Fixing Kanto's Gym Leaders

If you enjoyed it'd be great if you could leave a like, sub and all that fun stuff, you know how the youtube life is.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twitter: / rorythefiend
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Become a channel member: / @rorythefiend
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donations: streamelements.com/toonrusty/tip
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credits
Animated Johto Background - Zaebucca
/ 1372342302962749441
Gym Leader Backgrounds: pokemongohub.net
e.g.
pokemongohub.net/post/pvp/bug...
General Pokemon info (Gym leader teams, like pokemon movesets, encounter rates, trainer sprites): bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Pokemon Sprites: pokemondb.net/sprites
Machoke Battle Revolution Gameplay: • Twitch Plays Pokemon B...
Jrose11 Psywave moment: • How Fast can you Beat ... (13:57 mins in for psywave)

[@RoryTheFiend]

It was really fun working on this video and I'm glad I got it finished for today as I was a bit unsure if I could make it in time! Comment below your own team comps for the Gym Leaders, I'm excited to see your own ideas for them!

[@radjagal6520]

Brock: Kabuto, Paras, Onyx (Mostly the same reasoning as your take but Kabuto can deal with water types while Paras does the same job of Zubat of being a cave mon that can take care of Grass but this time is also very weak to fire, leaving a little bit of a breather for those who picked charmander). Misty: Psyduck, Tentacool, Starmie (Psyduck is here just because it is the mon Misty is most remembered with thanks to the anime and Tentacool can deal a bit with grass) Surge: Voltorb, Porygon, Magnemite, Raichu (Never tough about putting a Porygon on Surge's team before this video but it just works so well, only really added a magnemite because i think opponent's teams should be a bit bigger than just 3 mons by this point already). Erika:Victribel, Exeggcute, Nidoqueen, Vileplume (Exeggcute is here because its just a good grass type mon and adds a little bit more of type diversity, Nidoqueen is here because i think the mon that is female only being in the gym with only female trainers makes sense, its ground type could also help against fire). Koga: Venomoth, Tentacruel, Haunter, Venusaur, Weezing (Venomoth and Haunter deals with psychic while Tentacruel and Venusaur deals with ground, also just always found weird that Koga didn't have any mons of the Gengar line, a ghost being used by someone as stealthy as a ninja just makes sense for me). Sabrina: Mr. Mime, Slowbro, Jynx, Exeggcutor, Alakazam (Just a collection of really solid Psychic types that could cause trouble to any trainer, honestly psychic is just really easy to build a team with because its just that good). Blaine: Rapidash, Ninetales, Magmar, Charizard, Flareon, Arcanine (The six fully evolved non-legendary fire types from Kanto). Giovanni: Rhydon, Kangaskhan, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Golem, Persian (Wanted a team of big and powerfull chunky mons with the plot twist of the fast cat at the end).

[@JaharNarishma]

To me, it feels like the early gyms would fit better in the gen 3 remakes. The original games had a learning structure. Gym 1: Sturdy and slow/weak with Rock typing to resist physical moves. Lesson is to use special moves. I wouldn't change Brock's team. Gym 2: mono Water that can dish out some damage. Lesson is to use resisted types. Gym 3: mono Electric, with Diglett cave next to it. Lesson is to use resisted types. Seeing how lesson for gym 2 and 3 are the same, I would swap the order of them. Diglett sweeps Surge while Misty can have type diversity. The lesson should be learned already. Raichu with T-wave, T-bolt and Bodyslam is all that is needed. All other Pokémon are fluff Electric types. They are supposed to beat non-Ground teams. For Misty, I really liked the addition of Aurora beam Seel and Peck Goldeen. Bubble beam on both with an additional, "useless" move. Starmie should be all useful with special moves + Swift to counteract accuracy drop. I would also add a Wartortle to her team with the level up moves. I think it would be fitting if the 3 starters were used by gym leaders. There are gym leaders with types matching all 3 starters. Why not add them? Going forward, the rest of the gyms should simply be better. Erica should get an Ivysaur. Blaine and Giovanni are particularly bad in Red/Blue. I like your changes there. I would add a Charizard to Blaine's team and a Nidoqueen to Giovannis team. In summary: Gym 1, Brock. Unchanged. 2 Pokémon. Gym 2, Surge. Improved moveset for Raichu. 3 Pokémon. Gym 3, Misty. Aurora Seel, Peck Goldeen, standard Wartortle, good Starmie. 4 Pokémon. Gym 4, Erika. Improved move sets. Tangela, Ivysaur, Victreebel, Vileplume. 4 Pokémon. Gym 5, Koga. Good move sets. Golbat, Venomoth, Weezing, Muk. Minimize Muk is the ace. Gym 6, Sabrina. First 2 Pokémon using stat and status sets, Kadabra being a Psywave randomiser, last 2 being actual damage threats. Mr.Mime, Hypno, Kadabra, Exeggutor, Alakazam. 5 Pokémon. Gym 7, Blaine. Your team + Charizard with Slash and Dig. 5 Pokémon. Gym 8, Giovanni. Your team + Nidoqueen with other utility moves than Nidoking.

[@firewarrior8298]

Brock would be unchanged, Misty would have psyduck instead of staryu, Surge would have magnemite instead of pikachu, Erika would have a parasect in addition to her current team, Koga would have arbok and golbat instead of the two koffing, Sabrina would have Slowbro and Hypno in place of kadabra and venomoth, Blaine would have ninetales instead of growlithe and a Magmar, and Giovanni would have a Sandslash instead of ryhorn

[@nessdbest8708]

I disagree with this video, Brock is more of a ground type Gym Leader in this video then a ROCK type gym leader.

[@ceilyurie856]

you really forgot Aerodactyl is Rock/Flying?

[@TheLaughingMan313]

Missed opportunity not giving Giovanni’s Dugtrio Fissure. Given Dugtrio’s Speed, that combo can be pretty scary.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Dang you're right, I think my mindset was just fissure is bad since red and blue only give it to pokemon that can't use it!

