Rate that Pokemon, Fire Red/Leaf Green Version

[BBM]

Okay, as frequenters of these Rate that Pokemon threads will know, the mods have asked us to combine each game's ratings into one thread, rather than having them all in separate threads. So this thread has been made to compile all the existing FR/LG ratings. Once I have finished posting all the ratings in this thread, we will continue rating the remaining pokemon, all in this thread. However, until I have finished posting all these ratings (and since we're on Day 27, it'll take a while), I kindly ask people to not post in this thread. You may now post!

In the cases of some particular votes that were made after the deadline, the comments will be posted in this thread so that readers get more opinions on the pokemon being rated, but their votes did not contribute to the score. Conversely, in the cases of those ratings that simply quoted another one and added nothing new, I won't bother reposting them because it's less work for me. Their votes were, however, counted.

Rules (adapted from Fire Emblem RTUs)

- Votes need some explanation regarding their gameplay performance to be counted. If somebody else said what you want to already, quote them explicitly. You can troll a bit, but no CATERPIE HAS STRING SHOT 10/10.

+/- ≤1 point extra regarding personality/appearance is encouraged, but no more. If you exercise your bias privileges, please do so explicitly.

- Votes are made out of 10. You cannot rate a pokemon above 10 or below 0.

- The rating topic will be updated whenever I feel like it, but I will try to allow at least 24 hours for each topic. They will generally be updated at around noon EST.

- A pokemon being inferior relative to another pokemon does not explicitly reduce their rating.

- We are rating ingame performance only, up until the Elite 4 is beaten the first time.

- Evolution lines get condensed, so treat Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venasaur all as one pokemon.

- The final evolution of pokemon that evolve through trades like Alakazam and Golem WILL be counted. Any points deducted for evolving in this manner can only be as part of bias.

Onix: 0.78

Paras/Parasect: 2.15

Weedle/Kakuna/Beedrill: 2.44

Ekans/Arbok: 2.57

Farfetch'd: 2.57

Rattate/Raticate: 3.20

Zubat/Golbat: 3.25

Machop/Machoke/Machamp: 3.57

Grimer/Muk: 4.00/10

Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff: 4.21

Ponyta/Rapidash: 4.25

Venonat/Venomoth: 4.28

Vulpix/Ninetales: 4.38

Meowth/Persian: 4.44

Oddish/Gloom/Vileplume: 4.92

Pidgey/Pidgeotto/Pidgeot: 5.00

Caterpie/Metapod/Butterfree: 5.21

Geodude/Graveler/Golem: 5.25

Magnemite/Magneton: 5.75/10

Tentacool/Tentacruel: 5.83

Sandshrew/Sandslash: 5.86

Pikachu/Raichu: 5.94

Psyduck/Golduck: 6.00

Spearow/Fearow: 6.21

Shellder/Cloyster: 6.30

Seel/Dewgong: 6.50

Bellsprout/Weepinbell/Victreebell: 6.60

Poliwag/Poliwhirl/Poliwrath: 6.79

Slowpoke/Slowbro: 6.83

Doduo/Dodrio: 7.13

Gastly/Haunter/Gengar: 7.31

Growlithe/Arcanine: 7.78

Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard: 7.80

Diglett/Dugtrio: 7.9

Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venasaur: 8.25

Nidoran-F/Nidorina/Nidoqueen: 8.58

Mankey/Primeape: 8.96

Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoise: 9.36

Clefairy/Clefable: 9.50

Nidoran-M/Nidorino/Nidoking: 9.75

Edited August 22, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur: 8.25

Okay, Bulbasaur. He's pretty good. Does great against the first two gyms, and he's still good against Surge, but starts falling off after that, not having a good matchup again until Giovanni. He's okay against Lorelei's water pokemon and Bruno's rock pokemon, but not so good against the remaining members. He's slow, but has useful status moves and is there all game like the other starters. 8.5/10

BBM, bulba is good against Giovanni. Gio has ground types, remember?(te nidos are different though)

8/10 Worst starter of the three, but its the best grass type you can get. It'll have trouble against gym leaders like Sabrina and Blaine, but I guess it gets points for trivializing misty and helping against Lorelei.

Oh yeah, and availability. Ofc.

Ahh, I meant to say, not having a good matchup again until Giovanni. My mistake. Also, PKL, a bit more justification, lol.

10/10

Starter with solid performance through the game

Capable of soloing it

8/10 pretty underrated starter pokemon and has an advantage against the first two gyms, probably one of the best grass types of the 1st gen pokemon. though it does have a total of four weaknesses and still probably falls short on terms with Charmander and Squirtle

7.5/10

Soild starter, gets some nice matchups, but it's movepool is less than stellar. Grass/Normal coverage anyone? Yeahhhh not that great.

8.5/10.

One of the best Grass types in the game. Only downside is that it has a lot of weaknesses.

I didn't even know this existed until now, but hey, I might as well throw in my 2 cents.

Ah yes, the Best Starter of Gen I. Great EXP group, and it's very, very effective against the first three gyms, along with Giovanni and Lorelei, and even when it's not great, it can still sleep and Leech Seed. Not to mention it just slaughters Hikers and Fishermen, both very common. Sure, it falters a bit lategame, but thanks to Sleep Powder/Leech Seed, it can help even against such foes as Lance and Koga. Let's see Charmeleon do much against Misty, and Wartortle against Surge

9/10 for normal people, but with bias becomes a 10/10.

Story of my life I would have ranked 10/10 too. He's an easy to use starter. He's good against pretty much all the gyms(seeing how the fire and physic gyms are 6 and 7 and imo are the only which might be a problem). He turns into Venusaur at 32 which is 4 levels before the other two starters. He's immune to poison. His moves are good too.

What a bummer I missed the actual ranking.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard: 7.80

Charmander. Poor guy doesn't do very well against the first two gyms. Metal Claw allows him to do slightly better than he could the first time around, but not by much. He gets raped by Misty, but then picks up and is okay/decent in the middle, but starts faltering again starting from Blaine. Kanto is just not a very kind region to Fire types. His stats are pretty good though, being both the strongest and fastest of all the starters, and again, he's there all game. 7.5/10

charmander is totally the coolest because he evolves into CHARIZARD which is the coolest looking starter

10/10

Ember helps a lot in the Viridian Forest, but the first two gyms won't help it. It's only strong point is the fourth gym and Lorelei, but hey, as BBM said, it' the strongest and fastest of the starters. It has a great moveset, too.

8/10.

EDIT: If this ever continues, I call covering Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.

Useless until you get to Surge, then he's only decent. But you've got access to Geodude and Diglett, so it's not like he's making up for his problems. He rocks vs Eirika, and then is just average for Koga and Sabrina, while not being too hot vs Blaine. Giovanni is a mixed bag, as some of his Pokemon have Rock Blast which kills Charizard, although the he pretty much walls the Nidos and Dugtrio. Lorelei isn't too great since her team is almost all Water-types. Bruno is also a mixed bag, as three of his five Pokes have Rock-type moves. Agatha is like Sabrina 2.0, so neutral. Against Lance Charizard finds it hard to do any solid damage to his Pokes, since they all resist Fire. He is around for the whole game, and Ember-ing Viridian makes for easy EXP (which he'll need due to Mt. Moon's Geodudes and Misty shortly coming). Fly utility is the final stage is awesome for time saving.

5/10 (6 without bias)

9.5/10

Starter capable of almost soloing the game, only stopped by misty.

I can't imagine how Charmander would have trouble with Brock, because Onix and Geodude have horrible special defense and in Onix's case his HP is very low too

7/10

Charmander and co. are pretty cool. Also they are strong. Also they aren't as bad against Brock as they used to be. Also most/all starters are pretty OP anyways. Also they are classic.

Rock Tomb is a 2HKO. Better pray it misses, as it outdamages Potion, or Onix uses Bind or something.

