Playing Gen 2? Pick the water starter.

[@Lyra]

Thanks to Buyee for being my first-ever sponsor! You can get a 2,000 yen coupon by using this link: bit.ly/buyee-Lyramadeawebsite. You will receive the coupon after singing up.

[@selaromiscool]

🧌

[@ahreuwu]

nice to see you get a sponsor, and even nicer when it's from a company I actually hadn't heard of before, so the sponsor spot was worth not skipping haha

[@akittylover2784]

razer leaf spam is one of the best ways to use the Bulbasaur line in gen 1 due to the incredibly broken code making the crit rate insane-did you use razerleaf?

[@regalseagull]

Because it was you, I watched the sponsored segment.

[@MementiMori]

Bulbasaur is great in gen 1, but it's strongest if you diversify. One of the best parts of picking it is that it can take the first two gyms on its own, and is pretty decent against the third, which gives you lots of time to get the ideal team figured out.

[@KinGodTakeOver]

In the pokedex scroll in Gen 2, you can press "Select" to change the order to national dex order so it starts with Bulbasaur (001) and ends with Celebi (251)

[@IkaNyan404]

correction about Celebi in gen 2. it was distributed to the United States for a week in one location, "Pokémon center NYC". you had to be absurdly lucky to get it even then because it was live the winter after 9/11 so much of the city was busy otherwise for good reason. It's one of the least known facts about Pokémon I have known and hardly anyone knows about because of very unfortunate events.

[@feiradragon7915]

The irony of Celebi's only US distribution until VC being right after a crisis when it's canon dex entries say Celebi only appears in peaceful times.

[@IkaNyan404]

@@feiradragon7915 well I don't know if that's actually cannon up to the event in nyc but afterwards I can believe it. It is a peace-loving time travel Pokémon after all.

[@metademetra]

@@feiradragon7915 That explains why Celebi hardly pops up in the U.S., because we haven't been peaceful since 9/11

[@Animebryan2]

Y'all be acting like ROM Hacks don't exist, that fully add in the GS Ball Event & even make ALL 251 Pokemon obtainable without the need for trading between games. ROM Hacks are the definitive way to play these games.

[@dundee6402]

@@Animebryan2With Pkhex and so many other tools, you don't even need romhacks. You can play the legit thing on rom and still obtain whatever you want in an instant.

[@drakerose3789]

"Even fully evolved, our walking salad is still paper thin" Let me get this straight. Venusaur got hit with a STAB boosted supereffective hit with 65 base power, which was a critical hit, AND it used Alakazam's Special stat, which might I remind you Alakazam had a base Special of 135 (for context, Mewtwo had 154, Mr Mime and Mew had 100, Hypno had 115, and Jynx had 95), but because Venusaur survived with 10 HP, it's paper thin. Sure, man.

[@JadeHeartOfFire]

I was literally thinking the same thing lol

[@thefrubblewarrior4678]

I don’t know why he said that.

[@JadeHeartOfFire]

A lot of people in the Pokemon fandom seem to have a genuine bias against all grass starters and I’m not really sure why

[@kemosonicfan123lbp]

To be fair, a pokemon weak to psychic in gen 1 isn't the best one to pick, but Venusaur is still a tank

[@babel_UV]

its just the boomer meme of hating on bulbasaur

[@verniy_6595]

Tries to solo with his starter Gets punished because you're not supposed to do that Surprised Pikachu face

[@Mantis.Sartinoli]

Bulbasaur in gen 1 was op...sure, it struggles with bugs at the beginning and the poison types of Team Rocket but once you get razor leaf, the autocrit fest starts! Chikorita is terrible in gen 2 though 😂

[@nicktran3027]

If you keep Leech Seed and slap Toxic on it, that’s when it’s really over.

[@Mantis.Sartinoli]

@@nicktran3027 yeah you're right...razor leaf to weak and neutral pokemon and leech seed and toxic to everything else...and body slam for poison types I guess

[@takumidoutou4412]

Gen 1 Bug types are way too pathetic to be a struggle for Bulbasaur though

[@oniondesu9633]

eh most of the game is still pretty easy no matter who you play with, just a matter of degree

[@BlueThe1up]

@@oniondesu9633 gen 1 early game is actually a fucking nightmare only if you pick charmander like 80% of the game is easy but the early game can be pretty brutal

[@KaoruMzk]

Dude, Bulbasaur is easy mode in Gen 1. If your’s was that fragile it probably means you got terrible DVs in HP or Special. For move set, Razor Leaf is a *guaranteed* critical hit, growth is essentially calm mind in RBY and combos really well with Mega Drain (no need to waste money on X items), and you get access to Sleep Powder, do I even need to explain why that’s good? Chikorita is sadly unredeemable tho.

[@plm-fp6nu]

19 hp is indeed the lowest he could have at lvl 5, so his dvs are ass.

[@stagelights_]

growth is not calm mind in gen 1, it's basically an omniboost, since when you use growth, your badge boosts get reapplied. squirtle is still probably better if you're soloing the game though

[@starmangalaxy2001]

@@stagelights_ Any stat change does that though, in terms of stat changes it is a calm mind as it's +1 SpAtk and +1 Spdef. What you're saying is like calling getting tail whipped an ancient power boost, because it does technically apply an omni boost (assuming you have all badge boost badges) after the -1 defense.

[@mldubb4926]

Chikorita is a bulky queen man. You just have to play more competitively

[@starmangalaxy2001]

@@mldubb4926 Gen 4 Chikorita is irredeemable though. Gen 2 Chikorita is pretty good.

[@mamabriel]

15:03 Psybeam is 65 BP Alakazam is the same type as the attack, so it gets a 1.5x boost Psybeam is super effective, so it gets a 2x boost 195 power in total Alakazam has 135 base Special stat You got a Bulbassaur with the lowest possible HP It still survived this monstrous attack, Venusaur is anything BUT paper thin.

[@MarthChan]

As a life-long grass starter lover, I must confess that I never tried soloing the whole game with them. The Crit Gods must have liked me though, because I never had this kind of trouble in all my years playing. XD Still though, this was a blast to watch! I am looking forward to the next one!! :D

[@rooislangwtf]

Bulbasaur has decently high speed and thanks to how crits work in gen 1 Bulbasaur crits pretty often + razor leaf is a guaranteed crit under those circumstances

[@MarthChan]

@@rooislangwtf While I don't know the numbers, my Bulbasaur crits far more often than doesn't. And like you said, most of the time it goes first too!

[@TWitWoW]

grass starters aren't generally bad unless you try and solo the game with them lmao

[@starmangalaxy2001]

Most I think are fine but Chikorita specifically was heavily tuned as support playstyle, which I think over all put it as a better starter choice than Cyndaquil... until HGSS took Chikorita out back and shot it in the head.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

22:16. That's not a bug, that's a feature. Whitney is the only time Chikorita is better than the other two (well, way better than Cyndaquil at least. Totodile has decent bulk). That and the Rocket Rival event, because his starter isn't fully evolved. Otherwise, it's a decent team supporter, thanks to the double Wall access.

[@starmangalaxy2001]

Between all of the support moves Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium get I'd say that Whitney is when Chikorita players start going into easy mode, considering that due to the higher base power of razorleaf, Chikorita actually does more damage than ember cyndaquil against neutral targets (Why does the cyndaquil line not get Flame wheel until level 31?) Totodile is without a doubt #1 of johto, but I don't think Cyndaquil deserved number 2 until HGSS, which nerfed Chikorita. Below is a MASSIVE list of changes which all combine to absolutely ruin HGSS Chikorita runs, taking it from a supportive backbone of a team to just... I think other grass types are the better option. 1) Cyndaquil line gets Flame wheel at 20 2) Falkner now has a healing move as opposed to a move that's super effective against Cyndaquil and lowers accuracy. 3) Reflect was moved later into Chikorita's learnset 4) Reflect and Growl no longer work against Falkner 5) Bugsy was massively buffed with Technician U-Turn which both does massively more damage than Fury Cutter, but also can't be growled into or poison stalled as easily. 6) Number 5 is also an indirect Cyndaquil buff as Cyndaquil resists bug lowering the chance of Bugsy using it. 7) Miltank given Lum berry to tank status 8) Shadow Ball is no longer physical, which buffs Morty's damage output and nerfs Chikorita's ability to deal with it. 9) A mudslap TM no longer exists, taking away Chikorita's 1 damage dealing option against Morty. 9.1) An actual Cyndaquil nerf is Jasmine having Sandstorm instead of Sunny Day 9.2) Two Cyndaquil nerfs in a row? Pryce's Seel and Dewgong now have thick fat, reducing Cyndaquil's damage. 10) Most team rocket boss fights were given better moves, to the dismay of exclusively Chikorita 11) Jasmine's Ice beam Dragonair was replaced with a Fire blast one, and the surf Dragonair was replaced with a Gyarados which while a mixed bag I'd say did more bad than good for Chikorita 12) Bruno's Hitmonlee now has Blaze kick and Hitmonchan can actually use Fire Punch 13) Koga went from bad to worse for poor Chikorita. 14) Karen's Murkrow now has Pluck 14.1) Last note but an incredibly rare Meganium BUFF, Lance no longer has Thunder/Blizzard/Fire Blast on his Dragonites which is over all a boon for Chikorita.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

@@starmangalaxy2001 Totodile isn't that good in Gen 2, because it has to use its inferior base stats to attack. It can abuse Mud Slap, but otherwise Dig, Iron Tail and a strong Normal Move is all it has. Not sure it's actually the greatest, or at least not by far originally. In HGSS, it's clearly superior. Still, there's two others interesting things about Chikorita. First, in all version, Silver will have Quilava instead of the final evolution in his 4th battle. It's a slightly easier fight as a result. Secondly, there's a huge change that makes Whitney's battle easier: You can use a female Starter without sacrificing Attack stats. So you can actually negate Attract entirely this time around without sacrificing your offense. Mostly a benefit for Totodile again. However saying that Chikorita is easily replaceable by another Grass Type is less true. Dual Screen is still a valuable skill to have. Totodile is actually the most easily replaceable. Maybe even more so in HGSS since Kingler got much better and Gyarados has Intimidate.

[@starmangalaxy2001]

@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 Totodile also gets access to the incredibly helpful rage, still has a STAB, and gets a coverage move while quilava is struggling with ember quick attack, not to mention totodile also gets access to Surf, which Cyndaquil doesn't get an equivalent to until level 60, and Totodile is the only starter to get the massively helpful for late game icepunch. There is no major roadblock for a Totodile player. Edit: Also ran the calcs Surf Croconaw out damages the other 2 middle stage starters and their main stab by about 1/3 against a neutral target despite the theoretical problems it having a low Sp.Atk would bring.

[@starmangalaxy2001]

@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 In HGSS? Man Chikorita went from amazing to absolutely dogshit, not only is Chikorita replaceable there. You are doing yourself a service to replace it. GSC Chikorita is hugely underrated just because it's not a sweeper, but HGSS it doesn't stand a chance. The game was rebalanced so its support isn't as strong, which was the only thing stopping it from being just another grass type. In GSC Cyndaquil actually had a similar issue where due to its slow speed of getting a good STAB, Magmar was actually a better alternative as it got access to Fire Punch instantly giving it better Stab, as well as perhaps not better stats than Typhlosion, but better stats than the quilava you'd be using until the 8th gym. HGSS remedies this by not having a fire punch TM and Magmar not learning firepunch until 8 levels after Quilava learns Flame wheel, reducing its time that it's simply superior by a good bit.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

@@starmangalaxy2001 I'm not arguing about wether it's good or not, but about its replaceability. Feraligatr has to compete with Gyarados, and Gyarados will eventually always be better (Early Aqua Tail + Dragon Dance access. + Intimidate that is always a great ability to have). Or Lapras. There are tons of really good Water Type. For Chikorita, it seems less clear cut. It's mostly Jumpluff, because Evolution stones are kinda hard to find (easier than before, but still). Its niche is limited, but it still exists, while Totodile has a lot of competition not only in its niche (Physical Offensive Water Type.), but in general as Water Type is the most common Type. And counting stones as a non issue would only makes this even more relevant. Totodile is a great choice, for sure, buy it's also the one that can be replaced the easiest. It doesn't make Chikorita good by any means.

[@dylanholderness3147]

"How Elm called a kid instead of the police" imma be laughing at this in my grave

[@Igorcastrochucre]

I still think you should've gone with Yellow as the Gen 1 game here. Breeding is available and you don't need to replay for Eevee, the Hitmons and the starters. So just do the Brock-Misty-Koga thing in the first save to get the fossil, then play the second time normally to get the starter trio, the remaining fossil, the birds and Mewtwo.

[@francescomoretti934]

You can’t breed in pokemon yellow

[@Igorcastrochucre]

@@francescomoretti934 I meant breeding is available, in Gen 2. Which means only 1 trip through Kanto in Yellow will net him all the starters that he can send right away, he'd only need 2 because of the fossils, but 3 means starting a new save file 2 times erasing a significant amount of progress each time, and he is gonna need a Gen 1 game to have played until Celadon because of how much of a hassle the evolution stones are to get in Gen 2.

[@LiamWalds]

using a Master Ball on a Teddiursa is a power move

[@manning0]

What are you doing with the Venusaur, tickling them? You aren't doing this Toxic, leach seed tactic? Just attack them.

[@morgastic23]

I hope this video re-inspires me to get back to it. I'm at the very end, the only things I need to do are beat the final gym, get to Mt Silver, and catch the stuff there. I have just about everything else except for a few level-up evolutions. Loving the content and hope to see more!

[@octmari]

I think the reason why you struggle with anything other than water is pretty obvious, given you solo the game with one pokemon. you're meant to use a team, in which case fire and grass starters are both just as good, and sometimes better, but if you play the game that way, well, it stands to reason that using the water starter would work the best

[@theotett5453]

This.

[@victor_0cp]

true. in pokemon, you have extra slots for team members. you can switch your pokemon whenever you knock out an enemy’s pokemon. i’m assuming he plays on switch mode and not set mode, but if he’s playing set mode, i could understand why he would be upset.

[@solgaleo3533]

Even when you have to play it over, you’d think taking the time to catch a few other team members could help more with allowing you to have an answer to more compared to trying to solo the game with a Pokémon and struggling to defeat opponents

[@ElvenSpellmaker]

I only ever play Pokémon with my starter and I've never had any problems in any of the four games I've played. My starters are: Blastoise Typhlosion Blaziken Empoleon I replayed Blue the other day and ended up with a level 81 Blastoise after soloing the Elite Four. I never get this _"You need a team"_ stuff, the games are fine without.

