The Potential of Crystal Legacy

-By ZweiHydra                

An compilation on what a Pokémon Yellow "Legacy" style romhack should take into consideration. This is not meant as a list of instructions, only ideology and theory over the possibilities.

Version 1.2 last updated Dec. 15th 2023

V1.0

-Style Guide not fully enforced

V1.1

+Added Community Section

+Misc typos and fixes

V1.2

+Added Additional Resources w/links

+Added the most important map change suggestion

+Added Stomp & Vice Grip to Move Changes

+Finished Section 5.2

+Added running shoes details

V1.3

+Added further clarification on some points.

+Reworded why I suggest removing TM09&10.
+Added a “what I would do” doc

Foreword: This document was designed for the team of Pokemon Crystal Legacy, found on YouTube as SmithPlays Pokemon, to use at their own discretion. It's meant to be educational and informative, with curated opinions of the author to show what fans are interested in or would like to see.

To provide the most useful information to anyone working on Yellow Legacy, the author has avoided learning any other opinions or suggestions from other fans or fan-games. So that these suggestions can be as original and non-derivative as possible. Nothing on Crystal Legacy was reviewed or assumed to be back-ported either, to better reflect the unique nature of the RBY games.

This document has suggestions turned on, where the author has left additional notes on some subjects. Readers are encouraged to leave their own comments & notes in the Community Section at the bottom of the document.

Section 1: Considerations

Pokémon Yellow is a unique and interesting game, even compared to other Generation 1 games. Which in itself can cause some challenges when designing the game. Moreover, all of the Gen 1 games are renowned for their glitches, exploits, and unintended effects. For better results please consider using the Pokémon Red Decomp as the base rom, since more work has gone into coding and using that version of the game.

The nature of a hack like this is to give something to the fans, and to have a clear and concise image of the game you want to create with it. As such, everything included in this document are only suggestions, not gospel, and I don’t expect most to any of these ideas to be taken or used. Feel free to compare them to your own ideas, however. That said, please bare in mind the kinds of players that might want to play your game:

• Casual Fans, who are almost certainly the bulk, though the next group could exceed them per the nature of the people that play these hacks.
• Nuzlocke Fans, who want a challenge, within reason, that plays to the strength of the Gen.
• Speedrun Fans, who want the game to run consistently, regardless of glitches, so they can enjoy a new take on a classic game.
• Challenge Run Fans, who enjoy the ability to run through the game under certain criteria, such as using only 1 Pokemon, or not using the Pokemon Center.

• For the players who play with only 1 Pokemon specifically there are two-types of consideration that would go a long way for them. The first is to give sensible level-up Moves to all Pokemon as if they’re all catchable at level 5. The second is to incorporate a way in or out of game to manipulate having a different starter.

• Pokedex Completioners, who want every Pokemon to be obtainable. They have a few varieties, some want to complete the “seen” Pokedex by battling every trainer. While others simply want to catch and evolve all the Pokemon. But for those that seek a “living-dex” they will need every first stage of a Pokemon to be catchable.

• A smaller but interesting subset of this are the “Prof Oak Challengers” who do the same, but break it down by getting all the entries possible before a badge. There’s no effort you need to make to improve their enjoyment, but it’s worth considering them when placing items that can help evolve Pokemon. As well as NPC Trades.

Notable RBY Features:

These are a number of important features to bear in mind in Gen 1.

• There are only 5 Stats. HP, Attack, Defense, Special, & Speed. Special is the equivalent to both Special Attack & Special Defense from later generations.
• When a Pokemon is afflicted with the sleep status, they do nothing on the turn they wake up. Meaning a faster Pokemon can infinitely trap them for as long as they have PP.
• Trapping Moves, like Wrap and Constrict, prevent a Pokemon from acting during their turn, similar to being paralyzed.
• Every attacking Move makes a check to hit has a 1/256 chance to miss regardless of all other factors. In Gen 1 the only attacking Move that bypasses the accuracy check is Swift.

• This only applies to moves, which means it does not apply to thrown pokeballs, more specifically the Master Ball, as some rumors suggest.

• Critical hits happen at a rate determined by Base Speed. That means every Pokémon has a fixed rate to crit. But the only method to increase crit rate is to use high crit moves or the move Focus Energy.

• High crit moves have an 8x chance to crit compared to normal. That means that if a Pokémon had a ⅛ chance (around 12.5%) to crit, they crit every time (baring a 1/256 miss). That basically means any Pokémon with a Speed of more than 60 will crit nearly 100% of the time.
• Focus Energy lowers crit chance to hit by 4 times. So if it had a 40% chance it would drop to 10%.

• Critical hits ignore all stat changes. This means some Pokémon are penalized for their higher crit rate, especially if they learn Amnesia.
• If the first attack on a multi-hit move is a critical hit, every hit will be.

• That means, combined with the previous critical hit differences, that some Pokémon gain a lot more from multi-hit moves! But less than you think.
• As an example, Jolteon has a base speed of 130; giving it a 25.39% chance to critically hit with any move. It learns the multi-hit Move Pin Missile which has 14BP, 85% accuracy, and has a 75% chance to hit 2-3 times, and a 25% chance to hit 4-5 times. So if you want to critically hit AND hit at least for time (an effective base power of 56) then it's a 85% x 25% x 25.39% = 5.39% chance to successfully crit for its higher damage roll. Effectively, in vanilla, it's cool to see it happen, but generally unlikely. Remember that when altering multi-hit moves.

• Enemy trainers do not have PP meaning any moves that are balanced around low PP are missing that balance on the AI’s teams. Be very careful when giving those moves.
• BBG - The Badge Boost Glitch. A glitch in single player that causes the boost to stats from certain Badges to be reapplied in mid-battle whenever a stat is boosted or lowered. It is removed whenever a Pokémon levels up in battle, however.
• Accuracy stages are very unforgiving in Gen 1. Even one Sand Attack can dramatically change the hit rate of the player’s Pokémon. In addition to this, the item X Accuracy completely bypasses accuracy checks in Gen 1, essentially making all attacks 101% accurate. (as Swift)
• The type interactions are very different in Gen 1. It’s well known that the Psychic-type is immune to Ghost damage in this game, and many can extrapolate that the Dark, Steel, and Fairy-types weren’t added yet. (Though many people forget about the Steel part when they see Magnemite). However, Poison also super effective against Bug and Bug is super effective back! Additionally Ice is not resisted by Fire, only resisted by Water and itself.
• Self Destruct and Explosion secretly halved the opponent’s Defense when calculating damage. So their effective power is nearly double what's listed.

General Suggestions:

• Take inspiration from the “Let’s Go” games and the old tagline “Gotta catch em’ all”. Emphasis on catch. Remember that breeding doesn't exist in Gen 1. Which means if you want a stronger Pokémon, you have to catch it. There's no other way to get a Pokémon with potentially higher DVs! So every single Pokémon should be reliably catchable in the wild.

• That means every Pokémon. With possible exceptions to the 5 legendary/mythical Pokémon, the rest should be found somewhere you can repeatedly encounter in the wild and be able to catch.
• It would also be nice if the legendary/mythical Pokémon reset in their static location after every E4 rematch.

• Make Ghost a Special Type.

• As the Gastly line are the only Ghost-types in the game to begin with, it only makes sense. More than that, if Bite becomes a Ghost-type move it would provide the same early game special coverage that Bite does as a Dark-type in Gens 2 & 3, which is a great niche a lot of Pokémon benefit from. Also lets many Normal-types have a way to hit Ghost-types.

• Make Dragon a Physical type

• This only applies if any moves are changed to be Dragon-type. Dragonite, the only fully evolved Dragon-type Pokémon, heavily favors Atk over Spc. It's not highly recommended, but if done in combination with Ghost it would preserve the ratio of phys and spec types.

• Consider if the player base would appreciate a correction to the Badge Boost Error. In Gen 1 only the Thunder Badge increases Defense instead of Speed, swapped with the Soul Badge.

• This doesn’t have to change, but I mention it because with the overall amount of changes it would be fine to correct, and players of Gens 2 and 3 might expect it to work that way.

• Sleep and Freeze Clauses

• Introduced in Pokemon Stadium, a modification to the game’s code causing it to be impossible for more than 1 Pokemon on the enemy’s team to be asleep or frozen at once. (These are separate clauses, so you could both freeze and sleep an opponent at once.)
• Players of Pokemon Showdown might be familiar with these mods, as they’re adopted onto that site. (Showdown Gen 1 actually uses Stadium over the handheld versions).
• I do recommend a balancing feature like this, but if you believe it’s not diegetic to the game, that’s understandable. It’s also most likely a player only buff, since the AI doesn’t normally switch out when statused.

• Impact of Bug-type Buffs

• While it is likely to be appreciated by fans if you boost base stats of the weaker Bug-types, or otherwise make them more viable. It's important to remember the type changes of Gen 1. Bug and Poison play off each other due to their mutual advantage over the other.
• Overall I believe it would be an improvement for both types. The mono Poison-types will have more offensive ability as more Bug-types are included in trainer teams. But consideration should be made for the Pokémon that were already good but happened to have poison typing. (With the exception of grass poison types, since they are x4 weak to bug.) Like Tentacruel, Venomoth, & Nidoking.
• This will also indirectly buff Rock-types. Not only do they do super effective damage to Bug types, they resist the Bug & Poison types. And strange as it is to consider, the Rock type is considered fairly good in Gen 1, especially the Rock/Ground types. Though players tended not to use the type much, so that may be for the better.

• Rethink Trapping Moves

• Although they could be left alone, it's the nature of a modification like the Legacy hack to improve and rebalance the game to suit the players. In that vein, Moves like Wrap should be looked at from a new lens.
• The trapping Moves were designed by Gamefreak to be a weak early game strategy to overcome higher defensive foes. But they accidentally made it very very powerful (if monotonous). When redesigning Moves, consider treating trapping Moves more comparable to mid to late game Moves and letting Pokemon learn them around then. This could require a lot of testing to get right, so I can't advise any changes.

• Add the FRLG Healing Bed to SS Anne

• A time saving inclusion of an NPC and bed to rest in in the remakes contributes to a less time consuming section.

• Gyms 4, 5, 6, & 7 could have Level Scaling

• These gyms, and technically Gym 3, can generally be skipped and returned to later because they have no bearing on progression except Gym 6 which allows for the use of Surf, which is only required for reaching Gym 7.
• Because players can skip these Gyms, adding level scaling is a way to preserve difficulty.

• Sabrina could be a Required Fight before Silph Co

• This would simply be to separate the typical level difference between Sabrina & Koga, as ordinarily the player can face both of them in quick succession, with at most the last stretch of Pokemon Tower between them.

• Erika could have Increased Draw

• With the Rocket Hideout and Game Corner in town, and the Gym hidden behind some trees, it’s easy to miss. A type of roadblock or incentive to fight the Gym when you first arrive would be helpful to make her less forgettable.
• I recommend locking off the Department Store until you beat her Gym, or perhaps just the higher floors.

Additional Resources

• A Reddit Collection of Patches

• Not a great selection tbh, but includes a link to the Spaceword 97 Sprite Patch

• A Gen 2 Sprite Patch
• EXP.All Patch

• Per my previous suggestion to improve this unique addition of the Gen 1 game.

• Jojobear13’s Glitch Patching Repository
• PureRGB's QoL Feature Showcase

• A very comprehensive set of changes for reference to code changes.

Section 2: Quality of Life

I recommend the following additions or changes to improve the player experience.

Improved UI

• Specifically like that of Gen 2. Namely the in battle UI. Such as the EXP bar.
• Including new menu/bag designs if possible.

Remove the Vermillion Gym Trash Can Puzzle

• If you don’t want to remove it, at least make it always have the same solution.

Increased Bag Space

• Or expand the cap to be functionally limitless if possible.
• Also increase the PC storage an equal amount, as it is possible to max out both of them fairly easily.

Move Deleter & Reminder

• While a Move Reminder can be powerful, especially in older Gens, and thus see placement towards the back half of the game; I recommend they be available in Vermillion, Celadon, or Saffron City^[a]. This is because there is no way to level down the Pokemon you catch. If you want an older Move you have to get it from the Move Reminder. And since all movesets will be remade for this hack, design around an early/mid-game Move Reminder.
• I also suggest their services be at no cost, as a simple time saving measure. The main way Pokemon gain good moves in Gen 1 is TMs and high levels, so requiring a fee just adds additional time sinks for the player.

Respect for Player Time & Preferred Play-Style

• In the form of reduced back tracking, sensible inclusions, reduced/adjusted catch rates for some Pokémon, and generally anything to cut out grinding or excess text.
• Running by holding B. Possibly a menu option to make running the default.

• Additional note, but since this would be entirely new, you could also make it apply to the Bike and Surf speeds. B=Fast

• Removing the Pokedex/catch total requirement for the Prof’s Aids to give you items.
• Substantially decrease the encounter rate in many dungeons, such as Mt. Moon.
• Adding a way to easily obtain Rare Candies in an unlimited amount. Ideally some kind of Cheat^[b] Shop/NPC near the beginning of the game. This is purely for letting players save time, not grinding on wild encounters.

• While I would generally advise only having 1 version of the final version, in the form of a patch, for integrity you could offer the “cheat options” as a separate patch^[c].

Fixing Select Glitches

• I emphasize “select” because the glitches are almost a feature of the game, and are definitely a part of the experience. That said, there are a fair number that serve exclusively against the player’s time or interests and should be addressed. These include:

• Anything that could cause a critical failure, such as deleting a player’s data.

• While transformed, changing the order of your Moves could cause game crashing glitches.

• The Dual Type Damage Glitch as it mostly just serves to misinform players. And with the alternate Gen 1 type chart that player’s may not be used to, this issue compounds on itself.
• The glitch/oversight that prevents the learning of moves if you level-up past the level you learn a Move. Meaning, if a lv5 Pokemon learns a Move at lv6 but got enough EXP to go from 5 to 7, it wouldn’t be prompted to learn that Move at all.
• The Move Counter only working on Normal and Fighting type moves, as a buff to the move.

Instant Text Speed

• Sometimes called the “bike glitch” it is the fastest speed the text can appear at. Used in speedruns.

Removing the Safari Zone Minigame

• I recommend simply allowing the player to enter the area without restrictions.
• The short explanation why I recommend fully removing it is because it would be too much work to fix, and to very little benefit. The area is a required place to visit, and is generally frustrating. If the encounters are being improved in this game then nothing “new” should be in there. By removing the game and step limit, it simply becomes another unique area to enjoy without the hassle it gave in RBY.

Condense all fishing rods into a single rod.

• Furthermore, I’d prefer to see the fishing rod an item they player starts with. Many fishing encounters in the base game are needlessly gated off, and require back tracking. The results of which are some of the weakest Water types in the game, and Dratini who may not even manage to become a Dragonite by the Elite 4.
• However, I would recommend making Magikarp only located in a few locations to compensate, such as the Safari Zone. Since the Magikarp Salesman (found at the Mt. Moon Pokémon Center) would be rather pointless otherwise.

EXP.All

• In RBY there is a version of the EXP Share known as the EXP All. It's intended to work much like the modern EXP sharing mechanics. As long as it's in your bag the front Pokemon receives ½ experience and the rest of the party gains the rest between them. It has 2 problems however.

• First, like many things in the game, it's glitched to give less total experience than would have been earned if more than 1 Pokemon participated in the battle.
• Second, the game produces a text box for every pokemon that gained experience, one by one. It's extremely time consuming and frustrating.

• In the spirit of creating the ultimate Gen 1 game experience, I would suggest fixing the EXP all and making it work more like modern entries, by having it let the front Pokemon gain full experience and the rest gain half-experience.
• Because this is an item that was made for these games and intended for the player, I think it would be a shame not to provide a good version of it for players to obtain.
• An existing patch is linked in Additional Resources.

Again, not all of these need to be implemented to make a good hack, but it would be enjoyable to have any of them, if not all.

Section 3: Moves & Availability

★ Wherever a Pokemon is listed in this section, it means the lowest stage of its evolutions that could reasonably learn the move. It does not mean that only that stage of evolution should learn it. If the name has an * next to it, that means the Move should only be learned by that stage.

Section 3.1; TMs

It is of very high importance, I believe, that the TM list be extensively overhauled. In part because of the pseudo expansion caused by the Time Capsule, which allowed Gen 2 TMs/Tutor Moves to be sent back. Furthermore, there are several issues with the TMs that Gen 1 offered, that I will outline below.

Section 3.1.1; Jhoto Inspired TMs

These are TMs or Egg Moves from Jhoto, which can technically be passed onto Gen 1 games. I highly recommend all of them as new TMs.

