2nd Gen Not Evolving Starters...

[MadamB]

If you don't evolve your starter Pokemon do you miss out on anything? Will they still learn the moves that the evolved forms learn?

I'm wondering this b/c I think some of the starter Pokemon look better than their evolved forms (i.e. Totodile).

Ooh, I just remember, their evolved forms won't be in the pokedex...but other than that, will I miss out?

P.S. this is in reference to Pokemon Gold, which I'm currently playing.

 

[curiousnathan]

Yes you will miss out on some moves, for example.
I over level my monferno and it did not leanr Mach Puch because I didnt let it evolve.
I only usually let my starters evolve at level 20 which makes it tso that they miss out on learning certain moves.

 

[Imperator161]

On Gold, I don't think it makes any difference. I never evolved my Totodile, and it still learned all of its moves. Problems generally arise when a Pokemon gains a type upon evolving, and in the later generations, there are a number of situations where players have to miss out on certain moves depending on whether they evolve their starter early or late. In G/S/C, though, none of the Pokemon change types upon evolving, and I don't think any of them learn different moves upon evolving, so you should be okay. Your Pokemon won't be able to learn certain TMs if they don't evolve, though.