First Route Normal Types

[Eruption]

I've just been comparing some of the early normal types in the game that evolve once and I thought there was a good discussion point involving them.

These Pokemon seems to be a common tradition throughout the games, they all appear in the first few routes, have similar stat totals and evolve once.

So I'm wondering which one has been your favourite? (Rattata, Sentret, Zigzagoon, Bidoof, Patrat)

And, more importantly, do you think these pokemon serve a purpose in the games? Many would say that the majority of these are annoying due to being littered over most routes of the game (except maybe Sentret) and being largely useless in terms of battling. They're also arguably outclassed by other pokemon that can be caught early on (which include other repeated groups such as the regularly occuring normal/flying type bird (Pidgey, Hoothoot, Taillow etc)). Some have found a niche as a HM slave though.

So what is your opinion of their inclusion in the games? More useless than Farfetch'd or the most valuable addition to any team?

 

[Aether★]

I've used Zigzagoon... Team of Zigzagoons and one Linoone and one of them was the HM slave and of course Pick Up Pick Up Pick UP!

 

[GrayJM9]

I've used all but zigzagoon but that is because I didn't get the chance to play gen 3 much. I love Patrat because of his stat and status effecting moves (that's the style I paly) and I love Bidoof too.

 

[Gengar's Shadow]

I usually use Rattata since I find Raticate pretty good.

 

[Kikaito plush]

Rattata because Raticate is a useful pokemon.

 

[Azu]

OMG. I remember using Sentret in Pokémon Silver and somehow Sentret was able to learn just anything: Rock Smash, Surf, Cut, etc. I used that Pokémon to go through my map XD.

 

[Dangelitus]

I've used Zigzagoon... Team of Zigzagoons and one Linoone and one of them was the HM slave and of course Pick Up Pick Up Pick UP!

I'm agree with Sajmon, since my point of view, one of the most valuable normal pokemon found in the begin it's zigzagoon.

He have some nice characteristics, that make him useful not only at the beginning, until the end.

a) The ability pick up save a lot of money, because with it you cand found from pokeballs to evolution rocks or TM's (in the game previous to the Black and white of course).

b) Its with ambipon, the only pokemon that preserve its ability after evolve.

c) With their move COVET you can obtain the items from wild pokemons.

d) The fact that the linoone can learn a lot of HM, like strength, rock smash, cut and i guess surf too

I used it a lot, even post elite four's, and when i train my pokes, because i like to see which kind of item he bring to me.

 

[Blade_of_darkness]

None of them, really. To tell you the truth, they're mostly useless beyond the first gym, outside of HM slaves.

 

[Sydian]

I love this thread. <3 I like all of them, except for Raticate and Watchog really. Furret is one of my favorite Pokemon, Linoone is awesome and HOENN, and Bibarel is...one of my secret little loves, haha. <3 I have used all five of these fellas and I found Furret to be the most fun and useful. Elemental punches! :D Watchog I had the most difficulty with though. It was pretty bad. But I mean, if you've never given these Pokemon a try, you definitely should. They turn out to be better than expected. :)

 

[Firox]

I used all of them, in different games. For me they are good battlers. When they are trained good and with a good move set they are very good battlers (from my experiences).

Out of the 5 of them my most used one would have to be Patrat/Watchog - except for Black (since its my personal challenge, all Feline team) they are always member of the team. I am not happy if they are not in the team

for each individually:
• Rattata/Raticate: 8/10 - In Soul Silver I use two Rattata - I prefer it over that (boring) electric rodent (Pikachu).

• Sentret/furret 9/10 - Again in Soul Silver, I also have Furret as part of the team.

• Zigzagoon/Linoone 9/10 - When I had Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald on emulator, they where my main and leader Pokemon. Although, I have given up completely on emulators, so for I have not encountered one in my games, when I do, I'll start using it again

• Bidoof/Bibarel 10/10 - in my Pearl game is part of the team (not for HM only companion, but with other moves too). I also have on in Black 2. In both games, it helps me with catching wild Pokemon a bit easier (with Yawn, hoping the wild Pokemon sleeps long enough to be caught).

