In-depth Pokemon Generation 2 In-game Tier List: Ampharos Lights the Way! 

Wasn't the first time houndour was available pre-E4 in Pt? What a trainwreck

As a Houndour fan, I agree. Should have at least been available on Rt. 35 1% at night but no the 1% encounter Pokémon there has to be Yanma smh

Will never understand why it even is considered a Johto Pokemon. Like, I never played GS fully until I was a teen and played HGSS, but wouldn't most kids who did play it in 2000 consider it a Kanto Pokemon like Skarmory?

What’s worse in every Kanto game to follow it isn’t obtainable...... why??? Johto mons should be in JOHTO!!

@@gars129 a lot of people thought Slugma was a Gen 3 mon

I still can't believe they added this absolute garbage to Gen 2, they're sooooo bad.

Johto's dex is just such a trainwreck is so many ways. It was obviously made to complement Kanto's original 151 and I guess it did that well but it cant stand on its own at all.

doesn't help that so much of it that shouldn't suck either A: is postgame locked B: Doesn't have it's evolution yet C: Both of the Above

I want to like this coment but i don't want to take away it's Nice status

"Oh my god this thing is awful!"

You can find wild Steelix in the Cliff Cave along Route 47

Yea, too bad that the Tier S are traded evolutions 😡

@@LordRemiem Weird how a DualScreen Handheld System game wants you to touch grass and communicate with other beings.

Crystal made it super easy to evolve some of these stone evolutions, I swear u could easily get stones from some of these people on the poke gear

@@SpookyRedBonei mean you can definitly get them but it takes way to long lmao

Eh kingdra is insanely good. It’s just a pita to evolve.

@@billybobbobson3797true

The Chikorita in your avatar is smiling to mask the pain... It's still a starter, so it's not THAT bad, but let's be real Chikorita is the worst starter of all time lmao.

Yeah, no other starter struggles nearly as much as Chikorita. It sucks because Chikorita's my favorite starter of all time

@@ImportedCheese that’s not even a Chikorita lmao... that’s Bell from BFDI

@@Neo_Bones I never realized how much Bell looks like Chikorita until now...

Chikorita is my favorite starter too. I mean, Fennekin comes close (and was the first Fire starter I ever preferred to its generation's Water and Grass starters) but it just kinda lacks. At least Meganium isn't _as much_ of a step down visually from Bayleef as Delphox is from Braixen (my favorite part of most starter lines is the middle stage).

Ah...you're right, it is available! Uh...Kanto tier. Nice and fast though!

I feel like that's more a slight against Pikachu, what an absolutely awful pokemon.

Trade evolutions are annoying. Other tier lists, such as the ones from smogon, usually do two tiers. For the unevolved trade and the actual trade evolution. Seems a bit more fair, just in case. Some people play the virtual console games, or possibly a vanilla rom.

@@adriangutierrez7686 virtual console games you can trade with. And the time capsule works too. It’s even more accessible. With how easy it is to mod a 3ds everyone should have one.

@@adriangutierrez7686i mean i definitly get that especially for newer games but its really kinda easy to change trade evo’s with the universal pokemon randomiser (and it comes with the added bonus of allowing johto evo’s in kanto in FRLG giving lots of otherwise bad/meh pokemon like porygon, scyther, onix, horsea, and especially golbat a use, along with giving acces to split evo’s like eevee and oddish)

You can also get one from Jasmine. You just have to trade her any random Pokémon of your choosing.

That would actually be really cool. Missed opportunity

Unown would still suck ass eitherway

@@RedRockin2000 In Legends Arceus, Hidden Power is always super effective, but it's only on Unown. So there's that

"I have hunted the legendary beasts in order to find Ho-Oh, and to do so i shall defea-" "Oh you mean this thing?" *Pulls out early raikou*

@@funninoriginal6054 Awesome!

