Redew
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Well, since TrollFreak is doing this, I thought I would as well. With a little nudge from Jellicent, I'm working on my first article. I've decided to do what TrollFreak has done and make this a community project. The original thread can be found here.
Have I told you how much I suck at art?
Form:
-Availability: Can you get them early on and are they easy to get?
-Stats: Do they have a usable stat distribution?
-Movepool: Do they have a good movepool that needs little TM support? (By that I mean hard to replace TMs such as ones you get from gyms.)
-Power: Are they strong enough to sweep through enemies without taking too much damage in return?
-Type: Do they have useful STABs and resistances?
-Match-ups: Do they fare well in gym and/or boss battles?
Form:
-Availability: Can you get them early on and are they easy to get?
-Stats: Do they have a usable stat distribution?
-Movepool: Do they have a good movepool that needs little TM support? (By that I mean hard to replace TMs such as ones you get from gyms.)
-Power: Are they strong enough to sweep through enemies without taking too much damage in return?
-Type: Do they have useful STABs and resistances?
-Match-ups: Do they fare well in gym and/or boss battles?
Abra
Abra
Aerodactyl
Articuno
Bellsprout
Bulbasaur
Caterpie
Chansey
Clefairy
Cubone
Diglett
Ditto
Doduo
Dratini
Eevee
Ekans
Electabuzz
Exeggcute
Farfetch'd
Flareon
Gastly
Goldeen
Grimer
Growlithe
Hitmonchan
Hitmonlee
Horsea
Jolteon
Jynx
Kabuto
Kangaskhan
Koffing
Lapras
Lickitung
Machop
Magikarp
Magmar
Magnemite
Meowth
Mew
Mewtwo
Moltres
Mr. Mime
Nidoran /
Oddish
Omanyte
Onix
Paras
Pidgey
Pikachu
Pinsir
Poliwag
Ponyta
Porygon
Psyduck
Rattata
Rhyhorn
Sandshrew
Scyther
Seel
Shellder
Slowpoke
Snorlax
Spearow
Squirtle
Staryu
Tangela
Tauros
Tentacool
Togepi
Vaporeon
Venonat
Voltorb
Weedle
Zubat
Zapdos
Aerodactyl
Bellsprout
Caterpie
Chansey
Clefairy
Cubone
Diglett
Ditto
Doduo
Dratini
Eevee
Electabuzz
Exeggcute
Flareon
Gastly
Goldeen
Grimer
Growlithe
Hitmonchan
Hitmonlee
Horsea
Jynx
Kabuto
Kangaskhan
Koffing
Machop
Magnemite
Meowth
Mewtwo
Mr. Mime
Oddish
Omanyte
Onix
Paras
Pidgey
Pinsir
Poliwag
Ponyta
Porygon
Psyduck
Rattata
Rhyhorn
Scyther
Seel
Shellder
Slowpoke
Spearow
Squirtle
Staryu
Tangela
Tauros
Togepi
Vaporeon
Venonat
Voltorb
Zubat
Pokemon RBY In-game Tier List
Top Tier:
Abra - Top Tier
Availability: Early, before second gym.
Stats: Above Average
Movepool: Meh, its okay.
Power: Having huge base stats in speed and special make Abra a huge threat to everything else. The strongest Psychic type in the game that isn't Mew or Mewtwo when it evolves, this gives it pure type advantage against everything. With Darks and Steels yet to be discovered, and the best move a Ghost can pack is essentially Lick, in addition to all bugs being terrible, being a Psychic type means that it essentially has neutrality on at least everything. Confusion, Psybeam and Psychic are all really powerful in the game and hit everything that isn't a psychic type for neutral damage.
Type: Nothing other than Bug- and Ghost-types get Abra for SE damage, and you don't find most of those towards the end of the game.
Match-ups:
Misty: Meh. Not too bad if you can get it to Kadabra and teach it some decent moves. However, you can't any, really, until Saffron; it's Psychic at that which, don't get me wrong, is a good move, but about the only good STAB until then.
Erika: Defeat Team Rocket in order to get Psychic from MR. Psychic and Erika should be easy considering she has some Grass / Poison-types.
Koga: Way easy with Psychic.
Blaine: Not too hard, especially with a strong STAB move. If you've kept Water Gun, it could do a bit of damage, but it's not worth the moveslot.
Sabrina: Psychic on Psychic honestly isn't that bad.
Giovanni: Good Psychic STAB = win
Bruno: Does pretty well. Especially if you have a Fighting-type move to help with the Rock-types
Agatha: Honestly one of the easiest to get through with Alakazam
Rival: If you've chosen Squirtle, your rival will have a Venusaur. That doesn't include Yellow Version, however.
Articuno - Top Tier
Availability: Mid-game, comes at a high level of 50.
Stats: Amazing Special, awesome bulk, useable Speed.
Movepool: Articuno's STAB Blizzard is actually the strongest attack in the game and is 90% accurate. It learns it at level 51, just ONE level up after you catch it. Give it Fly as well. Comes with Ice Beam which is a finisher move to preserve Blizzard's PP. It's also pretty strong.
Match-ups:
Giovanni - Sweeps.
Lorelei - Articuno can't really do anything here, sadly.
Bruno - Sweeps.
Agatha - Can manage well, not an outright sweep though.
Lance - Sweeps.
Rival - Easily beats Venusaur or Exeggutor. Slays Rhydon and Pidgeot.
Additional Comments: The only problem with Articuno is its Blizzard's low PP
Nidoran(M)/Nidoran(F) - Top Tier
Availability: Very Early, right after you first get Pokeballs. Keep in mind that they evolve at level 16 (about the time you reach Mt. Moon), and with the Moon Stone (which you will obtain 1 of at Mt. Moon).
Stats: Just enough power to effectively attack from both sides, and enough bulk and speed to be useful against most opponents.
Movepool: The nidos have exceptional movepools, performing well throughout the game. In RB they're of little help against Brock and Misty, but in Yellow they get Double Kick, which could be relied on to kill Brock's Rock-types. With early evolution they get access to some powerful Normal-type attacks at Level 23 that will carry them for most of the game (Thrash for Nidoking / Body Slam for Nidoqueen). You can use the Mega Kick or Mega Punch TMs to beat face until then. Nidoqueen and Nidoking can also use Water Gun (obtained at Mt. Moon) to gain great coverage without wasting your Bubblebeam TM (most foes weak to Water in the early game will be destroyed by Water Gun). Both Pokemon also get Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Rock Slide, and Surf. Just be weary that those are all important and valuable TMs outside of Surf. The only unfortunate aspect of their movepools is a lack of useful STAB moves-- neither learns Sludge, and both are incompatible with Dig, which means you have no STAB options at all until you get the Earthquake TM (which comes late game, and you only get 1 of-- it's one of the most valuable TMs). Missing out on Dig is especially unfortunate since it means going into Lt. Surg without a STAB Ground-type attack, which Dugtrio, Golem, and Sandslash can boast. This is of little consequence in RB though, since Raichu can only growl them, but is more annoying in Yellow where Raichu can use Mega Punch. If you're cloning TMs with Missingno, the Nidos are simply incredible.
Power: Amazing movepools and decent offensive stats-- pretty self explanatory.
Type: Passing through Viridian Forest and up to Mt.Moon, immunity to Poison is fantastic, as is resistance to Poison Sting. After evolving to their final forms, they pick up an additional immunity to Electric moves, protecting them from Paralysis as well. Their resistance to these two forms of status makes them incredibly durable on long treks. Unfortunately, they have many prevalent weaknesses-- the Ground-type being a nuisance against Misty (and later Lorelei), and the Poison's weakness to Psychic is never fun. It's too bad they don't get Sludge as Poison + Ground has incredible coverage. Overall, their typing is good.
Match-ups:
Brock: Only really useful in Yellow where they get Double Kick.
Misty: Terrible here. Nidorina/Nidorino are too weak, and Nidoqueen/Nidoking would be destroyed by Bubble Beam. Definitely be better to rely on a Grass-type to take on this gym.
Lt. Surge: Excellent, though no STAB Ground-attacks; Nidoking can have problems in Yellow with Raichu's Mega Punch.
Rock Cave: Water Gun + Normal attacks does great.
Erika: They will destroy her if you give them Ice Beam. Immune to Poison Powder is nice, but not an amazing match up without Ice Beam.
Celadon/Lavender Rockets: Water/Ice + Normal coverage hits everything (and destroys Giovanni), and immunity to Poison comes in handy! If you teach them Ice Beam/Rock Slide, you can one-shot all the Golbats.
Koga: 4x resistance to Poison and an immunity to Toxic gives them the edge. Look out for Self Destruct. If you have already gotten Earthquake, they will crush this gym.
Saffron Rockets: Similar to Celadon, but you can grab the Earthquake TM here to one shot all the Magneton / Weezing before they Self Destruct. Earthquake + Surf or Ice Beam will destroy everything Giovanni has.
Sabrina: No... just don't... you'll definitely die.
Blaine: Surf or Earthquake will wreck his team.
Giovanni: Ground-, Water-, and Ice-type attacks wreck this gym.
Lorelei: Ugh... you can hit her Pokemon with super effective Rock Slides (which hit for the same damage as EQ) and Thunderbolts, but honestly the weaknesses to Ice- and Water-type attacks cannot be overcome. Bring one of the many powerful Electric-types instead.
Bruno: The Nidos definitely have the advantage here, with a resistance to Fighting-attacks and the ability to hit everything with powerful Earthquakes. Water/Ice attacks also kill Onix.
Agatha: Earthquake kills everything she has except Golbat, which is no threat. Odds are though, your Nido knows one of Rock Slide / Ice Beam / Thunderbolt so just one shot the Golbat.
Lance: With Ice Beam they can put on a decent fight in RB (Gyara has Hydro Pump though!). In Yellow, Gyarados, the second Dragonair, and Dragonite are all packing Water- and Ice-type attacks that can destroy the Nidos, but the first Dragnair only has Thunderbolt. :)
Rival: Kind of a mixed bag. The Nidos can take on: Pidgeot, Magneton, Jolteon, Rhydon (with Surf), Flareon, Arcanine, Ninetales, Charizard (with Rock Slide), Venusaur (with Ice Beam / Fire Blast), and Exeggcutor. They will have issues with Alakazam, Vaporeon, Cloyster, Blastoise, Gyarados, and Sandslash.
Additional Comments: Fast evolution, great moves, and immunity to Poison status and Electric-based paralysis gives them a lot of endurance and utility in game. They evolve fast and appear early. You really can't go wrong with a Nido-- the only real weakness is not STAB Ground-attacks until Earthquake.
Zapdos - Top Tier
Availability: Available Mid-game but at a high level of 50.
Stats: Awesome Special, great bulk and enough Speed to take care of pretty much everything.
Movepool: Thunderbolt and Drill Peck are mixed STAB and are amazing. It comes with the latter but you need to save TM 24 for the former. Fly for a baby HM whore. Thunder Wave for good measure.
Match-ups:
Giovanni - Pretty poor match up here, unfortunately.
Lorelei - Almost a full sweep except for Jynx, who you should definitely switch out of. Everything else dies to Thunderbolt.
Bruno - Can't hit his 2 Onix, but hits the rest of his team where it hurts with Drill Peck.
Agatha - Thank God for Drill Peck, hitting her frail Gengar and 2 Haunters pretty heavily.
Lance - OHKOes Gyarados, but not a fantastic match-up otherwise.
Rival - Beats Venusaur/Exeggutor with Drill Peck, KOes Gyarados, Blastoise, Pidgeot, and Charizard with Thunderbolt. Can't touch Rhydon, unfortunately.
Additional Comments: Comes at a high level with great stats, you can complete its moveset with TM 24 and HM 02 immediately after you catch it.
Availability: Early, before second gym.
Stats: Above Average
Movepool: Meh, its okay.
Power: Having huge base stats in speed and special make Abra a huge threat to everything else. The strongest Psychic type in the game that isn't Mew or Mewtwo when it evolves, this gives it pure type advantage against everything. With Darks and Steels yet to be discovered, and the best move a Ghost can pack is essentially Lick, in addition to all bugs being terrible, being a Psychic type means that it essentially has neutrality on at least everything. Confusion, Psybeam and Psychic are all really powerful in the game and hit everything that isn't a psychic type for neutral damage.
Type: Nothing other than Bug- and Ghost-types get Abra for SE damage, and you don't find most of those towards the end of the game.
Match-ups:
Misty: Meh. Not too bad if you can get it to Kadabra and teach it some decent moves. However, you can't any, really, until Saffron; it's Psychic at that which, don't get me wrong, is a good move, but about the only good STAB until then.
Erika: Defeat Team Rocket in order to get Psychic from MR. Psychic and Erika should be easy considering she has some Grass / Poison-types.
Koga: Way easy with Psychic.
Blaine: Not too hard, especially with a strong STAB move. If you've kept Water Gun, it could do a bit of damage, but it's not worth the moveslot.
Sabrina: Psychic on Psychic honestly isn't that bad.
Giovanni: Good Psychic STAB = win
Bruno: Does pretty well. Especially if you have a Fighting-type move to help with the Rock-types
Agatha: Honestly one of the easiest to get through with Alakazam
Rival: If you've chosen Squirtle, your rival will have a Venusaur. That doesn't include Yellow Version, however.
