Guide: Previous Generations FAQ

Nah · May 3, 2018

Previous Generations FAQ

This thread is an FAQ of sorts written by the community detailing basic information useful for playing the Pokemon games of all the generations before the current one. If there is anything you think should be added to this resource or any inaccuracies that need to be corrected, please contact the current Previous Generations moderator(s). If it does not answer your question(s), perhaps create a thread.

General Notes
A few basic things to know that span all/multiple generations:

-Terms:
1) STAB: Stands for "Same Type Attack Boost". When a Pokemon uses a move that is that same as one of its types, the move has 50% more power. For example, if a Fire type such as Charizard uses Flamethrower (which has a base power of 90), damage will be calculated as if Flamethrower had 135 base power.

2) HM Slave: A Pokemon whose sole purpose is to use the HM moves you need to complete the game. Typically not used in battle.

3) (Stat) Stage: When you use a move such as Swords Dance or Sand Attack, it raises or lowers a stat by a certain number of "stages". When a Pokemon is first brought into battle, its stats are at stage 0. Stages range from a maximum of +6 to -6. For stat increases, the stat is raised by +50% per stage, for a maximum of +300%, or in other words, the stat is quadrupled. For stat decreases, the stat's new value is 2 over a denominator that starts with 3 and increases by 1 with each stage. So basically, -1 is 2/3, -2 is 2/4, -3 is 2/5, and so on. When a Pokemon exits battle, everything reverts to stage 0. Gen 1 has a number of oddities regarding stat modification, which you read about in detail here.

-Team Checklist:
The two most critical things to keep in mind when planning a team (or just as you go) are:
1) Do you have all the necessary HM moves covered on your team?
2) Does your team cover or is capable of handling most or all of the major opponents (Gym Leaders, Elite 4, villain team boss(es), your rival, etc)?
If you can say "yes" to both of those questions, you are likely in good shape to complete the game.

We have some recommendations for Pokemon to use in each game in the posts below. Note that these are merely recommendations, you do not have to use anything mentioned if you don't want to. Legendaries are not mentioned in any of the lists, as they are typically late game acquisitions (so you likely have your party filled out by then) and are usually powerful--there's little need to explicitly mention these.

-Physical/Special split:
In generations 1-3, whether or not an attack was considered a physical attack or a special attack was based on the type the move is. In these generations, these are how the types are categorized:
Physical: Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel
Special: Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Dragon, Dark, Ice

From generation 4 onwards, moves of all types can be either physical or special. For example, Dragon Claw is a physical attack, while Dragonbreath is a special attack.

-IVs, EVs, Natures, and Abilities

IVs: Stands for "Individual Values". The current IV system was introduced in Gen 3; in Gens 1 and 2, a different system was used for the same basic idea, and were called DVs ("determinant values") instead. IVs play a part in determining exactly what a Pokemon's stats are, and are set from whenever the Pokemon is generated--they cannot be altered (Hyper Training technically does not actually alter IVs, just changes the stats to be what they'd be like if the Pokemon had 31 IVs in that stat)--so you can think of them as a Pokemon's "genes". There is an IV number for each of a Pokemon's stats, ranging from 0 to 31. At level 100, a Pokemon with 31 IVs in a stat will have 31 more points in that stat than a Pokemon of the same species, nature, and EVs with 0 IVs in that stat. IVs also determine a Pokemon's Hidden Power type.

EVs: Whenever a Pokemon defeats another Pokemon in battle and gains Exp. or undergoes Super Training, it also gains Effort Values. EVs affect your Pokemon's stats. A Pokemon can have a maximum of 252 EVs in a single stat, and a maximum of 508 overall. The math is that every 4 EVs=+1 to that stat (at level 100). Before Generation V, a Pokemon would get the benefit of its EVs upon leveling up (so you could potentially get +64 to a stat in a single level up), but from Gen V onward it was changed to alter the growth rate instead, so more EVs in a stat means the stat grows more with each level up than if there were no or less EVs. It still gives the same result in the end either way. Leveling up to gain the benefit of EVs is no longer required, so even level 100 Pokemon can be EV trained. EVs are part of the reason why your Pokemon tend to be stronger than other Pokemon of the same species of the same level encountered in the wild or used by NPC trainers.

Natures: Introduced in Gen 3, natures boost one stat by 10%, and lower another by 10%. Neutral natures also exist, which technically boost and lower the same stat. Like with IVs, a Pokemon's nature cannot change once it has been generated. Natures also determine what flavor(s) of berries and other Pokemon foods a Pokemon will like.

Abilities: Also introduced in Gen 3, abilities are just that--special abilities that each Pokemon has. The majority of Pokemon species have more than one potential ability, but a Pokemon is locked into one specific ability when it is generated. However, in Gens 6 and 7, it is possible to change a Pokemon's ability to one of its non-Hidden Abilities via an item called an Ability Capsule. Hidden Abilities are a form of abilities that were introduced in Gen 5 and are not obtainable under normal circumstances. However, like with normal Abilities, offspring can have the Hidden Ability when born, provided the parent of the same species has its Hidden Ability.

-A note on Sabrina's Gym:
Regarding the warp panel pathway you have to take to get to Sabrina in the Saffron City Gym, it's the exact same path in all 4 sets of games the Gym appears in (the Gen 1 and 2 games and their remakes). Please see the Gym Leaders section in the Generation 1 part of this FAQ for that information.

-Stat differences between Gen 1 Pokemon in Gen 1 versus current gen:

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Nah · May 3, 2018

Generation I Games (Red/Blue/Yellow)

Written by CodeHelmet, edited by Dragon and Nah

Which Pokemon do I start with?

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What Pokemon should I catch?

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What items are necessary to complete my Pokemon quest and where do I find them?

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I used Razor Leaf on Nidoqueen but it returned a message of "Not Very Effective". What gives?

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Type Chart in Generation 1 is significantly different from later games

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What Gym Leaders will I have to face and how do I defeat them?

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The Kanto region has 8 Gym Leaders. They are as follows:

Pewter City Gym Leader: Brock
Cerulean City Gym Leader: Misty
Vermillion City Gym Leader: Lt. Surge
Celadon City Gym Leader: Erika
Fuschia City Gym Leader: Koga
Saffron City Gym Leader: Sabrina
Cinnabar Island Gym Leader: Blaine
Viridian City Gym Leader: Giovanni

Brock specializes in Rock Type Pokemon, hence Fighting, Grass and Water Types will have an easy time against him. Misty uses Water Types so use Grass or Electric to spoil her day.

Lt.Surge specializes in Electric so any Pokemon with Ground Typing should be utilized. The Vermillion City Gym is sort of infamous/well-known for its trash can puzzle.

Erika is a Grass Type expert, hence Fire, Flying and Bugs really hurt her. Psychic also works due to two of them having Poison Typing. Koga is a Poison Type master so Ground and Psychic really prove invaluable against him.

Sabrina uses Psychic Pokemon, and their only true weakness is to Bug Types (of which there are very few good ones or good attacks) or any Pokemon with a strong physical attack (like Slash or Body Slam for example). It can be difficult to figure how to get to Sabrina, so we will provide the path to you:

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Blaine uses Fire Types so Water and Ground can put out the flames. Finally Giovanni uses Ground so Water is typically the best option due to some of his Pokemon having a Resistance to Grass. Flying is another possibility due to its invulnerability to Ground Type moves.

Are there any differences between Red/Blue and Yellow?

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Aside from the Pokemon available and where they appear, there are several differences. The first notable one is that your starter in Yellow version is always Pikachu while your rival always gets Eevee (in Red/Blue, you pick from one of three Pokemon and your rival picks the one that can easily defeat yours). Now while you�re locked into having Pikachu, Yellow version was kind of modeled after the Anime. Namely Jessie and James of Team Rocket make several appearances along with their Ekans, Koffing and Meowth. Furthermore, you're able to acquire all three Kanto starters just like Ash did.

However, the biggest glaring difference is in the Gym Leaders and Elite Four. Their teams are sometimes drastically different, much higher in level and have a far different moveset than their Red/Blue counterparts. In Yellow, Brock's Pokemon are two levels lower and his Geodude doesn't know Defense Curl. This allows a player using Pikachu or another Pokemon with a Defense lowering move like Tail Whip to drastically lower his Defense and beat him with Pokemon that might otherwise have a difficult time(like Pikachu and that's despite the Yellow version exclusive options as well). Misty's Pokemon remain unchanged but Lt.Surge has his entire team replaced with a single Raichu(just like the Anime) at level 28(much higher than 24 and with a different moveset that isn't completely reliant on Electric moves. It knows Mega Punch and Mega Kick, hence it can fight even Ground Type Pokemon if it's not taken out ASAP). Erika's Team is much higher in level wherein she opens with Tangela at level 30. Then Weepinbell at level 32 that is followed by her Ace in Gloom at the same level(again just like the Anime).

Koga�s Team is completely redone for Yellow. If you'll recall from the anime, they're noted for using the Venonat line, hence his entire team consists of that and it�s evolved form of Venomoth. However, instead of being in the mid 30's to low 40's, his Pokemon start at level 44 and increase by increments of 2 to 50! Not only are his Pokemon much stronger but they all know Psychic and carry his signature Toxic move. His Venomoth is particularly nasty due to also knowing Double Team. Sabrina also got an overhaul as her team consists entirely of the Abra line at level 50. Fortunately, her starting Abra is her weak spot since it knows only Flash and Teleport so exploit it! Blaine's Pokemon Team has shrunk from 4 in Red/Blue to 3 in Yellow. While you have fewer opponents, they�re all much higher in level with his Arcanine being level 54! Giovanni�s Team is much stronger and better equipped in my opinion as his Pokemon�s Moves are able to counter Pokemon that might otherwise cause him troubke(like Water and Flying Types). He also has a Persian that knows Double Team, hence can ruin your day if it's allowed to use it.

The Elite Four are also more competent with better movesets in Yellow version. Lorelei's Slowbro is scary when it has Amnesia to boost Surf and Psychic(two strong STAB moves). Bruno's Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee both know Double Team. Agatha's first Gengar knows Mega Drain and her last one knows Psychic instead of Toxic (which was moved to her Golbat). Lance also got upgraded with his first Dragonair knowing Thunder Wave and Thunderbolt to counter Water Pokemon who may know Ice Type moves.

Your rival also got changed a bit. In Red/Blue, his team is based largely on what starter you picked. See Red/Blue rival for more detailed info. For Yellow, what team he ultimately gets is dependent on the following two outcomes: First rival battle and Route 22 (2nd rival battle). If you win both: Jolteon. Win first but lose/skip 2nd (or lose first, win 2nd): Flareon. Lose first and lose/skip 2nd: Vaporeon. See Yellow Rival for more detailed info.

Generation 1 "Perks", Bugs, Glitches, and Exploits

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Where to find the TMs/HMs

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Nah · May 3, 2018

Generation II Games (Gold, Silver, Crystal)
Written by CodeHelmet, Nah, Dragon, Amy May

The Starter Pokemon

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What Pokemon should I catch?

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On beating the Gym Leaders and Elite 4

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The Johto Gym Leaders are the following:

Violet City Gym: Falkner
Azalea Town Gym: Bugsy
Goldenrod City Gym: Whitney
Ecruteak City Gym: Morty
Cianwood City Gym: Chuck
Olivine City Gym: Jasmine
Mahogany Town Gym: Pryce
Blackthorn City Gym: Clair

Falkner specializes in Flying Types, so if you can get your hands on an Electric Pokemon or a Rock Type Pokemon, you will do well at his Gym. Try to end the battle quickly, as his birds know the Ground type move Mud Slap, which also reduces a Pokemon's accuracy when it hits. Bugsy, as hinted by his name, specializes in Bug Types, so Fire, Flying, and Rock Type Pokemon do extremely well against his insects.

Whitney is a Normal Type specialist that many people struggle with her due to her Miltank and its combination of speed, bulk, Attract, Milk Drink, and Rollout. Rollout is a Rock Type move that doubles in power after each successive attack, so any Ground Type (such as the aforementioned Geodude/Onix), Fighting Type (you can trade with someone in the Goldenrod Department Store for a female Machop), or Steel Type would serve you well. Fighting types are the only ones in the game that have moves Super Effective on Normal Types. Make sure to bring plenty of healing items. Status effects (such as poison or paralysis) and accuracy reducing/evasion boosting moves are worth considering here too. Female Pokemon are better suited to this gym, as they will not be affected by Attract from Whitney's all-female team.

Morty specializes in Ghost types, hence to stand the best chance it�s best to send out a Normal Type that knows Dark Type or Ghost Type moves (Ghost moves can't affect Normal Types while Ghosts are vulnerable to Dark and Ghost Type moves). Chuck specializes in Fighting type Pokemon so try using Ghost Pokemon against him (Flying Types and Psychic Types will also work). He also uses a Poliwrath, so a Grass or Electric type works for that as well. For Jasmine, she specializes in Steel Types, which are weak to Fire, Fighting, and Ground. Ground is particularly useful here, since she uses Magnemites, which are 4x weak to Ground and use Thunder Wave (Ground types are immune to Electric moves). Pryce specializes in Ice Types, so melt his ice box with Fire Types or bash it in with Steel, Rock or Fighting Types. The final Gym Leader, Clair specializes in Dragon types and their weakness is themselves (other Dragon Types) or Ice Type moves. Steel types have a solid chance due to Dragon moves not being very effective on Pokemon with the Steel Typing.

Elite 4:

Will
Koga
Bruno
Karen
Lance (Champion)

After defeating the Johto Gym Leaders, you�ll face the Elite Four that specializes in, in order, Psychic (weak to Dark, Ghost, and Bug), Poison (weak to Ground and Psychic), Fighting (weak to Flying and Psychic) and Dark (weak to Fighting and Bug).

Most of the Pokemon you will face have a secondary type that you can exploit if you lack a Pokemon that is effective against their primary type. There are also some Pokemon that don't match the trainer's type at all, such as Karen's Vileplume or Bruno's Onix. For a full list of each Elite 4 member's team, see here.

Lance, if you remember from Gen 1, is a Dragon type user. Fortunately, you've been given the chance to learn how to handle Dragons before through his cousin Clair, so use what you learned in the Blackthorn City Gym here. Ice types are particularly nice here, as his 3 Dragonites are 4x weak to Ice. Know that he starts with a Gyarados and has a Charizard and Aerodactyl though.

After Lance, you�ll face the Kanto Gym Leaders (see Gen 1 FAQ for basic tips). There are some minor differences between the Kanto Gym Leaders' teams between Gen 1 and Gen 2 (most notably level), but the same basic tips still apply. Blue replaces Giovanni as your final Kanto Gym Leader battle. He doesn't specialize in a particular type, and his team is of a higher level than anything else you've fought up til this point, but if you've made it this far, you can do it!

Major Items

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Differences between Gold/Silver and Crystal

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Ecruteak City Save Bug

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GS Ball Celebi Event (VC Crystal)

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Where to find the TMs/HMs

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Nah · May 3, 2018

Generation III Games (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, Fire Red/Leaf Green)
Written by Nah, CodeHelmet, Dragon,

--Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald--

The Starter Pokemon

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In the Hoenn region, players get 3 options for their first Pokemon, which will be detailed below:

Torchic

Torchic is the Fire Type starter in R/S/E and their remakes, ORAS. It evolves into Combusken at level 16, and then into Blaziken at level 36, which have a solid offensive type combination in Fire/Fighting, with a decently fitting stat spread for a mixed attacker. However, the Torchic line can struggle somewhat in the Hoenn games due to it being weak to to half the Gym Leaders and providing little against two others. On top of this, Water Pokemon are very common in Hoenn, and in Sapphire and Emerald versions, you have to deal with Team Aqua as well. On the other hand, it can put in work against Norman and Watson, due to a secondary type advantage for the former, and the prevalence of part-Steel Magnemite in the latter's Gym. Where it really shines though is in the late game: a strong Blaziken can wreak havoc against 3 of the 5 Pokemon League members.

Treecko
Treecko is the Grass Type starter. It's the only one that does not gain a secondary typing when it evolves, and is built as a special sweeper with its good Speed and Special Attack stats. The Grass typing is useful in water-filled Hoenn, and it can take on the first Gym by itself and will be good versus Team Aqua (albeit not so much versus Team Magma). It however is not particularly great against most of the Gyms after that (though it fares better than Torchic does) until you get to the final Gym, which is a Water Type one.

Mudkip
Hoenn's Water Type starter. The slowest of the three starter Pokemon, but with solid stats and typing otherwise. Arguably the easiest one to make use of, as it does well versus the 1st and 4th Gyms, Team Magma, and when it evolves into Marshtomp, it gains a valuable Ground typing, removing its Electric weakness (making it good against the 3rd Gym) and being left with only one major type weakness--Grass. Water and Ground types commonly have access to Ice and Rock moves respectively, and Swampert is no exception, so this allows it to put in work against other major opponents such as Drake or Winona. It also bears no hugely glaring issues versus much of the rest of the important enemies in the game as well. Being Water Type, it also means you have your Water HMs covered from the very beginning.

Good Pokemon to make use of+version exclusives

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On beating the Gym Leaders and Elite 4

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Gym Leaders:

Rustboro City, Roxanne: Rock Type Gym Leader. Treecko and Mudkip users will have an easy time against her due to the type advantage. Torchic users will likely need to catch a Pokemon to aid them in this fight. In Emerald, she has an extra Geodude, and her Nosepass holds an Oran Berry and now knows the move Block, so be wary of that.
Dewford Town, Brawly: Fighting Type Gym Leader. Early game Pokemon such as Wingull, Beautifly, and Ralts are useful here, as Brawly's Pokemon are loaded with Fighting type moves, which those Pokemon resist while also being capable of dealing super-effective dealing to his team. Special attacks are better than physical attacks here, since his team knows Bulk Up (boosts both Attack and Defense). In Emerald, his team now includes the Fighting/Psychic Meditite in alongside his Machop and Makuhita.
Mauville City, Watson: Electric Type Gym Leader. Most of the Pokemon are capable of using Sonicboom, allowing them to deal decent damage to Pokemon that are immune to or resist Electric, so keep some Potions on hand. Mudkip users can do the gym with it alone, as it should have evolved into Marshtomp and learned a damaging Ground attack by now. Magnemite is also common in this gym, so if lacking a Ground type, Fire and Fighting attacks will help you out with those. Accuracy reducing and evasion boosting moves are not recommended, as the opposing Pokemon know Shock Wave, which always hits.
Lavaridge Town, Flannery: Fire Type Gym Leader. A Water type will serve you well here, as the majority of the Pokemon in the Gym (including Flannery's) are Numels and Slugmas, which are slow and easily KO'd by Water type attacks. There is however a trainer using a Kecleon and another using a Meditite in the gym, so come prepared for those as well.
Petalburg City, Norman: Normal Type Gym Leader. The most important thing for making this battle much easier to abuse Slaking's ability Truant via the move Protect. Truant prevents Slaking from doing anything at all every other turn, so use Protect on the turns it can act, and attack it when it can't. Several Pokemon that you can obtain before the Gym battle can learn Protect via level up at a reasonable level. As for other potentially useful things to consider: a Steel type is useful here, as Norman's Pokemon only know Normal and Dark type attacks, which Steel resists. The exception to this is his 2nd Slaking, which knows Focus Punch, a Fighting type move. However, Focus Punch always goes last, and will fail to activate if the user is hit during the turn. So as long as you keep hitting it, your Steel type won't have to worry. Fighting types are also something to consider, as they resist Dark and deal super-effective damage to Normal types. In Emerald, his team is changed significantly: he now starts with a Spinda that knows Psybeam, Encore, and Teeter Dance, has a Linoone, and his Slaking knows Counter instead of Focus Punch, making R/S strategies less applicable here.
Fortree City, Winona: Flying Type Gym Leader. There are a number of types that deal super-effective damage to Flying types, but no single type will do so to every single Pokemon in her party. In R/S, her party is Swellow, Pelipper, Skarmory, and Altaria. In Emerald, it's Swablu, Tropius, Pelipper, Skarmory, and Altaria. Altaria is by far her scariest Pokemon, since it knows Dragon Dance and Earthquake. Your best bet is to, if possible, take it down quickly with Ice attacks, since it's 4x weak to Ice.
Mossdeep City, Tate & Liza: Psychic Type Gym Leaders. The series' first (and so far only) double battle Gym Leader battle. Dark type is the premier counter to Psychic types, but in Ruby/Sapphire, their only Pokemon are the Rock/Psychic Solrock and Lunatone, meaning that good Water and Grass types (they are immune to Ground attacks due to having the ability Levitate) can also be used to take them down. In Emerald, they lead with a Claydol and a Xatu before using Solrock/Lunatone, so Water and Grass types will still be useful due to Claydol being part Ground. Electric and Rock Pokemon are a choice for use against the Xatu, but will have issues against Claydol, so Ice attacks are an arguably better alternative.
Sootopolis City, Wallace (R/S)/Juan (E): Water Type Gym Leaders. A fast and powerful Electric type will work wonders here, as most of the Pokemon you will battle lack the moves or a secondary type to handle Electric Pokemon. Be advised though that both Wallace and Juan have a Whiscash (Water/Ground) on their team, and Juan also has a Kingdra (Water/Dragon). Grass Pokemon are an option for this Gym as well, although the fact that Water types commonly learn Ice moves makes them a lesser choice (except versus the aforementioned Whiscash). The layout of the ice puzzle and the arrangement of the Trainers below are different between R/S and Emerald. View these images in order to plan your route through each ice puzzle:

Spoiler:

Ruby/Sapphire:

Emerald:

Elite 4 and Champion:

Sidney: Dark Type user. Blaziken users will have an easy time against him. If you chose another starter, you can still make use of a different Fighting type, or take advantage of the other type weaknesses 3 of his 5 Pokemon have.
Phoebe: Ghost Type user. Bringing a lot of status effect healing items (Full Heals or Full Restores are the best) will be a good idea here, as the majority of her Pokemon know a status inflicting move. If Cursed by Duskull, switch out to another Pokemon to avoid the nasty 25% per turn damage.
Glacia: Ice Type user. 3/5 of Glacia's team is the Water/Ice Spheal line, making Fire and Rock (and to a lesser degree, Steel) types a less viable option than one would think against her. However, this makes Electric types useful in this battle. Fighting types are a solid answer to her entire team, given that neither the Spheal line nor Glalie have a secondary type resistant to Fighting. Grass types and Blaziken are riskier options to consider.
Drake: Dragon Type user. Ice attacks are very good here, as much of his team is 4x weak to Ice. A pure Ice type is not so much a good option here, as several of his Pokemon know attacks that are super-effective against Ice, such as Rock Tomb and Flamethrower, so instead use something that either is Ice with a secondary type that resists Rock or Fire, or use a non-Ice type that knows Ice attacks. In Emerald, he has a Kingdra on his team, which is only weak to Dragon type attacks. A dragon of your own makes for a good answer for this one, as his Kingdra does not know any Dragon type attacks. Be wary of its Smokescreen and Dragon Dance however.
Steven (R/S), Wallace (E): Steven uses only Ground, Rock, and Steel type Pokemon, so make sure that you have the types necessary to fight those. Fortunately there is some overlap in what's good against those 3 types, though keep in mind that some of them have a secondary type that helps protect them against one of their weaknesses, such as Rock/Grass Cradily or Steel/Flying Skarmory.

Wallace uses only Water types, like he does as a Gym Leader in Ruby/Sapphire. His Ludicolo can be pretty dangerous, as it gets boosted Speed in the rain due to its ability, and it has Double Team. Milotic has Marvel Scale, which boosts its Defense when it has a status effect.

Major Items:

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Differences between Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald

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Obtaining the Regi Trio

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These 3 are sort of well known for their....rather long and unusual requirements for finding and capturing them. To begin the process of capturing Regirock, Registeel, and Regice in the Hoenn games, you need to have a Relicanth and a Wailord in your party, as well as Pokemon that know the moves Dig, Surf, and Dive. Surf west from Pacifilog Town and navigate the currents until you reach a Dive spot. Dive underwater and follow the path until you reach a mound with some writing on it. At this spot, use Dive again to surface in the Sealed Chamber. In this chamber, there will be several mounds with writing on them. The writing is Braille, the language of the blind. In the game manuals (remember when those were a thing in video games? I do. Makes me feel old) for Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, part of it had a translation guide for Braille, and the mounds here are the Braille alphabet. But people reading this thread are not likely to have access to the game manual or want to bother with it, so I will just tell you what you need to do.

At the top of the room is some writing. Use Dig at this spot to open the way to the next chamber. In this room, put Relicanth in the first slot in your party, and Wailord in the last slot (in Emerald, it is the other way around). Read the writing on the back wall here, and there will be an earthquake, signaling that you can now go and capture the Regi trio.

Regirock can be found in the Desert Ruins, located in the southeastern part of Route 111. To open its chamber, stand at the spot where the Braille is, then walk 2 steps to the right, two steps down, and use Strength. In Emerald, you instead walk left first and use Rock Smash at the end.

Registeel can be found in the Ancient Tomb on Route 120 (about halfway through, on the left side). To open its chamber, stand in the exact center of the room, then use Fly (or Flash in Emerald).

Regice can be found in the Island Cave on Route 105 (it's a water route to between Petalburg Woods and Dewford). To open its chamber in Ruby/Sapphire, you must read the Braille text on the wall, then wait for two minutes (do not do anything at all, and the door opens automatically). In Emerald, you have to walk around the entire room once, counterclockwise. Start at the Braille text and stay along the walls.

Where to find the TMs/HMs

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--Fire Red and Leaf Green--

What's new in Fire Red and Leaf Green?

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Pokemon now available in Fire Red/Leaf Green that weren't in Red/Blue/Yellow

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Where to find the TMs/HMs

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Trading Between R/S/E and FR/LG

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Nah · May 3, 2018

Generation IV Games (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, Heart Gold/Soul Silver)
Written by Nah, CodeHelmet, Amy May

--Diamond/Pearl/Platinum--

The Starter Pokemon

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Your choices this time around are Chimchar, Piplup and Turtwig. An interesting thing regarding Sinnoh region starters is that their final Evolution forms yield a secondary typing useful against the starter they were originally weak against, but without completely disrupting the starter type triangle.

Piplup

This adorable Penguin Pokemon is a good pick if you want an advantage against Roark, but its not especially effective against most of the major opponents in the game afterwards, with a couple of exceptions. Its final Evolution in Empoleon gains Steel typing and Steel typing makes you more resistant to Grass attacks (something that will suit you well against your rival) but makes you more vulnerable to Ground moves, which alas your rival's starter gains as well. Empoleon is a special attacker, with an emphasis against defending against such attacks. Its speed could be better, however as a base stat of 60 really leaves it vulnerable if facing similarly leveled opponents. A Modest nature to bolster your special moves or a Calm nature to boost Sp.Defense even further is recommended. A Speed boosting nature may sound tempting, but is likely not enough to patch up Empoleon's low Speed.