• Elemental Punches - All of these moves were very niche in Gen 1, but as seen in Gen 2 are fantastic coverage to give to middling Pokémon. Since they’re not too powerful they are great to get early to mid game.
• Headbutt - A good Normal type Move that has high accuracy, which is oddly uncommon in gen 1. It would be a great find about or after Vermillion City.
• Defense Curl - With few stat changing Moves, a simple defense buff would be appreciated by many Pokémon. Especially those who can’t otherwise use the BBG.
• Growth - While thought of as a Grass type Move in later generations, in Gen 1 it’s more akin to Calm Mind. Most Pokémon completely lack set up moves in Gen 1, and those that do overshadow those that don’t. I would allow any Pokémon that learns Calm Mind in Gen 3 access to this Move via TM. And I would make it a level-up Move for most Grass, Psychic, and Electric types.
• Light Screen - Strangely not a TM until Gen 3, but while excusable in Gen 2, I believe it’s sorely needed as a TM in Gen 1. This is because there’s no other move that equates to a Sp.Def boost. Uniquely in Gen 1, this move is worse than Special increasing moves, which is ironically for the best: giving it to enemy trainers is safer than letting them boost their special in most cases. It also fits into the early game around or after Misty’s Gym. (because Gyms 2, 3, 4, & 5 are special)

Section 3.1.2; Axed TMs

I urge these Moves to be removed from the TM list entirely. It will allow better Moves to become TMs, but moreover many of them shouldn’t be TMs at all.

• TM07 Horn Drill & TM27 Fissure - While there is an undeniable charm to a janky OHKO TM, they're ultimately against the feel of Pokémon and should be removed. These are also specially abusable with how X Accuracy works in this RBY.
• TM09 Take Down & TM10 Double Edge - In terms of TMs these two moves are basically worse than Mega Kick. Accuracy might be king, but accessibly comes first. A high power move with no downsides beyond missing is hard to trade for better accuracy but consistent recoil. Not only is it a detractor from using them, but Strength is available shortly after Silph Co, making it a short trade unless you really need 10-20 extra power on a Normal Move.
• TM30 Teleport - Too small (and mostly pointless) of a user pool. With only an out of combat effect in this generation it should be replaced.
• TM36 Self Destruct - Redundant with Explosion. The power difference in Gen 1 is only 40 points no less, and most Pokémon that can learn Self Destruct do or would (in later generations) learn it by the time you get the TM. There's no value to having both in a moveset, and there's no value to having both in the TM list.
• TM40 Skull Bash - Very bad in Gen 1, and just in general. Even with the Def boost added in Gen 2, it's bad and mostly redundant with the other Normal type attack TMs. Even if it got a heavy redesign, the slot would be better with another Move instead.

• At best I’d give this move to appropriate Pokémon as a very early level-up move; to compensate for its effective power being 50.

• TM41 Softboiled - This move is literally only learnable by Chansey! Though it’s of note that Clefairy can learn this from the Gen 1 tutors in Gen 3, which is the only time that’s ever happened. This should easily be removed from the TM list.
• TM46 Psywave - Very bad, especially in Gen 1. Should be removed on principle; I recommend Psybeam because that's probably what they meant to put.

Section 3.1.3; Unchanged TMs:

TMs 01, 02, 03, 05, 06, 13, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 33, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, & 50 as well as HMs 02, 03, & 04 are all good and not noteworthy.

Section 3.1.4; Special Consideration

These TMs aren’t strictly in need of removal, but stand out for their own individual reasons. As such I’ve outlined important info for each.

• TM04 Whirlwind - I'm unaware of the full extent, but it seems this move might cause some glitches. If they’re problematic it could be removed. Unrelated but, it could be swapped with Roar which is almost identical with a different distribution.
• TM12 Water Gun - Though a weak and seemingly useless move, its early placement and wide number of users make it worth keeping for diversity. Only consider replacing it for the case of Bubble Beam having too much overlap.
• TM16 Pay Day - A decent number of Pokémon learn this move. However it's essentially just Tackle, and could just be added to the level-up list of the Pokémon that learn it, to free up a TM slot.
• TM17 Submission - By most standards a bad Fighting type move, but unfortunately the best one of Gen 1 for the most part. If the move is well buffed, keep it. Otherwise replace it with a better Fighting type Move.
• TM18 Counter - Because it only works on Normal & Fighting type Moves, I would recommend making it learned only by level-up. If it is expanded to all physical moves then I’d keep it as a TM.
• TM20 Rage - Glitched to become 0.4% accurate if it misses for any reason, so I recommend replacing it with a different Move. It also works very differently in Gen 2, and it’s worth considering making it work like it does there if you fix the accuracy glitch.
• TM23 Dragon Rage - Learned by a sizable number of Pokémon. But not very useful at the point you can normally acquire it, so could be better if acquired just a little earlier. Otherwise it could be changed to a more standard damaging Move.

• Of special note, there was an Event Magikarp that had this move. For people looking to use Magikarp (and not Gyarados) they might appreciate being able to learn the move via TM or level-up.

• TM31 Mimic - A normally gimmicky and awful move, but its Gen 1 mechanics make it a keeper!

• Essentially it lets you pick and copy any given move from the enemy and replace the Move Mimic with the Move you chose until you switch out or win.

• TM32 Double Team - Nothing wrong with this move, but it is a crutch. A traditional inclusion in every game, but not necessary. Recommend keeping it.
• TM34 Bide - A passable move to be a TM, though not sure if best gained from Brock.
• TM35 Metronome - A very interesting/iconic move. I strongly call for it to remain.

• A fun option that could be added for players is having an NPC in Viridian City that teaches this move an endless number of times at no cost to all Pokémon, if players want to do a Metronome only run.
• As above, but instead it could also be a very cheap TM sold early on to the same effect.

• TM37 Egg Bomb - Literally only learned by Exeggutor and Chancey. Unlike Soft Boiled, it could have its availability expanded, and if so should remain a TM.
• TM49 Tri-attack - With very few Pokémon learning it by TM it could be made a level-up only Move, else it stands to have its availability increased substantially.
• HM01 Cut - This move was sizeably altered for Crystal Legacy. It could remain as it was for continuity. An alternative I can recommend is making it a Flying type Move; a pseudo Aerial Ace.
• HM05 Flash - While a famously bad move, regardless if it gets a buff or not, it could be removed from the HMs list if dark cave sections are lit up. Not many Pokémon have cause to learn this Move at the best of times.

Section 3.2; Move Changes

These are suggestions on what Moves stand out as being in need of change, or could easily be changed to a different type for greater utility. Some types are not listed at all, because their Moves are either a signature Move, or the entire type has a sufficient amount and variety of Moves that do not need altering.

A foreword on deciding movesets: While most of the later game design principles for choosing movesets are good to pull from: when it comes to fan games, it's good practice to ignore some trends. Namely, Pokémon that evolve with stones or trading tend to stop gaining moves by level-up. I strongly advise against that, it's generally anti-fun. Other practices, like greatly raising the level they're obtained at, are much preferred.

Special Mentions:

These moves are notable for reasons other than the ones in the other categories, and merit higher attention.

Struggle

• Though it's possible someone could invent a case for keeping it as a Normal type move, for players looking to struggle through the game with only a Magikarp or similar, it would be more prudent to make it a typeless move like it is in all future generations. As well, to make it do less recoil perhaps.

Egg Bomb

• As mentioned in the previous section, this Move is very strange. It’s basically a signature Move (though for 2 pokemon rather than 1) but it’s a TM instead? It’s a bizarre inclusion even for the time. However, I believe it could remain a TM, and should be changed to a Grass Move.
• Taking inspiration from the Move Seed Bomb (from Gen 4) it could fill the gap between Grass’s current strongest and second strongest Moves: Solar Beam & Razor Leaf.
• Possible Availability: Bulbasaur line, Clefairy/Clefable, Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff, Oddish line, Exeggcute/Exeggutor, Lickitung, Chancey, Tangela, Kanga

Dig

• In Gen 1 this Move has 100BP, which is notable for several reasons. I call attention to it because it’s power should not be lowered. It’s a classic move to the generation, gained early and enabling many pokemon to hit super effective damage where they wouldn’t normally be able to.

Dream Eater

• While the move itself isn't all that notable (except that it requires the opponent to be asleep) it does have the makings of a Ghost move thematically. However, I don't recommend it becomes Ghost type. Ghost is not as offensively useful as Psychic, and it could serve much better as alternative coverage for when you can't spare a Psychic TM.
• The Gastly line will especially appreciate it, since their Attack stat is so much lower, even with STAB and a high BP it does more for them as Psychic.

Ice Punch (and New Ice-type Moves)

• I make a special mention of this move for a personal reason: the chance to inflict the frozen status. I suggest the chance to freeze be removed. The status is definitely a little too strong in RBY, and restricting the chances of it happening to only Ice Beam, Blizzard, and Tri Attack actually gives more variety to the Ice-type. For instance, Pokemon might run the weaker powered Ice Punch if it had a 30% chance to lower Special! Or similarly attractive benefits.

• Ice Punch could be buffed to just have that effect in addition, I’ll admit, but it depends on your preferred balance changes.

• Fire and Thunder Punch could be changed to match, or have both effects, depending on your choice.

Signature Moves:

These Moves are notable for ordinarily being learned only by 1 Pokémon or its evolutions. The underlined Pokémon are the ones who had the Move originally.

Twin Needle

• Like in Crystal Legacy it should be buffed to 40BP. Because of the dominance of Psychic types in Yellow, I also suggest it could become a TM.
• Possible Availability: Beedrill, Pinsir, Sandslash, Nidoran lines, Paras line, Farfetch’d, Cloyster, & Seadra

Hyper Fang

• Essentially a Normal type Crunch, it could be used by more Pokémon since Rattata/Raticate would still have their other exclusive move: Super Fang
• It would serve to increase the availability of this move if it were renamed to “Hyper Fangs”. Thereby implying any Pokemon with fangs could learn it, not just ones with a single “fang”.
• Possible Availability: Rattata, Ekans/Arbok, Pikachu/Raichu, Nidoran Line, Vulix/Ninetails, Zubat/Goldbat, Meowth/Persian, Growlithe/Arcanine, Slowpoke/Slowbro, Rhyhorn/Rhydon, Kanga, Gyarados, & Aerodactyl

Glare

• Only has 75% accuracy in this game, where Thunder Wave has 100%. Its only niche is hitting Ground types. It could stand to be buffed to 100% accuracy like in later Gens.
• Possible Availability: Ekans/Arbok, Golbat, Persian, Primeape, Growlithe/Arcanine, Rhyhorn/Rhydon, Seadra, Tauros

Petal Dance

• Should absolutely be buffed to 90BP like in later Gens. Unfortunately it only thematically fits on Pokémon with petals, drastically lowering the potential users.
• Possible Availability: Oddish Line, & Ivysaur, Venusaur.

Spore

• While it's not unreasonable for any Grass type that learns Sleep Powder to also learn this, it's probably for the best to keep it exclusive to the Parasect. Parasect could benefit from a speed or bulk buff to compensate, however.
• Possible Availability: Paras/Parasect

Kinesis

• Very forgettable exclusive move for Kadabra. Prime to be completely reworked, but could remain as is with no issue.
• If it's made into another attack Move, it would be nice to have it only be 40BP, then Confusion could be buffed to 55/60. It should have a different secondary effect than causing confusion though.
• Possible Availability: Abra Line, Clefairy/Clefable, Drowzee/Hypno, & Mr. Mime

Clamp

• As a trapping Move in Gen 1 it’s inherently more powerful. It's not necessary to give it to more Pokémon, but bear in mind what some trainer fights would be like if their pokemon has this move.
• Possible Availability: Shelder/Cloyster, Krabby/Kingler, Squirtle line, Slowbro, Omanyte line, and Kabuto line

Night Shade

• Does damage based on the user's level, which is a decent effect. That said, with a lack of Ghost type moves in game, I would suggest making this into a regular attack Move instead.
• Possible Availability: Gastly Line, Drowzee/Hypno, Vulpix/Ninetails, Venonat/Venomoth, Mewtwo

Crab Hammer

• A very good Water type move. Unfortunately I don’t see any other potential users, but it would be nice to spread it around.
• Possible Availability: Krabby/Kingler

Barrage

• A borderline pointless Move even in Gen 1. It’s just another flavor of Fury Swipes. Probably best changed into a Rock or Ground type Move. Or, since it’s generic enough to be almost anything, it could be a Dragon type Move if we’re looking to include more of those in the game.
• Possible Availability: Exeggecute/Exeggutor, as well as any Pokémon with arms or “spheres”

Bone Club

• A perfectly serviceable low power Ground type move. I do believe the accuracy is too low however, so it should be increased to 90 or 95.
• While it contains “Bone” in the name, it’s within the stretch of imagination for any Ground type (or adjacent) Pokémon with arms to use the move.
• Possible Availability: Cubone/Marowak, Geodude line, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Mankey, Poliwhirl, Rhydon, Kangaskhan

Bonemerang

• Good move, but strange to have the same base power as Dig & Earthquake. I'd lower the power to 40BP (80 total). It would make a decent TM to get before Earthquake.
• Possible Availability: Cubone/Marowak, Geodude line, Nidoqueen/king, Mankey/Primeape, Poliwhirl/Poliwrath, Rhydon, Kangaskhan

Jump Kick & High Jump Kick

• A very good Moves, especially in gen 1. One of the two should become a TM, but both should be in more Pokémons’ level-up list.
• Possible Availability: Hitmonlee, & everything that already learns Mega Kick by TM.

Rolling Kick

• A fairly bad move in need of an accuracy or damage boost. Should be in the level-up moveset of more Pokémon.
• Possible Availability: Hitmonlee, all Fighting types (except Hitmonchan), Farfetch'd, Doduo/Dodrio

Dizzy Punch

• Good damage, Normal type, but I would add a chance to confuse like in later Gens. Could become a Fighting or Psychic type Move. And it could be a TM.
• Possible Availability: Kangaskhan, Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff, Clefairy/Clefable, Electabuzz, Magmar, Lickitung, Machop Line, Snorlax, Mewtwo

Waterfall

• While there are a large number of good Water type Moves in Gen 1, they aren’t so evenly distributed. Waterfall is entirely inferior to Surf as it is. I recommend adding a flinch chance like in later Gens, and making it a level-up move for just about every Water type. It should be learned about 6-10 levels before the player normally finds Surf. That way if the Water type frequently out speeds opponents, there’s a reason to pass up the slightly higher power of Surf.
• Possible Availability: Goldeen/Seaking, basically every primary Water type

Lovely Kiss

• Niche but useful move, could definitely have more users. Typically not fully evolved or cute Pokémon specifically.
• Possible Availability: Jynx, Pikachu, Clefairy, Butterfree, & Eevee

Conversion

• Fairly unique, so I wouldn't expand it to many Pokémon. But it could really stand to be buffed to its Gen 6+ effect, which makes the user become the type matching the Move in the 1st slot; for consistent strategy.
• Possible Availability: Porygon, Staryu, Voltorb/Electrode

Sharpen

• A simple Attack raising Move. Normally exclusive to Porygon, but it fits for any sharp or angular Pokémon like most Rock types. Because not gaining any stat increasing Moves really holds a Pokémon back, I strongly recommend adding this to level-up movesets of the suggested Pokémon.
• Possible Availability: Porygon, Onix, Geodude line, Metapod*, Kakuna*, Sandshrew/Sandslash, Krabby/Kingler, Cubone/Marowak, Rhyhorn/Rhydon, Kabuto/Kabutops, Scyther, Pinsir

Bug Moves:

Leech Life

• Fairly redundant with Absorb, as only Venonat/Venomoth benefit from STAB with Leech Life but not Absorb. In Gen 7 it was boosted to 80BP and makes for a good mid/late game healing Move. I strongly suggest it to become a TM, if the power is increased.
• The power increase could fall into a few categories: 60BP would be more than sufficient across the board. However, 80 would match a boosted Twin Needle and be as strong as modern. But it could also be boosted to 90 to become the de facto strongest Bug type move for this game. Any option works, but consider which, if any, Pokémon can learn both this and Twin Needle before settling on the power.
• Possible Availability: Zubat/Golbat, Paras/Parasect, Venonat/Venomoth, Victreebel, Kabuto/Kabutops, Ekans/Arbok, Sandshrew/Sandslash, Pinsir, Omastar

Normal Moves:

Bite

• Unremarkable as a Normal type move, and with a lower chance to flinch than Gen 2+. I recommend it to become the Ghost type to more closely resemble the Dark type Move it becomes in Gen 2 onward.
• Possibly Availability: As before, plus the additions of the Gastly line, Rattata/Raticate, Vulpix/Ninetales, Slowpoke/Slowbro & the Charmander Line

Skull Bash

• My best suggestion to improve the move is to completely rework it, as there are too many (better) Normal Moves. It could be a Rock type Move, similar to Head Smash for what that's worth.
• It's hard to say what could be changed about it. Removing the charge turn takes away a lot of the personality, because then it's just Headbutt with a different name. I'm not even sure if the Gen 1 code can let it raise the user’s defense like in Gen 2. It may need a very large overhaul to be worth using in this Hack.
• It could have about 90 accuracy and the crash effect of Jump Kick, but keep in mind Gen 1 has a glitch causing that damage to do 1 point.

