LordKelvin
It's not Lupus.
Pokémon Choice Guide
Pokemon Choice Guide
The goal of this FireRed/LeafGreen guide is to highlight all the most common, popular, and best choices for picking Pokemon for playing through the main Kanto storyline. Keep in mind that if you want more specific information, such as what Pokemon a certain Gym Leader has, or what to expect from your Rival at certain points of the game, or what not, then you're probably better off reading a strategy guide at GameFAQs or something since that isn't really the goal of this guide. Also, remember that most of this guide is only my own opinion, based on how I played through the game.
The main issue with playing a game as big as Pokemon is that you'll have a lot of choices for how to pick out your team. Aside from your starter, you will have to pick out five other Pokemon to fill in the gaps to create a team that can take on and take out any other team in the game. Now, as the main storyline is nowhere near as hard as Competitive battling, you don't have to worry about a single mistake dooming your entire team. However, if you fail to pick a solid team, then you'll have plenty of trouble throughout the story even if you're 5 levels above your opponents. That's what this guide is here for: to help you find the best Pokemon to create that solid team.
Type and Attack Basics
The most obvious feature of Pokemon is that there are 17 different types in the game, which greatly affect how one Pokemon performs against another. Now, even though this game takes place in Kanto, which is home to the original 13 types and original 151 Pokemon, before Dark and Steel were introduced, you still have to keep those two extra types in mind. Even though Magnemite and Magneton are the only Pokemon that possess the Steel type in the game and no Pokemon before Sevii possess the Dark type, those two types still exist in the game in the form of attacks; Charmander can learn Metal Claw, many Pokemon can learn Bite (which has shifted to being a Dark type move), and so on. So even though you don't have to worry about your Psychic attacks bouncing off of a Dark type Pokemon, you do have to worry about a Steel attack taking out your Rock type Pokemon. So be sure to memorize the Type Effectiveness table found on the main site.
Another thing to remember is that if your Pokemon uses an attack that's the same type as it, then it gets a 50% bonus in that attack, called STAB (which stands for Same Type Attack Bonus). This, in combination with using Super Effective attacks on an enemy, can result in doing up to 6 times the normal amount of damage in the most optimal cases, which, needless to say, will really ruin your opponent's day. Even when not up against an enemy that's weak to your Pokemon's type, using a STAB attack is still very effective.
Now, even though Type has a major effect on how powerful your attacks are, you also have to consider the other aspect of your attacks, whether they're Physical or Special. Keep in mind that Physical attacks use the Attack stat and attack the enemy's Defense stat while Special attacks use the Special Attack stat and hammer at your opponent's Special Defense stat. Since this is Gen III and not Gen IV, attacks aren't classified by Physical/Special on an individual basis, but rather on the attack type. So to put it simply:
Physical = Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel
Special = Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark
If you're already used to Gen IV combat mechanics, then it can seem retarded that Fire Punch is a Special attack, or that Hyper Beam is a Physical attack, or that Bite is a Special attack. But since this is an older game, let's not complain about it and deal with it.
Base Stats
Next to attack types, base stats are what determine how strong your Pokemon is. Obviously, higher evolutions of a Pokemon will have larger base stats than lower tiers in the evolution tree, but these stats can still affect how you will use a Pokemon in battle; for example, a Cubone/Marowak has good Attack stats but low Special Attack stats, so using Special attacks with either one is not a very good idea. Likewise, using a Kadabra to absorb Physical attacks is a recipe for disaster, since Kadabra has very low HP and Defense stats. Be sure to look up your Pokemon's base stats to find out what kind of role it best fills.
Effort Values
Another major difference between Red/Blue Kanto and FireRed/LeafGreen Kanto is that the data structure was completely overhauled, so there's an actual limit on how strong your Pokemon can become. This comes in the form of Effort Values, or Effort Points depending on your school of thought. Since I don't want to write an entire guide explaining EV's, I'll just link you to the other guide already present in the Diamond/Pearl subforum here, since D/P uses the same data structure as FR/LG. Whether or not you'll want to actually EV-train your FR/LG Pokemon is up to you.
In general, since this isn't Competitive battling (unless you're actually raising Pokemon to play Competitive, in which case you're better off Dongling it off to your D/P cart since it has far better EV-training tools like EV-reducing berries and the Counter app), you don't need to keep a very close eye on your Pokemon's EV's. But if you want to get more bang out of your Pokemon, then following which types of EVs your Pokemon get can go a long way; ie., making sure that your Pokemon only battles Pokemon that give out certain types of EV's until it caps out at 510. The term that I use loosely to describe this is "EV fine-tuning," since you're not actually EV-training, but following a loose guideline.
This also works to your advantage and disadvantage in combination with your Pokemon types. For example, you can make your Starter focus entirely on Special Attack EV's since Fire, Grass, and Water attacks are all Special attacks. But if you plan to Dongle, better to breed a new one from scratch and port it.
So, onto the Pokemon themselves.
Team Building Basics
While training each individual Pokemon is very important, how they work with each other to defeat opposing teams is even more important. Having a team of six Fire type Pokemon, for example, means that you'll be wasted by a Water team with minimal effort, and similarly makes taking on Rock or Dragon teams a test of patience due to not being able to dent them with your attacks. While obviously you won't build a team of six Fire Pokemon, the principle remains the same.
1. Attack Type coverage
The core principle of building a good team is that your overlapping attack types should be able to take out any possible enemy team no matter what type of Pokemon it's composed of. For example, if half your team is made up of Ground Pokemon with only Ground type attacks, then you only have three Pokemon at your disposal if you encounter a Flying team. Likewise, having plenty of Electricity Pokemon will leave you with very few attacks to use if you encounter a Ground team. Keep plenty of variety in the types of attacks that your Pokemon know, and you'll have at most only one useless Pokemon in any given battle.
2. Resistance spread
This follows the same principle as having overlapping attack coverage. If you have lots of Grass, Bug, and Ice Pokemon, you'll be easily raped by a Fire team; on top of your STAB attacks being only half as effective, your Pokemon will also be easily taken out by your opponent's STAB Fire attacks. Make sure that your team's overall resistance spread is set up such that as few of your Pokemon as possible are weak to any single type, and if possible, try to maximize the number of resistances your team has to all potential types.
3. Physical and Special attack coverage
This isn't quite that important in this game as it is in Gen IV, since type coverage will trump it in most cases here, but it can make a great difference in a few specific cases. In general, if you find yourself fighting an opponent against which you have no type advantage, then target their weaker defense with a type neutral attack. For example, Kadabra is weak against Dark type attacks and has a higher Special Defense than Defense, so if you have a Raticate, for example, instead of attacking it with a non-STAB Dark type attack like Pursuit (since no Kanto Pokemon are Dark type), you could try to hit it with a STAB Normal attack like Hyper Fang; in this case, you're targeting Kadabra's weak Defense stat, and taking advantage of Raticate's higher Attack stat, along with STAB, as opposed to using its weaker Special Attack stat with a super effective move that targets Kadabra's relatively stronger Special Defense stat.