Articuno - Top Tier
Availability: Mid-game, comes at a high level of 50.
Stats: Amazing Special, awesome bulk, useable Speed.
Movepool: Articuno's STAB Blizzard is actually the strongest attack in the game and is 90% accurate. It learns it at level 51, just ONE level up after you catch it. Give it Fly as well. Comes with Ice Beam which is a finisher move to preserve Blizzard's PP. It's also pretty strong.
Match-ups:
Giovanni - Sweeps.
Lorelei - Articuno can't really do anything here, sadly.
Bruno - Sweeps.
Agatha - Can manage well, not an outright sweep though.
Lance - Sweeps.
Rival - Easily beats Venusaur or Exeggutor. Slays Rhydon and Pidgeot.
Additional Comments: The only problem with Articuno is its Blizzard's low PP
Nidoran(M)/Nidoran(F) - Top Tier
Availability: Very Early, right after you first get Pokeballs. Keep in mind that they evolve at level 16 (about the time you reach Mt. Moon), and with the Moon Stone (which you will obtain 1 of at Mt. Moon).
Stats: Just enough power to effectively attack from both sides, and enough bulk and speed to be useful against most opponents.
Movepool: The nidos have exceptional movepools, performing well throughout the game. In RB they're of little help against Brock and Misty, but in Yellow they get Double Kick, which could be relied on to kill Brock's Rock-types. With early evolution they get access to some powerful Normal-type attacks at Level 23 that will carry them for most of the game (Thrash for Nidoking / Body Slam for Nidoqueen). You can use the Mega Kick or Mega Punch TMs to beat face until then. Nidoqueen and Nidoking can also use Water Gun (obtained at Mt. Moon) to gain great coverage without wasting your Bubblebeam TM (most foes weak to Water in the early game will be destroyed by Water Gun). Both Pokemon also get Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Rock Slide, and Surf. Just be weary that those are all important and valuable TMs outside of Surf. The only unfortunate aspect of their movepools is a lack of useful STAB moves-- neither learns Sludge, and both are incompatible with Dig, which means you have no STAB options at all until you get the Earthquake TM (which comes late game, and you only get 1 of-- it's one of the most valuable TMs). Missing out on Dig is especially unfortunate since it means going into Lt. Surg without a STAB Ground-type attack, which Dugtrio, Golem, and Sandslash can boast. This is of little consequence in RB though, since Raichu can only growl them, but is more annoying in Yellow where Raichu can use Mega Punch. If you're cloning TMs with Missingno, the Nidos are simply incredible.
Power: Amazing movepools and decent offensive stats-- pretty self explanatory.
Type: Passing through Viridian Forest and up to Mt.Moon, immunity to Poison is fantastic, as is resistance to Poison Sting. After evolving to their final forms, they pick up an additional immunity to Electric moves, protecting them from Paralysis as well. Their resistance to these two forms of status makes them incredibly durable on long treks. Unfortunately, they have many prevalent weaknesses-- the Ground-type being a nuisance against Misty (and later Lorelei), and the Poison's weakness to Psychic is never fun. It's too bad they don't get Sludge as Poison + Ground has incredible coverage. Overall, their typing is good.
Match-ups:
Brock: Only really useful in Yellow where they get Double Kick.
Misty: Terrible here. Nidorina/Nidorino are too weak, and Nidoqueen/Nidoking would be destroyed by Bubble Beam. Definitely be better to rely on a Grass-type to take on this gym.
Lt. Surge: Excellent, though no STAB Ground-attacks; Nidoking can have problems in Yellow with Raichu's Mega Punch.
Rock Cave: Water Gun + Normal attacks does great.
Erika: They will destroy her if you give them Ice Beam. Immune to Poison Powder is nice, but not an amazing match up without Ice Beam.
Celadon/Lavender Rockets: Water/Ice + Normal coverage hits everything (and destroys Giovanni), and immunity to Poison comes in handy! If you teach them Ice Beam/Rock Slide, you can one-shot all the Golbats.
Koga: 4x resistance to Poison and an immunity to Toxic gives them the edge. Look out for Self Destruct. If you have already gotten Earthquake, they will crush this gym.
Saffron Rockets: Similar to Celadon, but you can grab the Earthquake TM here to one shot all the Magneton / Weezing before they Self Destruct. Earthquake + Surf or Ice Beam will destroy everything Giovanni has.
Sabrina: No... just don't... you'll definitely die.
Blaine: Surf or Earthquake will wreck his team.
Giovanni: Ground-, Water-, and Ice-type attacks wreck this gym.
Lorelei: Ugh... you can hit her Pokemon with super effective Rock Slides (which hit for the same damage as EQ) and Thunderbolts, but honestly the weaknesses to Ice- and Water-type attacks cannot be overcome. Bring one of the many powerful Electric-types instead.
Bruno: The Nidos definitely have the advantage here, with a resistance to Fighting-attacks and the ability to hit everything with powerful Earthquakes. Water/Ice attacks also kill Onix.
Agatha: Earthquake kills everything she has except Golbat, which is no threat. Odds are though, your Nido knows one of Rock Slide / Ice Beam / Thunderbolt so just one shot the Golbat.
Lance: With Ice Beam they can put on a decent fight in RB (Gyara has Hydro Pump though!). In Yellow, Gyarados, the second Dragonair, and Dragonite are all packing Water- and Ice-type attacks that can destroy the Nidos, but the first Dragnair only has Thunderbolt. :)
Rival: Kind of a mixed bag. The Nidos can take on: Pidgeot, Magneton, Jolteon, Rhydon (with Surf), Flareon, Arcanine, Ninetales, Charizard (with Rock Slide), Venusaur (with Ice Beam / Fire Blast), and Exeggcutor. They will have issues with Alakazam, Vaporeon, Cloyster, Blastoise, Gyarados, and Sandslash.
Additional Comments: Fast evolution, great moves, and immunity to Poison status and Electric-based paralysis gives them a lot of endurance and utility in game. They evolve fast and appear early. You really can't go wrong with a Nido-- the only real weakness is not STAB Ground-attacks until Earthquake.
Zapdos - Top Tier
Availability: Available Mid-game but at a high level of 50.
Stats: Awesome Special, great bulk and enough Speed to take care of pretty much everything.
Movepool: Thunderbolt and Drill Peck are mixed STAB and are amazing. It comes with the latter but you need to save TM 24 for the former. Fly for a baby HM whore. Thunder Wave for good measure.
Match-ups:
Giovanni - Pretty poor match up here, unfortunately.
Lorelei - Almost a full sweep except for Jynx, who you should definitely switch out of. Everything else dies to Thunderbolt.
