Weird theories.

[PokemonCrusader]

The full logic is that the Raticate disappears when you battle Blue at the Pokemon Tower. He has a rat for a few battles, and then you fight him in a graveyard and he doesn't have a rat. Considering this is the only time Blue drops anything from his team, and that the game gives no explanation or even acknowledgement of the rat's absence... I dunno, even if it wasn't intended, I'm sure someone on the dev team realized "hey, this kinda makes it look like the rat kicked the bucket".

Pokemon Tower is also the battle where Blue rounds out his FWG core with two of Growlithe, Gyarados, and Exeggcute, which leaves an empty slot open that won't be filled with Rhyhorn until the battle on Route 22, near the end of the game. Surely if they wanted to do some environmental storytelling that implies Blue has just decided to stop training his Raticate, they could have done something like leave it on his team but keep it at level 16.

No one thinks Hop's team keeps dying, much less being killed by Hop himself. Unlike Blue, the game explicitly gives a reason for why Hop keeps changing up his team, and never places Hop in a creepy graveyard to give implications where the game refuses to give explanations.

EDIT: Also, whoever said anything about Blue killing the rat?

I doubt they thought that way. The dev team put Blue in the Tower because it is a required stop in the game. It is the same reason for the awkwardly placed Sliph battle. The player has to enter the Tower to complete the game. They dumped Raticate because Champion Blue cannot be carrying such a normal Pokémon. And he realizes that Raticate isn't keeping up hence being the lowest level at the Anne battle.

Well, Blue seemingly only uses in battle what he considers (at the time) to be relevant. He mentions catching Cubone in the Tower and on the Saint Anne he mentions having catching 40 kinds of Pokemon yet he doesn't use a full squad until after the 8th Badge.

Serena in XY starts with a Fletchling and catches a Bunnelby but both are quickly discarded despite the open slots on her team.

I guess the whole matter is the "Your Pokémon don't look dead!" phrase Blue says. Sure, he says that in a "Why would you be here in the first place?" kind of way, but... what is Blue doing in the Tower? He doesn't have the Silph Scope so he cannot train there... (apart from the Channelers, that is)

The same thing the PC first does when he arrives in Lavender Town: checking out a local landmark which contains catchable Pokemon. And Blue even mentions catching a Cubone there.

I do find it interesting that they kept that Rattata swap in place in the sequels. Not just FRLG, but even in Yellow, where his team is completely different, Blue gets rid of his rat at exactly the same point. I agree it was probably coincidence, because the writers at the time didn't do subtlety, but it's odd thing to keep between games.

Not only does he drop the rat, he also dumps his Fearow.

Giovanni dumps his Onix after the Game Corner and his Kangaskhan when you face him at the Viridian Gym. Now while you can argue that he is using his Gym Team (even though it can said that Gym Teams are the Gym Leader's personal Pokemon), it is not like Onix and Kangaskhan are that different from what he uses at the Gym. He uses a Rhyhorn at the Game Corner and Sliph. Onix is part Ground type. And Kangaskhan feels close enough to King/Queen in traits. But no one is out there saying the PC killed Fearow, Onix, or Kangaskhan.

That does raise an interesting point about Giovanni though. If you say the Pokemon he uses in the Gym battle aren't his then the man carries around some weak Pokemon (for a crime boss) while carrying three Pokemon that he uses in the Gym Battle (not helping his cover) suggesting the Gym Pokemon are his personal ones. Also corroborated by the fact that when Blue is Gym Leader he uses his own crew. He is darn lucky that Lance or another Elite 4 member didn't show up.

Of course, his team has to be weak so the PC can advance in the story. The anime and the magma correct this by giving him a diverse roster. (Frankly, Giovanni seemed too pragmatic to be shackled by devotion to type) Origins also handles it well by having Red lose during their first encounter. Ah, the nuances of gameplay/story.

