Season 1 currently opens Viridian Forest and Rocky Desert. Forest is available first; complete a Classic Viridian Forest run to unlock Desert. In Classic, both regions have three ordinary zones followed by a legendary shrine. Forest’s shrine legendary is Mew; Desert’s is Moltres.
Which maps are open now?
| Region | Current access | Main configured enemy types | Classic shrine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viridian Forest | Available from the beginning | Grass, Bug, Normal and Flying; Fairy and Poison in the later pool | Viridian Forest Shrine — Mew |
| Rocky Desert | Complete Viridian Forest first | Ground, Rock and Fighting; Steel and Fire in the later pool | Rocky Desert Shrine — Moltres |
These type lists describe the map configuration, not every creature you will meet. Guardian candidates, resident species and special encounters can have different types. For example, Forest’s first-zone pool includes Electric-type Raichu and Water-type Golduck, so a “Grass/Bug region” label is not a promise of one matchup.
The map selector also contains regions marked Coming soon. Their definitions and unlock descriptions do not override the current season’s two-map gate. Completing Desert does not make every later region selectable in Season 1, and the season’s 151-species Pokédex boundary is not a claim that all 151 are selectable League members.
How to unlock Rocky Desert
- In the original game, choose an available League member and continue to the region / Prepare run screen.
- Select Viridian Forest → Classic → Normal. Hard and Nightmare are separate difficulty unlocks; a first Forest clear does not require those higher difficulties.
- Prepare in Zone 1, wake its guardian at the guardian altar with Interact (default E), defeat it and enter the opened portal. Repeat through Zones 2 and 3.
- Enter the Viridian Forest Shrine, defeat its legendary Mew, then use the final portal to complete the map. Stopping after one guardian or merely arriving at the shrine does not finish the region.
- Let the result save, return to the region selector and choose Rocky Desert. It starts with Normal available; winning a region on Normal opens its Hard difficulty, then winning Hard opens its Nightmare.
Survival’s elapsed time and milestone bosses are a different goal. Reaching 15:00, defeating a Survival Mew or using a migration portal is not the Classic Forest completion described by the Desert unlock. See Classic versus Survival if the mode or difficulty controls do not match the sequence above.
If the Forest victory was completed but Desert still shows a lock, first check whether the finished run appears in the game’s records and whether its result is still pending. Follow missing run results rather than replaying unrelated challenges or buying a Lab card. This site does not alter the original game’s unlock state.
Guardian candidates by zone
Each Classic zone selects one guardian from its configured candidate pool. The names in a row are alternatives, not three consecutive mandatory bosses. The current runtime chooses from that zone’s list using the run seed; if a selected sprite is unavailable, it has a configured fallback. This makes the table a useful encounter reference without claiming every candidate was fought in a recorded run.
Viridian Forest guardians
| Classic zone | Candidate guardians | Their base types |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | Scyther · Raichu · Golduck | Bug/Flying · Electric · Water |
| Zone 2 | Pinsir · Poliwrath · Persian | Bug · Water/Fighting · Normal |
| Zone 3 | Nidoking · Golem · Arcanine | Poison/Ground · Rock/Ground · Fire |
Rocky Desert guardians
| Classic zone | Candidate guardians | Their base types |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | Sandslash · Hitmonlee · Dodrio | Ground · Fighting · Normal/Flying |
| Zone 2 | Marowak · Machamp · Rhydon | Ground · Fighting · Ground/Rock |
| Zone 3 | Nidoqueen · Aerodactyl · Dragonite | Poison/Ground · Rock/Flying · Dragon/Flying |
The type column follows the names in order. It is a base-species reference mapped from the original Pokémon JSON, not a complete description of a PokéBonk guardian’s attacks, resistances, phase behavior or final stats. The current boss can use special mechanics beyond its species typing. This table therefore does not invent an “always dodge left,” fixed attack sequence, guaranteed counter or tested victory strategy.
For a concrete preparation task, keep the possible matchups in mind when choosing moves and items. A starter’s Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle route explains its own kit and alternatives; none guarantees every random encounter.
