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- Obscure cities, that are dark.
- Seen Jul 4, 2016
Trainers in the games can present different challenges - Whitney is well-known for this - and likewise human players tend to resort to certain strategies in battle, which are vaguely listed out. However, there is of course an overlap there, which may more precisely be used in a practical manner to take the essence of their strategy and distill it into terms which may be used for a similar approach by human players. We may summarise these strategies by a simple method - looking at the ways, as G/S's rival might say, of winning a battle, or overall strategic means of doing so, over its course.
Several generic forms of this stand out, and through examining how the difficulty of such trainers, or their overall configuration, relies on these, we may hence express them in terms of tactics both human and non-human 'trainers' use to win battles, which is generally their purpose in the battle. This has a less direct application to the anime, which qualification shall be explained later on. However, because of the common end and the limited means of winning a battle, given the rules, we can therefore express in-game difficulty or threats posed by the opponent in terms of tactics used to describe 'human' strategies, and hence attempt to specify how they may be emulated by a human trainer among other things, as well as noting certain things about how these various, basic means of winning battles interact.
Ordinary ways of winning a battle:
Sweep - one attack or Pokémon against the opposing team. This is relied on, formally, and hence type, etc., taken for granted.
Stats sweep - once stats are boosted, unlikely to be stopped. Takes similar things for granted, though, and in a sense too many things to ever exist in a 'pure' form.
Type missing - a type which has no counter on the other team. Usually unlikely. Relies on the type having no weaknesses found on the other teams. Reduces things to the type, is hence limited and samey, also accessible.
Poison - Moves like Toxic immobilise, and allow for damage consistently. Reducible to the effect, and after that merely survival.
Stall - similar to 'type missing.' They cannot take the stall out, due to its passive resistance, and so cannot get past, allowing it to freely, eventually, take them out or poison them. Usually only part of a strategy. It relies on many factors, and in that sense its attempt at a form of certainty is unexpressed. A higher level player against a new one will often tend to begin with stall, and then transmute into something like a stats sweep, etc. - nonetheless, it generally begins with this guarding against harm, or attempt at securing a firm ground.
Evasion paralysis - the opponent cannot attack, because of evasion-altering moves. These may be of either kind - reducing their accuracy, or increasing evasion. Hence, it veers between Paralysis + Stats Sweep - eg. Double Team - and Paralysis + Stall - eg. Sand-Attack - and hence it is a dichotomy of both. While it is generally restricted to the games, rather than being allowed on PS and so on, its effect on a battle could nonetheless be approximated in some ways. This form is mostly reducible to the move, and at times is suspended.
Paralysis/Sleep - Sleep may be preferable, but can end and is not as reliable in a way. It can b a bit random, and dependent on the situation. Roughly, Paralysis is a support role - compare Baton Pass (hopefully they are not switching in to much harm) - and Sleep is an attacking role. Paralysis also allows for confusion alongside this. Here, they are barred from attacking, hence it is a form of stall. Sand-Attack by itself, because it is hence circular - Paralysis is itself analogous to stall - therefore tends to approximate paralysis. However, in certain battles, like the earlier gyms of G/S/C, it is different, because of the time taken in set-up, such that these may be considered anomalous and perverse.
Brute force - luck.
Selfdestruct - a variant of brute force. Works on a team level. Depends on far too many factors, however, as a strategy.
Confusion - common with Zubat and such. An inversion of brute force. Disallows attacks and turns the attempt back on itself. Does not necessarily recognise this explicitly, however, and hence also often reduces to luck.
Notes:
Stats Sweep is implicitly a Stall, but even more passive - during this time, they are just preparing something else and hoping for passive resistance. Hence, we may call it Stall + Sweep. It is a Sweep prepared for by a brief Stall. Hence, Double Team is merely Paralysis (Stall) + Sweep + Stall. It is hence very similar to these types. A stats sweep does imply a notable transformation in the Pokémon, due to the divergence of stall and sweep and transition from one to the other, in a way, but nonetheless stall and sweep are not so different that they cannot be so held together - sweeps rely on stalling tendencies or hanging in there due to passive resistance in various forms, and stalling is trying to stay in while taking out the opponent, and hence quite similar.
A sweep is localised brute force. Brute force is type advantage, or an inability to easily counter this, along with Poison or continual, persistent damage. It may hence be called: Poison + Type missing ('TM' from here.) Appropriately, it often had problems with Psychic, ground or Steel types, and likewise these tended to be associated with brute force - if the opponent did not have them, they were useful for this style, but did not fit completely into it.
Hence, a Sweep is brute force, but localised to one kind specifically, and not just the team generally. It is superficially similar because the type is missing, or in general the opponent lacks a reliable counter - especially as this is not yet a stats sweep -, allowing for the sweep, but it is not reducible to this and this is merely a result of its being a form of brute force, which hence relies on things not getting in the way. Hence, it may be called Poison + TM + Poison, or the form of brute force is limited to one type or form, which persistently applies it, rather than being spread across the team.
Paralysis is a support role, and hence analogous to Sand-Attack. It is similarly effective against Whitney, for instance, but with less of an offensive trend, and ignoring the workings of Rollout. It is hence less specified.
Most of them have in common that they are reliant on passive resistance or occasional moves as a guard, and then to attack generically. They do not consistently follow these through to make them part of a style, and hence the focus is on specifics.
Stats sweeps could occur, of course, with 'Harden,' allowing for free attacks. However, the point of a stats sweep is, of course, to attack or 'Sweep,' and hence this has problems, from the off, due to such inconsistencies, such as OHKO moves and so on. Nonetheless, Metapod and so on are notable for having often been the earliest wild Pokémon to attempt stats-related patterns similar to those of stats sweeps, and hence their functioning does display some analogous potentials on the part of the 'AI.' Such inconsistencies are a problem with many stall variants, however, which attempt to rely on passive resistance while leaving them behind to do other things.
Confusion is similar to brute force, or is a Poison variant, doing incremental damage: Poison + Paralysis + Poison - it not only 'poisons,' but also relies on incremental damage over time
Sweep + Stall + Stall would be better expressed as a Toxic Sweep, or a Pokémon with Toxic being buffed up until they could cause problems for the other team just by this, with perhaps a few adaptations to common problems. Hence, the Poison aspect of Sweep is brought out more clearly, as Toxic is a variant of the general 'Poison' strategy, and it is reduced mostly to Poison here. Nonetheless, it is assuming a lot, but we may notice that Poison implies a lack of such assumptions, at least implicitly, and hence the Type Missing aspect is expressed most clearly through problems with the Psychic or Steel types. However, this is as one might expect.
More elaborate combinations are possible along these lines. Stall + Sweep + Confusion, would lead to Stall + Poison + TM + Confusion. This would hence involve one Pokémon of a type which is rarely targetted, such as Fairy, or possibly - as in the anime - even electric, as well as one centred around confusion-causing moves - it would usually lead to a type looking to take advantage of opponent problems, such as a stats sweeper, or even at certain levels a Sigilyph. These hurry opponents, as they must be coutnered or they will be able to inflict more damage, although their fragility to Stealth Rock, etc., or Pseudo-Poison moves with elements of brute force, does mean that they could also hurry their user, if there are not strong, similar threats to make this affect the team less and set up for it.
Most stat changes can reduce to Selfdestruct tactics - damage is accepted, with the risk of being knocked out or nearly, but with sufficient damage to the opponent to justify this. Their efficacy is hence similar to an opponent who has less Pokémon being countered by Selfdestruct or Explosion, and often plays out like this. Selfdestruct is Poison + TM (against a Steel type it will generally have problems) + Paralysis. The opponent is subjected to this steady, counted-on damage, which they might not resist - it is often Normal-type - but also left unable to respond. This is hence very similar to the aim of several Gym leaders in G/S/C, and relevant when considering them.
Trainers in the games, summarised in these terms:
Whitney: Whitney's Rollout mechanism is similar to what was just said about Selfdestruct mechanisms. It begins by allowing the opponent to move freely - in which context they can't even heal without giving up on the attack - and hopes to nonetheless be able to cause significant damage as a result. That they begin with a Clefairy, which is hence merely an offering, or also self-undermining - although inadvertently, or it does try to fight - and gives the player time to set up, is in a sense a necessary exhaust. Bugsy does something similar before Scyther, although an opponent might not have moves to set up by then. It is a strange case, however, as paralysing Clefairy and then using even something like Harden would generally be sufficient to take down the Rollout hopes, and have time to give them trouble. Of course, as their method is attacking, one might prefer to boost attack or similar, to take advantage of their leaving their defence open, and hence easy to undermine in the only real tactic they employ. Their strategy is ultimately almost reducible to a move, and some hopeful flailings after this.
It may be expressed as Selfdestruct + Paralysis, or the opponent being required to hold up for a while before they can act. This is, however, quite inconsistent and may be problematic. The opponent is merely hoped to be paralysed - if they actively contradict this that will undermine it, and they will find merely an opposing team self-destructing which they can take down freely.
Hence, Poison + TM + Paralysis + Paralysis may be emulated as a general approach, for instance with two Paralysis-related types, such as Mareep and Oddish, an obscure type - Kingdra, Geodude, etc. - and a Pokémon using moves like Gyarados' Thrash, or poison moves, would usually be sufficient. This approach would hence be emulated.
Fake director: Another trainer who uses Selfdestruct-esque tactics is the fake Director from Team Rocket in the same games, who has a team of Koffing that could plausible cause issues if a few of your party are laid out at the time, after the journey up. Of course, they do not actually enact this, or they would seem obviously stronger than people like Whitney, or in brief Gyms, while they are supposed to be comparatively minor. Also, obviously, they are trying to maintain their Koffing, they can't just get rid of them, for instance without knowing your team, or it could get a bit comical - for instance, with a Steel-type. They are hence still hoping they are not knocked out before they can use Self-destruct moves, which can lead to a bit of a race to do so quickly, as is in fact a theme in that battle if at reasonably matched levels.
This may hence be expressed as Selfdestruct + Brute force, or Poison + TM + Paralysis + Poison + TM. It hence has a significant weakness to Steel, for example, as well as being taken down generically. By this point, then, you want either a strong Steel/Rock type, or a Pokémon that regularly OHKOs opponents. To use such an approach as the Director's in-game, if this were wanted, a team along the lines of Forretress - steady damage, including via Selfdestruct and similar moves - and Beedrill/Ekans, say, for Poison-related purposes, along two types who are difficult to take on, such as Steel and Rock/Ground, and perhaps an electric type like Mareep for paralysis, perhaps augmented with Flash or similar, would generally be sufficient.
