Was Gary really better than Ash?

1. Gary started with a Squirtle because he evidently put research into his decision. Squirtle is a solid choice for early game in Kanto. Gary did what he was supposed to do. He showed up on time like everyone but Ash and got the Pokemon that he planned on.

The reason Ash did not get any of the original starters on the first day was not just at random, it was because he slept through the event. He stayed up late watching TV the night before and was too tired to wake up on his own. He could have asked his mother to wake him up in case his alarm clock did not go off or he slept through it, but he didn't. This was the most important day of his life, it was Ash's responsiblity to make sure he did not miss it.

There's no indication that Gary got some special treatment. If anything Ash is the one who is getting help because he still got a Pokemon even through he slept through the giveaway. Ash could have been sent home with nothing, and had to wait another year to become a Pokemon trainer. He also through lucky encounters eventually got all of the Kanto starter Pokemon, something very unusual for a trainer.

Pikachu was difficult on the first day, but that was literally for one day and not an excuse for Ash's performance throughout Kanto. Pikachu was the main reason for Ash's success in life. He became a loving and devoted friend to Ash by the end of the episode almost died to saved Ash's life and resulted in Ash seeing a Ho-oh. It was ultimately good fortune that brought Pikachu to him.

2. Yes, Team Rocket are annoying and distracting but one reason Ash has so many dealings with them is because he doesn't learn from his mistakes. He is always falling for some scam, all they have to do is put on a wig and he never grows wise to them.

Fortunately though, Ash always overcomes his confrontations with Team Rocket. There have even been instances where their presence works to his advantage throughout the television series and movies like saving his life or helping Charizard get into the Charicific Valley. Talking specifically about season 1 one enormous way in which Team Rocket benefitted Ash was by being his Viridian City gym opponents, the alternative would be fighting Mewtwo.

Ash almost never attempted to follow a strict schedule of training outside battle. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, he's ten, he's living in the moment. However, would Ash have really spent him time in carefully-planned regiment even without Team Rocket? You could look at it this way, Team Rocket is getting him some exp for his Pokemon regularly by making him have battles that he would otherwise would not have. Ash ideally grows as a result.

During the Pokemon league yes, they held him up and made him tired, but Ash still got there with help from his friend Ritchie asking that everyone wait for Ash. What ultimately ended Ash was not Team Rocket but using Charizard. He still had other Pokemon like Muk and Kingler that he had not used against Team Rocket and they should have been in good shape. He made the wrong decision and lost because of it.

3. I wholeheartedly disagree with this one. Ash had the best kind of moral support he had best friends Ash and Misty. They are friends who loved him, and advised and taught him all about pokemon, cooked for him, partnered with him in battle, healed his Pokemon, let him borrow their Pokemon, had lots of laughs and adventures together, friends who searched for him when he was lost, friends who would fight and die for him. Yes, sure Ash and Misty had arguements, you can go through this with any friend or family member. However, clearly they all cared about eachother.

Gary did not appear to have any deep relationship with the cheerleaders. While the attention was probably flattering to Gary, these were people probably largely there for the glamor of his lifestyle. I doubt that any of them would go the distance for Gary in the way that Misty or Brock would for Ash. Lady luck brought Ash something much more valuable than Gary had.

4. No, there's nothing to indicate that the gyms Gary went to were easier than Ash, the fact that he went to even more gyms, and had obtained 10 badges by the time he meets Ash again in Viridian indicates if anything that Gary worked hard. He also had to deal with type disadvantage as well, he faught Erika whom his Squirtle would be weak to. We know this because he has the rainbow badge, and Prof. Oak also informed Ash that Gary and all of the other trainers from Pallet conquered Celadon City.

As for Ash having only three pokemon and all of them being weak to Brock, is that a result of bad luck or is it personal shortcomings? One of Ash's biggest flaws as trainer is that he catches very few Pokemon in each region. Before the Pokemon League Gary had more than 200 Pokemon and Ash barely a complete party.

Why is Ash the only trainer not expected to catch pokemon? If the ten year-olds playing the Kanto games at home can catch a Mankey or Nidoran with double kick to fight Brock then so could Ash. That is likely what Gary did since he has a fully-evolved Nidoking.

Ultimately Ash even in the battle with Brock had luck on his side despite having only a couple of Pokemon because he ran into Brock's dad who took Ash to a mill and showed him a method by which he could power up Pikachu. On top of that Ash accidentally had a sprinkler system trigger to weaken Brock's Pokemon. I am almost certain that Gary had neither advantage, it is safe to assume that Gary had to to win the badge in a normal way.

As for Gary never having to face a psychopath gym leader with impossible to beat psychic pokemon... actually he had to do just that lol. Gary had a far more difficult opponent than Sabrina and Kadabra, he had Giovanni and a Mewtwo to deal with, and it lost him the earth badge because the odds were truly insurmountable. Ash however received good luck in both situations that Gary did not have with Sabrina's father helping Ash and Giovanni being called away on business when Ash showed up. On both ocassions Ash got badges that he would not have probably been able to get had he been forced to fight Sabrina and Giovanni under normal circumstances. Most of Ash's badges such as the boulder badge, the cascade badge, the marsh madge, the rainbow badge and earth badge were not obtained in a conventional way to say the least. Gary might have had 20 badges had he received Ash's luck.

5. This is not an excuse Ash is the one who gave his Pokemon away. He may have felt obligated to release Butterfree because it fell in love and wanted to have babies, but that is really the only understandable decision and was probably the least devestating loss to his team. Everything else was up to him. He could have said no, that he didn't want to leave Primeape with strangers or Pidgeot in the woods to babysit random pokemon, and instead said that he wanted to keep them in his party to raise, but he didn't. If they were stupid reasons then Ash is the one who said yes to the stupidity. Nobody made him give any Pokemon away, and nobody made him unable to go get them later. Primeape would have been overjoyed to go punch things at the Pokemon league.

Ash also never spent a day trying to replace his losses and train any of the strong Pokemon like Tauros, Muk or Krabby that were in Oak's lab waiting for him. Any of these Pokemon could have been good teammates.

As for Charizard being disobedient it was because it did not respect Ash initially, and he never made any attempt to train him outside of battle. Had he put more time into working with Charizard than maybe it would have obeyed earlier. Gary has lots of fully evolved Pokemon as a result of his tough training, and all of them listen to him.

As much we love Ash as the hero, Gary as far as I can see in the first season was the more organized and skillful trainer of the two