Top 10 STRONGEST Pokemon in Gen 2

[@michaelaburns734]

Snorlax is well rounded physically and literally.

[@KingChiggy]

So the ideas for Gen 2 competitive were: 1 set up spikes, 2 be able to roar or whirlwind your opponent constantly, 3 be Snorlax

[@LightD_Tyranitar]

Would’ve been funny if Whirlwind blew away spikes

[@GamingG4276]

I would also like to mention that Fighting types became a lot better in gen 2. It had Stab on Steel and Dark, and Dark was also a good partner for it to wipe Psychic types of the field. And Fire also got better because Steel was weak to it, and had weaker special defense.

[@michaelballack3051]

While I agree for obvious reasons. The good fighting type Pokemon in gens 1 and 2 were only Machamp and Heracross :( Gen 3 is where they gave us some banger fighting type mons such as Blaziken, Breloom, Medicham and Haryiama

[@benjaminminton3811]

Fire got better because steals got a weakness.. that doesn’t add up..

[@basdemanaz]

But there weren't good fighting moves. They had good coverage tho. I just started a few days ago and didn't use fighting types because they don't got good moves.

[@SchumiJr.]

Fire type also gained the resintance to ice that it didn't have in gen 1

[@jeremywashington4889]

@@benjaminminton3811 he literally said it in the comment. "Steel" is weak to fire. What's not adding up?

[@ariesstorm9577]

I mean I can see why fertility might be a problem for Gengar considering it’s a ghost 🤔

[@davidforsythe8231]

New meaning to phantom appendage 🤣

[@uglyskully5928]

@@davidforsythe8231got me laughing at work lol

[@davidforsythe8231]

@@uglyskully5928 glad at least someone can laugh at work lol always makes the shift better

[@danielcurren2119]

I'm still kinda shocked that Karen didn't have tyranitar as her ace, nor anyone of that matter in gen two. It's a powerhouse that I can't believe nobody used in the main game

[@tonpalacios2964]

Right, it would have been a great ace, especially in the remakes.

[@joshuamtzchz2596]

Pseudo legendaries are kinda hard to find in gen1 and 2 games

[@andyvozzamusic]

@@joshuamtzchz2596 Lance had 3 in gen 1

[@ashnguyen2950]

@@andyvozzamusic yeah that was bullsh*t as hell. But the bigger bullsh*t is Blue able to beat Lance for the temporary championship.

[@lordofchaos97]

@@ashnguyen2950 I suppose it is important to note that Lance had two unevolved Pseudos, plus Blue's team was reasonably balanced

[@RaynmanPlays]

"Gengar's biggest problem is its fertility." My guy, _what?_

[@TheOneAndOnlyFroBoy]

Thought I was hearing things glad to know someone else heard it too 😅

[@brendanboomhour7606]

@@TheOneAndOnlyFroBoy I heard it too

[@YiddishDancingClown]

Gengar hit menopause in Gen 2.

[@kylemartin2487]

Within the context, I assume he means to say ‘Versatility” but messed it up like someone saying ‘Paradigm’ for the first time and pronounces it like it looks 😂

[@s641233]

💀💀💀 thanks for the laugh

[@Zenrei03]

I'm not going to lie, I always found Snorlax's dominance to be the most hilarious thing back then when I was a kid. So many kids restarted their game just to get the Snorlax that they killed off in their first run. 🤣

[@noireisbest6786]

19:41 Snorlax with actual legs is pure nightmare fuel. Now you really can't run away from Snorlax.

[@user-xb7dp4vu3r]

Apex predator

[@malachirodrigues3013]

Miltank is everybody's trainer nightmare.

[@hlewis5217]

My Exeggcute with Leech Seed, Reflect and Hypnosis: haha l00sah

[@skarmory93]

You can get the trade Machop from the Department Store and absolute ruin that Miltank

[@lambtoken2708]

​@@skarmory93 did it and it was still difficult, but at least it worked

[@Mitjitsu]

The best check to a Snorlax in Gen 2 is a Snorlax with Selfdestruct.

[@ericfiumano4694]

Often used Umbreon in competitions and it's really strong; My setup 1- toxic 2- safeguard 3- moolinght 4- other attack item: leftovers Evs all defense (or + HP +physical def) nature: +physical def -special atk

[@coolkidtheultimategamer4270]

For what generation?

[@MIBxSpartan]

Generation 2 was just build different. I could watch Gen 2 videos all day.

[@anthonyanglemyer]

Another nice listing. I look forward to seeing your gen 3 listing!

[@dntremad8290]

When it comes to Snorlax checks we should also mention Machamp. Its not a counter since switching into Snorlax is very dangerous as it lacks normal resistance but switching into a resting Snorlax turns the tables really fast as any Snorlax lacking Sleep Talk is immediately f*cked. Its nice to see Machamp going from one of the most unfortunate fully evolved pokemon in gen 1 to an absolute beast in gen 2. Gen 2 was a godsend for fighting types

[@slurmsmckenzie.]

I second that I also believe machamp is a good answer to snorelax I think just one crit cross chop would be enough for a snorelax

[@vulcanraven9701]

@@slurmsmckenzie. I agree, Cross Chop is lethal and a sleeping Snorlax has no good answer to Machamp

[@elosoblanco_14]

Gengar’s biggest problem is its fertility. Never knew.

[@calebsulzberger8761]

Snorlax is so good. I never see anyone put shadow ball on him. Thats what i do. Body slam. Shadowball. Rock slide Ice punch for coverage even if his special attack sucks. But adding 4 super effectie type hits is awesome. And then there alot

[@trevorstevenson4038]

Yeah I have battled against quite a few players whom have Shadow Ball on their Snorlax, against my Dusclops (gen3 OU).

[@chirinemimichirinemimi3870]

10.Steelix 9.Golem 8.Skarmory 7.Tyranitar 6.Exeggutor 5.Gengar 4.Raikou 3.Cloyster 2.Zapdos 1.Snorlax thank me later :)

[@n7jaeger974]

no

[@garouknight]

you could've added timestamps

[@perrycoffey5410]

Yes timestamps would have been great

[@mikebougiamas3418]

Snorlax’s new nickname is Samoa Joe 🤙🏼

[@Keng04T]

I just realized Snorlax also looks like someone in a suit like Bewear

[@colinmcbottle]

Umbreon with Curse + Baton Pass + Toxic + Moonlight was my go to in GSC stall meta. And if that wasnt enough, I could always baton pass the stat boosts to the sleeptalk snorlax.

[@Kristalya]

Explosion and Selfdestruct users should use the Pink Bow in Gen 2! I have seen the big booms leave the target with a sliver of health so many times it hurts. Then the survivor proceeded to use Rest. Just because the boomer had Leftovers they did not use. 🎀💥🎀

[@Reece8u]

Or you could boost it with curse, and keep leftovers

[@Apizzaslice]

That Skarmory Steiner edit is 👌🏾🤣

[@hattipper7964]

I knew from start that snorlax was going to top....kind of sad it isn't in scarlet violet

[@thefirespecialist9007]

Gen 1 comp.: Body Slam's, Blizzard's, Thunder Wave's, and Psychic Type's. Gen 2 comp.: Leftover's, and Bulk.

[@kazukiishimura3972]

I'm treating Jynx, Tauros, Exeggutor, Steelix and rest of the Pokemon in Top 10 in each Gen as honorable mentions in Top 10 Pokemon for each type.

[@gamewalker91]

So I generally agreed with you on most of the other lists. But you and i have wildly differing opinions here. My top 3 are Lax (cause duh) Skarm (as the only thing to reasonably answer lax) and suicune. Zapdos cloyster raikou TTar starmie umbreon forretress. Though the golem tech is admittedly a very cool role compression I hadn’t seen before, but steelix didnt feel useful to me, i usually had ice coverage for exeggutor, gengar I just never really ran into and when I did it was so frail it usually just died to whatever move I was using anyways. Most commonly it was coming in to spinblock my cloyster and would just die to surf on the prediction. I think your points are still valid and were basically just splitting hairs here since all of these mons are excellent in their own right

[@Surgemaster2012]

I personally like Gen 2 Meta, it's much better than how power creep the Gens later became, minus things like tera.

[@JTLDrago94]

I hope Golem gain access Rapid Spin as part of it's Lv up plus Rapid Spin got a major buff onwards as well

[@snapclub8751]

If I remember correctly, the Gen 2 meta mainly centered around what could counter Snorlax and what were its best partners. It was also really stall heavy.

[@vulcanraven9701]

In other words, it was boring at the competitive level. Lots of status problems, spikes, roar, rest etc

[@BoboBreez]

Yeah, that being considered I don't think there were any fighting types on this list?

[@ptgh1986]

HES FAT!!! Thank you so much for more Scott Steiner in Pokemon videos!

[@nathanbirchall933]

Fighting red legit snorlax was the 1st proper battle on my 1st playthrough back in the early 2000s on the gameboy it would always rest and be able to k.o my level 78 hitmo chan i swapped over for gen one. Surprisingly i knocked it out with nidoking from pokemon red then used my lugia with ice beam and surf at level 74 to knock out the venesaur and charizard . It was the the espeon and pickachu with there status effect moves that made it slow but what a great memory getting to mount silver and seeing the original ash/red sprite as a battle with bloody level 70s and 80s lol my mates at school didn't belive me because i couldnt obviously go back to the match after it was won to show them untill they eventually got there on there own games . I think i had a missingo traded over that turned into a donphan and fked the cartridge up lol

[@josejohn9478]

Man I was playing through Crystal Clear and I got to the elite 4 and they threw out an Umbreon and I hit it was a super effective move and it barely did anything AND I was like 15 levels above it. I was like holy crap, I didn't know Umbreon was a wall all these years >< it was actually a huge problem to get through in my playthrough, because you can't use items during battle at the elite 4 and I only had 2 Pokemon that could even put a dent in it. I was hung up on the Elite 4 for a little bit trying to find an answer to it.

[@magma41158]

I like to give Steelix Dragon Breath and Crunch as a form of coverage

[@samfenster3243]

I’m very surprised Raikou was chosen instead of Suicune considering that thing is the epitome of gen 2’s stall based competitive scene.

[@stokeyarcanum5754]

Is this also more competitive rather than a playthrough? If so he really needs to state that in the title. Noone likes wasting time on a video that wasn't what they were expecting. Not being an ass just wishing it for playthroughs

[@seanotdrummer]

every single pokémon is viable in a regular playthrough of a pokémon game lol i don’t know a single person needing to look up videos on how to build a team to beat a vanilla game.

[@stokeyarcanum5754]

It's not that I need to. It's that I want too. I'm interested in what other people think is good for a playthrough lol

[@iss2075]

Suicune really shone in Gen III when it got Calm Mind. On NetBattle is was one of the craziest Pokemon. Calm Mind Raikou was popular as well, but not as much as Suicune.

[@Slickcactus]

I used to have 2 different move sets for Umbreon Mean Look Toxic Moonlight Baton Pass Mean Look Sand Attack Moonlight Baton Pass It can definitely be such a good mean look strat Pokémon

[@artje90]

Rest is used ALOT in gen 2. it wont work that great

[@rockowlgamer631]

I was expecting ONLY gen 2 pokemon

[@travisb.honest2438]

Wouldn't be enough to make a top 10.

[@Raven-Yugioh]

Im very curious why tendacruel is in honorable mentions and what moves must use!

[@Phoenix-xh9cd]

Steelix is actually busted it’s the only Pokémon that forces snorlax out of I ranked them I would have snorlax first obv (if you say otherwise you are a noob) zapdos second, cloyster third, gengar fourth, and Steelix 5th then t-tar in 6th and then probably raikou but then after that the power drop off is pretty far

[@teppler]

Can't believe people actually still play gen 2 competitively. Many years ago I was hanging around the top of the competitive scene before gen 3 was released. I won some big tournaments and had some wins over some big names. The meta was well defined at that point but only 3 I used are listed- eggy, zapdos and snorlax.

[@rilvayn2577]

Are we not going to address that Alakazam can learn the elemental punches and Psychic to cover a 10 super effective spread (considering they are all special attacks in this gen) with only 3 weaknesses???

[@tektahr]

Im a firm believer that the low base stats for pokemon in gen two should have been the standard. Gen three was a good power kreep with abilities but gen four and onward just went crazy.

[@Xylus.]

Ghost type being entirely under the umbrella of "physical" until gen 4 is so absurd, and I spent years of my life thinking the opposite.

[@mickeynelson6263]

Would you consider Lanturn to be a good Pokémon for Gen 2? It was the MVP of my Crystal team

[@GyroNutz]

From my understanding, Lanturn is outclassed since it gets completely walled by Snorlax, whereas electric types like Zapdos and Raikou can sometimes 3HKO Snorlax with Thunder.

[@brdl6192]

I just started again after 20years. Gengar is my current nr1. He wrecks everything (bar Red) with hypnosis and dreameater

[@TendoASMR]

Cool video! Very insightful. Are the chapter title misspellings a joke or an accident?

[@daAnT1990]

19:35 unexpected Scott Steiner 😂

[@dantim1001]

I was looking for this video last week lol

[@nathanbirchall933]

Dunno if anyone played the liquid crystal rom years ago the fire red i think remake but that was awesome . The original crystal will always be my fave . Lugia, typloshion and tyranitar all grinded to level 80 as a kid would be my top 3 plus nidoking and mewtwo at level 72 and 78 sent from gen 1 on the link cable thing back then were what i went to play groud with. Always had a surfing kanghastan with 2 water guns and sky attack basically cinnabar islands glitch. Hes attack was just knockouts but shit defence

[@stantonmccain7725]

that scott steiner edit was perfect lol

[@jorugarushia9167]

Snorlax has always been on my teams. Overall an amazing Pokémon that demands respect. Don’t sleep on him! 😂

[@eLite-Tiss91]

Love Gen 2 and damn sure loves the remakes

[@beny6768]

Excellent video, but I will add Smeargle on the top 3 best pokémons in G2, and even one of the best pokémon il all generations : indeed, despite his bad stats, he is able to lurn all attacks of the game with his capacity "sketch". I used it alone for the league and I won.

[@thenomadicmarketer]

How come dragonite gets the short end of the stick? He's the real MVP

[@sangerz0]

I died at the scott steiner FAT promo

[@samcortez420]

I remember destroying everything in Crystal with Furret with ice punch and rollout

[@JackPackage]

Nice use of Big Bad Booty Daddy 😎

[@Kris2005isMine]

My standard gen 2 set for Snorlax runs Toxic, Rest, Substitute, and Hidden Power Dark

[@Immortalangel14]

Haha Big poppa pump! Love Main Event Mafia

[@NichtcrawlerX]

Clearly, I do not play Gen 2 competitive, Snorlax was nowhere near my thoughts about what could be left just before number 1. As someone who just played upto Gen 4 and then just did the occasional Gen 2 run, before getting back in with Shield, the only remaining Pokémon that came to mind was Kingdra. Now I am wondering what about Kingdra makes it lag behind, movepool, stats?

[@seanotdrummer]

mediocre attacks coming off unremarkable stats, hydro pump and the like not being viable because of how bulky the meta is, and still no dragon stab. dragon dance and weather (rain + swift swim) didn’t exist yet which is what made kingdra good in competitive for the first time in like gen 4/5. physical special split did wonders for it too.

[@hestoceles]

It’s actually a fact that every asleep Snorlax not in gen 2, is dreaming about being in gen 2

[@johnsmith1151]

Re: your discussion of umbreon, mean look + baton pass is currently banned in Smogon’s GSC OU

[@Kyurem_GB]

Literally the only thing which uses any other item aside from leftovers and itemless Thief Pokemon is Moltres in GSC OU (Charcoal)

[@narutoshadowclone1]

How do you feel about Kingdra in general?

[@vulcanraven9701]

Kingdra is strong in gen2 but not the best movepool.

[@stephan93]

Snorlax was a nightmare battleing red.

[@ejk974]

only one i agree with is Raikou. Cant tell you how many opponents i smoked with Raikou. Where is Typholsion? Ampharos? Lapras? Lugia?

[@inujoshwa89]

I keep keep hearing and seeing people mention the ability spikes..not just in this gen .why is it so game changing??

[@geoffstonehouse5829]

Perhaps it's because I never used a tauros when I was 13 playing Gen 1, but I didn't see it in the number 1 spot. I didn't even consider it for the top 10...

[@vulcanraven9701]

Tauros was quite good in Gen 1 tbh. The Gen 1 critical hit mechanics was based on Speed stat, so Tauros body slam was extremely likely to critical hit or paralyze. Plus Tauros Special was 70 and Blizzard had an accuracy of 90%. In other words, Tauros hit really hard

[@BerthramAldvonnormand]

Snorlax also dominate the uber in the gen 2 what a chad

[@Embo_Gaming00]

This might seem like a dumb question, but when he was talking about not many counters for snorlax, and then mentioned skarmory, why didn't people use fighting types or moves against Snorlax? Surely a Machamp or something, Crosschop would have been a decent strategy if that many people were abusing Snorlax?

[@malachirodrigues3013]

Steelix tyranitar is awesome 😎.

