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

Points of Interest | |
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Pokémon Center |
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Poke Mart |
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Croagunk Show |
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Fishing Mission House |
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Move and TM Mission House |
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TV Mission House |
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Polder Gym |
Exits | |
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West Borrius |
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Cootes Bog |
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Safari Zone |
Items
Items | |
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Zygarde Cell | ![]() |
Tiny Mushroom (hidden) |
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Wild Pokémon
Wild Pokémon | |
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Surfing | |
Palpitoad Water/Ground |
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Stunfisk Ground/Electric |
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Gastrodon Water/Ground |
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Sliggoo Dragon |
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Fishing | |
Magikarp Water (Old Rod) |
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Poliwag Water (Old Rod) |
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Poliwhirl Water (Good Rod) |
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Barboach Water/Ground (Good Rod) |
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Poliwhirl Water (Super Rod) |
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Politoed Water (Super Rod) |
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Whiscash Water/Ground (Super Rod) |
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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

North of the Pokémon Center and the ferry dock is:
- The Poke Mart
- A blonde woman with a row of Croagunk next to her
- And a house

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 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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Return to the house in Polder Town after that.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Then surf to the island northeast of there.

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.

From the third island, surf northwest.
Be doubly sure that the previous wave cycle has just finished before trying to reach the next island.

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

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

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

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.
Gym Leader Tessy italics = typing in the gym |
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Toxapex Poison/Dark (Lv.54) |
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Seismitoad Water/Poison (Lv.55) |
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Armaldo Water/Bug (Lv.55) |
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Gyarados (Mega) Water/Ground (Lv.56) |
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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

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 | ||
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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

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.
