Pokemon RBY In-game Tiers

[Brambane]

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.

 

[Glen]

If you're going to allow glitch use, the tiering exercise becomes entirely pointless, because all Pokemon become equally capable of OHKOing things as soon as you gain the ability to dupe Rare Candies, hence making Articuno one of the worst Pokemon in the game due to the fact that it has zero availability prior to that point. Similarly, any remarks about "duping elixers" are irrelevant to tiering discussion, because I don't care about duping PP items to get more mileage out of Blizzard when my level 100 Blastoise is OHKOing everything with Surf and Ice Beam. Of course, I don't even care about Rare Candy duping when I can just sweep the entire game with the level 177 Mewtwo I caught in the Seafoam Islands.

Anyway, the same techinique used to catch Mew can also be used to catch something like Exeggcute or Lapras early on and I doubt you want to go to the trouble of tiering those according to glitch availability as well.

Secondly, there is no way that a Pokemon like Articuno, which doesn't become available until after Surf and only comes with what is essentially a single STAB ranks above a Pokemon like Bulbasaur that is available for the entire game, has type advantage against the first three gyms, evolves at level 32, and at level 30 gets Razor Leaf which is effectively a 110 base power STAB with 25 PP. I also fail to see how Venusaur is "slow" when its base speed is only 5 points lower than Articuno's.

Magikarp is definitely no higher than mid tier, evolving it requires a ridiculous amount of effort and that high attack stat doesn't do it very many favors when the only physical attacks itt learns naturally are Bite (level 20) and Hyper Beam (level 52), the Body Slam TM is an item in high-demand and the fact that Strength is one of your best attacks is just insulting. The thing also has the slowest growth rate in the game, which only exascerbates the problem of needing to raise it to level 20 before it becomes anything more than useless. In fact, in this article Magikarp was given as an example of a Pokemon that might be a mid-tier Pokemon in Pokemon yellow after it was buffed substantially.

"In-game" means "in-game." No Gengar, no Golem, no level 100 Mewtwo traded over from your completed save file, and no Alakazam.

I think a more efficient way to crowd-source this article writing would be to draft a tier list (preferably with the help of Fire Emblem veterans) before actually doing the bulk of the writing.

Some discussion to that end can be found here.

i agree with most of what you're saying (mew glitch can be used to get mewtwo so why does anything else matter) but it's not possible to 'efficient[ly]' make a proper tier list for this game. to heap so much scorn upon the lighthearted funsies aspect of this only to, later in your post, act like there exists anything in this game that could warrant fire emblem style min maxing is ridiculous

here's something my 7 year old self figured out: start with charmander. only use charmander. you'll be a high enough level to beat brock's onix with ember. even if you never fight a single wild pokemon, the trainers up to misty will make charmeleon so overleveled that her starmie can't touch you; kill it with 100 base power dig. kill geodudes the same way, kill everything else with slash or a fire move. tada, you beat the game without using any pokeballs and possibly not even using any potions if you play smartly. any other strategy is just funsies.

 

[Naix]

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 and a high level, it also has a its barren movepool, is quite difficult to catch, has common weaknesses, and does poorly against the Elite Four.

 

[THB]

Disagree with Tiering

Most of these tier suggestions are misguided or just wrong. Remember, the first generation of games hosted a number of unbalanced battle mechanics. OHKOs, Critical Hits, and Sleep moves worked much differently back then. The best in-game pokemon abused these early programming decisions to make even the toughest trainers a cake walk.

Only a handful of pokemon have good availability and have the option to leverage broken battle mechanics. So only this exclusive group belongs in the Top and High tiers.

Let's go through them.

Top Tier:

These pokemon are the best. They have good availability and will always be noticeably stronger than your opponents. Eventually they develop into powerhouses that can singlehandedly defeat members of the Elite Four, even while severely underleveled.

Squirtle

Arguably the best starter. He runs through the early trainers and beginning Gym Leaders with moves like Water Gun/Bubblebeam and Dig. Mid-game he has access to Surf, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Body Slam, and Earthquake.

Late game is where Blastoise really shines. After defeating Giovanni, Blastoise has access to Fissure. Remember, a OHKO move has 100% accuracy if you use one X Accuracy, and if you outspeed your opponent. So with two turns of setup(X Accuracy and X Speed), Blastoise can run through nearly the entire Elite Four.

At a lower level like 40, Blastoise is still bulky enough to setup on the first pokemon of Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and the Champion, and then proceed to steamroll their entire team with Fissure. Use Ether/Elixers between battles. Unfortunately Lance has many Flying-types, so you can't steamroll his team with Fissure. Try Blizzard instead.

Charmander

Another fantastic starter. He's great early on against all the early Bug pokemon you'll run into. Brock's pokemon have terrible Special so Ember takes them out as well. Charmander only runs into problems against Misty's Starmie with Bubblebeam, but even that Starmie can be outmuscled with an overleveled Charmeleon. Mid-game, Charmeleon gains amazing coverage with Dig and Slash. Remember, Dig is 100 base power in this game, and Slash always CHs. A combination of Dig and Slash allows Charmeleon/Charizard to tear through most of the mid-game.

Like Blastoise, Charizard can learn Fissure for the late-game. Charizard doesn't have Blastoise's great defensive stats or typing, but it can still setup X Accuracy/X Speed against Agatha and the Champion. All around, Charmander is amazing throughout the entire game.

Nidos

They're available early, have a huge movepool, and can reach their final evolution before the 2nd Gym. Early game, Nidorino/Nidorina get great coverage with a variety of moves like Water Gun/Bubble Beam, Horn Attack(Nidorino only), and Double Kick(Yellow only). But by the fourth Gym, the Nidos already have access to the purchasable TM, Horn Drill. So, you can either steamroll mid-game trainers with Horn Drill, or just use their great coverage with Earthquake, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Surf, Thunderbolt, or Fire Blast.

Late-game, you can also teach them Fissure along with Horn Drill for extra OHKO goodness. Unfortunately, with Nidoking/Nidoqueen's typing, they can only setup OHKOs on a few of the final trainers: Bruno, Agatha, and the Champion(Red/Blue version).

All in all, Nidoking and Nidoqueen are excellent and useful throughout the entire game. As a note, I prefer Nidoqueen over Nidoking. Nidoqueen has better bulk for setting up OHKOs. Offensively, Nidoqueen and Nidoking have the same Special stat, and Nidoking's Attack stat is only marginally better. So, in the late game, Nidoqueen is much better for fighting against the overleveled Elite Four.

Sandshrew

The second best Ground-type in the game behind the Nidos. Sandshrew is available early and right before you need him for Lt. Surge. Sandshrew is a monster early game. He gains Slash at lvl 17 and evolves into Sandslash at lvl 22. Unlike the Nidos, Sandshrew/Sandslash can actually learn Dig, a 100 base power STAB attack. So by lvl 22, you can have a fully evolved Sandslash with nearly perfect coverage from Dig and Slash. Mid game, Sandslash is statistically superior to nearly everything he'll run into, and rips through opponents with a STAB Dig or Slash with its 100% CHs.

Late game, Sandslash has access to Fissure. He has the bulk and typing to setup on Bruno, Agatha, and the Champion. So from start to finish, Sandshrew is an offensive powerhouse. It abuses CHs and a STAB Dig from the moment you catch him and then steamrolls the final battles with Fissure.

Zapdos

Zapdos is available later in the game, right after you're able to Surf. However, since you catch Zapdos at such a high level, it can solo almost every Elite Four member and the Champion if you just teach it Thunderbolt. Zapdos doesn't abuse any broken mechanics, but because it's already leveled and so statistically powerful, it doesn't need to.

Seel

Like Zapdos, Seel is available right after you gain Surf. However, Seel has the distinct advantage of being a traded pokemon. At Cinnabar Island you can trade for a Seel(Red/Blue) or a Dewgong(Yellow). By then, Dewgong should have immediate access to its strongest STAB moves: Surf and Ice Beam/Blizzard. But most importantly, Dewgong can learn Horn Drill.

So right out of the box, Dewgong can solo the Cinnabar Gym, and he quickly levels up enough to defeat the Elite Four with his accelerated XP gain.

Even in the low 40s, Dewgong has the typing and bulk to solo Lorelei, Bruno, Lance and the Champion with Horn Drill.

If you started with a Squirtle, don't shy away from Dewgong just because they're both Water types. Because Blastoise uses Fissure and Dewgong uses Horn Drill, these pokemon actually complement each other. From the moment you catch it, Dewgong is a OHKO machine with strong STABs and bulk. Easily the second best Water type, behind Squirtle.

Mew

If you want to use glitches then, of course, Mew is a given. Double OHKOs, amazing movepool, and great stats... what else do you want?

High Tier:

These pokemon have good availability and are more powerful than your average enemy. However, each have flaws that keep them from the top. High tiers have the potential to solo some of the final trainers, although not as easily as the Top tiers.

Dugtrio

Dugtrio starts off with a bang. You can catch a fully evolved Dugtrio before Lt Surge at lvls 29-31, which will be higher than any of your team members at that point. He quickly gets Slash at lvl 35, so he rips through the early levels right out the gate with the Dig/Slash combo.

However, Dugtrio's poor stats quickly catch up with him. As your opponents' levels catch up to Dugtrio's, Dugtrio can no longer one-shot his enemies with Slash/Dig. And when Dugtrio can't one-shot his opponent, your opponent strikes back hard because of Dugtrio's frail defenses.

Late game, Dugtrio finds it very hard to setup OHKOs. His fragile defense makes setup nearly impossible, especially since the Elite Four will probably outlevel Dugtrio at this point. Dugtrio can only setup OHKOs on Bruno, and you don't really need to use OHKOs to defeat Bruno anyway.

Dugtrio is good at first, but later on, you'll eventually find he's outclassed by Sandslash. Dugtrio has Speed over Sandslash, but Sandslash' stronger Attack and bulk prove much more useful in the later stages of the game.

Bellsprout

Bellsprout is the best Grass-type in the game. He's available right before Misty and sports very nice stats even in its first evolutionary form.

Mid-game, Weepinbell should have a moveset of Sleep Powder, Mega Drain, Wrap, and Acid. First generation battle mechanics made Sleep Powder and Wrap overpowered moves. Sleeping pokemon do not attack on the turn they wake, and an opponent can't retaliate when hit by Wrap. So as long as Weepinbell is faster than its opponent, it can attack with Sleep Powder or Wrap in complete safety, disregarding Accuracy.

Late-game, Victreebel should sport a moveset of Sleep Powder, Razor Leaf, Swords Dance, and Wrap. Razor Leaf's 100% CHs will do amazing damage with Victreebel's strong Special stat, and Swords Dance/Wrap is a very cheesy combo. As long as Sleep Powder hits on turn 1, Victreebel can easily solo the Champion and every Elite Four member except Agatha. Simply sleep their starting pokemon, boost up with X Accuracy/X Speed, and then Swords Dance to +6. If the opponent wakes before you finish your Swords Dance, put them back to sleep. Then, you can Wrap opponents to death at +6 Attack.

Overall, Victreebel is extremely powerful throughout the game, but he's held back by his inconvenient, slower playstyle.

Clefairy

Like Dugtrio, Clefairy gets an early start. As soon as you catch Clefairy, you can evolve it with a Moon Stone, and destroy early/mid-game trainers with a fully evolved Clefable before you've even reached Cerulean City. Clefable will start off with great coverage too, since you can teach it Mega Punch and Water Gun with TMs found in Mt. Moon.

Throughout the game, you can teach it a variety of other attacks like Body Slam/Tri Attack, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Fire Blast, Thunderbolt/Thunder. So coverage will never be problem. Unfortunately, as the game progresses, your opponents' pokemon will get stronger, and Clefable will lose its statistical advantage.

Clefable will be useful throughout the game, but Clefable can't leverage OHKOs, Critical Hits, etc. Since, Clefable has to play by "normal rules," he will never end up as strong as the Top tiers.

Abra

We all know how powerful an Alakazam can be, especially since it's a Special tank in the first generation games. However, you have to baby Abra and slow down your leveling pace to evolve it into a Kadabra. Further, because of its trade evolution, most of us will never actually evolve Kadabra into an Alakazam during our playthrough. Still, Kadabra will be more powerful than most of your opponents, especially with all the Poison types you face throughout the game.

Late-game, Kadabra can do decently against the Elite Four, especially Agatha. You'll have to watch out against Lance though, as Hyper Beam will immediately wipe out an underleveled Kadabra. All in all, Kadabra is powerful, but its flaws include a slow start, poor coverage, frail Defense, and likely no final evolution.

Honorable mentions -

Bulbasaur

 

[Brambane]

I would never forgive myself if I didn't do Ekans so here it is.

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.

 

[Chou Toshio]

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.

 

[Chou Toshio]

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...

 

[Garud]

Stuff

What? Your listing is more than a little odd. Charmander is no top-tier, if you have to overlevel him to beat Brock, this would essentially put Pidgey on the same level. A level 58 Pidgey can beat Brock's Onix with tackle. Doesn't make it top-tier. I get late-game mechanics are broken, but this still doesn't make Charmander significantly better. The first 2 gyms he takes far more prep to beat, where Squirtle and Bulbasaur can just waltz in and out like they own the place. And the Elite 4 member he should be good against, Lorlei, is actually a real threat to him due to most ice types being water as well.

I agree that Squirtle is quite good once it learns Ice Beam and Surf, but your point on Fissure is pointless. You could essentially say any pokemon who learns Fissure just needs an X-Accuracy and an X-Speed to kill everything, so what makes Squirtle so special in that regard? If he needs items to set up, then it shouldn't be considered. Otherwise I could argue that I should give Rattata Hyper Beam and then jam X-Speeds and X-Attacks down its throat as it goes on to KO everything. Or that my level 1 Pidgey is great at beating the Elite 4 because I used 1000 revives on it.

Bulbasaur needs more credit than you give him. He gets Razor Leaf, which is essentially the best grass move in the game, and he gets it really early. He evolves earlier than the other starters, he walks all over most of the gyms barring Sabrina and Blaine (being a poison-type means Koga isn't as threatening if he carries just 1 coverage move), and he's very easily the best out of the starters. He has access to Sleep/Poison/Stun powder on level up and he gets them early, making it easy for the trainer to catch other pokemon, as well as being able to buy turns to get boosts from Growth. He can even stall out with Leech Seed for viable recovery, and his above average defenses make him well-equipped to taking the first hit from anything before putting it to sleep and setting up.

Abra doesn't take much effort to get to Kadabra, especially if you buy him at the game corner, where he comes cheap and is only 1 level below evolving. Considering how easy he is to train up, and how early you get him, it's not like you are levelling Magicarp from level 5 (and even then thats not difficult). In addition, you can immediately level up Kadabra into Alakazam by trading, and that gives you the fourth fastest pokemon in the game, with the second-highest base special (and both these lists include Mewtwo). In addition, he is a psychic type and anyone who has played RBY knows that Psychics are the best type with a plethora of resistances, no weaknesses aside from bug which is terrible, and a STAB move that nothing resists. Not only does being faster mean that nothing gets an OHKO on him, but he gets OHKOs in multiple gyms, and can even solo multiple members of the Elite 4, something no other pokemon can boast. He doesn't need an item to set up his sweep, he just sweeps. And lets not forget that best of all, this was before the Special split, meaning he is not only the best special attacker, but also one of the best special walls in the game, with access to reliable recovery and decent support moves like Thunder Wave and Reflect. Abra not only makes the top tier, he DEFINES the top tier.

I agree with the Nidorans though, but not with the Fissure/Horn Drill stuff. They are great for other reasons, they don't need those moves.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Nidoran(M)/Nidoran(F) - Top Tier
Availability: Very Early, right after you first get Pokeballs
Stats: Average
Movepool: Massive. Learns little by level-up, but they have almost unrivaled coverage
Additional Comments: Evolve early at Level 16, and can immediately evolve again via Moon Stone, giving you a huge, fully evolved powerhouse after only 1 badge

Description sucks pretty much.

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.

 

[Redew]

Js I haven't forgotten about this. I've updated the thread and I'm playing the games for a few Pokemon that I usually never play with. So, I'm doing Pidgey and Dratini.

 

[Naix]

Electabuzz (Red only) - Mid Tier
Availability: Late (Power Plant)
Stats: Above average Attack for an Electric-type. Nothing else of note.
Movepool: Learns Thunderpunch, which is an acceptable TM24 substitute if you already used it. Interestingly, it learns Submission and Psychic via TM.
Power: Electric STAB is great for when you get it, due to the abundance of Swimmers at that point in the game. Submission and Psychic mean that it's the one of the few Electric-types in the game that doesn't have to worry too much about Ground-types.
Type: As noted previously, Electric is a very good typing for this point in the game, with the only weakness being Ground, which you only have to worry about in Viridian City.
Match-ups:
Sabrina: It can beat most of her Pokemon 1-on-1, but don't try to take out her entire team with it.
Blaine: Not too bad. Watch out for Arcanine, as it knows Take Down. Rapidash can also be annoying due to Fire Spin.
Giovanni: He's not much trouble, as Psychic dispatches the Nidos and the only Pokemon on his team that knows a Ground move is Dugtrio.
Lorelei: Most of her team can be easily 2HKOed by Thunderbolt/punch. Jynx and Lapras can both survive a hit and retaliate with Lovely Kiss or Body Slam, respectively.
Bruno: Whether you do well or poorly against him depends on whether you taught it Submission/Psychic. Simply put, you can beat his 2 Onix with either Submission or Psychic, but keep Submission's recoil in mind. Hitmonchan is easily beaten with just Thunderbolt/punch, but you'll need Psychic to (somewhat) reliably beat Hitmonlee and Machamp.
Agatha: Golbat is easily OHKOed with your Electric move of choice, but you'll want Psychic to beat the rest of her team, but watch out for Hypnosis from her Haunter and first Gengar.
Lance: Thunderpunch/bolt OHKOes Gyarados and Aerodactyl, but attacking Aerodactyl isn't recommended due to its massive Speed and access to Hyper Beam. The rest of his team can handily deal with Electabuzz, so don't use it against them.
Additional Comments: While it may seem outclassed by other Electric-types, such as Pikachu and Zapdos, Electabuzz is by no means a bad Pokemon, thanks to the fact that it's one of only 3 Electric-types that can notably damage Ground-types.

Resubmitting Magmar, because my original submission was very bare-bones.

Magmar (Blue only) - Bottom Tier
Availability: Very Late (Pokemon Mansion)
Stats: It has the second highest Attack of any Fire-type you can use when you get it (Flareon says hi). Everything else is what you'd expect from a Fire-type.
Movepool: The fact that it can learn Psychic, Submission, and Confuse Ray often makes one forget that it only knows Ember when you catch it, meaning that it'll generally be reliant on TMs until it gets to Lv. 43 and learns Fire Punch.
Power: Ember alone isn't going to win you any fights, meaning that you'll have to either waste Psychic/Submission on it or grind it up to Lv. 39, when it learns Confuse Ray, for it to start pulling its weight in battle.
Type: Fire is a very bad type late-game, due to the multitude of Pokemon that resist it.
Match-ups:
Blaine: As mentioned previously, Ember alone isn't going to win you any fights, and Blaine is no exception, as all of his Pokemon resist it, while they can put the hurt on Magmar with Take Down/Stomp.
Giovanni: While Ground is SE against Magmar, the only Pokemon that know moves of that type are Dugtrio, who's faster and would win if it uses Dig, and Rhydon, who's too slow to use Fissure effectively. Psychic takes care of the Nidos.
Lorelei: The only Pokemon she has that doesn't resist Fire can put Magmar to sleep.
Bruno: Handily beaten if Magmar knows Psychic. Watch out for Hi Jump Kick and Submission, however.
Agatha: Same as Bruno, but 2 of her Pokemon can Hypnosis you, and those 2 are faster than Magmar.
Lance: No. All of his Pokemon resist Fire and can beat Magmar 1-on-1.
Additional Comments: Magmar is a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong skills. While it can harm Rock-types, they aren't exactly common at the time you get it. If it could be caught earlier and learned Fire Punch and Confuse Ray earlier, it might be worthy of recognition, but it doesn't, and that is why Magmar is Bottom of the barrel.

Also resubmitting Sandshrew. I feel that I did a very poor job in submitting it by constantly comparing to Geodude and mentioning Slash only once.

Sandshrew (Blue/Yellow only) - High Tier
Availability: Early, Route 4 (Route 3 if you're playing Yellow). Evolves at Lv. 22.
Stats: Good Attack and Defense, at the cost of Special and Speed.
Movepool: Learns Slash as early as Lv. 17. Also learns Swords Dance and Rock Slide via TM. Unfortunately, it can't learn any Ground-type moves by level-up.
Power: Slash and its massive crit rate allow it to OHKO/2HKO almost everything that doesn't resist it, and whatever does is hit Super-Effectively by Dig. This, combined with its somewhat-early evolution allows it to absolutely destroy the early-game trainers. Keep in mind, however, that its low Speed means that it usually has to take a hit before it can attack, and special attacks, especially SE ones, destroy it.
Type: Mono-Ground typing is a double-edged sword; on one hand, it has no physical weaknesses, and the multitude of Poison-types in the game are an ample supply of experience for it. On the other hand, it has only 2 resistances, only 1 of which is special, and it has a weakness to Water, a very common type late-game.
Match-ups:
Misty: She beats Sandshrew even if it was hit neutrally by Water.
Lt. Surge: He gets destroyed.
Erika: 2 of her Pokemon are weak to Dig, but they're both faster than you and know Mega Drain/Razor Leaf.
Koga: Puts up a good fight, but is still easily beaten.
Sabrina: Even though she doesn't have a type advantage, the overall dominance of the Psychic type gives her a guaranteed victory.
Blaine: Fire's a special type, and his Rapidash knows Fire Spin, making fighting him with Sandslash inadvisable.
Giovanni: 4 (3 in Yellow) of his Pokemon are weak to Ground, despite being the Ground-type Gym Leader. His Pokemon also know no special attacks whatsoever (minus the ineffective Thunder), further encouraging Sandslash to tank him.
Lorelei: Do I have to elaborate on how she beats Sandslash?
Bruno: His 2 Onix are demolished by Earthquake, and Sandslash's high Defense allows it to take a Hi Jump Kick from Hitmonlee, or a Submission from Machamp.
Agatha: While her entire team (minus Golbat) is vaporized by EQ, all of them are faster and can Confuse/Hypnotize/Psychic Sandslash.
Lance: 3 of his Pokemon are immune to Ground. Aerodactyl and even Dragonite can be beaten 1-on-1 thanks to Rock Slide, but Gyarados knows Hydro Pump, which easily OHKOes Sandslash. In Yellow, the only ones Sandslash can beat are his Aerodactyl and first Dragonair.
Additional Comments: Sandshrew is a great in-game physical tank, and Slash combined with Dig allows it to plow through early game, as well as Team Rocket. Its poor Speed and weakness to Water are its main flaws.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Haunter - High Tier
Availability: Lavender Town, after defeating Celadon Rockets, comes at a decent level of around 25 (slightly below or equal to your teammates). The weaker unevolved Ghastly is also available, and you're guaranteed to run into them--but why bother when you can catch a wild Haunter relatively easily? Haunter should be immediately evolved to its final form, Gengar.
Stats: Excellent Speed and Special, all it needs to excel despite its poor physical bulk and low Attack.
Movepool: Gengar's biggest problem is a lack of any STAB attacks (besides lick, which we might as well forget). Even if it had STAB attacks, its STABs are both physical. Gengar pretty much needs TM support to be effective, and will be using up some combination of Psychic / Thunderbolt / Mega Drain. If you really don't want to give it your Psychic TM, you can try relying on the shaky accuracy of Hypnosis to abuse Dream Eater, a TM you can easily get by flying back to Viridian from Celadon. With Gengar's frail bulk though, you're usually best off not relying on shaky accuracy moves like Hypnosis and Thunder.
Power: Hits more than reasonably hard. Don't expect it to wipe teams out like Alakazam (since it has no STAB) but it can definitely dish out the pain.
Type: Ah, here's the real attraction. Immunity to Normal attacks is HUGE in RBY, in-game as well as competitively, since basically everything relies on Normal attacks for coverage. With just that, Gengar is immune to more than half of all the attacks of all the NPC characters, and its resistances to Poison and Grass only sweeten the deal, as does immunity to poison status. The Weakness to Psychic is a problem only against a handful of the stronger characters, and the weakness to Ground is almost irrelevant as so few foes actually carry Ground-type attacks. At the very least, Gengar is great for lol'ing at all the Self Destruct and Explosion users in the tail end of the game.
Match-ups:
Erica: You're not awfully likely to still have this match-up at the point you get Gengar, but Gengar excels here nonetheless. Psychic destroys all of Erica's Pokemon (her two strongest are Poison-types), and Gengar is immune to Poison Powder and resists Grass-type attacks.
Koga: Gengar can easily take on his entire team, being 4x resistant to Sludge and being immune to all Normal-type attacks, including Koga's most dangerous technique, Self-Destruct. However, Gengar's Speed and powerful Psychic attack would destroy Koga regardless.
Saffron Rockets: Gengar's immunity to Normal-type attacks will mean the vast majority of foes here can't even touch it, and its speed and powerful Psychic attack will lay waste to most enemies.
Sabrina: Hahahahaha... use something else... No, Lick does not work...
Blaine: Not a great match-up but Gengar does have the advantage since Blaine's Pokemon (who incidentally have high Attack but low Special) will have to rely on their Special Fire-type attacks to damage Gengar, who will defend and attack with its high Special against their low Special.
Giovani: With Psychic and Mega Drain, Gengar can basically take out everything Giovani has. If he tries to hit Gengar with Dugtrio's Dig, just switch to a Flying-type.
Lorelei: Gengar can do well here, but only if you gave it Thunderbolt or Thunder.
Bruno: Hahahaha... with Psychic and Mega Drain Gengar out speeds and one shots everything Bruno has.
Agatha: Psychic kills all her Pokemon. The only attack she has that is of any threat is Dream Eater, so just use the Pokeflute to avoid it completely. Keep in mind that her boss Gengar has Psychic itself in Yellow version, so you will have to level up Gengar to beat hers in this quick-draw Psychic battle.
Lance: In Red and Blue, Gengar is immune to every attack Lance has except for Dragon Rage (lol) and Gyarados's Hydro Pump (so just teach Gengar Thunderbolt...). In the Yellow, his Dragon's can attack you with their weak un-STAB elemental attacks, but really, they're not that much of a threat.
Rival: With Thunderbolt / Psychic / Mega Drain, Gengar destroys Pidgeot, Rhydon, Arcanine (Ember is its only Fire-type move...), Ninetales (It's slower and only has Fire Spin...), Exeggcutor (Barrage and Stomp are its only moves...), Venusaur, Cloyster, Gyarados, and Vaporeon. Charizard, Flareon, Jolteon, and Magneton can give Gengar some trouble, while Alakazam and Sandslash kill Gengar outright.
Additional Comments: With its fantastic typing and stats, Gengar can really excel against numerous foes of the in-game world-- only problem is it sucks up a lot of useful TMs. If you don't need to give Psychic to something else, it's worth a go, and if you (for some bizarre reason) don't mind giving up Thunderbolt, definitely give Gengar a go. Offensively, it's inferior to Alakazam and Starmie, but it's far superior to both defensively thanks to its amazing typing. Gengar is also easier to obtain than either, not requiring the bullshit Abra gives you to capture and evolve it to Kadabra, and appears much earlier than Staryu.

 

[Brambane]

Scyther - Low Tier
Availability: Found in Red and Yellow versions only. You can actually get Scyther before the fourth Gym two ways: going down Cycling Road and catching one in the Safari Zone or as a prize from the Game Corner.
Stats: Scyther has high Speed and Attack, average HP and Defense and a low Special. Since ingame favors Pokemon with high Speed and offenses, this works very much in Scyther's favor.
Movepool: I hope you like Normal-type moves. Aside from Wing Attack in Yellow version, that is the extent of Scyther's movepool. Notable moves include Wing Attack (for coverage, despite only have 35 base power), Swift, Slash, Double-Edge, Hyper Beam and Swords Dance (via level up, too). Keep in mind Slash ignores the attack boost from Swords Dance. Scyther does learn Agility, but its already pretty fast. Keep it away from Gengar.
Power: Slash hurts a lot of things. Swords Dance boosted Double-edges and Hyper Beams will make short work of most of what Scyther encounters. Rock-types and Gengar should be avoided at all costs.
Type: Bug has no good STAB (Pin Missile is as good as it gets, and Scyther can't learn that), and its best Flying-type move is Wing Attack. So offensively, Scyther's typing is garbage. Defensively, Scyther is weak to Electric, Ice, Fire, Poison, Rock and Flying. It's Bug-, Fighting- and Grass-type resistances don't help much since Bug- and Fighting-type attacks are fairly rare, and all the offensive Grass-type moves aside from Razor Leaf and Solarbeam are weak. So yeah, Scyther has one of the lousiest type combos in the game.
Match Ups:
Erika - Well, Scyther resists Grass, which is good. Shame its best move at this time is probably Quick Attack. Watch out for Acid.
Koga - Weak to Poison. Do not even try.
Sabrina - Scyther isn't too bad here actually. At a decent level, it can outspeed all of her Pokemon and set up Swords Dance. From there, you can spam Hyper Beam (or Swift I guess.)
Blaine - Good luck with that.
Giovanni - Rhydon/horn will stop Scyther cold. It's weak to Poison Sting but Poison Sting is still pathetically weak. Can work here once the rocks are gone.
Lorelei - It can probably OHKO Jynx, but everything else with laugh at Scyther. Especially Cloyster.
Bruno - Those Onix will stop Scyther cold. Otherwise, it can sweep with a Swords Dance boost.
Agatha - Weak to Poison AND Scyther can't touch Ghost-types without Wing Attack, which is weak as hell anyways. Don't do it.
Lance - In Red version, Lance's Pokemon have horrible coverage and can only really threaten Scyther with Hyper Beam. Watch out for Gyarados's Hydro Pump though. In Yellow, all of his Pokemon can severely hurt Scyther.
Rival - In Yellow, Jolteon or Magneton will stop you. In Red, Rhydon will. Scyther is best used for taking out Alakazam and maybe Exeggutor.
Additional Comments: Scyther would be a lot better if it had a better movepool. Or received STAB on Normal-type attacks. Learning Swords Dance via level up is Scyther's main boon. Also, Scyther is one of the most difficult Pokemon to obtain in the game: you either waste precious money on the slots (which is better spent on TMs) or you have to try and catch one in the Safari Zone (Scyther has a low catch rate and LOVES the flee the first turn.) Scyther can hurt a lot of things with a Swords Dance boost, but its poor typing, lack of versatility and difficulty to capture make it hard to recommend using Scyther. It does look very cool, however.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Geodude - Mid Tier
Availability: Early! Comes after Mount Moon and is the first OU family you will meet. Evolves quickly, reaching Graveler (and immediately Golem by trade) at level 25.
Stats: 110 Attack is great, and its 130 Defense is absolutely monstrous! Unfortunately, its Special and Speed stats are equally awful.
Movepool: Geodude has a fantastic movepool, getting Rock Throw at level 16, which will tide you over until you get Rock Slide (still very early in the game in Celadon City!). They can make great use of the Dig TM, but Earthquake also comes quickly, Geodude picking it up at level 31 and Graveler/Golem getting it at level 36. They can also make use of the power normal TMs, Mega Punch, Body Slam, Strength, and Hyper Beam. While not great in-game, they also get Self-Destruct and Explosion.
Power: Edge-Quake coverage is awesome, being totally unresisted (though Norma/Ground is also unresisted), and getting excellent super effective coverage. 110 Attack makes these attacks very formidable.
Type: Rock / Ground is one of the best competitive types, but unfortunately it's set back a lot in-game. While it out-right manhandles all the Normal-, Flying-, Electric-, and Poison-type enemies, it's absolutely destroyed by the Grass-, Water-, and Ice-type attacks that become more and more prevalent as you proceed through the game.
Match-ups:
Misty: lol... Bubblebeam of death... fuck, even Water Gun kills you...
Lt. Surge: Geodude/Golem destroys Surge outright with Dig.
Erika: lol... you will be instantly killed.
Celadon Rockets: Golem basically man-handles all rockets and Giovanni.
Koga: Golem's Earthquake/Dig and resistances to Sludge and Explosion make it basically unstoppable here.
Saffron Rockets: Not much has changed since Celadon...
Sabrina: Special attacks... you will be instantly killed...
Blaine: Resist or no, Fire attacks hurt (since your Special is SO bad...), but you still have the advantage. Basically, a Water-type clears this gym better.
Giovanni: Most of his Pokemon are weak to Ground. However, you're slow, and Earthquakes from the opposing side (especially in Yellow) will hurt bad. Basically, a Water- or Psychic-type clears this gym better.
Lorelei: hahahaha... once more, Golem will die instantly.
Bruno: Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Machamp all hit you for super effective damage. In Yellow, the Onyx's can also hurt you with Dig / Earthquake. While you're Defense is massive and Hitmonchan's Special is pathetic (meaning Golem can fight here), you're just so much better off using a Water- or Psychic-type.
Agatha: You definitely have the advantage of typing, but the difference in Speed... be prepared for a long bout of annoyance by Confusion, Sleep, Paralysis and Poison if you try to defeat her with Golem. In Yellow, the first Gengar has Mega Drain (instant death) and the second has Psychic (close to instant death). Again, you'd be better off with a speedy Psychic user like Alakazam, Starmie, or your own Gengar.
Lance: In RB, Golem can trounce everything besides Hydro Pump Gyarados. In Yellow, basically everything trounces Golem except the 1st Dragonair and Aerodactyle.
Rival: Geh... Golem beats Pidgeot, Rhydon, Fire-types, Electric-types, and Exeggcutor (who only has Stomp and Barrage for some reason). Everything else kicks your ass.
Additional Comments: In competitive RBY, Rock/Ground is essential, with Rhydon or Golem being on every team, and Rhyhorn appears horribly late in-game, making Golem your only real choice. However, while their ability to flat-out wall Zapdos and other opponents on the competitive scene is useful, Golem's horribly slow Speed and awful Special handicaps it against a good portion of opponents in-game, starting with Misty and Erika and becoming increasingly bad as more Water- and Ice-type users appear later. It's low Special means it's outright destroyed by Psychic-type users as well. Golem has great stats, moves, and completely destroys many opponents, but there are so many that also destroy it. Early game, it's no better than the Nidos (who appear early, are immune to Poison status and are useful throughout the game), and late game, it's outclassed by Water/Psychic types, who destroy the enemy Ground / Rock / Fire / Poison types more easily. If you real hate enemy Self Destruct / Explosion users though, it's a solid choice.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Squirtle - High Tier (or top tier...)

Availability: Beginning of the Game. Evolves at 16 and 36
Stats: Good defensive stats and usable offensive stats make it a solid Pokemon.
Movepool: It easily gains Bubble and quickly upgrades to Water Gun and Bubblebeam. Bite and Mega Punch are good early game moves, and Body Slam or Strength have great coverage with Water-type attacks, as do Ice Beam and Blizzard. Wartortle can also abuse Dig, and Blastoise can learn Earthquake (though you're probably better off using these moves on a Ground-type). It also can use fissure, and has the bulk to do setups with X-Accuracy and X-Speed.
Typing: Water's Electric- and Grass-type weaknesses are easy to work around, and provides good offensive coverage. A resistance to enemy Ice- and Water-type attacks is useful.
Match-ups:
Brock: Gets bubble super quick, so taking down Brock is a breeze.
Misty: Here's the trick: deposit all your Pokemon except Wartortle, and use up all your money on items. Then challenge Misty repeatedly, beating her Staryu with Bite for massive experience points, and just keep challenging her until Wartortle levels up to the point where it can beat Starmie. You'll have gained a massive amount of free experience, and won't need to use any of the Grass-types that get increasingly shittier after this Gym.
Lt. Surg: Don't... you'll die instantly... bring one of the many Ground-types.
Erika: If you give it Ice Beam it can actually hold its own, but you're better off using Alakazam, Snorlax, or Gengar.
Celadon Rockets: Wartortle can tank their attacks and easily bring down most foes with Ice Beam and Bubblebeam. Wartortle destroys Giovanni.
Koga: Not a bad match up, but not a great one either. Look out for Self Destruct. Surf will hit the weak Special side of Koga's Pokemon hard.
Saffron Rockets: Don't challenge the scientists with Blastoise (because of Magnetons), but you can handle most foes 1 on 1. Blastoise destroys Giovanni.
Sabrina: Blastoise has the Special to take on a Psychic or two. Body Slam or Strength will deal massive damage to her Pokemon.
Blaine: Blastoise wrecks this gym.
Giovanni: Blastoise wrecks here too.
Lorelei: Body Slam / Strength Blastoise has the advantage against her Pokemon, though taking down Cloyster could be annoying. Just be wary of Freeze or Sleep. Overall, you're probably better off using Zapdos or Jolteon here.
Bruno: Blastoise's awesome physical bulk and STAB Surf / Hydro Pump man-handles Bruno pretty badly.
Agatha: If you have Dig / Earthquake, Blastoise will plow through her team with ease. If not, Blastoise's powerful Water-type attacks still make it a contender. Don't bother if you have a Ground / Psychic-type like Alakazam or a Nidoking/queen though.
Lance: Blastoise can wreck his whole team with Ice Beam. Just look out for Thunderbolt / Thunder if you're playing Yellow though.
Rival: Blastoise can destroy Pidgeot, Rhydon, Sandslash, all the Fire-types, Exeggcutor (no Grass-type moves, and is weak to Ice), and has the advantage against Vaporeon, Cloyster, and even Alakazam (who gets smashed by Body Slam, Strength, or Hyper Beam). Gyarados can be annoying, and steer clear of Joleon / Magneton / Venusaur.
Additional Comments: Squirtle / Blastoise has its ups and downs throughout the game, but is a solid Pokemon throughout the game. There aren't many foes that it outright destroys, but there aren even fewer foes that outright destroy it. At the very least, it is still useful in the lategame, where Venusaur and Charizard basically suck-ass against the Elite Four. Overall, Blastoise is probably the most consistent starter, which probably also makes it the best.

 

[Nix_Hex]

Someone reserved Tauros a few days ago but i'm going to do it myself. Let's not do reservations like the ammy grammar guys like to do. I'm doing this right now.

Tauros - High Tier

Availability: Mid-game at the Safari Zone, and it's impossible to catch without some extreme luck. This is literally the reason why it's not Top tier, because the advantages totally pay off once you have it.
Stats: Amazing Speed and Attack complement its Normal STAB perfectly. It also levels up incredibly quickly since it is largely self-sufficient, so there's no reason to worry it being under-leveled.
Movepool: Comes with Tackle and Stomp and you catch it around the time you get Strength, filling that niche of your team perfectly. Thanks to Tauros's high Speed and Stomp's high flinch chance, it is very easy to incapacitate an opponent with a combination of critical hits and flinches. Tackle is an okay attack while you're leveling up as it allows you to finish off opponents low in HP, saving you from draining Stomp's PP too quickly. Body Slam and Earthquake offer perfect coverage except for Aerodactyl, who dies to Blizzard (which, by the way, murders Lance's Dragonite, more on this later). Finally, Hyper Beam, while an expensive TM, is as just as great a finisher move in-game as it is competitively.
Match-ups: Koga - Earthquake and Tackle / Stomp pretty much decimate everyone in this gym.
Sabrina - Body Slam OHKOes her entire team. You may have to level it up some to outspeed Alakazam, but it doesn't matter that much because it doesn't even have Psychic, just Psybeam, which won't KO Tauros any time soon. Only Kadabra, whom you outspeed, has Psychic.
Blaine - Earthquake is super effective on the whole gym, making it a cakewalk.
Giovanni - Blizzard hits his whole team super effectively, three of which have awful Special. Nidoking and Nidoqueen are 2HKOed.
Lorelei - Stomp / Body Slam work well as always, and Jynx is so frail it will be OHKOed.
Bruno - His Onix die to a few Earthquakes, while Body Slam takes care of Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. For Machamp, you're better off using something with Psychic (Alakazam) to OHKO it, since it fears Submission.
Agatha - Earthquake decimates everything but Golbat, who dies to Blizzard or Body Slam.
Lance - Blizzard kills his two Dragonair and Aerodactyl, and absolutely murders Dragonite. As for Gyarados, just use Body Slam and Hyper Beam.
Rival - His Pokemon are a bit higher level than previous trainers but if you've trained it high enough it shouldn't be much of an issue. Whittle away at his whole team bar Rhydon with Body Slam, while Hyper Beam easily handles Pidgeot and Alakazam. Exeggutor is pretty easy to handle, only having Hypnosis for annoying status (Pokeflute says hi), Stomp, and Barrage for its attacks, and no fourth move. Venusaur is easy enough to handle, with no status moves. If it tries to hit you with SolarBeam, you should be fine using Body Slam followed by Hyper Beam.
Additional Comments: Tauros is extremely self-sufficient, coming at the perfect level to kill every trainer in and around Fushia. This helps it level up very quickly since you won't be switching out against every Pokemon. This is amazing because it cuts the training time in half while allowing Tauros to gain the full amount of experience against your opponent. If you have the patience to catch one, it is well worth the wait. You may just forget to train your other Pokemon! It's that good.

 

[Garud]

Someone reserved Tauros a few days ago but i'm going to do it myself. Let's not do reservations like the ammy grammar guys like to do. I'm doing this right now.

Yeah, no problem. I was going to get around to doing it but got caught up, so go ahead.

 

[Nix_Hex]

No worries dude, I just felt obligated since it's my favorite in-game Pokemon and is very important.

 

[Naix]

Clefairy - Mid Tier
Availability: Early, Mt. Moon
Stats: Balanced, mediocre level-up movepool means it can evolve early, giving its stats a good boost from "okay" to "awesome". Unfortunately, nothing stands out, and later on in the game, the enemies get stronger while Clefable stays the same, thus making its base stats no more than average.
Power: It can be taught Mega Punch and Water Gun when you catch it, providing perfect neutral coverage, and everything that isn't instantly destroyed by Mega Punch happens to be weak to Water Gun. Its vast TM learnset allows it to be useful in almost any situation.
Movepool: As said before, Clefairy learns unappealing level-up moves. This is compensated for by its massive TM learnset, and can be taken advantage of by evolving it early.
Type: Normal is a great type in-game, as the only time you'll be seeing Fighting-type moves is the highly optional Fighting Dojo. Unfortunately, Normal has no resistances (except for lolghost), meaning that you can't utilize its acceptable defenses as well as you could.
Match-ups: How Clefairy/Clefable does against the Gym Leaders and Elite Four are highly dependent on what TMs you teach it.
Misty: Starmie is 4HKOed by Mega Punch, and Bubblebeam 3HKOes you.
Lt. Surge: All of his Pokemon are faster than Clefable. Voltorb can Sonicboom you twice before fainting, which is just enough damage for Pikachu and Raichu to finish you off with a Thundershock and Thunderbolt, respectively.
Erika: If you're willing to part with Ice Beam, then Clefable does really well against her as long as it doesn't get statused.
Koga: If you've got Psychic, not too bad. Beware of occasional Selfdestructs, though.
Sabrina: Alakazam's faster than you, and you only 3HKO with Mega Punch.
Blaine: Clefable can't learn any moves that are SE against Fire, but you can usually beat 2 of his Pokemon with just Clefable.
Giovanni: His Pokemon (minus Persian in Yellow) get beaten by Ice Beam, and they're all (minus Dugtrio) slower than you.
Lorelei: 4 of her Pokemon are weak to Thunderbolt, but they all (with the exception of Cloyster) can take a hit and strike back. Jynx is hit hard by Body Slam, but is faster and can send an Ice Punch your way.
Bruno: Despite the fact that he uses Fighting-types, his team can be dismantled with just Psychic and Ice Beam. Keep in mind that Hitmonlee has Hi Jump Kick and isn't afraid to use it. Same with Machamp and Submission.
Agatha: While her entire team is weak to Psychic, 3 of them are faster than Clefable and can Confuse/Sleep you.
Lance: His entire team knows Hyper Beam, which will leave a dent in your fairy no matter who fired it. At least Gyarados and Dragonite can be easily dealt with by Thunderbolt and Ice Beam, respectively.
Additional Comments: Clefairy, with its balanced stats, wide movepool, and pure Normal typing, is a jack of all trades; a Pokemon that can fill many niches, but isn't the best at any of them. This, combined with how long it takes to find one, prevents it from gracing the higher Tiers, but its overall usefulness and great early-game performance give it a reserved seat in Mid.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Ok, so my thoughts on some of these I disagree with:

Electabuzz-- I really don't think it deserves to be mid-tier. Electabuzz comes so late, has bad stats overall, and is way under leveled. I mean, it comes in the same place you get Zapdos. Why bother? Mid-tier should be for reasonably good Pokemon that are easily obtained or obtained at a good level, but have some not-so-good match ups (Think Charmander, Geodude, Sandshrew); alternatively Pokemon like Lapras that would be really fucking amazing except that they come underleveled. I'm going to say "low tier" for Electabuzz.

I'm really iffy on high tier for Tauros... I recommend Mid tier. Of course it has good Speed and Power, but it comes so late and underleveled (level 26 in RB or 28 if you're REALLY lucky, level 21 in Yellow), and it's so unreliable to obtain. SO unreliable. Especially in RB, it doesn't appear in area 1, it has a 1% appearance rate in area 2, a 4% in area 3 (you have to get to area 3, wasting steps...), and runs really easily. :S In the time it takes me to catch a Tauros (without incredible luck), I could probably level up a Snorlax 10 or so levels just by wild Pokemon (and just use 2 Snorlax on my team). Plus it has bad compatibility with the Nidos, who are Top Tier and need Earthquake for STAB (well not NEED I guess, but it's nice).

I'm thinking it's more in the same boat as Lapras-- It's got amazing stats / typing / movepool (I mean, it's an offensive OU Pokemon), but it's just late and underleveled (Lapras is later, and REALLY underleveled, whereas Tauros is less underleveled but a nightmare to obtain). Plus, it's still something of a TM Hog, though it can do well with just Stomp and Strength if you forgo giving it Body Slam, Hyper Beam, and Earthquake (but then really, why are you using Tauros...?).

Clefairy: NO WAY is it High Tier... it's Mid Tier at best, but probably Low Tier (Jigglypuff being Bottom tier). Clefable's stats are crap, and it just does not carry it's weight in the late game. It's only going to carry any weight at all with Ice and Electric moves, which are way too valuable to give up. Clefable is definitely not worth going out of your way to get, and definitely not worth the Moon Stone you will want to use on one of the Nidos (a Top Tier Poke).

 

[Brambane]

Agreeing with Chou on Tauros. In general, I think any rare Pokemon you HAVE to obtain through the Safari Zone or Game Corner deserve minimum at best. It takes forever to find Tauros/Pinsir/Scyther/Chansey/Kangaskhan and when you do you have to rely on essentially raw luck whether they will stick around or not. I literally took me five hours to find and catch a Scyther in Yellow version, and I got lucky and found three of them in a row before I finally managed to grab one. Tauros is ridiculously good, but for ingame purposes, I'd think Tauros would be more Mid-tier while Meowth and Doduo would be high-tier Normal-types.

Doduo is basically Tauros +Flying -Blizzard/EQ. It's easier to catch, still learns Body Slam and Hyper Beam but also can add Drill Peck to the mix. It has more problems with Rock-types than Tauros, but that's what you (hopefully) have Blastoise, Lapras, Dewgong, Kingler, etc for. Persian is weaker and frailer, but is faster, has STAB Slash and can learn Bubblebeam. It is also easier to find.

If Tauros wasn't a Safari Zone Pokemon, it would be Top Tier. But because it is, I find it hard to see it as anything other than Mid. Oh, and its pretty weak when you get it too iirc.

 

[bird1111]

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.

Actually, Psychic is immune to Ghost in RBY, and thus only Bug type attacks are super-effective against Psychics.

 

[Mekkah]

I think if you judge Pokemon on their own merits, you'll find DUX is quite a bit better than being given credit for. It has crummy stats, yes, but it compensates by being an in-game trade (getting EXP really fast) and getting Swords Dance at L23. There's some nice STAB moves for it scattered throughout the game, some of which have an opportunity cost (Body Slam, Double-Edge), and some of which don't (Fly, Swift, Cut).

It also gets Slash at L39, which is late for most Pokemon but Farfetch'd grows faster than most. Before you ask, yes, I'm aware Swords Dance and CHs don't stack. Obviously you'd use Slash when you don't really want to have to Swords Dance beforehand (Trainers with 1 Pokemon), and use Swords Dance + Fly when you do.

It's not a juggernaut, but I think it's better than Lapras, for instance.

Sandshrew is also vastly underrated in the OP but I see a better entry has been submitted. I think it's a candidate for High tier, to be honest. Slash at L17, Dig TM available really soon, and then evolution at L22 is gorgeous. His Special and Speed are crummy but he should be able to take out most foes before they do the same to him.

The only reason I can think of for not wanting to use Sandshrew are Geodude and Diglett, but as I said, I think Pokemon should be judged on their own merits rather than "it's not [other Pokemon]" (the same holds true for DUX, who is probably being shafted for not being Spearow). Yes, I would use Spearow over Farfetch'd. I would also use Spearow over Lapras, Tentacool, Ekans, etc. That's why Spearow is higher.

 

[Chou Toshio]

^Hmmm... We should probably set some rules for tiering-- how should the tiers actually be put together?

Things to consider:

-Do we rank Pokemon based on their own unique merits, or how they stack to alternative options for doing the same job? Frankly, I think Golem is a weak choice in part because you'll never need it late game if you have Psychic + Surf somewhere in your team. I think Sandshrew has issues standing out in a big part because of Dugtrio and the Nidorans. I think weighing/comparing similar options is unavoidable when you're "tiering" things.

-Do we rank Pokemon based on how difficult they are to catch / raise (if we do, Abra should probably not be high tier... let's face it, catching and raising it to Kadabra is not fun)? As it stands, the "availability" aspect mostly only considers how early you can access a Poke, and what level it's at when you get it but... Personally, I think extreme rarity or difficult capture conditions should lower the Pokemon's in-game rank. If it's amazing and you can get it easily, that should be considered a plus.

-Let's agree not to rely on the missingno glitch since it makes all this a pretty silly endeavor.

-Opportunity costs should definitely be considered. For instance, using Pikachu almost necessitates giving it the Thunderbolt TM in RB. This means you can't give Thunderbolt to any number of other Pokemon like the Nidos, Gyarados, Gengar, Starmie, or the like. It's a pretty unappealing loss there that should be considered. Inversely, Pokemon like Snorlax or Golem that basically make awesome sets with just their natural moves and HM moves should probably get a nice tip-of-the-hat for that.

-We should probably define some basic definitions for what pokes fall in what tiers. Maybe we could even make a ranking system based on numbers like 1-10, which would make it easier to compare strengths.

-Also I think we should make some decision about whether we can "assume" trade evolutions, since so many of the game's potential best are trade-based evolutions (or Alakazam, Golem, Gengar anyway).

 

[Garud]

^^^

1) We rank pokemon on both their own merits and their relation to one another. Due to the type chart, statpoints, etc, these pokemon are fighting each other. If they were fighting generic enemies and never fought another pokemon, then we would weigh them up individually. However, thee game is not played in a vacuum and therefore, each pokemon needs to be treated like all of the others exist in their own capacity.

2) It takes somewhat of an effect, but again it depends. Like Abra is incredibly accessible in-game and only needs to grow 1 level if you buy him at the game corner, which he comes cheaply there. In addition, you find him in the wild in an area with Grass pokemon, whom you could level up to learn sleep powder or you got out of Mt Moon and your Clefairy/Jigglypuff learns sing. Thats only an example, but we have to consider both the pokemon's conditions and catch-rate, but also its RELATIVE difficulty. You have to consider that it often affects their relative usefulness, but not too much. You can still get Abra and Magicarp through other means (game corner and con-artist respectively), whereas Tauros you must catch from the Safari Zone.

3) Agreed. Also, in-battle items should not affect stature, as its easy to make something weak much stronger by abusing the X-defends and the like.

4) Also agreed. For instance, Alakazam is great because it learns Psychic through level up, and it can run Psybeam as well, and needs little TM support. Many pokemon need TM support however, and that should affect their ranking. Some more than others though. Pikachu should be punished for needing the Thunderbolt TM but Starmie shouldnt because it's outside its typing.

5) maybe, I'll get back to you on that

6) We sure as hell consider them. It's not overly difficult to obtain them, and it does not go against the spirit of the game that the developers intended. The spirit of the game is to play side-by-side with other people. This means that the developers wanted you to evolve Graveler, Machoke, etc, well within the spirit of the game and very possible.