Turtwig

It has an early game advantage by being super effective against Roark's Rock types while resisting Gardenia's Grass Types. It gains Ground Typing when evolving into Torterra, giving it a counter against your rival's Fire Starter and making it good against later game opponents like Byron or Volkner. Torterra is the polar opposite of Empoleon. Empoleon favored Special Attack and Defense while Torterra favors the physical spectrum of Attack and Defense. Like Empoleon, its Speed is rather lacking with a base stat of 56, too low to patch up. As such, focusing on improving its strengths--Attack and Defense--with natures like Brave or Relaxed is likely the better way to go.

Chimchar

Chimchar, like most Fire Type Pokemon, favors speed and offense. It gains Fighting typing after evolving into Monferno and maintains that Fire/Fighting combination when evolving into its final form of Infernape. Most of the Fire moves Chimchar learns via level up are Special in nature but it doesn't mean you can't make Infernape into a physical powerhouse to take advantage of its Fighting Typing (which gives you a chance against your rival's starter, as it gains Steel typing). Therefore, if you go the Physical attacker route, you'll likely want an Adamant/Jolly Nature so as to not compromise your speed or defense. If you stick to the special attacker route, a Modest/Timid nature is what I'd go for. Given its stat spread, turning it into a mixed attacker is also an option, one that may let it handle what pure physical or pure special sets cannot. Chimchar is a popular option despite the rough start against Roark, due to the fact that Gardenia is the second Gym Leader (hence is a cakewalk for Fire Types) and there aren't too many decent Fire Types available in the Sinnoh region. It's also strong against Byron and Candice later on in the game, making Chimchar a hard pick to pass on.

Good Pokemon to catch+version exclusives

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Major Items

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On beating the Gym Leaders and Elite 4

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Gym Leaders:

Oreburgh City, Roark: Rock Type Gym Leader. Players who choose Piplup or Turtwig as their starter will have an easy time and will likely not need other Pokemon to beat this Gym. Chimchar players can try to evolve Chimchar into Monferno to beat the gym, as it becomes Fire/Fighting (and Fighting resists Rock, making it take normal damage from Rock attacks) and will learn Mach Punch. If soloing the Gym with Monferno is either not an option or an unappealing one, seek a Pokemon available to you up to this point that has a type advantage against Rock types to aid you.
Eterna City, Gardenia: Grass Type Gym Leader. Chimchar players can beat the Gym with their starter fairly easily. Turtwig and Piplup players will need to rely on other Pokemon. Early game Flying types such as Starly and Zubat are your best bet here, as there's little to no Fire or Ice types available at this point in the game. Make sure to bring a few Antidotes and Paralysis Heals, as her Roserade knows Poison Sting and Stun Spore.
Veilstone City, Maylene: Fighting Type Gym Leader. She has a Lucario, which is part Steel and so is not weak to Psychic and Flying attacks like Fighting types typically are. It however provides you other weaknesses to exploit, such as Fire, Ground, and--ironically--Fighting. Fire types have to watch out for her Lucario's Bone Rush though.
Pastoria City, Crasher Wake: Water Type Gym Leader. Two of his Pokemon sport a secondary type that resists a type that Water is weak to, while the third has Ice Fang, meaning that you can't rely on just one Pokemon with a type advantage. If you have both an Electric attack and a Grass attack, you're in pretty good shape though, as Gyarados and Quagsire are 4x weak to Electric and Grass respectively. Keep an eye on your Pokemon's HP, as Wake's team knows Brine, a Water type attack that deals more damage to Pokemon hat have 50% or less of their HP.
Hearthome City, Fantina: Ghost Type Gym Leader. In Diamond/Pearl she is the 5th Gym Leader you face, while in Platinum she's the 3rd. Her Gengar (D/P)/Haunter (Pt) didn't get the memo about the physical-special split, and so uses physical STAB moves instead of special ones (base 65 Attack vs base 130 Sp.Attack), making it less scary than it should be. The real danger is her Mismagius, which is relatively fast and actually did get the memo. In Diamond/Pearl, she leads with a Drifblim, while in Platinum it's a Duskull (that knows Shadow Sneak and Will-o-wisp).
Canalave City, Byron: Steel Type Gym Leader. If still using your starter Pokemon, you will find it useful here, as they all more or less have a type advantage against Byron's team. If not, don't worry, as his part Ground Steelix and part-Rock Bastidon are slow and provide plenty of type weaknesses to exploit. In Platinum, be prepared for his Bastiodon's Metal Burst. It's a Counter-like move that works on both physical and special attacks, so failure to OHKO it may result in you taking massive damage or losing a Pokemon.
Snowpoint City, Candice: Ice Type Gym Leader. If you started with Chimchar, it (as an Infernape) can likely clear the Gym by itself. Piplup players will find that their now Water/Steel stater can put into considerable work as well. Turtwig players will find their slow, 4x Ice weak starter to be largely useless in the Gym and so need to rely on something else. Ice has a lot of type weakness, so you have options to pick from for Pokemon to use against the Gym. As is typical of ice themed areas in video games, the Gym is a sliding puzzle. Below are images showing the layout of the Gym, so use them to plan your path to the Gym Leader:

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Diamond/Pearl:

Platinum:
Sunyshore City, Volkner: Electric Type Gym Leader. In Diamond/Pearl, his teams is not all Electric types. He uses an Ambipom with Shock Wave and an Octillery with Charge Beam. In Platinum, his team is all Electric types and his Luxray sports all 3 elemental fang moves (plus Crunch), giving it decent coverage.