[@emiranda2491]

I remembered using that combo against Lorelei’s Lapras and BOOM! Defeated!😁

[@RoryTheFiend]

@@emiranda2491 I'll have to try it at some point, it sounds fun lol

[@danielgloyd4529]

Give him some X acuracy too so he can do speed run strats on the player.

[@joaquinkhourysilvestre2530]

Also body slam + horn drill can work, since paralysis reduces speed.

[@olimor1]

One thing to note is that every gym leader uses the TM they give you, seeing you removed the move for some of the gym leaders it’s not a perfect fix

[@MortenLongbottom]

I thought the same. However they can swap the character who gives Psychic and Psywave, Sabrina can give Psychic and the Psychic in Saffron City the Psywave. Sabrina is one of the most powerful, so I don't know why she uses Psywave as a TM it should be Psychic instead.

[@whitejacket9725]

Acceptable, but also, psywave is one of the worst moves in the game

[@MortenLongbottom]

@@whitejacket9725 yes, Sabrina, along with Brock, is the gym leader that gives a useless TM. However in Sabrina's case is even worst than Brock, as she is the sixth gym leader.

[@Green24152]

​@@whitejacket9725it can be used to desync and force a draw on link cable battles

[@BrendenTait8858]

​@@MortenLongbottomProbably because they were worried about balance.

[@Trashcanman487]

Yo love the Pokémon that fit the theme of a gym! That Porygon preventing the Diglett/Dugtrio sweep is a great addition!

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah had to branch into a non electric type to give surge a chance and Porygon fit the bill the best imo, certainly unusual game design putting it nicely by putting what is essentially an auto win pokemon next to a Gym Leader

[@knkn5049]

But Porygon was a mistery, first artificial pokemon, made by programmers... Now it is a "town bicycle" that everybody use. What next? Clefairy the only alien Pokémon that fell from the moon, whose location we do not know and have to search for it in the mountain moon, now every girl will have one? What next, Magiccarp will evolve at level 5? Who needs legend about "zero to hero" due to hard work, when you can have just strong pokemon... Everyone of them were a side quest to obtain something special.

[@RoryTheFiend]

@@knkn5049 I mean you can get them at the game corner new lore surge loves gambling

[@knkn5049]

@@RoryTheFiend nothing wrong here, team Rocket steals real treasures and hide it behind dreadful grind wall, it is out of reach.

[@treborL]

@@knkn5049both clefairy and gyarados are used by tons of npc trainers in gen 1 lol you picked weird examples to compare with

[@HyperlordB]

I think LT. Surge should have Electabuzz with the only non-gimmick fighting type move it can learn in gen 1: submission (powerful, but has recoil) in order to keep a rock type in check. TBH i think Electabuzz is a very Lt. Surge type pokemon, so it should probably be his ace, over Raichu.

[@chesterstevens8870]

He had one in the manga; or rather, he _kept_ one. According to Surge it was "too mean to keep in a pokeball."

[@enhancedutility266]

It's kind of weird in all the years that play pokémon How come lieutenant search never owned or used an Electabuzz which actually fits his playstyle and personality

[@welshlout3400]

@@enhancedutility266Maybe they thought it slightly too early in the gym sequence for surge to bust out a second fully evolved mon. Put him in Celadon instead of Erika and buzz would be decently justified imo

[@robertlunderwood]

​​@@welshlout3400 It's single stage in Gen 1.

[@welshlout3400]

@@robertlunderwood Yup, which makes it fully evolved. It even has the same bst of Raichu if I’m not mistaken.

[@thebarbelllifestyle1478]

The fact that blaine didn't have a Magmar in gen 1 always confused me as a kid.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah Blaine with Magmar just makes sense to me, and with blaine originally having a growlithe and ponyta it really was the easiest change I could make out of all the leaders

[@xtreme-ninja2611]

watching this video really made me realize that kanto has some of the gym battles of all time

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah some of the gym leaders have awfulpokemon, it's hard to pick the worst one but I think Giovanni's Rhyhorn is absolutely horrid for Gym 8

[@xtreme-ninja2611]

​@@RoryTheFiend i was shocked to see growlithe and arcanine running ember and not flamethrower into the mid 40s

[@RoryTheFiend]

@@xtreme-ninja2611 They are late bloomers, nothing wrong with that, just not befitting for the 7th gym leader

[@rjd-kh8et]

​​@@xtreme-ninja2611All trainer Pokémon in RGB have their last 4 level-up moves except the last Pokémon of each Gym Leader, which know the TM the Leader gives you.

[@hidedasausage]

@@xtreme-ninja2611 more to do with that Growlithe doesn't learn Flamethrower until level 50 and evolves with a Fire Stone. If evolved earlier then that, it loses the chance to learn it.

[@SchoellScrub]

So one thing regarding Brock that I honestly really like already in base Gen 1 is that I view it as a sort of "tutorial boss fight" teaching you about type effectiveness depending on your starter. Pretty challenging with Charmander, but a cakewalk with the other two. This version while it teeters on the fact that his gym has only one rock move, but it's a fairly interesting first major boss fight too. Different interesting takes on game design.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah I can see why you'd say that, I wanted the first Gym Leader to have Pokemon that have their match up vary from bad to good against the regions starters to give the player a bit of a "roller coaster" battle of easy moments and hard moments

[@Squishen]

Thats an interesting take, but in my opinion, being a cakewalk with 2/3 starters really doesn't convey that message well- New players aren't likely to replay the first gym with all 3 starters. I believe a better execution of that concept would be a leader with 3 pokemon, mirroring the starter type triangle, each member super effective/neutral/weak against one of the starters. It would be a decently challenging fight, and would do a better job at communicating type interactions, no matter the chosen starter. That being said, I'm not sure how you'd do that with gen 1's limited pokemon selection.