Clair: Clair is in a way similar to Whitney - they depend on the difficulty of attacking Kingdra, but are vulnerably to status moves, confusion, or Water-resistant types like Ice. They lack an Ice weakness, of course, but at the same time no longer resist most of the Dragon types' resisted types, and may be vulnerable to electric, etc. This is also similar to Whitney, who also relies on having few type weaknesses, although you don't strictly speaking need to take advantage of these. Likewise, they give plenty of time for set-up, or similar, and have problems with various moves being used which undermine their modus operandi. They are hence Selfdestruct + Sweep. This, however, is also an inconsistent form, and hence they might seem rushed, needing to use their few attacks to undermine opponents before they are simply rushed out of the way, or paralysed, etc. Hence, they are Poison + TM + Paralysis + Poison + TM + Poison, and hence emulate an enemy with a full team, and hence many resistances, but now concentrated on one opponent where they can simply be susceptible to brute force moves like Hyper Beam. The two requirements for missing type contradict the paralysis - the opponent is not restricted, but actually very much able to act, and they are quite vulnerable -, and hence you will want something that can set up before the Kingdra in order to not be forced into stagnancy before this. In general, if you have a fixed team by then, you should be able to win, because they are very much leaving the door open to being shoved out of the way via brute force - it's only if your team has changed a bit, and hence is less levelled up, that it may be an issue. Otherwise, you can generally just take down the Kingdra.
A similar team would involve two Pokémon of obscure type, three which inflict Poison or consistent damage - this could include a Typhlosion with moves like ThunderPunch and Flame Wheel, or a red Gyarados with Thrash, and one support role like Bellsprout, etc., who can induce Paralysis, and preferable accuracy-altering moves. In general, though, their approach is reducible to the gimmick of one Pokémon, and in addition does not necessarily rely on their own type, which may appear fragile as a result. They isolate and weaken the paralysis aspect, however, and hence can be easily taken down.
Wattson: A similar approach is Wattson's from R/S/E, but without as much of a Selfdestruct aspect. Their designation as an electric-type Gym is misleading, of course - they are mostly reliant on the far more finnicky Steel type. They may hence seem surprising, but you may have noticed the Aron in Granite Cave being a problem if you lacked proper offence against Steel-types - like the aptly-named Makuhita - and hence it would be worth always keeping trained up a Pokémon who will not be resisted by these. Of course, a Ground or Steel type who resist them can also be effective. This, however, is going a bit further: using prior experience of Steel-types in this game to determine to use resistant types, which will be effective because it is merely brute force. While an electric-type Gym after Rock and Fighting might seem like a decent break it is not, in a sense in a way which undermines its label as such.
Wattson's approach is by itself brute force - they use attacks which are able to attack you in most circumstances, and hope that you do not take them down - but shored up with TM, and also Stall, as their primary means is to use this type problem to resist the opponent and stay in. Their brute force approach and Stall are hence not integrated. You could express their approach as Poison + TM + TM + Stall. They are hence easily taken down by types they have problems with, but in general are quite inconsistent with their brute force approach, and rely on the opponent to close the gaps. Gyms after a long journey, with many other possible routes to train - the cycling path, for instance - are usually stall or sweep, and in this case the Gym's design would seem to imply stall, as opposed to the Cerulean Gym which is about coverage and trainers forcing you into battles, as a design.
Hence, it may be emulated by two inaccessible types - say, Aron and Bagon - along with a Stall, a Normal type for instance, and a type which inflicts Poison or continual damage, such as even a Dustox. These would then be used in tandem. Aron could be picked up early on, and so on. The roles do meld into each other in a way - stall, missing types, etc. - however, and so would rarely be used as a team. Of course, R/S can get a bit repetitive by this point, as it is a bit like a palette-swapped version of G/S/C, but mostly the worse parts.
The problem with finnicky types like the Steel type is that once they get integrated into usual teams, they can distract from the point of such gyms. The Fairy-type is also liable to such problems.
Red (G/S/C): Red is about coverage, but also each Pokémon having the ability to do significant damage. He is hence primarily Sweep. He is hence kept apart from the others, who are Selfdestruct-oriented, and requires a long transition. This is modified with Poison - they are using such 'sweeps' in a graduated way or to inflict continual, persistent damage on the opposing team - and on the overall team doing more damage.
Of course, a Sweep relies on passive resistance, and hence a sweep team like theirs will eventually increment this reliance on passive resistance to the point of probably requiring a Snorlax or such - of course, they are not characterised by such, and generally go in the opposite direction. Hence, they are Sweep + Poison + brute force, or Poison + TM + Poison + Poison + Poison + TM. They are hence very reliant on persistent damage or damage adding up, and hence Poison. They have significant problems with Steel or Psychic types, which they cannot cover. In addition, their use of sweepers and brute force contradicts their use of Poison or more held-back damage, and hence their use of accumulated damage, and hence may come across as problematic or empty. They are also very vulnerable to set up, for instance with Double Team. Nonetheless, their modus operandi is such that while they will generally seem not to sweep opponents aside immediately, or take decisive advantages, they will eventually take a slight edge, perhaps less obviously, and hence be free to eventually take control.
Poison is usually there to avoid reliance on type problems, and hence Poison along with a fair amount of type missing had to be artificially incremented in order to function, or it would be undermined, as such they are likely to be a level jump. This is also implicit in their mirroring Mt. Silver, which throws 'strong' Pokémon of various kinds at you continually in a similar way.
They may be emulated by 2 Pokémon of existent types, like Steel or Rock/Ground, and then 4 others who involve incremented damage or Poison. Because Red is fairly inconsistent, they can generally be defeated just by matching what they do - stalling with Recover and accuracy-lowering moves against their stalls, and then letting the run out of attacks, leaving them open to incremental damage or OHKO attacks unhindered, or just using a Ghost-type with Perish Song, as the Charizard and Venusaur are often a bit straightforward, and attacking Espeon, Pikachu, etc., with attacks that should take them down quickly, or just using Psychic types with Shadow Ball, etc., who Psychic may not harm much.
Lance (G/S/C): Lance is very focussed on being a threat if you lack Ice-types. You may hence want a Seel or Swinub, or a Water-type, by then. They are vulnerable to Paralysis, but Hyper Beam might mean they can recover, although its problems will be exacerbated. A Steel-type with Harden would usually survive, as could a Ground/Rock type. They are hence brute force, but in addition TM - they are hoping that you aren't using Ice attacks or similar - and this both for their Dragon-types and for their use of perhaps unexpected non-Dragon types, and hence twice. Hence: Poison + TM + TM + TM. This may be expressed as two Dragonite, a Gyarados which weakens, and an Aerodactyl who is Rock (but not Ground, unfortunately for it in some scenarios) , and hence TM, and terefore this formula expresses the main challenge. While Poison can be used, hopefully along with Harden, etc., it is here clearly a problem, because there will just be another Dragonite, as we have noticed, and you may hence in a sense be hanging on.
However, they are mostly reducible to relying on Dragons' resistances, and at the time using moves like Hyper Beam which are unlikely to be resisted, creating a simple asymmetry.
While they might seem to militate against using a Rock-type due to Gyarados, this Gyarados is easily taken out, and a Geodude which caused Falkner, Bugsy and Whitney trouble - especially with Mud-Slap, which might cause all sorts of problems at the third Gym - can still be highly effective here.
To imitate Lance's approach - if for some reason you wanted to - you could just use three resisted types - Rock/Ground, Steel and Dragon, say - and one that Poisons or can inflict continuous damage, and this will cause problems. This is slightly more efficient than Lance's implementation, in a way.
Lugia and Ho-Oh: Some observations might also be made about these wild Pokémon, who appear of course in set-piece battles. The G/S/C legendary birds generally operate in the wild by brute force - moves like Aeroblast or Fire Blast - and Stall, or the use of Recover and such. Hence, Poison + TM + Stall. They are hence very similar to Red, and so one tends to be similarly levelled to his, in a sense again because his reliance on passive resistance easily leads to such exhaust elsewhere in the game. It can generally stall them already, and hence Red begins with Pikachu, Blastoise, and such, who might cause problems for it. Of course, Lugia will also resist Espeon, and can be given the Psychic TM if needed, and hence is quite dangerous. They will be harsh on Ground-types without Rock attacks or such, and Lugia for instance avoids bug weakness. However, relying on type weaknesses can be a problem for a stall, and hence while Ho-Oh avoids Ground weakness, they create a more pronounced Rock weakness, etc. Lugia is weak to everything. A Lugia with Mud-Slap would veer towards Selfdestruct, or throwing ou a powerful legendary and letting them get hit freely. You could emulate their attacks using one stall move - Recover, Barrier, etc. - one Poison-esque move, and something like Hyper Beam, which would affect most types - or use a similar trifecta in a team. Lugia tends towards Poison, Ho-Oh towards brute force, and their respective 'special moves' serve to bridge this gap.
Blue (R/B): Your rival in the first game, Blue, begins of course from TM - with the starter you are weak to - and hence tends towards an exotic team to avoid you resisting or taking out their types. However, where they go with this is towards brute force, and hence they can generally be countered by similarly picking a team which resists or counters theirs, but also sweep. This approach is hence militated against in-game by not making it easy to wait around with a starter until you see what their next few Pokémon are going to be, etc., but is possible if you know their team in advance. Hence: TM + Poison + TM + Poison + TM + Poison. They are hence akin to a strange version of Red from G/S. All of their Pokémon, including and especially Jolteon, are vulnerable if their type is countered or not effective. However, thought it is not a motif, they can also do steady damage if they are not mitigated. They are hence likely to be harder than Lance from G/S, although their style is quite at ends with itself - as is their modus operandi, they want to catch the strongest Pokémon, but only end up trying to catch ones that are obviously stronger than you. Hence, they have such Pokémon as that any player who has kept a stable team should beat them.
Missingno.: For humorous purposes, we may also look at frequent Missingno. designs in such a context. They tend to use one 'Poison-based' move, or Water Gun, etc., an attack that would merely drain HP, along with a move which can sweep, like Sky Attack, or has a significant threat. Hence, sweep is placed alongside this, and because they are indefinite, or have few obvious weaknesses, while they can generally harm fighting or Ghost types for instance, or are hence not TM - even types they may have problems with may be covered - they therefore add Poison and Confusion, being more of a threat against things that might threaten them, and doing little else. Their moveset along with high level makes it very easy for certain choices to be counter-productive, but they themselves do little but react. Hence: Poison + TM + Poison + Poison + Confusion.
The problem here is that Confusion is similar to brute force, or is a Poison variant, doing incremental damage: Poison + Paralysis + Poison - it not only 'poisons,' but also relies on incremental damage over time - and hence the Missingno. formula of Poison + TM + Poison + Poison + Poison + Paralysis + Poison, goes over 6 spaces. It is hence characteristic of glitches. It is, however, still close in number to those things included in the game. It is in a sense similar to glitch-like Pokémon like Unown, who emulate the status effect poison and all of the various effects that it may have in a game. Catching an Unown is essentially akin to using Toxic on the game or journey, in a limited sense.
