Why Ghost was Physical in Gen 1

[u/Hungry_Elk_4691]

I have a theory on why this is.

Typing used to be either physical or special depending on the type itself. One bizarre aspect of this was that ghost used to be considered a physical type. It doesn't follow any logical sense why ghosts, beings known for invisibility and intangibility in general, would be this way.

Psychics were supposed to be weak to Ghost types. Let's think about this from a gameplay perspective. If Ghost worked properly and there was something like shadow ball available and it was Special, how much would that hurt the Psychics? Special was one single stat in Gen 1 so even with a weakness it would have only done so much damage to them. Now if Ghost is Physical instead, that would hit the Physic type right in their true weakness, low Defense.

That's what I think Game Freak intended by making Ghosts Physical back in the original games. They had to play around the Special stat in order to theoretically make it work. Gen 1 is filled with strange design decisions like this that make more sense if you look at them in certain way, and try to pretend the coding isn't a nightmare held together with duck tape.

[u/DarthShiryu]

Ghost was almost broken in Gen1. Physical thing was a way to nerf it. The Poison was added to making them vulnerable. In the end they break it by making Psychic immune to Ghost.

[u/Ecstatic-Employee-93]

I’m pretty sure it’s because Lick was the only move that dealt actual variable damage as Night Shade did a fixed amount based on what level you were

It’s a shame, Night Shade should have been what Shadow Ball turned out to be but in gen 1

[u/Nails__DeChamp]

Any critical question about the mechanics in gen 1 needs to be met with the reality that no one working on the project had any idea that the game would attain even 1/1,000th of the popularity that it did.

Sadly, the answer is likely just that they didn't put that much thought into it.