[@SchoellScrub]

Sorry, looking back my wording was pretty dang poor. I meant more along the lines of Brock teaching you the VALUE of type effectiveness. Base game Brock has 2 4x Weak Pokémon to Grass/Water and correct me if I'm wrong but the only Super Effective coverage you get in RBY is only Mankey in yellow with low kick with Bulbasaur and Squirtle being the only Pokémon that essentially get auto win buttons. Most moves you encounter early on are either Normal Type, Flying or are Status moves, all are physical in Gen 1 while Brock's mons all have big defence stats but low specials so when Vine Whip/Bubble connects, it'd do dummy damage compared to anything else at that point and making an impression on the player because of how much they're rewarded for clicking the right move. In Charmander's case Brock is tough not because Brock's Pokémon are good but because of his resistances and lack of options, you've not really seen much that can resist you (aside from maybe Rival 2) and the fight is an endurance test because now all your moves are Not Very Effective, forcing the player to slowly chip down his mons where the other 2 wouldn't have to. I think the best example of the games teaching you type effectiveness is Black and White's gym 1, it explicitly states the leader's weakness and auto gives you the monkey to deal with it, and later gens just tell you the mon's weakness if you've fought them already. Brock tries I think with what you can do in Gen 1 by telling it through design alone while having a monotype team, I guess one thing he could do is also teach you about Dual Types by having a Kabuto or Omanyte on his team, to make Squirtle's Bubble Neutrally effective, but that be absolute torture for Charmander players. I probably said too much here, but I just think Brock's fight is pretty neat for what it is early game.

[@david000rafael]

Also, the move Bide teaches you that spamming the offensive moves isn't always gonna work

[@Blue_EmeraldX]

​@@david000rafaelUnfortunately, I think it's only Brock's fight where that lesson applies, so the lesson is kinda lost.

[@rjd-kh8et]

The reason so many Gym Leaders' Pokémon have bad movesets is that until Yellow, all trainer Pokémon knew their last 4 level-up moves. The exception is the last Pokémon of every Gym Leader, which knows the TM the Leader gives you.

[@soleo2783]

Oof, that feels really lazily done ngl

[@MusicHavenSG]

If just confusion over psychic on Starmie were a thing that would be a good enough upgrade. Basic counter to Bulbasaur and gives Starmie a more reliable way to deal with the Squirtle line.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah I was hoping I could give it that but alas gen 1 moveset moment

[@TheAuron32]

only got surge so far and i love the idea you have going on, i really wish Game Freak would drop the entire types for gym leaders but go with themes instead, Brock as the cave specialist is great, Misty could be River specialist, Surge a Tech/Combat specialist etc...

[@TheEpsicle]

The reason Brock's team loses to the special moves super hard is entirely intentional. He is there solely to teach players that using special moves again physical walls is a smart thing to do. Giving him a sandshrew & zubat doesn't accomplish that as well since they are not quad weak to water and grass.

[@nathaninnes8945]

I love the use of wildcards here! I hate for a gym battle to turn into a monotonous anticlimactic sweep. I’ve always wanted to dabble in Pokémon hacking. First I have to find a resource similar to FEBuilder which is something I’ve used before. But when I do, perhaps the next step is for me to remove gym leader typings entirely, who knows?

[@r.c.3813]

you would recommend looking into either pokemon essentials or pokemon sdk there tools for making a fangame. it's not rom hacking but maybe you can try that. i haven't really delved to much into it myself though i do want to make a pokemon fangame one day and i know that at least essentials is used for a good amount of fangames but you do need a older version of rpg maker to use it i was lucky i bought it at one point out of boredom on sale but you might find it for free somewhere online idk tbh.

[@Gigamex2]

I feel like Giovanni's Dugtrio should have Fissure. It's the TM he gives you, and it's the only Pokemon on his team with a chance to succeed with it since it has a great base speed stat.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah I think if there was one thing I'd change thnx to the commenters insight it'd be this, to me I had it so in my mind that fissure = always bad that I forgot it's only my perception because in game fissure is only used by the ai on pokemon that are horrible to use it on

[@radjagal6520]

I think i'd have a Kabuto or Omanyte over Sandshrew on Brock's team, does the job of not being completely useless against water types while allowing the team to still have mostly rock types

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah I considered that, was just a bit concerned for the Charmander players out there. I think if Brock wasn't the first gym that'd be fine to me

[@radjagal6520]

Understandable

[@DemonVermin]

⁠​⁠@@RoryTheFiendIt would basically have Scratch and Harden only, so if you just lowered its level to like 7-9 the level of challenge should stay since it should have low enough Hp and Special that it doesn’t do much. You can even give it Absorb instead of Scratch if you want to make it more fair to Charmander and less fair to Squirtle. Sanshrew… Slash is way too powerful for this point though. 140 base normal type is going to shred most pokemon you have. Squirtle would struggle against Kabuto and Zubat, Bulbasaur would easily get wrecked by Zubat and Onix would always pose a challenge to Charmander. At least here, Charmander has one positive matchup vs Zubat.

[@jordanbean5507]

Rory, great video, I really appreciate how you designed around the confines of Gen 1 mechanics and AI. Here's a half baked idea for a future video: Making every Gym Leader/Elite 4 Member of a region a "Flint" AKA only having a couple Pokemon of their type and then the rest of their team being based around ties to their design theme. I was inspired to suggest this because you expertly implemented Pokemon that were not the Gym Leader's type in this video based on the gym's theme.

[@RoryTheFiend]

That's an interesting idea! It presents another angle to theorycraft and would make you need to think out of the box I did that a bit with Bruno from johto's elite 4 where he feels more like a bulky Pokémon guy, so stuff like steelix or donphans fit his theme without being fighting type

[@picleus]

People love to hate on Flint for only having two fire types, but I wish more leaders had more varied / looser type themes. Makes it harder to sweep with one counter while keeping a theme.