Charizard is by far the best final form of a Kanto starter (High Sp. Atk + Speed, decent everything else), and with the gaining of a Flying-type loses the weakness to Ground-type moves, and makes Fighting-type moves not very effective and makes Bug and Grass type attacks become even weaker on him, but this is a mixed blessing, as it makes Rock's effectiveness 4x, adds a 2x weakness to thunder, and allows Ice to damage him normally. He also has a very varied movepool, being able to learn Normal, Fighting, Bug, Ground, Rock, Dragon, Steel, Flying and Fighting-type moves. It can also learn the HM Fly, which allows it to serve as quick transport to Pokemon Centers if needed. Sadly, he has something of a slow start getting there, as he faces significant trouble in the first Gym vs Onix, and has no chance at all in the water Gym, unless very overleveled. He should become a Charmeleon before/during the third gym and isn't a bad choice for it, and is capable of using your Dig TM to deal SE damage to the electric types. Extremely effective against the fourth gym due to the overwhelming amount of Grass-types. In your first fight with Giovanni, he should watch out for Onix's Rock Throw, but other than that doesn't fair a huge disadvantage. He should become a Charizard prior to the fifth Gym and still isn't a bad choice as if he still knows Dig, can deal SE damage and if not, has decent enough attack that his contribution there will be very useful. He will help to steamroll through the TR mooks, and his useful against Giovanni, as his Flying type negates their ground type moves, and can be taught Brick Break through TM in order to deal with Rhyhorn if needed, and is strong enough to handle the other three without too much fuss. He is a good choice against Sabrina because he hits her Venomoth with SE, and has physical moves like Fly, Slash and Steel Wing to get past the high Sp. Def of her other Pokemon. The way to Cinnabar is filled with Water-types, and he isn't a very good choice to bring along there. He IS a good choice to bring to fight against Blaine due to his Sp. Def holding of the Dark type attacks, and his Fire-type and Sp. Def blocking the Fire-type moves, leaving only Normal and Flying-type moves to be used against him, and he can be taught Rock-Slide by Move Tutor to hit them super effectively. He also fairs well against Giovanni, capable of using Brick Break to take down his Rhyhorns if needed, and since the others don't have Rock-Type moves, he can go toe-to-toe with them without too much worry. He's a very poor choice to face Lorelei with, as 4/5 of he Pokemon know a water type move, and due to his flying type, takes normal damage from their Ice type moves, though his Sp. Def allows him to take a couple of hits. He faces something of a neutral matchup against Bruno, as 3/5 of his Pokemon know a Rock-type attack, but he can easily take care of the Onix's, and can use Fly to deal major damage to the Fighting-types. He can hold his own against Agatha, and can be taught Earthquake to quickly deal with her Arbok, but her other Pokemon are much trickier. He is a poor choice to use against Lance, as the Aerodactyl knows a Rock type attack, and he cannot hit the Gyarados SE, but can be taught Dragon Claw to deal SE damage to the Dragon-types. He's a very good choice to use against Blue, as the only Pokemon Blue has that poses a huge challenge against him are Rhydon and Blastoise, and he can use Brick Break to fight with the Rhydon more evenly.

The Char line will usually find some way to be useful in every situation and plus, it looks cool.

8/10

7/10 Excellent stats , good movepool, and flying utility . However, he isn't very useful in gym fights outside of Erika , and the only elite four member he's really helpful against is Bruno. It's to bad he isn't dragon /fire because then he'd be completely overpowered .

Great offensive stats plus it get use to Fly as well making it unnecessary for a Fly slave. It's bad typing though makes it VERY vulnerable with its already bad defensive stats. Not to mention that it has trouble against the first two gyms which makes it hard if it's been your only Pokemon so far.

7.5, +.5 bias for being of the few fire starters that doesn't eventually become Fire/Fighting

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoise: 9.36

Squirtle! Owns Brock and can handle Misty with Bite. Not good against Surge, but Surge is an easy Gym Leader because it's so easy to catch a Diglett and wall him. He faces a type disadvantage against Eirika, but he can Ice Beam to cover it up. Does decently against Koga and Sabrina, and owns Blaine and Giovanni. The E4 also goes pretty well for him, with Bruno being part Rock and Lance's dragons falling to Ice Beam. So other than Surge, he's never really at a loss. 10/10, but he's my least favourite starter, so 9.5/10 after negative bias

Kicks Brock's ass, use other good moves against Misty, shouldn't even be fighting Surge, use an Ice move against Erika, do well against Koga and Sabrina, and annihilate Blaine and Giovanni.

Yep. Basically it's only downside is Lt. Surge.

9.5/10

I rate Squirtle a 1.....

out of 1.

So, how do I put this.

ignsoigndsgdsgsdgsYES

Well, that seems reasonable.

Squirtle and its evolution lines is a great choice against most of the game's leaders. Availability isn't a problem, and it can be very helpful in annoying places like caves, where rock pokemon are bound to show up. This is sort of a bonius, but choosing Squirtle also gives Gary a Bulbasaur, which can be made trivial to battle with a good flying pokemon.

Oh yeah rating

10/10

I've always had a soft spot for Squirtle myself. He has the best availability in the game, and he has a generally solid stat spread, with particularly shiny defenses in exchange for somewhat dull Spd. He puts up a good showing against pretty much every gym except for Surge and Erika (and is arguably the best starter to take on Sabrina due to his strong Sp Def; also, I don't think you get an ice TM before Celadon Gym, though you could get Ice Beam prior to it in RBY). His movepool is sort of weak under normal circumstances, but a strong TM spread saves him; Water Pulse will carry him until you get Surf, and he gets Ice Beam eventually to demolish Grass types. Not hard to rate.

9.5/10 (Still not perfect; not the fastest and dies at two gyms)

For me, it's usually between this dude and Bulbasaur for my starter spot.

Kicks Brock's ass, use other good moves against Misty, shouldn't even be fighting Surge, use an Ice move against Erika, do well against Koga and Sabrina, and annihilate Blaine and Giovanni.

Yep. Basically it's only downside is Lt. Surge.

9.5/10

I'm going to deduct a point for having the worst ingame stat spread out of the three starters. Offense isn't something to be lacking ingame, especially when you lack speed as well. 85/78 offenses are bad compared to Venusaur's 100/80 and Charizard's 109/100.

So 9/10

Squirtle, eh... I haven't really used this much, but I can see why it's good. Does great for the first 2 gyms, and after it gets Water Pulse it really picks up. Those great defenses and Ice TM access really help it be the best at the end, and although it really isn't the greatest stat-wise, still has enough to get the job done and keep on trucking afterwards.

Surge and Erika are both big problems (the latter can be fixed by throwing $80,000 at it), but after those it just keeps going and going and going...

9/10, with -.5 bias due to its raw offensive stats being not that great, kinda stupid reason, but whatever.

Squirtle. My first Pokemon ever. I could say many things about him, but everyone else summed it up

10/10 (9/10 for Surge and Erika with +1 bias.)

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Caterpie/Metapod/Butterfree: 5.21

Uhhh... incredibly annoying to get to a Butterfree, and once it does, Confusion has some marginal utility against Brock... but not really because I'm pretty sure it gets OHKOd by Rock Tomb. Stats are quite bad and it doesn't get a STAB for a long time. Gust can sort of help against Eirika? Apparently, he can also Compoundeyes Sleep Powder and has a variety of TMs available. 3/10

Early game utility at best. Think of Butterfree/Beedrill/other early bugs as Jeigans, because their stats initially start of awesome but then everyone else catches up to them.

Unlike in RBY, Butterfree can't even be used as utility vs Brock anymore. There isn't really any important fight where having a Butterfree matters.

2/10 - nice bulk early on, but it'll quickly get replaced

4.5/10. It has Compoundeyes Sleep Powder going for it, and Confusion off a decent Sp. Atk stat packs quite a punch for a good while.

First off, nothing is getting done in the caterpie/metapod phases, but those are quick evolutions. There are worse pokemon stuck with a useless levels. Magikarp until level 20 or needing to force feed a feebas with beauty to make it evolve are good examples. Three levels between evolutions and at such a low level makes caterpie and metapod non-existent as evolutions. With butterfree, it is learning a nice special attack move right off the bad which in early game is difficult to protect against since most pokemon will have higher defence or only defence attacks. Hitting special defence is rather useful. Butterfree also carries a nice set of resistances with a bug/flying combination. Yes, it loses pretty badly to fire, rock, and flying. Having access to stun spore and 100% sleep powder is also very handy. Its lacking in absolute raw power, but it can find its niches such as against fighting types (not packing rock moves) or grass types.

So, 7/10 It should be 8/10 because of that awesome video.

Butterfree's stats are pretty workable until lategame...like, I'd say that Butterfree is totally usable and pretty good through Koga and is good against all of Team Rocket's poison mooks they love to use. Even when Butterfree's stats start to lag behind noticeably it can get some decent moves (throw it the Psychic TM I guess) and it can throw around Stun Spores, Sleep Powders and decently accurate Supersonics.

6.5/10.

5.5/10

Its typing sucks and its stats are mediocre later in the game but Butterfree can be pretty awesome in the early game with its stats and early confusion. Also, metapod had good defense for that point in game and while it may take ti forever to kill anything, it'll be killing them before it takes much damage usually. Plus, I just have a strange soft spot for it, idk why.

6/10

cccccompoundeyes + sleep powder

Considering that you get it before you face Brock, it actually has some very decent stats. 60HP/45ATK/50DEF is pretty decent, and 80SP. ATK/80SP. DEF/70SPD is amazing considering how soon you can get it at. Plus, it can learn some VERY powerful SP. ATK moves, like Dream Eater, Shadow Ball, Solar Beam and Psychic. Not to mention CompoundEyes pretty much ensures that PoisonPowder/SleepPowder/Stun Spore/SuperSonic will always hit. Brocks Pokemon have VERY low SP. DEF, so using Confusion, it is going to be dealing good damage. When facing Misty, it will struggle to deal damage with Confusion due to her Pokemon's high Sp. Def, but can use PoisonPowder to make the Pokemon slowly faint. Lt. Surge curbstomps it so you're better of not bringing it into that gym. VERY helpful when fighting Erika, as Bug/Flying has a 4x Resist to Grass type moves, and Confusion hits her Grass/Poison types SE, and Gust hits all of her Pokemon SE. Psybeam helps it deal some remarkable Damage to Koga, as all of his types are pure Poison, and have no chance of resisting, although Muk has some impressive Sp. Def. Notably, as most of Team Rocket uses Poison types, it's ability to use Psychic type moves gives it the edge against most Mooks you face. You can teach it Shadow Ball via TM to get it to hit Sabrina's Psychic types SE and Psybeam will be SE against her Venomoth. Does poorly against Blaine due to his fire types, but makes a comeback against Giovanni as she hits his Nido's SE, and due to it's flying type, Dugtrio only has one attack it can use against her. She falters against his Rhyhorns, but she can still hit them for some damage before taking too many Rock-type attacks, and can use Giga Drain to hit them SE. Does poorly against Lorelai, but can use Giga Drain against her Water-types, decent against Bruno's fighting types as long as it isn't hit by Rock-type attacks. Does VERY well against Agatha due to Psychic-type attacks. Putting her Pokemon to sleep using Sleep Powder and then using Dream Eater is very effective. Fairs admirably against Lance, as it hit's his Pokemon with neutral attacks, enabling it to help chip at his Pokemon, and can put them to sleep to deal damage without fear of counters. It does poorly against Blue's Pidgeot, but can use Shadow Ball to help get rid of his Alakazam, and Giga Drain to help with his Rhydon. If you chose Bulbasaur, he can hit the Gyarados for neutral damage, and can use Shadow Ball to deal with Exeggutor, but fairs VERY poorly against Charizard. If you chose Charmader, it does poorly against Arcanine, but can use Giga Drain to deal with Blastoise, and again, Shadow Ball for Exeggutor. If you chose Squirtle, it does poorly against Arcanine, deals neutral damage to the Gyarados, and unless you've been carrying round the Psychic TM, has a poor chance against Venusaur as SleepPowder doesn't work, negating Dream Eater too, Giga Drain does 1/4 of what it could do, and Shadow Ball hits for Neutral damage, though if you have, can hit it SE.

7/10

Workable, but not ideal. By the time you bench it, it won't have had any TMs used on it.

5/10

Was thinking of Leech Seed, as that doesn't work on Grass-types. And I assumed we were rating them based on a void where we can give them as many resources as we want in order to get the best performance. If not, lower the vote to a 4.5/10, as without most of the resources, Butterfree becomes essentially worthless after Koga.

Edit: I meant it CAN learn Solar Beam and Psychic if you wanted it to. I gave it Dream Eater, Giga Drain and Shadow Ball, and the only way to get Shadow Ball is Celadon Game Corner, so there's infinite ones of that available.

I wouldn't say Butterfree is necessarily entitles to all those resources, but even just tossing one or two its way helps it out tremendously. Shadow Ball, Psychic (which is my preference since Butterfree has a workable SATK stat) are really all it needs to extend its life pretty significantly, IMO.

A bit annoying to train at first, but that's not so bad. It's really good early on as a Butterfree, when its stats easily beat anything else in your team and it has Confusion to murder loads of mooks, particularly the Poison types Team Rocket favors in Mt. Moon; awesome Zubat killer. It gets the Sleep/Poison/Paralysis moves at levels 13-15, which shifts its role to that of a utility Pokemon raining inability on enemies. It's very solid for the entire earlygame, and you can rely on it to be handy.

However, as you train everyone else, it swiftly begins to lag behind stat-wise; 80 for Special stats and 70 for Speed isn't too bad, but everything else will make you groan once you get into the more heavy-duty section of the game; around the time you reach Vermillion, I'd say. Its movepool is rather mediocre to boot, getting Gust and Psybeam at the late 20s/early 30s, and learning Silver Wind at level 47 (which also happens to be its final natural move). Giga Drain, Solarbeam, Aerial Ace, and Psychic can be gotten from TMs, but there are better Pokemon for all of those moves, and it's pointless throwing them to Butterfree. It's pretty bad (if usable) long-term, but it shines in the earlygame when you have a weaker team backing you up. Its general inability to keep up with the rest of your squad holds it back considerably, but if you really like Butterfree, go ahead and use it to the E4, I guess. It can learn some good Psychic-type moves, which is always nice.

5/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Weedle/Kakuna/Beedrill: 2.44

The physical form of Butterfree. However, unlike Butterfree, it learns no status ailments, so its bad stats begin to haunt it much earlier. 2/10

Has bad stats. In general..a Pokemon that you shouldn't bother.

1/10

Lacks all of the fun status moves that Butterfree has (and those are pretty much what saved Butterfree from obsurity). Stats suck just as bad as Butterfree's, only Beedrill lacks a reason to be used.

1/10 for joining early and having good stats early

It had potential to be a very strong earlygame attacker if it learned something other than crappy 85-acc. Fury Attack when it evolves, multiple hits or not. As others have said, it fades out more quickly than Butterfree, which still has the potential to act as a status-bot for a good while even if you use it for nothing else. By the time it gets Twinneedle it only has a few levels of minor practical use left before it gets sent down the crapper. It could have had a good Poison-type STAB move in the Sludge Bomb TM were it not, you know, on Five Island. Blah. Still has better stats than anybody else for a bit after it evolves, I guess, even if its moves give it low potential for taking advantage of that.

2/10

It had potential to be a very strong earlygame attacker if it learned something other than crappy 85-acc. Fury Attack when it evolves, multiple hits or not. As others have said, it fades out more quickly than Butterfree, which still has the potential to act as a status-bot for a good while even if you use it for nothing else. By the time it gets Twinneedle it only has a few levels of minor practical use left before it gets sent down the crapper. It could have had a good Poison-type STAB move in the Sludge Bomb TM were it not, you know, on Five Island. Blah. Still has better stats than anybody else for a bit after it evolves, I guess, even if its moves give it low potential for taking advantage of that.

2/10

beeeeeeeeeedrrilll

I had an adamant one on my nuzlocke run in lg, lets just say that it was my(second) mvp of the run.

being a mini-hm slave(cut and I think flash)

although weedle and kakuna both suck

5/10

1/10. Has decent attack, but too bad the number of good moves it can learn can be counted on one hand.

Beedrill is terrible, absolutely terrible, but well...I have a soft spot for it even though I don't really know why.

2 points for being a crutch for a little while and one point because I like him.

3/10

Needs more decent Bug and Poison-type moves.

Even if it did have them, though, it'd still be an awful Pokemon with those stats.

2/10

Dunno about you guys, but I felt Beedrill was alright till the Elite four at least. Teach it Aerial Ace if you want more variety. Its pretty decent, especially with twin-needle.

4/10 +1 bias because I have a soft spot for it as well, 5/10

Terrible stats, though I guess you can use Beedrill as a crutch. I've never bothered. Not enough good STAB moves, and gets outclassed way too quickly.

3/10 -1 bias point ('cause he's a bug) for 2/10.

Beedrill has some good moves, but completely blows until evolved up then. Harden could be an interesting thing for it, as does twinneedle and some HMs, but aside from all of that, not very good.

3/10

Butterfree's even more useless sibling. It has a few less weaknesses, but it's movepool is even more horrid and still fails in combat

2/10

He's like Butterfree

Without the things that make it good.

3/10

This is a bad reason, but It gets big bias points for having twinneedle, a move that I loved the crap out of in Gen I. Having said that, it becomes useless pretty early on, and I think Jolteon leans twinneedle in Yellow. Statwise, a beedrill can be decent up to about the fourth gym if you really put the effort in, but there are just better pokemon for it. So I'd say 3/10

Ehhh, I'd personally say that it'd be a waste knowing that Beedrill NEEDS TMs to get anything even half decent....

Actually, Twineedle was exclusive to Beedrill until Generation 5. Jolteon got Pin Missile... which was pretty useless between multi-hit unreliability, Jolteon's poor attack stat, and imperfect accuracy.

Pin Missile was the best way to hit Psychics for super effective damage in Gen.1 though.

Even though the best way to beat them was to throw an opposing Psychic at them and use non-Psychic attacks.

Imbalance thy name is Gen.1.

Thunderpunch/Icepunch/Firepunch/Psychic Alakazam gogogogo!

Also, interesting tidbit, in Gen 2, Twinneedle could poison Steel types.

True, though the only Pokemon who got it back in Gen 1 were Beedrill, which would fold like a cheap suit once hit by a psychic attack, and Jolteon, which had a pretty poor attack stat.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Pidgey/Pidgeotto/Pidgeot: 5.00

Pidgey! I love this guy. He's outclassed entirely by Fearow because he never learns Drill Peck, and is weaker, slower and doesn't reach its final evolution until later. Normal and Flying are also not very great STABs. He has his glorious moment against Erika, and is only ever really average after that. 4/10 + 1 bias is 5/10

Not sure how that rate doesn't count as "Comparing Pokemon"...

Pidgey's pretty cool. It's a shame it doesn't start with a flying type move, because with it it would make leveling it so much easier come Viridian Forest. Combat wise its pretty mediocre with 80/70/91 offenses, and its movepool does it no favors with consisting of pretty much only Normal and Flying moves. It does have Fly utility though, but due to the layout of Kanto, Fly is only really useful at getting to Blaine's gym through the easier Pallet Town route.

4/10

6/10

Amazing availability, kind of meh offense but I'd take its superior bulk over Fearow anyway.

Pidgey... In all honesty, it wasn't very useful to me at all. Has bulk, and featherdance, but seriously? Too weak, (imo) and it's just an average pokemon.

Probably the second worst bird imo.

5/10

Let's see...

First it gets weak to rocks, thunder, and ice. It does have good speed making Double Team good to have and not having to EV train it in Speed. Okay Flyer type, but Starraptor, and Fearow far outclass it by a long shot.

5/10

Pidgey... is merely okay. It takes a while to evolve, which is quite bad when you're a bad Norm/Flying type. It's not even that good against gyms, only doing good against Erika. But, it is available for a long, long time, so it gets...

4.5/10, +.5 bias for being my first ever Lv. 100.

As much as I love the bird, he is pretty much average, never gets a real chance to shine. If there were was a proper fighting gym as well as the grass gym, he'd probably get higher.

55% from me.

All that time and effort to get it to level 36 and get it to fully evolve, all for a pretty mediocre Pokemon. It still has great availability a decent amount of bulk (for a flying type.)

6/10

He's a good early game mon, and great in Erika's gym. It's not like you have to worry about moves like Stealth Rock in Gen 3 either.

I've used him against the elite four, and he pulled his weight just fine, so +0.5 bias.

5.5/10

Pretty much Fly utility only and shines at Erika but nothing else; and Fearow is way better unless you waited for Doduo to show up.

4.0

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Rattate/Raticate: 3.20

Well, let's see... On the good side we have...

+Learns hyper fang (80 attack, 120 with STAB) at level 13.

+Is readily available in many routes.

+Can learn cut and rock smash, so it can be a viable HM slave.

+Semi-decent early game (mainly thanks to hyper fang).

But on the other side of the coin:

-Normal type is a rather bad type in general (I mean, one could argue that it's a good thing that normal matches up neutrally, but really, in the storymode, you know exactly what you're up against, so there should be no reason why you wouldn't take advantage of type differences). The only time the two of them have any use is early game--and that's when you're fighting Brock and trekking through Mt. Moon. You could spend time leveling them up, but...

-Experience is better spent on other Pokemon.

-Rattata and Raticate have limited movepools, learning mostly normal moves by leveling, except one dark (which is pursuit, so...).

-None of Raticate's base stats exceed 100.

-Raticate's base stat total is 413, which is pretty unimpressive.

-They have bad mid-game and aren't really even a viable option for late-game.

I wouldn't call the "it's better used on others" as "relative weakness" to them--I'm merely stating that, on its own, it's simply not worth training. The cons and pros are almost equal in number, but the severity of the cons far outweigh the pros. In the end, I'm just going to give it a...

3/10

The only time I'd use a Rattata is if I was doing Nuzlocke and I was seriously strapped for Pokemon.

Crap stats and movepool (Save super fang.)

2.5/10

Rattata can be caught super-early, and is fairly fast with some okay Atk. It snatches up Hyper Fang at level 13; since it gets STAB, it's one of the strongest attacks you could ask for in the earlygame. It evolves to Raticate at level 20, increasing Hyper Fang's almighty power. It only gets Scary Face when it evolves, but that's gonna get better, right? This thing has served you well so far, you'll get your Pokeball's worth! (what kind of term is this)

It learns approximately 3 moves naturally from then on after it evolves. Super Fang at level 40 is pretty good, but Pursuit and Endeavor are incredibly situational. It can get a surprisingly diverse number of TMs like Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Rain Dance, Iron Tail, etc. However, a lot of other Pokemon are loads better at putting those to work than it is. It can at least see a decent amount of utility as an HM slave, getting Cut, Strength, and Rock Smash, but that's about it.

3/10 + 1.5 for HM slave = 4.5/10

Those fang moves are pretty good, especially the one it gets early. (Also mkaes it an annoying enemy to face ugh) Other than that though Raticate doesn't have much going for it besides speed which could still be better. But, props for being Raticate. Its a classic. Also youngsters love you. So at least you're popular.

3/10

It's HM movepool is pretty limited, unlike other early rodents like Zigzagoon and Bidoof. In other words, Rattata has little utility.

Like the early bugs, it's a crutch for the early game. Once it evolves, it's pretty potent at that point in the game. Hyper Fang is downright scary this early, and Raticate is pretty fast to boot. It boasts more longevity than the bugs, but it still isn't anything that's taking you to the elite four.

3/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Spearow/Fearow: 6.21

Spearow! It's faster and stronger than Pidgey, and also gets Drill Peck. However, Drill Peck isn't obtained until level 40, so it has to make do with Peck and then the Aerial Ace TM once you get it, so for most of the game, it still doesn't have anything better than Wing Attack. Other than Peck/Aerial Ace, it's only got Fury Attack. And again, Flying STAB is only really useful against Erika and Rival's Venusaur, if he has one. So 5/10.

It's better to have around than Pidgey in the early game due to Peck. But once Doduo comes around, Fearow's time is coming to a close.

5.5/10 - Nice to have during the earlygame. It's better than Pidgey due to earlier STAB, and it learns all of the same HMs as well. Competition will come later on in the form of Doduo, and Fearow has nothing to differentiate itself from the two headed bird.

But it's better than doduo, due to helping when Flying type was wanted.

Also, +1 bias.

6.5/10

One of the best Pre Cerulean early joiners, below the Nidos, Clefairy, and Mankey and Butterfree.

You can still get Doduo before Eirika's gym.

It's way better than Pidgey, but it's not that great. Still, its pretty useful for earlygame until Doduo comes along.

6/10~

Much better than Pidgey, but there is a much better Flying type you can get fairly late in the game

7/10

Spearow can be caught very early with solid attack power to go with it; it's got great Atk and Spd the whole way through, although it's pretty bad in all its other stats; luckily, Flying is physical, so it never really has to worry about its bad Sp Atk since that's what it's devoted to. Its defenses are kind of annoying, but it's fast enough to sweep some things that could give it trouble. It gets Peck from the very beginning and doesn't learn another Flying move until level 40 (well, Aerial Ace, level 25 as a Spearow, but that's not necessary) in the very good Drill Peck, but it gets Aerial Ace and Fly along the way as TMs/HMs at appropriate intervals to boost its attacking ability. Not a bad movepool, although I do wish it had some more flexibility.

In terms of gyms, it's only bad against Brock, Surge, and partly Giovanni, and it's actually helpful against some Pokemon in that last one due to its immunity to the ever-annoying Earthquake (as long as there's no Rock moves for it to be scared of); although one could argue that it's only good against Erika and Doduo comes then, but it also gets Fly right then, offering a nice boost in power. Fearow isn't always optimal, but in terms of general usage it's very solid and can help in a lot of situations. Worth picking up and taking all the way, although it has its rough patches.

7/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Ekans/Arbok: 2.57

Well, it's the first Pokemon you can get with Intimidate. Other than that, it's movepool is outright depressing, its stats are lackluster, and Poison is not a great type to have alone, especially since the best STAB it gets is Acid. Don't even bother leveling this thing.

1.5/10

We're raising it if we're rating it.

4/10.

Comes early, and can be a bit of a status spreader and all.

Kinda average-ish, but bleh.

Like Beedrill, Arbok is another one of those pokemon who was meh to me for a long time, but in my last heartgold game I got the urge to use him and realised that it actually looks really cool.

In heartgold Arbok managed to be a decent at worst pokemon, but this isn't heartgold. Intimidate and shed skin are awesome abilities, but other then that Arbok has nothing going for it. Bad movepool and stats that aren't very good.

2+1 bias point since I start to like the poor snake more and more.

Ooh boy. Ekans is why you don't get Fire Red version.

For starters, Poison Sting will be it's only STAB move for above 20-30 levels, depending on when you evolve it. It's got 15 BP, which is atrocious. Then it picks up Acid at Lv.32. This jumps it up to 40 BP. Then... that's it for poison moves. The next time you'll see one is Sludge Bomb, which comes after the Elite Four is beaten. So we've got a 40BP STAB move that is somehow going to carry this Pokemon through more than half of the game. It's stats aren't higher than Base 85, and its TM pool pretty much limits its movepool to Acid/Earthquake/Iron Tail/Return. That's how narrow it is!

2/10 - An absolute pain to use, but doesn't reward you for doing so.

Oh boy... 2.5/10. Intimidate's about all this snake's got going for it.

2.5

Mainly because my Chinese zodiac sign is a serpent. However, by the time ekans is availible to you, youve already been able to catch either a weedle or a oddish which have stronger evolution lines and better attacks.

...sorry Jesse

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Pikachu/Raichu: 5.94

He's okay. Comes quite early and although he's useless against Brock, does well against Misty. This guy is basically one of your only options if you started with Charmander to take Misty out. He does decent against Lorelei as well and that's about it, but I think the Misty utility alone coupled with generally decent stats are worth a 4/10.

Makes Misty and swimmers cry. Also makes Lorelei shed a tear or two.

4.5/10.

Static ability is the best.

Light ball for that extra boost! (If you ever get it)*

Er... PIKACHUUUU

4/10 +1 bias, 5/10

Decent enough because electric. Decent stats. But -1 for bring so popular and mascot-ish.

3/10

FR/LG Bulbasaur got a score over 8? You've got to be kidding.

Pikachu gets an 8 from me. Difficult to find and catch, and fragile, but learns Thunderbolt and has a decent physical coverage (all can be bought cheap) as Raichu for those generic Rocket battles where running out of PP is a concern. Bases are very good as Raichu, and having an electric-type STAB helps against so many Pokemon it's not funny. He's a bad Pokemon to use against Misty since Starmie is faster, unless you can 2HKO (needs a bit of favouritism on the bridge) and have 2 Pokemon to sacrifice by switching out (one to take a hit and another one to use a Super Potion on Pikachu).

8/10

-1 Bias, because **** Pikachu's anime performance.

7.5/10

Solid.

It's either this dude, or your version exclusive weed (Oddish or Bellsprout) for Misty. That fight is pretty much Pikachu's shining glory. After that, it's nice to have around but it isn't going to benefit you until Lorelei. It's movepool is nice. Dig and Brick Break can be purchased in Celedon, so you can buy as many as you want, and Raichu learns Thunderbolt from the move relearner which can save you the TM. Raichu isn't half bad.

7.5-1 bias = 6.5/10

Pikachu itself also learns Thunderbolt at Lv26, if you're a little patient.

I'm giving the little runt 70%. I like him, but he's also very useful with his powerful electric attacks and good evolution.

Good typeing, learns thunderbolt pretty early and some pretty decent stats once you evolve it.

8/10

Ah, the electric rodent, mascot of the series.

It's okay. Electric SUCKS in Gen 1 in terms of gyms. Loses to Brock, is okay against Misty (have fun with Starmie though), is resisted by Surge and Eirika, is usable against Koga, sucks against Sabrina, is usable against Blaine, and is fail against Giovanni.

Actually, scratch that, it's terrible. 3/10 for being good against Misty.

IF by some miracle you get a Light Ball though, then it's a bit better if only because a doubled special attack is insane. 5/10 in that case because it's horrible defenses still mean it'll have a lot of trouble past mid-game.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Sandshrew/Sandslash: 5.86

i don't care if this isn't the right gen but

I BEAT WHITNEY FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH SANDSHREW BY SPAMMING SAND ATTACK

5/10 for somewhat early slash but slowww start

7.5/10

Early joiner, can get Dig for stab, and has a decent physical movepool.

Slash is also a nice move, and so are AA, Rock Slide, and BB.

