Like every Pokémon game, this one begins with a professor greeting you and going over the basics of your journey. In this case, it is Professor Oak.
Oak gives you 2 options to choose from for extra information prefacing actually playing the game. These options are Controls and Job.
Upon selecting Controls, Professor Oak goes over the basic controls in order to navigate the game.
Upon selecting Job, a brief introduction is given summarizing your job as a Gym Leader, highlighting that it is your duty to protect and provide for the city, along with preparing upcoming trainers for the Pokémon League.
Select the third option to continue on.
Professor Oak talks a little more about your job as The Gym Leader, informing the player of the required restrictions placed in order to function as a proper Gym Leader: only Pokémon of The Gym Leader's chosen specialty type can be used in their team, with the exception of 2 Pokémon being ones that can simply learn the particular gym's specialty type. Oak, however, only mentions the first part, stating that he will get into more specifics later on.
After that, the player has a selection between a masculine player character and a feminine one for their in-game character sprite. The player is then prompted to fill in their name. Professor Oak will then confirm the player's name is spelled correctly, and the game begins.
Choose your Type and Starter[]
The player character appears in a room surrounded by 18 differently colored stones, each placed on top of their own column. The player is then asked to choose their preferred specialty type to represent their Gym, along with which Starter they wish to begin their journey with.
After a final send-off, the screen fades to black, and the next scene is the player getting off of a boat.