[@Zeppongola]

Pretty good alterations all around; the only ones I'd object to would be Clefable on Blaine not really fitting (though I can't think of any better-fitting options if we're looking for some type diversity), and Persian being Giovani's ace: I don't think the ground gym leader should have a non-ground ace; Persian would work just fine as the lead or as a regular team member (I do like its addition as an anime-nod and also keeping Kangaskhan as per his other theme as a rare/endangered pokemon collector though). I haven't run the numbers or anything, but slash on a Sandshrew for Brock also feels like it'd be kinda overtuned. I feel like, if anything, that'd be harsher on Charmander since the others can at least hit 'shrew super effectively in turn

[@Trashcanman487]

In before this video blows up lol

[@RoryTheFiend]

Thank you! As long as the people who subscribed for this sort of content enjoy then that'll be an absolute W for me :)

[@theannilators7479]

Omg I have literally been doing this myself in the Gen 3 remakes. Remade all of them with 6 Pokémon so they feel more like bosses to experienced trainers. I was going to release a video on it on my main but I got so swept up with it that it literally just became a new remake with some other changes. Anyways glad to see this taking off for you, this was really well made Also that Porygon play clutch, stop the ground type sweeps!!

[@RoryTheFiend]

That's so cool it's really fun theory crafting tougher teams for them! Yeah porygon isn't perfect but should put up a fight for those ground types

[@mikeyar4723]

Brock: I’d still prefer geodude or even diglett (with digletts tunnel being near) over sandshrew. Lt. Surge: I think a fighting type would fit better with his military theme than proton, and could also help with rock/ground types. Blaine: I feel like ditto on Blaine’s team (in place of Clefable) could be interesting gameplay wise and a nice reference to some wider Pokémon lore about his role in making Mewtwo ditto being a failed Mew clone… or it could just be because they are Pokémon mansion haha

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah honestly was on the fence with sandshrew, geodude or diglett would've worked fine instead and I'd be completely cool with that. Ooh yeah fighting type for surge is a great idea, somehow I didn't consider that even with surge being a soldier I feel with ditto I totally agree lore wise is a great addition, but unfortunately the lad kind of sucks haha, if he had his aiblity imposter that'd be an awesome pick for blaine. He should totally have one in the black and white 2 world tournament thing

[@shitsalad429]

I’d give Misty a Horsea instead of of a Seel since she has one in the anime, no one else uses Seadra and Horsea in the game and Dewgong is already used by Lorelei

[@tentaclefunk]

The lad returns again for another banger 🙌🙌

[@TheDarkSide11891]

Hell yeah! Some awesome move sets that really upgrade the gen 1 experience.

[@AlexBelte3002]

While i don't agree with all the choices (like Zubat for Brock, and retcon (?) Nidoquenn on Giovanni's team), it's really interesting. Especially referencing Pokemon Stadium wheras the comparison can't really be made as far as Stadium is a totally different playing mindset. Very curious to see you fixing the Gen 1 Elite 4 thought !!

[@notscorchingsands9718]

Sadly can't fix that they use SUPERPOTIONS in the e4

[@RoryTheFiend]

I appreciate it! Yeah I expect most people watching will have gone about this a fair bit differently from how I've done it, the comments I've read have suggested some really cool team compositions! I'm curious to get round to the Elite 4 as well, a handful of the pokemon there just have awful moves!

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah that is odd I don't know why they gave the end game bosses super potions

[@brandondawson4086]

Awesome video dude! If it were me, I would have given Geodude rock throw, and kept onix as is. The first gym leader of any game really should teach the player about type matchups and reward them for the Pokemon that they picked.

[@RoryTheFiend]

That's fair, Geodude using rock throw does make more sense since he actually has hands lol. I agree with you there though, I had to give brock some small chance against those bulbasaur and squirtle players, he's been insta losing for 25+ years now rip

[@notscorchingsands9718]

Gen 5 punishes you for your starter choice

[@marc0s158]

this is awesome! thanks for making this!

[@RoryTheFiend]

I'm glad you liked it! It may not be my next video project but I'll get round to the Elite 4 video for Kanto soon!

[@MangaDungeon]

i have a kinda minor complaint. So you tend to want to optimize the enemies moves or at least optimize to about the upper limit of whats reasonable for that point in the game but I think some pokemon that can basically pose a little too big of a threat by that point in the game, specifically Misty Surge and Erika, I feel like some of their stronger pokemon should have a weaker move. Mostly because their should be some room to not optimize your team, and giving them bad moves for a bad player basically lets them have a chance to "wiff" more or less, giving the player an opening while also for a bad player that is open the opportunity to create interesting game states. For example. hey you got lucky with them using Screech instead of slash, but now you have to deal with Slash dealing way more damage

[@nazacro]

While I agree with the gist, Slash will usually do the same amount of damage in Gen I if it lands a crit, because stat modifiers didn't apply to critical hits. Thus, a Pokemon with 6 tail whips will do more damage if it doesn't land a crit than if it does

[@xando233]

Git gud

[@wispyfox6854]

I love the irony in replacing Pikachu with the pokemon that got the anime in trouble for Surge's gym team

[@RoryTheFiend]

Porygon was innocent it was Pikachu that caused the explosion. Justice for Porygon!

[@splooshb9522]

Another great video!

[@RoryTheFiend]

Thank you big dog, I appreciate it

[@HippyAlex123]

just saying "once youve watched the video" even when you ask for the like in the beginning reaaaallly makes a difference to me. shows integrity and respect towards the audience - thank you

[@RoryTheFiend]

That's why I do it, asking to sub and all that always felt weird to me. it would always make me think: I've not seen the video yet why would I subscribe before seeing your content and deciding if I enjoyed it enough to sub. Appreciate the comment glad someone thinks the same as I do on that front

[@varenemerald]

It’s so funny because red/blue didn’t have the invisible tile puzzle in koga’s gym. I genuinely remember playing blue and straight up just walking up to him

[@jans1982]

The first battle is made so a child can understand how effectiveness works. That's why Onix has so much defense, rock type and almost nothing attack, so you won't die all the time.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Then good thing this is designed to be a hard mode option and not a replacement for the original difficulty, this would be for a player who already knows what they're doing and is wanting a challenge

[@RhodeynRusty]

Fantastic stuff as always 😁

[@RoryTheFiend]

You are a good lad, thanks for being supportive king

[@alexadavis8558]

It's interesting seeing how tough this is to do within Gen 1, I did an improved set of gyms and E4 for LGFR which is a lot easier like I gave Surge a Chinchou for ground counters

[@matthewroberts198]

Ooooo I like these, especially going to Stadium for inspiration like I do. I originally would give Porygon to Blaine but I like the idea with Surge plus it gives the player insight into the 9,999 coin Pokemon in the Game Corner later on. A couple of ideas for the Elite 4 if/when ya do them: I would give Kabutops and Omastar/Poliwrath to Bruno in place of his twin Onix. Ninetales based on fox spirits and Marowak with Lavender Town connection (also later Alolan variant hint) to Agatha. And finally, Electabuzz on Lance's team for diversity, based on a thunder demon (and inspired by SmithPlaysPokemon idea for Lance's Gen2 team)

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yay I'm glad you liked the stadium inspo and porygon Ooh I like the idea of kabutops for Bruno if I end up giving him one then props to you for planting the seed lol Elecatbuzz Is an interesting choice for Lance would not have thought of that! Thanks for your comment!

[@belodie]

It looks like gym leader movesets in Gen 1 are just their 4 most recent levelup moves (ignoring duplicates), with the awarded TM slapped on to the final Pokémon afterwards. I wonder if that's just how it's coded for all trainers.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah it's odd, feel like that's pretty much how it is for all trainers. Which I get it since this was the first pokemon game with a small team essentially making a passion project, probably a lot of limitations they had to deal with. Luckily we can go all out these days with a myriad of rom editing tools and the like

[@keebs5780]

Yes, that is in fact exactly what’s happening! The game by default only supports the 4 most recent moves in level up movesets, with an extremely rudimentary system that allows exactly one unique move per Gym Leader and Elite Four member (the champ too, but he’s indexed separately). This was changed in Yellow with a new special moves system that allows you to modify the movesets of any trainer you want.

[@maxmercurythemm827]

The champ's Pidgeot in addition to his ace has a unique move somehow (Sky Attack), which makes it the only non-ace I know to have a unique move. But Agatha's final Gengar will forever be a hallmark of that stupidly bad system.

[@keebs5780]

@@maxmercurythemm827 This was driving me insane once I saw this comment so I did some digging. Apparently, there is a unique routine for the champion only which asks: Is trainer class champion? If yes: Sky Attack -> Pidgeot It isn’t listed amongst the other special moves for some bizarre reason, so it makes it seem like it just comes out of nowhere. So yes, I guess they programmed this specifically only for the champion Pidgeot, and I can’t possibly imagine why.

[@FrenzyFanboy]

Love these videos (maybe do Gen3/4 next!!!)

[@RoryTheFiend]

Thank you so much! It's hard work so I wish I could get them out quicker but I already push myself to get them out when I do lol I'll definitely get round to gen 3 and 4 at some point, Hoenn has a special place in my heart being my first region I played as a kid, and I used to play a bunch of Pearl on my DS!

[@bigz4829]

Yo new Rory vid!!!

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yo new bigz comment!

[@ponyboy9765]

Great new team compositions. This would definitely be a much more challenging run through Kanto. The only thing I personally would change would be Clafable. I think it’s just a little too off brand for him. Maybe put in ninetails for some confuse ray/ fire spin shenanigans. Or just go all out and give him a charizzard. Would have been cool to see Misty with a squirtle Erica with an Ivysaur and Blaine with a Charizard if you went that route. Overall awesome teams though.

[@pelipperd00d31]

Maybe a cool option for Blaine would be Magneton (since he has the whole science background)

[@ponyboy9765]

@@pelipperd00d31That’s actually amazing. It thematically fits with him and would give him a great answer to water types that normally OHKO most of his team.

[@KyleJoseph94]

Erika is sleepy all the time because it ain't just grass type pokémon she loves 🤷‍♂️🤣

[@computersocsci]

Great video! I'd love a romhack of this :)

[@RoryTheFiend]

Me too, I might see if I can make it myself at some point

[@neuchatelxanax]

I kinda did this, adding custom moves to trainers is kinda tricky due to how trainers are coded in RBY, you have to create an entire new function telling this trainer's number x Pokémon's number y move is now this move. It takes a lot of space and you have to play with the ROM's different banks a lot

[@RoryTheFiend]

Oh god that sounds annoying

[@leonardooberdadealmeidamon2305]

I dunno how to start so i'll just say it was a good video. I like when Gym leaders don't limit theirselfs using only pokemons that much their gym's type, and i actually prefer when the pokemon matches the gym leader's theme or TM rather then it's type. Like, what if Brock was a cave gym leader or a hiker gym leader rather then a Rock-type one? Or if Blaine's team was build after science and technologic pokemon like the fossil pokemon you can ONLY revive on the island you find Blaine or the Grimer you can only find on Cinnabar Island's Pokemon Mansion? (The idea on the last one is that he represents quimicals and experiments that went wrong) I think they would be more interesting that way specially since like in Brock's case where there's a lack on Rock-type pokemon or because all the others are too strong for the part of the game you challenge it, so what about that: What if the gymleaders of Gen 1 where others? Using not only type-based teams, but theme based has well. Examples: Swapping Misty for that guy from the anime that's trying to get 100 wins straight and he would have the theme of using the evolution of pokemon you can find nearby Cerulean City like Raticatte, Gloom, Arbok and Sandslash for his Ace been his original Ace Sandshrew's evo (he is also kinda of a multi-type gym leader). Or making the first gym leader on Viridian City that uses Flying or Normal-type, because he would be a introduction to the league challenge so he would try to basically teach new trainers by using simple but still challenging pokemon and those types do it well. Also having Brook becoming a Bug-type gym leader because of Viridian Forest been the closest place close by with a main type and a Koga having a Safari Zone pokemon-based team. Pretty cool though. Anyways, keeping with these format of video because it's pretty cool to see. Good job!🤏😎👍

[@kzman1173]

The Jrose shout out was good to see, that's my main pokemon youtuber haha

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah I love jroses content (been a fan for a few years now) I was watching some old runs and realised his psywave comment would be perfect for me to add in as I talk about psywave being bad lol

[@canalxpcial5108]

Oh, boy! That what we talking about! Now i can have a little more solid post game to my hack-rom! Thanks bro!