Gust

• It should be a Flying type Move, self evidently. Of note, this is one of the few Flying type Moves that the winged Bug types could learn. It's up to personal opinion if that means it should have its damage increased or not.

Razor Wind

• Generally called one of the worst Pokémon Moves, it's easy to see why. Low accuracy and a turn to charge, to deal 80 damage? Not great. It also lacks a semi-invulnerable state like Dig. If you make it a Flying type Move with no charge-up turn however, it's suddenly much better. Flying types without beaks, and thus unable to learn Drill Peck, would really appreciate this TM with these changes.
• Even with the above mentioned changes, I'd reason it could do with a further buff to accuracy or damage, now that it's in competition with Drill Peck which has 80BP and 100Acc. Razor Wind could drop 5 power but gain a high crit rate and better accuracy, or it could increase to 85 damage and never miss like Swift. But I recommend increasing the power to 95 and keeping the accuracy, so it's harder to pick between them if a Pokémon can learn both.
• Possible Availability: Charizard, Butterfree, Beedrill, Pidgey line, Spearow line, Golbat, Venomoth, Meowth line, Bellsprout line, Ponyta line, Farfetch'd, Doduo line, Scyther, Gyarados, Jolteon, Kabutops, Aerodactyl, Dragonite, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, & Mewtwo.

Karate Chop

• For some unknown reason it's a Normal Move in Gen 1. Easily fixed. Additionally, because of the high crit rate, I recommend the move be learned around the late 10s to mid 20s.

Comet Punch

• This is a strange Move. In all the games it's basically a signature of Hitmonchan and Kangaskhan. It's almost identical to Fury Swipes however. It makes a good contender to become a Fighting type Move at least. I'd raise the accuracy to 90%, and the power to 25. Or 20 if it becomes Fighting type.
• Alternatively if you make it a single hit move, then play off the word comet, you could make it a rock move. Since comments are just rocks from space of course. Something similar to the elemental punches perhaps, around 75 power. Likely full or very good accuracy, with something like a chance to flinch or raise attack on yourself.

• If you lower the damage it could be a priority Move.

Double Slap, Fury Attack, Fury Swipes

• All of these moves are difficult for players to make use of. All of them are Normal-type, do 18 damage or less, and have 85 accuracy or less. The low accuracy especially holds them back, as a gamble move is only valuable if the payoff is worth the risk. Even with the chance to multi-crit these don't have much use. I have a few suggestions for changes:
• One option is to completely change them, turn them into non-multi-hit moves and give them an entirely new identity.
• Or you could increase the accuracy, possibly the damage, and change the odds. Maybe one has a higher chance to hit 5 times than anything else! Or another hits either 3 or 4 times. Something that plays into the risk factor.
• Finally the low damage could be kept, but the simply hit a fixed number of times. That number could scale based on level, or speed. This primarily makes the moves just grow stronger over time, but it's slightly redundant with how leveling-up works in Pokémon.

Mega Kick & Mega Punch (& Slam)

• I'm usually fine with letting these Moves be, but in this Gen they're TMs, so we might as well address the problem; Accuracy. They're simply not valuable at their accuracy.
• Mega Kick does have great damage, mind you, but when it's only dealing Normal-type damage the low accuracy starts to hurt. A lot of low damage coverage Moves, like Bubble Beam, could be doing as much or more damage than Mega Kick. Slam is basically identical, but it does 40 less damage, and learned frequently in the 30s!
• Mega Punch is 80BP (same as Slam) but has 10% more accuracy. But +10% accuracy isn't exactly a great trade for -40 power. Worse is that Strength is a more accurate retrain of this move and learned by more Pokémon.
• There are too many ways to address this problem, so I emphasize that it should be one of the last problem solved. The solution will be straight forward, but it can be molded around other issues that might crop up from altering other Moves first. So keep these moves in mind, but don't worry about it, they're fine enough as is.

Spike Cannon

• A soft mention. It's a good enough Move, surprisingly, but it's also a great option for changing types. There are also plenty of other multi-hit moves so this doesn't need to remain as one. Basically anything type that could considerably fire a “spike” of something could have this Move.

Strength

• Another soft mention, like Spike Cannon. Strength is fine in Yellow, but it's a good canvas to be colored as something else. Additionally, if it remains Normal it can increase in damage; up to 100-105BP, the damage of Return in Gen 2, a very comparable move that was learnable by almost everything.

Stomp

• Perfectly fine as is. But if Headbutt becomes a TM or otherwise is used more, or if you need more Rock Moves in general, this is a good candidate since its got lower base power.. Stomp is thematic as a Rock-type Move since it’s about using your weight and size to squish your opponent. Which is a very Rock-type way of doing things, and it would make the Move hit Bug-types super effective.
• On an unrelated note, it could also get the ability to hit through Minimize (and Double Team) like it has in Gen 2, should you wish. Nothing about Gen 1 implies it shouldn’t.

Vice Grip

• A decent option to be a Bug Move. It could be semi-available to Pokemon with pincers or grappling abilities like Scyther. If so, it should be of medium power and have a good secondary effect.
• Alternatively it could be very exclusive, but possess immense strength.

Status Moves:

Meditate

• A very bizarre move to increase attack that is basically exclusive to Psychic types. It should be learned by most Fighting types instead.
• Possibly Availability: Clefairy/Clefable, Poliwrath, Machop line, Bellsprout, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Electabuzz, Magmar, Mewtwo

Disable

• This does do what it says it does. It just does it in the worst way possible. One of the opponents Moves is randomly disabled. While it would be interesting if it worked differently for only the player, that's not how the game works. Of course you could make it work as it does in later games, disabling the last used Move; I have a different suggestion.
• You could let the player see the opponent’s Moves and choose which one to disable. That might sound a little crazy, but that's almost exactly what Mimic does in this game, up until the disabling part.

Focus Energy

• This Move is glitched to quarter a Pokemon’s crit rate, instead of the intended x4 it was supposed to give. While it could certainly be corrected, there is a merit to its current form. Because some Pokemon crit so often, lowering their crit chance can be helpful as crits ignore the stat increases they have.
• A different -possibly mad- idea would be to keep the Move as is, but target the opponent. Pretty useful to prevent crits from opponents with high base Speed.

Splash

• More of an honorable mention, because it does exactly what it's supposed to: nothing. If there was anything to change about it, it would probably be to find a way to make it useful on Gyarados, but remain useless on Magikarp.

Transform

• Does what it is meant to. There's nothing wrong with the Move, only its user. But a small buff by increasing the priority of the move could go a long way to addressing that issue.

• The PP of Moves copied by Transform could also be increased.

Withdrawal

• A Water flavored Defense Curl. While it's completely fine to leave the Move as is, I did want to mention that it would have an additional effect to spice it up. Such as; doing (low) damage, improving the power of Water type Moves on the next turn, or having +1 priority (like snapping turtles pulling in their heads quick)
• Could instead (or additionally) be a healing move, around ⅓. This might be overpowered for Cloyster to have Specifically.

Amnesia

• This entry is primarily for posterity. Amnesia is unreasonably powerful when you understand the mechanics of the game. That said, I wouldn't exactly change it. It's limited to a select number of Pokemon and they are enabled greatly by it.
• I won't suggest which Pokemon should learn it, because that should be a late in development decision. However, I will say that it could be learned almost exclusively at around level 50 or later. It should basically be available only for the last few fights of the game.

Flying Moves

Fly

• It's rather underpowered in this Gen. Recommended to become 90BP (or more) like in later Gens.

Wing Attack

• This Move got an iconic buff in Gen 2, increasing its power almost twofold from 35 to 60. Considering that this is the Move most Flying types get by level-up to get STAB with, I think its power increase is sorely needed.
• Possible Availability: Charizard, Pidgeot line, Fearow, Farfetch'd, Golbat, Scyther, Aerodactyl, Dragonite

Sky Attack

• Learned only by TM, and learned by just about every appropriate user. And yet it's a Move that takes a turn to charge up, making it's impressive 140BP the same damage as if they hit Fly twice.
• It could be changed to work identical to Fly, just better. At least then it would get to be invulnerable for a turn. It's fitting, since Fly is a reusable HM, so a 1 time use TM with a flat upgrade is worth it. (Assuming players can overwrite HMs on the fly.)
• Alternatively it could be a single turn Move, with lower damage, worse accuracy, and/or recoil damage.
• One particularly “out there” option is to make it a clone of Hyper Beam, including the recharge skip when it KOes a target. Since almost every Pokemon that can learn this is a Normal Flying type, they already could take advantage of Hyper Beam. And a (slightly weaker) version of Hyper Beam that can hit some types for super effective damage is appealing.

Grass Moves:

Absorb & Mega Drain

• These two moves are similar but both lack power. I'd simply increase Absorb to 35BP and Mega Drain to 60BP.

• Or 70/75 for Mega Drain, to mimic Giga Drain which is also a TM.
• On a completely selfish note, I've always wished Absorb was Poison-type since most Pokemon that learn it are also Poison-types. 

Solar Beam

• Without the option of Sunny Day to skip the charge turn, I find it more practical to make it mimic Hydro Pump & Fire Blast and just have a lower accuracy.

Vine Whip & Razor Leaf

• Not a required change, but worth mentioning: If Absorb is buffed then it can be a standard Move for all Grass types to gain at low levels. Meaning both of these Moves could record a damage buff to add diversity.
• Razor Leaf’s high crit rate makes it a little dangerous to increase, but 75 is a very tempting power to give it, that could easily last the whole game. But a good number of potential Razor Leaf users could crit 90%+ of the time with this move, so it's safe to leave alone.
• Vine Whip could be treated more like the modern Power Whip, and given a substantial power increase. With no secondary effects, there's little downside. It only matters what Moves the users would have until they got it.

Poison Moves:

Smog

• Both too weak, and inaccurate. It's like a somehow worse version of Bubble. It does have a 50% chance to poison however. As such, I'd only increase the power to 40, but still increased accuracy to 90%.

Poison Sting, Acid, Sludge

• These three moves make up the rest of the offensive Poison type Moves. They're all accurate, but low damaging. I would adjust them to deal; 35, 65, 95 respectively.
• I would also make sure Acid is learned heavily across the mid-game over the other moves. That way the many Poison types the player faces will poison them less often, since Acid causes Defense to drop instead of inflicting poison.

Poison Gas

• Has too low of accuracy at 55%. As annoying as it would be to buff the many enemies that use the move in game, it's only fair if the player wants to use it at all. Because Poison powder is 75% this move should be the more accurate version so I'd increase it to 90%. It only inflicts regular poison.
• Its distribution is very poor, typically just Drowzee and Grimer. I'd extend it to Magmar, Horses/Seadra, Koffing/Weezing, & the Gastly line.
• I would try to distribute the Move at a higher level, but before the Toxic TM, so the early game isn't plagued by the move.

Rock Moves:

Rock Throw & Rock Slide

• Literally the only two Rock moves in the game, both are below average damage and both have bad accuracy. Rock Slide doesn't cause flinching in this Gen.
• I would increase Rock Throw to 60BP with 85% accuracy. And I would leave Rock Slide’s damage and accuracy alone but add the flinch chance it has elsewhere.

Water Moves:

Bubble, Water Gun & Bubble Beam

• Bubble is usually the precursor to Water Gun, but both have to compare to Bubble Beam as it's a TM, followed eventually by Surf. I would boost Bubble to 35BP, Water Gun to 55BP, and Bubble Beam to 75BP.

Bug Moves:

Pin Missile

• This move is considered the best Bug type Move in Gen 1. That's only true because the competition is that bad. But if we’re buffing the other moves, this one needs it too. With 14BP (2-5 hits) and a shockingly low 85% accuracy it's apparent why the “best Bug Move” was mostly only used against Pokémon with x4 weaknesses to it.
• There are 2 tiers of buff this can receive. I suggest an accuracy increase to 95% regardless. As for the damage, the move remained a messily 14BP until Gen 6 where it jumped all the way to 25. Because of the nature of multi-hit moves, a 50-125 power range is what makes the trade off worth it. But if we want to avoid that higher end power threshold, then a 20BP would make it vary between 40-100. So the low end is similar, but the high end is much less.
• Possible Availability: Beedrill, Sandslash, Nidorino/Nidoking, Paras/Parasect, Seadra, Pinsir, Jolteon, Kabutops, & Zapdos

Fire Moves:

Fire Spin

• It's a little awkward to suggest a buff to a Gen 1 trapping Move, but 70 accuracy is too low to ignore. It should be 85 at the lowest.
• That said, I actually recommend making this a more standard Move. Fire lacks for moves between Ember and Flamethrower, only having Fire Punch (which requires arms) at 75BP. While removing the 1 unique Fire Move (out of 5 total) stings a little, it does offer a nice power curve. I'd make it about 65BP and 95Acc.
• Possible Availability: Chamander, Vulpix, Ponyta, Flareon, Voltorb, Lickitung, Onix, Jigglypuff, Snorlax

• Using the name “Fire Spin” as inspiration I included a few rounder or coiling Pokemon that might appreciate the coverage.

Fighting Moves:

Submission

• Submission is… a lot to deal with. It's undesirable for the most part, being most Fighting types only Fighting Move that has more than 50BP. It only has 80BP, low accuracy with 80%, and it does (¼th) recoil… for some reason. If it was fully accurate and didn't cause recoil it still couldn't be a great pick. But leaning into its current design, it could simply be buffed in damage to compensate for the other downsides. 120BP would be a likely choice.

Counter

• I'm not sure if it's intended, an over site, or a glitch, but this Move only works properly if the user is hit by a Normal or Fighting type attack. Obviously it would be best to update it to the Gen 2 version, that does what it says it does.
• An alternative change is to just make it work identical to Revenge. It's the same idea in essence, and both moves are -1 priority. Only this way it would still do damage even if the opponent didn't hit.

Ghost Moves:

Lick

• The only Ghost type attack in Gen 1, essentially. Yes, Night Shade can do damage, but it's not an “attack” like other Moves. Lick itself has a pitiful 20BP but has a chance to paralyze. While the paralysis is nice, it wouldn't hurt to swap it out for a chance to drop Speed or Special instead. There's little to give the impression of the move being strong, however, so I recommend a small buff increasing the power to 35.
• Alternatively the power could remain the same or take a smaller boost to work like Nuzzle from later Gens. It would always activate the secondary effect. Not recommended unless there are a good number of Ghost type Moves to make up for it.
• Possible Availability: Ekans/Arbok, Gloom, Growlithe/Arcanine, Weepinbell/Victreebel, Shelder, Slowpoke/Slowbro, Seel, Gastly line, Grimer/Muk, Lickitung, & Snorlax

Section 3.3; Availability

These are Moves, typically not listed in the above section, that have poor or otherwise limited availability in Yellow. Each entry suggests Pokémon that should learn the Move, by whichever means are appropriate.

• Fixed Damage Moves

• While my personal feelings on these moves have never been great, they are an undeniable type of move in the game. Unlike Seismic Toss, these Moves do a listed amount of damage that never changes. So I simply urge caution to give them by level-up only where appropriate. Which is about level 15 for 20 points of damage, and level 22 for 40 points of damage.

