Pokémon Red and Blue/Viridian Forest: Difference between revisions

If you are having trouble defeating trainers in a given area, it probably means that your Pokémon aren't strong enough and need to be leveled up more. The highest level Pokémon that a trainer in Viridian Forest has is a level 9 Weedle in Red and Blue and a level 10 Caterpie in Yellow, so as long as most of your Pokémon are level 8 or above, you should be in good shape. If you caught {{bp|Spearow}} and {{bp|Nidoran♀}} or {{bp|Nidoran♂}} on Route 22, you're golden - Nidoran's Poison-type means you can soak up Poison Stings from Weedle, and Spearow's Peck has a type advantage against Bug-types.

The Pokémon that you encounter in the forest may seem tough, but most of them won't be. Wild and trained {{bp|Kakuna}} and {{bp|Metapod}} can't attack, only using Harden to raise their Defense (which can make for some long battles that wear down your Pokémon's PP, so be careful). These two also give lots of experience when defeated, so use your weakest Pokémon when fighting them. Never try to capture a wild Metapod or Kakuna. Instead, capture {{bp|Weedle}} and {{bp|Caterpie}} and level them up so that they ''evolve'' into Kakunas and Metapods while retaining their old moves. They evolve fast: both will be at their third stage of evolution by Level 10! Definitely capture a Caterpie and raise it to Butterfree, especially if you chose Charmander as your starter.

{{bp|Pikachu}} are extremely rare in Red and Blue (and non-existent in Yellow, since you already have the one and only as your starter) and will take extensive periods of walking around through grass to find them. It isn't necessary to capture one, but they can deal with Flying-types and Water-types with ease, and it'll be awhile before you can catch another Electric-type Pokémon. While they are at first very low leveled with awful stats, it becomes a great fighter when it evolves into the much stronger Raichu. {{bp|Pikachu}} can be found throughout Viridian forest.

{{Pokemon/Wild row|RB||010|3|5|bp=1}}

{{Pokemon/Wild row|RB||011|4|5|bp=1}}

{{Pokemon/Wild row|RB||013|3-5|45|bp=1}}

{{Pokemon/Wild row|RB||014|4-6|40|bp=1}}

{{Pokemon/Wild row|RB||025|3, 5|5|bp=1}}

{{Pokemon/Wild row|YEL||016|4, 6, 8|24|bp=1}}

{{Pokemon/Wild row|YEL||017|9|1|bp=1}}

If you invest enough time in Caterpie, it will end up as a Bug and Flying-type {{bp|Butterfree}} that can gain status causing moves such as Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, as well as a basic Psychic-type attack in {{bpm|Confusion}}. Butterfree can be extremely helpful in the early portion of the game. However, Butterfree is quickly out-classed by other Pokémon such as Bellsprout and Oddish as a status-inflicter, and Kadabra and Hypno in terms of Psychic power. It gets its moves earlier in Yellow, and even learns a new one, but it's still not much of a late-game Pokémon.

Weedle doesn't start out much differently than Caterpie. It's pretty weak when you get it, and evolving it into Kakuna doesn't make things much better. But Weedle's evolution continues at a lightning pace, and at level 10 you'll have a very useful (at least for the early part of the game) {{bp|Beedrill}}. Beedrill learns the best Bug-type attack, Twineedle, at level 20, but Beedrill's Poison-type and low stats make it pointless as an anti-Psychic Pokémon. Good until around Rock Tunnel, where you may want to consider finding a replacement.

If you have a {{bp|Pidgey}}, it will evolve on its own at Level 18. But, if you have Yellow, you don't need to wait! Rare, evolved Pidgeotto can be found in Viridian Forest. These are superior to Pidgey because they have higher stats right off the bat, making them harder to catch but easier to raise and battle with.

Pikachu is quite different in Red and Blue than in Yellow. It lacks Thunderbolt by level-up, so you'll have to use a TM in [[Pokémon Red and Blue/Vermilion City|Vermilion City]]. It gets Swift, but at the expense of Double Team, Slam, and even Light Screen later on. The big advantage is that Pikachu can evolve, giving it good stats and making it much stronger in the long run. Definitely a good Pokémon to pick up, particularly if you chose {{bp|Bulbasaur}} and need a Flying-type counter.