Top 10 Strongest Pokémon in Gen 1!

[@smithplayspokemon]

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[@Oscarsaurus1234]

osaurus1992

[@lookitsgriffin7800]

heylookitsgriffin

[@Ironknuckle12]

ironknuckle

[@Professorxen]

Bharic

[@Snugglife]

snugglife

[@turtlesandwich77]

11:22 "confusion at 16" yeah me too Kadabra...

[@stillwind2170]

Lmao

[@cmrobbins88]

I goofed on leaving my Abra at the day care in my current file, took an unnecessary extra steps, and it evolved at 17 with just Teleport and Disable. Sigh…

[@francescganau7679]

Running two snorlax at the same time has always been so fun. One classic physical with Body Slam and the like. The other a slow killing machine with Amnesia plus Surf, Blizzard… it never gets old

[@sceptile2794]

I need to play fire red next time like this...

[@M4x_P0w3r]

@@sceptile2794 Careful, Fire Red Snorlax is not good with a special set. Amnesia doesn't boost Special Attack there.

[@elconsorte123]

Yeah it would have to be Pokemon Red not FireRed. Good catch!

[@pnealiv7443]

Love teaching Snorlax Pay Day 🥰

[@Magic_Ice]

A gen 2 player’s best dream

[@PlaguevonKarma]

Happy to see the Dodrio propaganda! Don't forget it comes with TM Tri Attack and Fly too!

[@SpliffingBrit]

What do you even know about gen 1? ;p

[@Hyrule-Postman]

Drill peck and Tri attack in gen 1 is all i need, i swear Tri attack has 45% para, 25% freeze and 20% burn chance with 10% to do no statuss.... or i am extremely lucky in gen 1 with tri attack status

[@emkalina]

@@Hyrule-Postman it doesn't do status in gen i

[@banditrests]

Tri attack has no secondary effect in gen 1, body slam is strictly better. But dodrio and is absolutely the best non legendary flying type.

[@Hyrule-Postman]

@@emkalina my last Yellow run says otherwise, unless the rom i got has a patch included to make Tri Attack apply status, it definitely does

[@Cowne8]

10. Clefable 9. Machamp 8. Gengar 7. Snorlax/Dodrio 6. Bulbasaur line/Victreebell 5. Geodude 4. Nidoking 3. Squirtle line/Gyarados/Tentacruel 2. Abra line (Alakazam) / Jynx / Jolteon / Slowbro 1. Starmie

[@JohnJohnson-wy5ct]

For catching an abra, Catch a bellsprout with wrap. You can wrap abra, and it can't teleport away.

[@youngdillztv2908]

Or just whop a pokeball and pray to rnjesus

[@zkart8038]

Considering victreebel is great too. Having one and an alakazam will be great endgame especially if you chose Blastoise or Charizard.

[@MichiganJFrog-dz8qm]

i managed to catch 2 with this method, first one was a lvl 7 and the other lvl19​@@youngdillztv2908

[@2pacisaliveee]

How did I never know that

[@JohnJohnson-wy5ct]

@@2pacisaliveee Learn somethin everyday bro. Bellsprout is caught after nugget bridge.

[@cmbaz1140]

Nidoking has saved my ass so many times in so many games...truly deserves to be called KiNG

[@enerc2333]

In those 1st generation games, if you have anyone else in your starting game, I assure you that anyone can destroy this entire game. One of those is Rhyhorn- Rhydon, kingler with crabhammer In that generation it is 99% guaranteed critical. Even if he has a special evil, he destroys everything. Since with sword dance with body slam you have a very easy time, and the crabhammer for rock types, It is 100% guaranteed and if you want you can add ice beam or blizzard for other coverage or simply hyper beam, since in that generation you do not need to recharge when you defeat a Pokémon.Underrated, Yes! Since in the following generations it fell a lot, but in the first games, red, blue and yellow, it is a great Pokémon.

[@carloscolin8874]

Facts

[@Garde538]

Have to agree 100%

[@brandonferris9956]

Bro Nidoking is a legit speed run Pokemon of course it saves your ass lol

[@tabbender1232]

Gengar pre physical special split was insane because it was immune to or double resisted 4 physical types (5 in gen 3 because levitate) which is like half of them. Coupled with its absurd special defense in gen 1 and great speed too... yeah

[@ShiningJudgment666]

The lack of proper STAB sucks for it though. Neutral Psychics and Thunderbolts coming from it are surprisingly underwhelming at times. But it is amazing despite its flaws. The ability to hard wall certain Pokemon is a legitimate use.

[@pnealiv7443]

After you get Lapras, it can handle literally everything. With Body Slam, Blizzard, Psychic, and Thunderbolt, it can take the ENTIRE Elite Four by itself 😶

[@mytcglife]

As a Pokemon tournament player from the very beginning, I can say from experience that in the late 90s you didn't have easy access to the Internet like you do today and a lot of information about moves or strategies could only be found through magazines like Nintendo Power or Pokemon Strategy Guides. I was lucky that my brother-in-law already had internet back then and I was able to find out about a lot of Pokemon and moves. My Pokemon Red battle ready team at the time consisted of Alakazam, Tauros, Chansey, Exeggutor, Snorlax and Zapdos. I still have the save file because I was able to save it to this day with an Action Replay in the early 2000s.

[@omegamanGXE]

Great memories

[@elpirataretro8734]

Wow, you got a Tauros AND a Chansey? You must have been a lucky guy in that time

[@Shazameatums]

Chansey was underrated. Was very good to have on your team

[@KlldbyCuriosity]

As a competitive player, Starmie being number 1 is no surprise you kind of need one on a team

[@MrLinkkid]

Starmie is my favorite Pokemon and I use it any chance I get in both playthroughs and in competitive battles. You really can't go wrong.

[@herethere65]

Why?!

