Espinosa
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Caterpie
First of the four annoying bugs I have to cover (all can be captured when you reach Route 30), and probably not the worst? This isn't saying much though.
Caterpie's stats are just disastrous, and it has trouble beating anything on its own, besides maybe those Splashing Magikarps before Union Cave (though if it's still a Caterpie by that point, I wonder why you didn't grind it earlier using other Pokemon to quickly KO for experience). It gets a little tanky at lv. 7, when it evolves into Metapod, but not terribly so, and only becomes somewhat decent at lv. 10, when it evolves into Butterfree.
Butterfree was quite good in RBY, when players had trouble with Brock with Charmander or Pikachu (I'd still argue Charmander should face Brock on its own regardless, and Mankey/Nidoran would make better Pokemon to take care of Geodude and Onix, especially the latter with its long lasting effect - Nidoran, I mean). Its Confusion was very rare as an early game means of dealing special damage to a very physically sturdy opposition.
Butterfree's Confusion doesn't seem nearly as wanted in the second generation. It's at a type disadvantage on the very first gym battle (which takes place at the peak of Butterfree's potential relatively to the strength of the opposition, as its base grow gradually more and more obsolete afterwards), and does nothing remarkable besides maybe nailing Morty's and Chuck's weaknesses (who hit it very hard with neutral attacks in return).
Butterfree's natural learnset is unimpressive - while Confusion at lv. 10 is nice when it is learnt, the next update, Psybeam, has to wait until lv. 34, which is far too late. Its flying-type STAB, Gust, is only learnt at lv. 28, too, so it'll have to rely on Confusion and perhaps also the Swift TM to deal some below decent damage. Its TM learnset is about as shallow as it gets, Solarbeam being the best option before the Elite Four. Needless to say, being frail and not very threatening offensively either, Butterfree fails to compete with other psychic-type move users out there. Add to that the many boring minutes spent switching Caterpie out to something that can actually crush the opposition.
In the end, Butterfree doesn't justify the effort needed to evolve it and train it further. Its best use lies in putting things to sleep with Sleep Powder (lv. 15), at a better accuracy than sleepers with Hypnosis or Sing. However, it is a slow sleeper indeed (with the same base speed as Poliwrath), and you won't outspeed that legendary dog, should you be lucky to run into one.
Rating: 3/10
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Oh that sucks. Hope you get your laptop fixed soon.
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Phanpy
The last Pokemon on Route 46 in the Crystal version, replacing Jigglypuff who is found here if you're playing Gold/Silver. Its availability is very much in contrast to what it was in the Silver version, as it can now be caught at the very beginning of the game. Surely that's a great thing?
One immediate concern is that you're only 5% likely to encounter the baby elephant, and only in the morning at that. Players who start their runthroughs at a different time will just say "screw it" and fill their PokeDex entry with it much later - assuming they even care about it. What makes matters even worse for those who do indeed intend to use Phanpy on their playthrough is that it... runs away, just like that. If the player fails to put it to sleep or otherwise catch it on the first turn, you'll be looking for the elusive thing over and over again until luck is on your side.
So, Phanpy is available early but isn't easily available.
Still, let's judge it for its combat capabilities regardless. Phanpy is yet another ground-type, like Geodude or Onix (who becomes shortly available through trade), but it's the first pure ground-type you meet, which makes it rather remarkable. You need to do something with it until lv. 25, which is when it evolves into the great Donphan, so let's see how good it is prior to the evolution.
Its base stats show... that its HP is very high for a first tier form. Which is not necessarily a good thing when not accompanied by equally high defences. Sure, if it allows you to survive until the next Pokemon Centre, then it's fine, but HP without defence means you'll be using more Potions (and better ones) when your condition is critical. Think of using Chansey as an extreme example - how many Hyper Potions would that hungry thing demand? This is the point I'm trying to get across here - Phanpy lacks Geodude's rock-typing and high physical bases, and the HP doesn't really save it in the long run.
It is also extremely reliant on the TM you give it. Mud-Slap, Dig, Rollout, perhaps Earthquake, and some easily available ones like Headbutt - are the moves you should be expecting to teach your elephant at one point or another of its steady growth. Being a pure ground-type, as mentioned before, still retains its immunity to electric attacks, but since those aren't terribly common, you'd wish you had a resistance to all those types that the rock typing fortifies against instead. Of course, water and grass moves sting you not nearly as hard, but why would you use Phanpy against those anyway? That's the question.
Donphan might make it look like Phanpy is worth all the babying (since it's stuck with Tackle for a long while, until you teach it Mud-Slap and Headbutt via TM), and while that's a great Pokemon right there, with excellent physical attack and defence, it's not really any better than Sandslash, and catching and training a Sandshrew is quite a bit more convenient than raising a Phanpy from Route 46.
In the end, you will find that Donphan can't sweep tough opponents on its own due to its low speed and movepool limitations, leaving it a limited range of roles it can perform during your run. Still, not a poor Pokemon at all in spite of the difficulty of catching it, and training it so that it evolves.
Rating: 6/10
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Yeah, I think I'll give Totodile a 9.5 for now, since it's a lot more self-sufficient than Geodude is. Going to have to re-write its review later on though, to emphasise the strengths that have been brought up and which a quick attempt at a run only confirmed. I also found a speed run video where the game is beaten in under 3 hours practically as a Totodile solo, and the player needed only one additional hour to beat Red with the same Feraligatr. So maybe that's a 10, but 9.5 will do until we have more top tier Pokemon to compare its capabilities with.
There's also trade evolution, which is usually unavailable. Trade evolution for Golem is great (though he still has a spe problem); absence of trade evolution and being stuck forever with Graveler kind of sucks.
I didn't differentiate between Graveler and Golem because the main difference is HP - Golem is quite a bit healthier, and therefore more durable. Their key stats - attack and defence - are only separated by 15 base points, which is not a big deal, and Graveler does a fine job against the appropriate Elite Four Pokemon, as I've learnt myself. Same TM movepool, same natural learnset. In cases like Haunter/Gengar, I will definitely have to differentiate between two drastically different units, but this one isn't nearly as crucial, I believe.
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Geodude
Another Pokemon available on Route 46 is Geodude, and it's as good as it was in the previous generation, before the type split into physical and special, and all that.
Geodude starts rather unimpressive, with a turtlelike speed stat, and lacking a STAB attack until lv. 11. Anyone who has ever used a Geodude in generation 2 (generation 1 has an almost immediate Mega Punch TM) can recall having to switch to their starter simply because the thing couldn't deal any decent damage before levelling up a few times, in spite of its supreme early game tanking ability.
Which leads me to the most important point regarding Geodude - its typing and physical defence makes it an excellent tank, because the in-game movesets are very often completely walled by its rock/ground typing (perhaps moreso by the rock part of the hybrid, as there's never a shortage of normal-type attacks coming one's way).
Geodude has a bit of trouble learning Rock Throw and preparing for Falkner (because let's face it, Rock Throw makes Geodude a perfect Pokemon to train for the first gym), because as good of a levelling spot the Sprout Tower is, Geodude can't survive their Vine Whips in any imaginable way. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to baby Geodude at this point of the game, because its effectiveness in the first half of the game is top tier.
Just look at that gym performance: effective against Falkner, OHKOs Scyther with Rock Throw before it can even squeak, resists Miltank's attacks (however, some Leer support, or perhaps the Rollout TM, might be necessary to deal more damage to it than Milk Drink can heal... otherwise, Stomp's flinching and Rollout's gradually increasing damage shift the odds against Geodude). Magnitude, a bit of gambling tool in Geodude's arsenal, but fairly reliable nevertheless if you don't want to waste that Dig TM on it, makes it excellent for all the ghosts in Morty's gym (who do not have Levitate just yet), as well as those Magnemites. Its typing and rock/ground STABs also make it perfect to face most Rockets who use samey Pokemon throughout the maingame.
Later on, Geodude (either Graveler or Golem by that point, depending on whether you can trade or not) doesn't feel nearly as comfortable in the key battles, because things rely on strong special attacks, like Psychic, to deal damage, and its special defence just doesn't cut it. However, it can face those Dragonairs and Dragonites that have only normal and electric/fire type attacks (I wouldn't switch my Graveler into that lv. 50 Dragonite's Outrage however), and takes on Koga singlehandedly. It deals with some Pokemon Karen and Lance use nicely too (like Charizard, and especially Aerodactyl).
Geodude's typing can be seen as a shortcoming at the same time, because it has those common 4x weaknesses to water and grass, as well as 4 other weaknesses. Its speed ensures it won't be outspeeding too many things, so the "kill it before it kills you" strategy is hardly applicable here, and the bitter truth is that Geodude is perhaps the least self-sufficient Pokemon (out of the really useful ones anyway) in the game, demanding support from other Pokemon who would cover its weaknesses.
Geodude's movepool is very good. Rock Throw and Magnitude provide excellent coverage early game, and Earthquake replaces the latter around the time you reach Elite Four (you might as well learn it naturally and not waste the TM). Selfdestruct also deserves a mention. When you're facing Pokemon that are too difficult to take down with any separate Pokemon you may have trained, just put Golem into a situation where it can boom into their face! Kingdra is one such Pokemon. The presence of Surf in its moveset means you either switch into its Hyper Beam (it's not too hard to bait it to use it, with an untrained Tentacruel or something if you have it), or paralyse it so that you can outspeed it. The way the game's mechanics work, you essentially have a 400 base power move and a respectable phys attack to go with it. It's a great tool for taking out those really troublesome Pokemon out there. Sadly, there isn't a TM or a tutor for Rock Slide in this generation, so for a rock-type STAB you either have to be content with that same Rock Throw, or teach it Rollout if you don't mind the 10% chance of its base power going all the way down each turn.
While Geodude doesn't really solo the game, it makes some problematic battles a lot less problematic. It's not without its faults, but it's still pretty damn great at what it does, regardless of whether it evolves into Golem or not. Just don't forget to give it team support to cover its many weaknesses.
Geodude is a great partner for Chikorita (taking care of the fire, bug, poison and flying types that threaten it), has okay synergy with Totodile (covering its weakness to electric, but not grass obviously), but isn't really the best team mate for Cyndaquil, as the two cover similar Pokemon types with their STABs, and the two of them are still weak to water-types.
Rating: 8.5/10
You can really tell I use Geodude nearly all the time lol.
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Another thing to add to this is that choosing Spearow over Cyndaquil also lets you choose a different starter that can take care of Rock/Grounds. Spearow and Totodile make a decent combo for earlygame, as they cover their early-game weaknesses well.
Great idea! I should think about possible team synergies when rating specific Pokemon.
You should point out the spearow you get in goldenrod at lv20.
While it misses sprout tower and bugsy, Its still good and wont even need any training in compare to otherwilds at that point of came, thus letting you to put more in totodile/cyndaquil. Also 1 lv away of fearow is sweet
The problem is that the Spearow you get is only lv. 10 in the 2nd generation (it is indeed lv. 20 in gen 4, ready to evolve, as you pointed out). So if one is to make use of Spearow in this generation, catching one at the earliest convenience is the best idea.
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I said Bruno, not Chuck. I'm not sure if I'd recommend that you send your Fearow out against Poliwrath... perhaps after it's weakened a bit? I wouldn't want it to eat a Dynamicpunch, or even a Surf. Lv. 40 Fearow is very feasible for the elite four.
And really, I don't see how anybody can believe Cyndaquil > Spearow. Spearow loses only a little in availability, and at such a point in the game where it can fixed in a matter of seconds. Spearow doesn't wait for lv. 12 to learn a move that OHKOs all the bugs and Bellsprouts around. At lv. 20, it has 90 base attack, while Quilava has 64 and no physical STAB. I'd rather kill things with Swift, then hope for Headbutt to work. Typhlosion's endgame movepool is richer, but Thunderpunch and Earthquake on it are about as useful as Steel Wing on Fearow - much like Typhlosion won't really be Thunderpunching Slowbro without facing a much bigger threat, Fearow won't be using Steel Wing on Jynx either.
Cyndaquil and Spearow are Pokemon who both take care of similar type weaknesses, and really, Spearow does the job better and has no period where it is below average in performance, and if I had to choose one of these two to use in a run, I'd choose Spearow.
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Spearow
One of the Pokemon exclusive to Route 46 for a while is Spearow, definitely a big improvement to Pidgey and Hoothoot whom you'll be catching if you're too lazy to stray from the path to Cherrygrove. However, Spearow really does make the brief trip worth it.
Everything that applies to Pidgey and Hoothoot in terms of learnset and type effectiveness against the various gym leaders and elites applies to Spearow as well. Well, besides the ability to to put things to sleep lol. However, unlike Pidgey, Spearow takes only until lv. 20 to fully evolve (and it is quite a heavy hitter before the evolution too), and it doesn't suffer from offensive impotence like Hoothoot and its evolution.
Spearow is the most offensive of the three early birds, starting with Peck and being able to destroy those early game bugs with ease. Evolved at lv. 20, Fearow is very strong at that point of the game, and can serve the team until the very end game effectively, which cannot be applied the same way to its other bird competitors.
Drill Peck is learnt only at lv. 40, probably on time for Bruno and his fighters (who all had a noticeable special defence increase since gen 1's special split, making psychic-type counters less effective), so Fearow might want to make use of Fly until then, which has 10 less base power, worse accuracy and requires two turns to use. Until then, Peck for grass-types, bugs and fighters is sufficient, and it can utilise Swift/Return as reliable normal-type STABs for everything else that it might face.
Rating: 8/10
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The issue with only evaluating contributions to an efficient run is that many, many pokemon do not make any contribution to an efficient run and thus end up unranked. It really depends on how you define "efficient run". If a player uses more than one pokemon, or uses Togepi, or does not use their starter, does that make the run inefficient?
Using more than one Pokemon can be seen as efficient as when your main soloist fails to take on a tough Pokemon (perhaps unable to survive two attacks in a row), you can have back up that doesn't get knocked out in one hit (allowing you to use a Revive and then a Hyper Potion, or whatever is relevant). I also think that if you pick Chikorita as your starter, it is more efficient than not to dump her at some point (perhaps very early, like when your Geodude learns Rock Throw).
My vision of an efficient run in Pokemon is something not too restrained (i.e. you're not exactly forced to use any particular Pokemon), yet I do penalise lack of availability and immediate effective options for offence in my ratings. I'm not equating an efficient run to, say, a speed run, because the latter demands a lot of attempts to achieve a desirable outcome. In my ratings, I value convenience/safety in addition to efficiency in availability and strength right off the bat, because I do believe it is inefficient to have to reset several times for a strategy to work.
I just played all the way up to pryce to test how well quilava does, and even with ember he is a force to be reckoned with. If you think he'll be typhlosion by pryce, then he'll have no trouble swatting the common trainers' who's pokemon stays around level 17 even on the route to the lake of rage. What does that mean? Even in the late 20s, ember is enough to sustain quilava's combat due to his sheer overlevelledness.
Were you using other Pokemon, too? Being underlevelled isn't such a problem when you're facing generic trainers (it's mostly gyms and elites that feature higher-levelled pokes), but when Quilava is decent at burning things with Ember, other Pokemon will be even better at it with good STABs with more than 40 base power. It's not impossible to beat things up with Ember, it's just it's far from the best way to do it. 7 out of 10 is hardly a poor score, mind you.
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Better than now I think.
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Oh yeah, I should correct by saying that subsequent use of Rage does nothing about the user's attack stat. You need to be attacked on the same turn or the next one (if you're slower) if you want to receive a boost to attack. So if the enemy Pokemon decides to go crazy on debuffs or whatever, instead of doing direct damage, Rage will only be a waste of time. However, get hit by something like Fury Attack or Fury Swipes, and your attack will skyrocket.
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Raticate and Fearow are a poor example since they can be obtained earlier and leveled higher. It doesn't matter what they compare to though immediately because a lot of stuff that comes earlier is better plus things like Snorlax, Exeggutor, Tauros, and a few other Pokemon. I'd also like to point out that only one of the Pokemon is usable. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam in tandem are good, but not amazing, but they only get one, and the Pokemon they hit for Super Effective aren't a problem in the first place.
Nidoking needs Thrash until the middle of the game where it gets Horn Drill and Surf, and both are basically free. Those can last until the end of the game, and Nidoking is still a top tier Pokemon without the costly TMs. In any case, it's true that Pokemon need TMs, but a lot of Pokemon like for example Nidoking have a variety of moves to use whereas Vaporeon and Jolteon are one trick ponies.
Well, sure. If you want Boltbeam on one Pokemon, you can choose Starmie or Lapras. I'd also argue that Jolteon with STAB Thunderbolt facing Lorelei's Lapras has a more advantageous match-up against it than, say, Nidoking with the same Thunderbolt. It's not so bad to have Pokemon who specialise only in one or two types of attacks, but do so well, and whose typing is effective for specific challenging point of the game.
Blizzard is much better, but Lapras can fight in Erica's gym and win without much of a hassle because of the Blizzard STAB. Lapras's required training is also a benefit to the player since Lapras can take out more than one kind of Pokemon.
You need Surf to get the Blizzard TM, and to get Surf, you should defeat Koga. If you defeated Koga, you probably won against Erika easily, and thus have no business postponing her gym when what follows after her gym has a noticeable jump in levels and difficulty.
Zapdos can be caught with the Master Ball, and it's the best Pokemon to use it on. Having an electric type isn't useful though because the STAB isn't an amazing benefit. It's like being a good Bug Pokemon to a lesser extent.
Beedrill is a good Pokemon in the first generation, because bug is effective against poison. This makes Beedrill perfect for Erika's gym, where its attacks are often 4x effective, not to mention effective for all those Weezings and Muks that you fight a lot during the midgame.
If Zapdos's electric STAB is not a benefit, why should we use the Pokeball on him and not Articuno? Or is an ice STAB not a benefit either?
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http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Fire_Punch_%28move%29
http://pokedream.com/pokedex/pokemon/quilava?gen=2
Both these credible sources suggest otherwise. I don't remember Quilava having Fire Punch on any of my runs ever, either.
Totodile has access to early Surf, Quilava is stuck with Ember for a very long time. Quilava doesn't get Rage either, so it is unable to setup to be able to face strong Gym Leader Pokemon single-handedly (which I now know Totodile and its evolutions can). Indeed, Cyndaquil is particularly helpful in many gyms, which is something I took into consideration when forming the final verdict, but there were also shortcomings that I couldn't ignore. IMO, Magmar is a lot better than Cyndaquil from any point of view besides availability. I'll explain why later, but for now I just want to remind you that Ember as your strongest move at lv. 30 just doesn't cut it.
Also, Pryce is perhaps the only battle where Typhlosion (hopefully he's fully evolved by that point) is perfectly comfortable. Seal and Dewgong don't have any water-type attacks, and Piloswine doesn't have any ground-type attacks. Typhlosion just Thunderpunches the first two and Firepunches Piloswine.
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That's what I thought too. I did some testing on Pokemon Online with Salamence (which I gave Rage), and when it got hit after using Rage, I got an attack boost, which displayed as +1 when I pointed my mouse at it, therefore affecting all physical attacks I put on it.
I think that's how it works in the actual game too, haven't tested it there just yet though. Bulbapedia lists Rage as not having gone through any change since the first generation (where you were stuck using Rage until you died or the battle was over).
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Wait. Rage is considered a good attack? Even earlygame I found it much faster to gum things to death with Scratch and Water Gun than Rage.
Anyway I think that for a typical player, having a team of 2 combat Pokemon is probably the easiest way to go through the game because it allows for not only sufficient overleveling but also a way to cover weaknesses and a contingency plan in case the other faints. Soloing the game is a bit less safe and is rather stifling on discussion.
