3rd Gen Rival Lies!

[Timbjerr]

...or Blue could be way farther ahead of Red than you think...

In R/B and FR/LG, assuming he didn't start with Bulbasaur, he'll have an Exeggcute (which can't be caught until the Safari Zone) on his battling team when you fight him in Lavender Town.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

So this 41-42 figure is the amount you could possibly have with or without evolving?

Gary devoted his time to completing his Pokedex more than becoming the best trainer since the person he was doing the favor for is his grandfather.
In fact he doesn't decide to take the League challenge seriously until after the battle in Silph Co.

 

[Lord Varion]

Gary doesnt say wether he got different kinds he could have just caught more than 1 of the same kind of pokemon ... :)

 

[Yume Tsuki]

On fire red I decided to catch anything I see what I don't have yet. Even though I got the pre evo's, I catch them all. :P (I do it so It will help me complete the pokedex on Pearl.) I'm now at cinnabar having 71 species. If you keep on catching anything you see what you don't have you can keep up with the amount the Aides want you to have for an Item. :P

It's possible to have 40 kinds of pokemon if you are on de S.S. Anne.

 

[Teh Blazer]

When we say he evolved them, we do mean he kept under the level cap of what the game wants you to have, right? That means no lv. 35 Hypno or lv. 36 Pidgeot for Gary. Just a weenie lv. 23 (or something) evolved starter.

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

When we say he evolved them, we do mean he kept under the level cap of what the game wants you to have, right? That means no lv. 35 Hypno or lv. 36 Pidgeot for Gary. Just a weenie lv. 23 (or something) evolved starter.

Nah, he has 35 level 2 Pidgeys.

 

[DGexe]

*might get the answer to this*
I've been determined to catch every Pokemon possible in an area, wherever I go (evolutions included)-- Shall I give y'all a number when I meet up with my rival in Cerulean City?

HUGE EDIT, WITH A BIGGER ONE AT THE BOTTOM:

So I did the research and...

Game: Leaf Green

I can aqquire 40* Pokemon if I am adamnant about evolution AND if I have enough Moonstones (three Pokemon need Moonstones, one needs Thunderstone).

*Assuming there was no trading, surfing, or rod-usage and that the rival never bought Magikarp on Route 3, and that he was willing to level up all those caught Pokemon to their evolved forms. Also assuming that he travelled Routes 1-25, took the detour at Route 22 (as one can battle him there after the Boulder Badge is obtained). ALSO there is a mild descrepancy thanks to the difference in available Pokemon between Leaf Green and Fire Red.

Dialogue: "Hey, guess what? I went to Bill's and got him to show me his rare Pokemon. That added a lot of pages to my Pokedex! After all, Bill's world famous as a Pokemaniac. He invented the Pokemon Storage System on PC, too. Since you're using his system, you should go thank him. Well, I better get rolling! Smell ya later!"

There is no actual mention, before or after, about how many Pokemon are caught-- at least, not at Nugget Bridge. On the other hand, if the rival was adamant about evolution, bought Magikarp, and was shown an unknown number of new entries thanks to Bill, there is a chance that maybe he's gained 40+ Pokemon by this point.

In conclusion, it is PLAUSABLE that the rival can indeed acquire 40+ Pokemon (or at least gain Pokedex entries about them), so long as he puts in the time and effort to evolve all those Pokemon to further forms. At this point in the game, catching 40 unique Pokemon is not possible, but evolution+Bill's entries can bring up the number considerably.

Pokemon List for LG and Reference, not including Bill's entries:

Bulbasaur (Rival's pick)
Ivysaur
Caterpie
Metapod
Butterfree
Weedle
Kakuna
Beedrill
Pidgey
Pidgeotto
Rattata
Raticate
Spearow
Fearow
Arbok
Pikachu
Raichu*
Sandshrew
Sandslash
Nidoran(F)
Nidorina
Nidoqueen*
Nidoran(M)
Nidorino
Nidoking*
Clefairy
Clefable*
Jigglypuff
Wigglytuff
Zubat
Crobat
Paras
Parasect
Mankey
Primeape
Abra
Kadabra*
Bellsprout
Geodude
Graveller
Diglette
Dugtrio
Drowzee
Magikarp
Meowth
**Magikarp
**Gyarados

*Possible evolutions not shown in the rival's team to be had yet or needing an evolution stone to obtain
**I didn't buy Magikarp, but it IS possible to obtain if you give up that 500 Pokedollars. Also keep in mind that Magikarp and Gyarados bring our total up to 47.


HUGE EDIT IS HUGE:
AH-HA! The "I've caught 40 kinds!" actually occures on the SS Anne, when you face your rival before earning Cut from the captain. In that case, yes, with the above post still in tact and additional Pokemon caught in routes 5 and 11 (and diglette cave, AND the old rod now used), it is very much possible to get 40+!

... Am I officially a nerd for figuring all of this out? >:

 

[Teh Blazer]

Yeah, even though your rival would be adamant for training, I don't think he'd actually train up to a Crobat or a Dugtrio (especially since you've been training and probably haven't got that far). I sort of doubt your rival would catch every freakin pokemon he finds. I also doubt he would find a clefairy, I spent weeks in Mt.Moon and found nothing...