Excuse me, Mr. B, if that IS your real name, but if you're not a fan of Q U A L I T Y content I suggest you indulge in wonderful American luncheon meats chock full o' fillers. No filler here! (Thank you for commenting btw)

Miltank isn’t the hardest thing, it’s just annoying. If you have Quilava you can spam smokescreen to reduce its accuracy dramatically so Rollout becomes a nonissue. Then you can switch into Gastly and put it to sleep with Hypnosis and then switch to Machop to Leer. If Miltank is going to wake up switch to Gastly to absorb the Stomp. Repeat until it dies to Karate Chop or Low Kick in a hit or two. Geodude is also a good option after you’ve lowered its accuracy to a point that consecutive Roll Outs are almost impossible. Geodude probably won’t kill Miltank without grinding it up so it learns Magnitude or Roll Out, but it can’t realistically die against Miltank especially after Defense Curling a few times.

Miltank isn't the hardest thing, instead of using a single sandslash, try my convoluted 3 pokemon idea to beat it that involves RNG and crap typing match ups to beat it. Don't you feel foolish for suggesting a sandslash instead of my insane Rube Goldberg pokemon machine?

or geodude which works better

You could try my old meta strategy of being a little babby that could barely read and just keep smacking it with the silly blue dinosaur until you win. I only had to give up in frustration like, 12 times.

Great points in favor of Phanphy and Teddiursa! I think that going forward I'll have to weight the "improved" releases more heavily, or at least mention the changes more often, because as you said, the tweaks can make certain pokemon waaay more viable.

@@ImportedCheese Thanks for considering my points! Something else to note is that Electabuzz has access to Ice Punch, whereas Ampharos strangely can only learn Fire and Thunder Punch. This gives it another small bump up in comparison to Ampharos because it has an easy way of dealing with Ground types, unlike Ampharos.

Electabuzz and Jynx are probably the best in game Pokémon. Both have elemental punches, Jynx has psychic stab and lovely kiss while Electabuzz has stronger stats and speed while getting thunder wave there’s no doubt they’re the best in the game. Magmar comes close too but I think Typhlosion is better

Yeah in Crystal Growlithe is by far the best Fire type to use if you didn't choose Cyndaquil

@@TheBlueWizzrobe Good luck getting Elekid, however. That Odd Egg can hatch into many different Pokémon, all with bad IVs, and it takes time to hatch the Egg and then bring Elekid up to L30.

You're right! In that case it escapes Kanto, but given how underlevelled and defensively leaning it is I don't think it would go above high C / low B.

It's also a silver exclusive too! I remember it like yesterday trading my gold version for silver because of that and the fact lugia knows aeroblast versus forgetting it in gold >.

You can catch it here in crystal too.

@@ImportedCheese yeah and it's more of an A Tier because it's movepool, Oh boi that movepool is really limited offensively, It doesn't even learn other good steel type moves and the coverage is pretty mediocre

And defense on this game don't even matter cause it's in game, not competitive

OUR BIG BOI KENYA Best Team Rocket player moment

Thank you for the corrections! The stones are still needlessly scarce and locked off until the Kanto post-game (unless you're playing Crystal), so I don't think my rating will change, unfortunately.

One other nice thing is that it only matters that the MAIL gets to the other end of the delivery. If you instead give the mail to some random Bellsprout or whatever, you can get the reward for the mail quest AND keep Kenya for the rest of the playthrough.

@@misirtere9836 WTF that's awesome. I didn't know that. I remember using Kenya for my playthrough as a kid xD

Also gets thunder punch access

True. Why use Espeon when Abra exists? And why us Umbreon at all?

​@@maninthetrenchcoat5603 because Umbreon is a good boy

@@maninthetrenchcoat5603 Because Umbreon is the only Dark type you can get before Kanto

Hey, thanks for watching this one, too! I don't think our boi KENYA gives Spearow that much of a boost, Spearow itself just isn't good enough. I did use Kenya is my first ever RU-vid video though, the minimum battle run of Gold. Gligar is...pretty horrible, yeah. He could probably go in D, but just on typing alone I don't think he goes at the bottom of it. You're right, Giraffarig is pretty good, and it has some nice use as a mixed attacker - I still don't think I would move it up much, though. My hatred of Onix is sort of a running theme of my content, and I'm memeing a bit by placing him so low, but I do honestly think Onix is horrendous. 45 base attack is just...useless. He can at least evolve, but of course he has to have the most obnoxious evolution method possible.

