Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen In-Game Tier List (write-ups)

[Zebes]

Articuno

Articuno

Availability: Late-game (Seafoam Island, level 50).
Typing: Ice/Flying-type is a good combination, being super effective against Giovanni and Lance and neutral elsewhere outside of Blaine and Lorelei.
Stats: Articuno has great all around, having above-average Speed, being powerful and really bulky.
Movepool: When caught, Articuno has Ice Beam. The Fly HM can also be used for utilities outside of battle but Articuno will rarely use it.
Major Battles: Articuno sweeps Sabrina and Giovanni and does extremly well against Lance. It's mostly good in other major battles, being ble to take down a few foes, with the exception of the Blaine's and Lorelei's fight.
Additional Comments: Articuno is a great Pokemon that comes at a very high level that performs really well without needing contested TM, only held back by its late arrival. Catch it with a Master Ball as catching it with other types of Poke-Ball is too time-consuming.

Magikarp

Magikarp

Availability: Early-game (Route 3 Pokemon Center for 500 Poké Dollars at level 5).
Typing: Gyarados' Water/Flying-type is great, providing resistances to Misty, being super-effective against Blaine and Koga and only weak to Lt. Surge.
Stats: Gyarados has mostly great stats, boasting a really high Attack, great bulk and above-average Speed. However, its Special Attack is a bit lackluster.
Movepool: Gyarados learns Bite, Hydro Pump, Rain Dance and Dragon Dance by level up. Surf and Strength HM as well as Return TM are great options to use.
Major Battles: Gyarados wins against Misty, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni. It performs pretty well against the Elite 4, defeating Lorelei and Bruno thanks to Dragon Dance,while doing alright in other battles.
Additional Comments: In spite of how annoying it is to get Magikarp and the Slow level up, Gyarados is a great Pokemon to consider that will perform extremly well in most major battles. Intimidate is an useful ability that imrpoves Gyarados' bulk and allow it to use Dragon Dance on Bruno's Onix.

Bellsprout

Bellsprout

Availability: Early-game (Route 24, level 12-14) (LeafGreen).
Typing: Grass/Poison-type is great for Misty, Lt.Surge, Giovanni, Lorelei and Bruno but is a downside for Koga, Blaine, Agatha and Lance.
Stats: Victreebel is powerful on the physical and special side but it's rather frail and has middling speed.
Movepool: The Bellsprout line learns Growth, Vine Whip, Sleep Powder and Razor Leaf by level up. Once available, Sunny Day and SolarBeam TMs offer a really powerful STAB move. It's also possible to learn the Giga Drain TM.
Major Battles: The Bellsprout's line wins against Misty, Lt. Surge, Giovanni and Lorelei. However, in other major batles, it will mostly be useless, not taking down more than 1 foe with the exception of the Bruno's fight.
Additional Comments: Victreebel is a really situational Pokemon that either performs very well or can't do much. Chlorophyl is a great ability that let's Victreebel outspeed everything after it uses Sunny Day. Evolve Weepinbell with a Leaf Stone from Celadon Dept. Store after getting Razor Leaf at level 42.

Oddish

Oddish

Availability: Early-game (Route 24, level 12-14) (FireRed).
Typing: Grass/Poison-type is great for Misty, Lt. Surge, Giovanni, Lorelei and Bruno but is a downside for Koga, Blaine, Agatha and Lance.
Stats: Vileplume is a powerful Special Attacker that is fairly bulky, on the physical and special side. However, it's slow and will be outsped most of the time.
Movepool: The Oddish line learns Absorb and Sleep Powder by level up. The Giga Drain, once available is a stronger STAB move. Sunny Day and SolarBeam TMs offer a really powerful STAB move.
Major Battles: The Oddish's line wins against Misty, Lt. Surge, Giovanni and Lorelei. However, in other major batles, it will mostly be useless, not taking down more than 1 foe with the exception of the Bruno's fight.
Additional Comments: Vileplume is a really situational Pokemon that either performs very well or can't do much. Chlorophyl is a great ability that let's Victreebel outspeed everything after it uses Sunny Day. Evolve Gloom with a Leaf Stone from Celadon Dept. Store.

Jolteon

Jolteon

Availability: Mid-game (Celadon Mansion, level 25 Eevee).
Typing: Pure Electric-type is good offensively, being Super-effective against Lorelei, only resisted by Erika and Giovanni and neutral elsewhere.
Stats: Jolteon boasts an excellent Speed, outspeeding everything, has a great Special and good Special bulk. However, it has a below-average Physical bulk.
Movepool: The Thunderbolt TM is required on Jolteon because it's a powerful STAB move. Rain Dance and Thunder TM can also be learned to provide a stronger STAB option.
Major Battles: Jolteon performs well against Koga, Sabrina and Blaine, although it doesn't outright win against the latter and can't do anything against Giovanni. Against the Elite 4, Jolteon has a good performance against Lorelei and Agatha and can take down a few foes weak to Electric-type.
Additional Comments: Jolteon is a decent Electric-type that does alright in major battles and easily defeats Water- and Flying-types. However, it really struggles against bulkier opponent like Bruno and won't do anything against Giovanni. It's also really reliant on the costly Thunderbolt TM because it's the only powerful STAB it can get.

Krabby

Krabby

Availability: Mid-game (Vermillion City (Super Rod), level 15-25).
Typing: Pure Water-type helps Kingler against Blaine and Giovanni and is only resisted by Erika and Lorelei.
Stats: Kingler has a really high Attack and Defense as well as above-average Speed. However, it's really frail on the Special side and has a really Special Attack.
Movepool: By level up, Krabby learns Mud Shot at level 23. The Surf and Strength HM has uses outside of battles and provide a STAB and a powerful move respectively. Kingler can also learn the Rock Tomb and Ice Beam TM.
Major Battles: Kingler wins against Blaine and Giovanni and is mostly below-average elsewhere. It can get a few KOs in major battles but will never be able to contribute much.
Additional Comments: Krabby does well against Blaine and Giovanni but tend to not do much elsewhere due to its poor Special attack and bulk. However, it has some utilities by being able to fit the HM Strength and Surfin its moveset while still performing alright in battles.

Meowth

Meowth

Availability: Early-game (Route 5, level 10-16).
Typing: Pure Normal-type is neutral in most matchup, except for Bruno and Agatha.
Stats: Persian has a great Speed but below-average stats outside of it.
Movepool: By level up, Meowth gets Pay Day and Screech. The Return and Secret Power TM provide a great STAB and Shadow Ball may be use for the Agatha's fight.
Major Battles: Persian wins against Sabrina and does well against Agatha assuming it has Shadow Ball. It's mostly average in other major battles and will only get a few KOs with Screech + STAB.
Additional Comments: Despite its early arrival, Persian is a mediocre Pokemon performant-wise because of its low stats. However, it has some utilities outside of battle with Pay Day, generating money and Pickup as a Meowth to collect items.

Reserving Flareon, Geodude (trade and non-trade), Horsea, Poliwag, Rattata and Shellder.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Articuno

added Water Pulse, which improves the Blaine matchup a bit

Magikarp

I reworked a bit the MB section, since Gyara can sweep every Gym Leader when it evolves (though Surge is a bit situational) and doesn't really handle Agatha well, from experience. Also added Hyper Beam to movepool, since it allows it to blast through Erika. I expanded a bit in AC for Gyara as well, mainly what you need to evolve it before Misty and that you can catch it later to avoid the grind, albeit it's not recommended

(I also cut off the Intimidate mention, since I think it's fairly obvious, but that might be just me)

Bellsprout

added Secret Power to movepool, elaborated on Lorelei, and recommended to evolve immediately, because Razor Leaf isn't really worth the wait, imo (you are basically using Secret Power on the field more anyways)

Oddish

the above where applicable + changed Lorelei from a "win" to "good" (I highly doubt you are sweeping consistently)

Jolteon

expanded a bit on Movepool (mentioned Shock Wave if you cannot teach TBolt immediately, also explained its other moves are garbage), don't think I actually did anything "major" here otherwise

Krabby

only major change here was remove Mud Shot mention, since I am not sure what you are doing with that anyways.

Meowth

added Hyper Beam and emphasized more on Pay Day, since that is the main reason to use it. I also removed Pickup, because the items you collect here are basically worthless and you lose it upon evolution anyways.

approved with those changes + grammar changes, great job on those

reserving for myself Bulbasaur, Pinsir, Vulpix, Tauros, Kangaskhan, and Machoke

entries

Bulbasaur

Availability: Early-game (Pallet Town, level 5).
Typing: Grass / Poison is either very good or very bad against a particular major opponent most of the time; it's great for the first three Gym Leaders, Giovanni, Lorelei, and Bruno, and bad nearly everywhere else.
Stats: Venusaur has decent special stats and its other stats are all-around balanced.
Movepool: Bulbasaur relies on Vine Whip until Razor Leaf at level 22, which upgrades to Solar Beam + Sunny Day. Secret Power through TMs is a great coverage move early on. Sleep Powder and Growth at levels 15 and 41 are also useful moves for the line.
Major Battles: Bulbasaur handles the first three Gym Leaders well, but falls off afterwards for a good amount of time, relying on Sleep Powder and Leech Seed to perform acceptably against some of the opponents. Venusaur picks up again against Giovanni, Lorelei, and Bruno, though the latter two will require Sleep Powder + setup. Venusaur is useless for the remainder of the Pokemon League, though.
Additional Comments: Bulbasaur is decent thanks to covering the early-game and some other fights effortlessly. However, it relies almost entirely on type matchups to win efficiently due to its poor movepool, which is worsened by Grass being resisted commonly in Kanto.

Pinsir

Availability: Mid-game (buy at Game Corner for 2500 coins, level 18) (LG).
Typing: Bug is only good for providing Pinsir with resistances to Erika and Giovanni. It is mostly irrelevant elsewhere, as Pinsir doesn't learn STAB moves and doesn't grant it with any notable weaknesses outside of Blaine.
Stats: Pinsir has a great Attack and Defense and is fairly fast, though its other stats are poor.
Movepool: Pinsir can learn most of its moves almost immediately; it will mainly use the Brick Break TM, Strength HM, and Rock Slide tutor to deal damage. Bulk Up through TMs gives it an opportunity to set up. Swords Dance at level 49 allows Pinsir to set up more quickly against the endgame opponents, though Bulk Up makes it easier to set up against physical foes, so either option is fine.
Major Battles: Pinsir can sweep every Gym Leader and rival fight before the Pokemon League with setup. Notably, it is a rather consistent sweeper, as Hyper Cutter makes it more effective against the various Intmidate users. It is fairly good against the Elite Four, though it either will have to heal if using Bulk Up or will not sweep some fights due to lacking Defense boosts.
Additional Comments: Pinsir is all-around a great sweeper thanks to a high Attack, great movepool, and Hyper Cutter. However, it is fairly expensive to buy and is a chore to keep up in terms of levels due to a Slow growth rate. Pinsir can also be caught in the Safari Zone (Center Area), but it is rare and hard to capture, so it's generally not worth it.

Vulpix

Availability: Mid-game (Route 8, levels 15-18) (LG).
Typing: Fire is only useful against Erika, not providing Vulpix with any other advantageous matchups. In fact, it is quite bad against Blaine and Lorelei.
Stats: Ninetales has mostly decent stats with particularly great Special Defense and Speed.
Movepool: Vulpix learns Flamethrower either via TMs or at level 35 if left unevolved. Outside of this, it can also be taught Sunny Day and Fire Blast to hit as hard as possible. Dig is also a possible coverage move to hit Fire-resistant Pokemon.
Major Battles: Ninetales sweeps Erika with either Ember or Flamethrower. It is decent against Koga, Sabrina, and Giovanni, though the latter two will require sun and (in the case of Giovanni) Fire Blast. It can take on some of the rival's Pokemon and performs decently against Agatha.
Additional Comments: It is recommended that you evolve Vulpix with a Fire Stone immediately and TM it Flamethrower instead of waiting for it, as Vulpix is very weak until then. Ninetales can afford to wait some time for Flamethrower, if needed, as Ember serves it well before Koga. As a whole, Ninetales is mostly a decent Pokemon that can spam Flamethrower, but the lack of Fire-weak major opponents after Erika and Ninetales's poor movepool impact its usefulness.

Kangaskhan

Availability: Mid-game (Safari Zone (Area 1), level 25).
Typing: Normal is neutral almost everywhere, save for Bruno, where it's bad.
Stats: Kangaskhan has all-around decent stats, save for a poor Special Attack.
Movepool: Kangaskhan can be taught Strength, Hyper Beam, and Surf immediately, with Return also being an option later on. Shadow Ball can also be used if desiring a good Agatha matchup.
Major Battles: Kangaskhan performs well against all Gym Leaders, sweeping Erika with Hyper Beam and Sabrina. It is decent against most of the Elite Four, though it won't sweep any of them.
Additional Comments: Kangaskhan is a great Pokemon, but the sheer annoyance of finding it (4% encounter rate) and catching it hold it back significantly.

Tauros

Availability: Mid-game (Safari Zone (Area 3), level 25).
Typing: Normal is neutral almost everywhere, save for Bruno, where it's bad.
Stats: Tauros has all-around decent stats, save for a poor Special Attack.
Movepool: Tauros can be taught Strength, Hyper Beam, and Surf immediately, with Return also being an option later on. It also learns various coverage moves, such as Rock Slide, Earthquake, and Ice Beam, but it will rarely use them.
Major Battles: Tauros performs well against all Gym Leaders, sweeping Erika with Hyper Beam and Sabrina. It is decent against Lorelei and Bruno, though it won't sweep any of them.
Additional Comments: Tauros is a great Pokemon, but the sheer annoyance of finding it (4% encounter rate) and catching it hold it back significantly. It also levels up slowly, so it will be annoying to keep up in levels.

Machop (No Trade)

Availability: Mid-game (Rock Tunnel (1F), level 16 or 17).
Typing: Fighting is resisted throughout the entire region, most notably Erika, Koga, Agatha, and Sabrina. On the other hand, though, it provides Machoke with a great matchup against Lorelei.
Stats: Outside of a good Attack, Machoke has all-around poor stats, which impact its usefulness in all of its matchups.
Movepool: Machop should be taught the Brick Break TM and Rock Slide tutor immediately. It can also be taught Bulk Up for setup and Strength as coverage.
Major Battles: Machoke will struggle to sweep any fight consistently, as it requires setup to achieve OHKOs. However, its poor bulk and Speed mean that setting up will be very hard without taking too much damage. Guts can be helpful to hit harder against Erika and Koga, though.
Additional Comments: Due to all-around poor stats and the need to setup, Machoke is mostly inefficient and fails to sweep consistently.

 

[Zebes]

Flareon

Flareon

Availability: Mid-game (Celadon Mansion, level 25 Eevee).
Typing: Fire-type helps against Erika and is neutral elsewhere with the exception of Blaine and weak against Giovanni.
Stats: Flareon has an outstanding physical Attack, really solid special bulk and good Special Attack. However, it's frail on the physical side and rather slow.
Movepool: Flareon doesn't learn many moves by level up. Thus, it should be taught a few TMs like Flamethrower which should be learned quickly as it provides a strong and reliable STAB (and getting it as a level up move at level 52 is too late). The Sunny Day, Fire Blast, Return, Secret Power, Dig and Shadow Ball TMs also provide strong physical moves it can use to take advantage of its good Attack stat.
Major Battles: Flareon wins against Erika, Koga and Sabrina while doing alright against other gym leaders. Against the Elite 4, Flareon does really well against Agatha assuming it has Shadow Ball, has an above-average performance against Lorelei and is fairly good aainst the Champion while being bad for Bruno and Lance.
Additional Comments: Flareon performs decently well thanks to its mostly solid stats and movepool options. However, it's heavily reliant on TMs because it doesn't learn any useful move by level up. As such, it should be taught Flamethrower early to make up for it. It is recommended to use Fire Stone from the Celadon dept Store to evolve Eevee one getting it.

Geodude (trade)

Golem

Availability: Early-game (Mt.Moon, level 9-10).
Typing: Rock-Ground types gives Golem an edge against Lt.Surge, Koga and Blaine while making it weak to Misty, Erika, Giovanni, Lorelei and Bruno.
Stats: Golem has a good Attack and great Defense. However, its stats are bad outside of them, being frail on the special side and really slow.
Movepool: By level up, the Geodude line learns Defense Curl, Rock Throw, Magnitude, SelfDestruct, Rollout and Earthquake, which provide strong STAB and an overly powerful move in SelfDestruct. It doesn't need any TM.
Major Battles: Golem easily defeats Lt. Surge and does well against Koga, Blaine and Sabrina. However, in other battles, Golem tends to lose easily to super-effectives and will only take down a few foe at most even though SelfDestruct can net a KO if needed.
Additional Comments: Golem is a mostly mediocre that either tend to perform really well or does nothing. However, it's really self-sufficient and won't require any TM to be used.

Geodude (No trade)

Golem

Availability: Early-game (Mt.Moon, level 9-10).
Typing: Rock-Ground types gives Golem an edge against Lt.Surge, Koga and Blaine while making it weak to Misty, Erika, Giovanni, Lorelei and Bruno.
Stats: Graveler has an above-average Attack and good Defense. However, its stats are bad outside of them, being frail on the special side and really slow.
Movepool: By level up, the Geodude line learns Defense Curl, Rock Throw, Magnitude, SelfDestruct, Rollout and Earthquake, which provide strong STAB and an overly powerful move in SelfDestruct. It doesn't need any TM.
Major Battles: Graveler easily defeats Lt. Surge and does well alright against Koga. However, in other battles, Graveler tends to lose easily to super-effectives and will only take down a few foe at most even though SelfDestruct can net a KO if needed.
Additional Comments: Graveler is a mostly mediocre that either tend to perform really well or does nothing. However, it's really self-sufficient and won't require any TM to be used.

Horsea

Horsea

Availability: Mid-game (Vermillion City, level 25-35 (Leafgreen), level 15-35 (FireRed).
Typing: Pure Water-type helps Seadra against Blaine and Giovanni, is only resisted by Erika, Lorelei and Lance and is neutral elsewhere.
Stats: Seadra has great Special Attack and Defense and good Speed. However, it's really vulnerable to Special moves due to its really low special bulk.
Movepool: When caught, Horsea should be taught Surf HM because it's a strong and reliable STAB. The Ice Beam TM is a good move to use against Lance. Rain Dance can be taught to boost its Water-type moves.
Major Battles: Seadra wins against Blaine and Giovanni and does quite well against Erika and Lance assuming it has Ice Beam. In other important battles, Seadra won't do much outside of netting a few KOs.
Additional Comments: Seadra is a decent Water-type to use as it's available in mid-game, does really well in several important battles while only requiring the Ice Beam TM. However, outside of its good matchup, Seadra won't be able to do much due to its poor special bulk and lack of coverage.

Poliwag

Poliwag

Availability: Mid-game (Viridian City(Super Rod), level 15-25).
Typing: Water-/Fighting-types gives Poliwrath an edge against Blaine, Giovanni and Lorelei while being weak to Erika, Sabrina and Lance.
Stats: Poliwrath has well-rounded stats, with a solid bulk, good Attack and average Special Attack and Speed.
Movepool: Poliwag learns Rain Dance by level up, although it can also learn it via the TM. The Surf HM provides a strong STAB option, like the Brick Break TM. Bulk Up can also be used to boost both its attack and Defense. Ice Beam is another option Poliwath can learn.
Major Battles: Poliwrath wins against Blaine and Giovanni while doing well against Lorelei and Bruno. In other battles, it has a below-average performance but still can get a few KOs.
Additional Comments: Poliwrath is a decent Water-type that performs really well in some major battles. However, it requires several TMs and doesn't do much outside of its good matchup.

Rattata

Rattata

Availability: Early-game (Route 1, level 2-4.
Typing: Pure Normal-type is neutral most of the time, with the exception of Brock and Agatha.
Stats: Raticate has a great Speed and good Attack. However, aside from them, its other stats are mostly average.
Movepool: By level up, Rattata learns Hyper Fang at level 13. Secret Power and Return TMs provide great STAB options. Shadow Ball TM can also be learned to improve the Agatha matchup.
Major Battles: Raticate wins against Misty, Lt.Surge and Sabrina and does well against Erika. In other matchup, it's mostly average and will only net a few KOs.
Additional Comments: Raticate is an alright Pokemon thanks to its very early availability and great gym performance in early to mid-game. However, starting late-game, it starts becoming worse due to its average stats and won't contribute to much in battles.

Shellder

Shellder

Availability: Mid-game (Vermillion City(Super Rod), level 15-25) (FireRed).
Typing: Water/Ice type helps Shellder against Erika, Blaine, Giovanni and Lance, is resisted by Lorelei and weak to Bruno
Stats: Cloyster has enormous physical bulk, good offensive stats and above-average Speed. However, it has an extremly low Special bulk.
Movepool: Shellder learns Aurora Beam at level 22. The Surf HM and Ice Beam TM provide strong STAB options. Rain Dance TM can be learned to boost Surf.
Major Battles: Cloyster wins against Erika (assuming it has Ice Beam), Koga and Giovanni while performing well versus Blaine and Lance. In other matchup, it won't perform well outside of KOing a few foes.
Additional Comments: Cloyster is an alright Water-type to use that mostly perform well and only require the Ice Beam and Rain Dance TM. However, it's part of the Slow level up group and will take time to train.

For Cloyster, I was fairly hesitant to mention that it's a water-types that doesn't win against Blaine in the Additional Comments. iirc, it doesn't always outspeed Rapidash (and Lance's Dragonite which OHKOes with Outrage).

Anyway, reserving Cubone, Kabuto, Omanyte, Paras, Weedle and Zubat.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

stuff

I don't think I did any major changes outside of possibly cutting mentions, adapting availabilities to something slightly better, and maybe add certain move mentions. I am a bit too lazy at this point to give proper feedback, so feel free to compare whatever was put up there, if you feel up to it

(for the concern you raised, I simply added a note that strong special moves like Outrage and Fire Blast threaten to KO it, hopefully this is good enough)

reserving Ekans, Sandshrew, and Tangela, those are, I think, the only mons not written up / reserved at this point.

 

[Zebes]

Cubone

Cubone

Availability: Mid-game (Pokemon Tower, level 17,19).
Typing: Pure Ground-type gives Marowak an advantage against Blaine and Giovanni but make it weak to Erika and Lorelei
Stats: Marowak has an above-average Attack, great physical bulk and alright special bulk. However, it's really slo and most of the time will most last in battle.
Movepool: Marowak learns Bone Club, Headbutt and Bonemerang by level up. Once available, the Earthquake TM should be taught because it's a strong STAB move. Rock Slide can also be learned as it provides great coverage as well as Strength.
Major Battles: Marowak will never be able to achieve a succesfull win due to its low Speed. It can take down a few foes against Koga, Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni but will never be able to win by itself.
Additional Comments: Marowak is a mediocre Pokemon due to its really low Speed and Ground-type not being useful in the game. It also relies on unaccurate moves. It's possible to try finding a Thick Club to double its Attack stats but it's really time-consuming as the item is rarely found on wild Cubone and even then, its Speed is going to hinder it in battles.

Kabuto

Kabuto

Availability: Late-game (revive from Dome Fossil at level 5).
Typing: Water/Rock typing helps Kabuto against Blaine, Giovanni and Lorelei but makes it weak to Bruno.
Stats: Kabutops has great Attack, good Defense and above-average Speed. Its Special Attack and Defense are average though.
Movepool: Kabuto should be taught Rock Slide and Surf when obtained as they provide good STAB. Rain Dance is another good move that boosts its Water moves and activate Swift Swim.
Major Battles: Kabutops wins against Blaine and Giovanni and does really well against Sabrina. Against the Elite 4, it performs well against Lorelei and Agatha but won't do much outside of these battles.
Additional Comments: Despite its mostly good performance, Kabuto isn't the best Pokemon to use because it comes late and at a really low level and catching up in levels to the rest of the team will be difficult. Swift Swim is an helpful ability to outspeed Pokemon and Kabuto can use Rain Dance to activate it.

Omanyte

Omanyte

Availability: Late-game (revive from Dome Fossil at level 5).
Typing: Water/Rock typing helps Kabuto against Blaine and Giovanni but makes it weak to Bruno.
Stats: Omastar has a really high Special Attack and great Defense. However, it's slow and has average Special bulk.
Movepool: Omastar should be taught the Surf HM and Rain Dance TM when caught. The Ice Beam TM is also useful and improves its matchup against Lance.
Major Battles: Omastar wins against Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni. Against the Elite 4, it performs well against Agatha and Champion, has an alright Lance performance but won't do much in other battles.
Additional Comments: In spite of its above-average performance, Omanyte isn't the best Pokemon to pick as it comes late and at a really low level and catching up in levels to the rest of the team will be difficult. Swift Swim is an helpful ability to outspeed Pokemon and Omanyte can use Rain Dance to activate it and boost its Water moves.

Paras

Paras

Availability: Early-game (Mt. Moon, level 10, 12).
Typing: Paras' Grass/Bug typing helps against Misty, Surge and Giovanni but make it weak to Koga, Blaine and Lorelei and is resisted by Agatha.
Stats: Parasect has a good Attack and above-average bulk. However, it's extremly slow and has a low Special Attack.
Movepool: By level up, Parasect learns Spore at level 27. The Bullet Seed, Return, Aerial Ace, Giga Drain and Dig TM can be taught to provide good physical moves.
Major Battles: Parasect wins against Misty and Surge and performs well against Giovanni. However, in most other important battles, Parasect won't be able to do much and will barely net more than 2 KOs.
Additional Comments: In spite of its early arrival, access to Spore and great performance against Misty and Surge, Parasect isn't the best Pokemon to use due to its typing and bad stats. It's also an annoyance to train it due to its low Speed and many weaknesses.

Weedle

Weedle

Availability: Early-game (Viridian Forest, level 3-5).
Typing: Bug/Poison typing helps Beedrill against Misty and Erika, is resisted by Koga, Bruno and Agatha and weak to Brock, Sabrina and Blaine
Stats: Beedril has an above-average Attack, Special Defense and Speed. However, its other stats are really low.
Movepool: By level up, Beedrill learns Twineedle at level 20. Giga Drain, Secret Power and Brick Break TM can also be taught.
Major Battles: Beedrill wins against Misty, Lt.Surge and Erika. However, it's mostly bad in other important battles and won't be able to contribute much.
Additional Comments: In spite of its early arrival and alright early to mid-game performance, Beedrill isn't the best Pokemon to use due to its bad stats and typing and will be really mediocre by the Koga's fight.

Zubat

Zubat

Availability: Early-game (Mt.Moon, level 8-11).
Typing: Fly/Poison-type gives Golbat an edge against Erika, Giovanni and Bruno but makes it weak to Lt. Surge and Lorelei.
Stats: Golbat has mostly average stats, outside of its good Speed and alright Attack.
Movepool: By level up, Zubat learns Bite at level 16 and Wing Attack at level 21. Giga Drain can be taught to help against the Rock/Ground types. Shadow Ball can also be used to improve a bit the Agatha's matchup.
Major Battles: Golbat wins against Misty, Erika and Giovanni while doing alright against Sabrina. In other matchup, it tends to struggle and won't be able to achieve much.
Additional Comments: Despite its early arrival, Golbat isn't the best Pokemon to use due to its average stats, usage of weak moves and typing and won't be able to contribute much in important battles. It's also really hard to train, both before getting Bite and in late-game due to the weakness of the moves it uses.

With that done, I'll try to briefly check entries but most things seem fine and write-up were great.

edit : mostly a nitpick and I maybe misunderstood the sentence but Against Giovanni, Dig doesn't help Arcanine due to Earthquake hitting during the charge turn.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

I have added my own entries and those above with corrections, I don't think I made significant changes beyond grammar
e: I had posted by accident earlier

once I get the green light to move this to the Contributions and Corrections subforum, I will give more details as to what happens

 

[DrumstickGaming]

Want to give a big thank you to Zebes for helping out so much with these writeups. It’s amazing to see someone so dedicated and fast in getting them done, especially since analyzing so many mons in the game is a big undertaking no matter how you do it.

Thanks to GothamGhast as well for helping as well as Turdterra for his Aerodactyl analysis (was done outside this thread).

Thanks to Ryota as always for being a dedicated leader and contributor.

I’m proud of all of you.

 

[DHR-107]

Ryota asked me to do a quick check through this before it goes off to QC. Looks mostly good to me but I have a few questions (Mostly in order of the tier lists)

Jynx/Mr Mime worth mentioning when you get Poliwhirl/Abra for the trades?

Clefairy - There's an odd mention of "learning Sing at level 9" - but it should always have Sing available on capture (at Lv10/12)?

Vaporeon - Probably worth mentioning no Water move available *at all* unless you teach it Water Pulse/Surf (until the much later Hydro Pump)

Magikarp/Fearow/Butterfree - I assume the matchup vs Surge is OK because of Gyara's silly spcl Def/Attack, but why does Fearow get a "good" matchup while Butterfree gets a "poor" one in the same fight? Is it just the difference between Fury Attack vs Confusion/offences (which are potentially offset by Sleep Powder)?

Nidoran F - uses "greatly necessary" twice in two sentences

Hitmons - Last section is a copy paste of each other? Is this intended?

Meowth/Oddish/Cubone - Minor spelling mistakes

Slowpoke - Do we have any info on how rare the lv 40 spawn is (out of the overall low chance of a Slowpoke)?

Vulpix - Does Blaine understand how Flash Fire works to make that matchup worse than it looks? Other Fires seem to do OK? Or is Vulpix just that bad? (I'm OK with this assertion)

Ekans - Does Glare help in any other matchups past Misty? IE vs Lt Surge alongside Dig?

Geodude (No Trade) - Mentions Golem which seems to be a copy/paste

Kanga/Tauros - Probably worth mentioning the giant sequence break to get to the Safari Zone before Erika?

Tangela - Is it "late" game? After checking other entries it seems like you're using being able to use Surf as your "late game" break point so that's fine

Other than minor grammar issues which can be tidied up this looks solid enough. Gave me a good chuckle with everything needing Psychic/Tbolt/Ice Beam though

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Jynx/Mr Mime worth mentioning when you get Poliwhirl/Abra for the trades?

Probs a matter of preference, I would personally assume that the reader just checks the corresponding Pokemon's entry for that information, mainly just to avoid filling the entry with too much information that is not directly related to the Pokemon.

Clefairy - There's an odd mention of "learning Sing at level 9" - but it should always have Sing available on capture (at Lv10/12)?

fixed (also moved it to Movepool cause why not)

Vaporeon - Probably worth mentioning no Water move available *at all* unless you teach it Water Pulse/Surf (until the much later Hydro Pump)

did a small reword on the Surf part to say that it can be taught Water Pulse for a short amount of time before Surf (the reason being mostly so that it flows better)

Magikarp/Fearow/Butterfree - I assume the matchup vs Surge is OK because of Gyara's silly spcl Def/Attack, but why does Fearow get a "good" matchup while Butterfree gets a "poor" one in the same fight? Is it just the difference between Fury Attack vs Confusion/offences (which are potentially offset by Sleep Powder)?

Gyara gets by cause it can outspeed everything and spam Secret Power (so it's a matter of whether it can OHKO things like Voltorb or not, since I have seen it live hits) and somehowly manages to avoid an OHKO. Fearow is in a similar situation (though ig paralysis comes into play here to make this somewhat situational). For Butterfree, I changed the matchup (alongside the other two mentioned alongside Lt. Surge) to be shaky, since it will be spending some time killing stuff there + in Lt. Surge's case, paralysis pretty much shuts down the strategy.

Nidoran F - uses "greatly necessary" twice in two sentences

might have meant "generally unnecessary" , anyways, I cut off one of the sentences that mentions it entirely (since Superpower is irrelevant)

Hitmons - Last section is a copy paste of each other? Is this intended?

yes (they perform mostly the same, with Lee being slightly better, albeit not by a huge margin)

Meowth/Oddish/Cubone - Minor spelling mistakes

fixed the ones I caught

Slowpoke - Do we have any info on how rare the lv 40 spawn is (out of the overall low chance of a Slowpoke)?

no idea, but my guess is that higher level = lower chance of spawning, since other games employ similar rates (though not sure what you mean by low chance of a Slowpoke; Slowpoke via Surf is a 100% encounter rate in Fuchsia. The Super Rod ones range between 15 and 35 iirc)

Vulpix - Does Blaine understand how Flash Fire works to make that matchup worse than it looks? Other Fires seem to do OK? Or is Vulpix just that bad? (I'm OK with this assertion)

AI's behavior towards abilities throughout the entire franchise is fairly inconsistent. The matchup is pretty bad, because you cannot hit Blaine with much, as Dig is rendered useless by the double Intimidate core (unless you resort to Intimidate fodders, which a lot of other Pokemon would appreciate even more)

Ekans - Does Glare help in any other matchups past Misty? IE vs Lt Surge alongside Dig?

nope, mostly cause of low accuracy, not to mention because it's already taking an eternity to kill something, you probs don't want to add an extra turn on top of that

Geodude (No Trade) - Mentions Golem which seems to be a copy/paste

whoops

Kanga/Tauros - Probably worth mentioning the giant sequence break to get to the Safari Zone before Erika?

I'd have to mention this for pmuch every Pokemon that comes after Pokemon Tower. It's not per se a problem, but given that I basically have had no issues with sequence breaking when we tiered the thing, I don't think it's worth an explicit mention anywhere (outside of maybe the introductory paragraphs of the article, though the RBY one doesn't speak about sequence breaking either, so we might be fine anyways)

Tangela - Is it "late" game? After checking other entries it seems like you're using being able to use Surf as your "late game" break point so that's fine

yes, as mentioned in the OP, availability is considered late if it's after Koga (it's also how we did it in RBY; the only difference being that we also had endgame specifically for Moltres, wheres here, everything comes before 8 badges)

anyways, thank you for the check. For other grammar things, I will be checking the article often once I get it to C&C, so I will likely catch other errors.

Anyways, as I promised on the previous page, I will explain what happens from now on:

what happens now

The entries will be moved shortly to the Articles and In-Game Guides subforum (which will most likely happen once I write up an introduction for the article). I will get an additional quality check there and then the article will undergo grammar and prose editing; this process basically entails to a group of hardworking contributors making grammar checks to the article so that it's up to Smogon's spelling and grammar standards. Once the article has been GPed twice, I will code it and then it will be published soon afterwards, thus putting this project to an end.

At this stage, this is also where most people's involvement with the project ends (unless you spot some sort of an error, in which case you are free to point it out)

It is important mentioning, though, that the GP stage can take months to complete due to a lack of contributors and the article's length.

Thank you to all people that have contributed, it was nice working with you.

once I move the write-ups to the C&C subforums, I will make a separate post linking to it, after which this thread can be locked.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

The entries have been transferred to Articles and In-game Guides

If you find an error or something, feel free to post there or contact me privately so I can fix it. Obviously like here, rank changes aren't happening unless you can prove the rank was based off factually inaccurate data or you discover a mechanic that is relevant for a Pokemon

this thread can now be locked