As an example, this is the team that I'm currently raising (note that some of these are still in progress):
Charizard
-Flamethrower
-Slash
-Wing Attack
-Metal Claw
Nidoqueen
-Rock Slide
-Superpower
-Body Slam
-Double Kick
Snorlax
-Rest
-Body Slam
-Headbutt
-Sleep Talk
Magneton
-Charge
-Thunder Wave
-Sonicboom
-Supersonic
Kabuto
-Scratch
-Surf
-Harden
-Absorb
Aerodactyl
-Fly
-Take Down
-Bite
-Leer
This isn't actually a very good example (my previous Blastoise team was probably better), since half my team has a Water weakness, but the main reason for that is because I'm still experimenting with and trying out different Pokemon, and the fact that my Starter is Charizard in this case; besides, I have Magneton to deal with any issues. I also have attacks to deal with practically every Pokemon type out there except Psychic, which is what Snorlax is for. The combination of Kabuto and Aerodactyl isn't actually a good thing since they both have Rock type, but I was trying to experiment with using Kabuto as my anti-Fire Pokemon and Aerodactyl as my Flying Pokemon.
Which Pokemon to use
Your Starter
In every Pokemon game to date, you will get a Starter that, used properly, will be your most powerful Pokemon. The types have always been Fire, Grass, and Water, which form their own type triangle; in each game, your Rival has always picked the Starter that has the type advantage over your Starter, but by the end of the game you should have access to so many Pokemon that this shouldn't be an issue at all. So it's largely an issue of which Starter you like as a personal preference, or maybe which Legendary Beast you want to capture to Dongle to your D/P cart, or what have you. However, even though you will eventually have access to almost all of the original 150 Pokemon, the choice pool is quite limited at the beginning and even the middle of the game, so picking a certain Starter will affect how hard the game is at the beginning. Here's a quick run-down:
Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur
Picking Bulbasaur at the beginning instantly makes fighting the first two to four Gyms a cakewalk, since Grass easily rips through Rock/Ground and Water type Pokemon, and resist Electric and Grass type attacks quite well. The only real disadvanage is that you'll be twice as vulnerable to your Rival, since he packs the Fire Starter, as well as a Pidgey that he keeps on his team all the way to the Elite Four. Bulbasaur is capable of learning a various array of powder attacks like Sleep Powder and Stun Spore, which, aside from being able to cripple enemy teams, makes capturing wild Pokemon easier due to being able to inflict status effects with relative ease.
The Bulbasaur family isn't exactly fast, but they do have good defensive and Special Attack ratings, which makes them good for tanking and absorbing hits whenever needed. Since they come with the Poison type as a second type, this both increases and reduces your vulnerability against various attack types, so even though you might not be using Poison type attacks frequently, be aware of that second type regardless.
Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard
Picking Charmander will make the first two Gyms a test in patience and gives you no advantage against Surge, but beyond that, lets you walk all over Erika and Koga with relative ease. You're also not at as much of a disadvantage against your Rival at the beginning, since it can take on his Pidgey without much trouble. The Charmander family focuses more on speed and attack rather than on durability, so if you choose Charmander, then expect to have to take your opponents out before they can strike back. Also, evolving to Charizard gives it immunity to Ground attacks and further strengthens it against Grass and Bug, but you also gain a double weakness to Rock attacks, so tread cautiously against Pokemon that can use those attacks.
Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoise
My personal favorite ever since starting my copy of Pokemon Blue many years ago, the Squirtle family is largely defensively focused and can tank against most enemies with little trouble. Picking Squirtle gives you a free bye against Brock and lets you fight Misty to a standstill even under her level, but puts you in trouble against the next two Gyms. Against your Rival, taking him on near the end of the story is a fair cakewalk since you'll have plenty of Fire types to pick from to go toe to toe with his Venusaur.
Caterpie/Metapod/Butterfree
While Butterfree is quite useful in the short run as it hits its final stage at level 10 and can learn various useful powder attacks, it's eventually eclipsed since it doesn't get STAB on the Psychic attacks it learns, and it's a fairly vulnerable Pokemon that can't really take hits. Aside from filling an easy 3 entries in your Pokedex and making early battles a bit easier, you're probably better off leaving this one in your box. Aside from Pinsir and the later Heracross, there are few Bug type Pokemon really worth raising.
On a side note though, if you do decide to raise one, make sure to raise it from the Caterpie stage, not Metapod! If you catch a wild Metapod, it will only know how to Harden, with no Tackle, which means you miss out on having even a very basic attack to begin with. The same applies to Beedrill and raising that from the Weedle stage instead of Kakuna.
Pidgey/Pidgeotto/Pidgeot
Most players will have one of these since it's the first Flying type that they encounter, and one of the very first Pokemon that they are able to capture. Overall, while having one of these will allow you to traverse between cities very quickly once you get the Fly HM, they're not all that useful in the long run. While Pidgeot is very fast, the problem is that it doesn't hit very hard, and can't take hits well either. Furthermore, any moves that it gets STAB with are exceedingly weak, so this Pokemon eventually only becomes useful for taking out Grass, Fighting, and Bug Pokemon, and there are many other Pokemon out there that can do the job more efficiently. While I kept my Pidgeot on my team all the way to Unknown Dungeon, it sat on the sidelines well before I reached Indigo Plateau.
Pikachu/Raichu
The all-famous Electric Rat is actually not a very bad choice to start out, and will even become necessary depending on which Starter you picked. As it's found in the Viridian Forest area, you'll have one very early on if you decide to raise it, and it basically becomes your only Electric option until you reach Rock Tunnel (where Voltorb are present) or gain access to the Power Plant. The problem is that it takes a fair amount of investment to raise properly, and even then it's a mixed bag. The Thundershock attack it comes with is fairly weak and has trouble taking out opponents at the same level, even with STAB or super-effective, and Pikachu is a relatively frail Pokemon that can't take hits worth beans. However, that's what its speed is for; it's capable of outspeeding most opponents, and once it learns Thunderbolt, it can be quite useful for taking out enemies in one or two shots. Plus, when you reach Celadon (or earlier if you find a Thunder Stone), you'll gain the option to turn it into a Raichu, but make sure that you don't want to teach it any more moves before you use that Thunderstone.
A note of caution: if you opt to raise one just so you can beat Misty, don't hold your breath. Even at level 24 (and I know that personally as a fact), Pikachu is incapable of killing her Staryu in one hit, and Starmie will outspeed it even at that level, and hit hard with Water Pulse; even getting a single Thundershock in won't help matters much, since it'll take at least 3 hits before it goes down for the count, and that's not counting Misty using a Super Potion on it, or it using Recovery. Thunder Wave is a soft option, but requires you to have at least one standby Pokemon to finish the job. So unless you have an Ivysaur or Bellsprout/Oddish ready, expect to have to work hard for that Cascade Badge.
Sandshrew/Sandslash
While I personally didn't think that I would even train one of these since the Ground type has so many weaknesses, this Pokemon managed to surprise me on many occasions, though admittedly that didn't last very long. This Pokemon is a LeafGreen-only exclusive, so FireRed players can discount this Pokemon, but otherwise, feel free to read on if you can get one in a trade.
The Sandshrew family's main strength is in its defense. While it doesn't halve Normal and Flying attacks like Rock Pokemon, it also doesn't get raped by Fighting and Ground attacks either. Their Attack stat is also quite impressive, and their Speed is passable depending on the nature, but for weathering Special attacks, it's better to count on another Pokemon.
