Pokemon Crystal Ratings

[Espinosa]

Qwilfish

It's the last water-type for a while, I think... Though Slowpoke Well is coming up soon, so uh, forget what I said. There's no shortage of water-types earlygame in Crystal, as we've established by now, so what's special about Qwilfish? Or should I say what's physical about it? Please forgive my bad puns. ;;

Firstly, Qwilfish isn't encountered normally; it is a Swarm-exclusive Pokemon. Luckily for you, unlike Dunsparce, you can get the phone number of the relevant Fisherman as early as you get the Old Rod, and if you have the means available to mess with the time without coming back to see mom and pestering her about daylight saving time, you can provoke the phone call instantaneously. How cool is that? Or maybe you will have to return to your mom (talking about non-emulator users here). It's not the longest trip ever, yet still annoying. In the end, you get a lv. 5 Qwilfish hooked. Not lv. 10 like other Old Rod victims, lv. 5 for some odd reason (Bulbapedia still insists on lv. 10 for some reason but I checked), meaning it's a little underlevelled for Union Cave.

Qwilfish is one those Pokemon asking for a Jeigan label, since it's essentially ready to get into action with the best base stats it'll ever has, as it doesn't evolve. Except it still has problems earlygame. One is a lack of a water-type move until L19 Water Gun (you might as well teach it Surf around the same time). 55 base spatk isn't impressing anyone in this game, but early on it's good enough if it had something like Water Gun. But no, you get Tackle, Poison Sting and Spikes. Tackle will be your strongest move for a few dozen steps until you (hopefully) invest the Swift TM into it, while Poison Sting might be your tool of choice for that occasional naughty Hoppip. Oh, who am I kidding. Spikes right off the bat sounds like it could be fun, but you can only set one layer of these this gen, and the damage it gets is negligible at best, considering the opposition switches something in once so that you can probably kill it one or two turns, it doesn't juggle Pokemon in and out like clever human trainers would.

A little later, Headbutt, Rollout and Return are yours to use, but what you really want to have is that Sludge Bomb for its same type attack bonus. Running off a 95 base attack, this will be your primary way of dealing damage. Pity about the coverage though. Surf is still as good as ever, even with that low special attack stat, and Icy Wind is an option, though it has low base power, and gets neither a good stat to go off nor STAB, so don't count on that for dragonslaying.

Qwilfish is a glass cannon, a pretty fast decent hitter specialising in physicals, and its typing is exactly the same as Tentacruel, who has certain appealing characteristics (outlined above) that Qwilfish has no adequate replacement for. Tentacruel doesn't require any sustained effort to be captured either, it's literally all over the place. If it could take hits better, then we'd talk.

Rating: 6.5/10

[Espinosa]

Unown

Nearly forgot about this one. Granted, it wouldn't have been much of a loss if I did, but this thing is really difficult to rate so we can't skip it.

Those base stats... 48 everywhere with 72 in physical and special attack, most likely to ensure Hidden Power doesn't suck completely, regardless of what type and base power its IVs grant it. Hidden Power is the move it starts with and the move it will stay forever, and there's no changing its properties.

One problem with using (and also evaluating) Unown is that you can never know what type your Hidden Power is before you use it (the power you can more or less determine if you have a tool for checking IVs, but even then at lv. 5 you can't quite tell what your IVs are) , so you'll have to test your HP empirically by attacking things, most likely a lot of things, before it clears up.

Due to how unreliable it is, you may have HP Poison with a power of 30 or an HP Psychic with a power of 70, giving Unown STAB, and making it something of a slow Kadabra with a little more physical bulk, no special resistance, and no coverage or moves of tactical benefit, not to mention no application past earlygame where its stats don't cut it. And that's assuming the best possible scenario, which of course has low chances of success.

Rating: 1.5/10

[Espinosa]

Some notes for myself for actions to attend to later:

- Magmar does not exist in Crystal version's maingame, so the comparison between him and Quilava is irrelevant.

- Rock Smash has 20, not 40, base power in generation 2. Whoops. That makes it a poor suggestion on certain Pokemon who get STAB on it (or just don't get a whole lot of other moves).

- Totodile's access to Rage needs to be properly weighed up in the context of his entire in-game performance, namely against gyms.

- Must add mention to Pokemon who can be caught in the wild pre-evolved where I haven't done so, assuming capturing them pre-evolved (and owing to the game's nature, underlevelled) is beneficial in an efficient run.

- Order the existing ratings in order from highest to lowest to make the relevant changes more apparent.

But for now, let's rate:

Sandshrew

The only new Pokemon that you're getting on your first trip through Union Cave, since, while Onixes might be a novelty, you've already had the chance of getting a quickly growing Rocky the Onix as an in-game trade by now.

Sandshrew starts out unimpressive - though its base attack and defence are high (base stats aren't as useful as having good starting moves early on), it has no good STAB besides that weak Mud-Slap TM which you could teach it to have it deal with those Vulpixes and Koffings in Union Cave, but with the help of the Dig TM available after Ilex Forest, it does get a very good STAB move that covers a lot of common enemy types, namely the ubiquitous poisons. It also has an early evolution to Sandslash, giving it highly competent stats, namely in tanking physical hits and dishing out ones of its own. Before Dig, Swift can be taught right off the bat, seeing how the TM is located in the same dungeon.

Outside of Dig, Sanslash doesn't get a powerful rock-type move to nail fliers (then again, only Sudowoodo does), though Rollout is there if you want it. It could be useful against Lance? A very late application for a weak TM that needs turns to get powerful (while not missing), and Sandslash won't be fast enough to outspeed anything Lance comes with.

Compared to somebody like Geodude/Graveler, Sandslash will find it doesn't have Rock Throw at the times it's really helpful earlygame, and that pure ground typing still loses to rock/ground durability whenever Sandslash isn't outspeeding things Graveler can't outspeed. However, Sandslash is still rather slow, and could use Quick Claw to work better. It isn't as afraid of water and grass type moves compared to Graveler, and, in fact, can OHKO some of those threats due to a simple level advantage. Endgame, Sandslash definitely takes the EQ TM (outside of Slash, its learnpool is still horrid) and helps out against Koga, and to a lesser extent Bruno, Karen and Lance.

Rating: 7.5/10

[Espinosa]

Slowpoke

Are you tired of water-types by now? Too bad, because while Slowpoke wishes it were a little faster (or probably, considerably faster), it's not a bad one at all.

Dual water/psychic, and available earlier than Staryu, not to mention not requiring a stone to evolve (and caught pre-evolved whilst surfing). Its first special STABs are a little away from it if you catch the low-levelled one in Slowpoke Well earl, Water Gun at L15 and Confusion at L20. Confusion will also most likely be your only move, as Bro/King learn Psychic at L54 and the TM is unavailable until postgame. That's quite bad. But then you look at Slowbro (probably the best way to go about this, as Slowking is more specially defensive and learns Swagger, none of which is as useful) and its typing and see that what sets it apart from other water-types, besides a high enough special attack to hit things with Surf and Ice Punch, is the physical bulk coupled with a useful typing, rendering it resistant to attacks from Chuck, and later Will and Bruno.

With a base speed of 30 however, it's not outspeeding anything and pretty much demands that Quick Claw from National Park as soon as both are available. Early on, you could mean being being bitten (with Bite), perhaps being flinched to death by Zubats whom you're otherwise OHKOing with Confusion. Other problems associated with being slow and not being almost literally immune to many of the common moves thrown at you (see Geodude) apply here.

If you catch Slowpoke early, its physical attack is actually higher than its special attack, and it starts with Curse, plus the early Swift and Headbutt TMs are there. If you find gym threats like Scyther and Miltank hard to beat, set up on their weaker Pokemon and then make your way to victory. Curse raises both attack and defence and you can't get slower than you are anyway, but watch out for the occasional crit that can spoil your fun. With 75 base attack later on, Slowbro/king is an okay user of Earthquake/Return/Strength, I guess.

Rating: 7/10

[Espinosa]

Paras

Ilex Forest, a new area to explore with lots of new Pokemon. Or rather, old Pokemon we love (to hate), now available to us for the first time. Before we can headbutt trees (by catching the boy's Farfetch'd and receiving Cut HM), there are four new species of Pokemon here for us to capture, all of which could then be put to good use against the Rockets in the Slowpoke Well as well as Bugsy's gym.

One of these is Paras, encountered rather rarely during any time of day. Its low speed makes you immediately hesitant to switch it into any rock/ground type just by virtue of it being dual grass, but then you have to remember that Solarbeam endgame is the only grass-type move it will ever learn, if any (Giga Drain is learnt at L55 as Parasect). What the grass-typing means is that it gets a plethora of unwanted weaknesses, which is very bad as it is now very afraid of switching into anything with flying and fire type moves, about to the same extent as Graveler doesn't like facing speedy water and grass types. If Parasect were faster, it could Dig the fire-types and just OHKO the fliers with something like Sludge Bomb, Return or Slash (with 95 base attack, this can't go wrong).

A lack of a better STAB than Leech Life and Fury Cutter is also a bummer, as Parasect is stuck with bonusless moves, albeit okay ones. So what's good about it? Stun Spore at L7 is a very early paralysing move, which can always be put to use when you're struggling against a particularly tough foe. Spore, learnt at L28 as Parasect, is guaranteed to put something to sleep, so assuming Parasect can take a hit, he can make a very real contribution to a solution to any problematic situation. Can Parasect take hits? He should with 60/80/80 in the respective defensive stats, assuming he's sufficiently trained and not struck by a super-effective move; however, a sufficiently-trained Parasect implies either Exp Share or taking a lot of hits from enemies all over the place as very few fail to outspeed Parasect.

Parasect's typing isn't terrible in every single instance of course. Poliwrath's moves are both resisted, as is Kingdra's second strongest move. It can deal with Jasmine's Magnemites just fine, but so can any of the other numerous Pokemon who can learn Dig by TM (being Thunder Waved isn't something Parasect likes when digging though). Against the E4, outside from Sporing something, Parasect can leech into Egg I guess, and isn't afraid of either Hitmontop or Lee. Karen isn't too threatening to him, but she generally isn't threatening to anyone anyway (besides Houndoom who deserves special treatment and whom Parasect definitely doesn't want to see). Lance runs Pokemon against whom Parasect could barely contribute in any way besides sporing - fire, flying and ice type moves all over the place. If you really need that sleep badly though, it's the most reliable user of such a move.

Another Pokemon who wants Quick Claw here, but you don't want to lead with it due to its low speed and numerous weaknesses. Hard to use, generally low payoff, and a poor start as Paras. Better skip that phase as quickly as possible and catch one at L17 during the Bug-Catching contest.

3/10

[Nyoro~Eevee]

BTW, doesn't Crystal have a Tutor for Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt outside the Goldenrod Game Corner on certain days? If I'm remembering that correctly, then that could potentially have some influence on a few Pokemon who would get, for example, Boltbeam access that would normally be denied due to not having arms and fists... However, the flip side is the coin cost, of course.

[Espinosa]

Yes, that's true. However, the tutor does not become available until postgame, and this rating topic assumes that we end the game after Lance, and not Red (main reason being how weird Kanto was designed in this generation - in all ways really).

The only Pokemon likely to learn these three moves before E4 are: Flamethrower - Magmar (L41, and yeah, confirming that he does exist theoretically in Crystal's maingame; will get to it a half dozen entries ahead), Ice Beam - Dewgong (L43), Lapras (L36), Thunderbolt - Pikachu (L26, good luck getting him though), MAYBE Electabuzz (L47, also same issue as Pikachu and Magmar with being out of reach in an efficient Crystal runthrough).

This generation (in-game at least) kinda screws over boltbeam and Flamethrower users, since the three now-standard 95 base power TMs are non-existent and available to very few Pokemon (and usually either very late or to Pokemon you can't catch at all/have to wait for Kanto to get). Your replacement, or at least the closest form, is the three elemental punches, and since the list of Pokemon is limited to ones with specific appearance (i.e. they have hands which they can punch things with), you get the problem with the elemental punch users being mainly physical hitters, besides some remarkable exceptions like Gengar and Alakazam (whose in-game value skyrockets because of this).

Your other alternative to boltbeam and Flamethrower are the Blizzard, Fire Blast and Thunder TMs, also won or bought at Game Corner. Costing you over 100K money, they're a bad investment, especially knowing their other drawbacks (low PP and unreliable accuracy).

[Nyoro~Eevee]

Ah, okay, thanks for the clarification. ^w^

[Espinosa]

Venonat

It's a bug/poison, are you sick of these by now? I don't care, let's take a look at Venonat and its speedy evolved form to measure their worth.

Venonat is one of the lowest-levelled inhabitants of Ilex Forest, coming at a level as low as 5. With 55 base attack, it can, of course, take the Swift TM and train against rockets and fellow bugs in Bugsy's gym, but the level handicap becomes very noticeable at this point, and Venonat isn't making any substantial contributions during the first couple of hours of its existence (where he ever does we'll investigate in a bit) and it waits for the Venomoth evolution quite a bit, until L31, at which point its strongest move will probably be Sludge Bomb (via TM).

What one will probably want to do if the bizarre idea of training a Venomoth crosses her/his mind is just catch the pre-evolved one just north of Mahogany. It comes with Confusion at L17, and with 90 base in special attack and speed (double compared to the more physically-oriented Venonat form) it's ready to nuke those Rockets' Zubats with Confusion! It's not too far from the Sludge Bomb TM at this point, which will probably turn out its strongest move in most cases, though with only 65 in phys attack this isn't impressing anybody.

What's Venomoth niche exactly? It's not even the best match against Chuck's Poliwrath due to not liking STAB-powered Surfs (and Psybeam learnt at L36 probably isn't yours even if you postpone facing Chuck for last, so you're not hitting him very harshly). Venomoth does get powders, namely Stun Spore at L28 and Sleep Powder at L42, which could have situational use, seeing how their user is actually a quick one for once, matching Poliwhirl's base speed. It really wishes it could reach out and touch Psychic and Giga Drain to be a hell lot more proficient, but those aren't yours during maingame.

At the end, it's a Psybeam user that isn't psychic-type. What's that mean? Some Pokemon, like Kadabra, switch into Will's Psychic-types (who can be quite a problem, each one of them) and hit them with super-effective attacks, but Venomoth does the opposite - switch into super-effective moves without being able to do anything besides attempt to sleep. Up against Koga, Venomoth will find its Psybeam a bit too weak as it's taking Crobat's Wing Attack and the other Venomoth which runs Psychic. It's more comfortable around Bruno's Pokemon, namely those that lack rock-type moves.

A fast sleeper indeed, but overall kind of a mediocrity. The L17 one isn't too hard to keep close to your party's levels, so if you want a sleeper for certain needs, why not choose Venomoth?

5.5/10

[Espinosa]

Psyduck

Another resident of Ilex Forest is... yet another water-type! Psyduck may not look like a good one immediately when caught at a level disadvantage (the same applies to most of the game's Pokemon though), especially with its glaring lack of a water-type STAB. They didn't even give it Bubble! Confusion at L16 is a late relief, and not an entirely good one at that. By that point your Psyduck is probably attacking things with Ice Punch and Headbutt maybe, perhaps even Dig, with Surf being not too far away. Still, you have to agree Psyduck is hard to train if caught when you see one.

Now if you wait until you can Surf, you can easily pick up a wild Golduck in places that aren't very hard to reach even without Fly, avoiding both the period of STABless fighting Psyduck would otherwise have to endure and the long wait for the lv. 33 evolution (which is rather late). Let's take a look at Golduck's stats... It seems to have balanced bases, around 85 everywhere, with a little less in phys defence, and a little more in special attack, which is great for somebody with access to both Surf and Ice Punch. Golduck may not be a speed demon, but 85 base is very respectable and allows him to outspeed just about anyone when trained properly. And with good offensive stats, Golduck is hardly frail either, with durability that's comparable to Starmie's.

Another neat thing that Golduck has going about it is its unique option to set itself up against specially offensive leads. What this implies is that you learn Psych Up at L31 (it is otherwise a postgame TM) and teach it Swagger. Repeatedly confuse the opposing lead, such as Will's Xatu, Karen's Umbreon or Koga's Ariados, using your duck's distinct Swag and then copy those stat boosts in order to sweep with Return. Sadly, Golduck's physical coverage is rather limited, as it is dubious to believe that you are bringing any one of Dig, Iron Tail or Dynamicpunch to the E4 (Dig can be a good way of dealing with Magnemites and whatnot around midgame or so, though), but a maxed Return will do the job. Since Golduck can be caught as soon as you can Surf, you can easily catch your Golduck with a Friend Ball for instant 200 friendship.

Looking at Psyduck's egg moves, that's a list hard to not ogle: Ice Beam, Psychic, Cross Chop, Hypnosis... All are moves Golduck would consider having on its set, but they're out of the way on an efficient run. A very good Pokemon nevertheless.

Rating: 8/10

[Espinosa]

Oddish

Last of the pre-Headbutt Ilex Forest mons, Oddish has one of the poorest starts. It's got Absorb, which isn't damaging much unless it hits super-effectively (and we've already faced a good portion of the Geodude/Onix trainers you fight in Johto), even with 75 base special attack (shouldn't make a huge difference at this point), and you might consider teaching it Cut for other purposes. Until its evolution into Gloom at L21, Oddish gets the paralysing and sleeping powders, which is sure to be useful, but nothing when it comes to offensive moves, and there's no Bullet Seed TM to help a bit with that in this gen. Return is an option, but Gloom is hardly the best Pokemon for it, and it'll probably be waiting for that Sludge Bomb to have a powerful move. L24 Acid sounds kinda okay, but what's Gloom doing before that, powdering stuff and switching out? No good.

Even lategame, you'll find that Vileplume or Bellossom are deprived of a good grass-type STAB with the exception of Solarbeam, taught very late by TM when it barely matters anymore. If you want Petal Dance, you'll have to postpone whichever evolution you have in mind until L44 when the move is learnt. Gloom is mostly a burden by then, and Petal Dance isn't a huge help by this time (L44 with a team of 3-4 Pokemon is probably when you're about to face the E4) and doesn't justify the wait with inferior bases.

Which evolution would you pick, though, Vileplume or Bellossom? Both Leaf Stone and Sun Stone become available around the same time, probably before you evolve your Oddish. Vileplume gets more special attack (to use Absorb I guess) and STAB on Sludge Bomb, whereas Bellossom can switch into Will's Slowbro without the fear of taking a Psychic (it's more specially durable too).

Overall though, you'll find that the generally undesirable duty of being a grass-type is performed poorly by either of these two forms, and there are always better, faster sleepers; hell, even Venomoth or Poliwrath.

Rating: 4.5/10

[Espinosa]

Redesigned the opening post by adding links to the ratings done so far, and also ordered the ratings in descending order. I think this makes comparative checking of ratings much easier, and as soon as more of them are added, I'll decide whom to move up and down. Willing to hear out your ideas about this too.

Pineco

After dealing with the rockets, defeating your rival and completing the Azalea Gym challenge, you are now able to cut the tree down in Ilex Forest and you get your Headbutt TM from the guy. Its 70 base power (105 in case there is STAB) makes it very likely your strongest move at this point (I guess Rattata's Hyper Fang is the only thing that competes, but it's inaccurate) so your OHKOing rates should be very high right now. But another difference Headbutt makes is that now you can headbutt trees to capture Pokemon! Noctowl, Beedrill and Butterfree all appear pre-evolved in the forest if you start headbutting now, but since we've already discussed their shortcomings, let's proceed to something new instead, and that's Pineco!

First of all, Pineco comes with Selfdestruct already learnt, so if you don't have any means of sleeping it, throw a Poke Ball right away! Or a Great Ball if you have some. Thankfully the catch rate isn't bad. Once you do catch it, besides SD, it'll have Tackle and Protect. Protect is useful if you come in on Miltank's Rollout when it's all powered up, getting its power down to base again, but after that, you might as well teach something else over it. With 65 base attack, a rather mediocre typing and no STAB bug-type move (Pin Missile is there if you want to breed, but I don't see a reason to spend all that time for a move of low power), Pineco will wait a painstakingly looong time until its evolution at L31, at which point its typing will become something entirely different, granting it immunity to poison type moves and a crapload of resistances, fire-type moves becoming its only fear (though it's not a fan of taking neutral special moves to be honest with you).

90 base defence and resistance to fighting-type moves probably does make its unevolved phase somewhat bearable, giving it good chances against the Pokemon in Chuck's gym and the occasional trainers. Headbutt, Strength, Return, Rollout are probably your best options for moves to be taught. Take Down is learnt at L15 for you to use if you're too stingy to make any TM investment (Strength sounds like a must though, since it's not flinching anything ever with 15 base speed, and thus doesn't benefit from Headbutt).

There's also Selfdestruct with its effective 400 base power. While Pineco won't be gaining any experience for itself after bombing something, it'll get that problematic foe out of the way (Miltank maybe? Poliwrath and Kingdra perhaps). Explosion, learnt at L39 as Forretress, is a very desirable update, giving you 500 BP.

When Forretress does come into play, you become resistant to a lot of things but still lack the STAB to attack. Special attacks are still a threat, too, and Bruno's fighters now hit you for neutral damage, though Forretress may be the only one who can brag about taking a critical Cross Chop and living to tell the tale. You're not dying anytime soon if you switch into plenty of the Pokemon in the E4, but it'll take you some time to take them down too. Too bad you don't get Screech like Onix, and your setup move, Rollout, is too likely to stop early with all the confusion, sleep and evasion spam, and you're kinda slow too. You should also take into account Chan's Fire Punch, Houndoom's Flamethrower and Charizard/Fire Blast Dragonite. The specific threats you do switch into will barely scratch you, though, and that's some level of safety. You could always explode, too, if the going gets tough.

Pity Curse isn't available until postgame, maybe that would've made Forretress a worthy investment of your time and exp.

Rating: 4.5/10 for them explosions

[Psych]

I bring this up because I just thought of it now since I just hit Morty in HeartGold, but Venonat can do pretty damn good in the gym, since of Confusion. The other psychics at this point will be taking super effective damage from Nightshade and Lick and things, but Venonat still has a psychic move that hits everyone for super effective damage while not taking any itself.

[Espinosa]

Night Shade deals fixed damage, and Lick is mostly a non-concern, whether you're a psychic or not. But due to being slow, Venonat takes more of a beating compared to, say, Kadabra, who just goes first and OHKOs everything with Confusion or Psybeam (L21). Also note that Venonat learns Confusion much earlier in HG/SS.

Morty's gym is generally trivial in the original GSC because Gengar's Shadow Ball is physical and therefore kinda weak, and you should be outspeeding the weaker ghosts in his gyms with proper training and OHKOing with Dig or Surf or whatever. As for Gengar, any normal-type blocks his Shadow Ball completely (I guess it's not impossible that you don't have one, but you might have Fearow) and Awakenings prevent Dream Eater attempts.

If we discuss Drowzee vs Venonat, I'd still say Drowzee is the better of the two, but Venonat vs Kadabra? No contest.

[Espinosa]

Typed this up 2 days ago and accidentally closed the window when I was nearly done. Let's do it again so that we can make some progress with this.

Exeggcute

Exeggcute doesn't require you any special backtracking to get. Exit Ilex Forest with your new Headbutt TM and shake some of the trees there until you get one. At lv. 10, it's of a decent enough level to not lag behind too much and face the trainers here for the exp (though good luck doing that with Barrage and 40 base attack).

The conditions are almost perfect for a Pokemon with impeccable stats (okay, more special defence and speed wouldn't hurt) and typing like Exeggutor... You can get a Leaf Stone early enough, you get it early, what's not to like? The big problem here is that Egg is stuck without the dual STABs he desperately wants - grass and psychic. Confusion is learnt at L19 if you postpone your evolution a bit (why not). After that you could wait some more, for Stun Spore and a more accurate sleeping move in Sleep Powder but you better just evolve it once you have Confusion to enjoy its excellent base stats, which make it good enough to KO the generics with ease. Confusion also makes it a good Pokemon to use in Morty's gym, but watch out for Gengar's Shadow Ball (not an OHKO knowing which stats it takes into account but it will hurt nevertheless).

Being stuck with Barrage at the start sucks, but for your patience the reward is decent as well - Rollout may not be quite the thing you want to teach it, but Strength and Sludge Bomb more or less do the job. Return is always there too. The early moves you may like to stick to include Hypnosis (Sleep Powder is learnt at L37 if you choose against evolving early, which is a poor choice IMO), Reflect and Leech Seed. Just pick one or two so that you have some offensive moves in there as well.

Confusion sounds kinda poor compared to, say, Kadabra's offensive potential and it undoubtedly is, but it also shouldn't be forgotten that Egg's stats also make it easier for it to switch into certain tough Pokemon that Kadabra would have trouble taking hits from, like Poliwrath and Kingdra. Neutrally, Confusion will hit stronger than, say, Nidoking's Fire Punch hitting something neutrally, so it's still a decent option, especially when you face Koga or Bruno. Speaking of Koga, Egg is worse than other Psychics here since it is afraid of Sludge Bomb and Wing Attack and Confusion doesn't really let it reliably score OHKOs without critting. Bruno's fighters have much trouble with its bulk though.

Egg lost some of its attractiveness with the special split, depriving it of much of its special bulk (so it's now afraid of anything that packs Fire Blast and most of Karen's Pokemon), but what it really wishes it hadn't lost is access to moves like Psychic and Giga Drain. But it can take hits and slowly chip away, and it's also an unreliable, slow sleeper.

Rating: 5/10

Edited September 30, 2012 by Espinosa

[Espinosa]

Heracross

Oh boy, this one I like a lot. Some people keep complaining that it's hard to catch, but it's quite the opposite, really. You get Headbutt on your way to Goldenrod, and once you're out of Ilex Forest, you can get Heracross out by bashing the trees there without even having to go back to Azalea. It's not a Pokemon with the most favourable catch rate, but it's asleep and 4x weak to your Pecks and Gusts so you shouldn't have much trouble getting it to low health and then you can throw Great Balls while it's still sleeping. Starting at L10 and having the 65 base Horn Attack in its startset, Heracross levels up quickly to the rest of your party by easily destroying the trainers in his starting area. Just don't switch him into any birds before it's strong enough to OHKO them (which should be almost immediately with that 125 base attack, crazy at this point of the game). Some say Heracross never drops off trees, but I once got 5 to drop in a row - you just need to be bashing the right trees.

Heracross's bases are also very impressive. Lacking only in special attack (which he has absolutely no need for unless you're putting trust into that Thief TM for whatever reason), Heracross even has 95 base special defence, which will later allow him to take on special attackers with greater confidence, as well as take a Psychic from Will. 85 base speed is quite good and will permit him to take on some of the speedier threats with ease, but he's still not the fastest around.

Heracross does have a disadvantage that's hard to ignore, one that's typical for nearly every Pokemon that's not water or normal type in this game, and that's the glaring absence of good STABs. Megahorn learnt at L54 is definitely too late for the E4, perhaps helpful in the postgame (like for nailing Sabrina or Red's Espeon, but we're not covering that with these ratings). Reversal which comes at L44 is highly situational but is nevertheless an option for the E4, allowing Hera to solo Bruno and Karen if it's fast enough to outspeed Karen and still has Endure in his set (learnt early at L12). Just use a restorative item on it when Hitmonchan comes in, because the fucker packs Mach Punch. Rock Smash is the only fighting-type move Hera gets access to, and I suppose you might as well take it for dealing with Rocket Scientists' Magnemites or something (it's only 20 base power in this gen though).

When Heracross comes in, he doesn't really need any resources to become instantly good, but he doesn't really have the immediate coverage to be of use against, say, Whitney or Morty (without Dig, he only has Fury Cutter to damage ghosts with, and that's resisted 4x), but he makes for a decent counter to Poliwrath and Kingdra. Speaking of 'countering', Heracross can learn the move of this name at L27, and use it on Kingdra's Hyper Beams or Steelix's Iron Tail, if you so please, resulting in a sure OHKO. This strategy can be carried unto the E4; just don't forget to restore his health with Hyper Potions. Heracross is one of the four Pokemon who actually learn Counter naturally in this game, and by far the best of the four (the rest are Hitmontop, Hitmonchan and Wobbuffet).

Fury Cutter is an okay option to consider knowing that its power can get pretty high once fully powered up, assuming it doesn't miss, and there's some chance of that happening when you use it repeatedly at 95% accuracy. No Wide Lens available here to solve the problem. Earthquake is definitely a good lategame option for Koga and Karen's Houndoom. Before that, Headbutt, Strength and Return can all be viewed as decent updates to the starting Horn Attack (giving you extra power and flinching, which is good when you're fast but still not quite OHKOing, like when facing Weezings or something).

Rating: 8.5/10

[Espinosa]

Aipom

I'm pretty sure this is the last of the Headbutt mons to be covered and just what a letdown it is! As a normal-type that's caught at L10 with 70 base attack and 85 base speed, with Scratch already learnt,it might look like a promising one, and it is so for a while. Headbutt is almost immediately available to it (not the one you used to smash its tree but any of the duplicates you purchase in Goldenrod), and there's also Return, Strength, Shadow Ball (learning this one makes it special, you could say). The main problem with Shadow Ball is that you get it after you've already fought most of the ghosts you will have seen during your playthrough, though for Pokemon lacking the normal-type STAB it remains the best physical option against Will.

Aipom is essentially an inferior Furret that skips the evolution stage (though with those poor defensive and mediocre offensive bases it wishes it could evolve into Ambipom earlier than generation 4), with a very similar TM learnpool and the exact same typing, but later availability and poorer base stats. It can take any of the elemental punches (and is even worse than Furret at using them) but they will mostly hurt when penetrating a 4x weakness, but good luck facing Gyarados and Dragonites with that (though mook battles should be enough to keep its level up by virtue of decent offences and normal STAB alone). It doesn't get Surf or Dig like Furret does, either.

Baton Pass is learnt very early, but besides Agility at L46 (too late to exist in this game) it's got nothing to pass to anyone. Screech will be in Aipom's possession by the time you hit E4, so perhaps some use could be found for that.

As a normal-type, it's okay for OHKOing stuff with Strength and Return when your better Pokemon have run out of PP, which I guess is still better than what some other mons offer? And I guess it's still an adequate midgame performance compared to mons waiting for their evolution to function a lot better (Gastly, Quilava).

Rating: 7/10

[Espinosa]

Abra

Route 34 time, and I feel like going to the best one available there because I'm feeling impatient. Abra's a fairly uncommon encounter, it's fast (though your trainer Pokemon might be outspeeding it due to a level advantage), and unless you sleep it, it will Teleport away because that's the only move it knows (and will ever know before you teach TMs or evolve it). If you have a fast sleeper, which is Poliwag at this point I guess, you could try putting it to sleep with Hypnosis, making your chance of capturing Abra a little better. But by now you should have 3 or so Great Balls, and resetting until Abra rests in one of them shouldn't take too long. It's the lowest-levelled Pokemon on this route, so Repels won't help you to single it out ignoring the rest of the encounters.

So it's not attacking anytime soon, guess it must suck then? Couldn't be further from the truth. Travel a little north to Goldenrod, perhaps ignoring the trainers on the way so that you can fight them for experience later, and buy Abra elemental punches of choice. Ice, Fire, Thunder - it gets access to all three, and 105 base special attack and 90 base speed, it's ready to start nuking things. The three punches give it surprisingly good coverage too, Fire Punch is perhaps lowest priority, though it helps with the occasional steels and bugs (but most of these are dual poison so once you're Kadabra you don't need that either).

After the immediate investment, Abra doesn't need anything else, besides exp, and it should be getting plenty just because it's so damn good at OHKOing. Confusion upon its L16 evolution, Psybeam 5 levels later (just on time to destroy Morty's gym), L38 Psychic - it's really the only efficient Psychic-type that doesn't suffer from the absence of the Psychic TM. If you're not teaching it Fire Punch, you could keep both Psybeam and Psychic on one set because you sometimes run out of PP too quickly (and persistent mook battles don't stop until the 8th gym).

Though this is the gen that introduced dark and steel types, Kadabra (or Alakazam, if you can trade evolve) doesn't mind it much. It's probably not switching into Steelix with its deadly Iron Tail, but it has just the right typing for Chuck and a powerful Psychic is a good attack to take down Kingdra. It's still Fire Punching the Magnemites and doing whatever boltbeam punch against the occasional Murkrow (who isn't a problem anyway). Houndoom isn't a Pokemon it wants to be facing though.

Its physical weakness is the only thing Kadabra has to worry about, so don't use it against things it can't OHKO (most of the time anyway). Reflect at L45 is a bit too late but knowing that extensive use of Kadabra is almost a given if you do use one, it's not terribly unrealistic to expect it by Lance, where it can set up Reflect and proceed to punch everything, mostly 4x effectively. Its psychic typing is also great defensively, allowing it to survive the powerful moves E4 Will and Bruno have. It's almost the perfect Pokemon to use against Will, maybe aside from Jynx (for whom you might have Fire Punch prepared anyway).

The trade evolution doesn't make a huge difference in Abra's performance, though Zam has slightly augmented stats everywhere compared to its second tier form, which could make a difference when taking hits, outspeeding Crobat/Aerodactyl (you have a ton of stat experience under your belt so it's possible) and scoring clean OHKOs with Ice Punch against those D-nites, which Kadabra may be a slight bit away from.

In short, perhaps the most efficient Pokemon available to you in this game, functioning as a glass cannon so effectively that it doesn't mind having next to no physical defence (maybe a tiny bit when those Rocket rats keep spamming Quick Attack).

Rating: 9.5/10

[Espinosa]

Drowzee

Another Psychic-type who's your alternative to Abra if you choose to try 'something different' (because let's face it, Abra is a far better option). Lacking Abra's speed and offensive potential, as well as its early evolution, Drowzee boasts impressive special bulk for an unevolved Pokemon, something you won't really need for a while, and you're still too slow to outspeed Zubats and the like (who will flinch you with super-effective Bites). Still, special walling allows Drowzee/Hypno to take on Poliwrath, Jasmine's Magnemites ('absorb' Thunderbolts and retaliate with Fire Punch I guess) and Kingdra, and its typing makes it good against the first three members of the E4.

How would one use Drowzee effectively? Give it Headbutt and some elemental punches - since it doesn't care if it's attacking physically or specially, it makes okay use of either (it lost its glorious special attack in the transition between gens 1 and 2), moreso when it evolves and gets decent bases. Confusion at L18 will be the only move it derives a STAB from, since Psychic is learnt only at L49 as Hypno, 9 levels later than Drowzee can access it. Keeping Drowzee unevolved for extra 14 levels is a possible way of getting Psychic on time for the E4 (and maybe even Claire), but with 48 attack and 43 special attack bases, the wait will be painful.