[@wulfywulfynrir1296]

​@@ElvenSpellmaker It definitely depends on the starter you choose. Ive been replaying each gen for a regional dex, and each time i try to solo-starter with the side games that are just for version exclusives. In gen 3, blaziken carried all 8 gyms and 3 of the E4 with the amazing type coverage in brick break, flamethrower, aerial ace, earthquake Sceptile....did not fare as well. Especially the flying gym with a skarmory, i ended up having to catch and train something i could teach flamethrower to so i could deal with that

[@kristhebrownie]

I've seen solo venusaur runs with an easier time than you had. I wonder if you had a very weak venusaur.

[@KirachiAnimu]

I love seeing this so much. I’ve been following this journey for a long time and can’t wait to see you go even further with it! Personally I’m trying to do this in Gen 7 since Wonder Trading just got removed and catching in Alola is super fun with S.O.S. And catching preferred. Like the 1% Salamanca chance

[@Infindox]

... you can still Wondertrade in Gen 7? The servers are still up iirc?

[@dontecrosland1883]

Explaining team rocket at the radio tower was the best way you could of explained it 😂

[@altejoh]

Love this series so much! Your videos inspired me to do a first ever nuzlocke of Crystal, with the intent to go back and do a living dex after mt. Silver. Your website is insanely helpful for planning captures and routes, even if i had to do extra excel work for crystal version xD thank you for teaching me about pokemon catch and encounter rates and other tips through these videos!

[@gluttonousgoddess]

Buyee, an Eevee regional variation XD Tbh surprised you didn't go for Yellow, all three starters easily.

[@tortiss101]

In a previous episode, you mentioned that your native language was French, so I have to ask: How difficult was to learn how to make the English ‘r’ sound? My field of expertise is linguistics, which is why I ask. Also, I love your videos! Your sense of comedy is right up my alley and I find myself giggling at every turn. Keep up the good work!

[@ikbintom]

The English r is not a difficult sound for most people ;)

[@vivienjoly7617]

As a french who can speak english, the "r" sound isn't that difficult to make for us

[@laypanini1972]

also a native french speaker, and yeah, can confirm, r is really easy to pronounce. the biggest thing i see people struggling to pronounce is "the"

[@regalseagull]

@@laypanini1972 yeah, you're right, we often replace it by the 'z' sound

[@lonelyjesse85]

As an English teacher in France I would say that very few students struggle with the English "r" (the few who do replace it with a "w" though). It gets harder when I teach adults but even then the "r" sound isn't the most difficult one. The two "th" sounds (θ and ð) are way more difficult for them. I would also add the "h" sound. It is not hard to pronounce but they tend to forget it or add other hs when there aren't any. The most difficult thing to teach are stressed syllables (as French is unstressed and not stressed on the last syllable as some people say) and intonation (French is rather flat in its intonation system).

[@kryzethx]

11:15 You know you can guarantee that first rival fight in most of the early Pokemon games by withdrawing the Potion from the PC in your house? Unless you're going for a no-items run or something, which doesn't appear to be the case

[@pepperoni6616]

I've been using fire starters since mid-99/2000, and that rival fight after gym 2 has always been a challenge for me somehow. It seems like a slap in the face for cyndaquil lovers after absolutely bullying sprout tower and the 2nd gym with embers.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

aww, but bulbasaur is awesome 😭 Grass isn't about strong attacks, it's about Status moves. With a sleep and Leech Seed combo you can really cheese it Also why was there a Magcargo on the right, when you were talkibg about Primeape?

[@Pudcup]

Eh it's potato apple

[@hanswurst9120]

Because at this point the dex advanced as slow as a snail I guess. Also it's left.

[@PizzaManager101]

@@Pudcup EXACTLY my lovely potato apple 🥔 🍏

[@An_Entire_Lime]

Funny you said that because venusaur actually hits astronomically hard with grass moves in gen 1 because the spaghetti code gods made it so razor leaf crits 99.8% of the time For a total of I belive 110 base power that also ignores defence boosts So if you play it right bulbasaur actually pile drives through the whole game far harder than gamefreak's favourite lizard ever could

[@Damian-cilr2]

sleep is a little bit inconsistent,sometimes it doesn't last at all and sometimes it lasts until it dies. but otherwise you could pretty much cheese the game with good luck

[@Buzterer]

Sadly (maybe?), Chicorita is gen2's hard mode

[@Pr1est0fDoom]

And Totodile is easy mode.

[@oniondesu9633]

hard(ish) mode

[@et34t34fdf]

It sucks for most of the early gyms, but its surprisingly decent against miltank.

[@mldubb4926]

Chikorita is very easy to use again most Pokémon. It’s not a sweeper, most people expect starters to be sweepers but it’s a Pokémon much better for stalling.

[@et34t34fdf]

@@mldubb4926 The thing is, meganium isn't that bad in competitive, due to its bulk and the annoying things it can do, but in game, you dont want to stall, you want to kill things, thats where if falls short. Doesnt help that Jotho is just bad for grass types in general.

[@asterie_stythia]

Actually, I think Venusaur in 1G is one of the best Grass starters ever, thanks to Razor Leaf being an awesome move in 1G (critting every time) + the possibility of Leech Seed stalling from the get go + overall solid stats on the board. You just kinda have to avoid Zubats early game. Some are also pretty okay, but not really to the point of being able to solo the games (Torterra in 4G lacks speed and has some severe weaknesses, Sceptile in 3G lacks bulk and power...). Overall, I think the Chikorita line in 2G (and the remakes), and the Serperior line in 5G are unquestionably way worse than Venusaur in their respective games tho. The Chikorita line is just abysmal to the point of no-return imo.

[@imablisy]

The team rocket joke was hilarious good shit

[@gamerviktor4963]

I recently completed the living dex in pokemon Blue, using your website. It's an amazing tool, thanks for the good work! Keep it up😉

[@mickgorro]

"Oh, I guess Jasmine exists, also" is just like Scott calling Bruno a hiker :). Also, the Rocket summary 😂🤣😂🤣

[@robertm5110]

Great job and progress! Did you consider beating the elite 4 in crystal before doing the Celebi event to match how the virtual console does it?

[@Lyra]

Thank you! I actually did consider playing until the Elite 4, but all it would have accomplished is making the video release later. This challenge is full of arbitrary rules, so adding one more could be totally justified, but the payoff here would not be worth it.

[@DrGonzo-hf4xh]

@OWƎN Your belief is wrong then

[@erubenvt]

so much hype! I will try catching some of the process live on twitch next time ♥

[@apawture]

"sorry for not adding a tally during this" among everything else youve been doing for this? the planning and organization behind everything is incredible! im stoked to see the ending of this ! do you think youll move on to gen 3 after this? i love hoenn so much and id love to see it broken down to its bare mechanics

[@NorrisJonesYT]

One of my favorite new poketubers. You get a like and comment every time.

[@insanecomicdude]

I loved your Gen 1 living pokedex journey. I'm excited to watch this one unfold.

[@JustMrJeff4444]

Way to get a sponsor and actually present it in a funny engaging way

[@lqa77]

i know its a unique one too, it didn't annoy me much like other videos. Its something I might actually use, I'm so so so sick of audible and nordvpn ads. I'd never actually heard of this sponsor so the ad worked!

[@Techtastisch]

I love this series, good work! 😊 Did you think about doing this for gen 3 too?

[@bapt_andthebasses]

NO haha

[@Lyra]

Glad you enjoy the videos! Gen 3 is planned, and I already have a lot of ideas for it :')

[@GamingWarlord64]

At least in this videos context you Are treating the "white mage as a warrior" in general Water pokemon are bulky Fire pokemon are attackers, and grass types are support. Bulbasaur and Chikorita especially they are tanks and are better used to help the team not be the team.

[@babel_UV]

true but in gen 1 venusaur is a great attacker regardless

[@---oq5kb]

Did a challange run of gold a few days ago where I built a team around red, without using the starter. Picked up lantern because it was a mon I never used in a normal playthrough and because it had good coverage against both charizard and blastoise. 3 out of 4 of it's moves were hms. If you are doing a chalange where you don't use your starter, pick todotile for hms.

[@NataliaNeeSama]

Well, on the opinion about the Starter debate: Water starter is a good choice but for me it seems like easily replaceble? Water is such a common type and most Water Starters are bulky, which is another common trait of Water types. As such, I still prefer Fire Starters because Fire Types are really rare, and hard to replace in some games. The only Gen I got a Grass Starter was Gen 7, because Decidueye is part Ghost, and Ghost types are my favorites!

[@Lyra]

You nailed what I think of the Water versus Fire starter. I love Water types, but there are way too many and they blend together. The Fire starters are so appealing because Fire Pokémon are so rare or reserved for the late-game. And then there's Grass.

[@Robin00607]

When Play Red or Green Edition i normaly Go water but after i relised its better To start charmander and get a starmie this Monster can solo the hole Game and IS a Monster For Elite 4 and Story and IT depends what Edition you running you can Catch Arkani or vulpix and ponita and i think thats IT

[@babel_UV]

@@Lyra bulbasaur is the best choice in gen 1 though

[@justabulbasaurlover.4711]

Your going to be a great KZbinr. Keep at it bro, your videos are super entertaining

[@myname2896]

This is kinda funny because I always solo rbgy with the bulbasuar line

[@erikmclennan3934]

Bulbasaur was my original starter and I have never had an issue soloing the game with it, with a little help from legendary birds toward the end. Body Slam is the right move, I always went with that one.

[@aradia9726]

im terrified for your sanity if you do gen 3

[@big_axolotl_]

Working on a shiny living dex, I already have a full box but have been way over odds for shiny lugia

[@frogsuit]

GL on the shiny Lugia, I just set that hunt up but only done about 5 resets mostly to make sure I can consistently catch it without the Master Ball so I can save that to shiny hunt Ho-oh. For whatever reason with how the coding was done Heavy Balls work well on Lugia I caught it 3 times in a row by just putting it to sleep with full health and spamming Heavy Balls

[@midori9566]

I remember using the glitch in Crystal to get all three starters and was really happy until my older brother stole my copy and saved over it.

[@jfun1338]

I'm sorry to you for that, must be hard

[@NekoJCat]

I always pick bulbasaur, I have yet to lose a battle until the first gym in any of the first generation games, while using only bulbasaur, it wasn't until I picked other pokemon to get the starters that I realized the first battle with your rival is actually supposed to be rigged against you, with him picking the advantage pokemon. First Charmader was the first and last time I lost the first fight with my rival

[@SamualN]

it hurts to see him rag on starters that aren't his favorite because he has the play style where you just try and bulldoze through the game with a single pokemon. if that strategy doesn't work, it's a sign of proper game balance

[@zeldaandTwink]

"the water starter!?" Its name is tododile and you'll do well to respect it!!! xD

[@Pablo360able]

It’s crazy that X items are “broken” when they mechanically do the same thing as your typical setup move. The real advantage they give is saving the move slot.

[@SmoothTurtle840]

The main reason why I’ve always thought Cyndaquil to be the best starter for Pokémon _Crystal_ (specifically) is because of how annoying it is to get a fire type otherwise. Vulpix is unobtainable, Houndor is catchable way too late, and Growlithe I never got since I almost always played at night, so I assumed it wasn’t available in Crystal. Any other fire types were also pretty out of the way, so when I first fought Jasmine and her Steelix without one, it went terribly.

[@JackOfen]

Many have said it already, but funnily enough Venusaur is actually the best out of the three Gen 1 starters competitivly. Razor Leaf is a crit fest, thanks to Gen 1's broken Crit calculations, Leech Seed and Toxic keep increasing each other, making that a broken combo, and the fact that Venusaur has enough defenses to tank an Alakazam's Psychic is really impressive.

[@casual3123]

Abusing glitches in Gen 1 is so much fun. I sped through the game using the Level 100 Mew glitch.

[@tswan137]

I love your vids, man. Please keep it up. This is quality.

[@kaitogirldraws]

I won't stand this slander against grass starters. Any gameplay would be harder than usual if you fought just with ONE pokémon. And of course the rival is hard, he always gets the opposite type that's strong against yours. Gen 1 is substantially easier with bulbasaur, absorb is learnt easy so I can't Belgium had. Problems with a digglett. I admit chikorita sucks a bit of ass in general, but I just find funny that all your big troubles with cyndaquil were water types. The irony. Anyway man, good content, thanks for the effort. A question tho, since breeding is available in Gen 2,wouldn't that make the completion easier? You can just breed them now

[@samwill7259]

As someone who ALWAYS chose the grass starter. Let me just tell you something...yea, you're mostly right

[@ryangallagher9723]

No, he really isn't. Almost nothing he said about Bulbasaur was correct. Bulbasaur makes Gen 1 its bitch, and this guy's terrible performance with it was entirely his own fault.

[@JackOfen]

Na, he is REALLY bad when it comes to fighting.

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

8:47 that Vaporeon is actually a good counter to one of the best search engines in the game right now to, since Drizzle and Inteleon's Shady Dealings are powerful. Speaking from experience playing Inteleon search, then dealing with the Vaporeon. Also this is really interesting as always!

[@nicosca]

My dude Bulbasaur is the best starter in gen 1 you have set up with growth, recovery with megadrain, razor leaf is almost always a crit, sleep powder and leech seed, toxic even

[@raina1848]

It would have been even funnier if you named that Bulbasaur "Big Salad". 😅 Poor grass, it's not as good for speed runs as the others, I guess.

[@tnt5320]

I have always chosen the fire starters cause I think they are cooler And fire is usually a more rare type aswell

[@joemkdd]

Tried solo-ing Crystal with Chikorita (for the Celebi Event on VC) so that I wouldn't have to level it once it was traded to my main version. I soon learned how much of an absolute purgatory Bugsy's gym was. Fury Cutter is brutal and is unlikely to miss with 160 base power, and I can't really add a new team member since it would take way too long to level the new Pokemon to a point where it's useful. I almost had a Meganium by the time I beat him.

[@hil449]

You can't solo with a grass type, it's just too fragile, pair it with a Geodude and you're gold

[@therealfulgens]

That’s... interesting. When I fought Bugsy, I was almost solely relying on my then Bayleef, and it went fine. As long as you don’t lose too much HP before Scyther, you should be fine. That and getting good DVs, that might’ve helped a little (but I don’t know what they looked like exactly).

[@DragoniteTrainer]

I watched a video somewhere where they explained that starter pokemon is like a difficult lv in 2nd gen games. Like if you pick Cyndaquil that's easy, Totodile is medium and Chikorita is hard. It makes sense if you play the game first time and pick Chikorita, first gym is Flying, second is Bug that makes your grass moves less effective, 4th is Ghost and posion too because all of ghoste there are posion type also so not very effective from grass moves again, 6th gym is stell also not very effective with grass moves and 7th is Ice type that your grass type pokemon will be weak from.

[@Pr1est0fDoom]

Totodile is easier than Cyndaquil. Fire Pokémon are weak against Miltank's Rollout. Totodile gets super effective coverage against Ghost and Psychic with Bite, against Grass, Flying and Dragon with Ice Punch/Ice Beam, learns the powerful Surf and has the highest Attack stat to use Return.

[@DragoniteTrainer]

@@Pr1est0fDoom Maybe you are right and maybe Cyndquil is medium, however I am sure Chikorita is the hardest...

[@therealfulgens]

DoomMantia in HGSS maybe, since Ice Fang exists, but in G/S/C, Cyndaquil’s way better. He gets moves that actually support his stats and cover his weaknesses (especially Thunder Punch, that’s hella broken on him).

[@Pr1est0fDoom]

@@therealfulgens Feraligatr gets Ice Punch and Ice Beam. And Water is a better defensive typing. Feraligatr having more Attack also makes Return more spammable.

[@therealfulgens]

DoomMantia I’m talking about the originals here. While Feraligatr has good attack (base 105 compared to base 84 for Typhlosion), it doesn’t even match Typhlosion’s special attack (base 109, vs base 79 on Feraligatr). And in the originals, the best ice move it could learn was Ice Beam, which a myriad of other water types (with better special attack to boot) could learn. This isn’t even including the fact that water is an extremely common type and fire is much rarer, especially in Crystal, with Vulpix being a non-option. On top of all this, Typhlosion could learn Earthquake and Thunder Punch. Combine this with its base 100 speed, and it can sweep teams surprisingly well.

[@olioelnacho8935]

Hey great video! Im new to the channel a bit and love the content you do so far :D (even tho i dont play pokemon anymore seeing somebody having so much fun eith the old gen is awesome) I also liked the non-pokemon content I think they were great vids! Keep up the great work!

[@xanderknowles6721]

i love how the auto captions actually spell out the pokemon's names correctly, most of the time

[@EpocaDura]

I always used leach seed + Poison powder/Toxic with Bulbasaur/Venusaur. Its pretty proken in gen 1 tbh.

[@etherraichu]

Son in Gen 4 I decided I was going to try a grass starter this time. Biggest mistake ever. I swear Tackle's accuracy was 50%. It just kept missing. It traumatized me. I couldn't use another grass Pokemon until Chespin's adorable face de-cursed me.

[@Pixiuchu]

I wouldn't have clicked if the title wasn't making me curious, so... GG, you're doing good with the titles lol

[@u7u9u8]

This is great content! Keep it up!

[@2010AZ]

"I would like very much like to thank all the people supporting this work on Patreon. It means a lot to me. If you want to join them, you will get unique perks" Me : "Yeah no I'm good I have sponsorblock and I don't use discord that ofte-" "Including me singing the pokérap in french" (spits drink) WHERE DO I SIGN UP

[@shadnacyto6163]

Awesome progress, keep it up!

[@KaiOcean408]

Nice update can’t wait to view

[@ZilRockbottom]

Lyra: "The water starter is the best choice every time." Diamond/Pearl: Am I joke to you? Platinum: Yes, you are.

[@leargamma4912]

The water starter is the best choice in RS, BW2, XY, and the [Ultra] SM games. Grass starter is the best in red, blue, the remakes, Emerald, and Legends Archeus. Every other pokemon game has the fire starter being the best.

[@lqa77]

Water is the best for speedrunning the game in rby, gsc, rse, sm and swsh. Fire is good in dpp and bw, and they all suck in x/y (but you get Lucario an hour in to use!) I know speedrunning isn't the end all be all of strength but it's the gameplay style lyra is using

[@aureumursa1833]

I've almost exclusively picked Bulbasaur in Gen 1 games and have had no problems, but other Pokémon make up where grass is lacking.

[@sayaztv]

I hope you make the Living Dex series for all Generations, because i really enjoy listing to your videos

[@HankJ666]

It's funny how in Gen 1, Bulbasaur is basically easy mode, since the first 2-3 gyms are literally weak against it, while in gen 2, Chikorita is hard mode, cuz of the first 2 gyms and the rival just after the 2nd one

[@DBSMoonMaster]

I would always grab a poliwag at night early on when I started with Chikorita

[@laggingdragons]

I just did the clone glitch in Cherrygrove with a save right before picking up the starter to get all three starters as a kid. Sure, it's a glitch, but I did it as a kid so I'd do it today too. Saves a lot of time and living dexes in the first two gens were horseshit to finish by yourself, lol, mainly because of the PC system being so hard to manage. Guess that's why Lyra made a website, no? Whatever the case, you keep doing you; I like your quest and respect you for it because I can live vicariously through you to fulfill my remarkably unrealistic childhood dream of having a living dex on every Pokemon game.

[@Radar_of_the_Stars]

Oh yay! I was waiting for a new episode!

[@eulermachado3968]

Your only problem in the videos is thinking water is better than fire. Burn the gyms to the ground is the better strat everytime.

[@groszak1]

water is better than fire, fire is better than grass, grass is better than water

[@rockvolnutt66]

I like choosing Totodile. Not being a victim of SE rollout, learn bite, rage and can learn Ice move from TM, Totodile feels versatile for me

[@XellossBoi]

Your website is so beautiful and useful! Thank yiu!

[@carsonyuh]

Please continue the living dex!

[@IAmMissingnoMaster]

Chikorita isn't a bad starter choice in Gen 2. I wouldn't try to solo the game with it, obviously, but as part of a team it can provide some truly invaluable support. And frankly I'm not surprised that Whitney was trivial- Bayleef's Reflect and Poison Powder can really cripple Miltank, and bonus points if you start with a female one that's therefore immune to Miltank's Attract.

[@AndrewBlechinger]

yeah, but you need a 0 or 1 attack DV to get a female starter. this also means that it's impossible to get a female shiny starter.

[@IAmMissingnoMaster]

@@AndrewBlechinger Fair enough. All I can say is, I've reset for female Chikorita in Gen 2 before, and I've never regretted it.

[@RabbitEarsCh]

Wow, as a kid I just really loved my gator and never dreamed of using anyone else no matter how many times I restarted, or if I played with just him alone. Turns out it was probably the *only* way I was getting through that. Though one time I did a Rattata Only Challenge in honor of Trainer Joey and his top percentage Rattata, and that worked out surprisingly well. (You're really going to want to learn Dig for Olivine though.)

[@TobeyFairre7861]

We get it, you hate grass types Also, there's nothing wrong with using x items.

[@iivvaann86]

Nice, this is really a long challenge. I'm doing a living pokedex on the Yellow Version, yes, I know, but I think won't be as tedious as yours on this version :D

[@ankosgbx]

You can use the coin case glitch to pretty much do anything in gen 2 without any memory corruption, but at that point you are pretty much just using cheat codes

[@Laezar1]

if you want to make your life easier with bulbasaur in the late game, leech seed + toxic trivializes most battle. I managed to make a minimum battle solo run with bulbasaur (allowed to evolved) and while that was very much not easy (had to get hyper beam at some point lol, just for 1 fight) it was actually possible. I don't think it's actually possible with charmander without rng abuse. (squirtle was easier though). And for the midgame razor leaf carries very well (110bp move tend to be good =p)

[@BlazeElPadrino662]

Charmander/Charizard % exist as a Speedrun category and its routing doesn't involve too much RNG manipulation, or even at all. I used to run it like 2 years ago and didn't have any major issues learning it. Best regards!

[@Laezar1]

@@BlazeElPadrino662 ok sorry I should add I didn't use item in battle. I'm pretty sure it's super easy with x-items or healing items =p (also banned double team) Also is the speedrun you mentioned minimum battle too? cause that's what makes it extremely hard

[@exeledusprince9165]

Yeah... grass starters generally tend to be the best, this very much seems like a "you" thing.

[@BehemothMIMP]

I used the Bulbasaur line as my first starter and rolled over Gen 1 with ease. Anything I was weak to got put to sleep. Never had the same luck with Squirtle or Charmander runs (although once evolved to Charizard, nothing stops him). Always saw Blastoise as the weakest of the three, as I knew nothing about base stats or anything back then.

[@JediMage]

Wait, I thought you could give fire starter electric punch...

[@therealfulgens]

Yes you can, via TM41

[@thefrubblewarrior4678]

6:54 You can’t call yourself Pokemon champion if you don’t spam full restores!

[@masroorahmadbani1712]

I pick the water type starter in any game because they can learn ice moves.

[@JetblackJay]

bulbasaur has sleep powder which you said is amazing bad luck my friend

[@Rekowcski]

sandslash and arbok are also version exclusive in blue and red, respectively

[@Kali_Krause]

For Celebi, you may need the bad clone glitch as the GS Ball event was only available in Japan

[@Infindox]

Not if they are playing the VC release of Crystal.

[@marktreerng]

Love Gen 2. Just got my complete Unown forms in Gen 2, still can never get Stadium 2 to give out an UNOWN DOLL. I even got shiny Unown I and V! Complete decorations is a nightmare

[@stagelights_]

"the power of money" i can't believe you're secretly colin from advance wars 2

[@princesspikachu3915]

So I completed my Pokémon Crystal Pokédex on the 3DS Virtual Console trading only with another copy of Crystal, Silver, and Yellow. It took me only around 80 hours and 2 months. I had to reset the other Crystal to make getting the other Odd Egg babies from the daycare couple. All 251 available. I even caught all the beasts and Ho-Oh natively. Ho-Oh can only be caught in Crystal if you catch all the beasts in that save file so you can’t faint Suicune, Raikou or Entei in the game because you must have them to get Ho-Oh and you can’t trade for them either. You must catch them yourself. So I ended up playing and beating Silver and trading the Silver exclusives and also trading the master ball as a held item on Girafarig. It was satisfying to 100% the ‘Dex old school because I could have as a kid but I never actually did it. I had multiple GBC’s and a GBA plus a Link Cable and all 6 GB/GBC games as a kid and it never occurred to me to actually catch them all even though I traded. I also started with Totodile due to the move pool and even traded TMs to teach stuff to other Pokémon like elemental punch moves.