While Sandslash is capable of tanking against Physical opponents fairly well, the problem is that, despite its good Attack stat, it's incapable of learning any useful STAB moves without TMs. The only passable STAB move it learns by leveling up is Sand Tomb, which is pathetically weak for anything except trapping your opponent on the field with you. Without a TM move like Dig or Earthquake, it's not capable of finishing off an opponent in a timely manner.
Overall, I was somewhat disappointed by this Pokemon, since it takes a fair amount of investment for only an above-average return. If you opt for Earthquake, you'll be wasting your only Earthquake TM in the game, but Sandslash will become a good contender. If you opt for Dig, you don't have to use a once-only TM since Dig can be bought in Celadon, but it's a 2-turn move that does less damage than Earthquake on a per-attack basis, to speak nothing of a per-turn basis.
Nidoran/Nidorino-Nidorina/Nidoking-Nidoqueen
Surprisingly, the Nidoran family is actually fairly worth raising at least for mid-game purposes, and likely beyond that, since their end-stage royalty evolutions are quite capable of throwing down with the toughest of opponents, and their Poison Point ability can be useful sometimes. The beginning stage Nidoran are fairly weak and a bit hard to get off the ground, but once you get to Nidorino/Nidorina, they become quite reliable against most opponents, and once you get your hands on a Moon Stone, your enemies will seem to crumble before you.
The down side, of course, is that you have to get your hands on a Moon Stone in order to get them to reach their full potential, and Moon Stones are hard to come by. You'll find one in Mount Moon if you look hard enough, but it'll be a long while before you find a second one, so you're basically stuck raising only one for a while (though that's not usually an issue for most players).
Remember that using a Stone on a Pokemon often means that it'll stop learning new moves once it evolves, and in this case, they gain an extra Ground type, which opens up a whole new can of weaknesses and resistances. Be sure to look up various move tables to see what moves you'll miss out on learning. However, one of the nice things is that the Kanto move tutors can solve this problem quite easily for you; for example, I taught my Nidoqueen how to use Rock Slide using the move tutor in Rock Tunnel, which it uses on a fairly regular basis. That's another downside of these Pokemon: unless you have some TMs handy (and even if you do), you won't be getting many STAB bonuses with their attacks. But the good thing is, if you set up their moves right, they won't need STAB to take down opponents, since they'll be able to get super-effective bonuses instead most of the time.
So, if you opt for a Nidoran, which one should you pick, male or female? The male is easier to find in FireRed and the female is more common in LeafGreen, but you'll be able to find NPC's that are willing to trade your version's common type for one of the other gender at the Underground Path to Vermilion if you don't have the patience to catch it yourself, so if you're willing to wait you can get either one. They also have different move pools that you can take advantage of if you so choose. In terms of performance, Nidoking is more offensively balanced and is faster, but is a bit easier to take out due to weaker defenses. Nidoqueen, on the other hand, has more staying power and can weather attacks very well, but is somewhat slower and doesn't hit as hard. If you do EV fine-tuning like me though, you can compensate for their weaknesses and get a more balanced Pokemon; my Nidoqueen is quite capable of outspeeding most opponents, bounces most attacks off, and hits like a pile of bricks.
Vulpix/Ninetales
Another LeafGreen exclusive. While I haven't personally raised a Vulpix or Ninetales yet since I'm currently playing through using Charmander as my Starter, Vulpix does bear mentioning because its ability, Flash Fire, is rather interesting. Simply put, it absorbs Fire attacks with no damage and powers up its own Fire attacks instead, so it's useful if you like to laugh at Blaine. The problem here is that Vulpix is a fairly weak Pokemon, and it takes quite a bit of raising if you want it to learn its most powerful moves before evolving; what's worse, some of these moves come after you face Erika, so unless you dedicate a lot of time, you won't have them to take her out. However, Vulpix and Ninetales are very fast Pokemon, and can weather hits extremely well. Offensively, they're more or less average, but if you train properly, you can eliminate that flaw.
Diglett/Dugtrio
If you encountered a Dugtrio and subsequently got raped by it while passing through Diglett's Cave, you may have been tempted to capture and raise one of these things. While they're quite fast and can hit well, the problem is that those are the only two things they have going for them; they can't weather attacks very well, so you'll have to shoot to kill with this thing. While it does learn many good STAB moves, Dugtrio also has weaknesses to Grass and Water type attacks, both of which are fairly common, so using this thing takes caution.
On another note, Arena Trap can be quite useful for keeping the Legendary Beasts from running away. The flip side is that, as mentioned above, Dugtrio is incapable of weathering attacks well, least of all Legendary attacks, and you'll need to keep it on the field to keep the Beast from running away. So the only Beast you can use it against (and again, I know from experience) is Raikou, since two of its attacks are Electric type, but you still need to be careful about letting it use Bite or Roar on you, since it only takes two or three Bites to put you down, and Roar automatically makes it disappear from the game.
Mankey/Primeape
For your fight against Brock, if you opted for Charmander, Mankey can serve as a temporary ledger if you don't want to risk weathering Rock and Ground attacks to use Metal Claw. If you choose to keep it, Primeape can land hits quite well and is pretty fast, but can't take hits quite that easily. Sadly, no matter what your opinion of it is, Fighting types tend to be on the lower tier in this game, and the type tends to become a glaring weakness against Flying and Psychic types.
On another note, the Mankey family makes for a good HM slave, since it can learn Rock Smash as well as Strength, both of which are sub-par battle moves that you may need to get through dungeons.
Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam
Ever since the original Red/Blue, the Abra family has been among the most feared Pokemon of the game. Kadabra is capable of outspeeding many opponents of the same level, and its high Special Attack stat and STAB Psychic moves let it kill most of those opponents in a single attack. Along with Mewtwo, the Abra family were most responsible for the introduction of the Dark type into the game in order to nerf the Psychic type. Regardless of this, the Psychic type remains among the most powerful types in the game, still in no small part due to the Abra family, and the fact that many of the most powerful legendary Pokemon (including Deoxys) are at least part Psychic type.
In order to get one of these though, you'll have to catch one, which is much harder to accomplish here in Kanto than it is in Sinnoh (where someone practically gives you one for trade right before your first Badge battle). As only Abra is available for capture until you reach Unknown Dungeon, you'll learn to pray and hope for luck in order to get one of these things. At the same level as your Pokemon, Abra is still capable of outspeeding you, and always uses Teleport in order to run away, so the only way to catch one is by using Paralyze or Sleep, then whittling it down and tossing a ball at it in the fewest moves possible. Even if you do somehow catch one, the fun's not over. As Abra doesn't learn any new moves until level 16, when it evolves into Kadabra, you'll have to put it in front of your party or use an Exp. Share in order to get it to level up, which can be frustrating. But when it does evolve, you'll basically be laying waste to all your oponents with this thing, especially if you can get it several levels ahead of your opponents. Used properly, Kadabra is capable of wiping out entire teams without breaking a sweat, since it almost always moves first, and hits hard. If you can manage to find a friend and trade to get an Alakazam, it gets even more fun, since Alakazam is better than Kadara in every way.
The problem is, if you don't get that first hit in and kill your target, then you stand a good chance of getting taken out right then and there. Both Kadabra and Alakazam have extremely low HP and Defense, so anything that manages to use a Physical move on them stands a good chance of one-shotting them. While they can weather Special attacks slightly better, slightly better than crap isn't very encouraging, so it's a good choice not to take that risk and withdraw them if you don't think they can kill their opponent in one attack.
One more note: your Rival starts carrying a member of the Abra family once you meet him in Cerulean, so even if you don't want to raise one, it's a good idea to at least come up with some plans to counter one of these powerhouses.
Magnemite/Magneton
Provided that you're patient enough to wait until you reach the Power Plant to invest in an Electric type Pokemon, Magneton can be a good choice. The Magnemite family is the only Pokemon of the original 151 that gains an additional type, the Steel Type. If you've ever used one (Empoleon comes to mind), you'll now that they are extremely good at laughing away almost every attack type in the game, which is reason enough to raise one. Plus, Magneton comes with an extremely respectable Special Attack base, so it can lay waste to opponents quite easily with Electric attacks.
On the flip side, its defenses and HP take some coaxing to get up to speed, and it's not very fast either. Just put some attention into its Special Defense and HP, and you should be fine. but be wary of the Steel type's weaknesses, since its Ground weakness doubles up with that of Electricity, so be extremely careful around that; there's no Magnet Rise in Gen III, so you can't take advantage of it.
Unfortunately, Magneton's move pool also takes a bit of investing, since its most powerful learned Electric move, Zap Cannon, is only base 100 and has a horrible 50% hit ratio, so if you opt for it or Thunder, be sure to learn Lock On as well. But if you want the easy way out, buy Thunderbolt at the Game Corner and use that, and Magneton will be able to take out opponents quite easily.
Farfetch'd
Desite its mediocre stats, Farfetch'd is relatively worth raising as a mid-game Pokemon, largely because it comes with a Stick when you trade for it, and it can learn Swords Dance. The Stick makes it fairly easy to land critical hits, and in combination with Swords Dance, lets you set up and take out various opponents without much trouble. While it's not really useful in the long run, it is fairly capable as an HM slave, as it learns Cut and Fly, and gets STAB with both of those in case you need it.
Gastly/Haunter/Gengar
While often put in opposition next to the Abra family, the Gastly family is not quite as useful in this generation. The reason for this is because Ghost is a Physical type in this game, which means that you can't take advantage of STAB attacks (of which there are very few until Shadow Ball comes in Gen IV) and their respectable Special Attack base. While you can use their abundant array of Psychic and Dark type attacks and wreak havoc on opponents, they don't have the one-shot-rape power of the Abra family. However, on the flip side, they laugh at Normal and Fighting moves, which don't affect them at all, and they're also a bit more defensively stable than their Psychic counterparts. Also, these Pokemon can learn Hypnosis, which is extremely useful both for fighting enemy teams and for capturing wild Pokemon.
The down side, though, is that these Pokemon have Poison as a second type, which means that Psychic type attacks can rip through them very easily, despite their Ghost advantage. Unfortunately, Misdreavus and Banette aren't in this game, so you can't use them insead. But on the other hand, Levitate means that you don't have to worry about Ground attacks either.
Chansey
Chances are that you've heard of SkarmBliss or CressBliss before; Blissey makes up the latter half of both of those phrases, and it evolves from Chansey. In Competitive battling, Blissey has proven to be one of the most overused Pokemon (next to Garchomp) due to its massive HP stat and sizeable Special Defense. Chansey shares these traits with Blissey, and in this game, it can wall off Special attacks with next to no effort, and recover easily using Softboiled.
However, since the main storyline is not Competitive, Chansey sees very little actual use on these types of teams. Its offensive and speed stats are pitiful, which means that it can't kill anything, all it can do is sit there and take it (which, while lauded in Competitive, is much less useful in our case). Plus, it can't take Physical attacks all that well either, so that can be overcome fairly easily if you send it up againt the wrong opponent. Except for filling out an entry on your Pokedex, you really shouldn't have a Chansey on your team.
Magmar
Another LeafGreen exclusive (if you haven't noticed the pattern yet, the Gen III game that I own is LeafGreen), Magmar is a fairly good choice for a Pokemon if you didn't choose Charmander as your Starter. It's fast, and it can hit hard on both the Physical and Special sides if you invest in it properly. While it's not nearly as powerful as its Gen IV evolution Magmortar, it's quite capable of holding its own against many Pokemon in the game.
The down side of this Pokemon is that it can't take hits very well, especially Physical hits. More likely than not, you'll have to go in trying to take your opponent out in one shot, even if it's of a type that you're strong against. There's also the problem that by the time you can get a Magmar, the only opponent that you can use it effectively against is Lorelei, whose Pokemon often have Water mixed in as a type. But if you don't mind that, Magmar can be a great Pokemon to use.
Pinsir
As Pinsir is a LeafGreen exclusive, extremely hard to encounter, and just as difficult to catch, most people will opt not to use it (in fact, I only managed to capture it once on my Blue cartridge, and have yet to even encounter it in LeafGreen). However, it has some very respectable base stats that make investment worth it; it has massive Attack and respectable Speed, plus it takes hits rather well. On the flip side, its HP takes some investing, and it doesn't learn any moves that use STAB through leveling up. While all of its moves do take advantage of its great Attack stat, those moves don't particularly hit very hard, so you may want it to learn Swords Dance if you decide to use one. But be sure to beware of its weaknesses, as Fire can be common at times, and its Special Defense isn't quite as high as its Defense.
Magikarp/Gyarados
Magikarp is famous for being one of the hardest to raise Pokemon in the game. It doesn't learn any actual attacks until level 15, it's pathetically weak in every aspect even if it does know how to attack, and it absorbs a lot of experience per level before leveling up. In fact, before it hits level 20, Magikarp will be an absolute liability to your team, so you'd better hope that you're the patient type if you decide to raise one. However, once it does hit level 20, it'll evolve into the all-famous Gyarados.
Gyarados has often been lauded as one of the most powerful Pokemon in the game, as well as in the anime, sometimes taking a near-legendary status. Unfortunately, it comes up somewhat short in Gen III; if you want a powerhouse Gyarados, Dongle it over to D/P. The reason for this is because while it does have a fearsome Attack stat, great speed and bulkiness, and carries the ability Intimidate, its types are Water and Flying; it doesn't learn any Flying type attacks, and Water is a Special type. For that reason, using a Gyarados, you will not get any STAB bonuses on your Physical moves, and most of its better moves are TM moves. So unless you're willing to put that investment in your Gyarados, you're far better off playing a Gen IV game, where Waterfall and Aqua Tail are Physical Water moves. If you decide to raise one, avoid Electric attacks like the plague. Those attacks are capable of bringing your mighty Gyarados crashing down in a single hit before it even knows what hit it.
One last note: unless you picked Charmander, your Rival will have one of these on his team. While it does have Intimidate, you can seriously turn the tables on him by using Electricity attacks, which are Special type, and take it out easily, even without STAB.
Snorlax
While Snorlax isn't very highly lauded in Gen IV, it's an extremely useful Pokemon in Gen III, especially at the stage where you get it. If you'll recall, you get the ability to capture either of two Snorlax right after getting the Poke Flute, which comes before facing Sabrina and Koga, and Snorlax is extremely capable of laughing at either of these Gym Leaders once you get it to the proper level.