• Dream Eater

• A case of limited access; it's learned by the Gastly line by level-up & TM, but the Drowzee line is only by TM. You might expect the opposite. But by Gen 3 it's far more extensive
• Possible Availability: Gastly line, Drowzee/Hypno, Butterfree, Clefairy/Clefable, Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff, Abra line, Exeggcute/Exeggutor, Jynx, & Lapras

• Soft Boiled

• While I do suggest this move not be a TM anymore, I do think more Pokémon could learn it by level-up.
• Possible Availability: Chansey, Clefairy/Clefable, Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff, Kanga, Exeggcute/Exeggutor

• Double Kick

• A perfectly decent Fighting type Move, it even has perfect accuracy! Although few would complain about a 5-10 point power bonus, it remains clear that the Move works just fine as is. It is, strangely, not available to many Fighting types however. In fact, it's almost the signature move of the Nido family.
• Possibly Availability: Raichu, Eevee, Mankey/Primeape, Poliwrath, Machoke/Machamp, Graveler/Golem, Ponyta/Rapidash, Doduo/Dodrio, Marowak, Hitmonlee, Rhyhorn/Rhydon, & Tauros

• Low Kick

• A very serviceable early-game Fighting Move. Ideal for Fighting Types to learn at low levels. Unfortunately that's only true of 2 of the Pokémon lines.
• Possible Availability: Mankey line, Poliwhirl line, Machop line, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Electabuzz, Magmar, Cubone line, & Kanga

• Stomp

• Stomp is a fantastic Normal type attack, best capitalized by faster Pokemon. Increased use would be good for the Move.
• Possible Availability: Ponyta, Krabby, Exeggutor, Lickitung, Rhyhorn, Tauros, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Nidoran, Mankey, Poliwhirl, Graveler, Drowzee, Kangaskhan, Electabuzz, Magmar, Snorlax

• Drill Peck

• Probably the best Flying type move in the Gen. Recommend a larger availability.
• Possible Availability: Pidgey Line, Spearow/Fearow, Doduo/Dodrio, Farfetch’d, Nido lines, Seel/Dewgong, Onix, Rhydon, Seaking, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres

• Acid Armor

• Possible Availability: Grimer, Vaporeon, Omanyte, Lapras, Gastly, Tentacool, Bellsprout, Psyduck, Venonat, Gloom, Nidoran, Ekans

• Recover

• As a small note, consider lowering the PP of this to 5, 10 at the most. It's pretty strong in RBY.
• Possible Availability: Staryu, Porygon, Abra, Mewtwo, Ekans, Jigglypuff, Paras, Slowpoke, Grimer, Exeggcute, Tangela

• Teleport

• If my suggestion to remove it as TM is followed, then the move needs to be redistributed. I will list 2 versions: Ones that learn it at level 1, and ones that gain it at a higher level.
• Lv1: Abra, Slowpoke, Drowzee, Chansey, Mr. Mime, Jynx, Mewtwo, Mew, Psyduck
• After lv1: Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Butterfree, Exeggcute, Staryu, Ninetales

Section 3.4; Special Considerations

I wanted to specifically mention a larger overall problem in the RBY games related to Moves. The Electric & Fire types almost universally have the short end of Move selection. Between limited options to pick from, incompatibility, and skewed TM options; Both of these types struggle immensely against the Rock/Ground types in this game. Which means they can hit a very hard roadblock at Brock, Giovanni, the Elite 4, and select Rival fights. Without Steel-type Moves, TMs like Focus Blast, access to Water or Grass Moves, or special strategies like Hidden Power/Seismic Toss, they really can’t do very well.

When selecting new movepools for these Pokemon, I urge you account for how Fire & Electric types deal with Rock/Ground types. 

Section 4: Pokémon

Section 4.1: Important Pokémon to Tweak

Note that this section assumes all Pokémon receive more fleshed out and balanced movesets, as every single Pokémon needs their Moves adjusted from their RBY versions. With a keen focus on learning Moves of their own types and Moves other than Normal. (Because Gen 1 movesets tended to not do that, being heavily weak and often inaccurate Normal moves.)

They also need to learn Moves by level-up in general. It's not unusual for a pokemon to learn as few as 4 moves ever beyond their starting set, by level-up. It was likely the intention of the game devs for the player to supplement the movesets with TMs. But since they're limited and some people use many different Pokemon, that's not feasible.

Listed roughly in order of importance, from highest to lowest.

Partner Pikachu

• In the default game its stats are just like a regular Pikachu, the only difference is that it can't raise them by evolving. This is an obvious problem. If we borrow stats from the partner Pikachu from Lets Go that increase is stats across the board, but not by much. Still a decent place to start.
• I recommend giving this Pikachu a modified level-up moveset, something a little more favorable and with moves outside its Normal coverage. Especially something to deal with Brock and his Rock/Ground types.
• Additional moves could be learned from NPC tutors, most iconally Fly & Surf.
• Regular Pikachu’s stats are: 35HP, 55Atk, 40Def, 50Spc, 90Spe. Abysmal health with below average offense and bad defense. The Speed is good, but has little to work with.
• Let’s Go Partner Pikachu boasts: 45HP, 80Atk, 50Def, 75Spc, 120Spe. It still has bad health, but average offense and passable defenses. The Speed is now excessive however. While good for landing crits in Gen 1, that's about all it offers.
• I suggest the Yellow Legacy Pikachu keep 90Spe and focus more on HP and defenses, with whatever can be spared towards Special. If it can use Surf then the Water + Electric combo will be the primary damage against everything but Grass types. So Attack won't be that important.

Regular Pikachu

• Unlike the Partner Pikachu, regular Pikachu's don't need to be so well rounded nor do we need to expect them to survive every fight and pull their weight to the champion. Their main advantage is being able to evolve, however they're still plagued with some pretty mediocre stats.
• As a Raichu, and being an Electric type, and doubly so in Gen 1, it lacks good coverage Moves. Combined with only 90Atk and Special, it suffers from having only 60HP & 55Def. Basically any Ground Move, even without STAB will KO it. And without any Moves to counter Ground or Grass types it is in a bad spot.
• I recommend letting it learn Dig and Bubblebeam to deal with Rock and Ground types respectively. If Cut has been changed to a Bug or Flying type Move let it learn that to fight Grass types.

Abra Line

• Abra is in a strange place. It's been tradition since the very first game that Abra is a useless Pokémon that's hard to catch, but evolves early. Unfortunately what it evolves into is a monster in Gen 1. Kadabra can solo the game, and it's assumed it can become an Alakazam by level-up in this Hack.
• Against tradition, I actually suggest Abra be given a better movepool but have its evolution pushed back to compensate. Even as an Abra its stats are good, and with some real Moves it can contribute well but not sweep like Kadabra.
• I recommend it only know Teleport until lv9, where it then gains Psywave. Then where it can first be encountered give the smallest chance to encounter it at lv9, so if you want to start leveling it up immediately you can try and catch one that knows an attack. Then simply delay its evolution to the mid 20s range.

Caterpie & Weedle

• These Pokémon and their middle evolutions have been done dirty for years. There's not really a defendable reason they only get Tackle/Poison Sting, String Shot, & Harden before they reach their final forms. Sure they evolve early but their final forms may as well be the only forms if it's going to be like that. I strongly recommend giving them a tiny bit more moves by level-up, at least to give a reason for them to stay unevolved; improving their 3rd stages as a result.
• I suggest giving Wrap and Spike Cannon to their first forms for staying unevolved. Then Sharpen and Pin Missile for their middle forms remaining Unevolved. But try to let them get these and still evolve before Brock’s level cap.

Lickitung

• Poor Lickitung feels so out of place in this Gen, and this is basically the only game where it could stand out. Its highest stat is HP at 90, with 75Def and 55Atk. Worse with 30 Speed in a time before Trick Room it's going to have to bank on surviving a hit to do anything. It also doesn't learn Lick, so there's that problem too.
• I strongly recommend giving it a substantial buff. Probably something close to Lickilicky’s base stats of 110HP, 85Atk, 95Def, 80Spec, 50Spe. These stats are actually very similar to Tauros, but it swapped Speed for HP, and has much lower attack. I wouldn't give it stats any lower than this. This is the only game where a player might actually use Lickitung after all!

Magikarp

• Gyarados has the stats to be fine no matter what's happening, so I'm only talking about Magikarp here. And Magikarp is designed to be terrible, of course, but that doesn't mean we should let it be completely unusable! I think it deserves a small stat buff and some moves for staying unevolved past level 20.
• As far as stats go, I'd give it 30HP (+10) and 20Atk (+10). Just barely letting it survive physical attacks and doing a small amount of damage. Then for level-up moves I'd give it Tackle at 10, Bubble at 20, Slam at 25, Dragon Rage at 30, and Waterfall at 50. That should make it a little more worthwhile to a casual player, without really challenging the “useless Pokémon” title it has.

Pidgey Line

• Suffering from final stats below the other two Normal Flying type’s final evolutions, but also saddled with an awkward middle stage and taking longer to reach full strength, the Pidgey line has a lot of obstacles to deal with.
• It's a more complex issue than it first seems, because there's not a lot you can give that will help. Dodrio already has some of the best stats, while Fearow is similar but available much earlier. And both have superior movesets. So giving better stats or Moves to Pidgey only makes them feel repetitive.
• If the selection of Moves and Types wasn't so poor in Gen 1,  I’d simply give Pidgeot fantastic Special instead. Probably around 100. But there are almost no special Moves that fit thematically, like Fairy Wind, Icy Wind, or Heatwave.
• If instead we lean into its three stage evolution and make it stronger as Pidgeot than the other Normal Flying types, then it will rapidly become near/as good as the legendary birds! The silver lining is that they are special leaning in this Gen, so Pidgeot could be the physical mirror. Maybe slower than Dodrio but with 125 attack?

Rattata Line

• Rattata should evolve before Brock in my opinion, especially since he's a Rock type Gym that completely walls just about everything Rattata gets by level-up. (Super fang is normally level 34!) And even Raticate’s stats are middling.
• I’d make Rattata evolve at a very early lv13. And if Bite becomes a Ghost move I'd make Rattata learn it at 14, but Raticate around 25ish. Past that, I'd consider giving it a boost to every stat (except maybe Speed) of around +10.

Ekans Line

• Arbok is definitely on the low side of stats, and has a shallow move pool. Simply fixing those things would do a lot for it. I recommend the move Leech Life (later in level if it's been buffed) as well as Hyper Fang. It could also learn Acid and Glare at much lower levels.

Jigglypuff Line

• Where Clefable boasts a deep movepool and good rounded stats, Wigglytuff is suffering from too much HP and Atk without the defenses or speed to back it up.
• I recommend swapping Wigglytuff’s Attack and Special, and increasing its defense to at least 65, but not lowering HP below 130. And scale down the buffs to Jigglypuff. While it will make both of them fairly similar, they need to be when they're relying on their above average movepool of special moves. Better the player needs to choose between similar pokemon, than skip one because the other is better.

Golbat

• Golbat reeks of middle stage Pokémon, and yet it is cursed to not evolve. In Gen 1 it's so close to something, but it just lacks a decisive factor to turn things its way. Plus it's a Poison type at the height of Psychic’s power.
• I'd simply give it +25 Attack. It's a bit excessive, but 105 is still pretty middle to high in Gen 1. Technically that would make its attack higher than Crobat, but if it did evolve it would gain far more speed and bulk instead.
• If the general power of Moves are balanced, then the only other thing Golbat needs changed is to learn a decent Poison type Move by level-up. Additionally, if Leech Life is buffed then it should have Absorb at low levels instead.

Parasect

• Parasect has a special function in Gen 1. It's the only user of Spore, and it should probably stay that way. Like most Spore users it's slow, which means it needs something to complement those two facts. It has respectable bulk with 80Def and 80Spec. 65HP is below average, but good for a Bug type.
• Overall I'd leave its stats alone, but give it access to Withdrawal or Defense Curl, as well as Growth at early levels. Combined with a buffed Leech Life it will be able to slowly build up its defenses by putting the opponent to sleep. At higher levels it could learn Recover.

• Because of how strong sleep is as a status in Gen 1, I caution including Solar Beam in its movelist if it's been buffed to work like Hydro Pump.

Farfetch’d

• In a region with 3 other really solid Normal/Flying types Farfetch’d feels especially bad. It would be more than fine if it evolved, but alas that is many years away from Pokémon Yellow. Learning Swords Dance by level-up helps, but not by much. What it really needs are raw stats.
• I'd give it a new stat spread of 95, 75, 75, 75, 65. Though average, every stat was still increased, typically by a lot. Then I'd give it early game access to Agility, Swords Dance, Headbutt, Wing Attack, & Sonic Boom. I would also add Drill Peck and Body Slam to its level-up moves. With early game Swords Dance and better STAB options it should be a fearsome mon for the mid-game.

Muk

• What is seen today as a special wall, had only 65 Special in Gen 1. Combined with 75 Def and only 105 HP it's deceptively frail. With weaknesses to Psychic and Ground it's in a really rough spot.
• I recommend increasing its Special to 100, matching its Sp.Def in later Gens. Its movepool has a few special moves to benefit from the change, but they're Electric and Fire type moves, so it won't do much to fight off its weaknesses. At best it gets Mega Drain with 40BP to use against Ground.

Onix

• Onix is in a strange place. It's essentially a gimmick Pokémon, designed entirely for its place on Brock’s team. Its lopsided stats have 160 Defense, yet only 35HP and 30 Special. With HP that low its Defense is more like 80 with average HP.
• In order to preserve the feeling that Onix presents as a boss fight, I recommend a new stat spread of 70HP, 85ATK, 150DEF, 45SPC, 53SPE. (BST 403, up 63 points.) This will let Onix feel just as physically bulky, much more average special bulk (still easily dropped from a 4x Grass or Water move) but a little slower. I do think it should learn Agility to compensate, since it is known for tunneling quickly.

Electrode

• All that speed and nothing to use it for. Its stats are admittedly fine for this era, though if you want it to use Self Destruct/Explosion effectively it could use 10-20 more points of Attack at least. What's more important is its movepool, which is entirely Normal Moves. The only ones using its Attack stat are Tackle and Swift, ignoring the self destructing moves.
• I strongly advise that Voltorb & Electrode learn, well, Electric moves. Almost any really. I also suggest Fire Spin by level-up, and Mega Drain by TM. To help it with Grass and Ground types (without resorting to Self Destruct)

Hitmonlee & Hitmonchan

• Both Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan have the same problem, min-maxed stats. More specifically, minimum Special. That's fine for special attack, but not for special defense.
• I recommend giving them both substantially more Special. With Hitmonchan getting more, so it can use Ice Punch to good effect.

Scyther & Pinsir

• Both these Bug types are on this list for the same two reasons. They both have 55 Special, and neither learns any Bug type moves by level-up. Easy to fix, give them a little more special and let them learn Bug type Moves.

Ditto

• Ditto has the same problem here as it does in all future games: Bad stats. But unlike Gen 5+ where it can have the ability Imposter, Transforming it on switch in; here it is so slow it needs to survive a hit and then use Transform to copy every stat except HP. So now it’s missing HP, used a turn, and it has the same Speed as the opponent making a speed tie; it's not in a great position.
• I recommend giving a stat spread of 70 (+22, up from 48) across the board. That is still pretty weak on all accounts but much more tolerable. With 70 Speed it might go first. With 70 HP, Def, & Spc it can take a few hits. And with 70 Atk it can use struggle like the best of them, because relying on Transform is rarely going to work.
• Alternatively most all of these changes could be avoided if the Move Transform has increased Priority.

• On a side note, if you could instead hardcode it to auto transform as if it had the Imposter ability, that would probably be better.

Section 4.1.2: Other Pokemon

These Pokemon stand out in other ways, and are notable for unique or special details.

All Starters (& their Evolutions)

• By comparison, they almost seem overtuned! But as we saw going forward in future games, the Starters are the gold standard for Pokémon balance and design. So while it is technically viable to nerf them to smooth out the experience, I strongly advise against it. Especially since most players will be coming from later Gens.
• All of the starters suffer from the same problems as the rest of the Pokemon in the game; poor level-up moves. This can be easily fixed, but it's notable that the starters probably have the least issues with it on the whole.
• Some starters do better than others, yes, but on the whole these 3 are very well balanced against each other already. However, if Brock is buffed to have better Special on his team (or uses light screen) then I recommend giving Charmander a Move around level 11-13 that hits Rock better. Like a Ghost type Bite, or Sonic Boom.

Eevee

• In base form, but especially in all of its evolved forms, Eevee’s doing very well. Good stats across the board, access to many TMs for the types it evolves into, and 110 Special on all the evolutions. It’s no wonder it was picked as an honorable starter in Yellow, and became one in Let’s Go.

Tentacool

• Despite being a Poison type in a Gen ruled by Psychic types (and where a weird number of non-Psychic Pokemon also learn Psychic Moves by level-up) Tentacool and co do really well. Owing to its fantastic stat spread and movepool, combined with the Water typing, it is something of a tank while also being fast and having some of the best Water STAB in the game.

Magnemite

• It can feel somewhat like a nerf to go back to Gen 1 and lose the Steel-type this Pokemon is well known for. But it’s not so bad a trade off for the benefit of merging its special stats together. Rocking a terrifying 120 Special and 95 Defense, if it’s not being hit by a Ground Move it’s probably going to live.
• Its main problem is its shallow movepool, it doesn’t even get many Normal moves. So any Rock/Ground types are going to give it a very bad time.

Exeggutor

• Exeggutor did very, very well in Gen 1. With no strong Bug types that also knew Bug type moves, its primary weakness couldn’t be exploited. It also had the defenses to deal with mediocre Flying & Poison damage, and its Special was incredible and made Fire & Ice not much of a problem. And as a Psychic type it could throw Psychics at the enemy and always hit for neutral unless it was another Psychic type.
• While this Pokemon is a powerhouse, bear in mind that almost any changes to benefit Bug, Flying, and/or Poison type (like better moves or stats) drastically affect this Exeggutor. So hold off on any nerfs until you’re certain it needs them. It may actually need some buffs depending on how the hack is designed.

Mr. Mine, Jynx

• Strangely both of these Pokemon were available only as a trade in their debut game. They’re basically designed to be gained earlier than expected for their level, most likely with the downside of trade Pokemon being disobedient. An interesting concept, but ultimately not well fleshed out. As a result these Pokemon both feel fairly out of place most of the time, appearances not withstanding, and can be hard to balance around.
• I don’t recommend Mr. Mime be available very early, but while Jynx can be overpowered early I can say it’s one of the only Ice types that can be seen early game. (Since the majority of Ice types are pure water in their unevolved states.)

Electabuzz, & Magmar

• Counterpart Pokemon, with a strange tale. Most people, especially through emulation, played the Red version of the games. Where Electabuzz is the exclusive Pokemon they have access to. But Electabuzz is easily missed because the Power Plant is an optional (and forgettable) extra area you need to backtrack to with no incentive. So somehow both of these Pokemon end up being unused.
• They’re both pretty good, but neither is the best of their type. I recommend finding good places to place them before Fuschia so players have a chance to add them to their teams.

Section 4.2: Evolution Changes

This section includes many* recommendations for alternate levels for the listed Pokémon to evolve at. Generally speaking this Gen of Pokémon has a bad habit of making most wild Pokémon evolve much later than the starters, often by 10 or 20 more levels. It was primarily designed around the idea that a Pokémon could not be found until a certain point in the game, with little or no thought to future proofing these Pokémon.

As such many of the recommendations push down the evolution level by as much as 10 levels, often to allow Pokémon to evolve in the 20s at least, as most first stage Pokémon don’t have the stats to be a threat to even the second form of any starter.

#016 Pidgey

18 ➤ 16

Just squeezing a few more levels out of the gap between when it's a Pidgeotto and Spearow isn't evolved.

#017 Pidgeotto

36 ➤ 26

Dramatically lowered to make up for its lower stats and worse movepool compared to Fearow, which evolved at lv22. Hopefully other buffs will take it up to par to make its new evo level useful.

Also squeezes in before Surge, hopefully with enough bulk to be somewhat of an option.

#019 Rattata

20 ➤ 13

Nothing substantial to be gained from it in the early game, and barely good enough to be used against Misty on a good day. By dramatically lowering the evolution level it gains an early game niche that could make it worth using over Butterfree.

#041 Zubat

22 ➤ 18

Zubat has just enough bulk to be annoying when you're trying to beat them in Mt. Moon. Not enough bulk to survive while switch-training them.  Lower evo level is just quality of life for this Pokémon.

#046 Paras

24 ➤ 17

As a Bug type it's expected to evolve at a low level. Furthermore it's far too weak in its first form with 3 4x weakness to boot. It should be added to Viridian Forest as an earlier encounter, and Parasect could be an uncommon encounter in Mt. Moon as a more reasonable challenge.

#048 Venonat

31 ➤ 22

As a Bug type it's expected to evolve earlier. What's more, Venomoth isn't even that much stronger than Butterfree, who makes a decent comparison.

The level could be pushed back a bit, but generally speaking to make this Pokémon viable it should be encountered before Rock Tunnel.

#052 Meowth

28 ➤ 21

While Persian is strong in Gen 1, Meowth is not. It's difficult to keep using it long enough to get the payout. Especially when you couldn't catch a Tauros later for an even better Normal type.

#054 Psyduck

33 ➤ 25

With stats that are basically 50 across the board, Psyduck is not viable to wait several levels to evolve. Depending on its placement, strongly consider reducing the evolution level further.

#056 Mankey

28 ➤ 22

While Manley is absolutely serviceable for many levels, it's low HP and Special make it frustrating to use at and past Misty. In my personal experience it gets dropped for that reason. So lowering its evolution to happen around Misty’s Gym should greatly alleviate the problem.

#060 Poliwag

25 ➤ 15

Poliwag lives to suffer with its sub-starter stats. To compensate, let's let it evolve around when a starter does. Poliwhirl is much closer to a 2nd Stage starter so it's a pretty safe time to let it.

#063 Abra

16 ➤ 24

A rare increase in evolution level. I outlined why in section 4.1, but to recount I suggest moving it up to keep Kadabra from sweeping the game too easily.

#064 Kadabra

37

A decent level for a 3rd stage evolution. A little late, but that's safer for everyone with Alakazam.

#066 Machop

28 ➤ 24

More than the other 3 stage trade-to-evolve Pokémon, Machop mirrors Abra, so I think it's fitting to have their evolutions be the same level. Also it's getting a little weak by 24.

#067 Machoke

35

It could be pushed up to match Alakazam, but honestly I think Machoke is much less threatening and might even deserve a lower evolution level since every other Fighting type Pokémon is fully evolved by lv28 (or can be with other methods)

#072 Tentacool

30 ➤ 25

Reduced by 5 levels, more to compensate the player’s time than anything else. You encounter them for the first time when you're surfing. And they tend to be in the 22-30 range. By lowering the evolution level a player can just catch any of them and be fine.

#074 Geodude

25 ➤ 18

Encountered far too early for an evolution that late, and with a 4x weakness to the upcoming gym. An earlier evolution should help offset the problem a fair amount.

#075 Graveler

32

Lower than the rest of the trade-to-evolve quartet, but it's also the least intimidating of the 4. I feel this will help make Golem a more desirable teammate.

#077 Ponyta

40 ➤ 20

Truly a terrible evolution level. While normally only encountered before the 7th Gym, Ponyta itself has stats close to a Charmeleon and evolves into a very middling Fire type. While the level could be higher, if it was acquired earlier (perhaps through an NPC trade) it would have to compare with Vulpix and Growlithe who can both evolve very early with a fire stone. So an evolution of a level lower than their average when they get the stone is useful for scenarios like that.

#079 Slowbro

37 ➤ 27

Slowpoke does not have the stats to last up to level 37. With only 40 Special and 15 Speed it's getting hit first, and getting hit hard. Additionally, if it could be acquired earlier than usual, perhaps via fishing, it could stand to have an even lower evolution level. Bear in mind that Slowbro is a good Psychic type, but is only around the strength of Kadabra, not Alakazam.

#084 Doduo

31 ➤ 25

A slightly better Fearow needs only slightly more levels to evolve. Not much use in using Doduo, especially at the level you normally get it.

#086 Seel

34 ➤ 24

By the time you're at the Seafoam Islands the level of your team and the wild Pokémon should be above first stage Pokémon. Consequently, I would also make Seel available earlier (likely via fishing) and have none in the Seafoam islands, only finding Dewgong there instead.

#088 Grimer

38 ➤ 28

I don't personally think Grimer can last to level 28 with its stats and typing, but Muk would admittedly be a little too good at a lower level.

#093 Haunter

35

Matching evolution levels with Machamp, the two are about both powerful for the level but not too much, and each have a weakness to Psychic, which there's a noticeable increase of around Pokémon Tower and onwards.

#098 Krabby

28 ➤ 24

Kingler only hits a little bit harder than Krabby, surprisingly. The real benefit to evolving it is the higher Special, which is all  but necessary to face Surge’s Electric type(s).

More specifically it should evolve around 1-2 levels lower than Surge’s ace.

#109 Koffing

35 ➤ 28

It could evolve around 30 for how good Weezing is. But this way it matches Grimer. A bit strong, but getting to 35 can take longer than it seems.

#111 Rhyhorn

42 ➤ 26

A bit of a radical change in level, but: I just can't justify giving it a later evolution level. Sure it's got fantastic physical stats; 105HP, 130Atk, & 120Def. But the really important ones are it's 45Spec and 40Speed. One hit from any Water or Grass Move and it's down, and just about every Water and Grass type are going to outspeed. Might as well let the player get the Pokémon early.

Also of note, Rhyhorn is almost identical to Geodude in stats, just a small bit better. If Geodude is falling behind in the 20s, so is Rhyhorn. Waiting 20 levels after that…

#116 Horsea

32 ➤ 23

With only 30HP Horsea is not going to do too well past level 20. I do suggest making it's evolution exactly 1 level past Misty’s ace, so if Misty uses this line it will be with a Horsea, like she had in the anime.

Seadra is better in Gen 1 than later games, but 95 Defense and Special only takes it so far. Most late game teams have Pokémon with stats around 120-130.

#118 Goldeen

32 ➤ 16

Seaking is, truly, underwhelming. If you take my suggestion and have fishing available early, you could catch Goldeen before Brock (and if its moveset is improved, it may even have a Water Move!) giving it some use. But to make Seaking have a chance at being useful with its stats, you're going to need it before Mt. Moon. Afterwards you'll be facing a Gym that resists Water and another that beats Water.

#138 & 140 Omanyte, Kabuto

40 ➤ 25

You typically receive these Pokémon at level 30, having been revived from a fossil. However, that's on Cinnabar Island and around the 7th Gym. If all Pokémon are made catchable in the wild, then you could obtain these Pokémon earlier than that. Moreover, with their typing and stats there's not much use in gating the evolution past level 30.

#147 Dratini

30 ➤ 21

Possibly as late as 24. Dragonair has good all around stats, but that's all it's got. It's meant to make you feel lacking until the second evolution. Getting Dragonair before the 3rd gym is just soon enough for it to feel useful. Though any methods of getting it that early should be hard or costly.

#148 Dragonair

55 ➤ 40

While it's been done for decades now, I've never personally seen too much merit in gating off good Pokémon behind an obscene level wall. 40 at the earliest, 45 at the latest. It's still going to be the Pokémon that evolved at the latest level.

Dragonite is pretty strong, but not quite good enough to beat the Elite 4 by itself
(at lv55), not with an Ice type specialist first.

Bonus - #043 Oddish / #069 Bellsprout

21 ➤ 24 & 17

These two Pokémon share the same evolution level, typing, and use the same evolution stone. As such, it's for the best to split up the evolution level and distance them on the map. For this I recommend Bellsprout to evolve at 17, and be found west of Viridian City. While Oddish instead evolves at 24 and is caught east of Vermillion City.

As a bonus, there could also be a NPC trade to get one for the other early. Trade a Weepinbell for a Gloom, possibly getting it under its normal evolution since the trades usually match the level of the Pokémon given.

Bonus - Special Note on Stone Evolutions

• In Gen 1 there are a fair number of Pokemon that evolve using evolutionary stones. Unlike later games you can only find the Moon Stone in the overworld. The rest are only found in the department store. So I would recommend placing some in the overworld if you can.
• Additionally, consider removing, or even adding, stone based evolutions from some pokemon. A number of Pokemon, typically the kind that would be version exclusives with each other, evolve with the same stones which can feel repetitive to the player at times. It depends mostly on how quickly the player catches those Pokemon in succession.

Section 4.3: Catching

In this section I outline a general order that wild Pokemon can be found. With an emphasis on obtaining most all of them before the player gains Surf. Some Pokemon that normally can't evolve without the player are listed in later areas, simply to scale up to the player’s expected level. They could be replaced with previous forms instead.

Section 4.3.1: The beginning

We begin at the players house as normal, with nothing special or different. They proceed to meet Prof Oak and receive their first Pokémon. Luckily it's a fixed encounter so there's no losing out on the chance to get something else forever as a result. After they do an errand they receive pokeballs, but also a fishing rod.

• Pallet Town: Partner Pikachu
• Fishing: Goldeen, Horsea
• Before Viridian Forest: Rattata, Pidgey, Weedle, Kakuna, Bellsprout, Mankey
• The Forest: Caterpie, Metapod, Paras, Pikachu
• Diglett’s Tunnel (optional): Diglett, Sandshrew

*Diglett’s Tunnel could be opened up early by moving the one tree blocking the way. The tree could be moved outside of the tunnel near Vermillion. If done so, move Mankey to the tunnel.

Section 4.3.2: Pewter City to Underground Path

The player makes it to Pewter, and Once they beat the Gym a lot of new Pokemon become available. All of the grass next to water near Cerulean makes for great Water & Grass encounters.

• Before Mt. Moon^[d]: Nidoran, Spearow, Butterfree, Jigglypuff
• Mt. Moon: Zubat, Geodude, Parasect, Onix, Clefairy
• West & North of Cerulean: Ekans, Poliwag, Psyduck, Bellsprout, Beedrill, Abra,
• Fishing: Horsea, Seel, Omanyte
• South to Vermillion City: Spearow, Ekans, Venonat, Meowth, Psyduck, Farfetch’d

Section 4.3.3: Vermillion City to Rock Tunnel

The player first reaches the ocean, gaining a lot more unique fishing encounters, and start to see Fire and Psychic types in the Grass. Once they backtrack past Cerulean towards Rock Tunnel they can start to find more wild Electric types as they are near the Power Plant.

• Fishing: Krabby, Staryu, Poliwhirl, Dratini
• East of Vermillion: Vulpix, Oddish, Drowzee, Exeggecute, Lickitung
• Diglett’s Tunnel: Diglett, Sandshrew, Mankey
• East of Cerulean: Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pidgeotto, Magnemite, Voltorb, Raticate
• Rock Tunnel: Graveler, Machop, Pincer, Rhyhorn, Grimer, Kabuto, Onix

Section 4.3.4: Lavender Town to Fuchsia City

The other sides of the Rock Tunnel reveal a mirror of encounters, similar types but different species. They also can come across Ghost types, and some of the stranger Pokemon near Celadon.

• Fishing: Shellder, Kabuto, Slowpoke, Seaking, Dragonair
• West of Lavender: Doduo, Growlithe, Wigglytuff, Scyther, Ponyta
• East & West of Celadon: Mr Mime, Porygon, Venomoth, Tangela, Koffing
• Pokemon Tower: Gastly, Haunter, Hypno, Cubone
• South of Lavender: Nidorina/o, Gloom, Muk, Chancey, Tauros, Clefable, Kadabra
• West of Fuschia: Dodrio, Kangaskhan, Arbok, Fearow, Machoke

Section 4.3.5: The Rest

Once the player has Surf they gain free reign of their exploration, being able to visit a lot of areas. On the way to getting Surf they will travel through the Safari Zone, where I suggest they find most of the static/gift Pokemon they have only seen on occasion throughout the game. And as they make their way towards Victory Road they’ll start to see some of the most powerful Pokemon of the region.

• Power Plant: Electabuzz, Raichu, Magneton, Electrode, Jolteon Hitmonchan
• Safari Zone: Eevee, Snorlax, Ditto, Aerodactyl, Vileplume, Victreebel
• Safari Zone Water: Lapras, Omastar, Kabutops, Magikarp, Dragonair
• Fishing: Vaporeon, Kingler, Starmie, Cloyster
• Southern Ocean: Tentacool, Tentacruel, Seaking, Gyarados
• Seafoam Islands: Degong, Jynx, Poliwrath, Golduck, Slowbro, Cloyster,
• Pokemon Mansion: Weezing, Ditto, Magmar, Ninetales, Arcanine, Rapidash, Flareon
• Route 23: Pidgeot, Hitmonlee, Nidoqueen, Persian, Exeggutor
• Victory Road: Nidoking, Machamp, Rhydon, Marowak, Gengar, Golem, Alakazam, Dugtrio

Section 4.3.6: Gifts and Trades

• Route 2: Trade Clefairy ➤ Mr Mime

• In most versions of Kanto you can get a Mr Mime here, and it's usually the best trade in the game. That remains true here, but it's worth noting that every other trade is terrible.

• Mt. Moon P.Center: Gift Magikarp

• Technically it costs ¥500. But it's before you have any fishing rods and it's right before you go through a whole dungeon full of rich experience!
• As I've suggested through this section, there are no Magikarp to be fished up, not until the Safari zone. That's entirely because of this salesman. A single Gyarados can empower a team, and removing Magikarp from the fishing tables also lets other Water types have their chance to shine.

• Cerulean City: Gift Bulbasaur

• A simple way to get Bulbasaur, though not very special. It's strategically placed not to enable an easy win against Brock.
• An NPC that gives one of the 3 starters (based on a question or just your choice) could replace all the gift NPCs and limit you to just 1. Possibly better placed in Viridian City, however.

• Nugget Bridge: Gift Charmader

• Gotten after the third rival fight, although it wouldn't give a type advantage against his team yet. Of note, Charizard does learn Fly in this game.
• I would replace this gift with a trade/gift for a Ponyta. They're usually from much later and rarely see use. Alternatively it could be a Flying type like Charizard.

• Underground Path N: Trade Cubone ➤ Machoke

• This trade requires back tracking, however it evolved the Machoke into a Machamp as a result, giving a normally exclusive pokemon in single player.
• If we change the evolution method to level-up, then this would remain a Machoke when traded, which is still good.
• Since this trade is right before the 3rd Gym, I'd likely make the Pokemon they ask for be something from before Mt. Moon, so players might not have it but could get it easily after getting cut once they go to town. A Machoke is a good pokemon for this point, but I'd also consider; Growlithe, Graveler, or Magnemite.

• Vermillion City: Gift Squirtle

• Squirtle is an easy pick for the team’s Surf user. It's also given only after the Badge, which is a small godsend so players don't try to use it against the Electric Gym.
• Like Charmander before, I would consider this a good point to get a pokemon you wouldn't normally have this early.

