1st Gen Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar!

[Radiating]

The three only spooooky Ghost types in the game! They're all part of one family, all found in Lavender Town. (Well, except for Gengar.)

Did you ever use them? Which one is your favorite?

I myself usually only used Haunter, since I didn't have anyone else around to trade for a Gengar back then. It was pretty useful in battle, since it had a pretty good movepool with TMs. I've only recently started using it in runs, but only through a glitch.

 

[CodeHelmet]

I never bothered using Gastly and its evolved kin for two reasons. 1) Poison typing = bad in Generation 1 where Psychics are dominant and 2) Outside of Hypnosis and Dream Eater, Ghost moves suck(seriously Night Shade is underwhelming). Its still a strong Pokemon, don't get me wrong but if I wanted a Team full of STAB, Ghost, Bug and even Dragon Pokemon aren't on my list(granted Dragonite or Gen 1's lone Dragon type is worth it due to its stats...).

 

[Radiating]

I never bothered using Gastly and its evolved kin for two reasons. 1) Poison typing = bad in Generation 1 where Psychics are dominant and 2) Outside of Hypnosis and Dream Eater, Ghost moves suck(seriously Night Shade is underwhelming). Its still a strong Pokemon, don't get me wrong but if I wanted a Team full of STAB, Ghost, Bug and even Dragon Pokemon aren't on my list(granted Dragonite or Gen 1's lone Dragon type is worth it due to its stats...).

It is really weak to psychic, but other than that, it's a pretty good Pokemon (not with STAB though). It has a high special stat, so it can use strong moves like Thunderbolt & Psychic, coupled with Hypnosis and Dream Eater. Its high speed also allows it to hit more critical hits than others.

 

[VisionofMilotic]

I positively adore the Gastly line. I loved them from the anime before I could ever got my hands on a gameboy. The way they were portrayed in the first season of the television series during the Sabrina plotline made me fall in love with this evolutionary line, especially Haunter since he joined Ash for awhile. Gastly's appearance in the episode The Ghost of Maiden's Peak (one of my all-time favorite episodes) was the first of the few rare instances that the series used horror, and he and his evolutions are just really interesting. They can set the stage for a spooky and suspenseful story, yet they are also really funny and surreal, and just unlike any other Pokemon. Each has a great design.

When I finally got to play the RBY games I grew to love this line of Pokemon even more. Haunter a member of my first ever Pokemon team, a strong Pokemon, especially with the singular special stat of gen 1. It was humble Haunter who gave me victory at Pokemon league, hard walling Lance. No hyper beam, take downs or bites from Aerodactyl or Dragonites could penetrate my little ghost's diaphanous form. This is after he gnawed his way through the other members of the elite four's dream outspeeeing pretty much everyone.

I was later able to get Gengar when I found out I wasn't the only girl at my school who still liked Pokemon, and also get an Alakazam! I loved my Gengar to pieces. It remains to this today one of my all-time favorite Gen 1 Pokemon.

My top 5 list would be as follows
Dragonite
Charizard
Gengar
Jolteon
Gyarados.

 

[Zenithios]

Everytime I see that a Ghastly can be caught, I always will use it and evolve it into a Gengar (I have two GBA systems and nearly every GBA Pokemon game :D)

I always use him as a tank, the Dream Eater, Shadow Ball, Hypnosis, Strength moveset I used was really helpful. Not only that, but Ghastly was the very first shiny I ever got (Pokemon Fire Red, too bad the save got deleted :( ), so that actually makes me inclined to capture one everytime I play Pokemon.

 

[littlebeeb]

Also this. xD


Never was able to do it as a kid but taking your Gengar from R/B/Y and importing it to Pokemon Stadium caused some "serious pwnage". (Isn't that what the kids say nowadays? :P)
Most of the movepools for the fully evolved rental Pokemon were garbage so having this capability was super clutch.

That would probably be the only reason why I'd run a Gengar in RBY. Now that I've played those games through so many times, I try to impose challenges on myself and use unorthodox teams when playing through the main story line.