[@ldmtag]

I know it's weird, but am I the only one who always places recovery moves first, than support moves, than physical moves non-STAB first, than STAB, and than Special moves first non-STAB, than STAB so that move's power increases the lower I place the move? For example, Gen 1 Alakazam would be: Recover Reflect Thunder Wave Psychic For Gen 2: Recover Thief Ice Punch Psychic

[@gerardosolis8392]

I need the gen 2 music while i work out but cant find it. its great and brings back memories

[@ag4640]

I'm a low tier human

[@warmachine1919]

I love the wrestling references lol

[@jadewest8904]

To this day, Zapdos is STILL one of the best Pokémon in competitive.

[@axels3188]

I think all your choices are good.

[@santiagotombesi3653]

Where did you get all the TCG artworks in such definition?

[@thestarmie1134]

Why Starmie isn’t in the list ? 🤔

[@Xfaction1111]

Kinda weird not seeing the rest of the three queens; Blissy, Suiecuin and Snorlax. I’ve seen far more suicunes than riakous lol

[@FlyinLionQuinn]

Shuckle is not one to be f**kled with! Don't dare cross Heracross! Kinda feels like Gen 2 Pokemon's greatest stats are Defense. Steelix, Umbreon, Shuckle, Suicune, all have high defenses.

[@seth_k2078]

Gotta love the unhinged insanity that is Scott Steiner with a live mic.

[@eltonmateusnevesneves]

Just to give an idea on how strong snorlax is Mewtwo is 2nd in gen 2 ubers

[@MICHAEL-ew4gg]

Just followed mystic reads hope it's worth it lol 😆

[@pacofernandez2397]

Even If you put all legendaries, Snorlax still the top 1 mon, most used pokemon in Gen 2, even in ubers

[@DeddyRozeyt]

Give porygon2 some respect gyat its a beest

[@Stonedandbookish]

It would seem you are a fan of explosion

[@Thelivingroomstudio]

How are you getting explosion in gen 2???? I thought it didn’t exist?!

[@shimogane2474]

To be honest, zapdos is ridiculous in its own right, that thunders hurt and without snorlax, it is too good for the tier at all. When snorlax is sss, zapdos is at least s rank, since the fall of raikou people give this bird even more respect. I think official snorlax is sss, zapdos is ss and cloyster s, they are considered to be on every good team (while cloyster being the chansey that can be switched with some skill)

[@djbarela4]

Does this apply to heart gold as well

[@Phoenix-xh9cd]

17:25 Taurus was dominant in gen1 in high level play nobody didn’t use Taurox but that was pretty much the same with chansey and snorlax except if you had an extremely good reason you could drop chansey but even that’s a stretch but in gen2 it is utter idiocracy to drop snorlax dropping snorlax is literally like saying okay I only want 4 team slots while my opponents get 6 it is the definition of broken and to put it in comparison it was also the best Mon in Ubers as well people didn’t dare to drop Taurus in RBY but people would have died before they dropped snorlax in GSC Taurus overall had about 99.7% usage in gen1 across mid ladder and high ladder but snorlax even in low ladder you would be hard pressed to fins a team without snorlax and in both high and mid ladder every player used Snorlax it is impossible to overstate how good snorlax is no attack can do over like 30% to him after on curse nothing threatens him and he is doing huge damage in return and to make it worse rest heals him back to full and if you want to be absolutely unkillable rest talk pretty much never loses one on one except to Steelix and that’s without a curse if snorlax has a curse when steelix swaps in even Steelix loses

[@jaymckeown7601]

What confuses me about this video is the statement that the Gen 2 meta is still developing; how? The game is 22 years old so nothing is changing within it.

[@helloNotato]

People play on simulators and have events/tourneys every day. It's got a huge following! And it's people trying new strategies on those same unchanged pokemon and other people trying to counter those new strats that keep the game evolving

[@christophercrawford2736]

Did he just say Rykoh? 🤨

[@kosu5632]

i would love if u mention how to get thesse pokemon aswell, otherwise a great video!

[@n7jaeger974]

just google it not that hard

[@Dragonstorm1234]

10:55 "Gengar's biggest problem is it's fertility" erm, what?

[@drillindavies5187]

The best Pokémon in gen 1 was mewtwo a psychic type

[@pleaseshutup7053]

No it was beedrill

[@nicolapodgornik6644]

I personally think umbreon and nidoking should be in spot 9 and 10

[@xxcunninxx4882]

Guy said 3/4 pokemon from Gen 1 :D

[@AtomicEy]

1:55 start

[@tonled6960]

how can Kingdra not even get a spot?

[@MkGennyX]

10:56 Gengar's problem is its fertility? lol