[@KlldbyCuriosity]

@@herethere65 Because it’s an extremely strong psychic type with thunderwave, recover, and excellent coverage. It’s better than every Pokemon you can get sans Tauros, Snorlax, and maybe Chansey and Exeggutor by a substantial margin.

[@Reazzurro90]

100% agree on Starmie. I always make sure I get to Fuscia City as quickly as possible so I can capture Staryu and begin training it. It is a formidable Pokémon even when it is at a type disadvantage, especially with the versatility of moves it can learn.

[@xjennyintime]

I feel like Articuno deserves a honorable mention, as it comes at level 50 (which is massive for a wild pokemon and makes up for the slow growth rate), requires pretty much no TM investment as it naturally learns its best moves almost immediately and does massive damage to pretty much everything that doesn't resist ice, which by the time you get it boils down to just Lorelei, making Jolteon or Zapdos good partners. Its amazing bulk also lets it sponge hits from things it can't one-shot which is a big advantage over Jynx or Alakazam, and at least in Red and Blue, its type weaknesses aren't really put to the test (fire and electric are rare outside of their gyms and the only sources of rock type damage are Rock Throw from Bruno's Onix or random Geodude...). Overall, while it is only available after Koga and does require support to deal with Lorelei, Articuno is just really, really good for a playthrough and it's probably worth using your Master Ball on the most. Also, Gengar is so good that you can literally get away with just using the moves it learns naturally and not teach it any TMs, even Lick is useful alongside Confuse Ray and Night Shade thanks to the paralysis chance.

[@ShiningJudgment666]

If only Articuno's movepool wasn't so barren. Lorelei's a roadblock for Articuno for sure. Zapdos at least gets dual-STAB though not really anything else (Hyper Beam/Double Edge at least gives it a way to get past Electrics which are ironically solid checks outside of Rock/Ground types). You honestly don't need to use a Master Ball on anything with Gen 1 sleep.

[@xjennyintime]

@@ShiningJudgment666 True, istant 21% catch chance after landing sleep plus a wide array of good sleepers makes ultra balls just as consistent. And Articuno only really needed a good flying move a.k.a. Drill Peck imo, if it had access to it, it would be near unstoppable as Ice/Flying is only resisted by the Mount Moon fossils

[@redwings13400]

In a casual playthrough, the legendary birds (at least Zapdos and Articuno) are both ridiculous because they come at level 50 and can be caught with a master ball for free, so it's basically a free auto-win button against either Lorelei or Lance, depending on which trainer you need the help against. You don't need them to beat the game, but like, if you're only training up four or five pokemon anyway to keep around a consistent hm slave in your party, they will always make your team stronger. There's a reason a lot of nuzlockes ban legendaries, because they usually come at such a high level that they are often just immediately the strongest member of your team with no investment required. The only downside is the low catch rates if you're saving your master ball for Mewtwo, so sometimes it's more annoying than its worth to catch them.

[@leonardoluiz7487]

I think you're underselling Nidoking. Earthquake is available as soon as Erika and that would give him STAB neutral damage against 2/3 of her team. Even without EQ, NIdoking still either resist or go neutral against most moves in Erika's gym. I understand not getting EQ before Erika, but it far more acceptable to get it before Koga, at which point it stomps the gym. Sabrina is weird. If you can outspeed her Nidoking can solo her, if you can't Nidoking is a very risky pick. By Blaine you should have EQ either way, so it's a good matchup. Nidoking is also good against most of Giovanni's team. It's terrible vs Dugtrio, but it will outspeed and KO both Nidos and will at least heavily damage Rhydon, as it's faster. EQ Nidoking soloes Agatha, goes neutral against Bruno (which might be enough to solo Bruno, since he's really bad) and helps against a few pokemon in the Champion fight.

[@Hubilicious90]

„In the context of a normal playthrough, where you are using three to six Pokémon.“ - I’m pretty sure a normal playthrough would be soloing your starter 😂

[@shsz1984]

I SO agree with the 1# spot. (And I'm a Mewtwo fan, but damn!) Discovering as a little kid that Starmie could learn Psychic, Recover (as Staryu ofc), Thunderbolt, Blizzard, etc, made my jaw drop. (I hoarded the TMs and didn't use them until later. That's how I found out) And seeing it going first every single turn... Felt like hitting the jackpot with this fella. Plus, it was really fun to use in Pokemon Stadium. So much coverage it was insane!

[@garg4531]

Definitely agree that Starmie is underrated, but not without its challenges unfortnately As you said you can evolve it straight away for high stats and give it access to Surf, Psychic, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam for an insane powerhouse, but it also comes late game and a low level, and at that point most casual playthroughs might already have a full team of high level mons

[@whiteeeveeangel]

I absolutely agree with this. Usually by the time I can get the super rod to fish up Staryu, I have a fully established team that's already in the mid-30s and Staryu cam only be found at lv 15 (20 in yellow) at the earliest point. If you could catch it at 10 or 15 with the Good Rod in Vermilion, I would totally agree, but at 15 off the coast of Fuchsia? Nah, I'll pass it up for Jynx in a heartbeat.

[@garg4531]

@@whiteeeveeangel Add to that by that point you gain access to the super rod or surf you already have access to blastoise, gyarados, vaporeon, and/or lapras, all great water types available much sooner Why try anything else, especially when you get them at such a low level in the late game

[@zivronen9539]

It has been a long time since I played the games, but I believe that the issue isn't helped by Starmie being in the slow level up group, while jynx is medium-fast with a 1.5x trade multiplier.

[@EuroMIX2]

I've always thought that Starmie was cool, but never really used one for this exact reason.