As you'll notice when fighting it, Snorlax has a massive HP stock, a high Special Defense to back it up, and can use Rest when things get dicey, so trying to kill it with Special attacks is not a very good idea. However, its base Defense isn't as high, so if you capture one, be sure to invest some EVs in that area. It's also extremely slow, and just about any opponent at any level you face will be able to attack first, but if you raise it properly, Snorlax is capable of laughing these attacks off and then returning the favor; in the case of Sabrina, you can effectively wall off her Psychic attacks, and return the favor with Physical STAB Normal type attacks, the bane of any Psychic Pokemon.
Snorlax comes with one of two abilities, Immunity or Thick Fat. Immunity prevents poisoning, which lets you steamroll over Koga with no effort, while Thick Fat halves Ice and Fire type attacks, which may become useful against Blaine and Lorelei. Either way, a properly raised Snorlax can become a real monster that can blow away its enemies at its own pace.
Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres
When you capture one of these things, it's really hard to resist the temptation to use it on your team and wipe the floor with everything you encounter; hell, I used all three of the legendary birds back on my Blue cartridge and basically coasted through the rest of the game with no effort (though Moltres seemed to underperform for some reason). The real trick is to capture them though; there's only one each of these per game, and they're extremely hard to capture if you don't have enough patience or pack enough Ultra Balls for the job, all the while they're raping your team senseless with their attacks. Plus, once you do capture one, there's the question of whether you want to use it here or Dongle it to D/P, where applicable; while they will make playing through the remainder of the story child's play, they also have their value in D/P as well.
Articuno is a monster when used against Lance, since it can rape every single one of his Dragon Pokemon senseless with STAB Ice Beam backed by its respectable Special Attack, and laugh at almost anything that they throw back in return. Zapdos can utterly destroy Lorelei's team with its massive Special Attack and STAB Electric attacks, since most of Lorelei's Pokemon are part Water type. Moltres is also capable of taking out much of whatever opposes it, though it doesn't really carry any type advantages against most of the Elite Four.
Dratini/Dragonair/Dragonite
Next to the Larvitar family, the Dratini family is the only other Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon family in this game, as well as the only one available before the Elite Four. It's extremely hard to find and catch Dratini, and almost as hard to raise it to level 55. Is the investment worth it? Both yes and no; Dragonite can be a real powerhouse in the right hands, and its monster base stats make it extremely tough to take on, but one of its greatest weaknesses in this generation is that the Dragon type is a Special type, which means that you can't really take advantage of its massive Attack stat and rape your opponents with Dragon attacks. The flip side is that its Special Attack stat isn't all that bad, so using Dragon attacks will have a noticeable effect on your opponents, even without using its monster Attack stat.
Gen IV really does turn Dragonite into a monster Pokemon, since many Dragon attacks become Physical and it can take advantage of them with STAB, plus Outrage gets a damage buff. Sadly, this isn't Gen IV, so you'll just have to deal with it. Also, remember to avoid Ice type attacks, as those can put Dragonite down really fast.
Mewtwo
Uber Mega Pokemon of Death and Destruction? Why yes, please.
Long considered the absolute most powerful Pokemon of all time (and rightfully so), Mewtwo is capable of taking out entire teams in a row with no effort at all, and this at the level that you catch it at! With the absolute highest Special Attack of the original 151 Pokemon (only surpassed by Attack Forme Deoxys when all Pokemon are counted), and the Speed to back it up, Mewtwo is capable of one-shotting almost every Pokemon in the game if used right, and even if it somehow doesn't, it has enough durability to laugh away most attacks.
Of course, in the event that you actually do decide to use Mewtwo, you'll have to capture it first. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear until you can reach the Unknown Dungeon, which you can only access at the very end of the game, long after you've already beaten virtually every worthy opponent (and even if you decide to trade for it early in your game, it only obeys you after you get all 8 badges). And if you opt not to use the Master Ball, Mewtwo will absolutely rape your team senseless as you attempt to capture it. As the Legendary Beasts didn't appear in Gen I, capturing Mewtwo in Red/Blue simply involved the act of tossing your Master Ball at it, problem solved. But if you do choose to capture Mewtwo using conventional methods, expect to have to reset several times.
Fin
Well, that's pretty much everything I have to say for now. Though I'll say this, I haven't tried out every Pokemon yet, so if you feel that something is worth mentioning in this guide, shoot me a PM and I'll try to add it if I have time (note to school-going posters, do NOT become a Physics major in college). If you have a FireRed Pokemon that you think makes a good team Pokemon, by all means send away. I'm still going to play through the game at least one more time to get Entei anyways, so what you see here is far from final.
Pokemon Choice Guide
The goal of this FireRed/LeafGreen guide is to highlight all the most common, popular, and best choices for picking Pokemon for playing through the main Kanto storyline. Keep in mind that if you want more specific information, such as what Pokemon a certain Gym Leader has, or what to expect from your Rival at certain points of the game, or what not, then you're probably better off reading a strategy guide at GameFAQs or something since that isn't really the goal of this guide. Also, remember that most of this guide is only my own opinion, based on how I played through the game.
The main issue with playing a game as big as Pokemon is that you'll have a lot of choices for how to pick out your team. Aside from your starter, you will have to pick out five other Pokemon to fill in the gaps to create a team that can take on and take out any other team in the game. Now, as the main storyline is nowhere near as hard as Competitive battling, you don't have to worry about a single mistake dooming your entire team. However, if you fail to pick a solid team, then you'll have plenty of trouble throughout the story even if you're 5 levels above your opponents. That's what this guide is here for: to help you find the best Pokemon to create that solid team.
Type and Attack Basics
The most obvious feature of Pokemon is that there are 17 different types in the game, which greatly affect how one Pokemon performs against another. Now, even though this game takes place in Kanto, which is home to the original 13 types and original 151 Pokemon, before Dark and Steel were introduced, you still have to keep those two extra types in mind. Even though Magnemite and Magneton are the only Pokemon that possess the Steel type in the game and no Pokemon before Sevii possess the Dark type, those two types still exist in the game in the form of attacks; Charmander can learn Metal Claw, many Pokemon can learn Bite (which has shifted to being a Dark type move), and so on. So even though you don't have to worry about your Psychic attacks bouncing off of a Dark type Pokemon, you do have to worry about a Steel attack taking out your Rock type Pokemon. So be sure to memorize the Type Effectiveness table found on the main site.
Another thing to remember is that if your Pokemon uses an attack that's the same type as it, then it gets a 50% bonus in that attack, called STAB (which stands for Same Type Attack Bonus). This, in combination with using Super Effective attacks on an enemy, can result in doing up to 6 times the normal amount of damage in the most optimal cases, which, needless to say, will really ruin your opponent's day. Even when not up against an enemy that's weak to your Pokemon's type, using a STAB attack is still very effective.
Now, even though Type has a major effect on how powerful your attacks are, you also have to consider the other aspect of your attacks, whether they're Physical or Special. Keep in mind that Physical attacks use the Attack stat and attack the enemy's Defense stat while Special attacks use the Special Attack stat and hammer at your opponent's Special Defense stat. Since this is Gen III and not Gen IV, attacks aren't classified by Physical/Special on an individual basis, but rather on the attack type. So to put it simply:
Physical = Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel
Special = Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark
If you're already used to Gen IV combat mechanics, then it can seem retarded that Fire Punch is a Special attack, or that Hyper Beam is a Physical attack, or that Bite is a Special attack. But since this is an older game, let's not complain about it and deal with it.