Blaine (R/B): Blaine is said to involve Burn being significant as a status effect, but this is of course strange, for it is quite a 'chance-y' thing, and they are hence mostly just brute force. However, they are brute force channeled into a particular type, and hence something like a 'type sweep,' here with the opponent faced with a continual barrage of the same thing and hence left unable to escape or assumed 'paralysed,' hence brute force + Poison + Paralysis, or Poison + TM + Poison + Paralysis, and hence can alter between Selfdestruct - if you have Water, their burn attempts aren't likely to work out - and Sweep - if you have problems taking them out, burn can easily allow for hem to try something like a stats sweep, as they are similar enough that they will tend towards a sweeping trend or using similar moves over and over again, of the same type and details, so if you have problems with this it would be difficult. Burn would still be quite marginal, and is unlikely to determine much there, however.
To emulate this, you would want to try one Pokémon with moves like Flash and Stun Spore, two with Poison-alike moves, and one with a resistant type. Used as a unit, they might induce seizures. Blaine, of course, used the popular fire-type, and hence in a sense had to be defeated by Ash in order to prevent them from being seen as 'uncool,' or being put below this type. It would have been very straightforward for people to figure that Charizard or Arcanine was cooler than Ash, and neglect the latter.
Wrap abuse: One tactic prevalent in R/B was that a higher-level Pokémon could use Wrap continually, and if it hit would outspeed a lower-level Pokémon, and leave them unable to attack. This was corrected in the next version. While it is obviously brute force-based, relying on type-neutral damage, this takes the form of a sweep - a one-Pokémon, one-move attack - alongside Paralysis, Poison and TM. Obviously, if it missed or encountered other problems, then without a type advantage or neutrality it would be straightforwardly undermined. Hence, it is: Poison + TM + Poison + Paralysis + Poison + TM.
Of course, it had many problems - the brute force tendencies didn't work well with the stalling tendencies of paralysis, the type missing emphasis (Wrap is otherwise problematic), which contradicted the hope for stability, Poison-like damage, etc., and hence it was only possible against lower-level or slow opponents, preferably with little HP and no ability to Recover. It could also leave a Pokémon based around it wide open to be attacked otherwise.
Sabrina: Sabrina, while obviously brute force - relying on attacks like Psychic - is fairly difficult for Poison type tactics, if they are inchoate. They may hence seem indefinitely difficult, although they are of course likely to have problems with the slightly organised Poison of later trainers. Although brute force, they are also Paralysis - they are not merely staying there to be hit, to which they are quite vulnerable, but also attacking to prevent themselves being attacked too much, in which sense against a Psychic type which can resist them, after a Double Team set-up, or with stronger attacks, they are quite vulnerable and will just reduce to a brief flurry of the same attacks before they are defeated - and TM, or they emphasis their types' resistances or lack of weaknesses - not that you need to use these - and finally stall, as if one purveyor of this is defeated, their only option is to bring in someone else similar. They attempt to bring in stronger types for each that is defeated, albeit mostly to do the same thing, which is weird and slightly obviously brute force. Hence, they may be called Poison + TM + Paralysis + TM + Stall. They hence rely on type resistance or lack of weaknesses, and little else, making them quite susceptible to brute force approaches, or paralysis, but also expect an opponent to be unable to get enough moves - they resist few types - across due to their attacks and such, which is hence inconsistent and merely an aggravation of their reliance on passive defence. Breaching this, or just pushing past them with an evolved Charmander, etc., is usually going o be quite straightforward. In a sense, for a Gym they are quite uneventful.
They may hence be emulated with a Pokémon which inflicts Paralysis, like Pikachu or Magnemite, two obscure types Pokémon, like Rhyhorn, Skarmory, Drowzee or Dratini, one Pokémon with poison moves or which inflicts continuous damage, and one which stalls, like a Chansey, possibly a Tauros or 20, or an Onix. This would probably be more effective. In Yellow, a Pikachu with a stalling Blastoise and poison-centred Venusaur could do this much, with little support.
The anime: The anime cannot rely on such types, because they lack a story. They need things which reflect a paricular story and journey, not just mechanical use of certain forms. However, they rarely attempt this seriously, or imply any details interest in means of battle - in the first movie they come close to foreswearing the thing - and hence are mostly 'dancing in the dark,' and so will occasionally make reference to these archetypes. Usually, you would not expect such forms to have that much interest in Pokémon based on generic, usable movesets, etc., which would undermine the personal journey aspect, and hence they only conveyed a bit when viewership was more niche, as with Lucario. That they are currently trying to make a lot out of a starter's evolution having a gimmick is a bit of a low.
Hence, to formulate something akin to a team in the anime, you would firstly want to begin from the journey aspect or need to continually fight new battles as the same trainer and team, which may be summarised as a Poison aspect. This will be added anew for each location, but by itself is simply based on the type of journey: 2 Poison could approximate an accompaniment journey with training, as with Brock, or a League mission, 3 Poison could imply a quest like Alain's, rather than a normal journey, 1 Poison if they are not primarily a trainer and are merely journeying and not frequently called to battles outside of this, as with Serena, Bonnie or May. 2 Poison would be the default, implying that they engage in the present battle, but also continue on further than this to another one, or that they hence encounter a battle as part of a journey rather than in isolation.
From here, we may describe their Pokémon's primary actions - with Misty and Ash, this was generally to use brute force, but with Brock from the beginning more of a stall tendency - and if they are identified with one Pokémon, how that tends to act. In a new region, this might be supplemented by another Pokémon, to make up for that one not being as central, and then this is also added. A further Poison may be added for a new region, implying a regional journey, and then subtracted once they reach the League, or possibly plan on staying there rather than beginning a new journey. This does not apply if they take on Contests, performances, etc., which are not merely regional battle events, but involve other things. If they go on a quest from that region, without caring about the league, to another for reasons relating to the previous one, then they would have 2 Poison added.
Hence, take Ash, for instance. They go on a journey, hence 2 Poison, use brute force primarily, and have a Pikachu. This Pikachu was originally also brute force, hence leading to: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + TM, but occasionally attempts Poison or incremental damage through smaller cameos, hence: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison. This smaller role was compensated for by other Pokémon, for instance in Hoenn, by Sceptile, who is Paralysis or relies on the opponent not being able to get a hit in, like Misty's Starmie. Hence: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + Paralysis. Hence, it need be no surprise that the Pikachu was essentially just taken down by a progression of its own attacks. Misty, conversely, also begins with Poison + Poison + TM, but then has a Starmie, which is primarily paralysis or relies on the opponent not moving - it is almost a Stall, due to having to take on the Pikachu and other types which could cause problems, but does not want to take hits, like Mew in the first movie - and is hence akin to Poison + Poison + TM + Paralysis. Brock, however, as noted, is Poison + Stall, and their Onix, which begun as their primary type, tended towards Sweep: Hence, Poison + Stall + Poison + TM + Poison, which was a decent team. However, it did rely a bit much on both stalling, and expecting a type unbalance, which was unbalanced and a problem, and hence in a sense it's not a surprise that trainers were eventually expected to get past them, and indeed many trainers did get past such gyms.
They do hence tend towards quite straightforward modes, but to further approximate this you would have to emulate the sense of journey or story, meaning the Nuzlocke-esque limitation that these types must each be caught in order - arranged in order, of course, of journey Poison, primary tactic, and then primary Pokémon and possible supplements - as they are first encountered (not necessarily on this encounter) along the course of the journey, or the tall grass, etc., of routes travelled in this progress. Hence, for instance, Ash might be emulated, in their Hoenn variant, via: Venusaur + Beedrill + Geodude + Zubat + Electabuzz, used as a unit, in relation to the journey of R/B, or Feraligatr + Bellsprout + Onix + Oddish + Magnemite; or, in their original incarnation, in Yellow, by Pikachu + Butterfree + Geodude + Zubat + Dratini. This would earlier on represent a struggle, and continually make Gyms tougher, but not necessarily a complete wipe-out, but would generally be sufficient to take on most trainers, albeit confusedly, as well as Team Rocket, interestingly, apart from Giovanni who would still be a challenge. As such, it would help with Team Rocket earlier on, as well as certain, very specific Gyms, while on the rest it should at least be able to survive. The rest of that is, of course, down to the particular trainer, and it should be able to get past these normally if they were focussed on that.
Misty would be more along the lines of Venusaur + Beedrill + Geodude + Oddish, or in G/S water Pokémon, Feraligatr + Tentacool + Corsola/Kingdra + Gyarados/Vaporeon. It would be quite secure early on, by Bugsy and Whitney be relying a bit on luck and brute force, and by Jasmine, Chuck, etc., either be hoping on brute force or Ground-type attacks, or relying on something like Corsola to be secure. Finally, something like Gyarados or Vaporeon would be useful in bursts, but perhaps not enough to make up for insecurities in the rest of the team, and it would probably by an ordinary run lead to not really progressing forwards towards Red or even tending towards the League, but rather being stuck in a certain region where they are most effective. Eventually, it would just reduce to TM, or alternatively relying on not being attacked much or subjected to brute force approaches, and is a gym leader-esque set-up in its most polite incarnation, rather than suiting the format of a general progression.
Serena might be summarised as one Poison, brute force - relying on attacks like Fairy Wind, etc., to finish battles - and finally her Pokémon tend towards Selfdestruct, or using moves from other places and hence distancing herself from being primarily a battle-oriented trainer. Hence: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + TM + Paralysis. This is necessary because she is supposed to 'move on' from battle quickly. Essentially, then, she expects opponents to wait while she attempts various combinations, etc., which gradually do damage, which might be putting too much emphasis on them with too little impact for this to generally be justified. Earlier on, this might be something like: Chikorita + Bellsprout + Geodude + Oddish + Dratini + Electabuzz/Pikachu. While it would be difficult and a struggle earlier on, this would eventually become easier due to the Geodude, which could resist leaders like Bugsy, etc., however, this would only serve to guard the previous grass-types and hence merely enable collecting grass-types in the mean-time, leading to Oddish, which implies a greater focus on some form or other of 'bonding' with Pokémon with an occasional need to defend them - approximating Serena's tendency towards being performance-centric but also battling once in a while due to circumstances. This would be unruly, although it could be balanced out using the Grass-Ground/Rock duality for most of Johto, which I've found interesting in Silver for instance, although Serena generally doesn't tend to focus on such dualities.