[@ShiningJudgment666]

@@garg4531 Starmie is quite cracked though. It's got the movepool and the stats to take advantage of it. The grind and slow level up group is painful for it though. Gyarados has a similar movepool (doesn't get Psychic but can hit hard from the physical side) and is obtainable earlier. Lapras is in a similar boat but isn't as offensively inclined. Gen 1 has a lot of Water types honestly. You'd have to consider if you want something limited with Water/Ice coverage or something that can bring more to the table.

[@jaketno]

I've found doing Saur runs that its most effective strategy is a Swords Dance/Body Slam combo. It seems somewhat counter intuitive but the Dances not only increases attack significantly, but can also trigger the bug known as the Badge Boost Glitch potentially increasing stats like defense and speed as well (temporarily) Normal type moves tend to do pretty well in this game so Dance and Slam really makes its time a breeze. Also fairly obvious, but keeping Razor Leaf for those that it's super effective against is also highly recommended lol most Mons fall with 1-2 of those sweet guaranteed crits. Toxic/Leech Seed (While a neat little glitch) is a huge waste of turns. You have to spend one turn setting up one move, another turn to set up another, and then it takes a couple more turns to bear fruit. Not to mention both moves aren't all that accurate, so you could spend even more turns missing. Swords Dance does require turns of set up as well but once you're set up you'll be good to go for the rest of the battle, whereas Toxic/Leech Seed requires you to repeat the process for every Pokémon. IMO its best set at the end would be Swords Dance, Body Slam, Razor Leaf, and Sleep Powder (Hey you never know lol)

[@ShiningJudgment666]

Venusaur's good but its coverage is ass (why does it only get Grass and Normal for coverage). It's not great for solo runs for that reason but it's a good support because Gen 1 sleep is busted (and worth delaying evolution so you can get Sleep Powder sooner) and anything that can pull it off semi-reliably is viable. Not un-doable but it doesn't get Earthquake like Charizard and Blastoise. It is at least faster than Victreebell, better than Vileplume and Tangela and easier to get than Exeggutor.

[@DMaster8686]

Just keep in mind that in gen 1 crits ignore your own stat boosts so they end up doing less damage if you use something like sword dance. That said there isn't much better choice for a grass move in gen 1 than razor leaf...

[@jaketno]

@@DMaster8686 Ya Badge Boost doesn't work well with crit hits obviously lol That's why I'd opt more for Swords Dance/Body Slam over Growth/Razor Leaf. In my scenario, Body Slam would be the dominant attack in the arsenal with Razor Leaf being more of its secondary attack (Like I said counter intuitive not making STAB dominant, but this just works the best)

[@jaketno]

@@ShiningJudgment666 I've actually done multiple solo runs with each starting family. Blastoise is the easiest by far with (Surf/Hydro Pump, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Earthquake/Dig, Withdraw) then Venusaur is second with the set I mentioned and then Charizard last (Swords Dance, Earthquake/Dig, Body Slam, and Flamethrower/Fire Blast. You don't want Slash on this set because it will ignore your Dances thus making Swords Dance somewhat useless) Saur does better than you might think even without EQ (Though it would be much nicer if it could use it lol) Erika is bugged to keep wanting to poison Saur despite it not being possible (Gotta love Gen 1 lol) same with Lance, the Dragon types will spam Agility so Saur wins for free. Blaine is easy to set up Swords Dance on Growlithe who can only use Ember or Agility (Coin flip in possibility) and Body Slam will be enough to win even without Super Effective damage. The only real wall it has is Agatha which requires sleep strategies, and resisted Razor Leaf. Zard unfortunately has the hardest wall to climb out of all 3 mons being Lance's Gyarados. Gyarados hits for super effective hydro pump damage. Lorelei isn't that safe for it either. Though once Charizard can set up dances and use EQ it becomes a total monster.

[@joeschof_95]

Hell yeah jynx is my favourite mon to use on a playthrough and no one appreciates how good its stabs are for the major fights

[@smithplayspokemon]

Jynx is goated

[@enerc2333]

Jinx is good, but a physical attack of any kind destroys him. Those 35 physical defense always bothered me, I don't know why, they gave him such a low defense, a rock thrower destroys him, And a rock slide, they kill 10 jinx in a row. Up to the twinneedle, They can destroy Beedrill, with about 50 or 55 physical defense they would be perfect for that Pokémon. And for Alakazam with about 60 or 65 physical defense they would be great, I don't know why they left them, Such low defense, I suppose because of their very high special, since they were very abusive and would be difficult to defeat. But with those defenses they would be fine.

[@KeroTheInvincible]

@@enerc2333 Anything with Rock Slide is getting outsped and hit with super-effective STAB if its name isn't Dugtrio. This is also a list for in-game playthroughs, so while there are a few Pokemon on notable trainer's teams (Rival Jolteon, Lance Aerodactyl, Giovanni Persian) that can outspeed Jynx and land a solid physical hit, they're easy enough to play around, and Jynx still puts in a tremendous amount of work. Kanto as a whole is just packed with trainers using Poison, Grass, Fighting and Ground types. Not even to mention what stat experience does to Pokemon with good availability.

[@zsmit7648]

@@KeroTheInvincibledoes Jynx outspeed aerodactyl?

[@KeroTheInvincible]

@@zsmit7648 Does Aerodactyl get Rock Slide?

[@CheeseBlaster]

I remember my first Yellow team being Pikachu, Dugtrio, Dodrio, Hitmonlee, Starmie and Snorlax. So seeing half of my team in this video made me proud

[@IG88AAA]

I’m a grown ass man. I can finally afford to buy two gameboys and get my trade evolutions.