 

[DGexe]

Yeah, even though your rival would be adamant for training, I don't think he'd actually train up to a Crobat or a Dugtrio (especially since you've been training and probably haven't got that far). I sort of doubt your rival would catch every freakin pokemon he finds. I also doubt he would find a clefairy, I spent weeks in Mt.Moon and found nothing...

Well... *chin strokes* He seemed adamant about filling up the Pokédex before Red/Leaf (and even tells the player that they won't be needed for the task in the first place), so more than likely to do this he would go ahead and catch every Pokemon...

"Then why is he always a step ahead of the player?!"

Because that's how Game Freak's programers programed the Rival to be. He's always better than you, meaner than you, tougher than you... until you cream him in every battle you have, at least.

Crobat does indeed taking leveling up, however Dugtrio can be caught at level 29 in the Diglett's Cave. And Clefairy is all up to chance. I started Leaf Green 3 days ago (when I put myself up to the challenge of catching everything I could catch), and although it took a while... I got a Clefairy.

Of course, if you take it that far, then you get into the whole AI programming versus human error and resolve. WE might not want to go lookin' for a rare Clefairy for five hours, but if the Rival's gonna be better than you and fill up his 'dex, his AI-programming dang sure will.


Like I said in my previous post, it's plausable that he could've caught 40+ kinds by the time you face him at the Nugget Bridge (and it's very, very possible once you reach him at the SS Anne), meaning it could happen but there is no 100% guarentee.

That was the whole point of this topic, yeah? About if it's possible to obtain 40 unique kinds (evolution included?) between Pallet Town and Route 25?

 

[.Fenris]

*might get the answer to this*
I've been determined to catch every Pokemon possible in an area, wherever I go (evolutions included)-- Shall I give y'all a number when I meet up with my rival in Cerulean City?

HUGE EDIT, WITH A BIGGER ONE AT THE BOTTOM:

So I did the research and...

Game: Leaf Green

I can aqquire 40* Pokemon if I am adamnant about evolution AND if I have enough Moonstones (three Pokemon need Moonstones, one needs Thunderstone).

*Assuming there was no trading, surfing, or rod-usage and that the rival never bought Magikarp on Route 3, and that he was willing to level up all those caught Pokemon to their evolved forms. Also assuming that he travelled Routes 1-25, took the detour at Route 22 (as one can battle him there after the Boulder Badge is obtained). ALSO there is a mild descrepancy thanks to the difference in available Pokemon between Leaf Green and Fire Red.

Dialogue: "Hey, guess what? I went to Bill's and got him to show me his rare Pokemon. That added a lot of pages to my Pokedex! After all, Bill's world famous as a Pokemaniac. He invented the Pokemon Storage System on PC, too. Since you're using his system, you should go thank him. Well, I better get rolling! Smell ya later!"

There is no actual mention, before or after, about how many Pokemon are caught-- at least, not at Nugget Bridge. On the other hand, if the rival was adamant about evolution, bought Magikarp, and was shown an unknown number of new entries thanks to Bill, there is a chance that maybe he's gained 40+ Pokemon by this point.

In conclusion, it is PLAUSABLE that the rival can indeed acquire 40+ Pokemon (or at least gain Pokedex entries about them), so long as he puts in the time and effort to evolve all those Pokemon to further forms. At this point in the game, catching 40 unique Pokemon is not possible, but evolution+Bill's entries can bring up the number considerably.

Pokemon List for LG and Reference, not including Bill's entries:

Bulbasaur (Rival's pick)
Ivysaur
Caterpie
Metapod
Butterfree
Weedle
Kakuna
Beedrill
Pidgey
Pidgeotto
Rattata
Raticate
Spearow
Fearow
Arbok
Pikachu
Raichu*
Sandshrew
Sandslash
Nidoran(F)
Nidorina
Nidoqueen*
Nidoran(M)
Nidorino
Nidoking*
Clefairy
Clefable*
Jigglypuff
Wigglytuff
Zubat
Crobat
Paras
Parasect
Mankey
Primeape
Abra
Kadabra*
Bellsprout
Geodude
Graveller
Diglette
Dugtrio
Drowzee
Magikarp
Meowth
**Magikarp
**Gyarados

*Possible evolutions not shown in the rival's team to be had yet or needing an evolution stone to obtain
**I didn't buy Magikarp, but it IS possible to obtain if you give up that 500 Pokedollars. Also keep in mind that Magikarp and Gyarados bring our total up to 47.


HUGE EDIT IS HUGE:
AH-HA! The "I've caught 40 kinds!" actually occures on the SS Anne, when you face your rival before earning Cut from the captain. In that case, yes, with the above post still in tact and additional Pokemon caught in routes 5 and 11 (and diglette cave, AND the old rod now used), it is very much possible to get 40+!

... Am I officially a nerd for figuring all of this out? >:

Good God, how long did it take you to find that out?

 

[DGexe]

Three days worth of playing (with breaks for bathroom, class, food, chores...) I started this playthrough four days ago, more or less.

 

[Reira]

I think he was going crazy with the pokéballs, and catched everything he saw, JUST so he could turn up and brag about it later.

I also think he meant 40 pokémon, and not 40 different pokémon types.
Even though you CAN catch 41-42 different kinds at that time, I don't think he did it. He was obviously training his pokémon alot, so he may just've met many pokémon.

But that's just my opinion.