The Odd Egg is only in Japanese/VC Crystal I'm pretty sure, and the stones are similarly only available that way in Crystal. That's just off the top of my head though, so I could be a little wrong- I looked up the stone thing though, so I'm certain about it.

@@cadencenavigator958 Odd Egg is in vanilla Crystal, and the stones are Crystal only, so each stone evolution should be considered separately (Growlithe and Arcanine both ranked, Weepinbell and Victreebel both ranked, etc)

@@Neo_Bones what I hate about this is that you have no control over when you can evolve your stone evo mons, because the npc phone call is completely random. I could get lucky and get a fire stone real early, or wait until I'm literally about to fight the league, when that fisherman decides to give me a water stone

@@johnapple6646 you can have your mom in New Bark change between DST and not DST which will confuse the clock and have your contacts call you randomly

@@Neo_Bones I've never heard of this, how do you manipulate phone calls? Do they just immediately call you when you change the clock?

Pretty much, although trade evolutions are a bit weird in how they boost stats. Kadabra is still very much capable of sweeping as "just" a Kadabra.

@@ImportedCheese One thing that I LOVE about Kadabra/Alakazam is that with the elemental punches and a psychic move, it can literally super effect everything in the entire elite four except for Karen's Houndoom and Umbreon. It's such an overpowered beast of a Pokemon in gen2!

Justice for Houndour!

I really wish Houndoom was available early in Johto, it would have been a great introduction to the B R A N D N E W Dark type. It doesn't even make any sense that they're only found in Kanto...where were they 3 years ago during the events of Red/Blue?

@@ImportedCheese Houndour would also be very useful for people who didn't choose Cyndaquil instead of having to get a Vulpix/Growlithe and getting lucky enough to score a Fire Stone somewhere.

As much as I love Lanturn, you can only get it after having the Good Rod (aka Olivine CIty). Luckily it's an early evolution, you can teach it Surf immediately and it has Spark. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam are tutor moves that cost 4000 coins and you can only teacch one of those moves per day and only after beating the Champion. I think there is definitely an argument that can be made for it being an A tier Pokémon, but with meh speed and offenses, despite the amazing typing, ehhhh... there's not much than can make it S, sadly.

Thanks for watching, and sorry for the uh...light clickbaiting. See, light, because Ampharos is the uh, Pokemon in the lighthouse... Only 4 gens until we Ampharos fans regain the wool of our youth in glorious mega-evo fashion! ...with a bonus dragon type, for some reason?! (It's because Ampharos's Japanese name can be read as both electric current / electric dragon.)

DVs are kinda strange for enemies, it kinda depends on how "strong" the trainer should be, I'm pretty sure the E4 has something like 6 in every stat while weaker trainers do have low numbers

Hey, thanks for watching! Not sure 50 minutes counts as brief, but there are 150 pokemon, so maybe it is xD

Very late but Outrage just isn't very good at all in Gens 2 and 3, especially with how late you get it on Dragonite in GSC (even Dratini doesn't learn it until a high level). You can't use it against Clair's Kingdra and Ice Punch is just better against Lance.

Yeah Crobat can't learn Sludge Bomb in gen 2, That's pretty bad, And in gen 3 it got Sludge Bomb and other TMS but it's movepool's still pretty shallow even in gen 3

I'm glad you like them! You should definitely set them on loop, yes, do that...for rea$onS.

My man! If I remember correctly, the first video of mine that you clicked on was the Gen 1 Tier List because of the Nidoking thumbnail, right? We're coming full circle!

