Some Smart Pokemon Advice

I don't remember how many times little kids half my age asked me what pokemon they should choose. Its been a lot anyhow. I personally think it doesn't matter at all. No matter what you choose, none of the bosses will be a real challenge, none of the three learn any attacks unique to them, all are about the same weight class in terms of power and all are replaceable by something stronger later in the game. But unlike a lot of pages that just tell everyone its a matter of style, I'll give you a real solid answer. For pure practicality, choose Charmander. Many people choose Charizard for its solid firepower but like it or not, fire types have a lot of weaknesses. Charizard can be replaced by Arcanine which is, IMO better than it or else simply replaced by something which has learned Fire Blast. An Exeggutor is far superior to the Venusaur and both Cloyster and Gyarados are fine replacements for Blastoise. The reasons for choosing Charmander are very weak, because as I said, the game isn't likely to become seriously more challenging in any case. However, it will be the longest before you get to your first fire type pokemon, either a growlithe or a vulpix depending on your pack color. In Yellow, Charizard can fly which will allow you to use the ability without having to fill part of your team with a rather pathetic Pidgeot or Fearow. The other flyers don't arrive until later. That's about all the reason there is. None of the pokemon are truly the greatest team material in my opinion but who cares.

Gym Leaders and a Sketchy Walkthrough

This next pathetic section deals with the Gym Leaders, other major battles and a really brief walkthrough of the game. Not the most challenging thing on the planet but like it or not, I'll have to go through them as some people still seem to have trouble getting through without over leveling their team. Also keep in mind it is always good practice to talk to EVERYONE you can hunt down in any RPG. Here goes...

Act One

The first leg of the journey involves everything up to your battle with Brock. It is a relatively simple task to get through and its the only place you need to seriously train your pokemon. Your choice of Pokemon will, of course, have a large affect on your combat abilities. From your house, you try going out of Pallet, Prof Oak stops you, takes you in, gives you a pokemon, which can be Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur or in Yellow, a Pikachu. Gary will get one too and wisely targets your pokemon's weakness for all the good it'll do later on or in yellow's case, Gary will pick up an Eevee. You two go to your first fight. This can be a hard battle since you are all using tackle or scratch. I don't have Yellow so maybe Pikachu's thundershock has an advantage over Eevee's tackle and sand attack. In any case though, if you visit your computer at home prior to this, you can get a potion which will basically throw the fight to you. After this, go north to Viridian, come back down with Oak's package, pick up a free potion sample along the way, a pokedex from Oak and a town map from his sister and you are on your way. Stop at Viridian and buy a couple of things. On the way, you'll find some Pidgeys and Rattatas. Pidgeys are nothing more than pod bait. Rattata's when trained will get useful with its cheap fang attacks. Its normal type also gives it an edge in TM learning and it has few weaknesses itself so it can be useful if you know what you're doing. In Viridian forest, that's where you do your training and cream a couple of Bug Catchers. If you don't already have a Pikachu from the start, catching one here is definitely a good thing though it'll take a while to hunt one down. Now's the time to break out that Rattata from route one so you don't kill the thing in one shot. You also have the fine choice of Caterpie and Weedle here. Beedrill is a passable early game addition but not worth it at the end. Butterfree is similarily, far inferior to the later found Venomoth but for now, its is a great thing to have as its got the earliest psychic attack in the game. Going west at Viridian City won't get you anywhere but you'll get to catch both sexes of Nidoran and a Spearow. Nidoking and Nidoqueen, these respective pokemon's fully evolved versions, are both very flexible learners and I generally rate them highly (the queen slightly moreso than the king). However, expect to have to switch them out for exp gaining unless the vastly overlevel the opposition, both nidorans are very weak. Spearow and later, Fearow are both better than pidgeys but better birds will be available later and birds are not such a good class. You'll meet Gary here again too. All three of the wild pokemon are useless at this point but grabbing either Nidoran can repay later. Now, you go off to tear Brock to gravel. Remember to return once you've gotten cutto get the old amber.
Gary: Battle I
Not much of a challenge, keep tackling or thundershocking or scratching until you run low on life. Use your one potion.
Gary: Battle II
Gary probably lead off with a level 9 bird and a level 8 version of his starter. The bird can be fried with a thundershock from a Pikachu. The starter pokemon will die to Butterfree's confusion.
Brock
What can I say? For some people, this guy is the toughest boss because they have so little variety before then. Squirtle and Bulbasaur will tear him up real easy. Charmander and Pikachu can't do crap with either their specials or their physical attacks so use a Butterfree instead and confusion them to death. People keep telling you to overlevel your charmander, well, I think that's a pretty lame way to win any battle.

Act Two

Act Two is another simple journey. from Pewter City, head east going through some hils with trainers in them and up to Mountain Moon. The pokemon center is there as a convenient stop for training somewhat in the mountains so you won't have to stock more than one or two potions but have awakenings ready. The only trainer of note on the way is a girl with a relatively advanced Jigglypuff which has that annoying sing attack but that's what awakens are for. Here's where you begin looking for a strong physical fighter. In yellow, both Mankey and Sandshrew are right out here to be found. At the moment, Mankey is stronger but I'm fairly certain Sandslash will exceed Primeape in power. In other versions, your only choice out here will be a Jigglypuff but all versions can also elect to choose the Clefairy or Geodude inside the Mountain. None of the three are significantly better than the others. I usually go for Jigglypuff or Clefairy. The Clefable has a wider range of attacks that it can learn later, Wigglytuff is tougher with massive HP. Both can sing opponents to sleep. Geodude's got massive defense and its rock/ground type protects it from physical and electrical attacks. Some attacks like fire are weak against it but not incredibly much so due to geodude's less than stellar special rating and worst of all, it can't sing. =P Finally, there are the two pokemon Zubat and Paras inside the mountain but both are just about useless. Well, Paras can learn spore which is extremely accurate in putting the opposition to sleep but its many weaknesses in other areas often override that. Finally, you'll find some Team Rocket guys in Mt. Moon which are just spiffy trainers really. Yellow version will get Jessie and James at the end of the mountain and then, its on to Cerulean City where you can blow Misty up. Past Mt. Moon, the only new pokemon is Ekans. It can be key to catching an early Abra which grows massively strong at level 16 and once it turns to Arbok, is marginally useful midgame with its relatively high attack and speed ratings but he'll grow obsolete quickly past midgame.
Jessie and James
Jessie and James remain above the average trainer in skill (as opposed to the situation in the TV series) and have the same pokemon as always; Koffing, Ekans and Meowth. Butterfree's confusion blows the former two but you'll have to rough it out with the Meowth. Mankey would be good for the job or maybe a Geodude if you bothered training one up to snuff.
Misty
Misty uses a level 18 Staryu and a level 21 Starmie in both versions I think. Pikachu's perfect for this one. A level 18 to 20 oughta do it. Bulbasaur is also a good choice. Just so you know, these two have high special ratings and Starmie is part Psychic so confusion doesn't work so well here.

Act Three

Head north first, to visit Bill and kill Gary again along the way. Along the way, you will find Oddish, Bellsprout, Venonat and Abra. Venonat is only in Yellow, and catching one is recommended. Abra is even stronger and available in all versions but is very tough to catch, requiring something that can outspeed it as well as wrap it. Ekans is ideal for the job while Blue will have to resort to the slower bellsprout. Speaking of Bellsprout, and its red counterpart Oddish, both are not the best grass pokemon around. I'd have to say Vileplume is better than Victreebel as Vileplume is more adept physically and can learn two very powerful grass attacks. Work your way to Vermillion, bust your way through the SS Anne and challenge Gary. By know, you should have gotten the hang of his team. Then, once you've gotten cut, go to the Vermillion Gym, and cut your way through. The first switch is always beside the second switch. so you've got 2 to 4 choices after you find button 1. Have fun.
Gary Battles III and IV
Gary still has the team of four from Cerulean City so his pokemon aren't much of a surprise. He'll lead off with a bird as usual, go through another two before giving his starter pokemon a field day.
Lieutenant Surge
In Red and Blue, Surge is a piece of cake. If you bothered to train a geodude from Mt. Moon, he'll defeat Surge's team rather easily. Bulbasaur evolutions also work well unless you get thunder waved early on. Nearby diglett's cave naturally has a few digletts and dugtrios which excel at mashing Surge too. In Yellow, he's a bit more dangerous with a single damn big Raichu but the idea is the same