Shrines: Mew in Forest, Moltres in Desert
After the third guardian, the new portal leads to a separate shrine area rather than a fourth ordinary guardian zone. The two currently open regions both define this shrine stage.
| Selected region | Shrine name | Configured legendary | What completes Classic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viridian Forest | Viridian Forest Shrine | Mew, Psychic type | Defeat the legendary and enter the final portal |
| Rocky Desert | Rocky Desert Shrine | Moltres, Fire/Flying type | Defeat the legendary and enter the final portal |
Use the shrine’s interaction prompt to begin its encounter. Mew and Mewtwo are different encounters: Mew is Forest’s configured Classic shrine legendary; Mewtwo appears in Survival’s ninth milestone, nominally 45:00, and has other League-related conditions. A guide showing Survival Mewtwo is not a description of Forest’s Classic shrine.
The game also distinguishes defeating a boss from adding a selectable League member. If your goal is to play as a Pokémon, use that member’s own challenge and capture requirements in the unlock guide. A shrine name or the appearance of a species in this table does not itself complete those requirements.
Find the altar, shrine and portal on the map
From 0.7.0, the guardian altar, shrine and portal always appear on the big map, even when you have not explored nearby. This replaces the older 0.6.0 rule that hid those objectives with unexplored terrain. The minimap is north-up, and the big map supports map markers.
Use the current controls as follows:
- Press M to open the big map with the run paused. Find the guardian altar or the portal appropriate to your current stage.
- Click or tap the map to place a marker, up to three, or select an existing icon to follow it. Click/tap a placed marker again to remove it. This gives you a route target instead of relying only on the small minimap.
- Hold Tab for a map view without pausing. The horde continues while you look, so use the paused map when you need time to decide where to go.
- Follow the objective, then use the nearby Interact prompt (default E) to wake a guardian or enter a portal. Key bindings can be changed in the original game’s Settings → Keys.
- After defeating a guardian, check both maps again. The game marks everything left in the zone, including places you had not discovered, and can tell you how many item Poké Balls remain. Decide whether to collect them before entering the next portal.
Most ordinary discoveries still depend on exploration before the guardian falls; “objectives are always on the big map” does not mean every item has been revealed from the start. A marker is also a navigation aid, not an automatic interaction or an instruction to leave every remaining item behind.
If an older screenshot says the altar is hidden, compare the game version with the update notes. If M does not respond in our embedded player, focus the game first or use its touch interface; the controls checks explain the difference between page focus and an unavailable game feature.
How the same regions work in Survival
Choose Survival on an open region to use that map’s environment and guardian pools with Survival’s time-based progression. There is no Classic Zone 1 → 2 → 3 → shrine victory chain and no difficulty selector.
Survival draws its early guardian milestones from the same configured pools: first-zone candidates at 5/10 minutes, second-zone candidates at 20/25, and third-zone candidates at 35/40. Its named legendary milestones are instead Mew at 15 minutes, Moltres at 30 and Mewtwo at 45 regardless of which of the two regions you selected. Bosses can be delayed while an earlier encounter is active.
Migration portals generate new terrain within the selected region, preserve the ongoing run and do not count as Classic clears or unlock another region. The first is scheduled from 11:00 and lasts 90 seconds once it appears. Use the Survival timing and pacts guide for the full schedule and the costs of the choices that follow a milestone.
Sources and version scope
Map availability, guardian arrays and shrine IDs come from the original game’s public Beta 0.7.1 configuration and update notes, collected on 19 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai). The corresponding runtime supplies the region unlock chain, seed-based guardian choice, portal completion and Survival migration. The 0.7.0 notes and current controls implement the map-visibility changes above; 0.7.1 fixes move-detail UI rather than announcing additional open maps.
Candidate IDs are mapped to names and base types using the original Pokémon JSON, retained on 18 October 2026; its published asset-version tag is unchanged in the 0.7.1 source comparison. The guide uses these records to name the configured candidates, not to import ordinary Pokémon-game boss stats. No completed Desert unlock, all-candidate fight recording or shrine victory was produced for this article. The actual configured pools and actionable navigation remain usable with those specific limits; no encounter behavior or win is invented.