Strongest & Weakest In-Game Pokémon Ever

I've replayed Sapphire and Linoone is surprisingly solid. It's not the best, but I'd rank it top 5 (maybe even top 3) for RS in-game runs. It evolves pretty early, and STAB Headbutt (and Strength not too long after) at a point where most things are unevolved is very good. It gets comparatively weaker as you go on, but Normal/Water is actually good neutral coverage and it can still somewhat hold its ground. Pickup is a super convenient ability, giving you tons of Rare Candies, healing items, vitamins and Ultra Balls for free. If you don't go full HM slave and keep on leveling it up with the team a bit, it gets Covet, which is also pretty useful for nabbing random items from wild encounters.
 
I tend to watch a lot of Pokemon speedruns, so some noms for among the best in respective games (present and past mains from each run):

RBY Nidoking, Squirtle
GSC Totodile
RSE Mudkip
FRLG Squirtle, Charmander
DPP Chimchar, Piplup
HGSS Totodile, Raikou
BW Drilbur
XY Lucario
ORAS Lati@s (particularly Latios)
SM Popplio
USUM Hawlucha

I want to note in particular B2W2 Drilbur--incredible offensive typing, comes with a boosting move in Hone Claws, gets SD, and you get the Lucky Egg free.
 
I want to provide a more updated post.
Here's a little list:

- Darmanitan (Any game)
- Scizor (HG/SS)
- Bewear (Gen 7)
- Blaziken (Any game)

And for the bottom of the barrel, my worst experience was Musharna in BW. It's hard walled by other Munna and Dark types. Your coverage options are, for far too long, limited to charge beam. It's horrible.
 

Don Honchkrorleone

Happy Qwilfish the nightmare
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
My list of best is based only on my own experience. Sure, one day I may use Abra in pre-gen 3 game, but it's based on what I've used only. Hopefully it'll be helpful on the top 10s.

RBY - Mr. Mime is a fucking monster. All of you loners there that can't get a Kadabra should get the clown. It's insane. It's relatively early (after Digglet's Cave); after the third gym, you can teach it Thunderbolt for the ultimate Psychic/Electric coverage that misses only on Exeggcute. Sure you'll stick with confusion till reaching Saffron (which does not take a lot of time, in fact, you can do it before Erika and rape her even more), but 100 SpA backed by 90 Spe that makes crits easier. It also has Light Screen for further breaking and cheesing through most gyms.

Honorable mentions: Diglett (fast as shit and stab DIG/EQ, and Slash), Omastar (great spa and although it comes late, it's the perfect level and answer anti-Blaine. It also can beat all E4 with exception of Bruno), Mew (if glitches are allowed).

GSC - Totodile hands down. Nothing else to say. But I'm throwing Ursaring from Crystal on the mix because he makes the game his bitch once you have the right STAB. I know it can be caught at an early level (hence why i'm not mentioning Teddiursa), but I got mine after Morty on the surf section hat led to the upper part of Dark Cave. It was on its 20s and I already had Strength. The game simply became unfunny as I just clicked Strength, and with dat solid 75 SpA it can use Fire/Ice Punch quite well against what resists the Normal STAB, till it gets EQ.

Honorable mentions: Uhhh... Quagsire? It's really early, bulky, and grass moves don't exist. Hypno was also great but compared to what Abra may be it's prob worse. Red Gyarados is a great HM slave.

RSE - Swampert
unquestionably. There isn't a single pokemon in RSE that can match it.

Honorable mentions: Not fucking Swellow, shitty glass cannon with crap offensive stats that always lets you down. Gardevoir was better than Alakazam cause Thunderbolt. I also have fond memories of Cacturne and Tentacruel beating the game for me with the easiest of grace, And ofc, Rayquaza from Emerald for lv 70 shenanigans. Nothing still comes close to Swampert.

DPPt - I honestly can't understand why people jack off to Chimchar so much. It's not that great. Its moves are awfully weak till Flame Wheel (which is... fine I guess) and then either Close Combat as soon as it evolves or you get to Veilstone and buy Fire Blast (which was my case). Starly for all reasons said above is WAAAAAAAAAY better. Hell, even as the best starter, Piplup was much better, even beating Gardenia despite all odds (mostly because it was my only Pokemon and being overleveled with Peck). If you don't evolve it to Empoleon in DP as it was my case before the fighting gym, it can also beat Lucario.

Honorable mentions: Murkrow is really good despite being a dick to catch and having the same problem as Infernape; Budew if you evolve it before Roselia forgets a good move like Mega Drain or Magical Leaf. Pt has REALLY early EQ so I'd imagine Gible would be good with it (even though when I used it, I didn't teach. It was still good otherwise). Even though it's late asf and you need to Heart Scale it two moves (AncientPower and Ice Fang), Swinub is really, REALLY broken because of its stupid power and decent speed for an in-game mon. And Ice STAB.

BW - It's a hard toss between Darumaka and Archen, but ultimately I go for the Fire mon, on the sole basis that, against important battles, it's much more useful. The only downside of Darumaka is Hustle but once you hit the opponent, holy balls. As Darmanitan it goes even better with dat spicy Sheer Force-boosted Flare Blitz. Archen is still amazing, but it's useless against Gyms before Skyla and MAAAAAYBE Clay's Krokorok, and you can't really equip it with Lucky Egg or else Acro will suck.

Honorable mentions: There are so many lol. Excadrill, Sawk, I'd argue Klinklang but Klink is not good, Throh, Lilligant...

Will edit this later with FRLG, HGSS, BW2, XY, ORAS, SM and USM as I have stuff to do now.
 

Tenebricite

Leader of the Pawniards
is a Top Tiering Contributor
OUPL Champion
I've used both Meganium and Shuckle in an HGSS playthrough when I used to play ingame. Neither are strong and Meganium and it's evos were a pain to use, and Shuckle should have been. However, there was something fun about using Shuckle due to how unique it was. Typhlosion's also a really strong starter, and things like Metagross were very good in my past DPP/HGSS playthroughs.
 

HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
Disregarding Legendary Pokemons... This is purely based on my experience so yeah

Best
RBY - Squirtle, Abra, Mr. Mime

GSC - Abra, Totodile, Mareep

RSE - Torchic, Mudkip, Abra, Ralts, Shroomish

Colosseum - Espeon, Croconaw, Entei

XD - Espeon, Jolteon, Houndour, Teddiursa

DPPt - Chimchar, Starly, Abra, Budew

BW - Drilburr, Archen, Sawk, Darumaka

B2W2 - Drilburr, Magnemite, Braviary

XY - Riolu, Honedge, Fennekin

SM - Popplio, Magnemite, Abra

USUM - Hawlucha, Oricorio, Magnemite, Popplio

Honorable Mentions
RBY - Jynx, Clefairy

GSC - Magikarp, Spearow, Miltank, Cyndaquil

RSE - Tailow, Treecko

Colosseum - Hitmontop, Skiploom, Quagsire

XD - Ralts, Shroomish, Zangoose

DPPt - Cranidos, Gastly, Zubat

BW - Sigilyph, Sandile, Oshawott

B2W2 - Mincinno, Joltik, Zorua, Growlithe

XY - Azurill, Magikarp

SM - Wishiwashi, Cutiefly, Grimer-A

USUM - Bounsweet, Litten, Archen

Dishonorable Mentions (Mons that I've used that didn't work for me but, not necessarily bad)
RBY - Caterpie

GSC - Zubat

RSE - Spoink, Snorunt

Colosseum - Sneasel, Noctowl

XD - Aron, Carvanha

DPPt - Swablu, Beautifly, Togepi, Bronzor

BW - Purrloin, Pidove, Blitzle

B2W2 - Snivy

XY - Flabebe

SM - Bounsweet, Lyncaroc-M

USUM - Rowlet
 
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Jynx is the best Pokémon in FRLG hands down. It has a stupidly good STAB combination, its final moveset you get pretty much immediately, it has a billion good matchups, it requires barely any investment because it steamrolls everything and has that boosted EXP... it's just a beast.
Squirtle and Abra (Trade) are good second places. Squirtle is just a good strong bulky water-type which is great in a game where water-types are amazing, it always gets a good move at a good time to ensure it never slows down, it handles so many important trainers... just great. And Alakazam is Alakazam, of course it's fantastic
 
I believe the main concern about Jinx (and some more psychic types) in game is that even though you do get Psychic TM very soon, using that generally means you get PP starved pretty easily in long ingame sections.
 
I believe the main concern about Jinx (and some more psychic types) in game is that even though you do get Psychic TM very soon, using that generally means you get PP starved pretty easily in long ingame sections.
It has Ice Punch right off the bat. Jynx never has any real PP concerns.
 
I think that obviously, the strongest Pokemon in existence would have to be Golba- No? I can't choose myself? Oh, fine. If i had to nominate something for being almost invincible and a really hard hitter to boot, i'd give you Mewtwo in Gen 1. That thing had no weakness. It was nigh invunerable without using the right Pokemon against it. Thank Arceus they reworked him for the next generation and gave Psychic types some more weaknesses
 

Codraroll

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I think that obviously, the strongest Pokemon in existence would have to be Golba- No? I can't choose myself? Oh, fine. If i had to nominate something for being almost invincible and a really hard hitter to boot, i'd give you Mewtwo in Gen 1. That thing had no weakness. It was nigh invunerable without using the right Pokemon against it. Thank Arceus they reworked him for the next generation and gave Psychic types some more weaknesses
What would you use Mewtwo in-game for in Gen I? Catching it is literally the last thing you do in the game, you need to do almost everything else before you are able to get it. By that point, there is nothing left for it to do, unless you count sweeping Trainers you skipped previously (a job that could be done by any Pokémon caught in Cerulean Cave because of overlevelling). I'd say Mewtwo is actually pretty useless in-game in Gen I.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
Oh look here, random reply from a random person out of nowhere. Lol, this is the first time someone's posted on here over 7 months. Why am I of all people doing this now? Simple. This discussion of yours could take an interesting turn when Let's Go comes out soon, and I didn't want people to forget about this by the time those games and Gen 8 come around. That, and I have my own opinions I wanted to share, since I've been following this in secret even before I made my new account :D

Oh and if you couldn't tell, I am a huge Totodile advocate. I have been since 2010 but it's only just came back to me in the last year or two.

Best Pokémon in Each Game in my opinion:

RBY: Squirtle (RB), Nidoran (both forms are good imo), Abra, Diglett, Clefairy
GSC: Totodile, Abra, Mareep (GS), Spearow (C), Teddiursa (C)
RSE: All 3 starters, Ralts, Shroomish, Abra, Slakoth (Truant sucks, but those stats owo), Rayquaza (E)
FRLG: Charmander, Squirtle, Nidoran (again, both forms), Mr. Mime, Jynx
Colloseum: Espeon, Umbreon, Croconaw, Entei, Suicune
XD: Jolteon, Espeon, Houndour, Teddiursa
DPPt: Chimchar, Piplup (best in Platinum), Starly, Abra, Budew, Gible (Pt), Palkia (P only)
HGSS: Totodile, Geodude, Mareep, Heracross, Scyther
BW: Oshawott, Drilbur, Sawk, Darumaka, Archen
B2W2: Oshawott, Magnemite, Drilbur, Darumaka, Braviary (W2 Only)
XY: Anything with a Mega Evolution obtainable pre-Champion
ORAS: All 3 starters, Abra, Magikarp, Lati@s
SM: Popplio, Totodile, Magnemite, Magikarp, Wingull, Abra
USUM: Popplio, Hawlucha, Magnemite, Oricorio, Abra
Let's Go: Its out now, but idk
Gen 8: (unreleased)
 
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bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
My Top 10 Best In-Game Pokémon Ever: 100% my opinion

10. All ORAS starter Pokémon
9. SM Popplio
8. RBY Nidoran-M
7. ORAS Lati@s
6. XY Riolu/Lucario
5. RBY Abra
4. BW Archen
3. RSE Mudkip
2. GSC Abra
1. BW2 Magnemite

BONUS EDIT: "Most Consistent" Award Nominees

-Abra
-Nidoran-M
-Magikarp
-Magnemite (BW2 onwards)
-Totodile (that's my boy :D)
-Mudkip
-Drilbur
-Darumaka
 
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B2/W2: Magnemite due to the utterly broken combination of typing + Eviolite available in the early game. Also, Sonicboom is always a thing when you have to deal with low-levelled pokemons; this move is useful to catch wild pokemons.
===> maybe it is stronger than gen1 Kadabra, which is held back by the evolution method.
 
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bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
B2/W2: Magnemite due to the utterly broken combination of typing + Eviolite available in the early game. Also, Sonicboom is always a thing when you have to deal with low-levelled pokemons; this move is useful to catch wild pokemons.
===> maybe it is strongest than gen1 Kadabra, which is held back by the evolution method.
Don't forget Thunder Wave, a buffed Gen 5 Sturdy (goes great with the addition of Mirror Coat lol), AND stellar Trainer matchups throughout the entire game, including the postgame (which is arguably better than BW1 imo)

It's nice to meet another Magnemite advecate. It's in my top 5 favorites for both of its types. The stats, the movepool, and the fact that it's underrated for ingame somewhat all make it one of my personal favorites for a while now. :)

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I just came up with a new idea for something I could do. Taking inspiration from this discussion...
 
Don't forget Thunder Wave, a buffed Gen 5 Sturdy (goes great with the addition of Mirror Coat lol), AND stellar Trainer matchups throughout the entire game, including the postgame (which is arguably better than BW1 imo)

It's nice to meet another Magnemite advecate. It's in my top 5 favorites for both of its types. The stats, the movepool, and the fact that it's underrated for ingame somewhat all make it one of my personal favorites for a while now. :)

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I just came up with a new idea for something I could do. Taking inspiration from this discussion...
It also kind of helps that it has what I like calling the "Diglett situation" - being introduced in the wild right before challenging a gym it completely solos.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
There was one particular group of Pokemon I wanted to bring up that are, for multiple reasons, almost always stupidly good: Water-Type Starter Pokemon.

The things that set them apart from their Grass and Fire friends differ from game to game, but they're always useful in basically any game you pick one in. It really makes me wonder if it was on purpose, especially considering how the exact opposite is true in competitive play (minus Greninja).

Don't believe me? Here's the proof.

1. Water only has two weaknesses, one of which can always be covered by Ice moves
2. In Gens 1-6, picking the Water starter also helps with Water HMs
3. Speaking of those, they're usually some of the better HMs in battles
4. The ones that end up with dual typings have great second types (Mudkip anyone?)
5. Many Water-Types have good stat spreads for in-game runs, and the Starters outclass 90% of them on their own
6. Consistent top-tier placements in tier lists both here and other places for ingame (RB Squirtle, Totodile in every game its in, RSE & ORAS Mudkip, Piplup in Platinum [Flash Cannon TM from Byron was a huge buff], and so on)

I'd say the Water Starters honestly dominate the "Best Ingame Pokemon Ever" part of this. Any counterarguments?
 
There was one particular group of Pokemon I wanted to bring up that are, for multiple reasons, almost always stupidly good: Water-Type Starter Pokemon.

The things that set them apart from their Grass and Fire friends differ from game to game, but they're always useful in basically any game you pick one in. It really makes me wonder if it was on purpose, especially considering how the exact opposite is true in competitive play (minus Greninja).

Don't believe me? Here's the proof.

1. Water only has two weaknesses, one of which can always be covered by Ice moves
2. In Gens 1-6, picking the Water starter also helps with Water HMs
3. Speaking of those, they're usually some of the better HMs in battles
4. The ones that end up with dual typings have great second types (Mudkip anyone?)
5. Many Water-Types have good stat spreads for in-game runs, and the Starters outclass 90% of them on their own
6. Consistent top-tier placements in tier lists both here and other places for ingame (RB Squirtle, Totodile in every game its in, RSE & ORAS Mudkip, Piplup in Platinum [Flash Cannon TM from Byron was a huge buff], and so on)

I'd say the Water Starters honestly dominate the "Best Ingame Pokemon Ever" part of this. Any counterarguments?
You forgot to mention the getting early-sh high BP stabs (Surf/Scald) in almost every game where it's a case too :)
 
Nominating gsc tyranitar/pre-evolutions as one of the worst, simply for the incredible availability of being a rare random encounter at level 20 at a point where the only story trainer left has level 80+ pokemon.
At least you can argue that postgame legendaries help you beat the elite four again to grind levels for some late-evolving mons so you can fill your Pokedex...

Now to the best...
1. GSC's resident broken psychic type, Unown. This thing just solos the entire game effortlessly.
...wait, I misspelled Abra up there. My bad. Yeah, I meant Abra.

2. RSE Mudkip.
Between the lack of weaknesses, great stats and the ridiculous coverage, nothing (besides your rival below bicycle road) actually bothers Mudkip.

3. BW Archen. Not much to be said about the 110BP acrobatics.

4. RBY Nidos.
There's not much difference between them, and between early availability and their power, they both beat about everything the game has to offer.
They stop OHKOing everything later on, though, which ruins their top 3 spot.

5. GSC Tauros.
Turns out STAB Headbutt does a number to everything that doesn't resist, and resists are fairly rare.

6. Colosseum's Entei.
Mainly out of lack of good other available mons by the time you get it, though it still has quite ridiculous stats and high level.

7. FRLG Zapdos.
Late? Somewhat. (The game's still fairly nonlinear - you could theoretically get it with three badges. Four if you're not a masochist and want to have access to fly before doing so.) Ridiculously strong and coming at a far too high level? Yes. The only mon that stands up to zapdos at all are Bruno's Rock/Grounds.

8. RBY Abra.
It's a force even in OU and has no problem getting there ingame, but the trade evolution and mild grinding period place it here to me.

9. GS/HGSS' version legendary of choice
This time, you have a hideously broken mon around for half the game!

10. GSC Magmar.
It's Abra all over, but it's a fire type!

Honorable mentions:
RBY Zapdos: similar to FRLG Zapdos, but ate your Thunderbolt TM.

Literally any legendary event mon that you could get early: Duh. Special Mention for HGSS' Dimension-Trio-in-an-Egg plus Arceus event.

Last but not least, the famed wild Level 100 Magikarp in Platinum.
 

Codraroll

Cod Mod
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
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I see many people here try to find the consistently best Pokémon across multiple games (I'd say Magnemite has sailed up to be a real contender in the past few generations), but few posts so far touch on the worst Pokémon ever. For that, I think I'll reiterate my point about Unown-! and Unown-? from the first page of this thread.

As far as stats and movepools go, well, it's Unown. Not exactly the peak of combat worthiness. Twin base 72 offenses, flat base 48 in all other stats. One move in their entire movepool, Hidden Power. Until Gen VI, that meant a base power varying randomly between 30 and 70, and of course also the random typing. That's a 50 % chance the move will be weaker than base 50, and a 93.75 % chance it won't give you STAB. Add the odds of good Natures and IVs too, and you've got one mother of a frustrating Pokémon to obtain a relatively good specimen of.

But these Unown's main drawback is their fantastically poor availability. So far, they've only been available to catch in four pairs of games: FRLG, DPPt, HGSS, and ORAS. In FRLG, Unown will be the very last Pokémon you'll meet, they're at the extreme end of Seven Island, which is only found postgame. There, they enjoy a whooping 1 % encounter rate in two of the seven chambers. The Gen IV games are a little milder, putting them somewhere in the early-mid game. However, you need to catch all the 26 other Unown to find Unown-! and Unown-?. Catching any single Unown is more than enough for most trainers, so collecting them is a pretty unappealing task. In HGSS, you even need certain HMs so you can access certain hidden areas and complete puzzles to collect all the Unown. In ORAS, Unown of any form can be found after the National Dex is obtained, but only on certain, random days. Of course, the combined encounter rate for Unown-! and Unown-? remains at 7.2 %, so even if you don't have to catch all the others to get them, you'd still have to be lucky to find them reasonably early.

So these Unown forms are kind of the cream of the terrible crop. Unown formes that require you to sift through hordes of other Unown encounters (except in ORAS, if you're lucky), for no tangible benefit whatsoever, and Unown is already one of the poorest Pokémon ever made. They can be eligible for tiering in all games post FRLG, since you don't have to beat the Elite Four to get them, but they belong in a tier on the tail end of the alphabet.

Any worse ones out there, that are equally, irredeemably bad in multiple games?
 
I see many people here try to find the consistently best Pokémon across multiple games (I'd say Magnemite has sailed up to be a real contender in the past few generations), but few posts so far touch on the worst Pokémon ever. For that, I think I'll reiterate my point about Unown-! and Unown-? from the first page of this thread.

As far as stats and movepools go, well, it's Unown. Not exactly the peak of combat worthiness. Twin base 72 offenses, flat base 48 in all other stats. One move in their entire movepool, Hidden Power. Until Gen VI, that meant a base power varying randomly between 30 and 70, and of course also the random typing. That's a 50 % chance the move will be weaker than base 50, and a 93.75 % chance it won't give you STAB. Add the odds of good Natures and IVs too, and you've got one mother of a frustrating Pokémon to obtain a relatively good specimen of.

But these Unown's main drawback is their fantastically poor availability. So far, they've only been available to catch in four pairs of games: FRLG, DPPt, HGSS, and ORAS. In FRLG, Unown will be the very last Pokémon you'll meet, they're at the extreme end of Seven Island, which is only found postgame. There, they enjoy a whooping 1 % encounter rate in two of the seven chambers. The Gen IV games are a little milder, putting them somewhere in the early-mid game. However, you need to catch all the 26 other Unown to find Unown-! and Unown-?. Catching any single Unown is more than enough for most trainers, so collecting them is a pretty unappealing task. In HGSS, you even need certain HMs so you can access certain hidden areas and complete puzzles to collect all the Unown. In ORAS, Unown of any form can be found after the National Dex is obtained, but only on certain, random days. Of course, the combined encounter rate for Unown-! and Unown-? remains at 7.2 %, so even if you don't have to catch all the others to get them, you'd still have to be lucky to find them reasonably early.

So these Unown forms are kind of the cream of the terrible crop. Unown formes that require you to sift through hordes of other Unown encounters (except in ORAS, if you're lucky), for no tangible benefit whatsoever, and Unown is already one of the poorest Pokémon ever made. They can be eligible for tiering in all games post FRLG, since you don't have to beat the Elite Four to get them, but they belong in a tier on the tail end of the alphabet.

Any worse ones out there, that are equally, irredeemably bad in multiple games?
Excuse me sir you clearly did not hear of How Good UNOWN actually was in the days
 

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