It's cool if you missed Geodude in Mt. Moon and don't want to nab a Diglett/Dugtrio.

It's level up movepool is tiny and weak (Slash is the best you're going to get). Its TM movepool is just wide enough to nab three more moves to go with Slash.

6.5/10

Evolves fast, and does decent with Dig. Pretty tanky too, but having to rely on that EQ TM sucks big time. And hey, Brick Break means that it's pretty good at smashing Normals.

6/10, it really needs TMs BAD.

Yeah, for a ground type it doesn't really get any stellar ground moves through level up. Its stats are good enough(the good defense plus good attack combo is nice), though it struggles early on as Sandshrew.

5.5+1.0 for bias because it is on my current team in the leafgreen play through I'm working on right now = 6.5 -.5 for only being in green = 6/10 (sorry of this is confusing)

Good if you missed diglett.

Sandslash is decent, but will most likely NOT make it past the 7th gym or so.

4/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Nidoran-F/Nidorina/Nidoqueen: 8.58

NIDOQUEEN. Her natural moveset is pretty crap other than Double Kick and Superpower all the way at level 43, and she won't get a good STAB until after the 8th Gym, but who cares with all those TMs available. The Nidoroyals are awesome for filling in any type you don't have. Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Surf, whatever you need. Sadly, this utility is slightly diminished because it comes off average-at-best offensive stats. Still, 8.5/10.

Nidoqueen can be pretty much anything you want due to the massiveness of its movepool. Heck, Cut/Surf/Strength/Rock Smash means it can even be an HM slave if you want. With Nidoqueen it's basically pick four moves and your good to go.

9.5 - Lacking offensive stats are really the only thing keeping it down, and even then they aren't too bad. +0.5 bias for having a solid niche competitively as a Terrakion counter.

10/10!

Honestly, I find this and Nidoking a bit overrated in FR/LG, but eh, they're still pretty good. Solid stats, excellent movepool, and the Queen can take a few hits. Still, TMs like Ice Beam and Thunderbolt have become quite expensive (an actual opportunity cost!), do you want to drop $160,000 on the Queen? They're still good here, but in R/B/Y they were MUCH better. Not to mention they get a late start on leveling, due to only being available after Brock.

8/10, with a -1 bias for being overrated in FR/LG.

Some decent balanced stats, good amount of bulk and can learn some pretty good moves. I considere it to be the inferior of the two however due to the fact that its movepool is more of an offensive based one, and Nidoqueen and Nidoqueen both have MOSTLY the same movepool

8/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Nidoran-M/Nidorino/Nidoking: 9.75

Like I said with Nidoqueen, Nidoking can be whatever you want it to. Unlike Nidoqueen, it's more offensively inclined, which includes more speed. That makes it better for ingame.

I have Nidoqueen a 9.5 and said that it's only fault was its average attack stats. Nidoking solves that problem. Therefore, it's an easy 10/10.

Basically Nidoqueen but with more acceptable stats with its offensive movepool. One of the best poison types and ground types of the 1st gen

9/10

10/10 - Basically what everyone else said, and he's a boss.

Including bias because I found a shiny NidoranM in the damn safari zone and I actually caught it. It didn't run <3

Not-so great level-up movepool, but great TM movepool, incredibly balance stats but favoring offense, and can use special attacking moves! Given TM Earthquake after Giovanni he laughed at everything in the Elite Four (First Challenge) in my current playthough. He's not perfect, but he's still pretty darn good. 10/10 including +1 bias Cos he's awesome.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Clefairy/Clefable: 9.50

Kinda like the Nidos, as it has a massive movepool so it can be anything you want. It's really good with supporting moves. Clefable's got just as much Special Attack as Nidoqueen, although it is slower. It's got more bulk than Nidoking as well. So it's like a mix of the Nidoroyals.

If I gave Nidoqueen a 9.5, and I gave Nidoking a 10, then I'm giving Clefable a 9.25 (lost points due to speed). I'll give a full bias point too.

10/10

Can (and should) be evolved immediately at Mt Moon for those great base stats. It might as well face Misty's Starmie and whatever else. Early Mega Punch/Kick tutors are a very good idea on Clefable, and you should expect to spend the rest of your unique one-time TMs (unless you're willing to buy a lot of coins) on it so that Clefable continues to be useful. 8.5/10

Think fe4 Nanna with a combat oriented parent.

Soon evolution, then mega punch/kick, and then the elemental beams.

And Softboiled, which is a useful move to have.

And Calm Mind, if you want.

Meteor Mash is nice, but lol meteor mash.

10/10, if I rated the Nidos, they woulda got the same.

And besides, Clefairy was almost the Mascot for Pokemon, instead of fu-reaking Pikachu.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Vulpix/Ninetales: 4.38

defensive fire type lololololol

Come back in a few games when you get Drought

3/10

asdfajfkslg VULPIX ILU

5/10, because flamethrower can hit pretty damn hard even if its offensive stats kind of suck. also bias. lots of bias

I'd give it +5 bias if I could

I tried using it once. Never again. It's level-ups moves can't do any real damage until flamethrower at 29, but it'll be a complete piece of poop to train by then. Willo-wisp and confuse ray are decent, becaue it lacks offense itself so it gets something else to do damage for it. Same with fire spin. Ninetales will have decent special attack and high speed and special defense with not-that-great other stats. Pick your poison: pathetic until 29 then decent, or hot start but no movepool. Really, Arcanine completely outclasses it. Sop do Charizard and Moltres. Rapidash is better too. It's a meh pokemon. 2.5/10 including -1 bias for making me start over once in LeafGreen for being so bad.

5/10

Average, but Stab Flamethrower hits hard, and it can cripple an opponenent haard

Though it's fast and learns Flamethrower naturally, the demand for a pure fire-type is low in Kanto, and its movepool is really poor, with Dig being the best thing you can teach it for coverage, which is kinda depressing. 4/10

It gets flamethrower fairly fast and can hit pretty hard with it. Sadly, a fire type isn't really needed all that much in the game, and if you chose charizard as a starter, you really don't need it at all. 4/10

Ugh. I like its design, but in battle its a typical fire type with mediocre stats and poor coverage. At least Vulpix learns Flamethrower early, and gets a few support moves to play with.

4/10

...It's pretty average, I'd rather go with Charmander if you have that, of course.

5/10.

Other points have already been stated.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff: 4.21

Draws all over faces, and a mythical giant pokemon that soothed the souls of various angered beasts, but only decent in battle with its access to use a shitton of moves at mediocre - decent at best.

4/10. Early, if at all.

It's kind of a shame that this doesn't have better stats, it gets a massive movepool. But, it can act as a kind of Jeigan with Mega Punch, I guess. Having to level it up initially to Pound is a pain, too.

4/10, with no bias.

No Growlithes in Platinum, unless you trade one in or use the Dual Slot thing with Fire Red.

It's start is bad, since it will only know Sing. I believe it takes 6 levels for it to learn its first damaging move, Pound. Yeah, not a good start.

If Clefable was being criticized for having low offensive stats, then Wigglytuff's are even worse. 70/75/45 are pretty pathetic for a final stage Pokemon. 140/45/50 defenses are very lopsided, but Wigglytuff should be able to take a hit. At least its movepool is very large.

3.5/10 - Comes underlevelled (Lv.3) at a point where we're still trying to build up a team, so it is somewhat of a liability in the beginning.

mediocre, but useable and can evolve soon after you get it with the moon stone.

4.5/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Zubat/Golbat: 3.25

5/10

USeable, but mediocre movepool and passable offensive stats are kinda bleh.

Avarage.

Zubat has a terrible, terrible start, but once it becomes a Golbat, it's about as good as it gets for it. It's got decent offense as a Golbat, but its typing isn't that great. It has a use against Erika, but not really anyone else. Add in the fact that you have to level it up to 21 to get anywhere near decent attacking, and you've got a mediocre Flying-type.