[@xsspunt]

Get a gameshark too

[@swagbear9965]

Emulator on the laptop brotha. Thats the best way to do it at this point

[@AdrianGarcia-ts1or]

In my playthrough of Pokemon lifegreen from like 4 years ago I had a starmie and taught it the same moves you just mentioned. I considered it my best Pokemon back in the day

[@brunolepri8177]

Surf, tbolt, ice beam and psychic, the perfect gen 1 offensive set

[@FoggyMcFogFace]

@@brunolepri8177 I always think about what to do with Starmie but it always ends up with those exact 4 moves because it's just obviously the best

[@mismagia]

okay so here's my hot take the best team you can make in kanto consists of Nidoking Starmie and Either Farfetch'd or Charizard Nidoking is your physical sweeper who comes in at gym 1 and solo carries you through the early game until you can pick up Starmie Nidoking gets: Strength/RockSlide/Submission/Earthquake ///// Starmie gets: Surf/Psychic/IceBeam/Thunderbolt these 8 moves hit every type in the game super effectively except for Psychic and Ghost since those types dont have a weakness in gen 1 Using Strength over Body Slam is an unfortunate but necessary option especially in RBG because in those games Charizard cant learn Fly which means you have to use Farfetch'd as your Cut/Fly user and Farfetch'd cant learn Strength however you are only losing 5BP and the chance to paralyze Strength is still a perfectly good move in its own right so dont feel too bad Yellow players rejoice as the worlds saddest HM Charizard allows you to use whatever move you like on Nidoking Something extra to note is that if you're playing FireRed/LeafGreen Nidoking actually learns Brick Break and Shadow ball in those games giving you complete Super Effective type coverage over the entire game and Charizard also obtains Rock smash making it the defacto best Hm User in the region with Strength/Fly/Cut/RockSmash making Farfetch'd uneccessary if you really want to make this a 6 pokemon team then I say go catch yourself Articuno Zapdos and Moltres

[@morganc4920]

Taurus never gets any love. His attack scales up so quick. By level 50 he way outclasses snorlax. Body slam can solo everything but rock and ghost type in end game. Taurus is the sleeper pick

[@addambarcelos]

I mean, the 1st place doesn't really seem controversial, it's really good

[@Salnax]

It is amazing, but you have to get halfway thru the game and then use half of the Rare Candies and best TM’s on it. That late availability and high investment hild it back IMO.

[@jaketno]

@@Salnax I found grinding on Cycling Road does Starmie very well. Though ya it's hard to recommend unless you're willing to put in a bit of work at first.

[@justinrazon7200]

Graveler (aka Geodude) was among my very first Hall of Fame and actually did a lot of heavy lifting. Even tho Rockslide was terrible, it somehow did it's job way way back during the times I literally knew nothing about pokemon and was like "Hey, TM Rockslide, I has rockdude" Also I had no access to trades because the gameboy was a "luxury" item in my country. So I was stuck with Graveler. I don't think I recall even knowing it could evolve. I gave Earthquake to Charizard and not Graveler because I saw that they both could learn it and chose my cool dragon over the rock. Also I didn't know Snorlax was actually a good pokemon, I definitely caught it, then dumped it into the PC never to look at it. Gotta Catch'em All. P.S. - Kid me never used items. And weirdly enough, adult me still don't. Elixir Syndrome is real.

[@MimictheRaft]

Im so glad you metnioned Jynx. Jynx is an underrated Pokemon that never got an evolution, because Nintendo was too scared of it.

[@eldest808]

Racism was Jinx evolution lol

[@Cookynator]

Going to have to mildly disagree with Starmie as top slot for 2 reasons. Firstly because of it being in the slow level up group which means that if youre going solo or avoiding extra grinding it will be down 10 levels on the medium groups and 15 on a fast leveler by the E4 and secondly, because it lacks any set up move. If it wasn't for those things, it definitely would be number 1! That coverage plus its base special is insanely good! I'd also rate Blastoise above Tentacool because of the levelling up rates as well (medium-slow vs slow) Lastly, I think you're somewhat underestimating the value of sleep move + set up move. That combo makes Venusaur and Victreebel absolutely cracked! I'd say it's actually more broken than para-wrapping because of the PP limit on that.

[@jeremyrossi2716]

Fun Fact: You can get a level 100 obedient Gengar before Brock with some glitches in a similar fashion to how you can glitch a Mew encounter before Misty. This will run confuse ray, lick, and night shade (and maybe Hypnosis, it's been a while so I don't fully remember). This basically means that even without TMs you can just one shot mostly anything. If you do give it TMs it gets even better at its job, especially if you use the Missingno. glitch to duplicate TMs to use on multiple Pokemon. Gengar's ony other major weakness, it's frailty, is not only negated by it's sheer speed, power, and immunity to the most common attacking type; but it is also negated by the fact that you are level 100. Even if you are hit by a psychic or earthquake-unless it is from an insane attacker with STAB like Alakazam or Nidoking-you will be fine. Glitched Gengar is probably the best Pokemon for an in game play through of all time.

[@NickJamNG]

A slight note on the training up Abra front: Thunder Wave and Seismic Toss (with proper trainer positioning) are available just above Cerulean and eliminate the need to swap train Abra. Just para-toss everything up to Kadabra.

[@robertgosney5657]

That is a interesting strategy that I never thought of thanks 👍

[@underblader9675]

In my last leaf green Nuzlocke starmie was a win button. I wouldn't have accepted any other place for the gen 1 god

[@RyoCaliente]

Have to give a shout-out to Raticate! It's fast, STAB Hyper Fang is brutal and once it learns Super Fang, you can halve anything's HP (and Raticate is fast enough to outspeed a lot of stuff).

[@smithplayspokemon]

Hella based

[@Kythian1]

He also makes it much easier to catch the legendaries, depending where he is lvl wise for the birds you just do hyper fang, maybe 2, then 2-3 super fangs and they're down to a sliver then just bring out someone to put them to sleep and toss away. Mewtwo you do the same but use dig instead of hyper fang because his psychic will mess up a Raticate.... And I swear they have a higher crit ratio than anyone else because every time I've used one in a play through, probably about 10-15 times, they've crited way more often than anyone else in my team outside maybe Fearow, his seems higher too.

