon Unbound
You move the target in order to catch moving Pokemon

The four difficulty settings change how fast the Pokémon move, and also determine which Pokémon are available to catch.

If you want to skip a Pokémon, you’ll need to forfeit 5 Balls.

It’s a great opportunity to fill up your Pokedex, but may take some time.

Safari Zone Pokémon (All Difficulties)

Safari Zone Pokémon
Easy Mode
Skitty
Normal
Rhyhorn
Ground/Rock
Natu
Psychic/Flying
Alolan Meowth
Dark
Plusle
Electric
Minun
Electric
Bounsweet
Grass
Blitzle
Electric
Helioptile
Electric/Normal
Cubone
Ground
Treecko
Grass
Torchic
Fire
Mudkip
Water
Medium Mode
Steenee
Grass
Zebstrika
Electric
Xatu
Psychic/Flying
Alolan Diglett
Ground/Steel
Spinda
Normal
Wobbuffet
Psychic
Tauros
Normal
Rhyhorn
Ground/Rock
Helioptile
Electric/Normal
Treecko
Grass
Torchic
Fire
Mudkip
Water
Hard Mode
Rhydon
Ground/Rock
Wobbuffet
Psychic
Kangaskhan
Normal
Zebstrika
Electric
Spinda
Normal
Tauros
Normal
Helioptile
Electric/Normal
Alolan Exeggcute
Grass/Psychic
Alolan Diglett
Ground/Steel
Golisopod
Bug/Water
Grovyle
Grass
Combusken
Fire/Fighting
Marshtomp
Water/Ground
Insane Mode
Rhydon
Ground/Rock
Tauros
Normal
Doublade
Steel/Ghost
Kangaskhan
Normal
Wobbuffet
Psychic
Alolan Exeggcute
Grass/Psychic
Golisopod
Bug/Water
Heliolisk
Electric/Normal
Alolan Dugtrio
Ground/Steel
Grovyle
Grass
Combusken
Fire/Fighting
Marshtomp
Water/Ground

After you’ve had enough of the Safari Zone, there’s not much left to do here in Polder – only challenging the Gym remains.

Polder Gym / Pokémon Unbound
Polder Gym

Polder Town Gym – Swamp Badge

This is a Water Gym, with a peculiar mechanic / Pokémon Unbound
This is a Water Gym, with a peculiar mechanic

The Polder Gym is, on paper, a Water-type Gym.

But as you’ve seen before, Unbound is not afraid of throwing curveballs when it comes to Gym challenges.

Gym Typing Rules

In this Gym, the typing of each Pokémon in battle is changed to reflect the typing of the Pokémon’s first and second moves.

Here’s an example:

Say you’ve got a Metagross, normally a Steel/Psychic-type. However its first move happens to be the Dark-type Brutal Swing, and its second move is the Fighting-type Hammer Arm.

In this Gym, your Metagross will be a Dark/Fighting type!

That goes for every Pokémon in your team, and every Pokémon you will battle in this Gym.

Make sure you’re familiar with what moves your Pokémon have in what order, and be prepared to do some shuffling around with TMs if necessary.

Gym Trainers

Gym Trainers
italics = typing in the Gym
Fisherman Nicholas
Stunfisk
Ground/Electric
(Lv.52)
Bruxish
Water/Normal
(Lv.53)
Alomomola
Water/Psychic
(Lv.53)
Tuber Savannah
Popplio
Water/Fairy
(Lv.54)
Mudkip
Water/Normal
(Lv.54)
Ace Trainer Darwin
Tirtouga
Water/Dark
(Lv.53)
Marshtomp
Normal/Ground
(Lv.54)
Heliolisk
Water/Dragon
(Lv.53)
Ace Trainer Anita
Simipour
Flying/Dark
(Lv.53)
Brionne
Normal/Fairy
(Lv.54)
Goodra
Dragon/Water
(Lv.53)

Gym Puzzle Layout

(Click for full-size)
The optimal Gym route to avoid the waves

There is also a second thing to consider in this Gym – the waves.