3.5/10, with a +1 bias because of Crobat. Just because.

Ahh... Zubat. Takes its time to make Golbat. And crobat.

May I make a suggestion?

Post the base stats of Pokemon when we rate them. Or we could just look them up ourselves.

Nice speed. Fairly bulky.

Unfortunately that movepool may need a bit of work on it.

4/10.

2/10 with negative bias

Yeah, it gets Wing Attack at lv. 21, and even then it kinda sucks. Doesn't even learn any HMs, so you must be a masochist if you want to bother with that asinine moveset of Supersonic, Leech Life and Astonish.

3/10. Good speed and decent attack. Unfortunately... It's just not worth bothering with that god-awful moveset of Supersonic, Leech Life, and Astonish.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Oddish/Gloom/Vileplume: 4.92

Has vs Misty, some bulk, powders, and stuff.

5/10

Good against Misty and a good Grass type, but a small move-pool and terrible speed hurts it in the long-run. 5.5/10

Learns Sleep Powder later than Bellsprout and doesn't have Growth to use to set up against Misty. More special defence makes it more likely to survive Starmie's attacks however. Anyway, Vileplume has to wait until lv. 44 to get Petal Dance, it never gets Sludge Bomb during maingame, what it has is just Giga Drain which has 5 PP and Bullet Seed with poor base power. Only use as your last measure against Starmie, and even then there are others who can do it. 4/10

Decent against Misty, absorb is a fun move. The powders are also helpful from time to time.

4.5/10 a decent pokemon, it's about in the middle of the pack I'd say.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Paras/Parasect: 2.15

Slow AND has weaknesses up the wazoo. The only thing it has going for it are the status powders, but Oddish/Bellsprout have them as well and require much less effort to train. Spore is not worth the effort.

1.5/10.

Most people say that Gen.2 buffed the bug type. But looking back at the bug-types, you're still a giant ball of fail (unless your Scizor or Heracross; maybe Pinsir and Venomoth)

So here we have Parasect. Parasect is living proof that Gamefreak hates bug types. It's got a solid 95 base attack. But there is a problem with that. The strongest Bug type move it learns is Leech Life (aka 20BP move). Luckily it gets stronger Grass-type moves. But that's hardly good. You'll either have to wait for Lv.51 for Giga Drain (the only offensive Grass type move Parasect learns) or use the TM for it (which is imo kind of a waste because it learns it via level up). Spore at Lv.27 is about all the use Parasect will have for you. You're pretty much limited to Slash, Aerial Ace and Dig. >.<

Throw this dude into the pile of Insomia!Delibird, Flareon, Levitate!Rotom-Fan and Limber!Stunfisk, because it's clear Gamefreak has it out for Parasect. It had 3!!! 4x weaknesses in Gen.1.

0/10 - Sucks at defense due to terrible typing. Sucks at offense due to terrible movepool. I guess Spore is cool, but is only worth one point tops imo. Any points that Spore gave it have been cancelled out by my negative bias

Yay, tomorrow is actually an interesting bug.

Comes at a convenient time when you might be lacking Pokemon to take on Hikers at Mt Moon (in RBY you had the Water Gun TM which could be taught to a lot of things), and it handles them easily with Bullet Seed. Evolves fairly early at lv. 24, either 1 or 3 levels away from Spore. 100% sleeping accuracy is nothing fantastic, but it's the most reliable thing for this sort of purpose. High physical attack stat and far better physical movepool than the other grass-types featuring Dig and Aerial Ace.

Best grass-type in the game not counting Venusaur, but that's not saying much.

5/10

Sporebot, if it survives a hit.

1/10.

DAMNIT I MISSED ODDISH.

Parasect? More like ParaSUCK.

I tried using Parasect once. Did not work out at all.

Okay. It has Spore. Awesome move.

I'm sure out of all its weaknesses:

Flying x4, Fire x4, Poison x2, ROCK x2, BUG x2, Ice x2.

They're really hating on Parasect, it's weak to its own bloody type.

Another Pokemon is going to have one of those moves to kick Parasects ass, and hand it to him. That 30 base speed isn't saving anyone.

Even Breloom has damn 70 base speed and I consider sort of slow, Parasect's 30 BASE SPEED IS EVEN WORSE.

I crush all the Paras I see.

Spore/10.

I mean 0.5/10. This thing isn't worth looking at.

Its stats are decent enough AND learns Spore which is arguably the best move in the game, pretty early. It also has one of the worst dual typeings of ANY Pokemon and has a pretty shallow moveset other than Spore.

5.5/10

Oh god. Terrible typing, terrible defences... Just burn it with a flamethrower or something. It can sporebot.. If it survives a turn.

1.5/10

spore and decent ATK, but slow and some bad weaknesses.

3/10.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

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Diglett/Dugtrio: 7.9

Anyway Diglett is a pokemon I often forget about, but he's by no means bad. Kanto is kind of nice to Ground types with Surge and blaine around. I believe Erika is the only gym where he is on a disadvantage.

He's fast, has decent power and promotes early. Earthquake is always nice. He doesn't have all that much coverage, but he can learn night slash and more importantly rock slide.

7.5/10

It gets a decent STAB early on (Magnitude) and Earthquake (best STAB of any type in the game I swear) later on. Points for being one of the few ground types who actually gets it naturally, so you can give the best TM in the game to someone for coverage rather than as a necessity for STAB, powering up your team as a whole (probably because EQ is OP). Rock/Ground covers a lot of types, too. Incredible speed and an attack stat that isn't half bad either. Earthquake makes up for it, at the very least. Rather frail (it has more speed than HP lol) but it should be able to wreck enough with EQ that you won't be too worried about it. Plus it gets a free training ground in the form of Lt. Surge!

+ 0.5 bias for giving the best quote in PMD ("My legs still feel like they're walking on air!").

8.5/10

It's fast, powerful and learns some of the best Ground type moves in the game. It's defenses are rather frail, but it should K.O or seriously damage almost any Pokemon it faces. Coverage is decent.

8/10.

Pretty much the Pokemon equivalent of a Jeigan. 9/10

+1 bias for being a badass.

10/10

One of the top 20 non-water mons in this game.

Fast as shit, natural EQ, and access to Rock Slide/AA/Tri Attack/Slash and early dig and magnitude.

OP'd

OP'd

Woah, woah woah. I hope you understand the problem once you notice this, Sasori.

Walls Surge and does poorly against Erika. Diglett/Dugtrio is actually quite frail, although nice speed and decent attack allows it to be awesome.

Does well despite its move pool being not so great.

8/10

And now comes the outlier... Wicked fast and Earthquake is good when you get it, but that will only be against the elites and maybe Giovanni, and otherwise it has dig and magnitude for stab. It pwns Serge, useless against Eirika, and unless it's a similar level to them, it won't necessarily go first against Blaine's Rapidash and Arcanine, which means it has a good chance getting taken down due to its low defenses. It can take down half of Koga, but it's not good against Sabrina so it won't be too useful there. It will only be amazing against Giovanni if it's learned Earthquake, or you get lucky with a magnitude. Against the elites, it's useful against Agatha's Arbok, and Bruno's Onix'es/Onix/Onix'/Onix's/however you spell it. Your rival's Rhydon. That's it. Not including in game, it'll be frail, fast, and has decent attack, with an OK movepool, limiting it's ability to fight pokemon it doesn't have an advantage over. I don't see how it's all that useful, but it can be used. other ground types can be better, in my opinion. 6.5-1 for 5.5/10

Really fast ground type, but it comes at the cost of some attack. I think it's the second weakest fully evolved Ground-type in Kanto, beating Onix.

It does pretty great against Surge, Koga and Blaine. Erika is awful for Dugtrio, and Sabrina is dependant on if you outspeed and OHKO everything (and Alakazam has the same base speed). It's not too useful in the Elite Four though. It's got the same movepool as your typical Ground-types, only with Tri-Attack through the move relearner as well. Dugtrio lives in a "kill or be killed" world.