May would be again one Poison, but was generally Stall, along with a Pokémon who was generally just instructed to attack generally, like Bulbasaur, which was of course brute force, weirdly given their type. They hence could be summarised as - Poison + Stall + Poison + TM. This is fairly straightforward - Venusaur + Clefairy + Oddish/Bellsprout + Dratini. Hence, while this would begin in a fairly straightforward way, perhaps even one set up to seem easier, eventually specific characters especially could end up causing problems - and May among other characters is perhaps to be known for rival spam, just as much as her love interests at the time would probably span a continent - and one of them, generally the Clefairy, will just be forced to rely on passive resistance in the hope that it can hold out against opponents who can endanger the rest of their team. Eventually it will just take recourse in the missing-type form's security - which is a bit of a recourse - and hence increasingly leave behind or relegate the more offensive or poison tendencies of the earlier types. In the process, it will also tend towards Contests, and away from battle.
Mew tends towards evasion, but not due to any active attempts, and hence is Paralysis based. Alongside this, it can also use brute force, or 'powerful attacks' of whatever type, as well as counter those of others, or stall. Hence, it may be given 2 Poison, or default, as it shows up generically, Paralysis, brute force and stall, as it is a Pokémon that may be specified as such who appears along the journey, and hence need only be altered to adjust for its having to adapt its moves to the point in the journey. Hence: Poison + Poison + Paralysis + Poison + TM + Stall. Hence, they as it were use more 'moves' than the normal 4 spaces identified with it, and hence are seen as a film role or portrayal of a Pokémon type or role in the drama, rather than a particular Pokémon with 4 moves which is generically involved in it. However, the particular choice of having 6 attacks is an interesting one, which must be put down to a simple scenario in the film. Mewtwo knows, of course, that the clones are stronger than the originals by this point. Hence, by identifying Mew with the 'originals,' despite their problems, and forcing them to hence identify with this team, they therefore gain the upper hand by default. As a result, Mew here is identified as having 6 tendencies, or the number which would usually identify a team. In this, they are able to react to Mewtwo, who is functioning as a trainer. As a result, even when it attempts to counter Mewtwo, this ends up to the detriment of their 'team,' by turning Ash to stone. While Mewtwo may have had a few problems from there, having restricted their program to Pokémon battles only, that the battle with Mew ends up directly with a result in their favour is in a vaguely realised manner, ultimately, not a coincidence. This could be emulated in a team along the following lines: Venusaur + Beedrill + Pikachu + Zubat + Geodude + Clefairy. Clefairy and Pikachu are there for thematic reasons. In mentioning Mew, who relies on passive resistance of any kind continually, it may be hard not to be tempted to use a Snorlax in the team, but you can easily avoid this necessity. Mew is very similar to such things, though.
Aria, for a more recent trainer, can be treated as defaulting to 2 Poison traits, and generally speaking seems to rely on stall, or her version of similar moves being stronger than other trainers'. This would tend to discourage a trainer route, and hence they are a performer. As a performer, they simply need to seem impressive enough to seem competent, rather than be particularly effective at battle, which is completely different. They generally rely on Delphox and such, which tend to just use brute force. Hence, they are: Poison + Poison + Stall + Poison + TM. Hence, unlike Serena, the point of whose team is in part to distance themselves from training, they are portrayed as capable of battle although not primarily a trainer, and hence indefinitely strong, which could not doubt not do much help to Ash's hopes. It may be noted that they are very similar to a Mew. While Serena does claim to be influenced by it, they take things in a very different direction and go a bit crazy with things, while Aria mostly just seems to rely on standing around and relying on stronger, similarly-typed Pokémon to do things. It is still an attempt to ward the opponent off so that she can do things, however, and in this has some things in common with Serena, although less so. Unlike Mew, however, it does not have the responsibility to try and counter a significant force or take that on, and hence it is less focussed and quite partial.
Finally, Tobias generally might be portrayed as on a journey, in a pseudo-ordinary manner, they rely on brute force, and finally their primary Pokémon is a legendary, who does continual damage through various means, and relies on this rather than needing to sweep or be overly aggressive in order to get through, as well as being able to follow with Latios in their appearance in the anime, which is stall. Hence: Poison + Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + Stall. As such, they are very similar to Ash, which is in a sense necessary if they are to be smuggled in without just seeming like nobody cares anymore - to just throw legendaries around to resolve a League is really writing it off - because they resemble the protagonist enough to blend in, while relying on continual damage alongside a sweeping tendency, and finally the ability to stall if they are taken down. They do not do the reasonable thing based on the Kanto Conference, or merely rely on sleep moves to take opponents down, but rather are forced to use their Pokémon to attack, and hence leave them exposed - Latios might seem impressive, but in reality spamming legendaries like that degrades them, and it is still weak to certain types, etc., or they are just hopefully throwing out famous Pokémon, like Real Madrid's 'Galacticos' but without selecting any particular Latios (which might actually be Cristiano Ronaldo's gender, by the way) - and in a sense akin to ordinary types. They are in a sense similar to Alain, who often rips off their plot points.
Alain may be treated as basically Tobias - they have certain Pokémon who they attempt to show off - but in a slightly altered manner. Tobias would be portrayed by something like: Venusaur + Beedrill + Zubat + Geodude + Oddish/Bellsprout + Chansey. As you can see, this tends towards emblematic Pokémon. In G/S, with more relevant legendaries, it might include for instance Lugia as an obscure type of sorts - Latios is more suited - and Suicune as a stall of sorts. Later on, something like Mudkip + Dustox + Groudon + Latios + Regice + Registeel might be functional.
Gary is similar to Ash in being on a journey, but tends towards trying to maintain a slight advantage, and gathers Pokémon appropriate to this. As such, they are Poison + Poison + Stall + Stall. This may be compared to Venusaur + Zubat + Clefairy + Chansey. While it does begin from a position of advantage, as Bulbasaur does in Kanto, it does get somewhat derailed in attempting to keep this up, and diverges slightly from the journey, and so likewise Gary eventually leaves training and goes into research of exotic Pokémon and presumably minerals.
Of course, it may be observed that most characters are a bit similar, which is recognised in the above account of them. In addition, it notes convergences, such as the tendency of Ash's Sceptile to resemble Misty's earlier 'style,' which was also seen in similar form in Valerie's Gym, as well a thing which might lead to struggles earlier on that then need to be dealt with or papered over continually.
Toxic is akin to the effect of poison - a certain amount of damage now incremented per turn, along with your current moves - now automatically incrementing itself. Moves like Rollout can be summarised as simulations of Toxic. However, while Toxic only, if accurate, requires one turn before it is applied, during which you may faint, etc., extending this period out seems to imply a tendency towards Self-destruct. It lets the opponent do whatever, before being able to be applied. As such, rather than relying on the temporal uncertainty of brute force moves, generally attempts to prevent their progression would be more effective at this point. Despite a Psyduck stationed helpfully near the entrance to Goldenrod, people do still tend to find that battle difficult, and obviously as the strategy can be expressed in such, more general terms, it can also be carried out elsewhere in slightly different terms.
Anyway, to celebrate the end of that section, I used a new name on PS to mess around for a battle, and ended up with a Plusle sweep. For verily is it said, the world shall turn to ash. Only, they forgot to say, ash as in the substance or something related to it, and not merely the word 'ash,' which in any case works mostly because of foreign islands speaking English, which really mitigates their exotic nature, and in addition is a bit farcical generally and really ruins the lines that people find striking in Batman movies.
I guess the '18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon' sounds a bit similar to the first sub-heading, right? So that was totally worth it.
Concluding notes:
While that was quite long, the overlap between such things is still in many ways an an obscure domain, not generally expressed in precise terms, and as such there was a lot of unexplored terrain in the field. In any case, as a result, one may want to query what battles would look like without the common substrate or security of incremental damage. Generally, of course, in the anime, switching Pokémon becomes impractical, alongside other reasons because then you are not displaying a character whose Pokémon have certain relations and roles, but rather wildly divergent Pokémon, which doesn't really fit the purpose of the thing. In addition, levels tend to be a bit akin, to make an only slightly further analogy, to the workings of poison or Toxic - the AI gets stronger, a bit, or adds incremental damage along with what they already do, although this does not imply any particular approach, and likewise you get stronger and also adapt to this in a similar way - but would not really be applicable to the anime, where making levels a consideration would tend to make it very similar to an LP, for instance, rather than an anime. Through leaving such things out, then, the anime can avoid reliance on the games, or similarities to it, but needs to draw both in a way for its battles and for their portrayal on a source other than the games. Along with such Poison tendencies, you also end up with brute force-esque modes, such as the variety of trainers, which includes Gym leaders - they are expected to be sweep-esque, or hence defeat you despite the trainers before them being easier, a bit like a final-Pokémon sweep, and in this sense are calculated to be demoralising if you lose. However, they are not a separate part of the game, but form a continuity with the rest of the trainers.
Of course, once the trainers are laid out in their kinds, and the level progression also established in some form, where it goes from there depends on the game. This can hence give an indication of the direction that a game goes in with its challenge, and this is in a sense a question of arrangement rather than the addition of other features. Hence, for instance, the first games tend to go in the direction of stall, the third in the direction of type missing, the second in the direction of self-destruct, or something like a blackout. Hence, the second tend to most convey a sense of desolation or sparseness in a human or city context, the former generally keep it to a fairly abstract sense, and by the third the games are generally spending a lot more time being shiny and positive, because they're not necessarily going in any particular direction.
While this is fairly cursory, noting that these things can be applied to the games in some way does seem worthwhile. While stalling is obviously not a 'goal,' in the game itself, it is nonetheless a way or means, while 'winning' is not by itself a means or way of doing so, and in this sense trying simply to win without any particular mode is going around in the dark a bit, so to speak. As also noted, legendary Pokémon tend to have self-destructive tendencies if they are used in certain ways that might be typical of most other types, and with Mewtwo for instance this was only mitigated with the Psychic type's lack of weaknesses, and in this sense the usual approach of having them attempt to attack or otherwise affect the opposition rather than being left as a target does have a certain validity, and in general leaving a legendary Pokémon exposed can reduce the excitement of catching one, if you do like it. Of course, self-destructive means can lead to a lot of damage, and hence give a sense of security, but they do obviously risk undermining the presence of the type. When the game involves 'trios' and such, they are generally such as will not be critically debilitating for the styles of the trainers nearby and in the near future, and in this sense while R/B's legendaries are somewhat set apart by the presence of Mewtwo and adapting to this, G/S's legendaries, such as Lugia or the 'dogs,' are usually more integrated into the game, and hence also in the anime tended towards being portrayed as merely adjuncts to the protagonists, or as just helping them do whatever they're already doing as a notably efficient means, rather than standing apart or pulling in their own direction, which Celebi did, but was scolded for it continually. If you're a bit tired by this point, then remember, in Hoenn Contests that counts as being knocked out. Anyway, though, we have generally shown how certain aspects of the game are explained by such modes, and hopefully it will be helpful. Of course, one might further enquire into how much Ash's mode of battle would be impacted upon by having a Pikablu, but that would probably extend this article to twice its length, so let us leave it here.