[@ElsyeaR]

Starmie can be good as you described IF you decide to voluntarily dodge a lot of encounters and do a convoluted route for rare candies and catching it. I don't think people would do that in their first or second playthrough. Clefable, Nidoking or Nidoqueen will most often than not be used instead, because it's easier to have them (as you told)

[@gamequack48]

When you covered the other water types (Gyarados, Tentacruel) I was worried that you had missed the best 2 (Slowbro, Starmie) haha. Great vid!

[@apeters8]

I kept thinking he had underrated starmie... It was my favorite to get when I was a kid.

[@dlake1224]

Yeah it sounded like the top one wouldn't be water

[@colinhobbs7265]

Also forgot about lapras

[@MK-yg2np]

In yellow you can catch shellder at lv40 on cycling road

[@MLTN28]

Instead of getting Staryu directly below Fuchsia City, just swim to Seafoam island and use Super Rod on B3F or B4F to catch Staryu at a max level of 40 with an awesome 40% encounter rate. Saves you the level grinding then give Water Stone straight away. Teach Surf, Psychic, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt. By the time you defeat the 3 remaining gyms and victory road it will be close to level 60 when you reach the Pokemon League👍🏻

[@smithplayspokemon]

Damn I never knew this!! Based af

[@tehSunBro]

Thats only in yellow. In R/B its max level is 33, which is still a lot better than 15, for a quick surf@@smithplayspokemon

[@Medabee8]

6:23 - Wrong. Paralyzed opponents will be able to attack 75% of the time.

[@jaydenb635]

Absolutely agree with starmie. I had always thought it as another pokemon only good in gen 1, but after using it in gen 3 ROM hacks its nice to see its still an amazing option in future games.

[@paulwalker3758]

Absolutely agree with Starmie. My Gen 1 Starmie was the bane of my friends in battles and easily my most consistent Pokemon in playthroughs.

[@thesoftersideofsears]

Good vid! No prolonged intro, concise editing, straight to the point. Love to see it

[@armorbearer9702]

Yeah! Respect Geodude! The lack of strong fighting type moves helps Geo's usefulness.

[@matthewmoser1284]

I've been testing out different teams lately, and in my most recent Kanto run I tried out Starmie for the first time. Starmie is BROKEN. Especially in Gen 1. It's now completely replaced Alakazam on my primary Kanto team builds. S tier pokemon for sure.

[@smithplayspokemon]

Right!! Ala is also just so boring. Like it’s a psychic machine, and that’s it

[@Walkerman379]

I think Dugtrio is underrated here. At the time that it is available, it is OP. The toughest part of the investment is that the wild one you try to catch could wipe out your team. It immediately takes out Surge and clears Lavender Tower and it doesn't need to use TMs for dig/earthquake so you can use those for other pokemon on your team. I used Dugtrio nearly every time I played.

[@GameOgreDonkey]

Same. Dugtrio/venasaur alone got you through 80% of the game.

[@scrubplaceholder6216]

Victreebel is the most OP pokemon in yellow. If you start with only a victreebel you can speedrun the game faster then any other mon.

[@ShiningJudgment666]

How does it get past Agatha consistently? She'd be a roadblock. I suppose Mimicking a Super Effective move.

[@Eric-gp3hi]

This is a great list I’m looking forward to Yellow Legacy!

[@KeroTheInvincible]

If we're talking about low investment and high reward, being able to catch a lvl 31 Dugtrio before Surge is having a portable nuke in your back pocket. It's frail, but outspeeds absolutely everything of any relevance. Knows 100 base power Dig naturally, learns guaranteed crit Slash after 4 levels, and even learns Earthquake naturally if you grind to 47. Since it can use the Fissure TM from Giovanni, it's also the best abuser of Gen 1's X Accuracy. Dugtrio can literally outspeed and instantly kill anything in a playthrough that isn't Flying, or Mewtwo.

[@Amber_xo_133]

5.Venusaur 4.Snorlax 3. Dragonite 2. Gengar 1.Mewtwo

[@KawaiiAzusa]

I'm shocked Mr. Mime wasn't only high on the list, it wasn't even mentioned. I would have put it tied with number 1. You can get it before the 4th gym, and it essentially does what Alakazam does (and that has to be traded, which most people these days probably can't do). On top of that it has more coverage than Alakazam, which is one of its biggest weaknesses. But the most important fact is that it's a trade Pokemon, so the early investment to catch up on exp gets rewarded by a much higher level in the end later. Jrose11 did a video where he does the least amount of possible battles, and Mr. Mime is the key to all of that. If that doesn't show how good of a Pokemon it is, then what does show it?

[@smithplayspokemon]

its part of the honorable mentions as it's outclassed by alakazam

[@KawaiiAzusa]

@@smithplayspokemon Somehow I must have missed it in the honourable mentions. Still I would argue it's better than Alakazam because of the extra exp from trading and learning Thunderbolt. Both will make the game trivial, so in the end it doesn't matter

[@dlake1224]

Yeah extra exp makes it sooo good

[@finnvaneekelen4966]

Yeah the traded EXP really is bonkers. But i do also get why its not high up as its stats are just so much worse then alakazam

[@Vorael]

Honestly I agree, its stats are pretty comparable to Kadabra's. Alakazam/Golem/Gengar are kinda cheating, since you probably don't have access to them anyway.