Bruno - Can't hit his 2 Onix, but hits the rest of his team where it hurts with Drill Peck.
Agatha - Thank God for Drill Peck, hitting her frail Gengar and 2 Haunters pretty heavily.
Lance - OHKOes Gyarados, but not a fantastic match-up otherwise.
Rival - Beats Venusaur/Exeggutor with Drill Peck, KOes Gyarados, Blastoise, Pidgeot, and Charizard with Thunderbolt. Can't touch Rhydon, unfortunately.
Additional Comments: Comes at a high level with great stats, you can complete its moveset with TM 24 and HM 02 immediately after you catch it.
High Tier:
Bulbasaur - High Tier
Availability: Beginning of the Game. Evolves at 16 and 32
Stats: 65 base Special is decent for a starter, 100 as Venusaur is great! Sort of slow, however.
Movepool: Leech seed is surprisingly useful since its Attack is rather low. It gets Vine Whip before it even evolves, which has low PP but is moderately powerful. The real kicker here is Razor Leaf, which Ivysaur gets at Level 30 and has an effective Base Power of 165 (STAB + 100% critical hit).
Typing: Great defensive typing, granting it reliable STAB. It lols at early gym leaders (see below)
Match-ups:
Brock - OHKOes everything with Vine Whip
Misty - OHKOes Staryu, gets 2-3HKO on Starmie
Lt. Surge - resists its STAB, whittles away with Vine Whip.
Erika - Not too great here.
Koga - Not too great here either.
Sabrina - Unfortunately, it is weak to its STAB, a rather powerful STAB at that.
Blaine - Same story as Sabrina
Giovanni - OHKOes Rhyhorn, Rhydon, and Dugtrio. It is slower than Dugtrio but is only weak to Dig. Use a Psychic-type against Nidoqueen and Nidoking.
Lorelei - As long as you can outspeed Lapras and Dewgong, you can take sweep her whole team bar Jynx, out of whom you should switch.
Bruno - Murders her 2 Onix; Hitmonlee's and Hitmonchan's Special are absolutely horrid, so Razor Leaf will OHKO. You 2HKO Machamp who only has Submission and Fissure, the latter which will never hit you due to Machamp's Speed.
Agatha - Very poor match-up here. Can't do much to Gengar due to resisting Razor Leaf and its very high Special.
Lance - Terrible match-up here, only hits Gyarados for as good as neutral damage.
Rival - Only beats Rhydon and possibly Gyarados (watch out for Hyper Beam), but is weak to everything else.
Magikarp - High Tier
Availability: Early, right before Mt. Moon.
Stats: Great (once it evolves).
Movepool: Somewhat wide (after it evolves).
Power: Once it's a Gyarados, it can plow through the majority of battles due to its sheer stats. Base 125 Attack and Base 100 Special ensure that any attacking options are going to hurt. Also learns Dragon Rage at Lv. 26.
Type: Water's always good, and it gains a neutrality to Grass and immunity to Ground when it evolves.
Match-ups: As a Magikarp, it loses to everybody. As a Gyarados, you only have to worry about Lt. Surge.
Jolteon - High Tier
Availability: Rather early (Erika's gym) and you can evolve it right away, but it's at a low level of 20.
Stats: Awesome Special and the highest Speed in the game bar Electrode. It's rather frail, however.
Movepool: Thunderbolt + 25% crit rate is just too good to pass up. Doesn't have much else of note, however.
Match-ups:
Giovanni - Pretty poor match up here, unfortunately.
Lorelei - Almost a full sweep except for Jynx, who you should definitely switch out of. Everything else dies to Thunderbolt.
Bruno - Can't hit his 2 Onix, but beats the rest of his Pokemon with Thunderbolt.
Agatha - Struggles to take down her two Gengar and Haunter (who like to hit it with annoying status), but easily takes care of Golbat and Arbok.
Lance - OHKOes Gyarados, but not a fantastic match-up otherwise.
Rival - KOes Gyarados, Blastoise, Pidgeot, and Charizard with Thunderbolt. It won't get past Venusaur or Exeggutor and can't touch Rhydon.
Snorlax - High Tier (Arguably Top)
Availability: 2 that are available after getting the Pokeflute. Comes at a whopping level 30 (should be about the same or better than your other teammates). You can even use both if you want (1 with Surf, and another with Ice Beam / Blizzard / EQ, lol).
Stats: Some of the best stats in the game-- Snorlax is an OU level beast with fantastic HP and ATK. It's speed is bad, and its defensive stats are more than passable with that MONSTER HP. Amnesia can patch up its special... very fast...
Movepool: Comes with Headbutt and quickly gets Body Slam (one of the best Normal moves in the game), which also preserves your precious Body Slam TM. It comes with Rest + Amnesia (+ Pokeflute) which is stupid, especially since Body Slam + boosted Surf can destroy everything in the game. Body Slam / Rest / Surf / Amnesia is probably the best in-game set, especially if you aren't cloning TMs. Basically, Snorlax can rape everything without using any TMs. If you are cloning TMs, you can give it Earthquake or Blizzard. Not really important, but it learns Hyper Beam on its own too...
Power: It has awesome ATK, and Amnesia pumps up its Special like crazy. It can sweep on either side.
Type: Normal is arguably better than Psychic. While it has no resistances (much like Psychic), it also has basically no weaknesses as Fighting attacks are almost non-existent (Fighting Gym/Bruno's Hitmonlee, Bruno's Machamp--that's it). Normal has perfect or near-perfect coverage with so many types in the game-- Rhydon/Golem and Gengar are the only things in all of RBY that hold up to Normal attacks, and Snorlax has access to Surf, Blizzard/Ice Beam, and Earthquake. Yeah, no problemo.
Match-ups:
Erika: Snorlax laughs at status, Amnesia's through all their attacks, and destroys them with Headbutt/Body Slam. If you gave Snorlax Ice Beam... Ice Beam + Amnesia, lol
Koga: A little bit tough since Sludge hits Snorlax's weak physical side, but you can Amnesia up against something weak like Koffing, Rest of any Poison/damage and sweep with Surf / Ice Beam.
Sabrina: Amnesia to max special against Kadabra / Mr. Mime. Sweep with Ice Beam / Surf / Body Slam. Body Slam from a decent leveled Snorlax OHKO's Alakazam, and comes close even through Reflect. Psychic from Alakazam does laughable damage when Snorlax is at +6 Special. Sucks if Psychic crits you though...
Blaine: Amnesia + Rest + Surf= lol If you went with Earthquake, you'll be getting hit hard by Fire Blasts but you'll OHKO everything while you still have health. If you taught Snorlax Ice Beam / Blizzard, it still does well with Body Slam. Sucks if Arcanine's Fire Blast crits you.
Giovani: Amnesia + Surf + Rest = Sweep
Lorolei: It'll take some effort to break through her Ice-types relying on Body Slam, but she won't be able to touch you without a critical hit once you've amnesia'd up against Dewgong. Sucks if something crits you with Blizzard though...
Bruno: Just watch out for Hitmonlee and Machamp. Surf Snorlax destroys everything else.
Agatha: Gengars can literally do nothing to Snorlax, especially after it Amnesia's up. Amnesia + Surf / Ice Beam for the sweep. If you went with Earthquake, you'll OHKO everything except Golbat, who will die to Body Slams. Agatha is no threat.
Lance: Snorlax won't like repeated Hyper Beams, but it can definitely hold its own (especially if you taught it Ice Beam / Blizzard)
Rival: Pidgeot can't do shit to Snorlax, so feel free to set up Amnesia and sweep his whole team. Pokemon Yellow is harder since Sand Attack and powerful physical attacks from Sandslash are annoying, but Snorlax will still hold its own as a powerful attacker.
Additional Comments: Snorlax has the power and movepool to destroy everything. It requires minimum TM investment (none at all if you abuse Surf + Amnesia), and almost no healing item support thanks to Rest + Pokeflute. It can even sweep using Strength + Surf, packing HMs while beating shit up simultaneously. Snorlax's only real problem is being slow... really slow... which means it can really get fucked up by critical hits in RBY. Since Snorlaxe's Special Defense is only 65 in RBY, a crit at the wrong time can be really bad when Amnesia-boosted Snorlax gets OHKO'd by a Psychic, Blizzard or Fire Blast it would have otherwise lol'd at. If you just pack some extra Hyper Potions to help Snorlax out in the face of some unfortunate hax, it can sweep through most enemies.
Availability: Beginning of the Game. Evolves at 16 and 32
Stats: 65 base Special is decent for a starter, 100 as Venusaur is great! Sort of slow, however.
Movepool: Leech seed is surprisingly useful since its Attack is rather low. It gets Vine Whip before it even evolves, which has low PP but is moderately powerful. The real kicker here is Razor Leaf, which Ivysaur gets at Level 30 and has an effective Base Power of 165 (STAB + 100% critical hit).
Typing: Great defensive typing, granting it reliable STAB. It lols at early gym leaders (see below)
Match-ups:
Brock - OHKOes everything with Vine Whip
Misty - OHKOes Staryu, gets 2-3HKO on Starmie
Lt. Surge - resists its STAB, whittles away with Vine Whip.
Erika - Not too great here.
Koga - Not too great here either.
Sabrina - Unfortunately, it is weak to its STAB, a rather powerful STAB at that.
Blaine - Same story as Sabrina
Giovanni - OHKOes Rhyhorn, Rhydon, and Dugtrio. It is slower than Dugtrio but is only weak to Dig. Use a Psychic-type against Nidoqueen and Nidoking.
Lorelei - As long as you can outspeed Lapras and Dewgong, you can take sweep her whole team bar Jynx, out of whom you should switch.
Bruno - Murders her 2 Onix; Hitmonlee's and Hitmonchan's Special are absolutely horrid, so Razor Leaf will OHKO. You 2HKO Machamp who only has Submission and Fissure, the latter which will never hit you due to Machamp's Speed.
Agatha - Very poor match-up here. Can't do much to Gengar due to resisting Razor Leaf and its very high Special.
Lance - Terrible match-up here, only hits Gyarados for as good as neutral damage.
Rival - Only beats Rhydon and possibly Gyarados (watch out for Hyper Beam), but is weak to everything else.
Magikarp - High Tier
Availability: Early, right before Mt. Moon.
Stats: Great (once it evolves).
Movepool: Somewhat wide (after it evolves).
Power: Once it's a Gyarados, it can plow through the majority of battles due to its sheer stats. Base 125 Attack and Base 100 Special ensure that any attacking options are going to hurt. Also learns Dragon Rage at Lv. 26.
Type: Water's always good, and it gains a neutrality to Grass and immunity to Ground when it evolves.
Match-ups: As a Magikarp, it loses to everybody. As a Gyarados, you only have to worry about Lt. Surge.
Jolteon - High Tier
Availability: Rather early (Erika's gym) and you can evolve it right away, but it's at a low level of 20.
Stats: Awesome Special and the highest Speed in the game bar Electrode. It's rather frail, however.
Movepool: Thunderbolt + 25% crit rate is just too good to pass up. Doesn't have much else of note, however.
Match-ups:
Giovanni - Pretty poor match up here, unfortunately.
Lorelei - Almost a full sweep except for Jynx, who you should definitely switch out of. Everything else dies to Thunderbolt.
Bruno - Can't hit his 2 Onix, but beats the rest of his Pokemon with Thunderbolt.
Agatha - Struggles to take down her two Gengar and Haunter (who like to hit it with annoying status), but easily takes care of Golbat and Arbok.
Lance - OHKOes Gyarados, but not a fantastic match-up otherwise.
Rival - KOes Gyarados, Blastoise, Pidgeot, and Charizard with Thunderbolt. It won't get past Venusaur or Exeggutor and can't touch Rhydon.
Snorlax - High Tier (Arguably Top)
Availability: 2 that are available after getting the Pokeflute. Comes at a whopping level 30 (should be about the same or better than your other teammates). You can even use both if you want (1 with Surf, and another with Ice Beam / Blizzard / EQ, lol).
Stats: Some of the best stats in the game-- Snorlax is an OU level beast with fantastic HP and ATK. It's speed is bad, and its defensive stats are more than passable with that MONSTER HP. Amnesia can patch up its special... very fast...
Movepool: Comes with Headbutt and quickly gets Body Slam (one of the best Normal moves in the game), which also preserves your precious Body Slam TM. It comes with Rest + Amnesia (+ Pokeflute) which is stupid, especially since Body Slam + boosted Surf can destroy everything in the game. Body Slam / Rest / Surf / Amnesia is probably the best in-game set, especially if you aren't cloning TMs. Basically, Snorlax can rape everything without using any TMs. If you are cloning TMs, you can give it Earthquake or Blizzard. Not really important, but it learns Hyper Beam on its own too...
Power: It has awesome ATK, and Amnesia pumps up its Special like crazy. It can sweep on either side.
Type: Normal is arguably better than Psychic. While it has no resistances (much like Psychic), it also has basically no weaknesses as Fighting attacks are almost non-existent (Fighting Gym/Bruno's Hitmonlee, Bruno's Machamp--that's it). Normal has perfect or near-perfect coverage with so many types in the game-- Rhydon/Golem and Gengar are the only things in all of RBY that hold up to Normal attacks, and Snorlax has access to Surf, Blizzard/Ice Beam, and Earthquake. Yeah, no problemo.
Match-ups:
Erika: Snorlax laughs at status, Amnesia's through all their attacks, and destroys them with Headbutt/Body Slam. If you gave Snorlax Ice Beam... Ice Beam + Amnesia, lol
Koga: A little bit tough since Sludge hits Snorlax's weak physical side, but you can Amnesia up against something weak like Koffing, Rest of any Poison/damage and sweep with Surf / Ice Beam.
Sabrina: Amnesia to max special against Kadabra / Mr. Mime. Sweep with Ice Beam / Surf / Body Slam. Body Slam from a decent leveled Snorlax OHKO's Alakazam, and comes close even through Reflect. Psychic from Alakazam does laughable damage when Snorlax is at +6 Special. Sucks if Psychic crits you though...
Blaine: Amnesia + Rest + Surf= lol If you went with Earthquake, you'll be getting hit hard by Fire Blasts but you'll OHKO everything while you still have health. If you taught Snorlax Ice Beam / Blizzard, it still does well with Body Slam. Sucks if Arcanine's Fire Blast crits you.
Giovani: Amnesia + Surf + Rest = Sweep
Lorolei: It'll take some effort to break through her Ice-types relying on Body Slam, but she won't be able to touch you without a critical hit once you've amnesia'd up against Dewgong. Sucks if something crits you with Blizzard though...
Bruno: Just watch out for Hitmonlee and Machamp. Surf Snorlax destroys everything else.
Agatha: Gengars can literally do nothing to Snorlax, especially after it Amnesia's up. Amnesia + Surf / Ice Beam for the sweep. If you went with Earthquake, you'll OHKO everything except Golbat, who will die to Body Slams. Agatha is no threat.
Lance: Snorlax won't like repeated Hyper Beams, but it can definitely hold its own (especially if you taught it Ice Beam / Blizzard)
Rival: Pidgeot can't do shit to Snorlax, so feel free to set up Amnesia and sweep his whole team. Pokemon Yellow is harder since Sand Attack and powerful physical attacks from Sandslash are annoying, but Snorlax will still hold its own as a powerful attacker.
Additional Comments: Snorlax has the power and movepool to destroy everything. It requires minimum TM investment (none at all if you abuse Surf + Amnesia), and almost no healing item support thanks to Rest + Pokeflute. It can even sweep using Strength + Surf, packing HMs while beating shit up simultaneously. Snorlax's only real problem is being slow... really slow... which means it can really get fucked up by critical hits in RBY. Since Snorlaxe's Special Defense is only 65 in RBY, a crit at the wrong time can be really bad when Amnesia-boosted Snorlax gets OHKO'd by a Psychic, Blizzard or Fire Blast it would have otherwise lol'd at. If you just pack some extra Hyper Potions to help Snorlax out in the face of some unfortunate hax, it can sweep through most enemies.
Middle Tier:
Lapras - Middle Tier
Availability: Late, Silph Co. (Lv. 15)
Stats: Good across the board, with massive HP and mediocre Speed.
Movepool: It has great level-up and TM/HM learnsets.
Power: Because Lapras joins at Lv. 15, it won't be winning any battles on its own. If you can be bothered to grind it, then it actually does quite well.
Type: Water typing is great on the last Gym Leaders, and Ice is helpful for Lance. Ice's added weakness are easily managed/uncommon.
Match-ups: Lapras's overall good stats and typing mean that it can be very useful in the last fights.
3 of Koga's Pokemon have low Special. Sabrina's normally threatening Psychic-types are easily taken care of due to Lapras's high special bulk and access to Body Slam. Blaine and Giovanni are both demolished due to their type disadvantage. Lorelei can be easily beaten because Lapras can learn Thunderbolt, which is SE on 4 of her Pokemon, and Body Slam, which nails Jynx's pitiful defense. Bruno's Pokemon all are either weak to Surf or have low Special, but keep in mind that Hitmonlee has Hi Jump Kick and Machamp has Submission. Lapras can also learn Psychic, making it useful against Agatha. Unfortunately, its below average speed means that it's vulnerable to Hypnosis. As mentioned before, Lapras's Ice secondary type makes it very useful against Lance, only having to worry about his first Dragonair and Dragonite in Yellow.
Additional Comments: Lapras has a ton of potential, as shown above. Its joining time and level, as well as sheer competition from other Water-types who can be obtained earlier in the game, and at more convenient levels, might deter use of Lapras, but don't let that stop you
Pikachu - Mid Tier
Availability: Very Early / Default Starter (Yellow Only)
Stats: Good speed, decent attack & special, weak HP & defense
Movepool: Limited but sufficient. Gets Thundershock from the start which is a decent attack when STAB and type advantage is factored in. It's the only electricity you'll have access to until after Gym 3 and you'll have to wait even longer than that if you want to save your TM24. In Yellow, it learns Thunderbolt naturally at level 26 which is a huge improvement over Red and Blue (where it learns the OK but not great Swift instead). Thunder Wave is a good team support move that it gets very early. Can learn Flash for those not adept at navigating the darkness of Rock Tunnel and Victory Road. Downside to the movepool is nothing useful against rock/grounds (unless you have Stadium and the time to get it Surf).
Power: Not overly powerful but its speed provides a decent amount of CHs and quick shots at opponents. Can usually faint others before it faints itself.
Type: STAB Electric comes in handy, especially against the many flying (and later, water) pokemon you run into throughout the game. Think Zubat. The downside is that most caves also feature Geodude. Fortunately, the quick speed allows for easy getaways when you select "run". Only one weakness (Ground) so it doesn't have to face super effective hits very often.
Match-ups: Useless against the first gym battle, excellent against the second, struggles in gyms 3, 4 and 8, average against the others. Much more useful against the wild pokemon and average trainer battles.
Additional Notes: Pokemon's flagship monster is an interesting choice in these games. On the one hand, electric types are scarce early on, so it's somewhat unique until almost halfway through the gym objective. It can also evolve at will through a Thunderstone and become a Raichu by Gym 4. But there's a catch. In Yellow, Pikachu can't be evolved so the positives of improved learned moves is counteracted by the lack of evolution power. With STAB Thunderbolt and its speed, though, it can run through many pokemon that don't resist its type attack. On the other hand, it's overshadowed by Jolteon and Zapdos or other pokemon that can wield Thunderbolt effectively (Nidoking, for example). The mouse is at least a decent stop gap until you get access to some of those upgrades, though. In general, Pikachu is a great early mon that can be replaced down the road. While it won't hurt you to keep it in your party for the entire game, Pikachu, and later Raichu (RB only), is not powerful enough to be considered a must use.
-Availability: Right after you get Surf
-Stats: 100 Spe and 120 Special are amazing the rest is ok
-Movepool: Gets Stab Surf wich you can teach it instantly and can learn Blizzard/Ice Beam via TM, also has access to Wrap+Swords Dance if you want it.
-Power: 70 Spe and 100 Special is very nice for a NFE and its level ranges from 5-40 so you can evolve it instantly if you can catch a Lvl 30+ one. It also gets a high powered Stab Move and is very fast as well as having great coverage if you teach it Ice Beam
-Type: Water is great, Poison is not
-Match-ups:
Sabrina: Sabrina eats you alive don't switch it in
Blaine: Clean sweep
Giovanni: Same as above
Lorelei: Everything except for Jynx resists your attacks and Jynx got a high enough Special to survive a Surf and threaten to paralyse. Clearly a bad match-up
Bruno: The only thing that survives a Surf is Machamp who can't touch you outside of a NVE Submission
Agatha: Arbok and Golbat go down easy but you could have some trouble with Gengar and Haunter due to their high Special so watch out here
Lance: Without Ice Beam/Blizzard the only thing you can hurt is Aerodactyl otherwise only Gyarados stands in your way of a clean sweep
Rival: Can handle Pidgeot, Rhydon and Charizard as well as Exeggutor and Venusaur if you teach it Ice Beam
Additional comments: The main drawback is that there are so many other great water types, however in terms of raw power Tentacruel really stands out.
Low Tier:
Ekans - Low Tier
Availability: Red version only, right after Mt. Moon.
Stats: All of Arbok's stats are average or below average. It can't do much damage directly without a super effective hit and it can't take too many hits either.
Movepool: Only Ekans and Arbok learn Glare, which while inaccurate is only move that can paralyze every single Pokemon in the game. They also learns other useful moves like Wrap, Dig, Earthquake, Fissure, Strength and Rock Slide. Their main fault is a lack of a good STAB move. Acid is complete garbage.
Power: Technically speaking, Arbok can probably beat 90% of the Pokemon you will encounter in the game with Glare + Wrap, but doing so is extremely time consuming and risky due to low accuracy. A super-effective Rock Slide or Dig might do some damage, but Arbok's Attack and Special are just too low to do any significant damage.
Type: Pure Poison is a pretty lousy typing. Arbok gains no good STAB and a weakness to Psychic. It also has a Ground-type weakness, but Ground-type moves are rarer than Psychic-type moves. It's resistances aren't anything to write home about either.
Match ups: With Dig/Earthquake, Arbok could potentially bring the pain train to Lt. Surge, Koga, Blaine and Agatha, but otherwise Arbok doesn't really excel in any way. Keep it away from Sabrina and Giovanni: they will eat Arbok for breakfast. Again, it can use Glare + Wrap if you have the patience, but otherwise keep Arbok on the sidelines for most of the major fights.
Additonal Comments: RBY is tough on pure Poison-types because they lack a good STAB move. Their best move is Sludge, which Arbok can't even learn. If you want a ParaWrap abuser, Arbok is probably your best bet in Red version due to its availability. But Arbok's low stats, mediocre typing and reliance of TMs for good moves make it difficult to place on a team.
Farfetch'd - Low Tier (Top Tier as HM Slave; Bottom tier as a battler)
Availability: Somewhat early, as you trade Spearow for it in Vermilion city. Notably, you get it in the same town as Cut.
Stats: Crap, don't bother battling with this... just don't... Pidgey is better. Doduo is better. Spearow is probably your best in-game Normal-/Flying-type (and it's not that great at all).
Movepool: Cut + Fly... NICE!! Yeah, Farfetch'd's biggest selling point is being the only Pokemon to learn Cut + Fly (except for Charizard). In fact it's the only Pokemon in the game to learn Fly + any other HM, except for Charizard (don't teach Charizard cut... also you're Charmeleon won't evolve until long after you've gotten Fly) and Fly + Flash Zapdos (which is pointless since you're not going to waste Zapdos that way, and you've gotten through Rock Tunnel by the time you get Zados). Cut + Fly is a pretty useful HM combination around the time you get Fly, letting you chop your way into Celadon City Gym, and around the Safari Zone and surrounding routes while also boasting the ability to move freely between Celadon, Lavender, Saffron and Fushia. Farfetch'd is undoubtedly one of the best HM slaves in the game.
Power: Quack
Type: It gets STAB on Cut and Fly... Quack
Match-ups:
All: Quack
Additional Comments: Considering you're just going to catch a Spearow for it (which are really easy to find east of Vermilion, and not too hard to find before Mt. Moon), and how much time Farfetch'd's Fly + Cut combo will save you mid-game, it's probably worth taking the time to trade for in Vermilion. Just don't battle with it... EVER; though like all HM slaves, it makes a good sacrifice when you need to make a safe switch-in. However, if you want a fly slave you won't feel embarrassed riding on... go with Pidgeot, Charizard, or Articuno...
Lickitung - Low Tier
Availability: Only one (trade a Slowbro for one at Route 18 fairly late game) in Red/Blue or Cerulean Cave in Yellow.
Stats: MARC (that's his name, don't wear it out) has got pretty good HP, but is decidedly below average in every other field, especially speed. On the plus side, it does get an experience boost.
Movepool: Terrible level-up learnset full of nothing but Normal attacks (the best of which being Stomp), but has an incredibly wide TM movepool. This walking saliva factory can learn 27 out of 50 TMs and 3 HMs, including such gems as Earthquake, Blizzard, Fire Blast, BubbleBeam, Thunder, and Seismic Toss. It's also the only Normal type besides Farfetch'd to learn Swords Dance, also by TM.
Power: Despite potentially gargantuan type coverage depending on how many TMs you want to put into this thing, it's awful offensive stats mean that Swords Dance is pretty much necessary to sweep even semi-effectively.
Type: Offensively and defensively speaking, Normal is anything but mundane in Gen I. However, The Pink One faces stiff competition from the likes of Snorlax (who actually ties it in speed) and Tauros, both of which can be obtained at about the same time, and both require far less setup to be useful.
Match-ups: Lickitung's battle prowess is completely dependent on which TMs the player is willing to part with in order to make it do anything other than give the opponent a good tongue trashing. In particular:
-- Koga and Agatha: Licky shakes things up with Earthquake, but might end up taking a status first.
-- Sabrina: Swords Dance + any decent STAB attack will make short work of her whole psychic hotline, but your low Special means you can't take it as well as you can dish it out.
-- Blaine: Licktung extinguishes his hot-blooded hench-'mon, but only if it's packing BubbleBeam.
-- Bruno: Earthquake makes his rock types go all to pieces, but unless you're overleveled his Hitmon's could easily beat him to the punch.
-- Lance: Blizzard leaves his whole squad out in the cold, but more than likely you're going to take a few licks yourself from his speedier Dragons.
- Bottom Line: While Lickitung could fill just about any gap your team is missing, it is precisely this unspecialization that unfortunately dooms poor MARC to the low tiers. In nearly every case, there are faster, bulkier, more powerful, or simply better choices.
Machop - Low Tier(Red and Blue) / High Tier(Yellow)
Availability: Towards the middle of the Game, Rock Tunnel specifically. In Yellow version, you can receive a Machoke in a trade for a Cubone who immediately evolves into Machamp upon trading.
Stats: High Attack, good HP and Defense, below-average Special and low Speed when full evolved; Machoke has a good Attack stat with average or less-than-average stats everywhere else. Since you can recieve a Machamp through a trade in Yellow, it levels up faster and can easily be a few steps ahead of your team, contributing to higher overall stats.
Movepool:Starts with Karate Chop, which has a high critical hit ratio. Low Kick and Submission are its only STAB options, neither of which are exceptionally good. Moves like Strength, Rock Slide, Mega Kick, Earthquake and Fissure can be used to fill in the gaps in its level up movepool, which in all honesty isn't that good. DON'T USE FOCUS ENERGY.
Power: Unless you are playing Yellow version or somehow find someone who still has a link cable (props if you do!), you are likely going to be using Machoke. It can do decent damage with its 100 base Attack, but you are probably better off with Hitmonlee or Primeape, who deal more damage and are faster. Machamp, on the other hand, can deal amazing amounts of damage and, despite its low Speed, is easily the best fully-evolved Fighting-type in the game.
Type: In a game dominated by Normal-types, Machop and its evolutions STAB moves, as mediocre as they are, are incredibly helpful. Just stay away from the almost equally dominant Flying-types and rarer but much more dangerous Psychic-types. Machop can't take a Psychic-type attack to save its life.
Match Ups: By the time you get Machop/Machamp, it is almost useless against the remaining major battles. It can be somewhat helpful against Giovanni and Lorelei, but it doesn't excel against any of the Gyms or Elite Four. This line is much more suited for regular trainer battles.
Additional Comments: If I didn't emphasize it enough, let me do it again: in Yellow version, you can a Machamp in a trade for a Cubone. Not only do you have one of the most powerful physical attackers in the game, but it gains boosted experience. This is amazing. If you can't evolve Machoke, its just not as good as other Fighting-types you can get and gets reduced to Low Tier status. If you can evolve it, use it and abuse it.
Magmar (Blue only) - Low Tier
Availability: Late, Pokemon Mansion.
Stats: Average
Movepool: Above average
Power: Magmar's Defense is mediocre, and most of the Cinnabar--->Viridian trainers resist and/or are super effective against Fire.
Type: Fire is not a good late-game type, due to the abundance of swimmers.
Match-ups: Surprisingly good against Giovanni and Bruno if you teach it Psychic. Otherwise, nothing special.
Moltres - Bottom Tier
Availability: Victory Road
Stats: Great Special, above average everything else.
Movepool: It has only Peck and Fire Spin when you catch it, meaning that you'll have to give up your TM38 for it to be okay. It learns Agility at Lv. 55, which will allow you to use the infamous Speed-boosting move/Wrap-like move combination.
Power: Fire Blast destroys everything in its path, except for resisted hits. Agility/Fire Spin is always good.
Type: A secondary Flying type actually makes Moltres less useful than if it was pure Fire. While it gives an immunity to Ground, nobody in the Pokemon League uses that except for Blue's Sandslash in Yellow. Flying also brings weaknesses to Electric and Ice, both of which are common types in the League (especially Ice). Finally, Fire STAB isn't useful this late in the game, and Flying just gives redundant coverage.
Match-ups:
Lorelei: 4 of Lorelei's Pokemon resist Fire, and all of them have moves that hit Moltres Super-Effectively.
Bruno: His Fighting-types are easily dispatched, and his 2 Onix have Rock Throw as their most powerful moves.
Agatha: She starts out with a Gengar that knows Hypnosis and is faster than Moltres. If you can set up an Agility against it, then the rest of her team should go down easily, so long as you don't get Confused.
Lance: All of his Pokemon resist Fire, and his Gyarados knows Hydro Pump. In Yellow, your chances are even slimmer, as his 2 Dragonair know SE moves, and Dragonite knows Thunder and Blizzard.
Additional Comments: While Moltres has good stats, its barren movepool, the difficulty in catching it, its common weaknesses, and poor performance against the Elite Four doom it to the depths of Bottom Tier. Not to mention that by the time you get Moltres, you have Pokemon at similar levels as it, but those have EVs.
Sandshrew (Blue/Yellow only) - Low Tier
Availability: Early, Route 4 (Route 3 if you're playing Yellow)
Stats: Good physical tank-oriented stats. Low Special and Speed.
Movepool: Above average. Notably, it can learn Slash and Swords Dance. Unfortunately, it can't learn Earthquake naturally.
Power: It falters against most special attackers. Low speed means that it usually has to take a hit before dishing one out. Lack of notable resistances means that it's generally outclassed by Geodude.
Typing: Mono-Ground typing is a double edged sword; on one hand, it's not weak to ground like Geodude is, and it might be able to survive an SE attack if need be; however, Mono-Ground gives it few resistances to types which either aren't common in-game (Electric) or bad attacking types to begin with (Poison).
Match-ups: Don't bother with Misty or Erika. Lt. Surge and Koga are obvious wins. Sabrina's Pokemon are not only fast, but they're Psychic-type, which means that Sabrina wins a vast majority of the time. Blaine is doable, but Fire is special, meaning Sandslashwill have a tougher time against him than against Lt. Surge or Koga. 4 of Giovanni's Pokemon (3 if you're playing Yellow) are weak to Ground, and the only special attack his Pokemon knows is Thunder, which Sandslash is immune to.
Bottom Tier:
Weedle (Red/Blue only) - Bottom Tier
Availability: Very early (Viridian Forest)
Stats: BAD
Movepool: Gets exclusive access to Twineedle, but nothing else of note.
Power: It does surprisingly well against Team Rocket, due to Bug being SE against Poison. It also does adequately on Cycling Road (when the Koffing don't Selfdestruct) and Celadon Gym. Aside from that, nothing doing.
Type: Bug/Poison is okay at best, providing a weakness to Psychic despite knowing actual damaging Bug-type moves.
Match-ups: Don't bother with Brock, Lt. Surge, Sabrina, Blaine, or Giovanni. Twineedle and String Shot mean that it's actually useful against Misty. Erika can go well because her entire team is weak to Bug, and 2 of them are x4 weak. While Koga's Pokemon are weak to Bug, all of them are able to take a hit and send another one your way.