The Silph Company (Japanese: シルフカンパニーSilph Company), or simply Silph Co. is a company headquartered in Saffron City that is featured in many versions of the Pokémon franchise. They are the manufacturers of many tools, including the Silph Scope—a device that allows the user to view spectral entities—as well as home appliances. They are also speculated to run the Poké Marts in Kanto as well as in Johto and the Sevii Islands.
According to a Team Rocketscientist in the core series games, Silph Co. has a Russian branch in Tiksi. In the original Japanese versions, the branch is in Ponaya Tunguska (Japanese: ポナヤツングスカ) instead. This is another reference to the real world in the Pokémon games and proves that Silph Co. has international branches in addition to the ones in locations other than Saffron City.
Silph Co. is the leading manufacturer of Pokémon technology. This company develops the most commercially used Poké Balls and several other Pokémon-related items, including medicine and Technical Machines, looking for ways to improve them. It supplies the Poké Marts of its territory. Its president is a kind, old man.
History
Silph's status had made it a target of Team Rocket, which in Generation I and III, orchestrated the takeover of their headquarters in Saffron City. The situation will be resolved by the player, who will take on the mission of driving them out of the city. Team Rocket had also gained the Silph Co.-made Silph Scope to combat ghosts. It is revealed by the company's president that the top-secret development project Team Rocket was after is the Master Ball, which can catch any Pokémon without fail.
Headquarters
The Silph Co. Office Building, based in Saffron City, is an eleven-floor skyscraper that is effectively a giant maze.
Generations I and III
In Generations I and III, the player can navigate on the inside of the building by using warp tiles in order to reach the board room on the top floor. The player must find the Card Key, which unlocks Silph's doors like a hotel key, on the fifth floor of the building in order to do this. All the while, the player must battle through numerous Team Rocket Grunts, including the Rocket Brothers, and one Juggler, who is curiously also part of Team Rocket. Several Scientists have also defected to Team Rocket, sometimes pretending to be hostages, and will battle the player on sight. The bed at the bottom-left corner of the ninth floor can be used to heal the Trainer's Pokémon without having to leave the building.
Then the player must return to the third floor, open the doors in the center-left of the floor, and use the warp tile to the far left to be taken to the room with a further warp tile that leads to board room. The player's rival waits in that room and must be defeated before continuing on. After he has been beaten, the other person in the room will give the player a Lapras, an extremely rare Pokémon that cannot be obtained any other way in Generation I.
After this, the player may continue on to the board room to face Giovanni and ensure that the plans for the Master Ball are not stolen. After rescuing Silph, the player is free to explore the building and talk to the employees.
In Generations II and IV, Silph Co. has increased security, and the player is not allowed to enter the upper floors. One of the guards will kindly give the player an Up-Grade for talking to him.
The alternate forms of Rotom may also be accessed here in Generation IV via the broken elevator. When Rotom is in the party, the Silph Co. building will be deserted of all people, including Steven. The notebook present in the room indicates that Charon may have had a past connection to the company.
Discoveries and inventions
Within the company, there are reports of discoveries that serve as in-game trivia for the player.
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.
Silph Co. appears in Saffron City as a playable stage in Super Smash Bros. (called Silf in the Japanese version). The battle takes place on the roof of Silph Co. and a few smaller surrounding buildings, along with two small moving platforms. This is the home stage of Pikachu and Jigglypuff in the game.
Certain Pokémon will emerge from the elevator on the Silph Co. building and attack briefly, similar to Pokémon summoned from Poké Balls. Occasionally, Pidgey, Fearow, Butterfree, and other Flying-type Pokémon will appear in the background.
Silph Co. appeared in the Pokémon Origins episode File 3 - Giovanni. Like in the games, it was taken over by Team Rocket. Hearing from Silph Co.'s vice-president of how Team Rocket was experimenting on Pokémon in order to accelarate the completion of Master Ball, Red decided to storm the building. Doing so, he freed all the Pokémon and Scientists that were trapped inside, even obtaining a Lapras from one of the Scientists as a thank-you gift. Finally he arrived at the president's office, where he encountered Giovanni. Before Giovanni could escape, Red proclaimed that he would always be out there to stop their plans, irritating the Team Rocket Boss. Wanting to teach Red a lesson, Giovanni challenged Red to a Pokémon battle, which ended with Giovanni's Nidoqueen defeating Red's Charizard and wrecking a big portion of the building in the process. Afterwards, Giovanni escaped with a helicopter, leaving before the police could arrive. It was also mentioned that the development of Master Ball was put on hold for a while due to this incident.
Silph Co. was seen in Saffron City. After hearing from the Dojo Master that the Gym Leader Sabrina's talking Psychic Lapras had been stolen by Team Rocket and taken to the Silph Co., Satoshi infiltrated the building, where he soon found Sabrina, who had just found her Lapras. Satoshi and Sabrina decided to team up against Team Rocket, and used Sabrina's teleporting powers to reach the top floor, where Giovanni was keeping the Silp Co.'s president as hostage. After defeating Giovanni's Nidoqueen with Lapras, Satoshi obtained the Master Ball from Silph Co.'s president and the Marsh Badge from Sabrina as a thanks for his help.
Trivia
Scientist Taylor in the Generation I games and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen claims that the Tiksi branch of the company is "in Russian no-man's-land". In the Japanese versions, where the branch is in Ponaya Tunguska (ポナヤツングスカ) instead, he claims that it is located "deep in Russia". Ponaya Tunguska appears to be a shortened form of the transliterated name of Podkamennaya Tunguska in Japanese (ポドカメンナヤツングースカ).
Though a logo for the company was not introduced in-game until Generation IV, several possible logos have been seen in previous games. One appeared on the side of the Silph Co. building in Super Smash Bros. (see above), another appeared on the original Pokégear artwork as a stylized 'S' and a third one can be seen on the Time Capsule; however, none of them is truly confirmed to be the company's logo.
If the player chose Bulbasaur:
If the player chose Charmander:
If Eevee evolved into Vaporeon:
If Eevee evolved into Jolteon:
If Eevee evolved into Flareon:
