The Silph Co. (Japanese: シルフカンパニーSylph Company), also known as simply Silph (Japanese: シルフSylph), is a company headquartered at the Silph Co. Office Building or Silph Co. Head Office (Japanese: シルフ カンパニー ほんしゃ ビル Sylph Company Main Office Building; シルフほんしゃビル Sylph Main Office Building; シルフ カンパニー ほんしゃ Sylph Company Main Office) in Saffron City. The company manufactures a variety of goods, including the Silph Scope, the Master Ball, and the Upgrade.
In Generation III, the floor number appears when the player enters the floor. Each floor is named as "シルフカンパニー 1F", "シルフカンパニー 2F", etc. The elevator is simply named "シルフカンパニー".
シルフ (Sylph)
Sometimes this name is used in character dialogue, such as "おおきく なったら シルフで はたらくと いいよ" ("Come work for Silph when you get older!")
This name is used in "シルフスコープ", the Japanese name of Silph Scope.
This name is used in the Trainer class "シルフのチーフ" (Sylph's Chief), that is found in the Generation I game data but is not seen in-game. This Trainer class was translated as simply "Chief" in English.
シルフ カンパニー ほんしゃ ビル (Sylph Company Main Office Building)
This name is displayed on the sign at the side of the Silph Co. building, from Generation I to IV.
シルフカンパニー 本社ビル (Sylph Company Main Office Building)
In Generation VII, the name is written with kanji on the sign.
シルフほんしゃビル (Sylph Main Office Building)
This name is displayed in the Generation ITown Map. This may be a shortened version of "シルフ カンパニー ほんしゃ ビル", which would not fit in the Town Map due to the limit of 9 characters for each place name.
シルフ カンパニー ほんしゃ (Sylph Company Main Office)
In Generation III, this name appears with the floor number, on the sign near the stars on each floor. For instance, "シルフ カンパニー ほんしゃ 4かい" (Silph Company Main Office 4th Floor).
In Generation III, the floor number appears when the player enters the floor. Each floor is named as "Silph Co. 1F", "Silph Co. 2F", etc. The elevator is simply named "Silph Co."
Silph
Sometimes this name is used in character dialogue, such as "Come work for Silph when you get older!", "You mistook me for a Silph worker?", and "Thank you for saving Silph!" in Generations I and III.
This name is displayed on the sign at the side of the Silph Co., in all generations where this building appears.
Silph Co. Head Office
In Generation III, this name appears with the floor number, on the sign near the stairs on each floor. For instance, "Silph Co. Head Office 4F".
For comparison, the name "Silph Company" is not used in any English core series games.
In the core series games
A Silph Co. Master Ball
Headquarters
The Silph Co. Office Building, based in Saffron City, is an eleven-floor skyscraper that is effectively a giant maze.
Generations I, III, and VII
In Generations I, III, and VII, due to Team Rocket having invaded the Silph Co. headquarters in Saffron City, a Team Rocket Grunt is initially guarding the front door, preventing entrance into the building. After the player has saved Mr. Fuji from Team Rocket at the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town, the guard will have fallen asleepRBFRLG, disappearedY, or have been knocked out by Jessie and JamesPE, allowing the player to enter the building.
The player can navigate the building's interior by using warp tiles in order to reach the board room on the top floor. To do this, the player must obtain the Card Key, which unlocks Silph's doors like a hotel key, on the fifth floor of the building. During this time, multiple Trainers occupy the building. These Trainers include numerous Team Rocket Grunts, including the four Rocket BrothersRBYFRLG/Rocket SistersPE and a Juggler, who also appears to be a member of Team Rocket, as well as several Scientists who have defected to Team Rocket. The bed at the bottom-left corner of the ninth floor can be used to heal the player's Pokémon without having to leave the building.
In Generations I and III, Blue will challenge the player to a battle on the seventh floor, while in Generation VII, he challenges both the player and Trace to a battle on the first floor. In Generation VII, Trace stays behind on the seventh floor to stall Archer and give the player time to reach Giovanni.
On the seventh floor, the player can receive a Lapras as a gift from a Silph employee. In the Generation I games, this was the only way to obtain a Lapras. Upon reaching the president's room on the top floor, the player must defeat Giovanni to stop him from stealing the Master Ball. After he is defeated, Team Rocket abandons their plans for Silph and withdraws from the building.
Generations II and IV
A Silph Co. Pokégear, bearing the company's logo
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.
Russian branch
In the Generation I games and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Scientist Taylor mentions an alleged overseas branch of Silph Co. In the English versions, he states that the Tiksi branch of the company is "in Russian no-man's-land". In the Japanese versions, he states that the Ponaya Tunguska branch (ポナヤツングスカしてん) is located "deep in Russia" (「ロシアの おくの ほうだよ」). 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).
In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, the references to Russia were removed, and the Western and Korean localizations further removed the references to the branch. In the English version, Taylor instead mentions having been sent "off to the boondocks". In the Japanese version, he still mentions the Ponaya Tunguska branch (rendered as ポナヤツングスカ支店 when the Characters setting in Options is set to kanji), which was localized into both Simplified and Traditional Chinese as the Podkamennaya Tunguska River branch (波拿耶通古斯河分公司).
Discoveries and inventions
Within the company, there are three reports of discoveries that serve as in-game trivia for the player, labeled Pokémon Report (Japanese: ポケモン レポート).
Another report states the number of moves that Pokémon can learn, referred to as "techniques" in Generations I and III. This number is over 160 in the Generation I games, over 350 in the Generation III games, and over 200 in the Generation VII games.
A third report informs the player that Porygon was created by the Pokémon Lab on Cinnabar Island. In Generation VII, this report instead states that Porygon was created by the research section.
Items
One of the items below is in a different location in the original Red and Green version, and is listed separately. Other items are in the same location.
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.
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.
Trainers
After Giovanni has been defeated, all the Trainers associated with Team Rocket will disappear from the building.
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.
Pokémon Quest
In Pokémon Quest, the MoBee IV drone was manufactured by Silph Co. When the price of the MoBee IV was reduced, Silph Co also reduced the capacity of its battery. Silph Co. does not appear in the game other than being named in reference to MoBee IV.
Silph Co. appeared in 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 accelerate 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.
Pokémon Generations
A photograph of Silph Co. appeared in The Chase, where an International Police agent informed Looker about Team Rocket's failed attempt to take over the building while giving him a report about their attempt to locate Giovanni.
Instead of an office building, the Silph Co. in Pokémon Adventures appears to be more like a typical villain base, having multiple traps and specifically designed rooms set up in case of intruders.
Silph Co. first appeared in Holy Moltres, where Team Rocket was shown keeping their base inside the building and having managed to capture the three legendary birds. Later it was revealed that Team Rocket was keeping the kidnapped people of Pallet Town at the building, prompting Red and Blue to break into the Team Rocket-infested Saffron City and storm the Silph Co. building. Green also entered the building, although with much more selfish motives.
Inside the Silph Co. building, Red, Blue, and Green were confronted by Team Rocket's commanders: the evil Gym LeadersLt. Surge, Koga, and Sabrina. During the conflict, the legendary birds were accidentally fused together by Green's use of the "Badge Energy Amplifier", a device that increases the energy produced by Gym Badges. With their combined efforts, the three Pallet Town Trainers managed to defeat the fusion Pokémon and de-fuse it, allowing the legendary birds to escape. The building collapsed in the ensuing chaos, bringing Team Rocket's plans to an end.
Silph Co. appeared in PZ07, where Satoshi infiltrated the building to defeat Team Rocket. He soon encountered Sabrina, who also wanted to defeat Team Rocket, and a talkingLapras owned by the company. Satoshi and Sabrina decided to team up against Team Rocket, and used Sabrina's teleportation powers to reach the top floor, where Giovanni was keeping Silph Co.'s president hostage. After defeating Giovanni with Lapras's help, Satoshi obtained the Master Ball from Silph Co.'s president and the Marsh Badge from Sabrina, while Lapras ended up joining his team.
In the magazines
Article about the Master Ball (Pokémon Power magazine)
Pokémon Power
In Pokémon Power (issue 2, page 3), it is said that Professor Oak invented the Master Ball and licensed its design to Silph Co., and this company's early field tests were said to be promising.
Trivia
Although a logo for the company was not introduced in-game until Generation IV, several possible logos have been seen in previous games. One appeared in early artwork of the Silph Scope on the front of the device, another appeared on the side of the Silph Co. building in Super Smash Bros., and a third appeared on the original Pokégear artwork as a stylized "S".
In Generation I games, if the player uses the Town Map inside Silph Co., the current place shown by default depends on where the player is:
"Saffron City" if the player is on the first floor (except the elevator).
"Silph Co." if the player is on any floor other than the first, or in the elevator.
In Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue, the elevator on 11F has a bug that causes the player to be layered on its doors upon leaving it. Another quirk occurs as result, which disables the elevator mat's left tile if the player enters the elevator without being on the doors and does not move from that tile afterwards, thus preventing them from exiting without specifically using the mat's right tile. Both these issues were fixed in Pokémon Yellow.
In the internal data of Generation II games, Silph Co. is found in the list of place names, but this is not referenced in normal gameplay. When the player is inside Silph Co., the Pokégear map displays the current location as Saffron City. In Pokémon Crystal, if an Egg hatches inside Silph Co., the Pokémon caught data is also recorded as Saffron City (in Pokémon Gold and Silver, caught data is not recorded for any Pokémon).
The company logo introduced in Generation IV can be seen on the Normal Uniform in Pokémon Sword and Shield as that type's sponsor. However, the logo does not appear in Poké Jobs or in the list of companies in the credits.
Name origin
Silph Co.'s name is a corruption of sylph, a mythological creature.
In Japanese, the company is named シルフ shirufu, which is Japanese for "sylph". However, it has been officially romanized as "Silph", "Silf", and "Sylph".
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:
In Let's Go, Eevee!:
