Pokémon Red and Blue/Route 2 & 22: Difference between revisions

|bgcolor=#c080ff color=#ffffff|Gary's Starter<br /><small>Level 8</small>

Your Rival has improved marginally since Pallet Town. In Red and Blue, he's toting a Pidgey in addition to his starter; in Yellow, a Spearow. You will also want to have some new Pokémon at your disposal.

The first order of business is acquiring a Spearow, since it's right here on Route 22. Anyone not using Charmander needs to acquire a Spearow. Training it to L7-L8 will be sufficient. After that, go to [[Pokémon Red and Blue/Viridian Forest|Viridian Forest]] and capture a Pikachu. All parties want to do this because Pikachu can counter your Rival's new Pidgey (as well as 2/3 starters). Level Pikachu up to L9 for Thunder Wave.

Now, the strategy. The Rival always leads with Pidgey; send out Pikachu and KO it in 2-3 Thundershocks (preferably two). If your Rival chose Bulbasaur, switch to Spearow and Peck until Bulbasaur falls; if Squirtle, keep Pikachu in and Thundershock repeatedly, sending in Spearow if Pikachu falls. Finally, Charmander has no available counter yet; you'll have to rely on a small degree of strategy, namely Pikachu's Thunder Wave. Paralyze, then attack until one Pokémon faints; if Pikachu goes down first, Spearow can finish it with ease.

In Yellow version, the Rival has Spearow and Eevee. Pikachu will destroy Spearow without any difficulty whatsoever, and Eevee is best handled by catching a Mankey on Route 22 and raising it to L9 for Low Kick.

|colspan="2"|[[Image:Pokemon_029Nidoran♀.png|left]][[Image:Pokemon_032Nidoran♂.png|right]]Female Nidorans are everywhere in Blue, and males abound in Red, but both appear with equal frequency in Yellow.  The sharper horned males have a slight edge, since they learn better offensive attacks in this and the next phase of their evolution, but both are solid all-around fighters early in the game. Yellow affords them both Double-Kick at level 12, useful in an upcoming battle with Rock types coming in the near future. While both are Poison-types, they don't get a lot of Poison techniques.

|[[Image:Pokemon_021Spearow.png|left]]Spearows may not have a third stage of evolution like Pidgeys do, but they're actually a bit stronger, and a bit rarer in the early going. Unlike Pidgey, Spearow begins with a flying attack in Peck, and is destined to learn arguably the most usable one; Drill Peck. Spearow lends immunity to Ground attacks, as well as increased damage against Grass, Bugs, and Fighting typed opponents.

| [[Image:Pokemon_056Mankey.png|right]]Only available this early in Yellow, you'll find Mankeys' Low Kick to be very useful against Normal and Rock-type enemies. In Yellow, it gains Low Kick at an easy level 9.