[@RoryTheFiend]

Ay no problem! What's hack-rom are you talking about?

[@canalxpcial5108]

@@RoryTheFiend a hack-rom about my channel. Gonna call it Pokemon XPcial Edition...

[@wafflebroz]

I really love the Giovanni changes most of all. Persian giving love to the anime style of Giovanni is great

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah Persian is so iconic because of Giovanni I knew he had to have one Persian is a really cool gen 1 Pokémon as well imo, solid moveset with 100% crit rate slash is no joke and since Giovanni has bulky tanks to finish with a fast Mon that crits you could be scary against a weakened team

[@DarthAnimal]

Misty needs her Psyduck, and you can even give it Confusion to hit Ivysaur

[@JustJDude]

"When will the pokemon game that is literally just America be coming out?" Black & White: "Are we a joke to you?"

[@awsumg2168]

Fixing Kanto’s Elite 4 would be a great video!!

[@vo117man]

It would be neat to see these changes implemented into RBY(G?) via rom. Since you mentioned being faithful to the anime a few time, I was wondering if you were going to include Mewtwo on Giovanni's team. I'm sure you'd have to find way to nerf it, but would you also adjust other members of Giovanni's team for balancing?

[@1993bahamut]

Was, that's a lotta digs. Too bad I'm not beatin' 'em 😂😂😂

[@curiouscase0075]

Brock: Geodude, Zubat, Onix Misty: Psyduck (with Confusion), Goldeen, Starmie (with Confusion) Lt. Surge: (I like your addition of Porygon!) Erica: Victreebel, Exeggutor (with a psychic movie) and Vileplume. (Butterfree doesn’t change anything considering fire can still sweep the team, so why not give her another powerhouse grass type with psychic typing?) Koga: Muk, Weezing, Golbat, Venomoth. (Tentacruel just doesn’t give off Ninja vibes). Sabrina: Alakazam, Mr. Mime, Hypno Blaine: Rapidash, Ninetales, Arcanine, Flareon, Magmar (since water will absolutely sweep this gym, strength in numbers). Giovanni: Marowak, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Dugtrio, Rhydon.

[@MyHandleIsAplaceholder]

Missed opportunity not to give Misty Psyduck. I think it's one of her most iconic pokemon!

[@mazyyKaizo]

Nice one bro

[@RoryTheFiend]

Thanks bro I appreciate it

[@TheGaloX]

ANOTHER ONE LETS GOOO

[@yaboityler2617]

A few thoughts: Brock lives in the same town as the Old Amber, so a Aerodactyl would be cool, and counter bulbasaur who has it too good in the first 2 gyms. Koga can have so many options: Tentacruel is cool, what about Gengar or Golbat with mega drain? These two could also make an appearence on Erikas team with that move. In that case, Nidoking or Queen with some kickass movesets could be on Kogas team. If Queen is on Kogas team, you could pop Snorlax with Earthquake on Giovannis, along with Tauros to show off how strong they are.

[@argonianale5716]

Perfect timing! I'm playing through Yellow rn 😁

[@RoryTheFiend]

Awesome! What's your current team?

[@argonianale5716]

@@RoryTheFiend I'm roleplaying as my own headcanon young Samuel Oak haha, so Nidoking (have always interpreted the iconic Nidorino vs Gengar as being Oak vs Agatha in their youth), Exeggutor, Arcanine, Gyarados, Tauros (from his unused gen 1 battle), and a random Machoke thrown in because he's the champ 🗿... yeah gotta wait to see my friend so we can trade and evolve the Machoke 😆 Love the vids btw! I spend an obsessive amount of time making teams across all the games then deleting them out of disatisfaction, so seeing your builds for various characters is entertaining as well as insightful 😋

[@RoryTheFiend]

@@argonianale5716 that's a pretty solid team comp! Wish they kept that unused oak battle the games text alluded to it, oak could've been the original super boss. But I hear you with making team comps Ive done that for a few years editing ROMs making them harder and improving weak Pokémons base stats etc it's pretty fun, I think you'll like another video idea I'll get to at some point where we improve other aspects of Pokémon

[@michaelgrey1503]

I just realized that fish from the goofy goober scene voices all of the clones in Clone Wars.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Voice actors having worked on wildly different shows is always so cool to me, never know where they'll pop up!

[@duderino6171]

When people talk about pokemon being too easy this is what they mean. Cool video.

[@MisterFiasco]

I’ll be honest, I was positive the solution to the Diglett/Dugtrio problem Surge faces was gonna amount to giving Raichu Surf. It’s like, his ONE competitive niche over all the other bog-standard Electric types.

[@joaoluizlagoas8505]

What a well done video: content and edition wise. Your ideas goes beyond the tradicional "add more pokemon from the gym type". The Porygon, Sandshrew and Butterfree choices were perfect.

[@RoryTheFiend]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! With gen 1s limited Pokémon it isn't perfect but I am a big fan of giving gym leaders a bit of type diversity but staying relatively on their theme

[@brothafreedom5379]

You should have given Sabrina’s Slowbro Amnesia for a little razzle dazzle

[@AaronJLong]

5:01 Good thing I wasn't drinking at that moment or I would've done a spit take all over my phone.