Cursola is basically a different pokemon tho >.>

And you know what's even more sad? This evolution is basically worse than Gen 8 Corsola, due to the eviolite.

@@angelovertim2360 it goes from brick wall to (yet another) trick room sweeper

It's not my fault the viewers drove me to madness

You did say where you'd place these Mon in any case so not really a big deal.

Thanks for the feedback! The K(anto) tier is sort of a special case because in no other gen do we have to do this weird theorycrafting about horrifically under leveled post-game pokemon. On the one hand, it's because GF balanced the level curve better, but on the other hand it's because they never again gave us a full region as post-game content...

Snorlax is lv 50 and could be literally invincible and one shot everything and I wouldn't rank it higher, too slow

@@ImportedCheese Dang it you're right, 50 it is! And I understand your reasoning better, you basically hate the "Enemy 'mon used Move! "-text.

They’re not fishable with a standard rod in the original Gold and Silver. Checked both bulbapedia and Serebii to double-check.

@@Hadaron They can be fished with a standard rod during swarms. Read the asterisk. If you are willing to register the phone number of the guy who can inform you about them, you will hear about those swarms soon enough. In my case, I received a swarm-related call not long after I registered those phone numbers. I caught a Qwilfish before even going to Azalea Town for instance.

@@neorock7491 Ah, THAT’S what that asterisk was. Mobile has its downsides, and that’s one of them. My mistake!

Thank you! You could definitely make an argument for Slowpoke moving up to A, especially since it's not *that* much slower than Geodude, who I placed in S. I'd maybe move Snorlax up to A as well, it is undoubtedly one of the strongest pokemon once it's actually on your team, but you can only catch one halfway through Kanto. Its amazing power can only carry it so far, I think top of B is around where it averages out.

neglected

*"You seem to overvalue the Water type? Just as an objective viewpoint- especially with regard to Feraligatr. Having its special typing and dominant physical Attack stat mismatched is a major disadvantage, no way around that."* If anything, he undervalued it. Feraligatr should be *S-Tier*, not A-Tier. Feraligatr: -Is bulkier than Typhlosion -Hits harder than Typhlosion(even with STAB, as seen above) for the entire main game -Evolves earlier than Typhlosion(30 vs 36) -Handles Falkner better -As Totodile, gets a fair amount of Coverage moves if you want them(Bite, Ice Punch, Dig, Headbutt) while Cyndaquil is stuck with just Dig and Headbutt(both of which it uses worse) until Typhlosion at level 36. As for the mismatched typing... Lvl 36 Feraligatr Surf vs. Lvl 36 Ditto: 51-61 (44.7 - 53.5%) -- 34.9% chance to 2HKO Lvl 36 Typhlosion Fire Punch vs. Lvl 36 Ditto: 51-60 (44.7 - 52.6%) -- 20.2% chance to 2HKO Feraligatr actually hits slightly harder with its main STAB unless you actively grind a ton of coins for Fire Blast. Flamethrower is Level 60 and thus not even a concern- and again, unless you use the Fire Blast TM, Feraligatr actually still wins in terms of power with Hydro Pump at that point- Flamethrower *55.2 - 65.7%* Hydro Pump *56.1 - 66.6%* As for coverage: Lvl 36 Feraligatr Return vs. Lvl 36 Ditto: 44-52 (38.5 - 45.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO Lvl 36 Typhlosion Thunder Punch vs. Lvl 36 Ditto: 34-40 (29.8 - 35%) -- 10.9% chance to 3HKO Return is better in most scenarios, and Water+Normal is an unresisted combo(while Rock/Ground stops Fire/Electric) *Additionally, Water is a great offensive typing, but it has 0 offensive advantages over any gyms in the region, whereas Fire has 3 (Steel being a pretty key one).* Gyms: *1*: Totodile beats Falkner head to head, Cyndaquil struggles. *2*: Both win fairly easily. *3*: Croconaw does better. *4*: Croconaw does better. *5-7*. Jasmine, Pryce and Chuck can be done in any order but: *Chuck*: Feraligatr wins. Quilava flat out loses. *Pryce*: *Croconaw* or *Feraligatr* does better than *Quilava*. *Jasmine*: Feraligatr wins, as does Quilava. If you have Typh for more than one of these three, you are overleveled. 8. Feraligatr is way better vs Clair. This isn't even close. Feraligatr's earlier evolution makes it a stomp, but even if Croconaw was a Level 36 evolution it would still beat Quilava. *If you want Water types in general to rank highly on your tierlist, that's fine- but it still wouldn't explain why Typhlosion would rank lower than Feraligatr, especially given Typhlosion's access to Thunder Punch.* Typhlosion's access to Thunder Punch doesn't really get it any benefit over Feraligatr's perfect coverage. *In HGSS, where the Totodile line actually does have physical Water Moves, it actually ends up losing to Cyndaquil *1.* forced early sprout tower benefits Cyndaquil *2.* Fire Blast is now buyable in a much more reasonable way than the game corner. *3.* Choice Specs are accessible before the fifth Gym, and with Fire Blast and Specs, Quilava and Typh absolutely beat Feraligatr overall.

This tier list is about speed though

made this comment a second before you told me to do exactly that LMAO

Psychic type RU-vidr?!

Yeah, it's ironic that Haunter has BIGGER arms than Gengar's ghostly little nubs, yet only Gengar can pop off with punches =(

Hey, thanks for watching this one, too! Geodudes rise up! You're right about swarming, although unfortunately Remoraid and Quilfish are still pretty underwhelming. I think I do note that Dratini is available in the game corner, but it's still wimpy until it gets all the way up to lv55 for that orange Barney glow-up. And yeah, by the time you reach Goldenrod you can already access the full trio of S-tier mons xD

Oh yeah, all physical hardware as well. Just 2 gameboy colors, a link cable, and a copy each of GSC and R/B.

You’re looking at HG/SS data for at least one of those, I believe.

True, but that lack of speed is bad.

Hey, thanks for watching this list, too! It really is shocking how garbage a lot of those pokemon were before their Gen 4 evos...

No one can blame you, Slugma is so bad. Mega Magcargo when?!

I played gen 2 A LOT and didn't know slugma was in there lol

only took 20 years

Sounds like a waste of time to me, especially in super duper easy Gen 2 ...Just attack the enemy why stall

My Corsola was pure stall (Ancientpower / Recover / Toxic / Whirlpool) and successfully pulled off a Red sweep after getting passed some boosts from my Berserk Gene-carrying Ledian (Curse / Agility / Light Screen / Baton Pass).

At least Togetic eventually gets justice as Togekiss!

Oof, what a disaster...maybe he should go in D after all >.>

@@ImportedCheese Thats gen 1 and 2 for you, as much as i love them, the move options back then werent always great. There are a few that annoys me to this day, like how aerodactyl never got rock slide in gen 2, literally would have been the perfect move for it. Doesnt make it any better that gamfreak decided to taunt us with Lance having aerodactyl with that exact move...

You should watch the Pokemon Colosseum list!

If only poison was a usable attacking type >.> Only 4 gens until they add fairies!

Ah, thank you! Tier lists are "easy" to make, at least relative to shorter, highly edited videos, so you can expect more in the future xD

I dunno about solid, it's like...55. Slow! And you can't punch until your final evo

Togekiss is such a HUGE upgrade, it's sad

I might do a list for HG/SS someday, and it would probably look radically different. Many fewer trash-tier pokemon xD

And just a little bit later, I guess doduo is exclusive to kanto, but it’s on the route before victory road, I used one in a monotype flying run and it was decent

Ah...that's sort of what I was going for, there are so many pokemon that don't evolve for some reason. Gen 5 coming...eventually!

@@ImportedCheese Totally understandable. Have a nice day. Shame so many Pokemon just don't perform so well during casual play. But I guess they had to balance and design for competitive as well.