Act Four
First, travel down the road east of Vermillion, mashing every trainer along the way for exp. Most of the pokemon along here aren't worth much. Raticate is useful for the time being with its cheap attacks but it will soon grow obsolete. Drowzee is useful for catching wild pokemon if you train it a bit but not much else though some trainers value it highly for its hypnosis/dream eater combo. Once in the tunnel, if you haven't already done so, catching a diglett can be useful as it excels against foolish computer trainers. Its also useful in any battle but it won't have much defense even as Dugtrio and won't be as useful against real human opponents. Both are blazingly fast though. Make your way to Cerulean again, passing Pewter for the Old Amber. Go east this time, terminating all trainers along the way. This part features a new electric type for those who haven't already gotten one. Yellow versions have magnemites while red and blue get voltorbs. Magnemite will later turn into Magneton which has an overwhelming special rating and a good defense though its attacks and speed are not particularily good. Electrode will go over the roof in the speed department and if the going gets rough, you can blow them up in your opponent's face. Both are good. Two more pokemon in rock tunnel. Machamp will get some high attack power but becomes easy to knock out relatively, Onix has atrocious attack but the second highest defense in the game. I don't consider either to be great. You should use flash to light up the tunnel. (duh) You are now in Lavender, go south and clean everyone out there as well as aquiring the all important Swift TM from the lookout. Now, go west of Lavender, clean the show up. Growlithe and Vulpix both show up here. Growlithe turns into Arcanine which has overwhelming offense as well as fire attacks. Ninetale's is faster than Arcanine but far less powerful. Firespin can trap indefinitely however. I consider Arcanine the superior of the two. Now, you arrive in Celadon, grab the coin box form the guy at the diner, go up the shopping mall, grabbing a series of TMs from the girl upstairs, buying whatever the hell you need (and can afford) and down you go to the Casino's basement. Work through that and face Team Rocket and then Giovanni. Jessie and James are of course, using Ekans, Koffing and Meowth. Giovanni's pokemon are in the mid to high 20's. Generally speaking, his team is very physical in its combat doctrine so its easier if you outsmart them with special attacks rather than go neck to neck with them in a street fight. You'll get the Silph Scope once you win and then you challenge Erika.
Erika
Her team in any version is roughly the same calibre. The yellow ones are higher leveled (vast improvement on her tangela) but she doesn't use the fully evolved versions of Gloom and Weepinbell. Charmander can burn his way through but every other starter pokemon won't do well. Since most of them have poison type attached to them, so ground and psychic will work very well. The one exception is Tangela which is the only pure grass pokemon in the game. It can either be burned or eaten by birds or bugs.

Act Five

Relatively short act. Go back to Lavender and work up the pokemon tower. Gary's in the low to mid 20's with a new water pokemon. Either the offensive Gyarados or the defensive Shellder and the Raticate has been replaced by one of the fire type canines. The Rocket pair are at level 27 and the poison types have evolved. Get the pokeflute upon completion and beating the ghost Marowak. REMEMBER TO CATCH A GHOST POKEMON!!! Buy the guard a drink of fresh water and he lets you through to Saffron. Go in and first, check out the fighter pokemon gym and confusion all of them to death. Beware though, even if it takes only two confusions to kill them, they pack a heavy punch, especially against fairly flimsy psychics. Then, go into the office building, clean it out and combat Gary again, Team Rocket and Giovanni again. Gary's added a water pokemon to the team which is either Shellder or Gyarados. The bird is now fully evolved as well. Team Rocket's done some evolving too but should not be too much of a problem at level 31. Giovanni stands in the thirties level wise and his team is the same I think. Talk to the pres and get the Master Ball. Fight through the gym trainers with a dugtrio (which digs them out before they can psychic) or a non fighter which is strong physically. These trainers are the hardest ones yet to be seen. Some of them have ghost pokemon which can be dug without a problem.
Sabrina
In red and blue, she isn't all that dangerous, the venomoth is vulnerable to psychic since its really poison type and the Mr. Mime is crap. In Yellow, she's really dangerous with Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam all at level 50. Use a psychic type to make them sleep before pulling out a physical beater to blast them to submission or else use a high level Dugtrio to dig them all out.
Gary Battles V and VI
His new fire type can be hosed down with water, his new water type can be thundershocked.

Act Six

Go south of lavender, packing the pokeflute and wake Snorlax where he's been blocking you. Only two in the game so take your chance to catch one of these. It isn't the best team player but not the worst. Its a good physical fighter that can take a lot of punishment. For Yellow only, this area has Slowpoke, Slowbro and Farfetch'd. The slow series are well...slow but they are tough, water and have high special coupling with their psychic attacks. I don't know what the Farfetch'd are good for as I've never really used one. I will comment however, that all of its stats are about even. Farther south, Ditto are up for keeps. They can mimic any pokemon so they CAN be good. Next stop, Safari Zone. Lots of good things to get here. Getting here is essential to get the surf and strength HM's. Remember to help the Safari warden get his teeth too. Get a super rod from the guy before going in. (Remember also to go back with surf adn the super rod to the bodies of water you've seen in the game and try fishing in them all. First off in the Safari Zone, getting a dratini is a MUST. Dragonite is one of the most powerful pokemon in existence and a great part of almost any team. Exeggcute is another one to look for as Exeggutor is definitely the number one grass pokemon. Ryhorn and eventually, Rydon is an extremely powerful physical fighter with top ratings in attack, defense and hp. However, it is real weak on and against special attacks so use sparingly. Chansey, Tangela, Pinsir, Cubone(Marowak) and Kangaskhan are also cool to have. Doduo(well, once it turns into a Dodrio), Scyther and Tauros are all fast and furiously strong on attack and are all excellent to replace any physical fighters that have grown obsolete such as Machoke, Graveller (unless you evolved them by trading), Raticate, Arbok and Beedrill. Finally, go beat up Koga.
Koga
In red and blue, Koga's two Koffing, Muk and Weezing are all real tough and can survive long enough under a ground type barrage to hurt them a bit so psychicing them is preferable. In yellow, the showcases three progressively stronger venonat before finally getting a venomoth. Psychics work again and ground does too except for the flyign moth.

Act Seven

Along the coming bike route, nothing much is of interest except for the ponyta which can be found in yellow. When it turns into Rapidash at level 40, its thunderous speed and firespin can hold someone forever and its a fairly strong physical fighter too. Go to the Power Plant by heading east of Cerulean again, this time, heading north halfway to rock tunnel and surfing the river there down to the plant. This is the only place to catch an Electabuzz so do so. Some of the balls here are strong electrodes. Yellow players can find grimer and Muk here which aren't of much interest in my opinion though Muk does have a couple possibilities. At the end, save game and meet Zapdos at level 50. Make sure you catch it and you'll probably have to make it sleep before even an Ultra Ball has a chance of trapping it.Now, go to fuschia and swim south. Tentacool in the water. The jellyfish are useless but the evolved Tentacruel has a great special which gives it possibilities. At seafoam island, work through the place. Psyduck, Seel, Shellder, Krabby, Horsea and Staryu are all for capture. I don't see much to gain from a Psyduck, Seel, Horsea or Krabby but Staryu and Shellder are worth it. Shellder, if you haven't already fished one up in Vermillion harbor, turns into a Cloyster. Its ice attacks are powerful adn high defense makes it perfect against trainers who base too much on physical strength. Staryu and its evolved form of Starmie is very flexible in its TM learning and its high special and speed give it a great edge in combat. The idea of this area is to roll every boulder in every darn hole with Strength. At the end, catch Articuno at level 50 or live in shame forever as it is the second legendary bird after Zapdos. This thing's ice attacks will freeze most competition solid. Next, head to Cinnabar island, restock, and go to the mansion. Only new things here are Koffing(Weezing) and Magmar. As you can tell from Team Rocket's episodes, Koffing is a doubtful member of any team but Magmar kicks ass. The doors here operate with switches hidden on the statues. Switch them around to open the doors you need. To get the key, jump off the top floor to land in the basement. Then, go beat up Blaine, go back to Viridian City, beat up Giovanni. Then, head west and challenge Gary a final time before heading up Victory Road.
Blaine
In both versions, the most dangerous thing he has is a relatively high level Arcanine as well as a Rapidash just before that. Hose him down with water, smother him with ground attacks, fairly simple battle.
Giovanni
Giovanni's the final gym leader and I guess he's a passably strong trainer. He's gotten a Dugtrio from somewhere which candangerous since he can pull off an earthquake before anything reacts. Of course, the simplest way is just to star with something that flies. The rest of his team majors in physical combat. Water works well and you can also elect to psychic them.
Gary Battle VII
He's got a psychic type now and his bird may or may not have been replaced. Dig out the psychic and burn the exeggcute.

Act Eight

Victory road is similar to Seafoam Island. This act is real simple. Go through Victory Road, capturing Moltres on the way adn arrive at Pokemon League HQ. Stock up, heal up and challenge the Elite Four. Thunder through Lorelei, Bruno can be destroyed with any water type with high defense and/or psychic type such as Golduck, Slow Bro, Starmie and Blastoise, preferably the former three. Agatha can be totally wipe out by a single Dugtrio that knows Rock Slide and Lance can be cleaned out with a Cloyster or Articuno. His Aerodactyl is the only thing close to an exception. It needs a gushing from a water type or a shocking from an electric type. Since its damn fast, be ready to take a hyperbeam if the computer happens to choose that. Gary is your final opponent. He starts off with a Sandslash in yellow and a Pidgeot in red and blue, both are at level 61 so order your team accordingly, the rest can be switched as you go along. It shouldn't be that hard a battle. After this, go back to Cerulean and pick up Mewtwo. Its real hard to catch so I usually just Master Ball it but make sure you use the duplication trick first if you want to. You have finished Pokemon. now wasn't that easy?

Dealing with the opposition...

Well, the first thing is obviously to exploit your enemy's weakness and take advantage of your own strengths. I'll get the weakness/strength chart here sooner or later.

Another thing to keep in mind is probably not to fight on your opponent's terms. This means, you make sure your opponent's strengths are useless. For example, if your opponent is using a Rhydon, which has massive hp, defense and attack, don't try to go toe to toe by pitting another high defense, offense and hp pokemon on it. Not only does Rhydon probably outdo any candidates you may have but it'll probably leave your pokemon at real low health even if you do win. Send in someone with high speed. Hit first and kill it with a special attack, any special attack will do well against its rock bottom special rating.

So, if someone has a high attack, you don't send in someone with high defense, you send in something a bit faster and with real high special and target its major weakness against grass, water and ice. Similarily, don't try to pound a Cloyster in with brute force, find something faster and thunderbolt it. Now, if you're up against something with really high speed but physically weak like Jolteon, now's the time to break out the Rhydon.

I'll type more later, me getting sleepy. Back to the Main Page

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