[@RoryTheFiend]

save that moveset for Kaizo red / blue maybe lol, starmie is so cool it gets all those moves though

[@flavsdepadua8516]

"rhyhorn isnt winning any races" Serena: *shocked*

[@RoryTheFiend]

I said that completely forgetting about the rhyhorn in X and Y as well lol

[@jenanacremepie]

Gen 1 gym teams are the definition of what were they cooking

[@Lvxurie]

Just wanted to leave a comment and say that i discovered your channel a few weeks ago and your videos are great! You show clips of other channels i also watch and your content fits in perfectly! Maybe a collab/challenge with Pokemon Challenges racing through your altered game in the future could be cool.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Thanks I appreciate it! I really enjoy jroses videos such a fun concept ranking all the Pokémon I'm excited for his next video! A Collab with Pokémon challenged would be amazing but considering I'm at about 5k subs think that's a while away from being a possibility

[@NarutoBunshin18]

I saw a lot of missed opportunities here but to each his own

[@androidboyd]

Like, Psywave is trash, but it is Sabrina's gift TM, so it probably should be repped somewhere on her team. Same thing with Giovanni and Fissure. I suppose one could address this issue by swapping the locations of Psywave and Psychic, along with Earthquake and Fissure in-game, but that is a whole other issue. (Actually, now that I say that, perhaps that is actually a good idea, locking some OP TM's behind more walls instead of giving the player super early access to them.) Maybe Surge's Raichu could have Surf? Maybe Brock's Onix could have Rock Slide instead of Rock Throw? Cool stuff!

[@RoryTheFiend]

if psywave did more than 0 damage maybe it'd get some rep, jk though I can see your point I think I was just so offended by those moves I couldn't do it, turn mr psychic into mr psywave and give sabrina the psychic tm ezpz lol Surge's raichu having surf would be awesome, I think surf pikachu is only from an event though so it'd feel too cheeky for me to use it. and yeah Rock slide on onix could be fine since onix doesnt have great attack, I played it safe on that one with the incredibly bad rock throw

[@TomJacobW]

Good takes!

[@RoryTheFiend]

Thank you!

[@luisgusta]

Could give Erika a Vaporeon. Yeah, a stretch, but she uses one on Stadium and I think it matches both the idea of she being in the city you get Eevee, being a Kimono Girl and needing to water her plants, I dont know.

[@haidynwendlandt2479]

I don’t know how I didn’t realize that Surge’s Voltorb having Sonic Boom is a Street Fighter reference

[@Horatio786]

Beta Gym Leader Teams (Bug, Dragon, and Ghost type did not exist yet, and Rock and Ice types may have just been implemented) Brock: Diglett, Onix Misty: Goldeen, Seadra Lt. Surge: Voltorb, Pikachu, Electabuzz Erika: Ivysaur, Weepinbell, Exeggutor Koga: Haunter, Koffing, Gengar Sabrina: Slowbro, Mr. Mime, Venomoth, Alakazam (Venomoth was likely a Poison/Psychic type at this point in development) Blaine: Ponyta, Ninetales, Rapidash, Magmar Giovanni: Farfetch'd, Fearow, Dodrio, Pidgeot, Aerodactyl

[@selder_7]

I think with Brock you just have to accept he’s going to be a pushover for grass types, the only way around that is giving him Aerodactyl which would be ridiculous for the first gym leader - or giving him non-rock types, which feels like cheating. You can punish bulbasaur users later by giving Starmie Confusion as a move

[@EduardoLopez-yb9zf]

For LT Surge: He could of added a Jolteon lvl 27 with thunderbolt, thunder wave, double team, double kick and a Magneton lvl 25 with thunderbolt, sonic boom, supersonic and thunder wave and an electabuzz level 32: with submission, mega kick, thunderbolt and light screen or reflect. Sabrina’s team could of consisted a jynx lvl 44 with the moves lovely kiss, ice beam, substitute and psychic. Hypno lvl 48 with hypnosis, dream eater, psychic and disable or barrier. Alakazam lvl: 52 with psychic, recover, ice punch, and thunderwave, Koga: Arbok lvl 43: earthquake, glare, toxic and wrap. Blane: I’d switch magmar moves and lvl to 46 with fireblast, thunderpunch, smokescreen ( accuracy) and submission. Giovanni: Golem lvl 53 explosion, earthquake, rockslide and submission. 🤷🏻‍♂️ that’s just a thought

[@robertlupa8273]

I wonder how you'd fix Gen 1 Bruno or Agatha.

[@HiyokoSupiritto]

You know what I like your Persian's moveset for Giovanni? It's a smogon set that it could have

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah Persian also just seems like a fun pokemon to use in gen 1 with the moves it gets, it's nice it at least gets something to deal with those rock types anyway

[@TheKyubiisaan]

“When will they make a region based on America” *mentions Unova in an unrelated side gag moments later* Does he know?

[@seyproductions]

I'd like to watch a playthrough with these mons!

[@iamthewulf]

Jrose would be going crazy in his solo challenges

[@RoryTheFiend]

pidgey would be level 100 for sure to beat my versions of these boss battles

[@rescuerex7031]

I didn't liek this one as much as the Gen 2 one, cuz like you gave so many gym leaders just not their type, and it only makes sense for like Giovanni

[@pedrohenriquecarneiro3386]

Huuum, I don't know if I like your changes more, or Smith plays pokemon more(in gen 2), also, my major change was giving Whitney Girafarig, removing the cocoons and adding Ledian and Pinsir. Also, what levels should the Kanto gym leaders be?

[@superspider64]

I think it'd be interesting to revisit Johto's league with a fresh coat of HG/SS paint

[@abominationdesolation8322]

Honestly I always considered Vulpix a Brock pokemon. 1-3 non-type-relevant pokemon are fine; if anything every gym should have a "counter" pokemon to throw people off and test them.