• Patrat/Watchog 11/10, my favorite of the early normal types (actually to Patrat early in the game), in my White & Black 2 it accompanied me to the Elite 4, took down the entire Psychic and half the Ghost Pokemon (not related to this topic, Liepard took down the other half - giving each of my Pokemon a try at E4, to be honest).

Forgot to answer the questions.
• which one has been your favourite? - easily Patrat / Watchog
• do you think these Pokemon serve a purpose in the games? - being great companions and battlers, and making the games great (at least for me).
• So what is your opinion of their inclusion in the games? - (not sure if I understood question correctly or not, gave it a try of what I think its being asked) for me personally, greatest addition. The games be different if they were never introduced. I probably wouldn't be a big of a fan as I'm now.
• More useless than Farfetch'd or the most valuable addition to any team? - I never liked Farfetch'd anyways (used it once and didn't like it - and design looks No like it). In most games they usually are the 'second in command, my back up to the leader' (if my leader Pokemon is a type disadvantage that is)

sorry for long post, had to mention each one individually, since I have used them all - I prefer them over the dragons or legendaries.

 

[Amore]

I've used all of them, but only put down Sentret and Zigzagoon on the poll because they're the ones i like.

Rattata...I just don't really like rats. They've got decent enough moves that you don't hate battling Rocket grunts who use them, and when I did use one it was actually pretty damn devastating on the CPU trainers in HeartGold.

Sentret/Furret - I really like the design of these guys. They're fast (which is generally my style), have a not-bad movepool by first-route pokémon standards. And also they're relatively rare, only appearing on one or two routes from what I can remember.

Zigzagoon/Linoone - As with Sentret/Furret I like their design, in this case Zigzagoon>Linoone. Zigzagoon was also the first pokémon I ever battled, and the first wild one I ever caught. Even now, I always keep one in my team as a pickup user, occasionally bringing it out for battle, for as long as possible on Emerald.

Bidoof/Bibarel - The ultimate HM Slave (well, except for Garchomp / Dragonite, who in certain games can use 7 HMs. But they're really hard to raise). I used one once, and found it decent enough, but I don't like the design especially much, and when you have so many other good options (Starly, Shinx) I end up barely using them.

Patrat/Watchog - Used once just because they were new, didn't exactly hate Patrat. Watchog however, I hate with a passion. Manages to simultaneously be useless for me and (for my first couple of runthroughs anyway) a really irritating opponent which spams Hypnosis.

They definitely serve a purpose in the games. Whilst starters are there to give you a pretty powerful pokémon to start out with, these are there to be easily caught and useable enough in battle for varying lengths of time depending on your style and which one it is. They're all pretty good for HMs too.

And yes, they're definitely better than Farfetch'd. Except for Patrat/Watchog. At least Farfetch'd is a duck. (was going to put Farfetch'd's but it just looks weird doesn't it)

 

[Zorogami]

I sometimes use Rattata when playing FR/LF, since he has pretty okay attack and initiative stats for the early parts of the game. And Super Fang halves the opponents HP which is pretty useful

 

[Entermaid]

Rattata - It's really cute, with the purple palette, but I am really really really not fond of raticate. 5/10

Sentret - I like the circle design on its chest, but I prefer it's evolved form, Furret with a long ringed body design and wiskers. The 8/10

Zigazoon - I have always been puzzled by this line since it is a wolverine/raccoon hybrid. Generally, I just "like" the designs. 6/10

Bidoof - Bibarel and those eyes with those teeth, I just can't get passed it. Bidoof isn't much better either. 4/10

Patrat - I was glad to finally see a chipmunk pokemon. I am drawn to the red and yellow eye palette, as well as the yellow rings on Watchog. Also, I love Watchog's upright posture and crossed arms, along with the tall white-fluff tail. 9/10

1) Patrat
2) Setret
3) Zigazoon
4) Rattata
5) Bidoof

 

[Hikamaru]

I sometimes use the early route rodents until I find better Pokemon, and their STAB attacks can hit fairly well for that stage of the game.