[@Adamzx1258]

id love to see this for future generations

[@Laezar1]

Kinda weird to say "nidoking and alakazam are overrated" when you end up with them so high. You're saying "for a casual playthrough" but in the exemple of starmie you have to do some really counterintuitive stuff to make it work. The reason nidoking is so great is because it requires no investment and is also super intuitive to use, as in 8years old me could figure it out. Kadabra is kinda same though it does require some switch training sorta like gyarados. But the very simple playstyle of "spam confusion, get psychic, spam psychic" make it a very chill casual pokemon to use and simplifies the game a lot. And you get it early enough that you're likely to want to add more pokemon to your team at this point. Dugtrio is also really underrated here, yeah it's less tanky than graveler but you get a super high level dugtrio super early in the game and there is not much reason not to get it if you stumble upon it. Zapdos and articuno are also great candidate for a master ball as it's very little investment for something that's immediately ready for the elite 4 with just one rare candy. Articuno is great for lance and bruno. Zapdos just needs a partner for brunos onix and can pretty much beat the entire elite 4 otherwise. (although thunder is awkward and keeping thunderbolt for zapdos isn't ideal, so drill peck is actually what's really amazing there). Probably the easiest way to go through gen 1 is something like : Bulbasaur (cut) + Nidoking (strength/surf) destroying the early game. (optional : get a pokemon for flash. abra is great since you can always decide to get a kadabra, clefable can also work out perfectly fine) Catch dugtrio if you stumble upon it. Get a doduo for fly and cause dodrio is great. And you really don't need much more. You can get a haunter if you didn't train a kadabra. You can get a legendary bird later either to replace or on top of dodrio. This is as simple as it gets, most of your core team is established early, it's varied enough, none of the pokemon require of you to get fancy strat or investment to be useful, everything is on the way (as in, if you're just casually exploring, fighting trainers and getting items) and all the pokemons are immediately useful when acquired, and you don't have to scratch your head with HM's too hard. Of course you can do variations on that or add whatever you feel like, but this is definitely the path of least resistance for the games. Squirtle is stronger in battle than bulbasaur so you can just switch that and add an extra stop for a cut user. Frankly the only thing that changes is you'd really want zapdos if you pick blastoise and might want articuno if you pick venusaur. Well might not be "the path of least resistance" but it's "a path of no resistance" as in the games are easy enough that anything you'd do along those lines would offer no significant challenge so figuring out which is best isn't super relevant unless you're adding extra challenge like a speedrun. And I think for a casual playthrough the fact the team pretty much builds itself is kinda what make it "the best", because let's be frank, anyone who knows the game enough to plan beyond that will sweep the game anyway.

[@jplm5394]

Maybe you should take into consideration the experience rates as well. This takes Snorlax down a notch and boosts Clefable a bit.

[@banditrests]

All great picks and it’s nice to see some niche picks like Jynx get a chance to shine, but you are kind of glossing over the importance of growth rates. Slow growth rate Pokémon tend to fall behind if they don’t have the stats to compensate or you do a ton of extra grinding to make up for it and starmie’s base 100 special really is underwhelming despite it’s incredibly move pool and typing, especially if you’re going to get at alakazam for not one shotting everything. Ultimately though, victreebl is the best practically imo, it just hard beats everything but Agatha.

[@d.d.7287]

I'm about %98 sure that I've never beaten a gen one game without at least one of Haunter, Alakazam, Garydos or Snorlax in my final team. Also, Clefable was mad underrated. It took me stumbling across the scenario you laid out by happenstance to realize it.

[@Valkonymous]

Nidoking is the best pokemon in gen 1 for clearing the game because of X-Accuracy Horndrill which causes it to skip the accuracy check and always kill if faster. You ban items yet say this isn't a challenge run which is confusing? Do you think items are only used in Challenge runs lol? Yes items are strong and stronger on some pokemon than others, they don't completely invalidate the choice of Pokemon otherwise it'd be just as easy to solo the game with Pikachu as it would Nidoking which is clearly untrue since runners go out of their way to catch a Nido. Even without items you completely ignore that it can get EQ in Silph CO. to deal with "no ground moves" or whatever it is you are complaining about. Nidoking isn't overrated, you just simply refuse to use him at his best. Also runaway sweepers totally happen in casual play cause that's what makes the games easiest. Equally leveling a team of six pokemon is more self imposed challenge, not something that holds Nidoking back. Also Nidoqueen who doesn't even get a mention despite arguably being better under your rules because we don't care about horn drill. Also Starmie being number 1 is laughable when your best argument for it is that you have to go back and grind. There are so many pokemon you don't have to do that for it's not even funny, why would you pick up Starmie over them if all you care about is clearing the game? The best way to use Starmie is actually to wait until Seafoam where you can pick it up at level 32, not fish out a level 15 one. Of course there is very little reason to choose to pick up a Starmie at this stage in the game since by this point you can also pick up the level 50 Articuno or level 50 Zapdos which go completely unmentioned. The rare candy argument is also asinine when you realize rather than use those candies on an under-leveled pokemon you could use them on your ace to make it even better. Where is Mime? Easily trade an abra for him, which you can buy in the game corner from just coin drops(no need to even play the game) and have a solid Psychic type that gains 50% extra experience. Slap Psychic and Thunderbolt on him and he's ready to solo the entire game. On that same subject where is Drowzee? Another solid Psychic type with low TM reliance and no bad matchups. Where is Dugtrio? You can easily catch a level 29 or 31 Dugtrio at diglett cave. Use a repel and you can fish it out. Sandslash? Route 4, level 17 slash, learns Dig then Earthquake and Sword Dance access via TM plus Rock Slide coverage? What about Vaporeon? Easily obtainable and usable with low TM reliance. Way better then having to sit through Magikarp's slow level up curve and way way better than needing to grind and underleveled Tentacool or sit through to tedium of finding a level 40. You mention Jolteon but not Vaporeon? Jolteon is good competitively but it's only above average in game. Idk how Machamp, Geodude, and the grass types even made it on this list. They're above average for clearing the game sure but they don't come anywhere close to the ease and efficiency as many others.