 

[Bakugames]

congrats on ILCA for being the first team making a pokemon game where the "Game footage not final." warning actually mattered. We made history today

 

[Pikachu315111]

but... what is Blue doing in the Tower? He doesn't have the Silph Scope so he cannot train there... (apart from the Channelers, that is)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you sometimes able to run into an undisguised Pokemon?
Also, who says Blue doesn't have Silph Scopes or another way to see past the illusions?
Maybe he blindfolds his Pokemon so they can't see the ghosts and be freaked out by them so attack through the illusion.
Or, since he's Oak's grandson, he knows what Pokemon they are exactly and that confidence gives his Pokemon the courage to battle.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Blue is stated to not really care a lot for his Pokemon by Professor Oak, so it makes sense he'd dump Raticate.

He does seem to have some sentimental feelings for Pidgeot though.

 

[Scorpio]

Theory: Poni Island was designed as a proto-Wild Area

I mean look at it: there’s no real routes on the island, with two wide-open areas instead. I could easily see the area as having Pokémon roaming around. Of course, there’s a lot more trainers around than in the actual Wild Area.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Why did Blue and Red stop being friends, even to the point Blue calls him ''that meddling Red'' in GSC/HGSS?

 

[R_N]

Why did Blue and Red stop being friends, even to the point Blue calls him ''that meddling Red'' in GSC/HGSS?

Sometimes kids are just jerks for no reason and Blue is a jerky 10 year old that becomes a jerky tween

though the latter comment is probably tongue in cheek

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Sometimes kids are just jerks for no reason and Blue is a jerky 10 year old that becomes a jerky tween

though the latter comment is probably tongue in cheek

True, but even Bakugou has a reason (not saying it's a good one) to dislike or resent Deku...

It'd be interesting to find out how they became rivals, then friends again.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Why did Blue and Red stop being friends, even to the point Blue calls him ''that meddling Red'' in GSC/HGSS?

I think Blue is also just still kinda bitter about the fact that Red took his Champion position away so soon.

The two do end up on better terms in the long run though, considering SM/USUM happens years after GSC/HGSS chronologically and the two are clearly friends at that point.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

I think Blue is also just still kinda bitter about the fact that Red took his Champion position away so soon.

The two do end up on better terms in the long run though, considering SM/USUM happens years after GSC/HGSS chronologically and the two are clearly friends at that point.

And what about before that? As in, before RBY?

Blue being sore about Red defeating him like 3 years later...seemed surprising. I thought he'd matured by that point.

I do wonder how they got back together in the end.

 

[PokemonCrusader]

Blue is stated to not really care a lot for his Pokemon by Professor Oak, so it makes sense he'd dump Raticate.

He does seem to have some sentimental feelings for Pidgeot though.

Well, I don't think it is sentimental feeling as much as from when he caught the bird, it was either his highest level Pokémon or remained among the highest levels. In contrast, Raticate quickly fell behind.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Blue_(game)/Red,_Green,_and_Blue

Pidgeot pulled its weight. Raticate wasn't.

 

[Bakugames]

Why did Blue and Red stop being friends, even to the point Blue calls him ''that meddling Red'' in GSC/HGSS?

I don't think they stopped being friends, rather that Blue/Green is one of those edgy kid tween characters that prefer to insult friends as a form of affection and would never admit he's your friend to them or some stranger (the gsc/hgss player in that case). It's probably just a Phase(tm) as he seems like a normal dude in usum, if a bit smug

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Here's a theory I have been thinking about for a while. I thought about posting it in the Mysteries & Conspiracies thread, but I think this thread is more suitable for it.

In Gen 5, the Swords of Justice were introduced. They are based on (or at least take a lot of inspiration from) the characters Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan from the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Said novel was written in French, the author was French, and it takes place in France.
Unova, the region in the Gen 5 games, is based on New York City and its surroundings, which is located in the United States.
In Gen 6, the Kalos region was introduced. What is it based on? France.

This got me thinking, what if there was a shift (or something) for the Swords of Justice along the way? Was Kalos originally planned for Gen 5, or were the Swords of Justice originally planned for Gen 6 but got shifted to Gen 5 for some unknown reason? One other thing that is worth mentioning here is the fact that Gen 5 has two minor legendary groups (the Swords of Justice and the Forces of Nature) while Gen 6 does not have a single one! Now, this might not mean anything since Game Freak often make a region based on one real-life area while the legendaries of said region take inspiration from something that's from another real-life area (and this is something that I don't mind at all). So I don't know if that's any good basis for this theory, but I thought I'd post it at least.

 

[R_N]

Gen 5's legends are really just all over the place to the point I genuinely think it's coincidental.
You've got the french musketeers
A trio based on taoism
Another trio based on what i believe are all shinto gods
japanese idol a muse
victini, which has like both the goddess nike as wel las apple slices
And genesect.


charitably they did this on purpose to go with NYC's "melting pot" but honestly I think they just picked themes for pokemon and went from there.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I've always had this idea that the developers chose France for the next region after BW, sat down and said "right, so what famous French legends and stories could we... oh GOD DAMN IT."

 

[Bakugames]

The "melting pot" argument always felt like an excuse to not actually have to research American culture and just let them do what they wanted at the moment, with the only mentions of anything American related being really vague or just super stereotypical, even more than the usual for the games. Half of the dex is just Japanese stuff + some European concepts the team liked lmao

 

[PokemonCrusader]

The "melting pot" argument always felt like an excuse to not actually have to research American culture and just let them do what they wanted at the moment, with the only mentions of anything American related being really vague or just super stereotypical, even more than the usual for the games. Half of the dex is just Japanese stuff + some European concepts the team liked lmao

Well, America does love her adaptations of the Three Musketeers (The Mickey Mouse version is the best, BTW)! But yes, the Gen 5 legendaries felt like a grab bag.

More like half the dex is Kanto expies with the other half slotting in nicely as the new generation. I understand the desire for a revamp/reboot but if your new dex is going to follow the old beats for half of its slots, you might as well use the old Pokemon and save the numbers.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Blue's Feelings On Red: It would seem to be in the original GSC that Blue does still seem sour about losing to Red. However, HGSS added some additional mentions to Red.

Now, one further supports he's still salty as, after you defeat Red on Mt. Silver, Blue would be so ecstatic he'd want to take a picture with you.

But, during one of his PokeGear conversations, he let's his true feelings slip. He mentions how he hasn't seen Red in a long while, wonders where he is and what he's up to, and than mentions the player looks a bit like Red before shaking off the thought end ending the conversation.

So, while still peeved at Red and won't hesitate Red for once losing, he does care a bit about his friend-turned-rival, and as we see in Gen VII they both had buried the hatchet (though Masters seems to indicate they reconciled before that, thought not sure if we can take anything in that game as canon considering how there's some timey-wimey stuff going on).

Why did Blue and Red stop being friends

As for the original question: ego. Blue is the grandson of the WORLD's most proficient dn well known Pokemon Professor. He's likely also rich so never really needed to worry about affording something or having to save up for it. He likely always got what he wanted and thought if anyone was going to become a Pokemon Master it would be him. Now, in the meantime he was still a kid so made friends with the other local kids, namely Red (and maybe Green/Leaf depending on continuity). Their relationship was likely Blue being like the "rich friend" stereotype, so he was probably egotistical if not a bit insensitive/of a bully. Still, aside from his older sister who would have other interests, Blue I could also see being lonely with his grandfather always working and seemingly either absent parents or also both constantly working, so he likely appreciated his childhood friendship with Red.

So, why did that change when they got Pokemon? Well, as I said, Blue thought he was going to become THE Pokemon Master... yet why did his grandpa then also call over Red? Another stereotype of a rich kid could be at times seeing the "poorer" friend as a hanger-on even though the rich kid insisted on doing & paying for everything, so he could have saw Red using their friendship to go along on the ride of HIS big journey to become Pokemon Master; "you're cramping my style"! Of course, we know the real reason Oak invited Red. But the moment that likely cemented Blue's resentment of Red was Oak letting the player choose first. "WHAT?! This is MY journey, Red shouldn't be here, let alone be the first one to claim a Pokemon. Why am I going second? Why is MY options being limited!" were likely some thoughts going through Blue's head, and when he "calls" his grandpa out on it it was just shoved aside, like it should be obvious why Red was choosing first. And so, the bitter rivalry truly begins, Blue seeing the player as a greedy hanger-on and tries showing his dominance/teach Red a lesson by challenging him to a battle... only for that tall peg he's standing on to be knocked down a bit when Red defeats him. And from there, we get the rest of Gen I's story.