I only remembered using Rage from RBY, where you were stuck using it if you chose it once. In GSC, it ups your attack one level after every blow you take and you can switch to a stronger move, be it Scratch, Headbutt, Earthquake or anything else once you're ready for a sweep.
Totodile's Rage is really good for gyms, as I found out after it was brought up in this thread. For example, Whitney's Miltank can be a difficult Pokemon to face. But she opens with Clefairy, who likes using Double Slap. Use Rage against it and you'll get +2 attack per each Double Slap. When it's Miltank's turn, your attack is so high that she can't do Milk Drink loop to survive anymore.
I guess Rage's proved value ups other Pokemon that have access to the move, namely Tauros, but also Dodio, Snubbull and Dunsparce.
It's hard to swallow Ratata > Cyndaquil, cyndaquil may have a bit of a drought in terms of good attacking moves in the 20s, but his stellar gym leader performances along with a strong third tier in terms of typhlosion make him much better than a normal type with bad durability and worse gym domination.
I'm looking at it too right now, and I'm not liking it either, lol. Perhaps I should give more prominence to super-effective STABs when deciding the rating. There's no denial though, that Quilava is a burden for the team a lot during a very large portion of the maingame. Last time I played 2nd gen with Cyndaquil as my starter, I almost wanted to shout at it. Everything else I trained just performed a lot better in comparison. I'll see if I should push down Rattata/Sentret, move Cyndaquil up, or leave it be - probably going to have to rate more stuff to be able to compare things more easily.
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Hoppip
By now I have praised availability as a decisive factor when it comes to a Pokemon's usefulness. Indeed, a Pokemon available early and that doesn't need a whole lot of grinding to become solid can be preferred to something that's very threatening at its maximum potential, but has late availability and requires a lot of time to level (like Dragonite).
Hoppip has the availability, as you can catch it as soon as you leave New Bark Town with your first Pokeballs. However, it is rare, not being available at night and being as prominent in the grassy areas as Pikachu is in Viridian Forest in the first generation games. However, Pikachu is worth catching in Red/Blue, whereas Hoppip isn't the kind of Pokemon you will actively seek out unless you intend to fill up your Pokedex.
You catch Hoppip at lv. 5, when it knows only Splash. At level 5, you learn Tail Whip and Synthesis. Isn't it beautiful? The game teases you until lv. 10, when Hoppip gets Tackle. It sounds good - Hoppip's first offensive move, right? You'll still probably find it quicker to end battles by switching out to something else if you're training him, as it's a very poor attack. If you're crazy enough to use Hoppip, you'll probably teach it Headbutt when you get the TM, which will make its offence a little less hopeless.
Hoppip's natural learnset is very poor, though it gets Sleep Powder at lv. 17, so once it evolves into its final form, Jumpluff, at lv. 27, it will be one of the game's fastest and most reliable sleepers. Jumpluff learns Mega Drain at lv. 44, but with that special attack, you might as well just rely on Leech Seed for damage. If you use Jumpluff to actually battle things, the game will drag on terribly. But who knows, perhaps one might enjoy that kind of battling? Hoppip certainly isn't a good choice in an efficient playthrough.
A TM worth considering for Jumpluff is Solarbeam. It requires 2 turns to charge, but it's by far the best move Jumpluff has when it comes to hurting things. And Jumpluff plain sucks at hurting things.
Rating: 2/10
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Hoothoot
Every new Pokemon generation was consistent in the tradition to add a new "early bird" Pokemon. It was always a new bird whom you could catch early on whose usefulness declined as you progressed, with decent speed and attack, and whom you mostly kept with you out of convenience, so that you could fly from one town to another. The third generation's Swellow was quite a bit faster than its predecessors however, and Staraptor had impressive attack as well as Intimidate.
Hoothoot is the second generation's response to Pidgey and Spearow, except you still have the choice to make use of the other two at the same point of the game. It will be the first normal/flying Pokemon you meet if you start your playthrough at night. And Hoothoot is quite a unique bird.
A quick look at its stats reveals that its physical attack stat is lower than its special attack stat, for which it never gets any STAB (until the fourth generation). It evolves into Noctowl rather early at lv. 20, and becomes quite bulky, with high base HP and special defence. However, its offensive capabilities are lacking. It's stuck with Peck as its best attack until the Fly HM is available, so you better teach it Swift, because otherwise it will be a massive burden and a pain in the arse to train.
As for Noctowl's special attack stat... Its natural and TM movepools fail to make it any useful. Its first special attack, Confusion, is learnt at lv. 41. The unreliable Dream Eater TM is unavailable until Kanto, and the developers didn't bother even giving it access to Shadow Ball and Psychic (not that the latter is present as a TM during the maingame either, but it would comfort Noctowl's users somewhat).
Steel Wing, Mud-Slap, Hyper Beam, Take Down... Sadly, Noctowl gets deprived of useful moves big time, and his stats are distributed wrongly.
One quality Noctowl has coming about him is being the bird sleeper. It learns Hypnosis at lv. 16, before its eventual evolution 4 levels earlier. However, it's a rather slow sleeper, thus not being of any help if you intend to catch the trickier legendary dogs (assuming you do run into them, as in an efficient run we assume you don't hunt them down deliberately). However, when I captured weaker wild Pokemon, I liked that Noctowl had a weak attack accompanying Hypnosis, so that I could chip at them without being afraid of accidentally killing the target, and then patiently wait until Hypnosis connects, if even necessary. But once again, there are faster sleepers out there, with better offensive options, and Hypnosis's accuracy is unreliable.
With that said, Hoothoot is not recommended.
Rating: 4.5/10
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Sentret
Assuming you don't start your playthrough of the game at night, it is Sentret, and not Rattata, who will be the first Normal-type Pokemon you meet on your journey. Many players discard Sentret as a poor clone of Rattata in terms of its usage, lacking the advantages of the latter, but let us see for ourselves to which extent this view is true.
Sentret starts as a slow Pokemon, sharing the base speed of... Geodude. To remedy that problem, it learns Quick Attack at lv. 11. Rattata learns Hyper Fang just two levels later, and outspeeds most things with ease, so it's easy to tell which of the two Pokemon is the best at this point.
The question is, how far is the player expected to have progressed in the game when his normal-type is at lv. 11-13? Most likely she has passed Union Cave and reached Azalea Town. At this point, the Swift TM is available. It's not highly contested and if one is training a Sentret, it's almost silly to avoid the opportunity to teach it to your ferret Pokemon. This makes the gap between Rattata and Sentret less noticeable and...
...That's right, Sentret evolves into Furret at lv. 15, which is 5 levels earlier than Rattata fully evolves! With Swift, or the Headbutt TM (which isn't terribly valuable as you can buy them for a very reasonable price in Goldenrod almost immediately after you receive your first one), Furret is as good as Raticate, and it evolves sooner, as stated.
Now, when we're past level 20, is it more beneficial to use Raticate or Furret? I can't really answer directly. For one, Raticate has more physical strength and speed (though still not a whole lot), while Furret is healthier and withstands physical attacks better. As for the movepool, Furret appears to learn just about everything Raticate does (well, besides the unique fang attacks) and more - it has access to Surf, which is not be underestimated at the early point it is acquired, and it can learn ALL THREE elemental punches via TM. With its laughable special attack, it can't hope to utilise those very effectively; however, if nobody else in your party can penetrate a 4x weakness of the enemy, Furret can fill the gap! Other punchers certainly do the job better though.
In the end, I'm going to give Sentret the same rating as Rattata. While Raticate is a decent glass cannon with some of the best availability, Furret isn't quite as strong or fast, but its bulky qualities can only be mentioned when we're comparing it to Raticate, as it simply isn't a tank in any sense of the word when evaluated on its own. Well, it can tank the Pokemon in Morty's gym, technically, since those can't hurt it, but which other Normal-type (of which so many are available) doesn't? With Surf and the punches, Sentret has a lot of versatility but not the stats to utilise it. Still, it comes early and you have all the time in the world to give it levels.
Rating: 7/10
Update: Totodile's rating is changed to 9.0 for the time being. I may adjust certain ratings as I go on reviewing the Pokemon, because comparing them to other ratings I gave makes it easier to see how useful Pokemon are in relation to each other, and that's the whole purpose of this topic. I'm still thinking if Totodile deserves more than 9 however. I'll wait on that one until I have other Pokemon of similar level of efficiency reviewed and thought over carefully.
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I think ninjas in that map toss really damaging weapons every once in a while. That's often the reason for a lot of resetting. I've never seen her rush them either, what I mean is sometimes she'll charge her spell and wait, and sometimes she'll charge it and run away (which is what she should do to survive).
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That was me, sorry.
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That one depends more on what Rafa does rather than what you do, I think. If she decides to rush the enemy party, she'll be dead; if she is hurt and escapes, you'll easily make it close to the gate and the ninjas will focus on your characters instead.
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They are indeed at level 25, which is noticeably higher than the levels of the wild Pokemon in the surrounding areas, not to mention that their base stats are considerably superior to, say, wild Raticates and Fearows near Celadon, and they can penetrate two of the most common weaknesses in the game. The relation of Eevee's level to the level of the trainers at that point in the game only loses to Dugtrio and the legendary birds, so it is an advantage, not a shortcoming.
Lapras starts at lv. 15 in Saffron and demands substantial amounts of grinding, and is acquired in a building with rather high Pokemon levels (your Rival will have a lv. 35 Kadabra, for example, and you have to face him to get through). Probably you will only go there once you have more badges and training under your belt. Ice Beam is learnt only at lv. 38, and it's a lot more efficient to teach it the same move via TM to make full use of it ASAP, so I wouldn't agree that having access to it naturally is a very big advantage.
Indeed, Jolteon and Vaporeon are next to worthless without TMs/HMs (Vaporeon), but that is the case with many of the game's Pokemon. Nidoking also demands TMs in order to function decently (unless you're cool with him stick with Thrash the whole game; personally I wouldn't use Nidoking at all if that was the best he could do). In fact, I'd say TMs are more important in the first generation than in any other, as natural learnsets are horrible for most Pokemon you can catch.
Zapdos is a legendary bird, and as such is difficult to catch, though its usefulness is certainly superior to Jolteon (much like Articuno is superior to any other ice-type). I'm just saying having an electric-type around has immediate benefits, and Jolteon wins in terms of availability.
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That reminds me, how is the TRS translation going? I heard it was practically over like half a year ago.
Pokemon Crystal Ratings
in Pokémon
Posted
Weedle
The next annoying bug (who also carried over here from Kanto) is dual bug/poison, meaning that if you're patient enough, you can train on those Bellsprouts the Sages in the tower are fond of using so much. You resist Vine Whip 4x, but your own Poison Sting won't really sting that much (nor will it poison). So yeah, you do need to dedicate some special attention to get it to evolve fully.
Beedrill, in contrast to Butterfree, is a physical attacker, and eventually it has very good options available to it, like Twineedle and Sludge Bomb (this one will seriously hurt things); however, until lv. 20, it doesn't get any STAB moves, unless you count the Fury Cutter TM (which should probably be taken into account as it's a good offensive option), depending heavily on normal-type attacks like Fury Attack and Swift to take out its foes.
While the introduction of Sludge Bomb is a major advantage for Beedrill users, it did also lose some things in the transition from the first generation to the second. One thing is that bug and poison types are now mutually resistant, as opposed to being mutually effective. No longer can you nail those numerous Koffings and Grimers you meet with Twineedle. The second loss is access to Swords Dance via TM, depriving Beedrill of a chance to set up so that it can take care of even the strongest enemy on the foe's team. It learns Agility at lv. 40, so with Swords Dance it would've been a great set-up Pokemon in this generation as well.
But oh well.
Rating: 5/10