[@skaterdl8966]

After many playthroughs on yellow i ended up trying a no-pika/starter/legendary team and ended up with victribell, machamp, dugtrio starmie dodrio and snorlax. Always wanted golem and gengar but no friends with a link cable. Crazy to see my entire team be here 👀

[@damiani1131]

interesting, never knew all of this. I always took charmander and soloed the game with him..being overleveled all the time... same strategy in all pokemon games😅

[@craigyeah1052]

A casual quick run with bulbasaur, geodude, jynx/doduo, and then tentacruel sounds like such a chill playthrough, maybe jolteon as well. (also gotta wonder who is saying diglett is the best early dig user)

[@2shy2guy52]

I think that tentacruel is a really good example of power creeping, where it was a really good Pokemon in generation 1, but now it is just a throwaway annoying water encounter along the lines of wingull, finneon and magikarp.

[@Rantandum]

Starmie as #1 doesn't even sound like a hot take. Just look at the Misty fight. On top of Starmie's insanely high Special and Speed, Misty uses an X Defend on it to cover physical. On average, Starmie can two-shot most Pokemon while being an absolute tank. I get PTSD to this day every time I hear the Gen 1 Bubblebeam sound effect. 😨

[@francescganau7679]

Dugtrio. Dig against what you kill. Switch when u don’t. Easy and efficient

[@therealmorganofficial]

Your choices are excellent. All except Geodude! He dies to any non-fire special attack through the whole game!

[@MrManDiller]

My first play through on Blue in I think 1998 I just used Charmander and Rattata and they became so over powered. I didn't use more pokemon until I found the legendaries

[@BvngeeGvm]

0:45 so then you’re NOT talking about the strongest pokemon. Because then nidoking and alakazam will be your top 2

[@forsetimaster0689]

I feel Dugtrio should have been featured more on this list. Not only can you get one evolved instantly right before Surge (obviously its best fight) but it also learns everything it could ever want barring Rock Slide by level up. Dig, Slash, and eventually Earthquake will leave a lot of options available for your other team members, and all of them are coming off of a 23.4% crit rate due to its rediculous 120 speed.

[@dragoon9airsoft560]

I used to run a Rapidash with Fire Spin and Toxic, quite deadly, if you ask me.

[@mega-swampy1311]

I ran a final team of Snorlax Clefable Alakazam Gengar Jolteon Primeape on Red and absolutely dominated the league with them only at 50, Jolteon and Gengar took down Loreli, Snorlax and Zam tag teamed Vs. bruno, Zam Swept Agatha and Minimize Clefable destroyed lance, Against Blue, I used Jolteon to take out Pidgeot and then switched to Primeape to take on the Rhydon and let it faint to his Zam to sweep with Jolteon as I had Pin Missile on it, allowing it to take down Exeggutor in a single Pin missile, Gyrados in a Thunderbolt, Charizard with 2 thunderbolts because I picked Venusaur

[@noahf7258]

I agree on starmie, I beat all of Pokemon stadium 1s gym leader castle and stadium cups with starmie alone doing the majority of the work!

[@EmperorOfTigers]

Very well put together and I definitely agree with most of your picks. I do think that Gengar deserves a higher place. It just hits so hard and its ghost type makes it immune to a lot of moves. It does struggle with mono Psychic but that's the only issue. I get it doesn't get a good stab move but it's still amazing with some TMs (which many if the highest place picks do too). I was super happy to see Jynx so high though. I've used it and it really is that good. I've never used Starmie but I definitely see that it's a great choice. I feel like the investment might be a bit too much for it to be as high as it is but I could be wrong. As for Alakazam I agree it's not the best Pokémon but still great but I think it mught still be ranked too high by a tiny bit. Its very weak defence wise so any good physical attacker can take it out. Also yes Psychic is very strong but Alakazams lack of coverage hurts it. Getting an Abra and training it up is rather annoying too. I actually find Gengar to be better and more useful than Alakazam to be completely honest.

[@ChaoCups]

I think Wigglytuff is VERY good for early game, I swept Gary in Cerulean with a level 13 Wigglytuff with mega punch.

[@DUKEHadToDoItToEm]

Title: "its not what you think" Thumbnail: its exactly who you think

[@smithplayspokemon]

But watch

[@DUKEHadToDoItToEm]

@@smithplayspokemon I did, only real surprise is Starmie being #1 despite the fact that I fully expected Starmie to be somewhere on the list. Gen 1 is boring overall. Go back to making gen 2 (the best generation in pokemon) great again

[@philipspigelmeyer959]

​@@DUKEHadToDoItToEm you must not understand that HD already did redo gen 2😂😂😂 there is only so much you can do with it. Go back and watch his old vids and he explains he's doing gen 1 now, already did gen 2 and then after he gets done with gen 1 he's doing gen 3. Before you "try" to talk about stuff you don't know about go look to see if it's already been done and talked about😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@DUKEHadToDoItToEm]

@@philipspigelmeyer959 No I fully understand he already did gen 2. I've been subbed to this channel since this guy has less than 30k subs, followed the whole development of his gen 2 remake and played through it once. It still feels unfinished, there's a lot that can still be done with it especially if you use the DS gen 2 remakes as the base rather than the GBC games. That's why I said "go back to..." rather than "make gen 2 great". Also why are you spamming laughing emojis when you're the one who has a fundamental misunderstanding and deserves to be laughed at here? Go outside or something

[@Ash-Ketchum-and-Pikachu]

A beedrill can actually one shot an alakazam in gen 1 with twineedle (technically a 2 shot). It's the only real bug move and used it in my bug type only run one time

[@marawe1292]

6:30 Victreebell is in the list cause it sounds like victory-bell!😅

[@Hamsterpro2022]

I liked the video because you put my top 3 favorite Pokemon on the list!!!