Drowzee is also another unreliable, slow sleeper, and Hypnosis's accuracy is nothing to be relied on, so I guess I should emphasise that walling special attacks and facing fighting-types is its main role. It's fun to think what Hypno would be capable of if Psychic was an available TM and its special attack hadn't been taken away from it during the special split, but the non-imaginary Hypno is only above average, relying on Shadow Ball and the elemental punches for Nidoqueen-level offence.

Rating: 6.5/10

[Espinosa]

Jigglypuff

Available a bit later in Crystal (in GS it could well be the first Pokemon you catch), JP compensates for the reduction in availability by being immediately granted offensive options due to being a normal-type with access to the elemental punches. Normal-typing is offensively beneficial to whomever it is applicable (everyone enjoys STAB Return, Strength and Headbutt), though not particularly special defensively (you get a mostly unnecessary immunity to ghost-type moves, neutrality to everything else and a weakness to a move type that is represented in both gyms and elites).

Besides humongous HP, JP does wish it could evolve a little earlier than after Morty (which is the earliest time you can surf back and grab a Moon Stone) - it is very slow and its bases are mediocre, defensive stats leaving it particularly open to moves of any kind. The problem is hardly alleviated upon evolution, though Wigglytuff does begin to outspeed slowish, underlevelled foes better than the first tier form. High HP combined with a low level of durability entails more potions used on Wiggly since you don't really die, but you do get hurt quite a bit by everything. This isn't so much a problem of money as that of time.

What one can agree Wiggly does well is function decently as a mixed attacker with elemental punches, Return/Strength (catch yours later with a Friend Ball if you like) and maybe something like Shadow Ball. Jigglypuff's not contributing to beating Morty in any way (can't hit ghosts with anything stronger than the punches and Mud-Slap... yeah), so you might as well have it catch up to the rest in levels later.

It has inaccurate sleeping too, I guess. Probably still better than the other Pokemon who received baby forms in this gen since it doesn't have to hatch at lv. 5 when you're about to beat the game, and when you catch a Jigglypuff, you actually do catch a Jigglypuff, not an unknown 'odd egg.' Decent offensive bases and 140 base HP make it okay for dealing with mooks and less demanding bosses.

Rating: 6/10

Snubbull

Another normal-type, Snubbull is available as an immediately proficient physical attacker with STAB Headbutt (which is an easy, cheap investment) and shortly also Bite, which hurts some things super-effectively, like Slowpokes, and lets it do things to Gastlies in Morty's gym.

It's a shame Snubbull doesn't get something like Dig or Earthquake to make use of its high base attack (80, 120 as Granbull), but it does get access to Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb. Neither is terribly necessary for a normal-type but helps it run out of PP more slowly. Granbull is a pretty early evolution at lv. 23 too, and the attack it will have at that point will be huge and hard to not appreciate. Elemental punches are an option, but don't have a sufficient special attack stat to run off (since I've mentioned them in Furret's analysis, they should be mentioned here as well - it's just Furret also has Surf whilst Granbull will almost always prefer to attack physically rather than specially at any stage of its existence).

Its HP is pretty good and its defence is okay, but don't rely on it to take much punishment and live to tell the tale in important battles, especially when special moves are involved. Inferior to Ursaring, but evolves earlier, which I guess is worth a kiss.

Rating: 7/10

Looking at the current ratings, I wonder if I should raise Pidgey's score. I was a little stricter when I started out (before making enough analyses made me realise and verbalise that very few Pokemon have good readily available offence in this game), but 5 for a bird that also gets normal-type STABs, can take Swift and is available pre-evolved as Pidgeotto might be a little too low. 6 or 6.5 sounds better, but I'm going to think about it some more. Either way, it's not much worse than Spearow, though still definitely inferior.

[Psych]

I don't really see Snubbull as better than Pidgey, but it's up to you. Am I confusing Crystal with Gold and Silver or isn't Snubbull a swarm pokemon too?

[Espinosa]

I do think Snubbull is slightly better than Pidgey. At lv. 23, it's already using normal-type moves off 120 base attack, while with Pidgey, you wait until lv. 36 and even then your offence isn't quite as good as Fearow's (Fly being your best offensive option when Fearow gets Drill Peck and has higher offensive bases). Pidgey's also quite average early on, though Gust does help it to succeed in Azalea gym. And even later on, a Granbull Return is considerably more powerful than, say, Gyarados's Return.

Oh, and the Snubbull swarm is GS-only. You can catch them normally in Crystal, as long as you're not playing at night.

[Espinosa]

Ditto

Look there, it's another normal-type that... Oh. This one's completely different.

So what Ditto has (and the only thing it has, I guess) is Transform, which lets you morph into an exact clone of the target, copying its moves (though each will only have 5 PP) and stats (sans HP). Aren't you excited to Shadow Ball Morty's Gengar, confuse Poliwrath with its own Dynamicpunch (okay, this one probably isn't a good idea) or use Dragonbreath against Claire's mighty Kingdra? You probably are, and so am I, but there are some issues here, even when we narrow the usage of Ditto down to the simplicity of taking on something that would theoretically be hitting itself super-effectively (which isn't as widespread in generation 2 when most things had very shallow coverage). Let's say Ditto is switching into Kingdra, intending to hurt it real bad, with 48 base speed it doesn't outspeed in any possible way and has to eat one of Surf, Dragonbreath or Hyper Beam. Is it surviving that? With 48 in all defensive stats (maybe acceptable bases before the third or so gym, but even then just barely), only in case you've been training it a lot. And how easy is it to train Ditto? It has to Transform into something, which costs a turn, most likely taking a hit before then, then deal with the victim with 5 PP, often with moves that it resists. Can you take down Growlithe in 5 Embers? No, this is a colossal waste of time. If you want Ditto to gain experience, you probably attach an Exp Share to it until you actually need it (which you might indeed).

But the thing is, Ditto at base level is about the same as a trained Ditto, and by "the same", I do mean "nearly as bad". Again, say, you've transformed into Gengar. It can't hurt you as Ditto, but it sure can when your Ditto is a copy of Gengar. Next turn: we have a speed tie and you can't be sure you'll be the one moving first, launching that deadly Shadow Ball (heh). So probably, you have some sort of support to ensure Ditto is doing those rare self-coverage duty (another examples could be Lance's Aerodactyl, and Dragonites with Outrage and Blizzard who should be OHKOing themselves), like a sleeper. Ditto needs one turn to transform, and another one to OHKO. Sounds good? Actually, that's not bad at all, and it can do these things at lv. 10 without any investment, possibly getting you out of a tough situation.

To be capable of a little more, it does kinda wish it had better durability. Quick Powder doesn't exist yet, and you need to trade an RBY Ditto to your Crystal file to have Metal Powder, which we'll assume you won't be doing (why not trade yourself a Mewtwo then?).

But yeah, it can OHKO some tough guys at base level with some support. Nothing self-sufficient and nothing terribly remarkable, but it's still an achievement.

Rating: 2.5/10

[Espinosa]

On Route 34, we also get access to the Odd Egg so I guess these Pokemon will be next (excluding Igglybuff, whom there is absolutely no reason to hatch when you can get one in the wild).

The new Pokemon available to us via the Odd Egg are: Pichu, Cleffa, Tyrogue, Smoochum, Elekid and Magby. All of them come with Dizzy Punch, which helps when you can't have Headbutt. Only two of them are available during the maingame, Tyrogue and Smoochum's adult form Jynx. So let's get started with those.

Pichu

The demand for a skilled electric-type is fairly high in this game - Falkner and Bugsy's Scyther, Poliwrath, Will's Slowbro (who's a beast to take down before its defences get impenetrable) and Xatus, misc fliers used by other Elites and Lance - it's a pretty substantial list indeed. What makes things worse in Crystal is that Mareep is gone from Johto, where it enjoyed very early availability (still after Falkner though) and access to Thunder and Fire Punch as early as its second form (Quilava is stuck with Ember for far longer).

If a player wants a competent electric move user, they will probably want a special or mixed attacker like Alakazam or Nidoking, making good use of the Thunderpunch TM, because Magnemite and Voltorb are inadequate (as we shall soon find out) and Raikou is too elusive. There's also Jolteon who gets no STAB whatsoever.

But then there's the Odd Egg, out of which we could get either Pichu or Elekid, or maybe neither of these two. That's one problem with the Odd Egg - you never know what's inside until it hatches, so you could be wasting your time in vain. But what have we got to lose, especially in the same city where we get a bicycle to speed up the hatching process? Let's say we're willing to get the odd egg to hatch and do something with the lv. 5 baby that hatches out of it. And let's say Pichu does hatch, what would its application be?

Early on, just being fed experience. Pichu's defensive stats are 20/15/35, quite a bit lower than Abra's, which is saying something. It's not a Pokemon you'd call a glass cannon either, as it's neither strong nor fast. It starts out with Thundershock, which is a helpful electric STAB, but gets no access to Thunderpunch until it evolves for the first time.

Evolution is another problem Pichu has. Since it evolves by friendship, you are too likely to get a Thunderstone quite a long time before it's even a Pikachu; luckily, it can be switched out of gym battles (6 of these ahead) for extra friendship gain, and it gains a lot of happiness by being babied all the way from lv. 5 (babying is still bad of course). Once Pikachu evolves, it's faster and hits stronger due to the aforementioned movepool improvement, and you'll probably keep it a Pikachu until lv. 26 so that Thunderbolt is learnt. Pikachu is the only Pokemon capable of having Thunderbolt before the E4 in this game (Elekid being the other one).

As Raichu, its movepool doesn't see any changes, but with Thunderbolt for all sorts of purposes and Thunderpunch for not running out of PP so quickly, it has just about all the tools it will ever need. With a high attack base, it could take Return, Strength or even Iron Tail for hitting some things physically (and Iron Tail could have situational use against Piloswine and Jynx and whatnot). Raichu looks almost too good if we disregard the unreliability of getting Pichu to hatch as well as the effort to evolve it.

Rating: 3/10

[Espinosa]

Cleffa

Clefable is one of the most overhyped Pokemon in the first generation due to its early availability (it can be hard to find though), great movepool and immediacy of Moon Stone access. Things are different now, with Moon Stone coming a bit later and the boltbeam coverage being reduced to elemental punching, but the main concern is that you now have to take a chance and check if Cleffa, a weak baby form of Clefairy, hatches out of the Odd Egg.

Assuming you get Cleffa to hatch, what's it bringing to the table? A long wait until the evolution by happiness with Snorlax-level speed and Venonat-level combat, and when that is done, a far quicker Moon Stone evolution into Clefable with its good all-around bases. As Clefairy/Clefable, its normal-type STABs (Dizzy Punch, Headbutt, Strength, Return) deal good enough damage as do the elemental punch moves that take its higher special attack stat into consideration. Compared to Wigglytuff, Clefable is very similar; in fact, superior in every way besides HP (but still probably bulkier when it's hit by something that isn't Sonic Boom or Dragon Rage). With efficiency as our determined guideline for this activity, we have to admit that Wigglytuff is the superior choice of the two simply because Jigglypuff is capturable in the wild, and you have to save yourself from the headache that is reliance on what the Odd Egg hatches.

Aside from that, everything that applies to Wigglytuff can be said about Clefable, except Clefable's speed is higher to the extent it'll be outspeeding many of the things Wigglytuff fails to outspeed. You're seriously sacrificing a different kind of speed if you choose to train one though, which is the speed of your playthrough (tsk tsk).

Rating: 2.5/10