• Route 11: Trade Lickitung ➤ Dugtrio

• In the vanilla game this is the de facto worst trade, as it requires beating the Elite 4 to access the area where Lickitung is. Which also means you just level-up a Diglett in the meantime.
• I'd obviously make this trade obtainable for this point in the game. More than likely requiring something from route 9.
• In this area, some good pokemon you wouldn't have access to yet are: Electabuzz, Magmar, or Jynx.

• Saffron Dojo: Gift Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan

• One is clearly better than the other in this Gen. Both have truly terrible Special, but at least Hitmonlee learns Fighting type Moves by level-up!
• Hopefully the Legacy versions of these Pokemon will be more even and worth using.
• It could be nice to recharge the Dojo for the other one. Or to get both if that's not easy to do.

• Saffron City: Gift Lapras

• A fantastic pokemon and one of the rare Ice types. Given for free and at a good time!
• I'd keep this exactly as is. Removing this feels like removing Eevee or Snorlax.

• Celadon City: Gift Eevee

• Is this really okay to take? Eevee is great for its many evolutions, which you can access immediately in the town you get it!
• I'd leave this as is. It's a very nice gift pokemon.

• Celadon City: Prize Pokemon

• Abra 230c, Vulpix 1000c, Wigglytuff 2680c, Scyther 6500c, Pinsir 6500c, Porygon 9999c
• In general I suggest removing or devaluing the Game Corner as to respect the time of the player. We don't want them to feel like they need to cheat to gain something. As such I would remove all these pokemon as prizes.
• Alternatively the Prize Pokemon could be Dratini, Eevee, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle. If so, I'd make them all cost 1000c or so.

• Route 18: Trade Tangela ➤ Parasect

• A strange and basically pointless trade. If you wanted a Parasect you'd have one by now.

• Cinnabar Island: Trade Golduck ➤ Rhydon

• Golduck is easier to catch and can be caught at a lower level than Rhydon evolves, making this a good trade.
• Notes at the end of the Cinnabar trades.

• Cinnabar Island: Trade Growlithe ➤ Dewgong

• Two easily caught pokemon, both found in a short trip left or right if the trader. At least Dewgong is fully evolved.
• Notes a the end of the Cinnabar trades

• Cinnabar Island: Trade Kangaskhan ➤ Muk

• The Pokemon they ask for is one of the hardest to find and catch in the game. They offer a common pokemon found on the island you're standing on.
• In every version of Kanto these 3 seem to stand here and offer bad deals like some kind of quota.
• In my opinion I'd move 2 of these Traders to other locations, probably Lavender Town and Fuschia City.
• Assuming they all remain here, there's not much at this point to benefit from getting in a trade except; Dragonite, Snorlax, Eevee.

• Dragonite has obvious benefits. Getting one below the normal level requirement is a large boon. I actually like the idea, especially if there's some kind of hiccup, like if they want a very low level pokemon such as Metapod.
• Snorlax acts as a good make up option if you failed to catch it before. It has a low catch rate, it's not all that unlikely.
• Eevee is pretty self explanatory. Usually you only get one in a playthrough. That said, I did suggest having them be caught in the Safari Zone, and I do stand by every pokemon being catchable in the wild. This may not be the best pokemon to get in a trade now. Or you could lower Eevee’s catch rate.

Section 4.4: Additional Notes

• The starters are difficult to place as catchable encounters. In Yellow they're normally given only once, and there's no way to get 3 for a living dex or to look for better DVs. While they could fit around the map in several locations, if you want to preserve their special-ness there's only 3 locations worth considering: Victory Road, The Safari Zone, and Cerulean Cave.

• Victory Road is the culmination and final chapter of your journey. It's rare to catch Pokémon to add to your team there so if you want to avoid the player having all 3 starters it's a good place. A bit weird to have their first stages there, however.
• The Safari Zone, which is my pick for what it's worth, has several zones which could enable the first two (or all three) evolutions of the starters to be caught as low % encounters mixed in with the rest. For people who want to save time or have a living dex this could be really convenient. It's also about the last point a player adds a permanent member to their team.
• Cerulean Cave is essentially the post game in Kanto. It's one of the worst areas to go through in the game with a very high encounter rate. To be honest, it could be better to make it the lowest encounter rate and make every encounter be with one of the starters.

• The Legendaries are static encounters, with 3 being available before the Elite 4 in the Legendary Bird trio. They're pretty much fine where they're at. Mew, however, could be added to the Pokémon Mansion. Perhaps after beating the Elite 4 or catching Mewtwo.
• Pokemon Yellow occasionally included pokémon you could catch in the wild that were at a lower level than they normally evolve. This can be a good method of indirectly empowering an evolution, if used sparingly and effectively.

• Or like future games in the series it could be special static encounters.

Section 5: Difficulty

Section 5.1; General Issues:

• All Pokemon, except those controlled by the player, have unlimited PP. This means Moves that are designed around the limitation of low PP do not have that restriction when the AI is controlling them.
• The AI makes their decisions on their Pokemon’s turn. This causes retroactive healing

• This is more than just cheating; if the player’s Pokemon moved first, the AI can do things it couldn’t have known in any scenario. Luckily this is mostly relegated to using healing items on turns they started in full health. Though that can be annoying if you only did as much damage as you did from landing a critical hit.

• Most existing AI in the game is, frankly, bad. It takes a lot of design work and prediction to assign a moveset that the AI can use effectively.

• A silly but still effective option is to give all, or at least all Boss fights, random AI. As long as the moveset doesn't require set-up and isn't composed of moves that all can't hit an immunity, it will work.

• The AI can't really understand “status” moves. There was some talk about making all status moves into Normal type moves, but that doesn't completely fix the problem.

• Normal still interacts with the type chart, so the AI would avoid Normal type status moves against Ghost and Rock types.
• Even if you added a new completely neutral type, let's call it the “Null” type, the AI would still choose types that might do super effective damage rather than ever pick the Null Move.
• Per my previous point, the AI needs some level of random choice to ever choose a status move in many circumstances. As such, it may be more effective to limit the number of moves each (important) trainer has to 2 or 3 (4 if they have a status move that doesn't stack) and simply make them pick at random.

• Enemy Teams rarely switch. I’m not sure when or why they do, but I suggest that work be put into making the AI switch out when one or select of the following happens to their team: Paralysis, Sleep, Freeze, Confusion, Leech Seed, Badly Poisoned, a stat drops 4 stages or more.

• They could also switch if they are x4 weak to the type of the player’s Pokemon and they have a Pokemon that resists that type.
• It would also make sense that they switch to a Pokemon that has higher Speed if their speed is dropped or they have been flinched.

• Trainer Items

• Some trainers possess items, which is typical of the series, but they work very differently in Gen 1. Instead of a total number of held items, they have a fixed number that resets when they change Pokemon. The outlying example is Gym Leader Brock, who possesses 5 full heals. Meaning for every single pokemon on his team he can heal each of any status condition 5 times.

Section 5.2; Important Encounters

A breakdown of the strategy, teams, and decisive factors of each of the league battles in the game.

Brock

• Brock provides an interesting challenge in most iterations of Kanto, but it's rarely designed with a robust set of solutions. In this case, Pokemon Yellow, his team is typical; Two Rock/Ground types. While certainly fitting of the “Rock-type Gym” it holds an underlying problem.

•  A lack of diversity in the available Pokemon, and poor move selection. Though Yellow adds Mankey to the encounters, a player unfamiliar with the Pokemon and who doesn't research what Moves the Pokemon they have learn by level-up, could be completely walled by this Gym through no fault of their own.
• If Normal moves still make up the bulk of the early-game learnsets in this hack, players could still have an extremely bad time against Brock if they are unfamiliar with the game for any reason. I would strongly urge that every Pokemon catchable before Brock be able to learn at least 1 move that can hit for neutral, or does Fire damage, to use against Rock/Ground types.

• The progression to Pewter Gym is surprisingly sparse, which makes only 2 Pokemon appropriate for his team size. Despite this, I recommend at least 3 Pokemon to be on his team for a minimum level of challenge. The level of his team is lower in Yellow than it was in R&B, but the level should reflect the strength of encounters expected along the way.

• Because it is iconic to Brock, I recommend keeping his Onix but adding any 2 of: Geodude, Omanyte, Kabuto

• The primary nature of this encounter is based around Brock’s high Defense team that use their Rock-type’s resistance to Normal to further limit the damage they can take. However, in addition to only using Normal-type attacks, the critical flaw in this strategy is the excessive type weaknesses of his team and their exceptionally low Special stats.

• The only way to address their low Special is to replace a team member with another that has higher Special stat. There are only 2 options: Omanyte, and Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl may be a legitimate option as a single stage Pokemon, but is too strong for this encounter. Omanyte is the clear winner unless other Rock-types have their Special raised.

• Brock’s signature TM is Bide. For… some reason. Most likely because Gen 1 only had 2 Rock-type Moves and neither were TMs. It's slightly synergistic with his team’s design, but his high defense actually works against this technique when he’s only taking 1 damage per hit and needs several turns to retaliate. Even if the numbers fall in his favor, I criticize this gameplay as being unfun and monotonous for the player.

Misty

• Misty uses the same team set up as she usually does, a Staryu and a Starmie. Despite having only 2 Pokemon, she’s deceptively difficult. This is owed to two factors; Starmie’s very high stats for this point in the game, and the well rounded nature of Water-types. She’s also a much higher level^[e] than the player, even after all their training in Mt. Moon on the way to her Gym. That’s by design, however, because the player is expected to cross Nugget Bridge and return after defeating the trainers there.

• There are a large number of Water-types that could be added to, or replace her team. Unlike Brock, Misty’s not as well known for any of her Pokemon so it is easier to replace her team around. Some standout options based on her anime and game teams are: Horsea, Psyduck, Staryu/Starmie, & Poliwhirl.
• I advise a team of 3 to 4 Pokemon, depending on the speed you want to increase difficulty. I recommend a team of Psyduck, Goldeen, & Shelder. With a 4th slot of either Poliwhirl or Wartortle. Psyduck can provide a non-STAB Psychic coverage, Goldeen’s provides Horn Attack, and Shelder’s high Defense can be a nuisance against unbalanced teams. For the last two, they’re actually very similar at this point in the game, and could be chosen for any preference.

• Overall she’s actually a very good Gym battle in all of her appearances, and really lands the role of 2nd Gym nicely. This is in spite of using only Water and Normal Moves.

Surge

• There’s an expectation among players of Gen 1 games. That Surge is a pushover. And it’s mostly true, but especially more so in Yellow, where he only has 1 Pokemon: A Raichu. With squishy defense and Dig, a very widely learnable more, being gained just before arriving, he’s not usually much of an encounter.
• In other games he often has a team of 3, using a Voltorb, Pikachu, and Raichu or Magnemite. More balanced, but pure Electric. He doesn't have a choice, however, since the only Electric type that isn't mono type is Zapdos in Gen 1.
• There’s nothing I can describe as a strategy to Surge’s team. He literally has 1 Pokemon, and it has 3 attacking moves, and Growl. A Geodude easily counters.
• As the 3rd Gym I recommend his team be composed of four Pokemon total. Pikachu, Magnemite, Voltorb, & Jolteon.

• I would make his lead be a Pikachu, rather than his ace a Raichu. The Raichu thing was mostly based on the anime to begin with, and a mirror match for Partner Pikachu is probably more thematic to gameplay.
• Magnemite and Voltorb are good stock for his team, but I think Jolteon will make a great ace. It could parallel the Rival’s ace and show off the Eeveelutions sooner. It’s just barely not too strong at this point in the game.

• His new team strategy would focus around using speed on Pikachu and Voltorb to use Moves like Growl, Thunder Wave, and Reflect to interfere. While running a Move like Sonic Boom on Magnemite to help against Ground-types to outlast the opponent’s with its high Defense. Jolteon would simply be a powerhouse, using Thunderbolt and Double Kick to fight off most foes.

• I would consider only running 2 or 3 moves for a directly offensive Pokemon like Jolteon here, because of the limitations of the AI.

Erika

• The oft-forgotten Erika does herself no favors by using a team of Tangela and the two mirroring Leaf Stone Grass-types. In Yellow they’re Gloom and Weepinbell. Her tactics tend to be Stun Spore, Wrap, and Petal Dance, in that order.
• Though there are many Grass types to pick from, some tact needs to be considered for a new possible team. Firstly I would hesitate to place more than 1 Grass/Poison-type on the team if Bug-types are stronger, the same goes for Grass/Psychic. Unfortunately the game doesn’t seem to agree; there are only 6 Grass lines in the game, and 3 of them are Grass/Poison. So if trying to use only Grass-types I suggest: Parasect, Exeggute, Gloom, Victreebel, & Tengela. Other options are: Ivysaur, Butterfree, Eevee, and Scyther.

• Parasect could make a decent lead, using Spore and with Bug STAB maybe fighting off any Poison-types the Player is using. It could also run Reflect if it gets that TM, since most of Grass’ weaknesses are physical types.
• I don’t know whether to put Victreebel or Tangela as the ace. Victreebel is fully evolved and shows off Celadon’s evolution stones they sell. But Tangela has fewer weaknesses (in gen 1) and could pose more of a challenge in the right set up.

Sabrina

• Sabrina is… interesting in Yellow. They changed her normally passable team to the entire Abra line. Abra still knowing only Teleport (which fails in battle) and Flash (to be annoying?). Then Kadabra and Alakazam both know Psychic… and Psywave. Psywave, of course, not dealing Psychic damage, but a random amount based on level. Oh and Kinesis, their signature move to… lower accuracy, like flash. I have a few criticisms of this team.
• Assuming we want to pull from a more expected encounter, we’ll examine her ordinary team, as well as Let’s Go. Originally she had Kadabra, Mr. Mime, Venomoth, and Alakazam. In Let’s Go she takes a MAJOR upgrade into Mr. Mime (part fairy there) Slowbro, Jynx, and Alakazam. While Let’s Go certainly has diversity, for being the 5th/6th Gym leader she doesn’t need Pokemon of quite that caliber. But her original Venomoth inclusion was a little strange, admittedly.
• As the 5th/6th Gym Sabrina should provide a noticeable increase to difficulty, especially since from this point in the game the Gyms will be fought in fast succession. With good team selection if she had only 4 Pokemon her team could be difficult enough, but I recommend 5 with a more even difficulty to compensate. For her new team, I suggest: Slowbro, Kadabra, & Hypno. And 1 or 2 of: Drowzee, Haunter, Golduck, or Mr. Mime.

• Slowbro is a little strong at this point, but we’ll focus on its defense rather than offense and make it her lead. Ideal with a status move, and weaker offense like Confusion.
• Hypno is an excellent strength to be her ace at this level. It learns a few Poison Moves by level-up usually, and that could be very handy for fending off any Bug types that have been buffed.
• Golduck and Haunter offer decent variety for her team, not sharing Psychic’s weakness, while also learning strong Psychic Moves.
• I caution against including Alakazam, even with a weaker moveset. Plus it’s likely going to be on the Champion’s team.

• Depending on her difficulty at this point in the game, I call attention to the total number of them that know the Move Psychic. Only the type that resists is Psychic itself, so combined with STAB it could be overkill. I recommend using weaker Moves like Psybeam on the team. I would put Psychic only on Hypno and the likes of Golduck, Haunter, and other non-Psychic types.

Koga

• As the 5th/6th Gym 5 Pokemon would be ideal. However it depends if Koga retains any gimmicks, if so 4 Pokemon is plenty. Traditionally he uses Just the Koffing line, Muk, and a Weezing as his ace. But in many appearances he has a signature Golbat as a partner Pokemon. However in Yellow he’s pulling double duty as the nursery chaperone and brought a team of only Venonat and a Venomoth to look after them.

• Koga has used many gimmicks across the franchise, but the most common are: Double Team*, Toxic, Substitute, and Self Destruct. *Or minimize for the Grimer line.
• Generally I don’t recommend his gimmicks, except for poisoning, since he’s the Poison-type Gym. A single self-destructing Pokemon is fine though, just not as his ace.

• My recommendation for his team is: Golbat, Arbok, Nidorina, & Weezing. With any 1 of: Beedrill, Koffing, Muk, Tentacruel, or Venomoth.

• Golbat makes for a great lead by having access to Confuse Ray, Toxic, Wing Attack, & Leech Life. Able to play towards Koga’s theme of disorienting his opponents to strike at the opportune time.
• Weezing is suggested as his ace partially as a callback to his use of Self Destruct in many fights. It's not needed, but the possibility alone could make players worried.
• For his final slot I believe Tentacruel poses the highest threat, but the Poison/Bug-types can be fairly difficult to deal with if they've been buffed.

