Pokemon Gen I Tier List: D-Tier
The framework and failures
The original Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow games for GameBoy were unleashed upon the world when I was but a young lad of ten years. These created a new monster training subgenre within the role-playing game space. They revolutionized the hand-held gaming market. And introduced kids all over the world to a beloved franchise.
Any novel game type has poor balance upon release. And any tier list will be controversial. My aim here is to categorize Pokemon based on how useful they are in the tough end-game battles like the Elite Four and Pokemon Stadium.
Leveling and gym leader fights are a lesser consideration. TM’s are important, but since they are one-time use (without duplication glitch) I focus more on naturally learned moves. Bulbapedia is a fantastic resource for investigating the details of particular Pokemon. 1
Smith Plays Pokemon on YouTube did an awesome video with a simulation and ranking of how useful each Pokemon over the course a Gen 1 playthrough. In this framework Mewtwo is therefore useless as the final boss.2
My writing assumes you’re generally familiar with the basics of the game. For most Pokemon I will focus on their final stages. Though this post shits on basic forms.
A quick note on Pokemon stats. In Pokemon Gen I, the Special stat combines both special attack and special defense. They are the same value. Bulbapedia entries reflect the Gen II+ values where these stats are split out.
D-Tier: The Failures
Let’s start with the D-tier. These Pokemon are severely outclassed by higher-tier Pokemon. They are liabilities rather than assets on your team.
These have such low stats that they are severely out-classed against almost all monsters you encounter. The good news is most just need a bit of leveling to evolve to the next stage and they can kick some ass.
Magikarp the Fail-Fish
This should surprise no one. Magikarp is a water type that can be either bought from a scammer salesman in the Pokemon center near Mt. Moon or fished up with a rod.
It starts at level 5 with the whopping total stats of 200. And it’s first attack is Splash which does literally nothing. You have to switch-level up to 15 to get the basic Tackle.
Then at level 20 it evolves into the A-tier Water/Flying type Gyarados. This is a pretty serious yet worthwhile investment.
Stalling Coccoons: Metapod and Kakuna
When caught in Viridian Forest, the only move these Bug types know is Harden. This increases Defense step by one step which stalls the fight against a physical attacking opponent. You’re better off leveling a Caterpie or Weedle from their basic forms to have their basic attacks.
At level 10 these evolve into Butterfree and Beedrill respectively with 390 stat totals. These learn their first legit attacks (Confusion and Fury Attack) at level 12. Butterfree is particularly useful for the first gym leader Brock.
Basic Bugs: Caterpie and Weedle
Caterpie and Weedle both have ultra-low base stats of 195. They both know two moves. Caterpie knows only the normal move Tackle with no Same-Type Attack Bonus (STAB). And then String-Shot which lowers the opponents speed one step, causing them to move later in turn order and reducing critical-strike chance.
Weedle’s saving grace is it’s Poison Sting attack which it has a STAB bonus on for 50% bonus damage.
Evolve to Metapod/Kakuna at level 7. This preserves Caterpie’s and Weedle’s moves while increasing their Defense slightly.
Scared Nerd Abra
Abra is a bitch to catch when you first encounter him north of Cerulean City. It is fast and uses Teleport right away to flee the battle. You can throw a ball right away or bring a quick monster to put him to sleep like Butterfree’s Sleep Powder or Clefairy’s Sing.
Or alternatively buy him from Rocket Game Corner in Celadon City. Either way the only move it learns is Teleport. It’s occasionally useful out of combat to return to a Pokemon Center like the Escape Rope item.
I recommend to catch at least two. Evolve the strongest to Kadabra at level 16. Trade the other for Mr. Mime. Both are great.
Stupid Sexy Flanders Ditto
Ditto is encountered in midgame grass patches. It has a better stat total than basic bugs. But its only move is to transform into a copy of the opposing Pokemon, gaining their stats and move set.
This requires you giving your opponent a free turn, often knocking you out in one shot. Then you have a mirror matchup on your hands. This could be useful if they send out their strongest monster first and you could somehow beat it, then take on the rest of their team. This is not useful in practice.
Ditto becomes more useful out of combat in Gen II for breeding with other Pokemon. It transforms into the male/female counterpart to get it on and make an egg. For example, Nidoqueen is barren so you breed Nidoking with Ditto to get a Nido-baby.
Go Evolve Eevee
The best pokemon in D-tier is Eevee, received as a gift from the game devs in Celadon Mansion. It is a normal type with a low stat total of 325 and a decent learnset including Quick Attack, Bite and Takedown.
The remake of Pokemon Yellow, Let’s Go Eevee, features a partner Eevee with improved stats who helps you with obstacles normally solved by HMs.
But in Red/Blue/Yellow, Eevee is strictly worse than its evolutions Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon. So go buy the Takedown TM and a Thunder, Water, or Fire Stone from the Celadon City Mall. Teach Eevee a decent move and evolve into a better form.
When to Evolve
Really Eevee is a stand-in for using Pokemon who should evolve but haven’t. I’m not going to drill into the details of Squirtle vs Wartortle. Instead let’s finish with an overview of when you should evolve your Pokemon.
In Eevee’s case, it learns better moves after evolving with a stone. However most stone-evolved Pokemon like the Pikachu → Raichu line do not learn new moves in their second form. Eevee is the exception to this rule.
Most Pokemon are level-evolved. These learn moves faster in their earlier form, and gain greater stats after evolution. For example, Charmander learns the top-shelf Fire move Flamethrower at level 38 vs Charmelon at 42 and Charizard at 46. You need to make a trade-off between greater stats and learning moves.
I prefer to learn a power move like Flamethrower at level 42 for Charmeleon before evolving to Charizard. But Slash is great and Charizard is a big upgrade. It’s your call whether to evolve earlier and use the crappier moves with the greater stats.
In the case of Magikarp, Abra and the basic bitch bug bois, this does not apply. The evolved forms have strictly better learn sets and you should evolve them ASAP.
Be careful to not over-level before evolving at the daycare south of Cerulean. Kadabra learns Confusion only when he evolves at 16. And Gyarados learns Bite only when he evolves at level 20.
Otherwise you’re stuck with shit moves. Like poor Ditto who is only used for sex.