7.5/10 - 80 base Attack isn't cutting it late game, and it's modest strength can lead to its death if something survives an attack.

Dugtrio also doesn't have 0 speed EVs compared to Alakazam, so it could outspeed at a level disadvantage.

Koga doesn't use Venomoth; he uses Koffing and Weezing, both of them with Levitate, which doesn't make Dugtrio the best candidate for Koga's gym either. If you mean Sabrina's Venomoth, then that one isn't hurting Dugtrio with anything (Psybeam/Supersonic/Leech Life/Gust is what it runs for crying out loud). Onix and Rhydon also don't sound like Pokemon I'd be willing to switch Dugtrio in against either.

Dugtrio is a non-legendary that can be caught overlevelled at a point of the game where it is immediately applicable. Its attack is high enough when it's using STAB moves against tougher enemies, and its speed is high enough to outspeed the faster Pokemon out there. With Levitate users all over the place, it won't really replace a Psychic-type anymore (somebody else has to deal with all the Koffings, Weezings and ghosts), but it's just so good anyway.

Fastest ground type in the game, plus a decent attack stat to boot. Does have a pretty bad movepool though.

7/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Meowth/Persian: 4.44

The only notable thing about Persian is it's Sp Def.

It's move pool is fairly decent, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball...

Oh who am I kidding. This thing is bad.

...That's it really.

3/10.

4.5/10

SB!

AA

SLASH!

PAY DAY FOR MONEYZ!

that's right!

zigzagoon of canto. 6/10

Hasn't been doing any good since Slash stopped being a guaranteed critical beginning with gen 2. Good movepool, but all those TMs are pretty expensive. Worse offence, availability and HM slavery than Raticate, and we gave Raticate 3 out of 10 (I don't even know how), so...

2/10

Fast, damn good movepool, meh everywhere else.

4.5/10

it was pretty boss in gen 1 with crits everywhere

but not gen 1 so like idk 5.5/10

I'm hoping that's a typo and you meant to say Speed.

Persian's got a pretty awesome movepool, but it's offensive stats suck (70 Atk, 75 SAtk) so it isn't doing much damage.

5/10

Great movepool... not so great stats. Worse as a special attacker than Gyarados and is... rather bad. Mildly useful as a Pick Up + Pay Day spammer as a meowth though.

4/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Psyduck/Golduck: 6.00

Good all-around stats and a great movepool. The only Water move it learns naturally is Hydro Pump at a very late level, but there are plenty of TMs and HMs that teach Water-type moves.

Overall decent Pokemon.

8/10.

Mediocre stats (nothing over 95), and no STAB until Surf unless you give it Water Pulse TM. It relies on Ice Beam and Confusion (doesn't learn Psychic this Gen.) It needs Calm Mind if it wants to hit hard.

5/10

When you get it, surf is there around the corner.

And Calm Mind, and IB too.

And AA/Dig/BB, if you want some physical moves.

7/10

Decent, and underrated.

being a firered exclusive, a lot of the water types are rather lackluster. cloyster makes an OK tank, poliwrath a pretty strong mixed sweeper,, lapras and vaporeon being pretty bulky, you've got at least some competition for a surf user, and golduck doesn't have much to make it shine.

plus it comes pretty late when you could have gotten some other water type loads better. it's not bad by all means, but it's not good either.

4/10

Good user of Calm Mind with STAB Surf and Ice Beam. 6/10

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Mankey/Primeape: 8.96

7.5/8 ish

Although not the strongest fighting type, Mankey is a good utility pokemon against Brock for people that chose charmander at the beginning.

Eventually dropped, but still has good memories

9/10

Low Kick can OHKO Onix with some training. Karate Chop at lv. 11 off 80 base attack unevolved is pretty crazy with all the normal-types earlygame. Gets Bulk Up, Earthquake and Rock Slide via tutor, so you might as well take it to the E4. Fast set-up sweeper. Best fighter in the game (better than Hipmonlee I'd argue).

Pretty sweet Fighting-type. It's the fastest in the game, and it's pretty potent on the offense. Gets QuakeSlide, which is pretty much unresisted in this game. It comes around pretty early.

9/10

+1 bias.

10/10

Comes early, has a decent physical movepool, and low kicks/KC's shit to death.

And for some reason, I think it gets Swords Dance for Sevii islands fun.

Def. better than Hitmonlee.

Comes at one of the best times to kick Brock's butt.

I love Low Kick.

9/10.

Most of the points have been said already.

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[BBM]

Growlithe/Arcanine: 7.78

Can be captured near Celadon and evolved instantly with a Fire Stone, resulting in some killer stats. It learns Flame Wheel at lv. 31 as Growlithe though, so that's quite a bit of time to wait if you want a fire-type STAB that's not expensive (you could buy a Flamethrower TM otherwise) and doesn't run out of PP too quickly. As Arcanine, it gets access to Dig, Aerial Ace, as well as Strength/Rock Smash HMs, which is better than what Vulpix and Ponyta get. And of course, Arcanine has some of the best non-legendary bases in the game period, along with Gyarados and whatnot. Intimidate is worth mentioning too, but with its offence and speed it should be OHKOing when you switch in. The only problem is the non-existing natural learnpool and the fact that you're probably not seeing Extremespeed before the game is over. Strength is equivalent in power and it should be outspeeding things anyway, but who doesn't want to use that move? 8.5/10

6.5/10

Fire is a shitty stab to have pre-gen 4, because Flamethrower arrives either late, or is expensive.

And Fire Blast is alright, but inaccurate, and overheat can be used twice before needing to be switched out.

rather mediocre for a fire-type, but it's pretty much your best bet outside of maybe rapidash if you didn't choose charmander for a starter. starved for a good stab move, and fire is special anyway, so you're not hitting for as much damage as you would probably like. 5.5/10 is what i'd give it outside of bias, but arcanine has been a bro since red days, so 6.5 with bias??

Anyway, you can catch a Growlithe just outside Celadon at Level 20, and evolve it straight away. Then if you head to the Celadon Game Corner you can teach it Flamethrower. He can then serve you well for the rest of the game, despite a low movepool. Can be TMed Iron Tail, Hyper Beam, Return, Dig and Aerial Ace when you get it too, so while it does have a tiny movepool, the moves it can learn are all very useable.

8.5/10

If only Fire wasn't only Special in this gen. Maybe Arcanine could get a higher score.

Growlithe is awesome for Celadon.

Onwards after that it turns decent.

7/10.

Somehow its stats are decent across the board. Here I thought it was actually a bad Spattacker. It's got good STAB (although Flamethrower is pretty late for keeping it as a Growlithe...) and nice abilities (well, Intimidate) with decent stats. Its movepool is noticeably bad though and it has major trouble against waters no matter how you build it, only getting Iron Tail, Flamethrower and Return as powerful moves. I guess it gets Aerial Ace and Dig, but they aren't the strongest of moves without STAB.

7/10

I always wanted to use this guy, but I only have a LeafGreen, gosh darn it.... Oh well. This game is probably its worst performance, because no fire fang. Also, this generation is bad for fire types, but it can learn some physical moves, like extreme speed. Also, its special attack is still excellent in spite of it not being as good as its attack, so it still has great offense. I'd give it a 10 just for bias because it's in my top five fire types, all of the others most likely being starters. At least don't rate it lower than Ninetales, because it outclasses it in almost every way, and sort of the same with Rpaidash. Charizard might have it beat, though.

8/10. Awesome bases and nice abilities, but the movepool is lacking (with only Return, EXTREMESPEED, Dig, Aerial Ace and Flamethrouwer as notable attacks [iron Miss doesn't count]).

Edited July 15, 2012 by BigBangMeteor