Swords of Justice In Unova Not Kalos:

This got me thinking, what if there was a shift (or something) for the Swords of Justice along the way? Was Kalos originally planned for Gen 5, or were the Swords of Justice originally planned for Gen 6 but got shifted to Gen 5 for some unknown reason? One other thing that is worth mentioning here is the fact that Gen 5 has two minor legendary groups (the Swords of Justice and the Forces of Nature) while Gen 6 does not have a single one!

In addition to the "melting pot" explanation, another explanation why the Swords of Justice were included in Gen V is because of the theme of the villain team. Plasma base their aesthetic on medieval knights and think their goals are good & pure, you know, like the Spanish soldiers who took part of the Spanish Inquisition. So if they're the villains, what better way to "balance them out" than with a group of Legendaries based on a group of Legendary European soldiers who were heroic: the Three Musketeers. I'm curious if there was an original draft of BW's story where The Swords of Justice had a bigger role but was dropped to keep things simple. A remnant of this could have been brought back in B2W2 when the trio randomly appears during the story as a warning that Team Plasma are up to something and let the player battle & catch them (seems a bit random in B2W2, but I could see this idea fitting in the original BW where Plasma's morality was in a questionable gray area but then having the Swords of Justice appear as a warning would "tip off" they were in the wrong).

I also wouldn't count the Forces of Nature a typical trio as only two of their members have a BST of 580 with the "leader", Landorus, being 600. Infact they're more like mascot Legendaries in treatment where at first it seems like there's only two of them, in this case Tornadus and Thundurus who were known as a duo of troublemakers, and then later you find the one whose in charge of keeping them in check.

XY not having a Legendary Trio (aside from the Legendary Birds which was likely meant to be the replacement) is likely because it was the first Gen to pull back on the number of new Pokemon (as well as the jump to 3D) and so also probably decided to keep the number of new Legendaries at just what is necessary. Though they also haven't really gone back to the "trio" idea, closest would be Alola's Island Guardians but there's four of them & SwSh's DLC having the Galarian Bird Trio but they're form variants.

I've always had this idea that the developers chose France for the next region after BW, sat down and said "right, so what famous French legends and stories could we... oh GOD DAMN IT."

• "You know what, forget it, let's just move onto Norse mythology which is more interesting".
• "But what if we do a region based on Scandinavia?"
• "Then we'll use ANOTHER place's mythology."
• "But what if we base a region there then?"
• "WE'LL KEEP USING ANOTHER PLACE'S MYTHOLOGY UNTIL WE EVENTUALLY MAKE A LOOP"
• "What loop?"
• "I don't know, like maybe Native American mythology for the Scandinavia region."
• "... Why don't we just do Native American mythology now?"
• "Because these games will be released around the time of the next Thor movie so Norse mythology is the "in" thing right now."

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Well, I don't think it is sentimental feeling as much as from when he caught the bird, it was either his highest level Pokémon or remained among the highest levels. In contrast, Raticate quickly fell behind.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Blue_(game)/Red,_Green,_and_Blue

Pidgeot pulled its weight. Raticate wasn't.

Could be. Pidgeot does grow faster than Raticate, Med-Slow is arguably the best field in that regard and Med-Fast the least.

Another idea could be that Pidgeot can at least potentially Fly (in addition to doing Normal-type damage), Raticate meanwhile offers nothing unique.

 

[Bakugames]

Pidgeot was definitely meant to be a good pokemon, which is why the rival still has it. It's not actually that good in-game, but the developers probably didn't notice that

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Pidgeot and most of the early route three stage birds that are built after it (Staraptor, Unfezant, Talonflame, Toucannon, and Corviknight) are designed as something of an honorary second starter. Pidgeot being the first of its archetype is built in such a way that it's not only one of the first Pokémon you will meet on your adventure in Kanto (and Johto for that matter too), it's the one that's intended to be kept and grow with you throughout over the course of the adventure from beginning to end, unlike the other early route archetypes. It evolves once around Level 18, a few levels after the starter evolves, and again at Level 36 which is when Charmeleon and Wartortle evolve into their third stage.

This basically means it's designed in such a way that it's an early game mon, evolves early-mid game and stays serviceable for a while, then towards the mid-late game it evolves again and gains another power jump so it can continue to serve late game. It's a Pokémon who is supposed to stay with you on your journey and be reliable and dependable throughout. This is further reinforced by its Hoenn dex entry which mentions that its strikingly beautiful appearance (and you've gotta admit, Pidgeot is both beautiful and majestic in design) makes it a highly desirable candidate for many Trainers to use it as their Pokémon.

The problem with Pidgeot in-game is moreso that it's designed in such a way that it's well-rounded, but it's almost too well rounded. Its stats are good all around, but it's not particularly excellent in any one area. Essentially, it suffers from being a jack of all trades and a master of none. A more specialized bird like Dodrio ends up being stronger because they are more specialized. This is compounded by RBY's poor movepool design where Pidgey doesn't learn a Flying-type move until very late, and because the HM Fly is around four gyms in you're left waiting a long time for it to get Flying STAB. Essentially, it takes a while for the Pidgey line to really get going because for a while it's left as a Normal-type with 40 BP moves as STAB.

That being said, having used Pidgey a lot in-game it's pretty alright at doing its intended role. Pidgey has a really bad early period in RBY because it lacks Flying STAB, but I got by with spamming Sand-Attack and then bombarding the opponent until they went down during both the Pidgey and Pidgeotto phases, and I got Fly around four gyms in and it became much better and reliable: plus I also fed it the Double-Edge TM which helped it a lot in terms of damage output. As Pidgeot, between Double Edge and Fly it proved to be a competent battler, having more bulk than other birds helped it while it had reasonable Speed, decent power, and access to Fly making it a fairly competent and reliable Pokémon. Agility can also help in terms of Speed. It's good enough to be a competent battler for the whole game imo.

I'm also using it in my current HGSS run and it's not too bad there either. Right now it's still a Pidgeotto, but between Return and Fly it's a fairly decent Pokémon, not outstanding, per se, but it does its job competently and it's reliable enough for me to keep it around. Sand-Attack is also fun. It has a better early period because Gust is a Flying-type move now and it did well in the Sprout Tower and against Bugsy's gym too. Not an outstanding Pokémon by any means, but it does its job and it's consistent enough for me to keep it around on my team. With the improvement of movepools in later gens, especially Gen 4, Pidgey does its intended in-game role much better in HGSS and FRLG than it did in the original RBY.

Granted, later iterations of the Pidgey archetype do the intended role of Pidgeot better, as mons like Talonflame, Staraptor, and Corviknight are more specialized and thus excel more in various regards.

---

Contrast this with Raticate, whose archetype is designed in such a way that it's literally designed to be replaced midway through your adventure. This is the same with later iterations of its archetype (Bibarel, Watchog, Diggersby, Linoone, etc.) but the design prospect of Rattata is it evolves once at Level 20ish which is pretty early, and that's it. That's the most potential it has. Even the last attacking move it learns is at Level 14, Hyper Fang, which because of this and early evolution soon after it's a hard carry early on with strong STAB, but this is the peak of its power right here: in the early game. It has no further potential to grow any further. No further evolution to make it stronger, and no more moves to boost its offensive potential. It will carry you hard in the early game, but once you get to around the high 20s and early 30s Raticate starts to lose steam as your opponents become stronger, and furthermore, your available options begin to increase. Better mons start showing up in general, and especially even within the Normal-type brethren the likes of Snorlax, Tauros, and Kangaskhan are soon to show up, all better and stronger than Raticate. It is at this point that you are expected to drop Raticate and replace it with a stronger mon who shows up mid game: the game wants you to explore your options for the sake of filling the Pokédex and playing with new options, so Raticate shouldn't be viable enough to serve your needs long term and is meant to be dropped in order to make room for a mid-game Pokémon. A Nuzlocke wiki even described Raticate as "A Pokémon you will want for a while, but not for the whole adventure". It's an early game crutch: hard carry early on, but reaches its maximum potential early and in the long term is one of the weakest fully evolved Pokémon, as it eventually doesn't cut it anymore and will be replaced as the power level rises and your available Pokémon increase.