Several generic forms of this stand out, and through examining how the difficulty of such trainers, or their overall configuration, relies on these, we may hence express them in terms of tactics both human and non-human 'trainers' use to win battles, which is generally their purpose in the battle. This has a less direct application to the anime, which qualification shall be explained later on. However, because of the common end and the limited means of winning a battle, given the rules, we can therefore express in-game difficulty or threats posed by the opponent in terms of tactics used to describe 'human' strategies, and hence attempt to specify how they may be emulated by a human trainer among other things, as well as noting certain things about how these various, basic means of winning battles interact.
Ordinary ways of winning a battle:
Sweep - one attack or Pokémon against the opposing team. This is relied on, formally, and hence type, etc., taken for granted.
Stats sweep - once stats are boosted, unlikely to be stopped. Takes similar things for granted, though, and in a sense too many things to ever exist in a 'pure' form.
Type missing - a type which has no counter on the other team. Usually unlikely. Relies on the type having no weaknesses found on the other teams. Reduces things to the type, is hence limited and samey, also accessible.
Poison - Moves like Toxic immobilise, and allow for damage consistently. Reducible to the effect, and after that merely survival.
Stall - similar to 'type missing.' They cannot take the stall out, due to its passive resistance, and so cannot get past, allowing it to freely, eventually, take them out or poison them. Usually only part of a strategy. It relies on many factors, and in that sense its attempt at a form of certainty is unexpressed. A higher level player against a new one will often tend to begin with stall, and then transmute into something like a stats sweep, etc. - nonetheless, it generally begins with this guarding against harm, or attempt at securing a firm ground.
Evasion paralysis - the opponent cannot attack, because of evasion-altering moves. These may be of either kind - reducing their accuracy, or increasing evasion. Hence, it veers between Paralysis + Stats Sweep - eg. Double Team - and Paralysis + Stall - eg. Sand-Attack - and hence it is a dichotomy of both. While it is generally restricted to the games, rather than being allowed on PS and so on, its effect on a battle could nonetheless be approximated in some ways. This form is mostly reducible to the move, and at times is suspended.
Paralysis/Sleep - Sleep may be preferable, but can end and is not as reliable in a way. It can b a bit random, and dependent on the situation. Roughly, Paralysis is a support role - compare Baton Pass (hopefully they are not switching in to much harm) - and Sleep is an attacking role. Paralysis also allows for confusion alongside this. Here, they are barred from attacking, hence it is a form of stall. Sand-Attack by itself, because it is hence circular - Paralysis is itself analogous to stall - therefore tends to approximate paralysis. However, in certain battles, like the earlier gyms of G/S/C, it is different, because of the time taken in set-up, such that these may be considered anomalous and perverse.
Brute force - luck.
Selfdestruct - a variant of brute force. Works on a team level. Depends on far too many factors, however, as a strategy.
Confusion - common with Zubat and such. An inversion of brute force. Disallows attacks and turns the attempt back on itself. Does not necessarily recognise this explicitly, however, and hence also often reduces to luck.
Notes:
Stats Sweep is implicitly a Stall, but even more passive - during this time, they are just preparing something else and hoping for passive resistance. Hence, we may call it Stall + Sweep. It is a Sweep prepared for by a brief Stall. Hence, Double Team is merely Paralysis (Stall) + Sweep + Stall. It is hence very similar to these types. A stats sweep does imply a notable transformation in the Pokémon, due to the divergence of stall and sweep and transition from one to the other, in a way, but nonetheless stall and sweep are not so different that they cannot be so held together - sweeps rely on stalling tendencies or hanging in there due to passive resistance in various forms, and stalling is trying to stay in while taking out the opponent, and hence quite similar.
A sweep is localised brute force. Brute force is type advantage, or an inability to easily counter this, along with Poison or continual, persistent damage. It may hence be called: Poison + Type missing ('TM' from here.) Appropriately, it often had problems with Psychic, ground or Steel types, and likewise these tended to be associated with brute force - if the opponent did not have them, they were useful for this style, but did not fit completely into it.
Hence, a Sweep is brute force, but localised to one kind specifically, and not just the team generally. It is superficially similar because the type is missing, or in general the opponent lacks a reliable counter - especially as this is not yet a stats sweep -, allowing for the sweep, but it is not reducible to this and this is merely a result of its being a form of brute force, which hence relies on things not getting in the way. Hence, it may be called Poison + TM + Poison, or the form of brute force is limited to one type or form, which persistently applies it, rather than being spread across the team.
Paralysis is a support role, and hence analogous to Sand-Attack. It is similarly effective against Whitney, for instance, but with less of an offensive trend, and ignoring the workings of Rollout. It is hence less specified.
Most of them have in common that they are reliant on passive resistance or occasional moves as a guard, and then to attack generically. They do not consistently follow these through to make them part of a style, and hence the focus is on specifics.
Stats sweeps could occur, of course, with 'Harden,' allowing for free attacks. However, the point of a stats sweep is, of course, to attack or 'Sweep,' and hence this has problems, from the off, due to such inconsistencies, such as OHKO moves and so on. Nonetheless, Metapod and so on are notable for having often been the earliest wild Pokémon to attempt stats-related patterns similar to those of stats sweeps, and hence their functioning does display some analogous potentials on the part of the 'AI.' Such inconsistencies are a problem with many stall variants, however, which attempt to rely on passive resistance while leaving them behind to do other things.
Confusion is similar to brute force, or is a Poison variant, doing incremental damage: Poison + Paralysis + Poison - it not only 'poisons,' but also relies on incremental damage over time
Sweep + Stall + Stall would be better expressed as a Toxic Sweep, or a Pokémon with Toxic being buffed up until they could cause problems for the other team just by this, with perhaps a few adaptations to common problems. Hence, the Poison aspect of Sweep is brought out more clearly, as Toxic is a variant of the general 'Poison' strategy, and it is reduced mostly to Poison here. Nonetheless, it is assuming a lot, but we may notice that Poison implies a lack of such assumptions, at least implicitly, and hence the Type Missing aspect is expressed most clearly through problems with the Psychic or Steel types. However, this is as one might expect.
More elaborate combinations are possible along these lines. Stall + Sweep + Confusion, would lead to Stall + Poison + TM + Confusion. This would hence involve one Pokémon of a type which is rarely targetted, such as Fairy, or possibly - as in the anime - even electric, as well as one centred around confusion-causing moves - it would usually lead to a type looking to take advantage of opponent problems, such as a stats sweeper, or even at certain levels a Sigilyph. These hurry opponents, as they must be coutnered or they will be able to inflict more damage, although their fragility to Stealth Rock, etc., or Pseudo-Poison moves with elements of brute force, does mean that they could also hurry their user, if there are not strong, similar threats to make this affect the team less and set up for it.
Most stat changes can reduce to Selfdestruct tactics - damage is accepted, with the risk of being knocked out or nearly, but with sufficient damage to the opponent to justify this. Their efficacy is hence similar to an opponent who has less Pokémon being countered by Selfdestruct or Explosion, and often plays out like this. Selfdestruct is Poison + TM (against a Steel type it will generally have problems) + Paralysis. The opponent is subjected to this steady, counted-on damage, which they might not resist - it is often Normal-type - but also left unable to respond. This is hence very similar to the aim of several Gym leaders in G/S/C, and relevant when considering them.
Trainers in the games, summarised in these terms:
Whitney: Whitney's Rollout mechanism is similar to what was just said about Selfdestruct mechanisms. It begins by allowing the opponent to move freely - in which context they can't even heal without giving up on the attack - and hopes to nonetheless be able to cause significant damage as a result. That they begin with a Clefairy, which is hence merely an offering, or also self-undermining - although inadvertently, or it does try to fight - and gives the player time to set up, is in a sense a necessary exhaust. Bugsy does something similar before Scyther, although an opponent might not have moves to set up by then. It is a strange case, however, as paralysing Clefairy and then using even something like Harden would generally be sufficient to take down the Rollout hopes, and have time to give them trouble. Of course, as their method is attacking, one might prefer to boost attack or similar, to take advantage of their leaving their defence open, and hence easy to undermine in the only real tactic they employ. Their strategy is ultimately almost reducible to a move, and some hopeful flailings after this.
It may be expressed as Selfdestruct + Paralysis, or the opponent being required to hold up for a while before they can act. This is, however, quite inconsistent and may be problematic. The opponent is merely hoped to be paralysed - if they actively contradict this that will undermine it, and they will find merely an opposing team self-destructing which they can take down freely.
Hence, Poison + TM + Paralysis + Paralysis may be emulated as a general approach, for instance with two Paralysis-related types, such as Mareep and Oddish, an obscure type - Kingdra, Geodude, etc. - and a Pokémon using moves like Gyarados' Thrash, or poison moves, would usually be sufficient. This approach would hence be emulated.
Fake director: Another trainer who uses Selfdestruct-esque tactics is the fake Director from Team Rocket in the same games, who has a team of Koffing that could plausible cause issues if a few of your party are laid out at the time, after the journey up. Of course, they do not actually enact this, or they would seem obviously stronger than people like Whitney, or in brief Gyms, while they are supposed to be comparatively minor. Also, obviously, they are trying to maintain their Koffing, they can't just get rid of them, for instance without knowing your team, or it could get a bit comical - for instance, with a Steel-type. They are hence still hoping they are not knocked out before they can use Self-destruct moves, which can lead to a bit of a race to do so quickly, as is in fact a theme in that battle if at reasonably matched levels.
This may hence be expressed as Selfdestruct + Brute force, or Poison + TM + Paralysis + Poison + TM. It hence has a significant weakness to Steel, for example, as well as being taken down generically. By this point, then, you want either a strong Steel/Rock type, or a Pokémon that regularly OHKOs opponents. To use such an approach as the Director's in-game, if this were wanted, a team along the lines of Forretress - steady damage, including via Selfdestruct and similar moves - and Beedrill/Ekans, say, for Poison-related purposes, along two types who are difficult to take on, such as Steel and Rock/Ground, and perhaps an electric type like Mareep for paralysis, perhaps augmented with Flash or similar, would generally be sufficient.
