10 Pokémon Cities That Would Be A Nightmare To Live In

For 25 years, many fans of the Pokémon franchise have had the same dream: to live in the world of Pokémon. That world is already dangerous enough given the prevalence of horrifying creatures with superpowers. As their Pokédex entries show, they do not often make for nice partners.

Outside of terrifying god-like beings, the locations in the Pokémon games also give many people pause as living situations. From the burnt remnants of volcanos to haunted cities and even craters, the cities of Pokémon are enough to make someone desire to live in a small town like Pallet Town. While most cities are expanded on in the anime, their appearances in the games are enough to scare potential residents away.

10Ballonlea Is Permanently Night With Glowing Shrooms

While Ballonlea is one of the most beautiful locations in Pokémon, it suffers from many issues that keep it from being a nice place to live. Situated deep in a dense forest past the Glimwood Tangle of Galar, Ballonlea is notable for its darkness, as its only source of light comes from bioluminescent mushrooms.

The only way to get to town is to traverse through the Glimwood Tangle, which is just as dark as the town but also filled with Psychic and Fairy type powerhouses over level 30. There is exactly one dimmed brightness year-round, which isn’t good for health.

9Fortree City Requires Extreme Ladder Climbing

Initially seeming to be a quaint city in the treetops, Fortree City has a number of nightmarish issues that would keep most people from living there. The simplest is the wild Pokémon. Because the houses are in the trees, the citizens often have to deal with Bug type Pokémon like Wurmple climbing into their houses. Invisible Kecleon also often interfere with paths.

Since the houses are in trees, they require occupants to constantly go up and down ladders, which would be the worst after a long day of battles and walking around the Hoenn region.

8Spikemuth Is A Constant Rock Show

The home of Team Yell and the only Dark type gym in all of Pokémon, Spikemuth was introduced in Pokémon Sword and Shield in the Galar region. The city takes the dark aspect a bit too far as they built an entire encapsulating structure around the city, blocking the sun.

In addition to its literal darkness, the city is extremely loud and crowded. All of Team Yell, who get their name from their most used trait, reside in the city. They’re led by Gym Leader Piers who also plays daily rock concerts. The novelty would run out quickly when trying to sleep.

7The Entire Orre Region Is Gang Violence And Sand

Loosely based on the state of Arizona, the Orre Region hails from the two GameCube exclusive Pokémon titles, Colosseum and XD: Gale Of Darkness. In these titles, the protagonist fights against gangs who steal and harm Pokémon. While this happens in most titles, this is the first game where the protagonist steals them back.

What makes this entire region a nightmare is that it is a desolate wasteland with barely any livable locations. Even when venturing to places like Phenac City or Agate Village, the townspeople close rank and show their disdain for all outsiders. The gang violence is also darker, even if some of them are dressed like Power Rangers or led by Mirror B.

6Cinnabar Island Gets Wiped Out By A Volcano

Home of the Fire gym of the Kanto region, Cinnabar Island doesn’t look like a terrible place to live based exclusively on the maps of the region. It is a quaint island with a dark history and terrifying future depending on which generation of game is being played. In Generation I, Cinnabar Island is a city at the base of a volcano that formerly housed Mewtwo before it escaped, killing several scientists.

A few deceased scientists don’t seem that bad until, in Generation II, players learn that the volcano erupted and decimated the city completely. Cinnabar is truly a nightmare island to live on, no matter when one moves in.

5Pacifidlog Town Is Entirely Built On Floating Logs

Located in the southern region of Hoenn, Pacifidlog Town is a small fishing village. Its pleasant seeming enough until it is noted that all of the buildings are built on wooden rafts. There are a few things to note about wooden rafts, and one of the major ones is that a wooden raft is not meant to last, let alone hold the weight of a building.

The location of Pacifidlog Town is also key, as it is in the middle of the ocean amongst terrible rapid currents that force travelers westbound, and often into rocks. Add in the fact that many Pokémon know Hurricane as a move, and this city is trouble.

4Snowpoint City Snows 24/7, 365 Days A Year

Nestled deep in the frigid north, Snowpoint City is a small city that has a major problem, snow. Being the namesake of the city, it is not a surprise to learn that snow is constantly falling day and night, year-round. The buildings and trees are always blanketed in thick snow.

Seasonal snow is a fine time, but constant snowing in a city where the three main points of interest are a temple, a gym, and a somehow functional port is just not a fun living situation. Notably, Freezington of Galar and Snowbelle City of Kalos suffer the same drawbacks.

3Lavender Town Is The Ghost Capital Of Kanto

Lavender Town was set up to be a creepy city from its origins, and that has not changed in the 25 years since its introduction. The main attraction of Lavender Town is the Pokémon Tower, which houses the spirits of deceased Pokémon. While in the real world this seems nice, Ghosts are a physical thing in the Pokémon world.

From Ghost type Pokémon like Ghastly to a literal vengeful spirit of a Marowak that haunted the tower, the whole atmosphere is unpleasant. Lavender Town is also most well known for the creepypasta legend about its music, so it is not a place to raise a family in.

2Sootopolis City Can Only Be Entered Via Undersea Caverns

One of the best-looking cities in Pokémon, Sootopolis is actually a beautiful community with multi-level housing and natural wonders. Housing the Cave of Origin, Sootopolis has a little bit of everything that one could want in a city.

The problems are that it is a city built inside a crater made from either an undersea volcano or asteroid, depending on the generation of game, and that people have to have a submarine or diving equipment to reach it. The only entrance to town is under the sea, making family visits near impossible since, to be able to use Dive, a person has to have seven gym badges!

1Fallarbor Town Is Choking People With Ash

Fallarbor Town is a small farming village located in Hoenn’s northwest. It also houses a higher-ranked contest hall for contestants that have already earned ribbons before. The main export of Fallarbor is the wood of hardy trees. These hardy trees were chosen as the agricultural center because they are the only plants that grow in the hefty amounts of ash that are spewed directly onto Fallarbor from Mt. Chimney. Another city at the base of a volcano, Fallarbor made the mistake of being next to an active one. Living in the ash of an active volcano is the definition of a nightmare situation.