[@Ludzig]

By that logic every gym should have a balanced team, which, yeah, logically they should

[@ClaptonsWig]

Feel like if we have Zubat Mega Drain we should give Sandshrew Dig. Let Brock maintain his rock/ground type effectiveness plus extra challenge for people bringing poison types

[@RoryTheFiend]

Dig feels a bit harsh since it's 100 base power in gen 1 but it'd be nice if we had a weak ground move to give them

[@gmkgoat]

Giving Brock's Onix Rock Throw would be dire for Charmander start in Red/Blue, but fine in Yellow or FireRed/LeafGreen. Your only options at that point would have been birds, bugs, pikachu, and rattata. The best strat would be holding Butterfree in reserve, switching in on KO and hoping to god you land 5 Confusions before it hits 2 Rock Throws. In Yellow and beyond you'd at least have access to Mankey and Nidoran for Low/Double Kick respectively.

[@pk5727]

I would have given Blaine a ninetails. Either instead of curable, or him being the first 5 Pokémon gym leader. I also like giving g Brock at least one fossil….since the museum is right there. I’d be very tempted giving Sabrina a haunter

[@toxicity791]

I would have liked to see either Koga or Erika rep a Venusaur. Maybe on Koga over the Venomoth, since Victreebell and Vileplume have limited exposure outside of Erika, whereas Venomoth is featured on a handful of trainers from memory. But even on Erika I think it still works thanks to its lower evolution level. Similarly, the Eeveelutions I remember being criminally under represented in Gen 1, so while I like the Clefable on Blaine I’d be happy to make that a Flareon. Perhaps even giving Lt Surge a Jolteon, and using pin missile to mess with the Bulbasaur pickers. Though maybe in that case the level scaling doesn’t work out.

[@lillywalker8464]

I feel like the only necessary change for Brock would be adding rockthrow you could also add zubat but geode and onix are iconic and are made to be first rocky gym pokemon

[@Strawberrycock309]

That sabrina is crazy man. Straight up has 3 OU pokemon on it (and mr mime)

[@einjix]

To think those pushovers are like the main bosses of the game, one thing for sure i would have never beat the game at 7 y/o with a raticate if they were somewhat competent, anyway good video lol

[@jasonfox6932]

Only change id make is to replace withdraw with amnesia on Sabrina's slowbro since it boosts offense and defense at the same time.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Honestly I just was scared if I did that it'd be too strong lol, but you're right amnesia on slowbro would be a great choice for it

[@morphball2314]

I like this one a lot more than the johto fixes, though I would probably swap rhydon and persian for giovanni's ace and lead. Imo Brock is a greatly designed first gym battle because it perfectly teaches the player about type advantage in case you chose bulbasaur or squirtle (for charmander, you will most likely learn about it in the forest), but obviously it's boring for people who already know how to play the game.

[@RoryTheFiend]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I can see Rhydon being the ace, big massive guy coming out last is pretty scary lol And I'm glad you liked the brock battle, that seems to be hit or miss for people, the idea was to teach type matchups and also make the player have to consider their team comp more than just bulbasaur or squirtle = free win

[@VisserOne]

i remember beating Brock with just a lvl 9 Charmander in team, no Potions, and only using Ember in Red.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Yeah definitely doable if Brock decides to use harden a few too many times, still though level 9 is pretty low, good job!

[@ShackleYT]

For starmie, i'd replace water gun with psywave. that's a nice cheeky counter to ivysaur, and hits decently for wartortles. (i would've reccommended confusion, but for some reason starmie doesn't learn it)

[@goatmin]

Only problem with Misty’s team is in gen 1, razor leaf (almost) always crits so unfortunately ivysaur/bulbasaur will probably one shot her whole team except maybe Starmie.

[@RoryTheFiend]

Luckily ivysaur doesn't get razor leaf until level 30 in gen 1 or 27 for bulbasaur so at that level they'd sweep with any grass move anyway

[@goatmin]

@@RoryTheFiend oh really? Oh cool thanks for correcting me! I guess I just remember him learning that move sooner

[@joelwatkins]

I forgot how weirdly alien Blane's gen 1 sprite looks...

[@RoryTheFiend]

The gen 1 sprites are beautiful, maybe I'll make a video about them o_o

[@ohcadin6590]

5:38 The Unova region is quite literally New York, and Alola is Hawaii... Heck, even the Orre region from Pokemon Colosseum is Arizona... America is the second most refrenced Country in the Pokemon universe, second only to Japan whihc covered the first four generations. On top of that it makes sense for Pokemon regions to be based on individual states since each state is so widely different from one another that most of them could quite literally run themselves, and most of them do for the most part, which is why when in some states in America you can cross a state boarder and suddenly something that you did in your previous state that was legal is now illegal and now you can get arrested for it. This is actually why it is so hard for anything to get done in America. For example, gun control is a situation that is incredibly hard to agree on since in one state, you have a mostly forested area that has plenty of hunting grounds where guns make an incredibly fun pastime, meanwhile in another state you have mostly cities and no real hunting grounds for miles, where the only reason you would need a gun is to protect yourself from someone who has a gun. This divide is so bad that when the state that doesn't beed guns says "hey maybe we shouldn't make these deadly weapons available literally everywhere" the other guy who likes guns says "HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TAKE OUR GUNS AWAY FROM US, WE ARE AMERICAN AND WE DESERVE THE RIGHT TO CARRY WHATEVER WE WANT WHERE EVER WE WANT" and nothing gets done...

[@leftysheppey]

When machoke said "I'm in constant pain", I felt that

[@RoryTheFiend]

me every day tbh, we push forward though 💪

[@leftysheppey]

​@@RoryTheFiendfor sure 💪 I'm currently on sick leave from work because I can't walk. Absolutely sick of it at the moment 😂

[@RoryTheFiend]

@@leftysheppey I wish you the best that really sucks, even for a computer bound nerd like myself that'd drive me mad o_o

[@babababab71]

7:52 Thundersbolt must be the raichu exclusive move.

[@alyssarichardson2544]

4:27 omg that was literally me in the 90s! (fuck, I feel old)

[@RoryTheFiend]

I knew this would've happened to at least someone lol

[@alyssarichardson2544]

​@@RoryTheFiend ...I hate you, but I gotta respect the diabolic evil that went into this.