Every six or seven steps or so, the water rises up in a big wave that will wash you all the way back to the entrance if you’re still Surfing in it.

This means that you’ll need to choose your destination carefully, and time when you leave each particular island to reach the next one.

Here’s the solution to the gym puzzle to reach the gym leader:

Surf north to the first island, where you’ll get challenged by Fisherman Nicholas.

The first island / Pokémon Unbound
The first island

Then surf to the island northeast of there.

The second island / Pokémon Unbound
The second island

You’ll need to defeat Tuber Savannah.

Once that’s done, head west, but only if there’s no haze on the screen indicating a wave is about to break.

The third island / Pokémon Unbound
The third island

From the third island, surf northwest.

Be doubly sure that the previous wave cycle has just finished before trying to reach the next island.

The fourth island / Pokémon Unbound
The fourth island

Ace Trainer Darwin will challenge you, and then you can make the leap to the island northeast of here.

The fifth island / Pokémon Unbound
The fifth island

Ace Trainer Anita is your opponent next, and once you’ve defeated her, surf northwest to a small nub of an island.

The penultimate island / Pokémon Unbound
The penultimate island

From there, it’s just a short surf north to where the Gym Leader is.

Just make sure you go between the lily pads and the reeds, because they will block your progress. Refer back to the map at the top of this section if you need an exact step-by-step path to follow.

Tessy, the Gym Leader / Pokémon Unbound
Tessy, the Gym Leader

Hopefully you make it to the final island, where Tessy is keen to battle you.

Polder Gym Leader Tessy

Tessy will give you one heck of a battle / Pokémon Unbound
Tessy will give you one heck of a battle

If you have a balanced team – accounting for the type changes with moves – then Tessy will be straightforward, though she still has a couple tricks up her sleeve.

Tip: The table below is only for Tessy on Vanilla mode. If you are playing on a higher difficulty level then visit our Polder Town Gym page here to see her team comps at other difficulties.
Gym Leader Tessy
italics = typing in the gym
Toxapex
Poison/Dark
(Lv.54)
Seismitoad
Water/Poison
(Lv.55)
Armaldo
Water/Bug
(Lv.55)
Gyarados
(Mega)

Water/Ground
(Lv.56)
HM07 Waterfall at last / Pokémon Unbound
HM07 Waterfall at last

The Swamp Badge is your prize after you win the battle, and Tessy sweetens the pot by also giving you HM07 Waterfall.

Your path to Crystal Peak is now open.

Optional: Waterfall Backtracking

You can now climb up waterfalls / Pokémon Unbound
You can now climb up waterfalls

There are a few important items you can reach with Waterfall now. So if you wanted to backtrack a bit then here are some relevant areas worth re-visiting to use Waterfall at:

Waterfall Backtracking Locations
Route 4 West
Zygarde Cell Top of the main waterfall
PP Max
(hidden)
Top of the main waterfall
TM119 Sky Drop Top of the main waterfall
Full Restore
(hidden)
Down the middle waterfall
Starf Berry
(hidden)
Down the middle waterfall
Valley Cave B1F
Toxic Orb Western waterfall
Fallshore City
Nugget KBT Expressway west waterfall
TM29 Psychic KBT Expressway east waterfall
Antisis Sewers
Leftovers East crawl pipe to the southern section of the sewer
TM36 Sludge Bomb East side of the route, on a small island
TM109 Defog Show the Clown a Pokemon with Sweet Scent

Moving Forward

The entrance to Cootes Bog / Pokémon Unbound
The entrance to Cootes Bog

Once you’ve finished tying up loose ends with Waterfall, it’s time to head into Cootes Bog.

This is north of Polder Town, and we’re going here to get onto the path to Crystal Peak to stop Aklove and the Light of Ruin.

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