Blue's treatment of his Raticate vs. his Pidgeot, especially the fact that he ditches the former but keeps the latter, is intentionally reflective of their intended in-game roles that I laid out. Gen 1 with its many design flaws didn't nail the intended experience, but FRLG does this better especially since Pidgey actually has Flying STAB early on, same with HGSS and GSC. Later iterations of their respective archetypes in later generations also fulfill the intended archetype roles better.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Why did someone from Team Galactic join Team Plasma?

 

[Pikachu315111]

Why did someone from Team Galactic join Team Plasma?

Look man, finding "grunt" positions are hard, you'd be surprised but evil organizations don't spring up as often as they seem to. Sometimes a grunt has to relocate to get the job, it's a hard fact of life.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Why did someone from Team Galactic join Team Plasma?

Aren't there former Magma and Aqua grunts in Plasma too?

Being totally serious for a second, Pikachu315111's answer isn't actually a million miles from what's likely to be the real reason: some people just need something to be part of. Psychologically speaking it's quite a common and recognised phenomenon for some people to be very drawn to groups; be that a gang of friends or a more formalised group like a political party or a hobby club. At the more extreme end of the spectrum there are cults, which certain types of people just are more susceptible to. They might not have a strong sense of self or they might struggle with finding direction or initiative when on their own. They also might just be easily led. Mob mentality is powerful and we're seeing a lot of that in the real world atm in various countries. The ideology of said group becomes less important when it's about having a community to belong to and a name to take on.

I don't find it remotely difficult to imagine members of one evil team drifting to another; we don't know a lot about how they recruit, nor do we tend to hear much about what happens to their members when they're defeated or disband, except in the Unova games and a couple of exceptions like the ex-Team Rocket grunt. I believe a former Plasma grunt also turns up in Alola as a member of the Aether Foundation.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Pidgeot was definitely meant to be a good pokemon, which is why the rival still has it. It's not actually that good in-game, but the developers probably didn't notice that

They can't even learn Fly in the original RBG lol. That's how bad it is. And Wing Attack has a measly 35 BP...

Pidgeot and most of the early route three stage birds that are built after it (Staraptor, Unfezant, Talonflame, Toucannon, and Corviknight) are designed as something of an honorary second starter. Pidgeot being the first of its archetype is built in such a way that it's not only one of the first Pokémon you will meet on your adventure in Kanto (and Johto for that matter too), it's the one that's intended to be kept and grow with you throughout over the course of the adventure from beginning to end, unlike the other early route archetypes. It evolves once around Level 18, a few levels after the starter evolves, and again at Level 36 which is when Charmeleon and Wartortle evolve into their third stage.

This basically means it's designed in such a way that it's an early game mon, evolves early-mid game and stays serviceable for a while, then towards the mid-late game it evolves again and gains another power jump so it can continue to serve late game. It's a Pokémon who is supposed to stay with you on your journey and be reliable and dependable throughout. This is further reinforced by its Hoenn dex entry which mentions that its strikingly beautiful appearance (and you've gotta admit, Pidgeot is both beautiful and majestic in design) makes it a highly desirable candidate for many Trainers to use it as their Pokémon.

The problem with Pidgeot in-game is moreso that it's designed in such a way that it's well-rounded, but it's almost too well rounded. Its stats are good all around, but it's not particularly excellent in any one area. Essentially, it suffers from being a jack of all trades and a master of none. A more specialized bird like Dodrio ends up being stronger because they are more specialized. This is compounded by RBY's poor movepool design where Pidgey doesn't learn a Flying-type move until very late, and because the HM Fly is around four gyms in you're left waiting a long time for it to get Flying STAB. Essentially, it takes a while for the Pidgey line to really get going because for a while it's left as a Normal-type with 40 BP moves as STAB.

That being said, having used Pidgey a lot in-game it's pretty alright at doing its intended role. Pidgey has a really bad early period in RBY because it lacks Flying STAB, but I got by with spamming Sand-Attack and then bombarding the opponent until they went down during both the Pidgey and Pidgeotto phases, and I got Fly around four gyms in and it became much better and reliable: plus I also fed it the Double-Edge TM which helped it a lot in terms of damage output. As Pidgeot, between Double Edge and Fly it proved to be a competent battler, having more bulk than other birds helped it while it had reasonable Speed, decent power, and access to Fly making it a fairly competent and reliable Pokémon. Agility can also help in terms of Speed. It's good enough to be a competent battler for the whole game imo.

I'm also using it in my current HGSS run and it's not too bad there either. Right now it's still a Pidgeotto, but between Return and Fly it's a fairly decent Pokémon, not outstanding, per se, but it does its job competently and it's reliable enough for me to keep it around. Sand-Attack is also fun. It has a better early period because Gust is a Flying-type move now and it did well in the Sprout Tower and against Bugsy's gym too. Not an outstanding Pokémon by any means, but it does its job and it's consistent enough for me to keep it around on my team. With the improvement of movepools in later gens, especially Gen 4, Pidgey does its intended in-game role much better in HGSS and FRLG than it did in the original RBY.

Granted, later iterations of the Pidgey archetype do the intended role of Pidgeot better, as mons like Talonflame, Staraptor, and Corviknight are more specialized and thus excel more in various regards.

---

Contrast this with Raticate, whose archetype is designed in such a way that it's literally designed to be replaced midway through your adventure. This is the same with later iterations of its archetype (Bibarel, Watchog, Diggersby, Linoone, etc.) but the design prospect of Rattata is it evolves once at Level 20ish which is pretty early, and that's it. That's the most potential it has. Even the last attacking move it learns is at Level 14, Hyper Fang, which because of this and early evolution soon after it's a hard carry early on with strong STAB, but this is the peak of its power right here: in the early game. It has no further potential to grow any further. No further evolution to make it stronger, and no more moves to boost its offensive potential. It will carry you hard in the early game, but once you get to around the high 20s and early 30s Raticate starts to lose steam as your opponents become stronger, and furthermore, your available options begin to increase. Better mons start showing up in general, and especially even within the Normal-type brethren the likes of Snorlax, Tauros, and Kangaskhan are soon to show up, all better and stronger than Raticate. It is at this point that you are expected to drop Raticate and replace it with a stronger mon who shows up mid game: the game wants you to explore your options for the sake of filling the Pokédex and playing with new options, so Raticate shouldn't be viable enough to serve your needs long term and is meant to be dropped in order to make room for a mid-game Pokémon. A Nuzlocke wiki even described Raticate as "A Pokémon you will want for a while, but not for the whole adventure". It's an early game crutch: hard carry early on, but reaches its maximum potential early and in the long term is one of the weakest fully evolved Pokémon, as it eventually doesn't cut it anymore and will be replaced as the power level rises and your available Pokémon increase.

Blue's treatment of his Raticate vs. his Pidgeot, especially the fact that he ditches the former but keeps the latter, is intentionally reflective of their intended in-game roles that I laid out. Gen 1 with its many design flaws didn't nail the intended experience, but FRLG does this better especially since Pidgey actually has Flying STAB early on, same with HGSS and GSC. Later iterations of their respective archetypes in later generations also fulfill the intended archetype roles better.

I see your point, and indeed, it makes complete sense what Game Freak intended. I definitely think Blue dumping his Raticate but keeping Pidgeot can be explained by him just being strategic (as opposed to sentimental). The irony though is that Raticate IMO is better than Pidgeot in pretty much every game they appear in, they are far more useful in the early to midgame and even in the endgame they're probably just equal overall. In my Nuzlocke run and GSC testing, I found Raticate really impressive as an ally and even useful to a degree against the E4.