3rd Gen Are the guides on Pokemon Fire Red wrong about wild Pidgey and wild Rattata levels

[cloa513]

They write there are Pidgey and Rattata with 2-5 levels in Viridian Forest but I didn't come across a Pidgey above Level 3 and only one Level 4 Rattata. Is it a lie or is there some special subarea where you can get Level 5 Pidgey?

 

[Zeostar]

This is a screenshot from Bulbapedia about Gen 3 Virdian Forest encounters

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I'm assuming you meant the area outside Viridian Forest. I can confirm from experience there are level 5 Pidgey in the early game, but they're very rare to come by. They're on Route 1 (just north of Pallet Town where you get your starter from Professor Oak). I'm not sure about a level 5 Rattata that early. You can catch a level 10ish Rattata on Route 4 after Brock and Mt. Moon but before Misty (and the rival fight to the north of Cerulean City). I hope this helps.

 

[Devalue]

Found the encounter tables for Fire Red. Source: GameFAQs.

Pidgey:
Lv 3 (20%)
Lv 2 (10%)
Lv 4 (10%)
Lv 5 (5%)

Ratatta:
Lv 3 (20%)
Lv 2 (10%)
Lv 4 (10%)
Lv 5 (5%)

Caterpie:
Lv 4 (4%)
Lv 5 (1%)

Weedle:
Lv 4 (4%)
Lv 5 (1%)

Distributes the levels unevenly. Probably works like this for most older games, more or less. (Saw similar distributions for original Red/Blue/Yellow.) Possibly extends to current games too. (Knows about SoS calls in Sun/Moon definitely having different rates for different allies, such as 1% Politoeds.) Lacks the technical knowledge to verify, though.