Base Stats
Next to attack types, base stats are what determine how strong your Pokemon is. Obviously, higher evolutions of a Pokemon will have larger base stats than lower tiers in the evolution tree, but these stats can still affect how you will use a Pokemon in battle; for example, a Cubone/Marowak has good Attack stats but low Special Attack stats, so using Special attacks with either one is not a very good idea. Likewise, using a Kadabra to absorb Physical attacks is a recipe for disaster, since Kadabra has very low HP and Defense stats. Be sure to look up your Pokemon's base stats to find out what kind of role it best fills.
Effort Values
Another major difference between Red/Blue Kanto and FireRed/LeafGreen Kanto is that the data structure was completely overhauled, so there's an actual limit on how strong your Pokemon can become. This comes in the form of Effort Values, or Effort Points depending on your school of thought. Since I don't want to write an entire guide explaining EV's, I'll just link you to the other guide already present in the Diamond/Pearl subforum here, since D/P uses the same data structure as FR/LG. Whether or not you'll want to actually EV-train your FR/LG Pokemon is up to you.
In general, since this isn't Competitive battling (unless you're actually raising Pokemon to play Competitive, in which case you're better off Dongling it off to your D/P cart since it has far better EV-training tools like EV-reducing berries and the Counter app), you don't need to keep a very close eye on your Pokemon's EV's. But if you want to get more bang out of your Pokemon, then following which types of EVs your Pokemon get can go a long way; ie., making sure that your Pokemon only battles Pokemon that give out certain types of EV's until it caps out at 510. The term that I use loosely to describe this is "EV fine-tuning," since you're not actually EV-training, but following a loose guideline.
This also works to your advantage and disadvantage in combination with your Pokemon types. For example, you can make your Starter focus entirely on Special Attack EV's since Fire, Grass, and Water attacks are all Special attacks. But if you plan to Dongle, better to breed a new one from scratch and port it.
So, onto the Pokemon themselves.
Team Building Basics
While training each individual Pokemon is very important, how they work with each other to defeat opposing teams is even more important. Having a team of six Fire type Pokemon, for example, means that you'll be wasted by a Water team with minimal effort, and similarly makes taking on Rock or Dragon teams a test of patience due to not being able to dent them with your attacks. While obviously you won't build a team of six Fire Pokemon, the principle remains the same.
1. Attack Type coverage
The core principle of building a good team is that your overlapping attack types should be able to take out any possible enemy team no matter what type of Pokemon it's composed of. For example, if half your team is made up of Ground Pokemon with only Ground type attacks, then you only have three Pokemon at your disposal if you encounter a Flying team. Likewise, having plenty of Electricity Pokemon will leave you with very few attacks to use if you encounter a Ground team. Keep plenty of variety in the types of attacks that your Pokemon know, and you'll have at most only one useless Pokemon in any given battle.
2. Resistance spread
This follows the same principle as having overlapping attack coverage. If you have lots of Grass, Bug, and Ice Pokemon, you'll be easily raped by a Fire team; on top of your STAB attacks being only half as effective, your Pokemon will also be easily taken out by your opponent's STAB Fire attacks. Make sure that your team's overall resistance spread is set up such that as few of your Pokemon as possible are weak to any single type, and if possible, try to maximize the number of resistances your team has to all potential types.
3. Physical and Special attack coverage
This isn't quite that important in this game as it is in Gen IV, since type coverage will trump it in most cases here, but it can make a great difference in a few specific cases. In general, if you find yourself fighting an opponent against which you have no type advantage, then target their weaker defense with a type neutral attack. For example, Kadabra is weak against Dark type attacks and has a higher Special Defense than Defense, so if you have a Raticate, for example, instead of attacking it with a non-STAB Dark type attack like Pursuit (since no Kanto Pokemon are Dark type), you could try to hit it with a STAB Normal attack like Hyper Fang; in this case, you're targeting Kadabra's weak Defense stat, and taking advantage of Raticate's higher Attack stat, along with STAB, as opposed to using its weaker Special Attack stat with a super effective move that targets Kadabra's relatively stronger Special Defense stat.
As an example, this is the team that I'm currently raising (note that some of these are still in progress):
Charizard
-Flamethrower
-Slash
-Wing Attack
-Metal Claw
Nidoqueen
-Rock Slide
-Superpower
-Body Slam
-Double Kick
Snorlax
-Rest
-Body Slam
-Headbutt
-Sleep Talk
Magneton
-Charge
-Thunder Wave
-Sonicboom
-Supersonic
Kabuto
-Scratch
-Surf
-Harden
-Absorb
Aerodactyl
-Fly
-Take Down
-Bite
-Leer
This isn't actually a very good example (my previous Blastoise team was probably better), since half my team has a Water weakness, but the main reason for that is because I'm still experimenting with and trying out different Pokemon, and the fact that my Starter is Charizard in this case; besides, I have Magneton to deal with any issues. I also have attacks to deal with practically every Pokemon type out there except Psychic, which is what Snorlax is for. The combination of Kabuto and Aerodactyl isn't actually a good thing since they both have Rock type, but I was trying to experiment with using Kabuto as my anti-Fire Pokemon and Aerodactyl as my Flying Pokemon.
Which Pokemon to use
Your Starter
In every Pokemon game to date, you will get a Starter that, used properly, will be your most powerful Pokemon. The types have always been Fire, Grass, and Water, which form their own type triangle; in each game, your Rival has always picked the Starter that has the type advantage over your Starter, but by the end of the game you should have access to so many Pokemon that this shouldn't be an issue at all. So it's largely an issue of which Starter you like as a personal preference, or maybe which Legendary Beast you want to capture to Dongle to your D/P cart, or what have you. However, even though you will eventually have access to almost all of the original 150 Pokemon, the choice pool is quite limited at the beginning and even the middle of the game, so picking a certain Starter will affect how hard the game is at the beginning. Here's a quick run-down:
Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur
Picking Bulbasaur at the beginning instantly makes fighting the first two to four Gyms a cakewalk, since Grass easily rips through Rock/Ground and Water type Pokemon, and resist Electric and Grass type attacks quite well. The only real disadvanage is that you'll be twice as vulnerable to your Rival, since he packs the Fire Starter, as well as a Pidgey that he keeps on his team all the way to the Elite Four. Bulbasaur is capable of learning a various array of powder attacks like Sleep Powder and Stun Spore, which, aside from being able to cripple enemy teams, makes capturing wild Pokemon easier due to being able to inflict status effects with relative ease.
The Bulbasaur family isn't exactly fast, but they do have good defensive and Special Attack ratings, which makes them good for tanking and absorbing hits whenever needed. Since they come with the Poison type as a second type, this both increases and reduces your vulnerability against various attack types, so even though you might not be using Poison type attacks frequently, be aware of that second type regardless.
Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard
Picking Charmander will make the first two Gyms a test in patience and gives you no advantage against Surge, but beyond that, lets you walk all over Erika and Koga with relative ease. You're also not at as much of a disadvantage against your Rival at the beginning, since it can take on his Pidgey without much trouble. The Charmander family focuses more on speed and attack rather than on durability, so if you choose Charmander, then expect to have to take your opponents out before they can strike back. Also, evolving to Charizard gives it immunity to Ground attacks and further strengthens it against Grass and Bug, but you also gain a double weakness to Rock attacks, so tread cautiously against Pokemon that can use those attacks.
Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoise
My personal favorite ever since starting my copy of Pokemon Blue many years ago, the Squirtle family is largely defensively focused and can tank against most enemies with little trouble. Picking Squirtle gives you a free bye against Brock and lets you fight Misty to a standstill even under her level, but puts you in trouble against the next two Gyms. Against your Rival, taking him on near the end of the story is a fair cakewalk since you'll have plenty of Fire types to pick from to go toe to toe with his Venusaur.
Caterpie/Metapod/Butterfree
While Butterfree is quite useful in the short run as it hits its final stage at level 10 and can learn various useful powder attacks, it's eventually eclipsed since it doesn't get STAB on the Psychic attacks it learns, and it's a fairly vulnerable Pokemon that can't really take hits. Aside from filling an easy 3 entries in your Pokedex and making early battles a bit easier, you're probably better off leaving this one in your box. Aside from Pinsir and the later Heracross, there are few Bug type Pokemon really worth raising.
On a side note though, if you do decide to raise one, make sure to raise it from the Caterpie stage, not Metapod! If you catch a wild Metapod, it will only know how to Harden, with no Tackle, which means you miss out on having even a very basic attack to begin with. The same applies to Beedrill and raising that from the Weedle stage instead of Kakuna.
Pidgey/Pidgeotto/Pidgeot
Most players will have one of these since it's the first Flying type that they encounter, and one of the very first Pokemon that they are able to capture. Overall, while having one of these will allow you to traverse between cities very quickly once you get the Fly HM, they're not all that useful in the long run. While Pidgeot is very fast, the problem is that it doesn't hit very hard, and can't take hits well either. Furthermore, any moves that it gets STAB with are exceedingly weak, so this Pokemon eventually only becomes useful for taking out Grass, Fighting, and Bug Pokemon, and there are many other Pokemon out there that can do the job more efficiently. While I kept my Pidgeot on my team all the way to Unknown Dungeon, it sat on the sidelines well before I reached Indigo Plateau.
Pikachu/Raichu
The all-famous Electric Rat is actually not a very bad choice to start out, and will even become necessary depending on which Starter you picked. As it's found in the Viridian Forest area, you'll have one very early on if you decide to raise it, and it basically becomes your only Electric option until you reach Rock Tunnel (where Voltorb are present) or gain access to the Power Plant. The problem is that it takes a fair amount of investment to raise properly, and even then it's a mixed bag. The Thundershock attack it comes with is fairly weak and has trouble taking out opponents at the same level, even with STAB or super-effective, and Pikachu is a relatively frail Pokemon that can't take hits worth beans. However, that's what its speed is for; it's capable of outspeeding most opponents, and once it learns Thunderbolt, it can be quite useful for taking out enemies in one or two shots. Plus, when you reach Celadon (or earlier if you find a Thunder Stone), you'll gain the option to turn it into a Raichu, but make sure that you don't want to teach it any more moves before you use that Thunderstone.
A note of caution: if you opt to raise one just so you can beat Misty, don't hold your breath. Even at level 24 (and I know that personally as a fact), Pikachu is incapable of killing her Staryu in one hit, and Starmie will outspeed it even at that level, and hit hard with Water Pulse; even getting a single Thundershock in won't help matters much, since it'll take at least 3 hits before it goes down for the count, and that's not counting Misty using a Super Potion on it, or it using Recovery. Thunder Wave is a soft option, but requires you to have at least one standby Pokemon to finish the job. So unless you have an Ivysaur or Bellsprout/Oddish ready, expect to have to work hard for that Cascade Badge.
Sandshrew/Sandslash
While I personally didn't think that I would even train one of these since the Ground type has so many weaknesses, this Pokemon managed to surprise me on many occasions, though admittedly that didn't last very long. This Pokemon is a LeafGreen-only exclusive, so FireRed players can discount this Pokemon, but otherwise, feel free to read on if you can get one in a trade.
The Sandshrew family's main strength is in its defense. While it doesn't halve Normal and Flying attacks like Rock Pokemon, it also doesn't get raped by Fighting and Ground attacks either. Their Attack stat is also quite impressive, and their Speed is passable depending on the nature, but for weathering Special attacks, it's better to count on another Pokemon.
While Sandslash is capable of tanking against Physical opponents fairly well, the problem is that, despite its good Attack stat, it's incapable of learning any useful STAB moves without TMs. The only passable STAB move it learns by leveling up is Sand Tomb, which is pathetically weak for anything except trapping your opponent on the field with you. Without a TM move like Dig or Earthquake, it's not capable of finishing off an opponent in a timely manner.
Overall, I was somewhat disappointed by this Pokemon, since it takes a fair amount of investment for only an above-average return. If you opt for Earthquake, you'll be wasting your only Earthquake TM in the game, but Sandslash will become a good contender. If you opt for Dig, you don't have to use a once-only TM since Dig can be bought in Celadon, but it's a 2-turn move that does less damage than Earthquake on a per-attack basis, to speak nothing of a per-turn basis.
Nidoran/Nidorino-Nidorina/Nidoking-Nidoqueen
Surprisingly, the Nidoran family is actually fairly worth raising at least for mid-game purposes, and likely beyond that, since their end-stage royalty evolutions are quite capable of throwing down with the toughest of opponents, and their Poison Point ability can be useful sometimes. The beginning stage Nidoran are fairly weak and a bit hard to get off the ground, but once you get to Nidorino/Nidorina, they become quite reliable against most opponents, and once you get your hands on a Moon Stone, your enemies will seem to crumble before you.
The down side, of course, is that you have to get your hands on a Moon Stone in order to get them to reach their full potential, and Moon Stones are hard to come by. You'll find one in Mount Moon if you look hard enough, but it'll be a long while before you find a second one, so you're basically stuck raising only one for a while (though that's not usually an issue for most players).
Remember that using a Stone on a Pokemon often means that it'll stop learning new moves once it evolves, and in this case, they gain an extra Ground type, which opens up a whole new can of weaknesses and resistances. Be sure to look up various move tables to see what moves you'll miss out on learning. However, one of the nice things is that the Kanto move tutors can solve this problem quite easily for you; for example, I taught my Nidoqueen how to use Rock Slide using the move tutor in Rock Tunnel, which it uses on a fairly regular basis. That's another downside of these Pokemon: unless you have some TMs handy (and even if you do), you won't be getting many STAB bonuses with their attacks. But the good thing is, if you set up their moves right, they won't need STAB to take down opponents, since they'll be able to get super-effective bonuses instead most of the time.
So, if you opt for a Nidoran, which one should you pick, male or female? The male is easier to find in FireRed and the female is more common in LeafGreen, but you'll be able to find NPC's that are willing to trade your version's common type for one of the other gender at the Underground Path to Vermilion if you don't have the patience to catch it yourself, so if you're willing to wait you can get either one. They also have different move pools that you can take advantage of if you so choose. In terms of performance, Nidoking is more offensively balanced and is faster, but is a bit easier to take out due to weaker defenses. Nidoqueen, on the other hand, has more staying power and can weather attacks very well, but is somewhat slower and doesn't hit as hard. If you do EV fine-tuning like me though, you can compensate for their weaknesses and get a more balanced Pokemon; my Nidoqueen is quite capable of outspeeding most opponents, bounces most attacks off, and hits like a pile of bricks.
