2nd Gen Ruins of Alph

The Ruins of Alph are a series of Ruins located near Violet City. Unown are catchable after you complete a series of the puzzles there. A mysterious radio wave is also heard when you set your PokeGear to a certain station.

What is your opinion of the Ruins of Alph in G/S/C, did you complete the puzzles or try to catch all the Unown?

Ok so I started when I was like 8, 9 something around there... and I gotta say, those puzzles were TOUGH lol I was always stumped and never completed them which is such a shame because they really weren't that hard... I mean i had to have completed some - I remember going into those small rooms! Some really cool items honestly... just kinda odd how they were all on display for you. It also gave off a huge Yu-Gi-Oh vibe lol

What I would have found cool though is when you completed the puzzles... the Unown scatter across the region! Like all of them scatter to a specific floor tile in the game and each time you step on it you have a chance of uncovering that Unown. I would have found that SO much more exciting.

I always felt like this place was... unfinished. Okay, some cool puzzles, a creepy place, filled with... useless Pokemon. Nothing else.

I really loved Unown as a kid, so I always made a point to visit and catch one and work on the puzzles. I don't really do it anymore, unless I'm feeling nostalgic for it. But you know, it's a neat little gimmick for what it is. I do agree that it feels unfinished, though.

I was stumped by the puzzles as well. I have a question though, I've heard that the song of the unkown that you find by scroll through the radio is an easter egg that few people seems to know about. Is that true? Cause I found it as a kid and I am dumb as a magikarp when it comes to finding easter eggs.

I agree with Mawa, as I kid I kinda expected to uncover something huge, or unlock a rare Pokémon or something. I did all the puzzles in Crystal with my dad's help, and I caught all of the Unown. It felt so underwhelming :(

The puzzles were cool, but the Unown.. meh. The worst thing is the fact you can't check in battle if you already caught the Unown. For example, I encounter Unown S, but I'm unsure if I already caught it.

When I first played Gold, the Ruins of Alph scared me a little. The weird music and strange Pokemon reminded me of Missingno, and I worried that there would be glitches there that would mess up my game. As a result, I left Unown as the final Pokemon to complete in my Pokedex, and then proceeded to complete the Unown Pokedex after that. By that point, my fear of glitches had subsided somewhat, so I was able to enjoy the Unown hunt.

It was a neat feature, though I always wished they had done more with it. I also wish Unown were more useful. Catching all of them last and leaving them in my PC, I never felt like I missed out on anything because Unown was so useless battle-wise.