[@joeyjo-joshabadu9636]

Nidoking with earthquake, blizzard surf and thunderbolt destroys the game. Plus he can actually take a hit(unlike Alakazam), AND is immune to poison!

[@LocalMaple]

14:51 Rare Candies don’t care about EXP Requirements. So what’s the lowest level you can get through Cycling Road, and use the remaining Rare Candies for potentially higher levels?

[@smithplayspokemon]

And if you wanna do that, then even better

[@gg41451]

Exeggcutor stats in Gen 1 are actually just ridiculous

[@RatedRMario21]

Starmie with a moveset of Surf, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam is a Godsend when playing Round 2 (Hard Mode) of Pokemon Stadium 1. Amazing versatility and decent defenses make it a perfect leadoff almost every time

[@MaverikCusini]

My team was Blastoise Mewtwo Articuno Zapdos Snorlax and Gengar !

[@Greed26]

Hey guys, been asking around but haven't found anyone that knows. I know that Kanto for Crystal Legacy was scrapped in favor of starting on Yellow Legacy... But is it actually cancelled? Or just something that will happen down the road? Couldn't find the answer in any previous videos or the subreddit. First time it was mentioned it was kinda glossed over really quickly.

[@smithplayspokemon]

It has not been scrapped! But as you can probably guess due to not being able to find any information about it, there’s no current plan for a release date

[@Greed26]

@@smithplayspokemon Good to hear! Thanks for getting back to me personally buddy, and keep up the good work!

[@xiongray]

Jynx is great!

[@devonbrock6772]

I feel that Dugtrio should've also been on here. It's pretty early and easy to capture. Immediate use for the Electric gym as well as several afterwards. The 5th highest speed stat (tied with Alakazam) the ones faster are Electrode, Jolteon, Aerodactyl, and Mewtwo so the combo of Earthquake, Slash, and Rock Slide are great for most opponents.

[@MsLoquendo20]

My strongest Pokémon in my first Pokemon Red adventure was a Nidoqueen, It had slash, but also Thunder, Blizzard, and Flamethrower (or other semi powerful fire attack which I don't remember well enough). I loved imagining that she was some sort of mini-female Godzilla with elemental powers that she learned through encountering and defeating the legendary birds (even though she actually learned such moves from TM's)

[@victormartin4452]

Finally I've been rocking starmie for years. It can solo the game.

[@Hydraina]

I loveee clefable! I'm so glad to see It here!

[@smithplayspokemon]

Me too!!

[@Joshuazx]

lovely analysis!

[@dakotamcchristian495]

Persian in gen 1 is amazing due to crits being speed base and slash having stab. Also beedrill only run was fun

[@davidsawyers8754]

Dugtrio was a legend as was Jolteon. Also, you made a mistake on gengar as he was super effectively weak to ground. In fact 1 Dig would 1 shot him from dugtrio.

[@mark_kline]

These videos never have love for Primape, but I guess it’s because Machop and eventually Machamp is a better option.

[@pikkon899]

I would always catch a level 31 Dugtrio at Diglett's Cave before entering the SS Anne and before fighting Surge. Dugtrio for the in game was phenomenal and carried my team well past the Elite 4, where it would body Agatha. I would always catch the level 43 Electrode at the power plant and use it against Lorelei after teaching it ThunderBolt. Both Pokemon were very fast and I would score critical hits on a regular bases. I did use Nidoking but by the time of the SS Anne, it was no longer useful to me. Dugtrio would take over at that point.

[@Thedarksenshi]

Not surprised on Number 1, I remember giving it that moveset and even using it to solo Brandon's team of the Kanto Legendaries in Emerald.

[@WalterRitchey]

I’d take Lapras over Gyarados or Tentacruel. It always hurt my soul that some of the coolest and strongest Pokemon only evolved with trade - Golem, Gengar, Machamp, Alakazam.

[@aleckermit]

The three most valuable Pokemon in my latest playthrough were the evolution lines for Graveler, Victreebel, and Dodrio. Geodude/Graveler wall everything physical and can use self destruct to give all exp to one underleveled Pokemon on your team. Victreebel is a better Venusaur since it has stun spore + wrap. Dodrio hits hard and crits often with drill peck. But the true MVP of Pokemon Red and Blue is Mr mime. You can trade Abra for him right after getting HM cut and he's better than Kadabra. The move psychic has more coverage than any other move in the game.

[@azurebalmung4520]

Jolteon learning Pin Missile actually makes it the only Pokemon in Gen 1 that has a super-effective move against Psychic types that isn't weak to Psychic

[@RaxusPrime29]

I never liked the Nido family, any pokemon that you have to burn through TMs on arent worth a place on my team. Plus for Brock, there is a far better pokemon to catch and use - Mankey Train it till it gets Low Kick and it will make light work of Brock and great against a lot of the normal junior trainers

[@vildeemilie4407]

Mankey is op

[@BlackDawn626]

4:50 nice double Stun Spore attack on Weepinbell

[@bakuiel1901]

Dodrio is the only Original bird I haven't run in a playthrough, missing out

[@vasileiosavlonitis8895]

god i fucking loved that Gengar sprite so much

[@spyfire242]

Spent the whole video waiting for Starmie and was about to be disappointed but you redeemed yourself. My favorite Pokemon and vastly underrated for how powerful it is.

[@vothanhlam7736]

Gyarados is OP, crazy stats and can learn thunder, fire, hyper beam, so broken

[@gundispaberzs2281]

I think Hypno is also a great pokemon to use as it's a spitting image of an Alakazam counter. It's got good HP, great usable Attack and access to hypnosis and headbutt/tri attack. Think about it you switch Hypno in against an Alakazam. You use Hypnosis, and Zam falls asleep. Then you hit it with headbutt/tri attack and boom Alakazam falls.

[@suntzu6122]

You go: Dragonite Mew Pikachu Charizard Blastoise Venusaur Its a rule