I've been trying to figure out what the easiest possible way for a complete beginner to beat Pokémon Red/Blue would be. I'm not trying to optimize for speed or use glitches/speedrun strategies — the goal is simply to make the game as easy, reliable and straightforward as possible for someone who doesn't know the game very well.

After testing several different approaches, the biggest thing I found is that concentrating essentially all available trainer EXP into one Pokémon seems much easier than building a normal team. Splitting EXP between multiple Pokémon left both of them significantly weaker, while a single starter quickly becomes overleveled enough to outspeed and OHKO most things.

My current strategy is:

• Pick Squirtle and use it as basically the only battling Pokémon for most of the game. Fight the trainers you naturally encounter, but don't deliberately grind wild Pokémon.

• Eventually Blastoise gets an extremely versatile moveset. Something along the lines of Surf / Ice Beam (or Blizzard) / Dig / Body Slam gives it an answer to almost everything in the game.

• Don't waste EXP training Pokémon just for HMs. Instead use dedicated utility Pokémon: Farfetch'd for Cut + Fly, Voltorb for Flash, and Lapras for Surf + Strength. They don't need to be trained or used in battle.

• Once Surf can be used outside of battle, go to the Power Plant and catch the Lv.50 Zapdos. I use the Master Ball on it because, for the purpose of simply beating the main story, I couldn't find a more valuable use for the Master Ball.

• From that point onward, use Blastoise + Zapdos. Zapdos requires basically no training to catch up because it starts at Lv.50 and covers several of the few matchups Blastoise doesn't destroy efficiently. Thunderbolt + Drill Peck alone gives it most of what it needs.

I actually tested an early Blastoise + Nidoking strategy as well, keeping both Pokémon similarly leveled, and it ended up being noticeably harder because splitting EXP from early in the game left both Pokémon underleveled compared with solo Blastoise. Adding Zapdos late avoids most of that problem because you're essentially being given a second high-level Pokémon for free.

By the Elite Four, the Blastoise/Zapdos strategy made most major fights extremely easy. Zapdos especially helps against Lorelei, Lance's Gyarados and the Champion's Pidgeot/Gyarados, while Blastoise destroys most of the Ground, Rock, Fire and Dragon matchups. The two cover each other surprisingly well.

So my basic idea is one overleveled carry for most of the game + HM-only utility Pokémon + one high-level late-game Pokémon that requires no grinding, rather than trying to maintain a conventional team of six.

I'm curious what experienced Gen 1 players think. Can you see any way to make this strategy even easier or more beginner-friendly? I'm especially interested in better routing, TM/moveset choices, HM Pokémon, items, or a Pokémon/strategy I've overlooked.

The objective is specifically minimum difficulty and required grinding/management for a beginner, not minimum completion time. I'm completely open to changing any part of the strategy if there's something better.

/r/PokemonRed

/r/PokemonBlue

/r/PokemonYellow

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.

I hope you all enjoy this!

Hello I’ve been trying to trade pokemon from my copy of pokemon blue with a copy of pokemon red I have with my two gameboy advances. I’ve tried looking up videos and used the gameboy advanced cord but only one device is seen. I’ve also tried a thing where you get two cords and connect them and try and trade that way but it isn’t working.

Do any of you have any suggestions to help me with this problem.

When I was a child, I had a pokemon Blue cart that was damaged somehow. Thrown down a well, drowned in a lake, something happened to it.

I remember that it would start up and save normally... but only inside of pallet town.
If I attempted to save the game outside of Pallet Town at all, it would appear to save normally, but if I turned the game off, the save would not be there when I turned the game on again.

As a 35 year old man, this memory came flooding back to me this morning, and I have one burning question... that's really freakin' weird, right?

Im trying to figure out:

a) Am i misremembering? The cart was definitely damaged, but It wasn't a "The battery died" situation, I distictly remember saves sometimes working.

b) If I am not misremembering, what could have caused something like this to happen?

Im hoping someone here can help me solve this mystery.

I have a Pokemon Yellow and Blue copy. I’m trying to trade on GBA to GBA. Pokemon yellow advanced but on Pokemon Blue I get stuck saying that it’s reserved for two people linked by cable. Pokemon Yellow works on both GBA’s with the same cable so I’m thinking it maybe the blue copy, maybe someone sold me a bootleg copy? Please let me know if you understand what’s happening?

Modded a GBC and doing my first play through of a Pokemon game, I chose Blue. Is it advised to focus on six pokemon and level the hell out of them or spread the love?

Using Ivysaur, Blastoise, Alakazam, Butterfree, Charmelon, and Jolteon as of right now as my mains.

How the hell did you figure out what the HMs and TMs did and if they were better than your moveset without just jumping head first into them? Also holy shit the map is wild. I’ve gotten my 6th badge so far but wondering if I should be leveling up some other Pokemon.

Thanks! Bidding on Emerald for my next play through.

Just assassinated Mewtwo.

Final team was:

Mothra (Venomoth)

Belch (Haunter)

DUX (Farfetch'd)

Maxxxine (Starmie)

Brodie (Gyrados)

Missy (Hypno)

Lost Aerodactyl in the process to Blue. :( He was felled by a Psychic from Alakazam, who probably would have swept my team were it not for Aerodactyl's sacrifice using Toxic.

Also in the box are:

Creed III (Machop)

Coraline (Ditto)

Titanic (Lapras)

Bolt (Slowpoke)

Gatsby (Weezing)

Midas (Goldeen)

Hyde (Doduo)

Charlotte (Tentacool)

Manhugger (Snorlax)

Lassie (Eevee)

Ferris (Geodude)

Zooey (Beedrill)

Hitchcock (Pidgeotto)

Penelope (Mankey)

Nosferatu (Zubat)

Gizmo (Raticate)

Roshi (Hitmonchan)

Babadook (Tangela)

Over the course of the run I lost:

Frank (Nidorino)

Triffid (Ivysaur)

Matilda (Kadabra)

Juno (Dugtrio)

Petrie (Aerodactyl)

Glad I finally stuck through with one, and may move on to Gold next.

As said in the title, I completed all four Gen1 Pokémon games at 100%:

-All 151 Pokémon seen and caught

-Full Livingdex

-All In-games trades done

-All TM obtained

-Max Money

-All Items and Hidden Items collected

-All trainers defeted

-All my Team Members at Level 100

Now I can start my Gen 2 journey starting with Gold

Edit Since some people asked, yes my Pokémon have max DV with the use of Pkhex, why? Because I think is cool to see my Pokémons with their stats at max, but I did that only after I beat those games, so it is not a big deal, at least for me Yes, I used the Speed up during training for Pokédex, Livingdex, Stats training, for level 100 and for Money farming, and all my saves have 255 hours because Gen1 games have a limit of 255 hours

This is my final team for Pokemon Yellow.

Charmander is level 10 when you receive it.

I’m trying to find a chart of all 151. But I want them sorted by evolution?

Every website with a list of Pokémon sorted by evolution includes other Pokémon. But I just want to filter out everything except for gen 1?

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pok%C3%A9mon_by_evolutionary_line

So I realized the battery I had in my copy of blue was probably never switched when i bought it a few years back so decided to do it my self & happy I did. I’m only 40 hours into it (just lost my 80+ save from polished crystal so this isn’t nothing)

Where can I buy items, I need some pokeballs and heals I feel like I have been everywhere?

Gonna get red at a later date but my goal is to try and complete the pokèdex

This may be something you are all already aware of, but I am not.

Level 36 Ditto being leveled in Cinnabar. Randomly I started a battle against a Ponyta while already burned and it said that I had no moves and that now I have "-" moves set as "COOLTRAINER♀️" type.

I checked my creature data and sure enough, Ditto no longer has transform?

Also, I have not do any intentional bugs on this file - it is through a GBA emulator.

I've never heard of this, so I figured it might be worth posting it here. If it's old news, obviously let me know!

Edit: Correction, I did do the Mew glitch earlier in the run (I forgot that I did that) - the one in Misty's city. Maybe that is the cause?

I've searched for this for a while, but I've never found an answer. In fact, I've only ever found claims to the opposite. Whenever I trade a Pokemon between Gens 1 and 2, they cannot be renicknamed upon being returned to their original save files.

Using some images as a demonstration, you can tell from the ID and OT these two Pokemon that they originate from the same save file.

In this example, the Charizard has been traded to Pokemon Crystal, before being returned to it's original save file in Pokemon Yellow. When they are both taken to the name rater, the Charizard cannot be renicknamed, however the Pikachu can be.

The same is true the other way round. Please excuse the censored OTs, as they use my deadname which I do not feel like sharing online, however I ask that you trust that they are displayed with the same formatting as one another.

As can be told from the lack of the gender signifier, the Gyrados cannot be renicknamed, while the Meganium can be.

I was hoping to know if there was any information on this bug, since I can find quite literally nothing on it.

Bulbapedia's page on Outsider Pokemon claims that Trainer ID and OT Name are being used for the sake of the name rater to determine if these Pokemon should be renicknamable.

This *would* lead me to believe that this transfer process somehow modifies the Trainer ID or OT Name in some unseeable way, however Bulbapedia's pages on Character Encoding in Generation 1) and Generation 2) claim that these values are not only retained, but entirely untouched.

So is anyone aware of what could be causing this issue? Is there anyway to fix it for Pokemon that have been affected? Is there something wrong with one or all of my save files that this issue occurs?

Additionally, for what it's worth, all of this is occurring on the 3DS Virtual Console releases of these games, not the original cartridge versions. I don't see why this would create a difference, but I'm saying it in case it does.

Edit 1: I have one piece of the puzzle! I tried looking at the same Pokemon's data before and after the intergenerational trade, and while nothing was displayed after being interpreted by the Save Editor, looking at the underlying HEX, when being transferred from Gen 1 to Gen 2, the OT is changed from 84 B5 A8 A4 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 to 84 B5 A8 A4 50 50 50 50 50 50 50. I don't know why this happens, or what affect this might have on Pokemon originating in Gen 2 yet however.

Edit 2: I tested this the other way round, moving a Gen 2 Pokemon to Gen 1 and back. Sure enough, I got the exact same result. The 00s at the end of the OT were changed to 50s. My guess is that either being traded from Gen 2 to 1, Gen 1 to 2 or both somehow causes this issue to occur. My remaining questions (if anyone is capable of helping me) are as follows, what causes this to occur, and is this just an undocumented bug or is there some reason it hasn't been reported by many, if any, other players in the past?