Elite 4:

Aaron, Bug Type user: His team includes a Drapion, which while based off a bug, is Poison/Dark. His Heracross and Vespiquen know a Rock attack, so be careful with your Fire or Flying type Pokemon around those.
Bertha, Ground Type user: Her team is slow, so take advantage of this. You should be able to handle her just fine, as you should have a good Water type at this point, given the need for HMs. If not, a solid Grass type will shred her as well.
Flint, Fire Type user: Flint is a rather strange case. In Diamond and Pearl, it's a well-known fact that there are very few Fire types available, and yet he's a Fire type specialist. Reflecting this, his team is not entirely composed of Fire types, although they all know a Fire type move. In Platinum, there is a increase in the number of Fire Types in the Sinnoh Dex, and so his team is now all Fire type Pokemon.
Lucian, Psychic Type user: May be a little tough to handle since his team covers for his type weakness somewhat, primarily through his Girafarig (D/P)/Espeon (Pt), Medicham (D/P)/Gallade (Pt), and Bronzong. He leads with a Mr. Mime, which can be annoying since it has both Reflect and Light Screen, potentially making his team harder to kill for a while. The move Brick Break will instantly destroy these barriers, but is not a particularly amazing choice given it's a Fighting type move and he's a Psychic type user. His Bronzong's ability is Levitate, so use Fire moves against it instead
Cynthia (Champion): One of the more difficult Champions in the series due to her not specializing in any type(s) and her usage of a number of relatively strong Pokemon like Garchomp and Milotic. She leads with Spiritomb, which, prior to the introduction of the Fairy type in Gen 6, has no type weaknesses. Her team supposedly has perfect IVs.

so gl fam

Differences between Platinum and Diamond/Pearl

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TM/HM Locations

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--Heart Gold & Soul Silver--

Differences between Heart Gold/Soul Silver and Gold/Silver

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Pokemon now available in HG/SS that weren't in G/S/C

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Ecruteak City Save Bug

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TM/HM Locations

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Nah · May 3, 2018

Generation V Games (Black/White, Black 2/White 2)
Written by Nah,

Black 2 and White 2 are direct sequels to Black and White, the first and so far only time in the main series games there has been direct sequels and not third versions.

The Starter Pokemon

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Good Pokemon to make use of+version exclusives

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Major Items

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Beating the Gym Leaders and Elite 4

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TM/HM Locations

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Black 2/White 2 "Key" System

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Nah · May 3, 2018

Generation VI Games (X/Y, Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire)
Written by Janp, Nah,

--X & Y--

old XY FAQ I made years ago with some different information than what this thread will contain

The Starter Pokemon

Spoiler:

You can choose one of these three Pokemon as your starter in Kalos:

Fennekin
Fennekin is the Fire-Type Starter of Kalos. It evolves into Braxien at level 16 and into Delphox at level 36, and gains Psychic-Type with the evolution. It's a special attacker with solid Sp. Defense and Speed. It's effective against Korrina, Ramos, Wulfric and Wikstrom, but won't do much against other Gym Leaders and Elite Four members. It's also weak to majority of Team Flare's Pokemon and won't do much against Lysandre in the late game. But thanks to its high Sp. Attack, it can prove useful even with neutral hits. There aren't many Fire-Types in Kalos and Fennekin is one of the better ones.

Chespin
Chespin is the Grass-Type starter you can get in Kalos. It evolves into Quilladin at level 16 and into Chesnaught at level 36, gaining Fighting-Type in the process. It's a slow, bulky Pokemon with nice Attack. Thanks to its typing, it's effective against Grant, Wulfric, Siebold and Wikstrom, but won't do much against Team Flare. In fact, out of three starters, it's the worst Pokemon to face Team Flare with. Chespin's biggest strength is in switching in and tanking neutral/not very effective hits. It can even take one or two super effective hits before fainting.

Froakie
Froakie is the Water-Type Ninja of Kalos. It evolves into Frogadier at level 16 and into Greninja at level 36 and gains Dark-Type in the process. It's the fastest out of the three starters and the most versatile out of the trio. It's a fast glass cannon, so if you're not sure if you can beat the opponent, you should really consider switching for other Pokemon as Froakie can faint pretty easily. It's effective against Grant, Olympia and Malva as well as most of the Diantha's Pokemon. Thanks to its movepool, it can also help against Korrina, Drasna and Ramos. It's also better in facing Team Flare that the other two starters since only Flare's Pokemon that can threaten Froakie is Electrike/Manectric. If you don't care about a little bit of hunting, you can even visit Friend Safari and hunt for Frogadier with Protean ability. Thanks to it, it can change to the same Type as the move you used and really shine.

Good Pokemon to make use of+version exclusives

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Mega Evolutions you can get before E4:

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Beating the Gym Leaders and Elite 4

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Gym Leaders:

Santalune City, Viola: Bug Type Gym Leader. She leads with Surskit, which is Water/Bug. It also has Water Sport, which temporarily reduces damage from Fire attacks, so Flying types are the best here, although a Rock type can pretty easily take out her Vivillon once you've gotten past Surksit. Infestation is a trapping move--Pokemon hit by it won't be able to switch out for a while.
Cyllage City, Grant: Rock Type Gym Leader. Rock types are typically slow, but his Pokemon both know Rock Tomb (buffed to 60 BP/95% accuracy this gen), which reduces Speed, and his Amaura also knows Thunder Wave (paralysis reduces Speed as well). Tyrunt is Rock/Dragon, making it take neutral damage from two of Rock's common weaknesses, Water and Grass. You still have plenty of type options to choose from though, for both Pokemon.
Shalour City, Korrina: Fighting Type Gym Leader. She will not use Mega Evolution in your Gym battle against her, she doesn't even use Lucario. Beware of Hawlucha, it's fast, has two boosting moves (Hone Claws and the new Power-Up Punch), and Flying Press is both a Flying and Fighting Type attack.
Coumarine City, Ramos: Grass Type Gym Leader. Shouldn't be too hard to deal with, you've had plenty of opportunities to get a Pokemon that's good against Grass types by now. Gogoat has Bulldoze.
Lumiose City, Clemont: Electric Type Gym Leader. The answers to the questions are, in order: Pikachu, Fletchling, Panpour, and #2. The Gym Leader has part-Flying Emloga, so it's immune to Ground attacks, and his Heliolisk knows Grass Knot.
Laverre City, Valerie: Fairy Type Gym Leader. Starts with Steel/Fairy Mawile, which ironically does not know any Steel or Fairy damage-dealing moves and instead it's only damage dealing moves are Dark type. However, being part Steel makes it not vulnerable to Fairy's two type weaknesses, Steel and Poison, so use other types to deal with Mawile
Anistar City, Olympia: Psychic Type Gym Leader. A Dark type is great here, as her team has no moves to deal with those. If lacking one, beat Sigilyph and Slowking through their secondary type weaknesses instead. Bring a few Awakenings or Chesto Berries in case you get put to sleep by Yawn.
Snowbelle City, Wulfric: Ice Type Gym Leader. The Gym's not an ice sliding puzzle this time. Wulfric leads with Abomasnow, which has an ability that automatically summons hail, and his Cyrogonal can manually summon it with the move Hail. This is for his Avalugg's ability Ice Body. Cyrogonal has high Sp.Defense, while Avalugg has high physical Defense. Hit them in their weaker defensive stat to make them easier.

Elite 4:

Malva: Fire Type user. Pyroar and Torkoal both have a move that is super-effective against one of Fire's weaknesses (Wild Charge and Earthquake), so watch out for those. Talonflame is fast, and knows Flail, which synergizes well with Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. It's still 4x weak to Rock though, so OHKO with that if you can.
Wikstrom: Steel Type user. Each member of his team has a secondary type that resists one of Steel's weaknesses, meaning that you need more than one move or Pokemon to rely on here. Attacks that don't make contact are better against Aegislash than ones that do make contact, so you don't accidentally lower your Attack if he uses King's Shield.
Drasna: Dragon Type user. Fairy types are the new counter to Dragons, but don't assume that means you can sweep her with a Fairy alone. She leads with Dragalge, which is Poison/Dragon and so can give your Fairy a hard time. Unless your Fairy is Gardevoir, then just click Psyshock lol.
Siebold: Water Type user. Gyarados can be potentially dangerous given that it has Dragon Dance+Earthquake+Ice Fang+Waterfall. Clawitzer uses Dark Pulse, Aura Sphere and Dragon Pulse in addition to Water STAB, so keep that in mind when fighting it.
Diantha (Champion): Does not specialize in any type. Her Gardevoir is capable of mega evolution, so be ready for that.

TM/HM Locations

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--ORAS--

Differences between Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire and Ruby/Sapphire

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TM/HM Locations

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Nah · Feb 6, 2020

Generation VII (Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon)

Written by Janp, Nah,

--Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon--

A note regarding Moon/Ultra Moon: In these versions, the in-game time is 12 hours different from what your 3DS's clock is set to. For example, if it is 1 PM according to your 3DS's clock, it will be 1 AM in the game.

The Starter Pokémon

Spoiler:

In both Sun/Moon and their Ultra versions, you can choose one Pokémon from following trio:

Litten
Litten is the Fire-type Pokémon you can choose in Alola. It evolves in Torracat at level 17, which evolves into Incineroar at level 34 and gains Dark typing. It's a physical attacker with pretty nice bulk and defense. It's useful in Mallow's Trial and against Acerola and Molayne (in Ultras), but sadly that's pretty much it for this wrestler. Alola is infested with powerful bugs and due to Incineroar's Dark typing, it will be easy prey for Team Skull, Guzma, Lusamine, Hala, Mina and her Trial and lots of other trainers. Sadly, there are better Fire-types like Turtonator and Salazzle.

Rowlet
Rowlet is the Grass/Flying-type starter you can pick in Alola. It evolves into Dartrix at level 17 and then into Decidueye at level 34, replacing Flying-type with Ghost-type in the process. Decidueye is great both as physical and special attacker and is the fastest out of Alola's starters. It's probably the most useful starter too. Since it's part Flying in the early game, it can snipe down Hala, Lana and Mallow's Trials, Olivia, Acerola (in Ultras) and her Trial, Hapu and well... Hala and Olivia again in E4. It will also be able to stand against Guzma, but might have problems with Gladion and other Team Skull Grunts and Plumeria due to their overuse of Dark and Poison Pokémon.

Popplio
Popplio is the Water-type starter you can get in Alola. It evolves into Brionne at level 17 and then into Primarina when it reaches level 34. It gains Fairy-type as Primarina. It has enormous Sp. Atk and Sp. Def and it really shows. How many Pokémon can take on Ultra Necrozma face to face and come out as a winner? Other than Ultra Necrozma, it can also help against all Kahunas - Hala, Olivia, Nanu and Hapu, as well as against Kiawe's Trial and the Dragon Trial. But don't even think about sending it out in Mallow or Sophocles' Trials. Molayne and Team Skull is also deadly to this mermaid.

Version Exclusives

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Pokemon Recommendations

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Clearing the Trials, Beating the Totem Pokemon, and the Elite 4

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TM Locations

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