Clair: Clair is in a way similar to Whitney - they depend on the difficulty of attacking Kingdra, but are vulnerably to status moves, confusion, or Water-resistant types like Ice. They lack an Ice weakness, of course, but at the same time no longer resist most of the Dragon types' resisted types, and may be vulnerable to electric, etc. This is also similar to Whitney, who also relies on having few type weaknesses, although you don't strictly speaking need to take advantage of these. Likewise, they give plenty of time for set-up, or similar, and have problems with various moves being used which undermine their modus operandi. They are hence Selfdestruct + Sweep. This, however, is also an inconsistent form, and hence they might seem rushed, needing to use their few attacks to undermine opponents before they are simply rushed out of the way, or paralysed, etc. Hence, they are Poison + TM + Paralysis + Poison + TM + Poison, and hence emulate an enemy with a full team, and hence many resistances, but now concentrated on one opponent where they can simply be susceptible to brute force moves like Hyper Beam. The two requirements for missing type contradict the paralysis - the opponent is not restricted, but actually very much able to act, and they are quite vulnerable -, and hence you will want something that can set up before the Kingdra in order to not be forced into stagnancy before this. In general, if you have a fixed team by then, you should be able to win, because they are very much leaving the door open to being shoved out of the way via brute force - it's only if your team has changed a bit, and hence is less levelled up, that it may be an issue. Otherwise, you can generally just take down the Kingdra.
A similar team would involve two Pokémon of obscure type, three which inflict Poison or consistent damage - this could include a Typhlosion with moves like ThunderPunch and Flame Wheel, or a red Gyarados with Thrash, and one support role like Bellsprout, etc., who can induce Paralysis, and preferable accuracy-altering moves. In general, though, their approach is reducible to the gimmick of one Pokémon, and in addition does not necessarily rely on their own type, which may appear fragile as a result. They isolate and weaken the paralysis aspect, however, and hence can be easily taken down.
Wattson: A similar approach is Wattson's from R/S/E, but without as much of a Selfdestruct aspect. Their designation as an electric-type Gym is misleading, of course - they are mostly reliant on the far more finnicky Steel type. They may hence seem surprising, but you may have noticed the Aron in Granite Cave being a problem if you lacked proper offence against Steel-types - like the aptly-named Makuhita - and hence it would be worth always keeping trained up a Pokémon who will not be resisted by these. Of course, a Ground or Steel type who resist them can also be effective. This, however, is going a bit further: using prior experience of Steel-types in this game to determine to use resistant types, which will be effective because it is merely brute force. While an electric-type Gym after Rock and Fighting might seem like a decent break it is not, in a sense in a way which undermines its label as such.
Wattson's approach is by itself brute force - they use attacks which are able to attack you in most circumstances, and hope that you do not take them down - but shored up with TM, and also Stall, as their primary means is to use this type problem to resist the opponent and stay in. Their brute force approach and Stall are hence not integrated. You could express their approach as Poison + TM + TM + Stall. They are hence easily taken down by types they have problems with, but in general are quite inconsistent with their brute force approach, and rely on the opponent to close the gaps. Gyms after a long journey, with many other possible routes to train - the cycling path, for instance - are usually stall or sweep, and in this case the Gym's design would seem to imply stall, as opposed to the Cerulean Gym which is about coverage and trainers forcing you into battles, as a design.
Hence, it may be emulated by two inaccessible types - say, Aron and Bagon - along with a Stall, a Normal type for instance, and a type which inflicts Poison or continual damage, such as even a Dustox. These would then be used in tandem. Aron could be picked up early on, and so on. The roles do meld into each other in a way - stall, missing types, etc. - however, and so would rarely be used as a team. Of course, R/S can get a bit repetitive by this point, as it is a bit like a palette-swapped version of G/S/C, but mostly the worse parts.
The problem with finnicky types like the Steel type is that once they get integrated into usual teams, they can distract from the point of such gyms. The Fairy-type is also liable to such problems.
Red (G/S/C): Red is about coverage, but also each Pokémon having the ability to do significant damage. He is hence primarily Sweep. He is hence kept apart from the others, who are Selfdestruct-oriented, and requires a long transition. This is modified with Poison - they are using such 'sweeps' in a graduated way or to inflict continual, persistent damage on the opposing team - and on the overall team doing more damage.
Of course, a Sweep relies on passive resistance, and hence a sweep team like theirs will eventually increment this reliance on passive resistance to the point of probably requiring a Snorlax or such - of course, they are not characterised by such, and generally go in the opposite direction. Hence, they are Sweep + Poison + brute force, or Poison + TM + Poison + Poison + Poison + TM. They are hence very reliant on persistent damage or damage adding up, and hence Poison. They have significant problems with Steel or Psychic types, which they cannot cover. In addition, their use of sweepers and brute force contradicts their use of Poison or more held-back damage, and hence their use of accumulated damage, and hence may come across as problematic or empty. They are also very vulnerable to set up, for instance with Double Team. Nonetheless, their modus operandi is such that while they will generally seem not to sweep opponents aside immediately, or take decisive advantages, they will eventually take a slight edge, perhaps less obviously, and hence be free to eventually take control.
Poison is usually there to avoid reliance on type problems, and hence Poison along with a fair amount of type missing had to be artificially incremented in order to function, or it would be undermined, as such they are likely to be a level jump. This is also implicit in their mirroring Mt. Silver, which throws 'strong' Pokémon of various kinds at you continually in a similar way.
They may be emulated by 2 Pokémon of existent types, like Steel or Rock/Ground, and then 4 others who involve incremented damage or Poison. Because Red is fairly inconsistent, they can generally be defeated just by matching what they do - stalling with Recover and accuracy-lowering moves against their stalls, and then letting the run out of attacks, leaving them open to incremental damage or OHKO attacks unhindered, or just using a Ghost-type with Perish Song, as the Charizard and Venusaur are often a bit straightforward, and attacking Espeon, Pikachu, etc., with attacks that should take them down quickly, or just using Psychic types with Shadow Ball, etc., who Psychic may not harm much.
Lance (G/S/C): Lance is very focussed on being a threat if you lack Ice-types. You may hence want a Seel or Swinub, or a Water-type, by then. They are vulnerable to Paralysis, but Hyper Beam might mean they can recover, although its problems will be exacerbated. A Steel-type with Harden would usually survive, as could a Ground/Rock type. They are hence brute force, but in addition TM - they are hoping that you aren't using Ice attacks or similar - and this both for their Dragon-types and for their use of perhaps unexpected non-Dragon types, and hence twice. Hence: Poison + TM + TM + TM. This may be expressed as two Dragonite, a Gyarados which weakens, and an Aerodactyl who is Rock (but not Ground, unfortunately for it in some scenarios) , and hence TM, and terefore this formula expresses the main challenge. While Poison can be used, hopefully along with Harden, etc., it is here clearly a problem, because there will just be another Dragonite, as we have noticed, and you may hence in a sense be hanging on.
However, they are mostly reducible to relying on Dragons' resistances, and at the time using moves like Hyper Beam which are unlikely to be resisted, creating a simple asymmetry.
While they might seem to militate against using a Rock-type due to Gyarados, this Gyarados is easily taken out, and a Geodude which caused Falkner, Bugsy and Whitney trouble - especially with Mud-Slap, which might cause all sorts of problems at the third Gym - can still be highly effective here.
To imitate Lance's approach - if for some reason you wanted to - you could just use three resisted types - Rock/Ground, Steel and Dragon, say - and one that Poisons or can inflict continuous damage, and this will cause problems. This is slightly more efficient than Lance's implementation, in a way.
Lugia and Ho-Oh: Some observations might also be made about these wild Pokémon, who appear of course in set-piece battles. The G/S/C legendary birds generally operate in the wild by brute force - moves like Aeroblast or Fire Blast - and Stall, or the use of Recover and such. Hence, Poison + TM + Stall. They are hence very similar to Red, and so one tends to be similarly levelled to his, in a sense again because his reliance on passive resistance easily leads to such exhaust elsewhere in the game. It can generally stall them already, and hence Red begins with Pikachu, Blastoise, and such, who might cause problems for it. Of course, Lugia will also resist Espeon, and can be given the Psychic TM if needed, and hence is quite dangerous. They will be harsh on Ground-types without Rock attacks or such, and Lugia for instance avoids bug weakness. However, relying on type weaknesses can be a problem for a stall, and hence while Ho-Oh avoids Ground weakness, they create a more pronounced Rock weakness, etc. Lugia is weak to everything. A Lugia with Mud-Slap would veer towards Selfdestruct, or throwing ou a powerful legendary and letting them get hit freely. You could emulate their attacks using one stall move - Recover, Barrier, etc. - one Poison-esque move, and something like Hyper Beam, which would affect most types - or use a similar trifecta in a team. Lugia tends towards Poison, Ho-Oh towards brute force, and their respective 'special moves' serve to bridge this gap.
Blue (R/B): Your rival in the first game, Blue, begins of course from TM - with the starter you are weak to - and hence tends towards an exotic team to avoid you resisting or taking out their types. However, where they go with this is towards brute force, and hence they can generally be countered by similarly picking a team which resists or counters theirs, but also sweep. This approach is hence militated against in-game by not making it easy to wait around with a starter until you see what their next few Pokémon are going to be, etc., but is possible if you know their team in advance. Hence: TM + Poison + TM + Poison + TM + Poison. They are hence akin to a strange version of Red from G/S. All of their Pokémon, including and especially Jolteon, are vulnerable if their type is countered or not effective. However, thought it is not a motif, they can also do steady damage if they are not mitigated. They are hence likely to be harder than Lance from G/S, although their style is quite at ends with itself - as is their modus operandi, they want to catch the strongest Pokémon, but only end up trying to catch ones that are obviously stronger than you. Hence, they have such Pokémon as that any player who has kept a stable team should beat them.
Missingno.: For humorous purposes, we may also look at frequent Missingno. designs in such a context. They tend to use one 'Poison-based' move, or Water Gun, etc., an attack that would merely drain HP, along with a move which can sweep, like Sky Attack, or has a significant threat. Hence, sweep is placed alongside this, and because they are indefinite, or have few obvious weaknesses, while they can generally harm fighting or Ghost types for instance, or are hence not TM - even types they may have problems with may be covered - they therefore add Poison and Confusion, being more of a threat against things that might threaten them, and doing little else. Their moveset along with high level makes it very easy for certain choices to be counter-productive, but they themselves do little but react. Hence: Poison + TM + Poison + Poison + Confusion.
The problem here is that Confusion is similar to brute force, or is a Poison variant, doing incremental damage: Poison + Paralysis + Poison - it not only 'poisons,' but also relies on incremental damage over time - and hence the Missingno. formula of Poison + TM + Poison + Poison + Poison + Paralysis + Poison, goes over 6 spaces. It is hence characteristic of glitches. It is, however, still close in number to those things included in the game. It is in a sense similar to glitch-like Pokémon like Unown, who emulate the status effect poison and all of the various effects that it may have in a game. Catching an Unown is essentially akin to using Toxic on the game or journey, in a limited sense.