Blaine

• In Red/Blue Blaine runs Growlithe & Ponyta. The former likely because he didn’t have enough Fire Stones, the latter because it’s below the evolution level? nope it’s at that level because he feels bad for you. Of course, I strongly advocate Ponyta evolve much much earlier than level 40, so I suggest he not have one. And he did learn his lesson because in Yellow his team is now a Rapidash, Ninetales, and Arcanine. He traded the Growlithe and Ponyta for Ninetales though, so he only has 3 Pokemon, instead of 4 like before.
• Blaine is secretly the strongest Gym leader in Kanto. See, his Pokemon have good Defense AND Special. And he doesn’t run multiple x4 weaknesses on his team. A high bar, I know. Usually he has the potential to be the hardest fight for players, if they don’t use any Water-types. Most do for Surf, but that Move is often learnable by non-Water-types. And without STAB a Surf probably won’t OHKO his team.
• As the penultimate Gym we should have worked our way up to 6 Pokemon teams. Blaine should use a team of: Flareon, Ninetales, Magmar, Rapidash, & Arcanine. With one of: Charmeleon, Growlithe, or Electabuzz filling the last slot.

• Unfortunately there are only 6 non-legendary Fire-type Pokemon in the region, so Blaine can only pull the Charmander line if he wants a full team of 6 Fire-types.
• Electabuzz is was chosen because it has access to Fire Punch in Gen 2 (and this Gen 1 via Time Capsule). It's also a counterpart to Magmar making them a dynamic duo to include on the team.

• If you really want to include Electabuzz, but also use Charmeleon for style, I’d swap out Rapidash or Arcanine, since they overlap a lot. (I mean, so does Flareon, but the rival has an Eevee, so showing off the Eeveelutions feels important. Also it has even more attack than them.)

• Flareon makes for a decent lead, as its Special is better in Gen 1 than later games, and it can use that high Attack to use good Normal-type coverage like Double Edge.
• It's hard to place a specific Fire-type to be his ace, but I would point to either Magmar for its rarity, or Arcanine to match his other appearances.

Giovanni

• Giovanni is really consistent over his (not too) many appearances. Every version of him includes the core four of Dugtrio, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, & Rhydon. As well as Rhyhorn in Red/Blue and Persian in Yellow. His strategies have been very different though; In Gen 1 he’s rocking Fissure (but only in 1?) and Thunder, but in all versions he always runs heavy Earthquake spam.
• Normally I wouldn’t recommend Fissure, since it’s cheap. But if it’s no longer a TM and if it’s a level-up Move, it could be okay to keep on only 1 of his Pokemon. Overall, I recommend Giovanni’s team use: Dugtrio, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, & Rhydon. With 2 of: Marowak, Golem, Sandslash, or Kangaskhan. Optionally Persian if you really want it.

• Dugtrio makes for a good lead, with a decent chance to sweep the player with its high Speed and Attack and a STAB Earthquake. It does need a coverage move to deal with Flying-types however.
• Giovanni’s ace shouldn't overlap with any of the Elite 4 or Champion’s teams. In the case of the Champion he uses a Rhydon or a Sandslash in different games, for example.
• I don’t think there’s anything wrong with including a Marowak on his team, but I don’t recommend it be his ace unless there’s a change to the story to suggest it. (Such as them having stolen one, possibly Cubone’s father for example, and after beating Giovanni he releases it. Just as an example.)

• Overall Giovanni has good options, and he can splash in some storyline Pokemon like Persian and Kangaskhan that he used in previous fights. I don’t super recommend it, but they do add some utility. Nidoqueen & Nidoking actually add a lot to his team already.

Lorelei

• Lorelei is a strange first member of the Elite 4, because she can often be easy, but occasionally she’ll completely destroy the player. There are a couple factors to this.
• First is level distribution. Trainer fights leading up to the Elite 4 rarely give enough EXP to match the level jump, which usually means the player just needs to grind before they can actually attempt the fight.
• Second are her Pokemon. Unlike later Ice-type specialists in the franchise, her team is very well suited for offense and defense. This is, like most Gen 1 facets, not because of good team choice, but because of poor implementation. There are only 5 Ice-type Pokemon in the entire game, and each Elite 4 member has 5 Pokemon. But she only has 4 of them, because the last Ice-type is a legendary. Composing this, 3 of her Ice-types are part Water. Water is a great type to pair with Ice, of course, but it’s strange to have 3 of her team be the same dual-typing. There’s no way around this, unfortunately.

• The only member of her team that can really change is Slowbro, the non-Ice-type. Slowbro is a good pick, thematically and mechanically, surprisingly. But it also overlaps with Jynx.
• I recommend all Elite 4 have 6 Pokemon, so for her final team I recommend: Cloyster, Lapras, Jynx, Dewgong, Blastoise, & Vaporeon. I also recommend 1 or 2 of her Pokemon run Aurora Beam, as it’s decently strong, but has a different secondary effect than Freezing.

Bruno

• Bruno’s team is woefully under-designed. While it's easy to dismiss the inclusion of Onix, it does serve as an effective coverage against Flying type. Not that he ever switches! But TWO Onixs? Unacceptable.
• He uses Machamp, Hitmonlee, and Hitmonchan. These are very fitting Pokémon, however the remainder of his team is simply 2 Onix. He could at least have a Primeape and Poliwrath.Onix is simply too weak to work as additional team coverage. For a 5th and/or 6th team member I recommend Rhydon (only if no other Elite 4/Champion has one) Tauros, or Golem.
• There’s only so much you can do for a Fighting-type team in Gen 1, especially since it only hits Normal, Rock, and Ice types for super effective damage. The player probably won’t be using more than 1 Normal-type (an exception for Normal/Flying) and it’s rare to use Ice and moderately uncommon to use Rock. Meanwhile it’s weak to Flying & Psychic, the former the player is likely to have from their HM flier of choice, and the latter from the power and abundance in the region. It also can’t hit those types back for much, not Poison or Bug.
• Overall, I can only recommend his team include: Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Machamp, & Primeape at its core. With the likely inclusion of Poliwhirl, and 1 or 2 of the following: Pinsir, Magmar, Electabuzz, Golem, or Sandslash.

• The core of his team are the 4 mono-type Fighting-type Pokemon of the region. Obviously they would use Fighting-type moves, as many and the best they can. I don’t recommend any Normal-type moves, like Mega Kick, however. They don’t get STAB and they already hit both Rock and Normal for super effective, so their slots are better served for coverage, or empty to improve some AI performance. There’s not too much else that can help the team, however, as not many support Moves are even in the game.

• For coverage I stress any possible Rock Moves, as well as a Bug Move if possible. There’s little else to aid their plight, besides Poison or Fire perhaps against any bulky Bug or Poison types that resist their Fighting Moves.

• Poliwhirl is an obvious addition to the team as another Fighting-type, however I listed it separately for a few reasons. First the Water-typing adds a weakness to Grass, further empowering a Grass/Poison Pokemon (like Venusaur) to be an additional counter to the team. Second, its stats are a little low overall. Nice and average, being 70 or more, but not enough to be a strong offense. However it can work as a mixed attacker, especially with Amnesia to buff its Special- if the AI uses it.
• Magmar & Electabuzz are suggested for their high Special and ability to learn a few Fighting Moves, with decent Attack stats. Pinsir is similar, with much less Special, but an offensive capacity for Psychic-types if it gets any Bug Moves now. And lastly Golem and Sandslash are here as physical sided walls and attackers that can use Rock Moves to ground the Flying-type threats. Though the last shouldn’t be much of a threat to the likes of Hitmonlee if it has any Rock Moves this time.

• Technically you could add a duplicate or a Machoke, but I don’t think it enhances the difficulty in a meaningful way.

Agatha

• Agatha is a stand out of the Elite 4 for all the wrong reasons. She breaks many of the conventions of their team building by having multiple of the same Pokemon. She presents as a type other than the one she claims to represent. But most of all, she's not a test of strength, she's a test of luck.

• I can understand why the developer chose the Pokemon and Moves they gave her. In trying to make her team appear more “trickster” and “haunted" they chose frightening Pokemon. So ghosts, a bat, and a snake. With Moves like Confuse Ray/Supersonic, Hypnosis, Night Shade, & Dream Eater to invoke the “essence” of the Ghost-type.
• All it really did was work to specifically inflict the player’s team with statuses that are RNG based. Sleep lasts for a random number of turns, Paralysis (from Arbok’s Glare) has a random chance of preventing them from moving, confusion randomly makes the player attack themselves and lasts for a random number of turns, it just goes on. Oh, and they gave her Arbok Wrap in Yellow, so enjoy losing a random number of turns if it hits.
• With only Lick and Nightshade to use offensively it's not.hard to understand why they tried to expand the “kinds” of offense the Ghost-type uses. But I think we can agree that all this RNG goes against the type of fight the Elite 4 offers to be.

• The obvious solution is to have more Ghost-types and use more of their moves. That's unfortunately not a solution in vanilla, with the Ghost-type being only Gastly and its evolutions, and no real Moves to speak of. While obviously the nature of a Yellow Legacy hack would be to address that, I can't speak to the exact options that will be in the game. So I'll be addressing the issue from a vanilla stance.
• First the team itself. Having 3 Ghost types is good, and technically Haunter is a kind final evolution. But while it's not cut out for the job, 3 Gengars is definitely excessive. With that in mind, I'll leave the final decision up to the team. Here are other Pokemon to consider for her: Vileplume, Ninetails, Clefable, Venomoth, Hypno, Mr. Mime, Jynx, & Arbok.

• Mainly Pokemon known for being “creepy” or “mystical”. There's ultimately not a lot that can be done to improve the team, but I don't suggest Golbat. 1-3 Gengars, Clefable, Hypno, Jynx, & Venomoth could provide good Move variety and diversity. Hypno is quite good in RBY and isn't prominently featured so I recommend adding it the most.

• The Moves are where her team really fell apart. 1, maybe 2, Pokemon using Confuse Ray could be acceptable. It would be “their thing” to set them apart. Not the whole team though! She even has a Golbat with Confuse Ray and Supersonic. This is in addition to moves to inflict sleep and paralysis.

• The main thing her team does right is Dream Eater to capitalize on sleep. And a few decent but weak moves: Mega Drain, Wing Attack, & Acid.

• I suggest her new team and strategy work like this: First it should make use of any new or buffed Ghost Moves. Next I would use health stealing moves if they've been buffed, such as Leech Life or Mega Drain. And last I would emphasize sleep inducing Moves and teach Dream Eater on those Pokemon. This all creates a feeling of having your life stolen by her new team, while still inflicting the statuses she's known for, but not as excessively.

• Of course the rest of the moves should fit the specific Pokemon on her team. However I do caution against the inclusion of the Move Psychic. I would only use weaker Psychic-type attacks, because the only resistance to the type is Psychic itself. Dream Eater already does more damage than Psychic but can be played around by switching. So I would stick to the likes of Psybeam.

Lance

• The Flying Dragon type Specialist. His team tends to be very difficult in all games he’s in, but more so because of his team’s diversity. That isn't as true in Pokémon Yellow. Here he has 2 Dragonair, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, & Dragonite. A serviceable team.
• Of note is his Let’s Go team: Seadra, Gyarados, Charizard, Aerodactyl, & Dragonite. This is generally a more useful team, even if it has less total Dragon types. Because this is Yellow version where the player doesn't have Charmander as a starter, giving a Charizard to Lance is no issue.
• Of all the Pokémon Lance can choose from, I suggest: Dragonite, Gyarados, Charizard, Seadra, Lapras, & Aerodactyl.  Optionally sub in Dragonair.

Champion

• Unlike the previous entries, I won't recommend a specific team or selection for the Champion. As is the nature of the Rival in this game, their team reflects the player’s. As such, all new encounters, TMs, and additional changes like the inclusion of a Move Relearner would play a large factor in his team design. Instead I will list a few key factors that are worth keeping track of.
• Obviously the star of his team is his Eevee and the evolution it became. In Yellow specifically it changes type based on the win/loss rate of the player’s first 2 encounters. While I find that very interesting and playful, I recommend Let’s Go’s approach and just make Jolteon the de facto final form. Vaporeon is weak to Electric, and Flareon is likely the worst of the 3. Meanwhile Jolteon embodies the idea of a rivalry; your Rival chose to be the type matching the Pokemon his grandfather gave to you at the start. It matches his personality well, I think.
• These are his standout Pokemon (that are in Kanto) that he's used in his many appearances: Alakazam, Pidgeot, Sandslash, Rhydon, Exeggutor, Ninetales, Magneton, Cloyster, Gyarados, Arcanine, Machamp

• I would immediately draw attention to Pidgeot and Gyarados. The former is very common in his appearances, but fades out over time. For good reason, it doesn't really possess qualities that would earn its spot on his team. Gyarados is solid, but also has strong cause not to be on the team, because it overlaps with Lance’s team. Cloyster also overlaps with Lorelei’s team.
• Then he has a few double types; Alakazam & Exeggutor, Arcanine & Ninetales, Sandslash & Rhydon.

• Despite the overlap he frequently has both Psychic types on his team, with good reason. But I recommend Alakazam take a spot over Exeggutor because very few trainers have Alakazam at all, and it's very fearsome.
• Sandslash may have a lot less HP and Atk, but without (2) x4 weaknesses and 25 more Special it's usually more of a threat in general. Rhydon rarely makes good use of its Rock-typing either, so I would generally suggest Sandslash between the two.
• Ninetales boasts higher Special and Speed, while comparing in Defense but not HP. Arcanine has much more Attack than Special, but mostly benefits from that with the use of Extreme Speed or Double Edge. It's closer than it looks between them, but I would suggest Ninetales over Arcanine.

• The Rival strongly prefers to keep a Grass, Water, Fire trio no matter the configuration of the team. Fire is easy, but Water and Grass can be trickier. I just ruled out his usual Grass & Water types, so I would look into other options.

• Of course, we can't forget his Red & Blue aces, the Kanto starters. They're a solid option, of course, but I will mention that Charizard really helps out Lance’s team more than it probably would on the Champion’s. I consider them of lower inclusion status in a Yellow game especially.
• Some additional possible team members are: Chansey, Snorlax, Tauros, Dodrio, Vileplume, Tengela, Starmie, Tentacruel, Lapras, Nidoking, Machamp, Scyther, Pinsir, Porygon.

Section 5.3; Revisions

While the above section delved into the vanilla RBY teams and challenges of each of the League members, this section covers what changes outlined in the document would contribute to their teams if the suggestions were followed.

Gyms 1-3

Brock:

• Onix is in sore need of a boost, but that doesn't strictly mean that Brock needs to use an Onix. If Onix becomes too strong, it might fall off his team. Brock has enough Pokemon to choose from to make up for this. And as Ground-type Onix could return on Giovanni’s team instead.
• I'd like Brock to give a better TM, but unless Barrage has become a Rock Move, the only other suggestion I made was Head Smash, which I wouldn't recommend this early

•  Of course, Rock Throw could be turned into a TM. (It does mean all Rock Moves are TMs though.)

Misty:

• Misty might show off some of the buffs to the weaker Water-types like Horsea, and the lower evolution for Seaking.

Surge:

• If his team could find itself with a few extra Grass, Water, & Fire Moves he could be doing much better.
• Voltorb with

Gyms 4-6

Erika:

• Grass Gyms are usually seen as easy, but with a stronger Bug-type and Poison/Grass holding a x4 weakness to it, she might need some serious team revisions.

• Perhaps Parasect, Tengela, Butterfree, Wigglytuff/Clefable, & Victreebel. Butterfree feels like a pollinator, and one of the not-fairies could probably rock a few good Grass Moves and look cute for the team.

Sabrina:

• If Growth has become a TM this an ideal gym to debut it. The tankier Psychic-types would be able to make use of it, provided the AI cooperates.

Koga:

Gyms 7&8

Giovanni:

• Onix could make a (first or) second appearance, should it have been properly buffed. As a Ground-type it is a valid team member, and it could be interesting to see it return in the hands of the dastardly Giovanni.

Elite 4

• A Wigglytuff with buffed Special cute addition to Lorelei’s team, running Ice Beam and/or Ice Punch.

Champion

Hypothetical Changes:

These are a few ideas and suggestions that could be reasonable changes, but might fall outside the preview of the Yellow Legacy design goals.

Changing Key Trainer’s Type Specialty

Some Gym Leaders, Elite 4, and other “Boss” Encounters are held back by limited options or questionable decisions by GameFreak. By changing what types they specialize in, they could be more interesting, engaging, and/or difficult.

For additional reference, these are the current types and their specialists:

Rock, Brock. Water, Misty. Electric, Surge. Grass, Erika. Psychic, Sabrina. Poison, Koga. Fire, Blaine. Ground, Giovanni. Ice, Lorelei. Fighting, Bruno. Ghost, Agatha.

1. Brock, Rock ➤ Ground

1. Rock type is arguably one of the worst types for the first Gym, since unfamiliar players may not know what Pokémon learn moves that bypass its Normal resistance and there are typically few TMs or other methods to learn non-Normal moves by that point.
2. Brock’s Gym is already 100% Ground type encounters. The trainer in his Gym uses a pure Ground type and each of Brock’s Rock types also have the Ground type.
3. The move Dig, which is normally obtained just before Misty’s Gym, could be the TM given. Which would also match the Gym’s type, unlike Bide.
4. Brock’s new recommended team is: Diglett, Sandshrew, Onix. Optionally a Nidoran or Nidorino.

