Little me always chose Hitmonchan because "Oooh look at all that elemental coverage!" not knowing that those elements coming from it hit like wet noodles.
I was gonna use him as my fighting type in FRLG after using him in HGSS for the same reason, and then remembered the punches are special, and thankfully dodged a bullet and chose Hitmonlee instead
Same. I had no idea of the whole "all moves of X type are special/physical even when it doesn't make sense" thing. I mean, what kid would look at hyper beam and think it's a physical move? I always wondered why my gyarados seemed to hit harder with bite than surf despite stab.
I remember learning the basics of Pokémon from an _official_ guide book before I got Blue as my first game. It showed me that Hitmonlee learned better Fighting-type moves than Hitmonchan, but it neglected to mention anything about a difference between physical and special types. I had to assume that they all were based on the attack stat because in the book, it said that the special stat determines "how effectively a Pokémon can _learn_ and use special moves". Okay... And what are special moves? The anime used that term for _signature moves_ early on, while the guide only specified it once under a painfully inaccurate footnote about Oddish: "As it relies on special attacks like Poison Powder and Stun Spore, paralyzing it won't help much" - implying not only that the term 'special moves' is synonymous with _status moves,_ but also that paralysis wouldn't prevent a Pokémon from using those.
We all had that. My first team beating the game included Butterfree and Farfetch'D, in fact Farfetch'D was my ace. Now as an adult I learned hes the worst lmao
Yeah I hate getting STABBED critical hit slashes from my farfetch'd every time... This game is beatable and fun with any team of 6 Pokemon. None of them are the worst. Only trainers are the worst, as alluded to by the inferiority of the creator of this video.
@@nicolasgralewicz4727 The speed is only good, but not great and bind is only 75% accurate. The move having a limited amount of PP is also a problem, notably because of Onix very poor attack stat ; it would be very possible for the PP to be depleted before Onix could do meaningful damage. This unreliable strat is all that Onix has going for him : if it get outsped and/or if Bind misses too many times, it's done for ; and even if the strat works, it's hardly worth it.
It's perfect game design. Onix only purpose is to teach players a lesson when battling the first gym. It has massive physical defense in order to force the player to use a special move to win. Onix needs to have low Attack because you wouldn't learn the lesson if you get knocked out too quickly. The game gives you the opportunity to throw a number of ineffective attacks before you lose, to ensure you get the message. You can't lower Onix level to give it more attack or hp, because if it was lower level, the base physical defense will matter less.
1st gym teaches you about physical defense. Most pokemon available at this point have normal physical moves and the game wants you to struggle against physical walls like Geodude and Onix. Then they give you the chance to catch Geodude and Sandshrew so you can get destroyed by a special attacker like Staryu and Starmie so you can understand more about physical and special moves, super effective moves, etc.
i mean at least its cute! can't lie to you when i played blue i took seel along with me without knowing it was trash and it kinda soloed the entire game
Ya'll wild lol. I used to run dewgong in competitive. It's is the one of the only pokemon left period that got Dive through level up. The only reason it's not as good anymore is because toxic has been taken away from everything except poison types. But dewgong did very much have a niche if set up properly.
My first Pokémon game as a child was yellow version. I caught a Pidgey on route 1 and basically soloed the entire game with it. By the time we reached Victory Road he was a level 100 Pidgeot. I mostly used the moves Gust, Fly, Mirror Move and Sky Attack. It was definitely a struggle looking back but because of this, Pidgeot will always be my favorite Pokémon and have a special place in my heart. ❤
Gen 2 Pidgeot is that for me! Gust as a flying type move and wing attack getting updated power. It can even learn mud-slap or steel wing to deal with rock types 👌
I never used Pidgey in Pokemon yellow. I caught one just so I can fly and never trained it much. It ended up being my last pokemon during the Giovanni gym battle and ended up winning the last battle all by itself when it was below level 10 while my Gameboy was red lighting. Best Pokemon ever 💜
I think it’s move pool is fine now but back then (before like gen 6) it definitely did suck. Now it gets things like flare blitz, flame charge, facade, and superpower. I don’t know if it gets anything else that’s worth it but it’s moveset definitely isn’t terrible.
No they don't give a fuck about them anymore, because they don't make new ones anymore! They keep disappointing us fans who want to see Dragon and Steel Type Evolutions for Eevee!
Onix feels like it was added in the game to be the first boss. It can be a tough opponent at the very start of the game if you can’t hit it super effective or on the special side. I remember struggling against brock as a kid in Pokémon yellow, because I didn’t know it’s weakness.
what i dont get is, what's the point of onix. it has a massive defence, but an atrocious hp. it has good enough speed, but terrible attack. its like they didnt know what to do and just randomly added numbers and assigned them to it. i feel like its defense should be weaker, with(at least) double health and attack.
@@marcosdheleno it was designed as the first boss of the game that teaches kids about some of the games battle mechanics. I think it should have gotten a base stat buff to its HP and Attack stat in gen two. Instead they gave it an evolution that was powerful in gen 2 to justify its rarity.
Flareon's status as hot "garbage" really only started with gen-2. Before that that it was far more offensively viable, when its singular Special stat was what is now only its Special Defense. Even the physical/special split in gen-4 did Flareon no favors due to lack of any strong physical fire moves. It wouldn't be until gen-6 that it finally got access to Flare Blitz, but outside of Special Defense, Flareon is just too fragile to offset the recoil
True. Flareon is one of the many that suffered when Special was split (very similar to Hypno in that way). I think it’s just nice to gas it up in this video since it’s the only time it can get that treatment lol.
Nah man Flareon still sucked in gen 1. It's in PU in smogon's tier rankings, and if we're talking about it for a regular playthrough, there's basically no practical reason to pick up Flareon. Unless you're massively over leveling it's not like you're going to have flamethrower for Erica, as there's no TM and Flareon doesn't learn it til level 54 or something, and even before that you're going to be without a fire move until the mid 40s or something like that and the only fire move you're going to get is fire spin, so you'll probably just be better off using a fearow with peck/fly, as her team has lower physical defense than special, after Erika, there really aren't any important battles left in the game where a fire type is favored at all.
@@HomeCookinMTG You can actually get Ember on Flareon if you evolve it early enough. Nothing amazing, but at least it’s something. I agree it’s still not super worth using, but it still has more use than Ponyta lol
@@shepskydad like I said before I don't even think it's really worth using a fire type at all in Kanto games. Especially gen 1. Gyarados, Kadabra, and Snorlax will carry you through the whole damn game lol, just use Bulbasaur to get through the first section.
@@HomeCookinMTG: Oh it, was always underpowered and over specialized to be sure, but so were most Gen-1 mons. Besides, if you're gonna bring up Smogon tiers, Arcanine is another Fire-type also in PU, so that's not exactly horrible company, and in game neither get Flame thrower until excessively high levels, but at least Flareon doesn't have to refrain from evolving. Not to mention every other fire-type in RBY is ranked NU or below, so it's less a case of Flareon specifically being bad, and more a case of Fire-types in general being less useful at the time, mostly because the types fire beat were often even worse (bug and grass) or paired with a type that beat fire (ice with water). My point wasn't that Flareon was ever top tier, or even second tier. My point that it wasn't always unusable trash.
Anything that can learn Fire Spin or Wrap is capable of using it effectively regardless of the Pokemon's speed. It's not like flinching where you have to strike first. That said, frankly, any Pokemon with these moves is technically good in Gen 1. They're busted.
Nah. The scariest thing about Ponyta is you can teach it Horn Drill via a TM and combine that with X Accuracy to turn it into an instant OHKO machine. Which can be really useful against the Elite Four if you've collected a few ethers.
@@christianpickhardt4105 You can only "death wrap" ypur opponent if you're faster. Say you use wrap, you have 2-5 turns where the "attack continues", then it stops and your opponent gets a hit on you (cause their faster). If you're faster, you can just spam wrapping moves (assuming they don't miss) and your opponent is literally death wrapped.
Great video! Just one thing: Gen1 Sandslash is actually very good. Yeah the speed is a bit low, but thats all you need to worry about. It has high defense, easily tanking the common normal moves. And offensively its great! 100 attack, evolves at 22, you catch it pre 2. gym. Moves area also great! You have autocrit slash at 17 and you get dig in the same town. Later you get rockslide for flying coverage aswell, which is all you really need. You could even swordsdance for extra power.
This is a playthrough? Why are u even taking hits? Uk whats better than tanking moves? Outspeeding and OHKOing everything lol Bulk in Pokemon playthroughs is overrated
I’m surprised you say that Sandslash is terrible when Marowak is right there. It’s stats are strictly worse than Sandslash, and Sandslash has better moves at an earlier level
Miss the times when Pokémon players didn't care about numbers, they just play with Pokémons they like, beating Pokémon league with a raticate if they want to
Videos like this, telling you one pokemon is better than other, aren't exactly telling you how to play. Nothing is stopping you to from beating any game with your favorite available pokemon.
You think Gen 1 Hitmonchan is bad? Try Gen 2 Hitmontop: -You can get it in a midgame area, but it's gated behind Waterfall, so you don't have it until the Elite Four. -You need to keep a slot open to get it as a Level 5 Tyrogue. So you have to grind up at a point where your team is about Level 35-40. -Due to how its Level-Up moveset is set up, you do not get the opportunity to learn Rolling Kick as it a Level 1 move. And Tyrogue itself only learns Tackle. The only Fighting-Type STAB Hitmontop can learn is Triple Kick at Level 49, and Rock Smash by TM. Breeding for High Jump Kick seems a bit insane as you already get Hitmonlee on the way. -Also, how you evolve it. You need to *very precisely* manage Tyrogue's stat experience to make sure its ATK and DEF are equal upon evolving (not as hard as for the other two Hitmons) or else you don't get it. -There's a grand total of three Pokémon in the Elite 4 that are weak to Fighting, and sixteen Pokémon that resist it. Ten Pokémon of them can also hit you for super-effective damage. -Return, Curse and Hidden Power are solid moves but just about every Pokémon in GSC gets those, Hitmontop has no unique niche for it. 95 Attack is good but not nearly as impressive as other physical attackers like Gyarados, Ursaring or Machamp. I challenge you to find a Pokémon that's worse in-game than GSC Hitmontop.
@@fredericsteckling5516 You can obtain Flareon by Eevee, which is a gift Pokemon obtained in both games? He explicitly said he was omitting version-exclusive Pokemon from his rankings
I'm glad Dewgong became an unassailable wall in HGSS. Since Red's pokes all get 100% accurate blizzard, it's an honest-to-goodness boon in that and any other fight where thick fat can help.
Wish I had known how powerful STAB was back when I was 8. Also there is a very good reason to use some of these "bad" Pokémon: to mix it up when you've played these games for over 20 years
It’s great to see you continue to grow with these videos. The parts where you edited in the world map to show where you could get certain Pokémon was well done! You wrekt Onix, showing the bit from the show was great.
I've been saying it for years. Ponyta/Rapidash should've been fire/normal type. They're similar to girafarig (psychic/nornal) and all the normal birds in being animals with an elemental touch to them. Being part normal also allows them to stand out and makes them viable with powerful normal type moves such as stomp and strength (and return in later gens).
@@OneiroclastTauros and Persian were the top 2, Tauros because of its likely OHKO hyper beams and Persian with its auto crit Slash while being a speed demon. Still Rapidash could have been a good normal type even if it only started to shine in later gens where it gets stab on more moves.
This was great! It's really fun to think about the first game's design and its faults and the pokemon stats and move selections are some of its biggest flaws. A very cozy video - looking forward to more
@@grunkleg.2934 with most of the good ones being either post-game in Kanto (Sneasel, Houndoom, Skamory, Tyranitar) or trade-evos (Scizor, Steelix, Slowking, Porygon2, Kingdra)
On the Spearow-Pidgey comparison: Medium-Fast EXP is generally worse than Medium-Slow EXP for playthroughs. Medium-Slow levels up much faster at lower levels. It's only at higher levels (around the 40s) when Medium-Fast starts outpacing Medium-Slow, and for playthroughs you're not around that level range that long. On Dewgong: There's an in-game trade Seel in Cinnabar Island that give it bonus EXP. That and the starting level discrepancy between it and Lapras makes Dewgong far more superior.
No, no, it's worse. It only outpace medium-slow at level 68. Well, technically, it also outpaces it from level 1 to 5, but between 6 to 68, medium-slow is faster.
I'm glad this video showed up in my recommended, and I'm really looking forward to future videos! One suggestion: when doing stat comparisons between two 'mons, consider using the bar graphs on Bulbapedia or Smogon (personally I think the latter is more aesthetically pleasing) as opposed to just the straightforward Serebii numbers - being able to visualize the stats makes comparisons easier to immediately understand.
Personally I didn't mind the Serebii screenshots, especially because the Smogon graphs are used by almost everyone these days (and don't look super attractive to begin with)
Nice video, I especially like the editing lol. Anyways, I always find it funny in a sad way that onix's stats were so abysmally low (except for its defense and mediocre speed stat), especially its attack stat. Like even if all other stats were garbage, you'd expect this towring rock snake slamming into you to at least do some pretty big damage, but nope. Onix's attack stat is apparently 5 points lower than oddish (physical attack stat being a base 45) lmao also super nice dog lol
Hi there. I just found this channel, and I hope it eventually becomes more popular. I really enjoyed this video. There were two Pokemon in particular that I was quite surprised didn't make the cut for being considered the worst, the first being Marowak. As much as you showed Sandslash being a terrible, outclassed Pokemon, Marowak is a worse Sandslash. To start, let's compare their stats. Sandslash: HP: 75 ATK: 100 DEF: 110 SPC: 55 SPD: 65 BST: 405 Marowak: HP: 60 ATK: 80 DEF: 110 SPC: 50 SPD: 45 BST: 345 Not only can you get Sandshrew earlier than Cubone (Sandshrew can be gotten either just after Brock, or just after Mt. Moon depending on the version, though it's only in Yellow, and Blue Vs Marowak being available only as early as Lavender Tower and only if you have the Silph Scope, and as late as the Safart Zone iirc), but its stats are either equal or superior to, Marowak's. Marowak's only real advantage is getting Fire Blast, and Blizzard via TM, but non-stab off of Base 50 Special isn't exactly the best. The second I was surprised wasn't here is Seaking. For starters, Seaking has the lowest RBY base stat total of any Gen 1 fully evolved Water Type Pokemon (That being 385, which compared to other Water Types is pitiful, but compared to most Pokemon in the generation, isn't actually too shabby). As well, its movepool is sort of bland, only really getting Normal, Water, and Ice type moves. As well, its Special is lower than its Attack, meaning that it gets jipped in terms of being able to use strong moves. On top of that, it is, at least in my opinion, outclassed by Kingler. Kingler is faster, stronger on the physical side, and makes up for its lower Special by having Crabhammer, which thanks to Gen 1, and Kinger's good enough speed, will result in it always critting. On top of that, you have to wait until Fuchsia City to get the Good Rod to even get Goldeen, and even then, it takes until either Level 37 (Goldeen), or Level 39 (Seaking), to get its first Water Type move via level up (That being Waterfall), which itself is a worse version of Surf (And keep in mind. Goldeen can only be caught with the Good Rod at Level 10, so unless you have Ice Beam, Bubblebeam, or heck. Even Water Gun as a TM, good luck trying to raise the Goldeen). Hilariously, I'm using it for my current Pokemon Yellow playthrough. That's about all. If you read through it all the way, thank you very much. Have a good day! :D
That’s the second-highest Special stat of all Fire-types, and the highest of all non-legendary Fire-types. If only Fire was a good type for Gen 1’s main story…
@@AndreSLopez-fh6hglol you are wrong. But to be fair, so is he. Moltres was never used for obvious reasons and is definitely not an OU Pokemon in gen 1.
Yeah, funny thing about fearow, pidgeot and the medium-fast and medium-slow exp groups... medium-slow is actually faster until around level 70 or so. Or, to be more precise, except for the first five levels, it is faster. With that I mean, that it gets to level 6 before medium-fast, and it's not until level 68 that medium-fast finally catches to medium-slow.
If you need positive reception, I loved this video! I’m a huge Pokémon nerd, and I love Pokémon analyses/comparisons. And your analyses were very well thought and supported. :) 10/10
The very first time i beat a pokemon game was beating pokemon blue, gary’s lvl 60+ charizard with my lvl 40+ sandslash. I was on an emulator, my last pokemon, Sandslash against his last pokemon, Charizard. 10 yr old me had to figure out a hack: keep reloading back to the save, until charizard misses his attack… make a new save, rinse and repeat. Thank you Sandslash
Here’s the thing with flareon vs ponyta… You have no reason to NOT get a ponyta. You don’t have to use it. Flareon on the other hand instantly locks your ability to get one of, if not the best electric types (Excluding zapdos) or a really nice defensive water type. There is only one eevee in the game, and Jolteon is a much better pick for it, especially in gen 1
Rapidash's speed works super well with gen 1: crits depending on base speed (over 20% chance!), fire spin relying on you outspeeding your opponent (also using the high crit chance with its multihits) and horn drill only working if you outspeed. The issue on those strategies is low accuracy, making the gen 1 horse a gambling machine, but one with a well defined niche!
You don't need to gamble. As long as rapidash can survive a single hit and is faster, it literally can kill anything that fits the criteria without fail.
This is some quality content! I also love how you didn't just take the word of the popular opinion out there, but actually checked and compared different Pokemon to show why they were useful (or not).
Shocked to see you at 600 subs, I watched the whole video and was going to see which PokeTuber this was. Awesome work! Glad the algorithm sent me your way. Subscribed and can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store next.
I'm going to be honest, I'm kind of surprised Wigglytuff wasn't mentioned once. Since you have to raise it from a Jigglypuff, you only have sing until lv. 9 and even then all you get is pound. You can grab the Mega Punch TM in Mt. Moon to kind of patch that up in the short term, but it's coming off a base 70 attack stat. But surely with a base HP of 140, you'll take hits well right? No. Not at all. Your defense is like base 45, which is comparable to Pidgey's base 40. But, Wigglytuff is a normal type and gets access to a ton of special moves. Yeah, and its Special is 50. Both Charmander and Squirtle start with a Special of 50 - and they get STAB special moves and evolve around the time you would catch a Jigglypuff. But maybe you're still doubtful. Surely, since it has such a high HP stat it balances out. From my own experience, it does not. You can take maybe 2 to 3 hits before Wigglytuff goes down, after you use a moon stone on it in Mt. Moon. But the worse part? Clefairy is only a little bit further in, like maybe 10 - 15 mins further in. They're in Mt.Moon and are a much better option. Clefable feels like a legitimate power boost - and has the Special is actually back up its giant movepool. But Wigglytuff? Wigglytuff is just a band-aid to an already terrible pokemon.
In gen 1 at the very least, i wish she had slightly better defenses. Normal types pioneered the gen 1 era due to lack of decent weakness, but needed a backbone to back it up. Wigglytuff sadly wasnt it lol
Regarding speed: in gen 1, critical hit chance is based purely on your speed, unlike later generations. So Onix for example has more than triple the chance to crit versus geodude
I'm surprised Aerodactyl didn't get a mention. While it has great stats and 130 base speed, which means it has about 1/4 chances of landing a crit... it gets terrible coverage options. It gets no rock type moves in Gen 1, despite rock slide being a tm, it's only stab option is wing attack; like you mentioned, only has 35 power. Well... and I guess sky attack, but it's not living anything to actually be able to use it. You can only get it after reviving it in Cinnabar Island and even after going through all that it's only level 5
Fly is another STAB attack and you get it at level 30 in Gen 1. It’s still not great, but I’d honestly still take it over Onix since you can jump around the region a bit and use its high attack and speed stats for Sabrina at least.
This might be interesting to revisit considering tradebacks from gen 2. Funnily, the Spearow line gets Quick Attack and Tri Attack while the Pidgey line gets Tackle.😅 Ponyta does get Flamethrower, Low Kick and Double Kick though!
I Remember throwing my first masterball at an onix back then. I didnt encounter one in my first travel through rock tunnel, so when it showed up for me when I returned lategame I thought it was super rare and strong xD
I agree it has a cool design, but what ruins it for me is the terrible Gen 1 back sprite. Doesn’t matter if it’s outclassed, Gen 1 is so easy nonetheless
I'm pretty sure that even Lapras isn't considered to be all that great in-game when you take I to account efficiency since you obtain it at level 15 if I recall correctly, making it quite underleveled when you first get your hands on it. If you were to ask me, something like Vaporeon or Blastoise would be the better water type option overall
@@shepskydad Arguably, yes, but that's kind of missing the whole point of my comment. Sure, it does have access to good moves, but being underleveled when you first get it means you're devoting extra time and effort to train it to get up to par with the rest of your team, which you probably don't really want to do at that point. And besides that, it's not like the rest of the water types you get in gen1 (nevermind the rest of the entire series as a whole for the most part) don't also have access to those moves, too, so when looking at it from an efficiency standpoint (as I pointed out in my last comment) it's not as though it's bringing anything to the table that most other water Pokemon can't, especially considering it's going to struggle because of the aforementioned low level for that point in the game. I won't deny it's better than Dewgong, but that's honestly setting the bar pretty low
Flareon had the second highest attack in gen 1 under dragonite I've surprised quite a few people on pokemon showdown with his finishing hyper beams, you really just gotta save him until you get rid of their ground/rock types because he's completely unless against them
Good shit man, I'm impressed. High quality video, good script, and with less than 600 suns your editing is fantastic. Most people with your sub count are not doing the things you are. That's why your gonna get ahead. I've been watching UA-cam a very long time, and you stand out. just keep chugging, you will make it.
Tangela: you get it too late, has a poor moveset, and it pales in comparison to other Grass-types. Also, the Fossil Pokemon: Kabutops doesn't learn a Rock move, and you're gonna need some TMs in order for it to be viable. But you get it too late, and at level 1! Same with Omastar. Both are terrrrrrible in Gen 1. Good video! Subscribed!
Oof, Tangela is definitely rough. It has the uniqueness of being the only pure Grass type, but that doesn’t make up for all the negatives lol. The fossils are also pretty rough. They do have unique typings, but it isn’t worth it by that point. Cool concepts but meh. Aerodactyl is the only good fossil. Thanks for the support :D
@@primaster9360 Omanyte isn't trash at all. Unlike Kabuto, it has good special, the second highest of all water types behind Tentacruel in fact, so it is just as good for spamming surf as any other good water type. With 125 def and 115 special, it is also extremely bulky, and its rock typing gives it some good resistances. The only downside is its late evolution, but you can sort of mitigate that by soloing Blane's gym with it, which it can easily do even at base level 30. It is so good that there are even some speedrun categories that use it.
@@26KIDa Tangela is actually pretty solid. It isn't weak to psychic types due to being pure grass and it has pretty high defense and special. It's main weakness is that it doesn't learn razor leaf but it gets vine whip in Yellow and you can teach it mega drain. It also learns sleep powder. You get it way too late in the game, but it's also cool that the only place to catch it is that little patch of grass south of Pallet Town.
There is something with onix. Speed determines critical hit% in gen 1, the difference between graveler (35speed) and onix (70speed) is 70x100/512 - 35x100/512 ≈ 7%. Onix has nearly 14% crit across all moves. And both graveler and onix lean towards attrition (high def, lower attack, meaning more attacks per battle). While the other rock types still win, the difference is not as big as it first seems. (Still huge). This comes back later at the rapidash section, 105 speed is about 21% crit (ish, ≈20,5%). Then again, access to high crit moves causes none of that to matter. Since high-crit moves like slash/karate chop has 8x higher chance to crit. A sandslash gets near 100% crit already in mid level 20's with slash. Balance in gen 1 was out the window from the get-go.
Part of my fun is using Pokémon I like even if they suck. I don't pay attention to stats and I like using different Pokémon each time I replay a game. It's like how it's fun to do challenge runs in the souls games with random builds and weapons.
I played through yellow earlier this year on my gameboy color. I went all out and got all the stud pokemon. It was nostalgic and fun but I walked through the game so easily. I want to play through red and try using a bunch of crappy pokemon just for fun lol
You have to go through them if you want to get to Cinnabar from Fuchsia , but you can always fly back to Pallet Town and go straight south to Cinnabar.
Funny thing about Dewgong is I don't remember much about my very first 6-year-old playthrough of Red, but I DO remember loving my Dewgong. It was my MVP against Lance. I probably missed Lapras, but Dewgong has always been one of my favorte Gen 1 Pokemon and I always go out of my way to use it beause of my memories of it, sort of like Pidgey.
Yeah if you don't get Lapras it's probably the best ice option in Gen 1. Lapras is a great pokemon but it's also predictably on most player's team because of that. It's just a shame Seel is not available until so late in the game.
In my recent playthrough of Red my son was passionate that Onix stays on my team, so I've found that with high defense (even keeping Harden in his moveset) and some lower-damage attacks, he's great for slowly wearing down wild Pokemon for capture. It's not all about maximum damage.
I can see one potentially annoying thing you can do as Rapidash. You can probably use agility and spam fire spin to aggravate your opponent to no end. Sure Moltres can do this better, but I can't see Flareon doing much of anything.
I would argue the worst fire-type is gen 1 is Magmar. Since it's only in Blue, and it has a 5% chance of showing up. So it would be the hardest to use, since you'd never find one.
I agree tbh. Rapidash has the benefit of high speed for crits. I would have put Magmar on the list but I wanted to focus on Pokemon available in both games (which I probably should have said in the video lol)
@@davidstratton696 Well you also get him ultra-late just like Ponyta/Rapidash. Only in Mt. Ember I believe. At that point there's not that much left to use them for.
The algorithm blessed me with this video and I just wanna say I’m a believer brother, video essays like this are the future, if you make a schedule/give a date on when the next video will be out, easy 10k before the year is over, keep up the great work
Nice video. I would argue the main downside of Flareon is the opportunity cost of the best electric type or a solid mono-water, but yeah even with that factored in there's no reason to pick Rapidash. I used Pidgeot and Hitmonchan in my first run because I preferred their designs and I didn't know much about stats, but Rapidash and Dewgong I'd argue are the worst off by far because even knowing nothing about stats they're so late in the game and sorry if you like rapidash but their designs are quite bland. (Not sorry if you like the seel line, literally why does it exist)
Yeah Flareon still isn’t worth using haha. It’s disappointing because it has great attacking stats, but you’re spot on with the opportunity cost. And Seel and Dewgong are a huge let down. They’ve never been useful and I doubt they will ever be.
Ditto is easily the worst Pokémon in generation 1. It has lackluster stats across the board, has to take a turn to use it's gimmick attack (so it will likely die before setting up since it only has 48 in each stat), and only has 5 PP for each move to work with. It's essentially just throwing away a party slot since literally anything else is better than it.
I'm really sad that Dewgong was never a great option. I fell in love with it as a kid when I saw that trainer girl jump on its back in the first Pokemon movie. No idea why, except that its really beautiful, but I've loved it ever since. So hard to use though.
@@shepskydad at least it can learn it by the gen 2 tutor moves. But yeah, moltres gen 1 movepool it's just atrocious. Why they didn't even give it to him earthquake, like charizard?
Exactly. I guess they just assumed stats would carry it in Gen 1? It’s funny that the latest obtainable bird is subsequently the worst. At least in Gen 1.
Honestly, the physical special split in Gen 4 really changed a lot in terms of what was viable. I always think about how Sharpedo can’t use it’s attack on it’s stab until a Gen after it came out lol
Rapidash is my fav pokemon since the very beginning. What's not to love about a literal flaming unicorn? Excellent design (by gen1 standards) and really subpar everything else
Steelix really carries Onyx in terms of hiding how fucking shit it is. It was quite literally made exclusively to be decently challenging for the first gym, I'm 100% sure you couldn't catch it originally in one interation of the game before "catch them all" became a theme.
The Charmander line is just so, so bad in Gen 1 if you need something to trash the game with. It can't beat Brock, it can't beat Misty, and oh my god the trouble. Don't pick Charmander. Unless you're playing a remake, where it gets Metal Claw at level 13.
It's always been really funny to me that the most iconic starter evolution is the most inconvenient to start the game with. Game Freak really did us dirty lol.
Funny fact: Onix is my favourite Pokémon 🤣. I also like Dewgong and Rapidash as well xD. I was wondering... Could we please have a second part including Paras, Farfetch'd, Marowak, Beedrill and Lickitung for example?
On the opposite side of this discussion, can we talk about how righteous Starmie is? High special and speed, Water/Psychic typing, and it can also learn Surf, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Psychic just like Lapras, but it hits faster and harder. You can get it as soon as you get to Fuschia city with the Good Rod since you just need a Water Stone to evolve it, and it'll crush any gym from that point except Sabrina's. Especially when you get to Indigo Plateau. Lorelei gets swept with Thunderbolt Bruno gets swept with Psychic and Surf Agatha gets swept with Psychic Lance gets swept with Thunderbolt and Ice Beam Rival will always have a Grass(Ice Beam), Fire(Surf), Water(Thunderbolt) pokemon, a Rhydon(Surf or Ice Beam), a Pidgeot(Thunderbolt or Ice Beam), and the ONLY thing (besides Lorelei's pushover Jinx) that you DON'T have a hard counter for, the Alakazam. Even then, it only has Psychic attacking moves which aren't very effective against you, but you have STAB Surf, Thunderbolt that can paralyze, and Ice Beam that can freeze. Assuming it has PP for it, a Starmie at the appropriate level with that build makes the entire final challenge of the game a complete joke. It will just body 26 Pokémon in a row for you before they can do anything about it (assuming there are no gen 1 misses).
I used a pokedoll on the ghost marowak as a kid numerous times. I had no idea it is a glitch, I just always thought it was a way to get around it without the silph scope.
Little me always chose Hitmonchan because "Oooh look at all that elemental coverage!" not knowing that those elements coming from it hit like wet noodles.
I was gonna use him as my fighting type in FRLG after using him in HGSS for the same reason, and then remembered the punches are special, and thankfully dodged a bullet and chose Hitmonlee instead
Same. I had no idea of the whole "all moves of X type are special/physical even when it doesn't make sense" thing. I mean, what kid would look at hyper beam and think it's a physical move? I always wondered why my gyarados seemed to hit harder with bite than surf despite stab.
I think we all fell for that trap as kids.
Yeah, pointless. Hitmonlee with its high jump kick is probably the best fighting type in gen 1.
I remember learning the basics of Pokémon from an _official_ guide book before I got Blue as my first game. It showed me that Hitmonlee learned better Fighting-type moves than Hitmonchan, but it neglected to mention anything about a difference between physical and special types. I had to assume that they all were based on the attack stat because in the book, it said that the special stat determines "how effectively a Pokémon can _learn_ and use special moves". Okay... And what are special moves? The anime used that term for _signature moves_ early on, while the guide only specified it once under a painfully inaccurate footnote about Oddish: "As it relies on special attacks like Poison Powder and Stun Spore, paralyzing it won't help much" - implying not only that the term 'special moves' is synonymous with _status moves,_ but also that paralysis wouldn't prevent a Pokémon from using those.
"Here are the worst Pokemon from Gen I"
*Proceeds to name almost every Pokemon I used on my run through as a kid* 😂
We all had that. My first team beating the game included Butterfree and Farfetch'D, in fact Farfetch'D was my ace. Now as an adult I learned hes the worst lmao
Worse than a Pikachu with Thundershock, thunderbolt and thunder XD
Yeah I hate getting STABBED critical hit slashes from my farfetch'd every time... This game is beatable and fun with any team of 6 Pokemon. None of them are the worst. Only trainers are the worst, as alluded to by the inferiority of the creator of this video.
You're not the first one to be disappointed by Onix, and you won't be the last.
stupid rock snake
I legit wanted to catch a Onix as a kid then got disappointed when an Oddish Ohkoed it like it was nothing.
Imagine trying to show how useless Onix is by putting the bind exploit on full display. High speed is literally all it needs
@@nicolasgralewicz4727 The speed is only good, but not great and bind is only 75% accurate. The move having a limited amount of PP is also a problem, notably because of Onix very poor attack stat ; it would be very possible for the PP to be depleted before Onix could do meaningful damage. This unreliable strat is all that Onix has going for him : if it get outsped and/or if Bind misses too many times, it's done for ; and even if the strat works, it's hardly worth it.
@@Anodyne_Akôn Still more viable than Flareon
It’s such a shame because Onix looks cool AF.
it's usable in little cup if you're interested in that.
@@polocatfanYou could eat fried chicken in a bucket of shit if your interested enough
@@polocatfan probably really decent
@polocatfan Its only use is as a physical wall, but it crumbles as soon as it gets hit by an effective special move.
If you want a wall, take Shuckle.
His intro in the anime is so cool too
Onix is so bad that electric type moves work on it.
Onix is so bad that one blade of grass sends it to heaven
@@meticakolli1237 one blade of grass sends rhydon and golem to heaven too you know.
and yet there's alot of onix when u reach elite 4 🤣
One drop of water dissolves it
Lol . That episode was just wrong lpl
Onix one purpose is to be a first gym challenge and its stats reflect it. Of course it makes no sense that an Oddish has more attack than Onix
Sure, but Misty is the challenge right after Brock and she has Starmie, one of the best Pokemon in the game.
@@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917 Yep, they could simply balance it via their levels, which isn't even needed if you ask me.
bad game design
It's perfect game design.
Onix only purpose is to teach players a lesson when battling the first gym. It has massive physical defense in order to force the player to use a special move to win.
Onix needs to have low Attack because you wouldn't learn the lesson if you get knocked out too quickly. The game gives you the opportunity to throw a number of ineffective attacks before you lose, to ensure you get the message.
You can't lower Onix level to give it more attack or hp, because if it was lower level, the base physical defense will matter less.
1st gym teaches you about physical defense. Most pokemon available at this point have normal physical moves and the game wants you to struggle against physical walls like Geodude and Onix.
Then they give you the chance to catch Geodude and Sandshrew so you can get destroyed by a special attacker like Staryu and Starmie so you can understand more about physical and special moves, super effective moves, etc.
Tbh, calling Dewgong a "worse Lapras" is probably the nicest thing anyone's ever said about Dewgong
i mean at least its cute! can't lie to you when i played blue i took seel along with me without knowing it was trash and it kinda soloed the entire game
@@lucymorrisonI did the same in pokemon gold, I didn't know how to get a Lapras. Dewgong has a type advantage on all of Lance's Pokemon.
Ya'll wild lol. I used to run dewgong in competitive. It's is the one of the only pokemon left period that got Dive through level up. The only reason it's not as good anymore is because toxic has been taken away from everything except poison types. But dewgong did very much have a niche if set up properly.
It’s likely the only thing anyone’s ever said about Dewgong. It’s a Pokémon you see on play throughs and go, “O yeah, that exists.”
On the flip side, Dewgong's easier to train for the main game.
My first Pokémon game as a child was yellow version. I caught a Pidgey on route 1 and basically soloed the entire game with it. By the time we reached Victory Road he was a level 100 Pidgeot. I mostly used the moves Gust, Fly, Mirror Move and Sky Attack. It was definitely a struggle looking back but because of this, Pidgeot will always be my favorite Pokémon and have a special place in my heart. ❤
Gen 2 Pidgeot is that for me! Gust as a flying type move and wing attack getting updated power. It can even learn mud-slap or steel wing to deal with rock types 👌
I never used Pidgey in Pokemon yellow. I caught one just so I can fly and never trained it much. It ended up being my last pokemon during the Giovanni gym battle and ended up winning the last battle all by itself when it was below level 10 while my Gameboy was red lighting. Best Pokemon ever 💜
@@issholland haha I love that!
I did the same with Farfetch’d on my first Pokémon yellow run. It was a leave 92 before I finally beat the pokemon league. The struggle lol
Same for me in Gold, that bird could solo the elite 4. 🥲
You'd really think that with how much Game Freak slobbers over the Eeveelutions nowadays, they would finally give Flareon an actual move pool.
I think it’s move pool is fine now but back then (before like gen 6) it definitely did suck. Now it gets things like flare blitz, flame charge, facade, and superpower. I don’t know if it gets anything else that’s worth it but it’s moveset definitely isn’t terrible.
Like now the get stab and shadow ball and thats it
No they don't give a fuck about them anymore, because they don't make new ones anymore! They keep disappointing us fans who want to see Dragon and Steel Type Evolutions for Eevee!
@@Number1SethRollinsFanEevee literally has a whole game
That’s a recurring problem for Eeveelutions, especially the ones that aren’t able to abuse Baton Pass.
Onix feels like it was added in the game to be the first boss. It can be a tough opponent at the very start of the game if you can’t hit it super effective or on the special side. I remember struggling against brock as a kid in Pokémon yellow, because I didn’t know it’s weakness.
what i dont get is, what's the point of onix. it has a massive defence, but an atrocious hp. it has good enough speed, but terrible attack.
its like they didnt know what to do and just randomly added numbers and assigned them to it.
i feel like its defense should be weaker, with(at least) double health and attack.
@@marcosdheleno it was designed as the first boss of the game that teaches kids about some of the games battle mechanics. I think it should have gotten a base stat buff to its HP and Attack stat in gen two. Instead they gave it an evolution that was powerful in gen 2 to justify its rarity.
Flareon's status as hot "garbage" really only started with gen-2. Before that that it was far more offensively viable, when its singular Special stat was what is now only its Special Defense. Even the physical/special split in gen-4 did Flareon no favors due to lack of any strong physical fire moves. It wouldn't be until gen-6 that it finally got access to Flare Blitz, but outside of Special Defense, Flareon is just too fragile to offset the recoil
True. Flareon is one of the many that suffered when Special was split (very similar to Hypno in that way). I think it’s just nice to gas it up in this video since it’s the only time it can get that treatment lol.
Nah man Flareon still sucked in gen 1. It's in PU in smogon's tier rankings, and if we're talking about it for a regular playthrough, there's basically no practical reason to pick up Flareon. Unless you're massively over leveling it's not like you're going to have flamethrower for Erica, as there's no TM and Flareon doesn't learn it til level 54 or something, and even before that you're going to be without a fire move until the mid 40s or something like that and the only fire move you're going to get is fire spin, so you'll probably just be better off using a fearow with peck/fly, as her team has lower physical defense than special, after Erika, there really aren't any important battles left in the game where a fire type is favored at all.
@@HomeCookinMTG You can actually get Ember on Flareon if you evolve it early enough. Nothing amazing, but at least it’s something. I agree it’s still not super worth using, but it still has more use than Ponyta lol
@@shepskydad like I said before I don't even think it's really worth using a fire type at all in Kanto games. Especially gen 1. Gyarados, Kadabra, and Snorlax will carry you through the whole damn game lol, just use Bulbasaur to get through the first section.
@@HomeCookinMTG: Oh it, was always underpowered and over specialized to be sure, but so were most Gen-1 mons. Besides, if you're gonna bring up Smogon tiers, Arcanine is another Fire-type also in PU, so that's not exactly horrible company, and in game neither get Flame thrower until excessively high levels, but at least Flareon doesn't have to refrain from evolving. Not to mention every other fire-type in RBY is ranked NU or below, so it's less a case of Flareon specifically being bad, and more a case of Fire-types in general being less useful at the time, mostly because the types fire beat were often even worse (bug and grass) or paired with a type that beat fire (ice with water).
My point wasn't that Flareon was ever top tier, or even second tier. My point that it wasn't always unusable trash.
One of the things folks sleep on with rapidash is the insane speed & agility allows it to spam fire spin, similar to how dragonite can spam wrap
Anything that can learn Fire Spin or Wrap is capable of using it effectively regardless of the Pokemon's speed. It's not like flinching where you have to strike first.
That said, frankly, any Pokemon with these moves is technically good in Gen 1. They're busted.
Nah. The scariest thing about Ponyta is you can teach it Horn Drill via a TM and combine that with X Accuracy to turn it into an instant OHKO machine. Which can be really useful against the Elite Four if you've collected a few ethers.
@@christianpickhardt4105
You can only "death wrap" ypur opponent if you're faster. Say you use wrap, you have 2-5 turns where the "attack continues", then it stops and your opponent gets a hit on you (cause their faster). If you're faster, you can just spam wrapping moves (assuming they don't miss) and your opponent is literally death wrapped.
@@SomethingLegit1 Χ Accuracy joins the game
You forget about crit ratio being ties with Speed and if you are faster and hit firespin the enemy can't moove@@christianpickhardt4105
Great video!
Just one thing: Gen1 Sandslash is actually very good. Yeah the speed is a bit low, but thats all you need to worry about. It has high defense, easily tanking the common normal moves. And offensively its great! 100 attack, evolves at 22, you catch it pre 2. gym. Moves area also great! You have autocrit slash at 17 and you get dig in the same town. Later you get rockslide for flying coverage aswell, which is all you really need. You could even swordsdance for extra power.
I used sandslash in crystal, loved to use slash on everything!
And Dig is base 100 power in the first gen. Same as Earthquake :)
I love Sandslash's looks because hedgehogs are one of my favorite animals, but Marowak is a much better pure ground type Pokemon
@@TheElectricSheep If you look up Marowak's gen 1 entry in smogon, the first sentence is "Marowak is completely outclassed by Sandslash"
This is a playthrough? Why are u even taking hits?
Uk whats better than tanking moves? Outspeeding and OHKOing everything lol
Bulk in Pokemon playthroughs is overrated
Seaking. Seaking is the first of the "useless generic fish"
I’m surprised you say that Sandslash is terrible when Marowak is right there. It’s stats are strictly worse than Sandslash, and Sandslash has better moves at an earlier level
I put Sandslash on there on a whim but have since been shown the light. Marowak is FAR worse.
Poor Cubone
Marowak has gone rush and is much better offensively because of it
Cubone and Marowak are godly in Pokemon Red Mystery Dungeon.
Attract and Boomerang killed almost everything.
> What are you doing with all that speed?
Crits.
Yeah, it's like they forgot that your crit ratio was based off speed.
Crits, binding moves, OHKO.
Miss the times when Pokémon players didn't care about numbers, they just play with Pokémons they like, beating Pokémon league with a raticate if they want to
Pokemon is NOT supposed to end with an S!
Raticate is a beast man
@@AlexCinta-l1q if im not mistaken, raticate can get lot of crits
Videos like this, telling you one pokemon is better than other, aren't exactly telling you how to play. Nothing is stopping you to from beating any game with your favorite available pokemon.
Same, thats all I still do. At 35
You think Gen 1 Hitmonchan is bad? Try Gen 2 Hitmontop:
-You can get it in a midgame area, but it's gated behind Waterfall, so you don't have it until the Elite Four.
-You need to keep a slot open to get it as a Level 5 Tyrogue. So you have to grind up at a point where your team is about Level 35-40.
-Due to how its Level-Up moveset is set up, you do not get the opportunity to learn Rolling Kick as it a Level 1 move. And Tyrogue itself only learns Tackle. The only Fighting-Type STAB Hitmontop can learn is Triple Kick at Level 49, and Rock Smash by TM. Breeding for High Jump Kick seems a bit insane as you already get Hitmonlee on the way.
-Also, how you evolve it. You need to *very precisely* manage Tyrogue's stat experience to make sure its ATK and DEF are equal upon evolving (not as hard as for the other two Hitmons) or else you don't get it.
-There's a grand total of three Pokémon in the Elite 4 that are weak to Fighting, and sixteen Pokémon that resist it. Ten Pokémon of them can also hit you for super-effective damage.
-Return, Curse and Hidden Power are solid moves but just about every Pokémon in GSC gets those, Hitmontop has no unique niche for it. 95 Attack is good but not nearly as impressive as other physical attackers like Gyarados, Ursaring or Machamp.
I challenge you to find a Pokémon that's worse in-game than GSC Hitmontop.
Ooof you’re probably right about it being the worst of gen 2. Challenge accepted on finding something worse though 👌🏼
I found one: GSC Tyrogue. Lol.
Easy. Ledian.
Yanma, sunflora, literal unown
I totally agree. I gave him detect, toxic, swagger, and triple kick.
9:53 Magmar sitting in the corner like 🥺
Magmar isn’t a wild encounter in both Red and Blue, only Blue (international) or Green
@@matchamitminze but Flareon is?
@@fredericsteckling5516 You can obtain Flareon by Eevee, which is a gift Pokemon obtained in both games? He explicitly said he was omitting version-exclusive Pokemon from his rankings
@@fredericsteckling5516 Yes, Flareon IS available in both Red and Blue due to it being an evolution to Eevee, a gift pokemon in both versions.
@@TheManManoel i know but I was refering to Magmar being no wild encounter, since you cant "catch" Flareon nor Eevee
I'm glad Dewgong became an unassailable wall in HGSS. Since Red's pokes all get 100% accurate blizzard, it's an honest-to-goodness boon in that and any other fight where thick fat can help.
Dewgong is underrated
It's still dogshit.
Wish I had known how powerful STAB was back when I was 8. Also there is a very good reason to use some of these "bad" Pokémon: to mix it up when you've played these games for over 20 years
you probably knew, you just didnt realized how to utilize it. i mean, pretty much everyone understood that alakazam with psychic was OP.
It’s great to see you continue to grow with these videos. The parts where you edited in the world map to show where you could get certain Pokémon was well done! You wrekt Onix, showing the bit from the show was great.
I've been saying it for years. Ponyta/Rapidash should've been fire/normal type. They're similar to girafarig (psychic/nornal) and all the normal birds in being animals with an elemental touch to them. Being part normal also allows them to stand out and makes them viable with powerful normal type moves such as stomp and strength (and return in later gens).
And they’d get normals diverse movepool. Surfing fire pony! Like surfing stone rhino.
Bird is my favorite element
Not sure how much that would help, the offensive normal type slot is pretty much locked down by Tauros in gen 1.
@@OneiroclastTauros and Persian were the top 2, Tauros because of its likely OHKO hyper beams and Persian with its auto crit Slash while being a speed demon.
Still Rapidash could have been a good normal type even if it only started to shine in later gens where it gets stab on more moves.
To this day it still bothers me how arcanine has extreme speed but a literal horse doesn't
This was great! It's really fun to think about the first game's design and its faults and the pokemon stats and move selections are some of its biggest flaws.
A very cozy video - looking forward to more
How are those flaws?
Love this kind of material! You got a new subscriber! & Dewgong is one of my all time favorites, I ALWAYS use one. Good or not, I love it's design.
Remember us when you become huge. There's a lot of potential in this channel. Don't stop!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I'll do my best to make you proud :)
I must say I also agree with this comment.
Yes dont forget us
@@shepskydad i agree dont forget about us the little guys :D
Yea waffles
This is great stuff. I hope you turn this into a series - I'm looking forward to seeing the other Generations.
A small channel with an actually decent voice? I smell potential
Just started playing Pokémon red again since like 2000 so this is very helpful. It may be a year old video but you are helping people greatly
Please do a similar video for the other Generations. This was a fun watch !
Thank you! I’ll definitely deliver on the other gens 😁
The Gen 2 vid is just 80% of the Pokedex
@@grunkleg.2934 haha that’s too accurate
@@shepskydad FARTS TO THE MAX
@@grunkleg.2934 with most of the good ones being either post-game in Kanto (Sneasel, Houndoom, Skamory, Tyranitar) or trade-evos (Scizor, Steelix, Slowking, Porygon2, Kingdra)
On the Spearow-Pidgey comparison: Medium-Fast EXP is generally worse than Medium-Slow EXP for playthroughs. Medium-Slow levels up much faster at lower levels. It's only at higher levels (around the 40s) when Medium-Fast starts outpacing Medium-Slow, and for playthroughs you're not around that level range that long.
On Dewgong: There's an in-game trade Seel in Cinnabar Island that give it bonus EXP. That and the starting level discrepancy between it and Lapras makes Dewgong far more superior.
No, no, it's worse. It only outpace medium-slow at level 68. Well, technically, it also outpaces it from level 1 to 5, but between 6 to 68, medium-slow is faster.
Nerds
do this for every gen! I love how informative and fun these are
I'm glad this video showed up in my recommended, and I'm really looking forward to future videos!
One suggestion: when doing stat comparisons between two 'mons, consider using the bar graphs on Bulbapedia or Smogon (personally I think the latter is more aesthetically pleasing) as opposed to just the straightforward Serebii numbers - being able to visualize the stats makes comparisons easier to immediately understand.
Personally I didn't mind the Serebii screenshots, especially because the Smogon graphs are used by almost everyone these days (and don't look super attractive to begin with)
Nice video, I especially like the editing lol. Anyways, I always find it funny in a sad way that onix's stats were so abysmally low (except for its defense and mediocre speed stat), especially its attack stat. Like even if all other stats were garbage, you'd expect this towring rock snake slamming into you to at least do some pretty big damage, but nope. Onix's attack stat is apparently 5 points lower than oddish (physical attack stat being a base 45) lmao
also super nice dog lol
Onix is especially weird since as kids we thought it was so impressive as Brock’s ace. But no, it’s trash lol.
And thanks :)
@@shepskydad - To be fair, Rock types have it better in Generation 2.
They should've made Onix the striker and Geodude line the tanks...
Hi there. I just found this channel, and I hope it eventually becomes more popular. I really enjoyed this video.
There were two Pokemon in particular that I was quite surprised didn't make the cut for being considered the worst, the first being Marowak.
As much as you showed Sandslash being a terrible, outclassed Pokemon, Marowak is a worse Sandslash. To start, let's compare their stats.
Sandslash:
HP: 75
ATK: 100
DEF: 110
SPC: 55
SPD: 65
BST: 405
Marowak:
HP: 60
ATK: 80
DEF: 110
SPC: 50
SPD: 45
BST: 345
Not only can you get Sandshrew earlier than Cubone (Sandshrew can be gotten either just after Brock, or just after Mt. Moon depending on the version, though it's only in Yellow, and Blue Vs Marowak being available only as early as Lavender Tower and only if you have the Silph Scope, and as late as the Safart Zone iirc), but its stats are either equal or superior to, Marowak's. Marowak's only real advantage is getting Fire Blast, and Blizzard via TM, but non-stab off of Base 50 Special isn't exactly the best.
The second I was surprised wasn't here is Seaking. For starters, Seaking has the lowest RBY base stat total of any Gen 1 fully evolved Water Type Pokemon (That being 385, which compared to other Water Types is pitiful, but compared to most Pokemon in the generation, isn't actually too shabby). As well, its movepool is sort of bland, only really getting Normal, Water, and Ice type moves. As well, its Special is lower than its Attack, meaning that it gets jipped in terms of being able to use strong moves. On top of that, it is, at least in my opinion, outclassed by Kingler. Kingler is faster, stronger on the physical side, and makes up for its lower Special by having Crabhammer, which thanks to Gen 1, and Kinger's good enough speed, will result in it always critting. On top of that, you have to wait until Fuchsia City to get the Good Rod to even get Goldeen, and even then, it takes until either Level 37 (Goldeen), or Level 39 (Seaking), to get its first Water Type move via level up (That being Waterfall), which itself is a worse version of Surf (And keep in mind. Goldeen can only be caught with the Good Rod at Level 10, so unless you have Ice Beam, Bubblebeam, or heck. Even Water Gun as a TM, good luck trying to raise the Goldeen). Hilariously, I'm using it for my current Pokemon Yellow playthrough.
That's about all. If you read through it all the way, thank you very much. Have a good day! :D
Didn't know Flareon used to have 110 Special... Actually, that's not bad at all for Gen 1 standards.
Yeah, too bad that being a fire type in Gen1 means being untiered immediately
That’s the second-highest Special stat of all Fire-types, and the highest of all non-legendary Fire-types. If only Fire was a good type for Gen 1’s main story…
@@AndreSLopez-fh6hg not necessarily true. Moltres is actually good in OU bc of fire spin
@@bakurasensei yes, but recently discovered. It wasnt back in that days.
@@AndreSLopez-fh6hglol you are wrong. But to be fair, so is he. Moltres was never used for obvious reasons and is definitely not an OU Pokemon in gen 1.
Yeah, funny thing about fearow, pidgeot and the medium-fast and medium-slow exp groups... medium-slow is actually faster until around level 70 or so. Or, to be more precise, except for the first five levels, it is faster. With that I mean, that it gets to level 6 before medium-fast, and it's not until level 68 that medium-fast finally catches to medium-slow.
Great video. Editing is top notch. Also, the pace is perfect.
Thank you so much!
If you need positive reception, I loved this video! I’m a huge Pokémon nerd, and I love Pokémon analyses/comparisons. And your analyses were very well thought and supported. :) 10/10
Awesome video man
I love Pidgeot..and always disliked Fearow...this hurts 😂
It's ok Sandslash, you'll always be a good pokémon to me. 🥲
No, it's not a good pokemon.
It's the best.
Sandslash is good now, since it can learn all sorts of Ground-type moves.
The very first time i beat a pokemon game was beating pokemon blue, gary’s lvl 60+ charizard with my lvl 40+ sandslash.
I was on an emulator, my last pokemon, Sandslash against his last pokemon, Charizard. 10 yr old me had to figure out a hack: keep reloading back to the save, until charizard misses his attack… make a new save, rinse and repeat.
Thank you Sandslash
*cries in fire red*
@@DryBones271 pee
Here’s the thing with flareon vs ponyta…
You have no reason to NOT get a ponyta. You don’t have to use it.
Flareon on the other hand instantly locks your ability to get one of, if not the best electric types (Excluding zapdos) or a really nice defensive water type.
There is only one eevee in the game, and Jolteon is a much better pick for it, especially in gen 1
Rapidash's speed works super well with gen 1: crits depending on base speed (over 20% chance!), fire spin relying on you outspeeding your opponent (also using the high crit chance with its multihits) and horn drill only working if you outspeed.
The issue on those strategies is low accuracy, making the gen 1 horse a gambling machine, but one with a well defined niche!
You don't need to gamble. As long as rapidash can survive a single hit and is faster, it literally can kill anything that fits the criteria without fail.
I loved this video!! Thank you for making it! Feel like your points were really well made and I loved your delivery.
This is some quality content!
I also love how you didn't just take the word of the popular opinion out there, but actually checked and compared different Pokemon to show why they were useful (or not).
Shocked to see you at 600 subs, I watched the whole video and was going to see which PokeTuber this was. Awesome work! Glad the algorithm sent me your way. Subscribed and can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store next.
Congratulations you got recommended to me on my front page keep up the good work.
Can’t believe you only have three videos, this one is so refined! Glad this blew up, keep up the work my bro.
I'm going to be honest, I'm kind of surprised Wigglytuff wasn't mentioned once. Since you have to raise it from a Jigglypuff, you only have sing until lv. 9 and even then all you get is pound. You can grab the Mega Punch TM in Mt. Moon to kind of patch that up in the short term, but it's coming off a base 70 attack stat. But surely with a base HP of 140, you'll take hits well right? No. Not at all. Your defense is like base 45, which is comparable to Pidgey's base 40. But, Wigglytuff is a normal type and gets access to a ton of special moves. Yeah, and its Special is 50. Both Charmander and Squirtle start with a Special of 50 - and they get STAB special moves and evolve around the time you would catch a Jigglypuff. But maybe you're still doubtful. Surely, since it has such a high HP stat it balances out. From my own experience, it does not. You can take maybe 2 to 3 hits before Wigglytuff goes down, after you use a moon stone on it in Mt. Moon.
But the worse part? Clefairy is only a little bit further in, like maybe 10 - 15 mins further in. They're in Mt.Moon and are a much better option. Clefable feels like a legitimate power boost - and has the Special is actually back up its giant movepool. But Wigglytuff? Wigglytuff is just a band-aid to an already terrible pokemon.
In gen 1 at the very least, i wish she had slightly better defenses.
Normal types pioneered the gen 1 era due to lack of decent weakness, but needed a backbone to back it up.
Wigglytuff sadly wasnt it lol
Maybe a part 2 could cover more useless pokes? *side eye emoji*
@@deoxysandmew2162 and gen 2 Wigglytuff went from worst to even worse
Regarding speed: in gen 1, critical hit chance is based purely on your speed, unlike later generations. So Onix for example has more than triple the chance to crit versus geodude
I'm surprised Aerodactyl didn't get a mention. While it has great stats and 130 base speed, which means it has about 1/4 chances of landing a crit... it gets terrible coverage options. It gets no rock type moves in Gen 1, despite rock slide being a tm, it's only stab option is wing attack; like you mentioned, only has 35 power. Well... and I guess sky attack, but it's not living anything to actually be able to use it. You can only get it after reviving it in Cinnabar Island and even after going through all that it's only level 5
Fly is another STAB attack and you get it at level 30 in Gen 1. It’s still not great, but I’d honestly still take it over Onix since you can jump around the region a bit and use its high attack and speed stats for Sabrina at least.
Decent analysis video! Thanks for uploading!
Great video. A lot of the things in Gen1 movepools just make no sense. For example why can’t the fossils learn Rock slide?
And why can't lickitung learn lick ? 💁🏻♂️
Good video content and quality for a new creator! Subbed.
This might be interesting to revisit considering tradebacks from gen 2.
Funnily, the Spearow line gets Quick Attack and Tri Attack while the Pidgey line gets Tackle.😅
Ponyta does get Flamethrower, Low Kick and Double Kick though!
I Remember throwing my first masterball at an onix back then.
I didnt encounter one in my first travel through rock tunnel, so when it showed up for me when I returned lategame I thought it was super rare and strong xD
Dewgong is always my water type when i play gen 1, i know that lapras and vaporeon are better options but i freaking love that seal
I admire you so much for that
I agree it has a cool design, but what ruins it for me is the terrible Gen 1 back sprite. Doesn’t matter if it’s outclassed, Gen 1 is so easy nonetheless
I'm pretty sure that even Lapras isn't considered to be all that great in-game when you take I to account efficiency since you obtain it at level 15 if I recall correctly, making it quite underleveled when you first get your hands on it. If you were to ask me, something like Vaporeon or Blastoise would be the better water type option overall
@@matthewkuscienko4616 While true, giving it Ice Beam and Surf immediately means it can hold its own, especially due to the high HP.
@@shepskydad Arguably, yes, but that's kind of missing the whole point of my comment. Sure, it does have access to good moves, but being underleveled when you first get it means you're devoting extra time and effort to train it to get up to par with the rest of your team, which you probably don't really want to do at that point. And besides that, it's not like the rest of the water types you get in gen1 (nevermind the rest of the entire series as a whole for the most part) don't also have access to those moves, too, so when looking at it from an efficiency standpoint (as I pointed out in my last comment) it's not as though it's bringing anything to the table that most other water Pokemon can't, especially considering it's going to struggle because of the aforementioned low level for that point in the game. I won't deny it's better than Dewgong, but that's honestly setting the bar pretty low
I can already tell your channel is gonna grow massively over the next 12 months. You deserve it this video was great quality.
Flareon had the second highest attack in gen 1 under dragonite I've surprised quite a few people on pokemon showdown with his finishing hyper beams, you really just gotta save him until you get rid of their ground/rock types because he's completely unless against them
uhmmmmmmmmmmm actually it's tied for the second highest....
@@Seinsmelled that's still second lol
@@drunkpikachu420 63 53 Juan Tabo Apartment 6
@@Seinsmelled we gunna have a poke battle?
The problem with that is he doesn't out speed much. That's an issue
Good shit man, I'm impressed. High quality video, good script, and with less than 600 suns your editing is fantastic. Most people with your sub count are not doing the things you are. That's why your gonna get ahead. I've been watching UA-cam a very long time, and you stand out. just keep chugging, you will make it.
Thank you so much man. I really appreciate it.
Tangela: you get it too late, has a poor moveset, and it pales in comparison to other Grass-types.
Also, the Fossil Pokemon: Kabutops doesn't learn a Rock move, and you're gonna need some TMs in order for it to be viable. But you get it too late, and at level 1! Same with Omastar. Both are terrrrrrible in Gen 1.
Good video! Subscribed!
Wrong that, they are at level 30 in gen 1 (but they're still trash, agreed there)
Oof, Tangela is definitely rough. It has the uniqueness of being the only pure Grass type, but that doesn’t make up for all the negatives lol.
The fossils are also pretty rough. They do have unique typings, but it isn’t worth it by that point. Cool concepts but meh. Aerodactyl is the only good fossil.
Thanks for the support :D
@@primaster9360 Oh yeah?? I didn't remember that! Still: trash.
@@primaster9360 Omanyte isn't trash at all. Unlike Kabuto, it has good special, the second highest of all water types behind Tentacruel in fact, so it is just as good for spamming surf as any other good water type. With 125 def and 115 special, it is also extremely bulky, and its rock typing gives it some good resistances. The only downside is its late evolution, but you can sort of mitigate that by soloing Blane's gym with it, which it can easily do even at base level 30. It is so good that there are even some speedrun categories that use it.
@@26KIDa Tangela is actually pretty solid. It isn't weak to psychic types due to being pure grass and it has pretty high defense and special. It's main weakness is that it doesn't learn razor leaf but it gets vine whip in Yellow and you can teach it mega drain. It also learns sleep powder. You get it way too late in the game, but it's also cool that the only place to catch it is that little patch of grass south of Pallet Town.
There is something with onix. Speed determines critical hit% in gen 1, the difference between graveler (35speed) and onix (70speed) is 70x100/512 - 35x100/512 ≈ 7%.
Onix has nearly 14% crit across all moves. And both graveler and onix lean towards attrition (high def, lower attack, meaning more attacks per battle). While the other rock types still win, the difference is not as big as it first seems. (Still huge).
This comes back later at the rapidash section, 105 speed is about 21% crit (ish, ≈20,5%).
Then again, access to high crit moves causes none of that to matter. Since high-crit moves like slash/karate chop has 8x higher chance to crit.
A sandslash gets near 100% crit already in mid level 20's with slash. Balance in gen 1 was out the window from the get-go.
Part of my fun is using Pokémon I like even if they suck. I don't pay attention to stats and I like using different Pokémon each time I replay a game. It's like how it's fun to do challenge runs in the souls games with random builds and weapons.
I played through yellow earlier this year on my gameboy color. I went all out and got all the stud pokemon. It was nostalgic and fun but I walked through the game so easily. I want to play through red and try using a bunch of crappy pokemon just for fun lol
@@tylerfedrizzi7871 I love using the "crappy" pokemon. Makes the runs more fun. lol
@@SonnoMaku agreed haha
This was a great watch, I remember having a hard time chosing between pidgeot and fearow when I was playing the gen 1 remakes back in the day
It’s funny bc I always assumed Pidgeot was better. Oh how wrong I was.
Fearow is basically an auto-pick unless you take Charmander as your starter.
I always used to pick hitmonchan thinking those elemental punches would do something but boy was I wrong
5:28 I don't recall Seafoam Islands being optional?
You have to go through them if you want to get to Cinnabar from Fuchsia , but you can always fly back to Pallet Town and go straight south to Cinnabar.
They are so easy to skip. There's nothing really there that is worth doing.
Funny thing about Dewgong is I don't remember much about my very first 6-year-old playthrough of Red, but I DO remember loving my Dewgong. It was my MVP against Lance. I probably missed Lapras, but Dewgong has always been one of my favorte Gen 1 Pokemon and I always go out of my way to use it beause of my memories of it, sort of like Pidgey.
Yeah if you don't get Lapras it's probably the best ice option in Gen 1. Lapras is a great pokemon but it's also predictably on most player's team because of that. It's just a shame Seel is not available until so late in the game.
Great video man, hope to see more quality content soon!
Scyther and Aerodactyl have awful movesets. So bad they're almost unusable. Which is in both cases very sad because they are hecking cool.
In my recent playthrough of Red my son was passionate that Onix stays on my team, so I've found that with high defense (even keeping Harden in his moveset) and some lower-damage attacks, he's great for slowly wearing down wild Pokemon for capture. It's not all about maximum damage.
I can see one potentially annoying thing you can do as Rapidash. You can probably use agility and spam fire spin to aggravate your opponent to no end.
Sure Moltres can do this better, but I can't see Flareon doing much of anything.
Just like the Onix bind strategy but more effective lol
@@shepskydad
Sadly onix can't learn agility
@@lvl5Vaporeon rock polish
@@John-mp4qc
There's only 2 rock moves in gen 1?
@@lvl5Vaporeon nah it’s only in Pokémon quest
Stumbled across the channel while doing some work. Definitely excited to see more ❤
I would argue the worst fire-type is gen 1 is Magmar. Since it's only in Blue, and it has a 5% chance of showing up. So it would be the hardest to use, since you'd never find one.
I agree tbh. Rapidash has the benefit of high speed for crits. I would have put Magmar on the list but I wanted to focus on Pokemon available in both games (which I probably should have said in the video lol)
Hard to find doesn’t mean worst tho?
@@davidstratton696 Well you also get him ultra-late just like Ponyta/Rapidash. Only in Mt. Ember I believe. At that point there's not that much left to use them for.
@@bosspokeMt Ember doesn't exist in gen 1. You get them in Pokemon Mansion. Although, you can get Ponyta at Route 17 in Pokemon Yellow
@@the_username_is_taken Ahh right
The algorithm blessed me with this video and I just wanna say I’m a believer brother, video essays like this are the future, if you make a schedule/give a date on when the next video will be out, easy 10k before the year is over, keep up the great work
Nice video. I would argue the main downside of Flareon is the opportunity cost of the best electric type or a solid mono-water, but yeah even with that factored in there's no reason to pick Rapidash. I used Pidgeot and Hitmonchan in my first run because I preferred their designs and I didn't know much about stats, but Rapidash and Dewgong I'd argue are the worst off by far because even knowing nothing about stats they're so late in the game and sorry if you like rapidash but their designs are quite bland. (Not sorry if you like the seel line, literally why does it exist)
Yeah Flareon still isn’t worth using haha. It’s disappointing because it has great attacking stats, but you’re spot on with the opportunity cost. And Seel and Dewgong are a huge let down. They’ve never been useful and I doubt they will ever be.
Ditto is easily the worst Pokémon in generation 1. It has lackluster stats across the board, has to take a turn to use it's gimmick attack (so it will likely die before setting up since it only has 48 in each stat), and only has 5 PP for each move to work with. It's essentially just throwing away a party slot since literally anything else is better than it.
3:02 I have a reason. I like it :)
Great video! I just love learning how quirky the early Gens of Pokemon were. I grew up playing these versions and never new any of this lol.
I got nostalgia @00:01
I'm really sad that Dewgong was never a great option. I fell in love with it as a kid when I saw that trainer girl jump on its back in the first Pokemon movie. No idea why, except that its really beautiful, but I've loved it ever since. So hard to use though.
10:51 Moltres also can't learn flamethrower in gen 1
I’ll never understand why they heavily hindered Moltres like that. It’s already the worst of the birds so leaving out Flamethrower is just criminal.
@@shepskydad at least it can learn it by the gen 2 tutor moves. But yeah, moltres gen 1 movepool it's just atrocious. Why they didn't even give it to him earthquake, like charizard?
I guess they leaned in hard with the “it’s a legendary so it’ll be fine” mindset lol
@@shepskydad well, no, being a legendary doesn't mean you are automatically op. The regis are an example.
Exactly. I guess they just assumed stats would carry it in Gen 1? It’s funny that the latest obtainable bird is subsequently the worst. At least in Gen 1.
💮🐉💮I should of started with this video haha. But still great stuff! A lot of fun to watch! 💮🐉💮
I remember using Sandslash, Flareon and Hitmonchan in leaf green as a kid. Pain
But they look cool
Just found you today. Love this video, keep it up
There were a few Pokémon that didn't get good until gen 4
Honestly, the physical special split in Gen 4 really changed a lot in terms of what was viable. I always think about how Sharpedo can’t use it’s attack on it’s stab until a Gen after it came out lol
How did it take four generations for the phys/spec split to happen? A lot of Pokemon were straight up neutered until this change.
Rapidash is my fav pokemon since the very beginning. What's not to love about a literal flaming unicorn? Excellent design (by gen1 standards) and really subpar everything else
Fuck off Design. The strongest pokemon are the best.
Yknow what was weird? When I was playing pokemon blue, electric worked on ground types. It just wasn’t very effective.
Yo this a banger video
Thanks so much :D
Steelix really carries Onyx in terms of hiding how fucking shit it is. It was quite literally made exclusively to be decently challenging for the first gym, I'm 100% sure you couldn't catch it originally in one interation of the game before "catch them all" became a theme.
The Charmander line is just so, so bad in Gen 1 if you need something to trash the game with. It can't beat Brock, it can't beat Misty, and oh my god the trouble.
Don't pick Charmander. Unless you're playing a remake, where it gets Metal Claw at level 13.
It's always been really funny to me that the most iconic starter evolution is the most inconvenient to start the game with. Game Freak really did us dirty lol.
At least it can beat Erica
It was the best starter.
skill issue
Please make this a series, I'll watch every one. Liked and subbed
Funny fact: Onix is my favourite Pokémon 🤣. I also like Dewgong and Rapidash as well xD.
I was wondering... Could we please have a second part including Paras, Farfetch'd, Marowak, Beedrill and Lickitung for example?
THE D IN FARFETCH'D IS SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE END! AND THERE IS NO Y IN LICKITUNG!
@@Amelia4111 my bad
Remember me when you reach a million subs! Great video man :)
You somehow went this whole video without mentioning parasect
On the opposite side of this discussion, can we talk about how righteous Starmie is? High special and speed, Water/Psychic typing, and it can also learn Surf, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Psychic just like Lapras, but it hits faster and harder.
You can get it as soon as you get to Fuschia city with the Good Rod since you just need a Water Stone to evolve it, and it'll crush any gym from that point except Sabrina's.
Especially when you get to Indigo Plateau.
Lorelei gets swept with Thunderbolt
Bruno gets swept with Psychic and Surf
Agatha gets swept with Psychic
Lance gets swept with Thunderbolt and Ice Beam
Rival will always have a Grass(Ice Beam), Fire(Surf), Water(Thunderbolt) pokemon, a Rhydon(Surf or Ice Beam), a Pidgeot(Thunderbolt or Ice Beam), and the ONLY thing (besides Lorelei's pushover Jinx) that you DON'T have a hard counter for, the Alakazam. Even then, it only has Psychic attacking moves which aren't very effective against you, but you have STAB Surf, Thunderbolt that can paralyze, and Ice Beam that can freeze.
Assuming it has PP for it, a Starmie at the appropriate level with that build makes the entire final challenge of the game a complete joke. It will just body 26 Pokémon in a row for you before they can do anything about it (assuming there are no gen 1 misses).
DO NOT LEAVE OFF THE H IN FUCHSIA!
@@Amelia4111 Fixed
Jinx is also a problem.
Every pokemon makes the elite 4 a joke lol
Moltres also cannot learn Flamethrower.
Love the video, hope to see more detailed analysis videos for all gens!
(You've earned a subscriber too 👍)
No love for Magmar.
I used a pokedoll on the ghost marowak as a kid numerous times. I had no idea it is a glitch, I just always thought it was a way to get around it without the silph scope.