Blaine (R/B): Blaine is said to involve Burn being significant as a status effect, but this is of course strange, for it is quite a 'chance-y' thing, and they are hence mostly just brute force. However, they are brute force channeled into a particular type, and hence something like a 'type sweep,' here with the opponent faced with a continual barrage of the same thing and hence left unable to escape or assumed 'paralysed,' hence brute force + Poison + Paralysis, or Poison + TM + Poison + Paralysis, and hence can alter between Selfdestruct - if you have Water, their burn attempts aren't likely to work out - and Sweep - if you have problems taking them out, burn can easily allow for hem to try something like a stats sweep, as they are similar enough that they will tend towards a sweeping trend or using similar moves over and over again, of the same type and details, so if you have problems with this it would be difficult. Burn would still be quite marginal, and is unlikely to determine much there, however.
To emulate this, you would want to try one Pokémon with moves like Flash and Stun Spore, two with Poison-alike moves, and one with a resistant type. Used as a unit, they might induce seizures. Blaine, of course, used the popular fire-type, and hence in a sense had to be defeated by Ash in order to prevent them from being seen as 'uncool,' or being put below this type. It would have been very straightforward for people to figure that Charizard or Arcanine was cooler than Ash, and neglect the latter.
Wrap abuse: One tactic prevalent in R/B was that a higher-level Pokémon could use Wrap continually, and if it hit would outspeed a lower-level Pokémon, and leave them unable to attack. This was corrected in the next version. While it is obviously brute force-based, relying on type-neutral damage, this takes the form of a sweep - a one-Pokémon, one-move attack - alongside Paralysis, Poison and TM. Obviously, if it missed or encountered other problems, then without a type advantage or neutrality it would be straightforwardly undermined. Hence, it is: Poison + TM + Poison + Paralysis + Poison + TM.
Of course, it had many problems - the brute force tendencies didn't work well with the stalling tendencies of paralysis, the type missing emphasis (Wrap is otherwise problematic), which contradicted the hope for stability, Poison-like damage, etc., and hence it was only possible against lower-level or slow opponents, preferably with little HP and no ability to Recover. It could also leave a Pokémon based around it wide open to be attacked otherwise.
Sabrina: Sabrina, while obviously brute force - relying on attacks like Psychic - is fairly difficult for Poison type tactics, if they are inchoate. They may hence seem indefinitely difficult, although they are of course likely to have problems with the slightly organised Poison of later trainers. Although brute force, they are also Paralysis - they are not merely staying there to be hit, to which they are quite vulnerable, but also attacking to prevent themselves being attacked too much, in which sense against a Psychic type which can resist them, after a Double Team set-up, or with stronger attacks, they are quite vulnerable and will just reduce to a brief flurry of the same attacks before they are defeated - and TM, or they emphasis their types' resistances or lack of weaknesses - not that you need to use these - and finally stall, as if one purveyor of this is defeated, their only option is to bring in someone else similar. They attempt to bring in stronger types for each that is defeated, albeit mostly to do the same thing, which is weird and slightly obviously brute force. Hence, they may be called Poison + TM + Paralysis + TM + Stall. They hence rely on type resistance or lack of weaknesses, and little else, making them quite susceptible to brute force approaches, or paralysis, but also expect an opponent to be unable to get enough moves - they resist few types - across due to their attacks and such, which is hence inconsistent and merely an aggravation of their reliance on passive defence. Breaching this, or just pushing past them with an evolved Charmander, etc., is usually going o be quite straightforward. In a sense, for a Gym they are quite uneventful.
They may hence be emulated with a Pokémon which inflicts Paralysis, like Pikachu or Magnemite, two obscure types Pokémon, like Rhyhorn, Skarmory, Drowzee or Dratini, one Pokémon with poison moves or which inflicts continuous damage, and one which stalls, like a Chansey, possibly a Tauros or 20, or an Onix. This would probably be more effective. In Yellow, a Pikachu with a stalling Blastoise and poison-centred Venusaur could do this much, with little support.
The anime: The anime cannot rely on such types, because they lack a story. They need things which reflect a paricular story and journey, not just mechanical use of certain forms. However, they rarely attempt this seriously, or imply any details interest in means of battle - in the first movie they come close to foreswearing the thing - and hence are mostly 'dancing in the dark,' and so will occasionally make reference to these archetypes. Usually, you would not expect such forms to have that much interest in Pokémon based on generic, usable movesets, etc., which would undermine the personal journey aspect, and hence they only conveyed a bit when viewership was more niche, as with Lucario. That they are currently trying to make a lot out of a starter's evolution having a gimmick is a bit of a low.
Hence, to formulate something akin to a team in the anime, you would firstly want to begin from the journey aspect or need to continually fight new battles as the same trainer and team, which may be summarised as a Poison aspect. This will be added anew for each location, but by itself is simply based on the type of journey: 2 Poison could approximate an accompaniment journey with training, as with Brock, or a League mission, 3 Poison could imply a quest like Alain's, rather than a normal journey, 1 Poison if they are not primarily a trainer and are merely journeying and not frequently called to battles outside of this, as with Serena, Bonnie or May. 2 Poison would be the default, implying that they engage in the present battle, but also continue on further than this to another one, or that they hence encounter a battle as part of a journey rather than in isolation.
From here, we may describe their Pokémon's primary actions - with Misty and Ash, this was generally to use brute force, but with Brock from the beginning more of a stall tendency - and if they are identified with one Pokémon, how that tends to act. In a new region, this might be supplemented by another Pokémon, to make up for that one not being as central, and then this is also added. A further Poison may be added for a new region, implying a regional journey, and then subtracted once they reach the League, or possibly plan on staying there rather than beginning a new journey. This does not apply if they take on Contests, performances, etc., which are not merely regional battle events, but involve other things. If they go on a quest from that region, without caring about the league, to another for reasons relating to the previous one, then they would have 2 Poison added.
Hence, take Ash, for instance. They go on a journey, hence 2 Poison, use brute force primarily, and have a Pikachu. This Pikachu was originally also brute force, hence leading to: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + TM, but occasionally attempts Poison or incremental damage through smaller cameos, hence: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison. This smaller role was compensated for by other Pokémon, for instance in Hoenn, by Sceptile, who is Paralysis or relies on the opponent not being able to get a hit in, like Misty's Starmie. Hence: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + Paralysis. Hence, it need be no surprise that the Pikachu was essentially just taken down by a progression of its own attacks. Misty, conversely, also begins with Poison + Poison + TM, but then has a Starmie, which is primarily paralysis or relies on the opponent not moving - it is almost a Stall, due to having to take on the Pikachu and other types which could cause problems, but does not want to take hits, like Mew in the first movie - and is hence akin to Poison + Poison + TM + Paralysis. Brock, however, as noted, is Poison + Stall, and their Onix, which begun as their primary type, tended towards Sweep: Hence, Poison + Stall + Poison + TM + Poison, which was a decent team. However, it did rely a bit much on both stalling, and expecting a type unbalance, which was unbalanced and a problem, and hence in a sense it's not a surprise that trainers were eventually expected to get past them, and indeed many trainers did get past such gyms.
They do hence tend towards quite straightforward modes, but to further approximate this you would have to emulate the sense of journey or story, meaning the Nuzlocke-esque limitation that these types must each be caught in order - arranged in order, of course, of journey Poison, primary tactic, and then primary Pokémon and possible supplements - as they are first encountered (not necessarily on this encounter) along the course of the journey, or the tall grass, etc., of routes travelled in this progress. Hence, for instance, Ash might be emulated, in their Hoenn variant, via: Venusaur + Beedrill + Geodude + Zubat + Electabuzz, used as a unit, in relation to the journey of R/B, or Feraligatr + Bellsprout + Onix + Oddish + Magnemite; or, in their original incarnation, in Yellow, by Pikachu + Butterfree + Geodude + Zubat + Dratini. This would earlier on represent a struggle, and continually make Gyms tougher, but not necessarily a complete wipe-out, but would generally be sufficient to take on most trainers, albeit confusedly, as well as Team Rocket, interestingly, apart from Giovanni who would still be a challenge. As such, it would help with Team Rocket earlier on, as well as certain, very specific Gyms, while on the rest it should at least be able to survive. The rest of that is, of course, down to the particular trainer, and it should be able to get past these normally if they were focussed on that.
Misty would be more along the lines of Venusaur + Beedrill + Geodude + Oddish, or in G/S water Pokémon, Feraligatr + Tentacool + Corsola/Kingdra + Gyarados/Vaporeon. It would be quite secure early on, by Bugsy and Whitney be relying a bit on luck and brute force, and by Jasmine, Chuck, etc., either be hoping on brute force or Ground-type attacks, or relying on something like Corsola to be secure. Finally, something like Gyarados or Vaporeon would be useful in bursts, but perhaps not enough to make up for insecurities in the rest of the team, and it would probably by an ordinary run lead to not really progressing forwards towards Red or even tending towards the League, but rather being stuck in a certain region where they are most effective. Eventually, it would just reduce to TM, or alternatively relying on not being attacked much or subjected to brute force approaches, and is a gym leader-esque set-up in its most polite incarnation, rather than suiting the format of a general progression.
Serena might be summarised as one Poison, brute force - relying on attacks like Fairy Wind, etc., to finish battles - and finally her Pokémon tend towards Selfdestruct, or using moves from other places and hence distancing herself from being primarily a battle-oriented trainer. Hence: Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + TM + Paralysis. This is necessary because she is supposed to 'move on' from battle quickly. Essentially, then, she expects opponents to wait while she attempts various combinations, etc., which gradually do damage, which might be putting too much emphasis on them with too little impact for this to generally be justified. Earlier on, this might be something like: Chikorita + Bellsprout + Geodude + Oddish + Dratini + Electabuzz/Pikachu. While it would be difficult and a struggle earlier on, this would eventually become easier due to the Geodude, which could resist leaders like Bugsy, etc., however, this would only serve to guard the previous grass-types and hence merely enable collecting grass-types in the mean-time, leading to Oddish, which implies a greater focus on some form or other of 'bonding' with Pokémon with an occasional need to defend them - approximating Serena's tendency towards being performance-centric but also battling once in a while due to circumstances. This would be unruly, although it could be balanced out using the Grass-Ground/Rock duality for most of Johto, which I've found interesting in Silver for instance, although Serena generally doesn't tend to focus on such dualities.