I never kept any on my team in the long term except for a Linoone in Ruby, who ended up netting me loads of items thanks to her Pickup ability, and I'm also considering a Bibarel for my HM slave in Platinum. I also used Patrat for a bit in Black and in 5th Gen, Watchog can be handy for catching Pokemon due to the fact it gets Hypnosis and False Swipe.

 

[Brendino]

I've given an effort to try using all of them at one point or another aside from Watchog, but they never seemed to last long on my team since I could easily replace them by the second Gym or so.

Linoone and Bibarel have managed to stick on my team for long periods of time- however, it was in that HM slave role. They can really help you early on if you didn't pick a Water type as a starter, since both can learn Surf (and with Bibarel being part-Water itself, it can also use the other Water type HMs as well), plus a bunch of other basic HMs.

 

[Khoshi]

I like to use the Normal type rodents as a "fallback" option, in case my Normal-type bird (usually Staraptor) or my Starter faint in a battle. In this case, I picked Sentret/Furret. I just think that it's a decent Pokemon in battle, and as a Furret, it's so adorable <3

 

[CliCliW]

I sometimes use the early route rodents until I find better Pokemon, and their STAB attacks can hit fairly well for that stage of the game.

STAB was something I didn't take notice of for ages, but when I played white and my Purrloin was terrible at the start of the game (Not that he's much good anyway IMO) I realised the value of a normal type.

Ratatta - simple, easy to use and all the Hyper Fang Spamming......... he's just awesome that way ^.^

Sentret - not that I have anything against Sentret but I usually chose Ratatta if I could. Plus with Crystal you could find Geodude, Onix, Gastly, Hoothoot, Spinarak, Pidgey and Poliwag before even the first gym battle. with all these different types I thought it better to pick up one of them than a Normal Type.

Zigzagoon - PICKUP. 'nuff said.

Bidoof - I hate his design, but he does have a handy little movepool. Plus, the Defense Curl/Rollout combination makes him a pretty strong sweeper early on in DPP. And who could hate his "yup yup" Okie twang in PMD Explorers of Darkness!!

Patrat - no. just no. He's ugly, kinda scary and not to mention Watchog is completely useless for my "spam all the attacks" strategy. I mean, when you come across Watchogs in the wild the worst they do is a few failed attempts at After You and then a Super Fang or two. They're so ridiculously silly that the only harmful attack they have can't even make you faint. I think I'll stick with Lillipup, thank you very much....

 

[Boilurn]

As I've only played the White versions I only have Patrat/Watchog. He didn't help me win battles but I found him useful for catching certain Pokemon in the wild by giving him two moves: Super Fang and Hypnosis. I usually call him 'Catchog' in this respect. ^_^

If I had the other versions I would certainly like to have Bibarel. Normal/Water is an unusual combo that's worth trying. I've also realized just by looking at his moveset that he's a well known HM Slave, (Knowing every single HM move except Fly) and is a better Pokemon to have in order to help me catch Pokemon, using the perfect accuracy move Yawn whilst also learning Super Fang.

 

[Asuna_Yuuki]

I think I like Zigzagoon/Linoone the best. I've used it in my Emerald and it has helped me a lot. :) I also like Sentret/Furret, though.

 

[alisaie]

I like the used the first three generation's first rodent Pokemon. I find Rattata adorable and I remember my Raticate packing a punch when I was doing a normal monotype run on Firered (which I actually still need to finish one day). I've used Furret before on Gold, and then I've used Linoone on Sapphire. While I do not remember how exactly useful they were I still remember enjoying them on my team.

As for Bibarel and Watchog they just don't interest me enough to give them a shot. Maybe one day though.