2. Misty, Water ➤ Other

1.  I don't have a solid answer to change her to. Flying is unused, however.
2. There isn't a strong narrative reason to switch Misty, but I do mention it because with the many Water types in Gen 1, it would better fit a later Boss. Or more specifically: Lorelei.
3. If she became a Flying-type Gym it would be one of the strangest there’s ever been. If her team is in the low 20s, than she could use the likes of: Butterfree, Gyarados, Golbat, Pidgeotto, & Syther. Perhaps one the most diverse teams ever.
4. Technically Ghost would be ideal, since she's an early game Gym that doesn't need a full team. However it's not very fitting of Misty’s casual fun and tomboy attitude.

3. Koga, Poison ➤ Bug

1. Koga’s main theme is “Ninjas”. Which just means fighting dirty. He is mostly limited by his type restriction more than anything. His main strategies are: Double Team and accuracy lowering moves to prevent the player from hitting. Poisoning the player to wear them down. And Self Destruct to surprise and cripple the player. That last technique is mostly done because he uses Koffing/Weezing which learn it by level-up.
2. Bug types fit the ninja motif just as well, if not better than Poison type. They represent a weaker opponent using every opportunity to overcome the opponent. Plus a lot of them are also Poison type or learn how to poison the opponent.
3. Koga already uses a fully Bug type team in Pokémon Yellow. Additionally, Scyther fits the ninja theme well from a visual aspect.
4. Recommended Pokémon for his Bug type team are: Beedrill, Scyther, Parasect, Pinsir, Venonat & Venomoth. Additionally Butterfree if it has Sleep Powder/Poison Powder.
5. If any Bug type TMs are added then this Gym is a good point in the game to give them. Alternatively Double Team or Toxic work as TMs that fit his ninja theme.
6. If Koga isn't the region’s Poison type specialist, then Agatha could be. Which fixes her team by default.

4. Geovani, Ground ➤ Normal

1. Alternatively Rock or Poison. Rock is fine but slightly weak for the final Gym. Poison works just fine, especially with the Pokémon that Team Rocket uses. Unfortunately there are 2 other Specialists that use fully Poison teams.
2. Giovanni is already using a heavily Normal focused team, and hardly uses Ground types before his Gym. While he was arguably hiding his connection as a Gym leader, that remains to be seen.
3. Normal types are at their strongest in Gen 1. And make for an excellent final Gym. There are also a number of strong and unique Normal types to pick from, Giovanni already uses two of them. Persian & Kangaskhan.
4. His TM could be Hyper Beam, a very fitting reward for beating the last Gym. (Because in Gen 1 it has the bonus of skipping recharge after KOing a Pokémon.)
5. His team could pick from: Persian, Kangaskhan, Tauros, Porygon, Snorlax, Clefable, & Dodrio. Cautiously, I can also recommend Chansey; with a carefully chosen moveset it's easy enough to deal with in single player.

5. Lorelei, Ice ➤ Water

1. Luckily, this only alienates Jynx from her team. All other Pokémon she has were already Water types. Without the limited selection caused by the Ice restriction, she can maintain the powerful threat of her Ice types while also using a larger pool to pick from.
2. Her team could pick from: Lapras, Dewgong, Cloyster, Slowbro, Tentacruel, Starmie, Vaporeon, Omastar/Kabutops. Additionally, if Lance doesn't use one; A Dragonair.

6. Agatha, Ghost ➤ Poison

1. Alternatively she could swap Psychic with Sabrina. Sabrina’s proximity to Lavender Town and the more balanced time to fight Ghosts fits for the 5th Gym. Sabrina’s psychic abilities could be described as that of a medium, allowing her to control spirits or something to that effect.
2. Agatha’s team is already Poison focused, in all ways but inflicting the condition. There is also an abundance of Poison types to choose from in Kanto. She could have a very dominating teamset without the Ghost restriction.
3. Her team could pick from: Gengar, Weezing, Muk, Nidoqueen/King, Vileplume, & Tentacruel.

Section 6: Other

Map Alterations:

While the overworld and interiors are serviceable, if any effort can be made towards altering the maps there are some standouts that could do with changing.

Listed in order of most to least needing change:

• Daycare Exterior

• In a move of complete trolling, they made the only way to access this building by jumping ledges. But you can jump too far and get stuck outside and have to go all the way back up and jump in again. Definitely just remove the last ledge, so there's not a mini game to walk into a house.

• Cerulean Cave

• This entire map is pretty awful. It's basically a punishment for beating the game, going through an area with incredibly high encounters, while dealing with an uncreative maze that is designed to waste your time and is harsh on the eyes.
• Personally if the whole area was removed and a different cave from a later game *cough Let’s Go cough* was slapped over it, we'd all appreciate it.

• Route 14

• The annoying fence maze. Non diegetic and a big reason people choose to avoid the route when getting to Fuschia.

• Power Plant

• Just a little boxed in and full of dead ends. Not a big deal, but kind of annoying just to make it take longer to pick up items vs finish it.

• Routes 1 & 2

• Just a couple of pointless ledges (well the point was to teach you what ledges are, but if you're old enough to emulate, you've learned) they just serve to make trips between Pallet, the forest, and Viridian longer and more annoying.

Pokémon Retyping:

At the time of writing, I don't recall any Pokémon in Crystal Legacy having their types changed. Assuming that's still true, I'm placing these suggestions under the “Other” category, because the notes may be worth considering, even if the types don't end up changed.

Nidorina & Nidorino

Poison ➤ Poison/Ground

Recommended

A smaller and generally welcome change. By granting the Ground type of the final evolution(s) to the middle evolution(s) it takes away the pressure to use a moon stone on them as soon as you can. Recommended, and if done so, add more Ground moves to the level-up list.

Ninetales

Fire ➤ Fire/Psychic

Recommended

Fans have speculated and asked for this change for years. While I wouldn't exactly advocate for it myself, in a hack where it has to compete for team space against Arcanine (they're usually version exclusives) being part Psychic would greatly aid in setting them apart. It also helps that Psychic is the strongest type in the game AND this would be a unique combo of them.

It also buff’s Blaine’s team.

Ponyta & Rapidash

Fire ➤ Fire/Normal

Recommended

Rapidash tends to be the most forgettable Fire type in Kanto, and for good reason. Every other Fire type has something going for it, and every single one evolves much earlier. If this line gained the Normal type it could really benefit its coverage and use its high Atk more effectively. Recommended.

Krabby & Kingler

Water ➤ Water/Normal

Recommended

Much like Pontya, Krabby gets held back a lot by its typing. And like Ponyta it could really make use of a Normal typing. The difference is, it has as much Atk as a Machamp! An extremely solid buff to the crab, and it would really make it stand out as an offensive option to a team. Recommended 🦀

Seadra

Water ➤ Water/Dragon

Recommended 

Of all the Pokémon that could be retyped as Dragon, I think Seadra is the most fitting since it evolves into one (but not in this game).

Venomoth

Bug/Poison ➤ Bug/Psychic

Conditional Recommendation

A bit of a meme that people think it was always a Psychic type since it uses Psychic type moves and was used by a Psychic type specialist. However there is some merit in this particular type combo, because it can counter other Psychic types while also capitalizing on its highest stat. If no teams want it for its Poison typing and it can round out the variety of Bug or Psychic types then I recommend this change.

Geodude, Graveler, Golem

Rock/Ground ➤ Rock

Conditional Recommendation

Visually the Geodude line certainly does not inspire the Ground typing. And mechanically it would mostly be a boon, save for the lack of EQ STAB. That said, this is more of a change only for balancing as nothing was wrong before. Only recommended if there's a need to make Rock and Ground more readily different.

Seel

Water ➤ Ice/Water

Conditional Recommendation

Primary Ice type, with Water secondary type. Seel, the unevolved version of Dewgong, is a pure Water type. If we want to see more early game Ice types, it's a prime choice.

Obviously if its type is changed, then Dewgong should switch its primary and secondary typings.

Gastly, Haunter, Gengar

Ghost/Poison ➤ Ghost

Conditional Recommendation

There is little benefit, and great cost, to being part Poison type for the Gastly line. It lacks the Atk stat to use either Ghost or Poison moves effectively. It lacks the bulk to take hits and stall out against a poisoned foe. It also lacks any Poison moves by level-up. If Ghost becomes a special type, then making the Gastly line pure Ghost would make them close to the Psychic counter they were meant to be in conception.

It can be argued the only reason the Gastly line was made part Poison was because the developers planned to have more Ghost types but thought this line, being immaterial in nature, should be immune to being poisoned. That could make sense if the first draft of Ghost types were imagined more like Yokai, being spirited objects or creatures of myth.

On a personal note, I believe Ghost Dark fits very well, but of course Dark isn't a type in Yellow Version.

Onix

Rock/Ground ➤ Rock

Conditional Recommendation

As Geodude, but with the added reason that it's lack of 4x weakness is very helpful for its super low Special and HP. Between the two, Onix benefits from it more.

Electabuzz

Electric ➤ Electric/Fighting

Conditional Recommendation

Many fans of Gen 4 repeatedly claim that Electivire should have been an Electric/Fighting type. While Electabuzz isn't able to evolve in this Gen the idea has some merit. Being part Fighting is almost entirely downsides in Gen 1, however being part Electric helps with the Flying weakness. There's already a good number of Fighting types available, but if another would be desired then Electabuzz is a decent pick.

Gyarados

Water/Flying ➤ Water/Dragon

Conditional Recommendation

While it's a long held tradition of the fans to demand Gyarados be a Dragon type, it's my personal belief that it would be Water/Dark if it's debut was Gen 2. Regardless, with the absence of Dark as a type, Dragon is the next best contender. Only recommend this type change if Dragon becomes a physical type.

I'd say Dragon Flying is better than Water Dragon, but that overlaps too much with the only other Dragon. If Seadra also becomes a Dragon type, then I recommend pure Dragon, or Dragon Normal for Gyarados for the type variety.

Porygon

Normal ➤ Normal/Psychic

Conditional Recommendation

A good type in later Gens, here it only makes Porygon more offensive with its special attacks. Otherwise it trades a weakness to Fighting for a weakness to Bug, both equally under powered types. If there's a good reason to make the change it's fine to do so, but without it leave it as is.

Dratini & Dragonair

Dragon ➤ Dragon/Water

Conditional Recommendation

Dratini and Dragonair are found living in water, but if they gained the type they would ultimately lose it when they evolve into Dragonite. Unless players can gain a Dratini earlier than usual and it evolved into Dragonair much earlier, then there's no good reason to make the change. But if those elements were changed and the Water type enhanced Dragonair’s offensive abilities enough to help offset the lower BST from not evolving, then it would be a good change. It could certainly make it more challenging to fight, having next to or no weaknesses. (depending on what other changes are implemented)

If the type is changed and it can be caught and evolved earlier, then it would also be nice to see it used by more trainers in general. People like Misty, Fishermen, Ace Trainers, Swimmers, and possibly some Rocket members.

Parasect

Bug/Grass ➤ Bug/Ghost

Not Recommend

A neat idea that some people like to play around with. But without Ghost being super effective against Psychic there's not a lot of value in making Parasect a Ghost type. There are more creative ways to round out the trainer teams.

Psyduck & Golduck

Water ➤ Water/Psychic

Not Recommended 

There are already 2 Water Psychic types in the region. While Psyduck and Golduck do learn a good number of Psychic moves, so do a lot of Bug types, it's not enough of a reason.

Marowak

Ground ➤ Ground/Ghost

Not Recommend

Thematic and already done with Alolan Marowak; This would primarily serve to increase the number of Ghost types available to be used by the Ghost type specialist.

However a type change is not needed for that purpose. It's thematic enough to include a Marowak on the team of the Ghost specialist without justification.

Rhyhorn & Rhydon

Rock/Ground ➤ Rock

Not Recommended

Unlike Geodude and Onix, Rhydon matches the Ground typing more in appearance and function. As well as being favored by many trainers who use it for strong Ground type moves. Not recommended to lose the Ground type. The Rock type could go, but then it would be almost identical to Sandslash.

Pinsir

Bug ➤ Bug/Fighting

Not Recommended

Double Weakness to Flying? In this region? No way! It would do more to hold it back than anything. It does learn a good number of Fighting type Moves, true, but that's not reason enough to gain the typing.

And the Rest

There are many common suggestions for type changes that come up and can be easily rejected all at once.

#1 Dragon-type Charizard - Being Dragon-type removes the type triangle from the starter trio. And it is already dual typed, and changing either type drastically affects the nature of the Pokemon.

#2 Any Alolan/Regional Pokemon - The Legacy style of hacks is not where you should be looking for these kinds of additions. They miss the point of the Hack.

#3 Additional Types - While it could be interesting, for the same reason that the Alolan Pokemon wouldn't be welcome, additional types wouldn't be as well.

Section 7: Miscellaneous Commentary

Bits and Bobs

• The Fighting Dojo should probably reference Bruno
• There are several items that cannot be bought at all in the RBY games. Namely Moon Stones, Ethers, & Elixirs. These should definitely be available for purchase or have some work around. These particular items are purely for QoL (the evolution stone because of the nature of the game) so I wouldn’t gate them off until late game.
• PP Ups & PP Max are another item that cannot be bought. They would be nice to have, since the enemy trainers will never run out of PP.
• Though possibly unsavory, if there's room to add extra Pokemon to the internal files, you could make NPC versions of Pokemon that have different stats for more of a challenge. 

Biggest Losers

Lickitung 

• I name Lickitung the biggest loser. It's part of the main cast, like all the Pokemon of this Gen. But it simply has nothing going for it, a substandard Normal type with a bad movepool and nothing to set it apart. Even in the other games it's a trade only Pokemon. Just a collectible in the 151.

Ditto

• Beloved from the time of its introduction in the anime, and a staple in breeding mechanics, and later Imposter sweep breaking. Here in its debut it's… a little more than underwhelming. Ditto is pure gimmick here, with no greater purpose whatsoever.

Pidgey

• Memorable, easy to catch, and iconic on the teams of several trainers! And just outdone by the competition across the board. While it’s useful enough, the more you learn about Kanto the less value it has.

Goldeen

• The true Magikarp of the world. For some strange reason it usually takes until Fuschia City to get the good rod and catch it. And for what? One of the weakest Water types in the game, with a bad moveset that learns the worst version of Waterfall AFTER you can get the HM for Surf? Oh and it evolves in the 30s.

Horsea

• Not as bad of a spot as Goldeen, despite the same restriction and late evolution level. But while its evolution has the stats to stand on its own, they are already falling behind by the time you would catch it. As a pure Water type with 95 being its strongest stat, it performs well until you have to deal with the Elite 4 and suddenly hit a brick wall. Lorelei’s team resists Seadra’s best offenses, and can hit back with Psychic. Agatha’s Ghost types have much better Special than it, letting them use their tricky Moves on it. Lance & the Champion both have strong Pokemon that put it to shame, like Gyarados and Executor.

Paras

• Three x4 weaknesses is probably why they removed Bug’s weakness to Poison in Gen 2. Paras is the exclusive user of Spore, in a Gen where sleep is the strongest it's ever been. And it's useless. It's too slow to abuse the sleep tactics. On paper Paras’s stats are great, but Speed stat will really hold it back. Good for catching at least.

Dratini

• It works as intended. It's unfortunate that they intended this Pokemon to only be good at or after the end of the game. Without a postgame there's no value to Dragonair evolving mid Elite 4! Maybe that's why they didn't bother to make any Dragon type Moves…

Hitmonchan

• It feels like Hitmonlee took everything from its brother. Hitmonchan has almost nothing to fight back with, except the weakest elemental coverage moves, possible in the whole game. Plus it's a Fighting type, which really didn't have a lot going for them back then.

Unfinished: Takeaways & TL;DR

RBY has many differences from the rest of the franchise, but there are some parts that make a bigger difference. Beyond the underlying mechanics like speed affecting crit rate, I mean.

Community Suggestions

This section is for any community members to leave their own suggestions.

Zwei’s Curated Section

These are any community suggestions that ZweiHydra wanted to curate or add additional commentary to.

• One suggestion was to place Arbok on Lance’s team. While I'm not confident it is the best pick, I do think the notion of a Dragon-type Arbok has merit. It could lead to a large stat buff, which retroactively applies to Ekans. Ekans would remain only Poison, have more Moves and stats, but take longer to evolve. Likely around level 32-35. Poison/Dragon is a good type in the modern games, but has an interesting value in Gen 1 as well, because Poison is offensive against 2 types there!
• Making Swift a Ghost-type Move is a good idea. It's already close to “magic” as a move, so the change is easy to swallow. However it would no longer have Normal STAB nor hit Normal-types.

-for Insti

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