May would be again one Poison, but was generally Stall, along with a Pokémon who was generally just instructed to attack generally, like Bulbasaur, which was of course brute force, weirdly given their type. They hence could be summarised as - Poison + Stall + Poison + TM. This is fairly straightforward - Venusaur + Clefairy + Oddish/Bellsprout + Dratini. Hence, while this would begin in a fairly straightforward way, perhaps even one set up to seem easier, eventually specific characters especially could end up causing problems - and May among other characters is perhaps to be known for rival spam, just as much as her love interests at the time would probably span a continent - and one of them, generally the Clefairy, will just be forced to rely on passive resistance in the hope that it can hold out against opponents who can endanger the rest of their team. Eventually it will just take recourse in the missing-type form's security - which is a bit of a recourse - and hence increasingly leave behind or relegate the more offensive or poison tendencies of the earlier types. In the process, it will also tend towards Contests, and away from battle.
Mew tends towards evasion, but not due to any active attempts, and hence is Paralysis based. Alongside this, it can also use brute force, or 'powerful attacks' of whatever type, as well as counter those of others, or stall. Hence, it may be given 2 Poison, or default, as it shows up generically, Paralysis, brute force and stall, as it is a Pokémon that may be specified as such who appears along the journey, and hence need only be altered to adjust for its having to adapt its moves to the point in the journey. Hence: Poison + Poison + Paralysis + Poison + TM + Stall. Hence, they as it were use more 'moves' than the normal 4 spaces identified with it, and hence are seen as a film role or portrayal of a Pokémon type or role in the drama, rather than a particular Pokémon with 4 moves which is generically involved in it. However, the particular choice of having 6 attacks is an interesting one, which must be put down to a simple scenario in the film. Mewtwo knows, of course, that the clones are stronger than the originals by this point. Hence, by identifying Mew with the 'originals,' despite their problems, and forcing them to hence identify with this team, they therefore gain the upper hand by default. As a result, Mew here is identified as having 6 tendencies, or the number which would usually identify a team. In this, they are able to react to Mewtwo, who is functioning as a trainer. As a result, even when it attempts to counter Mewtwo, this ends up to the detriment of their 'team,' by turning Ash to stone. While Mewtwo may have had a few problems from there, having restricted their program to Pokémon battles only, that the battle with Mew ends up directly with a result in their favour is in a vaguely realised manner, ultimately, not a coincidence. This could be emulated in a team along the following lines: Venusaur + Beedrill + Pikachu + Zubat + Geodude + Clefairy. Clefairy and Pikachu are there for thematic reasons. In mentioning Mew, who relies on passive resistance of any kind continually, it may be hard not to be tempted to use a Snorlax in the team, but you can easily avoid this necessity. Mew is very similar to such things, though.
Aria, for a more recent trainer, can be treated as defaulting to 2 Poison traits, and generally speaking seems to rely on stall, or her version of similar moves being stronger than other trainers'. This would tend to discourage a trainer route, and hence they are a performer. As a performer, they simply need to seem impressive enough to seem competent, rather than be particularly effective at battle, which is completely different. They generally rely on Delphox and such, which tend to just use brute force. Hence, they are: Poison + Poison + Stall + Poison + TM. Hence, unlike Serena, the point of whose team is in part to distance themselves from training, they are portrayed as capable of battle although not primarily a trainer, and hence indefinitely strong, which could not doubt not do much help to Ash's hopes. It may be noted that they are very similar to a Mew. While Serena does claim to be influenced by it, they take things in a very different direction and go a bit crazy with things, while Aria mostly just seems to rely on standing around and relying on stronger, similarly-typed Pokémon to do things. It is still an attempt to ward the opponent off so that she can do things, however, and in this has some things in common with Serena, although less so. Unlike Mew, however, it does not have the responsibility to try and counter a significant force or take that on, and hence it is less focussed and quite partial.
Finally, Tobias generally might be portrayed as on a journey, in a pseudo-ordinary manner, they rely on brute force, and finally their primary Pokémon is a legendary, who does continual damage through various means, and relies on this rather than needing to sweep or be overly aggressive in order to get through, as well as being able to follow with Latios in their appearance in the anime, which is stall. Hence: Poison + Poison + Poison + TM + Poison + Stall. As such, they are very similar to Ash, which is in a sense necessary if they are to be smuggled in without just seeming like nobody cares anymore - to just throw legendaries around to resolve a League is really writing it off - because they resemble the protagonist enough to blend in, while relying on continual damage alongside a sweeping tendency, and finally the ability to stall if they are taken down. They do not do the reasonable thing based on the Kanto Conference, or merely rely on sleep moves to take opponents down, but rather are forced to use their Pokémon to attack, and hence leave them exposed - Latios might seem impressive, but in reality spamming legendaries like that degrades them, and it is still weak to certain types, etc., or they are just hopefully throwing out famous Pokémon, like Real Madrid's 'Galacticos' but without selecting any particular Latios (which might actually be Cristiano Ronaldo's gender, by the way) - and in a sense akin to ordinary types. They are in a sense similar to Alain, who often rips off their plot points.
Alain may be treated as basically Tobias - they have certain Pokémon who they attempt to show off - but in a slightly altered manner. Tobias would be portrayed by something like: Venusaur + Beedrill + Zubat + Geodude + Oddish/Bellsprout + Chansey. As you can see, this tends towards emblematic Pokémon. In G/S, with more relevant legendaries, it might include for instance Lugia as an obscure type of sorts - Latios is more suited - and Suicune as a stall of sorts. Later on, something like Mudkip + Dustox + Groudon + Latios + Regice + Registeel might be functional.
Gary is similar to Ash in being on a journey, but tends towards trying to maintain a slight advantage, and gathers Pokémon appropriate to this. As such, they are Poison + Poison + Stall + Stall. This may be compared to Venusaur + Zubat + Clefairy + Chansey. While it does begin from a position of advantage, as Bulbasaur does in Kanto, it does get somewhat derailed in attempting to keep this up, and diverges slightly from the journey, and so likewise Gary eventually leaves training and goes into research of exotic Pokémon and presumably minerals.
Of course, it may be observed that most characters are a bit similar, which is recognised in the above account of them. In addition, it notes convergences, such as the tendency of Ash's Sceptile to resemble Misty's earlier 'style,' which was also seen in similar form in Valerie's Gym, as well a thing which might lead to struggles earlier on that then need to be dealt with or papered over continually.
Toxic is akin to the effect of poison - a certain amount of damage now incremented per turn, along with your current moves - now automatically incrementing itself. Moves like Rollout can be summarised as simulations of Toxic. However, while Toxic only, if accurate, requires one turn before it is applied, during which you may faint, etc., extending this period out seems to imply a tendency towards Self-destruct. It lets the opponent do whatever, before being able to be applied. As such, rather than relying on the temporal uncertainty of brute force moves, generally attempts to prevent their progression would be more effective at this point. Despite a Psyduck stationed helpfully near the entrance to Goldenrod, people do still tend to find that battle difficult, and obviously as the strategy can be expressed in such, more general terms, it can also be carried out elsewhere in slightly different terms.
Anyway, to celebrate the end of that section, I used a new name on PS to mess around for a battle, and ended up with a Plusle sweep. For verily is it said, the world shall turn to ash. Only, they forgot to say, ash as in the substance or something related to it, and not merely the word 'ash,' which in any case works mostly because of foreign islands speaking English, which really mitigates their exotic nature, and in addition is a bit farcical generally and really ruins the lines that people find striking in Batman movies.
I guess the '18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon' sounds a bit similar to the first sub-heading, right? So that was totally worth it.
Concluding notes:
While that was quite long, the overlap between such things is still in many ways an an obscure domain, not generally expressed in precise terms, and as such there was a lot of unexplored terrain in the field. In any case, as a result, one may want to query what battles would look like without the common substrate or security of incremental damage. Generally, of course, in the anime, switching Pokémon becomes impractical, alongside other reasons because then you are not displaying a character whose Pokémon have certain relations and roles, but rather wildly divergent Pokémon, which doesn't really fit the purpose of the thing. In addition, levels tend to be a bit akin, to make an only slightly further analogy, to the workings of poison or Toxic - the AI gets stronger, a bit, or adds incremental damage along with what they already do, although this does not imply any particular approach, and likewise you get stronger and also adapt to this in a similar way - but would not really be applicable to the anime, where making levels a consideration would tend to make it very similar to an LP, for instance, rather than an anime. Through leaving such things out, then, the anime can avoid reliance on the games, or similarities to it, but needs to draw both in a way for its battles and for their portrayal on a source other than the games. Along with such Poison tendencies, you also end up with brute force-esque modes, such as the variety of trainers, which includes Gym leaders - they are expected to be sweep-esque, or hence defeat you despite the trainers before them being easier, a bit like a final-Pokémon sweep, and in this sense are calculated to be demoralising if you lose. However, they are not a separate part of the game, but form a continuity with the rest of the trainers.
Of course, once the trainers are laid out in their kinds, and the level progression also established in some form, where it goes from there depends on the game. This can hence give an indication of the direction that a game goes in with its challenge, and this is in a sense a question of arrangement rather than the addition of other features. Hence, for instance, the first games tend to go in the direction of stall, the third in the direction of type missing, the second in the direction of self-destruct, or something like a blackout. Hence, the second tend to most convey a sense of desolation or sparseness in a human or city context, the former generally keep it to a fairly abstract sense, and by the third the games are generally spending a lot more time being shiny and positive, because they're not necessarily going in any particular direction.
While this is fairly cursory, noting that these things can be applied to the games in some way does seem worthwhile. While stalling is obviously not a 'goal,' in the game itself, it is nonetheless a way or means, while 'winning' is not by itself a means or way of doing so, and in this sense trying simply to win without any particular mode is going around in the dark a bit, so to speak. As also noted, legendary Pokémon tend to have self-destructive tendencies if they are used in certain ways that might be typical of most other types, and with Mewtwo for instance this was only mitigated with the Psychic type's lack of weaknesses, and in this sense the usual approach of having them attempt to attack or otherwise affect the opposition rather than being left as a target does have a certain validity, and in general leaving a legendary Pokémon exposed can reduce the excitement of catching one, if you do like it. Of course, self-destructive means can lead to a lot of damage, and hence give a sense of security, but they do obviously risk undermining the presence of the type. When the game involves 'trios' and such, they are generally such as will not be critically debilitating for the styles of the trainers nearby and in the near future, and in this sense while R/B's legendaries are somewhat set apart by the presence of Mewtwo and adapting to this, G/S's legendaries, such as Lugia or the 'dogs,' are usually more integrated into the game, and hence also in the anime tended towards being portrayed as merely adjuncts to the protagonists, or as just helping them do whatever they're already doing as a notably efficient means, rather than standing apart or pulling in their own direction, which Celebi did, but was scolded for it continually. If you're a bit tired by this point, then remember, in Hoenn Contests that counts as being knocked out. Anyway, though, we have generally shown how certain aspects of the game are explained by such modes, and hopefully it will be helpful. Of course, one might further enquire into how much Ash's mode of battle would be impacted upon by having a Pikablu, but that would probably extend this article to twice its length, so let us leave it here.