Vulpix/Ninetales
Another LeafGreen exclusive. While I haven't personally raised a Vulpix or Ninetales yet since I'm currently playing through using Charmander as my Starter, Vulpix does bear mentioning because its ability, Flash Fire, is rather interesting. Simply put, it absorbs Fire attacks with no damage and powers up its own Fire attacks instead, so it's useful if you like to laugh at Blaine. The problem here is that Vulpix is a fairly weak Pokemon, and it takes quite a bit of raising if you want it to learn its most powerful moves before evolving; what's worse, some of these moves come after you face Erika, so unless you dedicate a lot of time, you won't have them to take her out. However, Vulpix and Ninetales are very fast Pokemon, and can weather hits extremely well. Offensively, they're more or less average, but if you train properly, you can eliminate that flaw.
Diglett/Dugtrio
If you encountered a Dugtrio and subsequently got raped by it while passing through Diglett's Cave, you may have been tempted to capture and raise one of these things. While they're quite fast and can hit well, the problem is that those are the only two things they have going for them; they can't weather attacks very well, so you'll have to shoot to kill with this thing. While it does learn many good STAB moves, Dugtrio also has weaknesses to Grass and Water type attacks, both of which are fairly common, so using this thing takes caution.
On another note, Arena Trap can be quite useful for keeping the Legendary Beasts from running away. The flip side is that, as mentioned above, Dugtrio is incapable of weathering attacks well, least of all Legendary attacks, and you'll need to keep it on the field to keep the Beast from running away. So the only Beast you can use it against (and again, I know from experience) is Raikou, since two of its attacks are Electric type, but you still need to be careful about letting it use Bite or Roar on you, since it only takes two or three Bites to put you down, and Roar automatically makes it disappear from the game.
Mankey/Primeape
For your fight against Brock, if you opted for Charmander, Mankey can serve as a temporary ledger if you don't want to risk weathering Rock and Ground attacks to use Metal Claw. If you choose to keep it, Primeape can land hits quite well and is pretty fast, but can't take hits quite that easily. Sadly, no matter what your opinion of it is, Fighting types tend to be on the lower tier in this game, and the type tends to become a glaring weakness against Flying and Psychic types.
On another note, the Mankey family makes for a good HM slave, since it can learn Rock Smash as well as Strength, both of which are sub-par battle moves that you may need to get through dungeons.
Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam
Ever since the original Red/Blue, the Abra family has been among the most feared Pokemon of the game. Kadabra is capable of outspeeding many opponents of the same level, and its high Special Attack stat and STAB Psychic moves let it kill most of those opponents in a single attack. Along with Mewtwo, the Abra family were most responsible for the introduction of the Dark type into the game in order to nerf the Psychic type. Regardless of this, the Psychic type remains among the most powerful types in the game, still in no small part due to the Abra family, and the fact that many of the most powerful legendary Pokemon (including Deoxys) are at least part Psychic type.
In order to get one of these though, you'll have to catch one, which is much harder to accomplish here in Kanto than it is in Sinnoh (where someone practically gives you one for trade right before your first Badge battle). As only Abra is available for capture until you reach Unknown Dungeon, you'll learn to pray and hope for luck in order to get one of these things. At the same level as your Pokemon, Abra is still capable of outspeeding you, and always uses Teleport in order to run away, so the only way to catch one is by using Paralyze or Sleep, then whittling it down and tossing a ball at it in the fewest moves possible. Even if you do somehow catch one, the fun's not over. As Abra doesn't learn any new moves until level 16, when it evolves into Kadabra, you'll have to put it in front of your party or use an Exp. Share in order to get it to level up, which can be frustrating. But when it does evolve, you'll basically be laying waste to all your oponents with this thing, especially if you can get it several levels ahead of your opponents. Used properly, Kadabra is capable of wiping out entire teams without breaking a sweat, since it almost always moves first, and hits hard. If you can manage to find a friend and trade to get an Alakazam, it gets even more fun, since Alakazam is better than Kadara in every way.
The problem is, if you don't get that first hit in and kill your target, then you stand a good chance of getting taken out right then and there. Both Kadabra and Alakazam have extremely low HP and Defense, so anything that manages to use a Physical move on them stands a good chance of one-shotting them. While they can weather Special attacks slightly better, slightly better than crap isn't very encouraging, so it's a good choice not to take that risk and withdraw them if you don't think they can kill their opponent in one attack.
One more note: your Rival starts carrying a member of the Abra family once you meet him in Cerulean, so even if you don't want to raise one, it's a good idea to at least come up with some plans to counter one of these powerhouses.
Magnemite/Magneton
Provided that you're patient enough to wait until you reach the Power Plant to invest in an Electric type Pokemon, Magneton can be a good choice. The Magnemite family is the only Pokemon of the original 151 that gains an additional type, the Steel Type. If you've ever used one (Empoleon comes to mind), you'll now that they are extremely good at laughing away almost every attack type in the game, which is reason enough to raise one. Plus, Magneton comes with an extremely respectable Special Attack base, so it can lay waste to opponents quite easily with Electric attacks.
On the flip side, its defenses and HP take some coaxing to get up to speed, and it's not very fast either. Just put some attention into its Special Defense and HP, and you should be fine. but be wary of the Steel type's weaknesses, since its Ground weakness doubles up with that of Electricity, so be extremely careful around that; there's no Magnet Rise in Gen III, so you can't take advantage of it.
Unfortunately, Magneton's move pool also takes a bit of investing, since its most powerful learned Electric move, Zap Cannon, is only base 100 and has a horrible 50% hit ratio, so if you opt for it or Thunder, be sure to learn Lock On as well. But if you want the easy way out, buy Thunderbolt at the Game Corner and use that, and Magneton will be able to take out opponents quite easily.
Farfetch'd
Desite its mediocre stats, Farfetch'd is relatively worth raising as a mid-game Pokemon, largely because it comes with a Stick when you trade for it, and it can learn Swords Dance. The Stick makes it fairly easy to land critical hits, and in combination with Swords Dance, lets you set up and take out various opponents without much trouble. While it's not really useful in the long run, it is fairly capable as an HM slave, as it learns Cut and Fly, and gets STAB with both of those in case you need it.
Gastly/Haunter/Gengar
While often put in opposition next to the Abra family, the Gastly family is not quite as useful in this generation. The reason for this is because Ghost is a Physical type in this game, which means that you can't take advantage of STAB attacks (of which there are very few until Shadow Ball comes in Gen IV) and their respectable Special Attack base. While you can use their abundant array of Psychic and Dark type attacks and wreak havoc on opponents, they don't have the one-shot-rape power of the Abra family. However, on the flip side, they laugh at Normal and Fighting moves, which don't affect them at all, and they're also a bit more defensively stable than their Psychic counterparts. Also, these Pokemon can learn Hypnosis, which is extremely useful both for fighting enemy teams and for capturing wild Pokemon.
The down side, though, is that these Pokemon have Poison as a second type, which means that Psychic type attacks can rip through them very easily, despite their Ghost advantage. Unfortunately, Misdreavus and Banette aren't in this game, so you can't use them insead. But on the other hand, Levitate means that you don't have to worry about Ground attacks either.
Chansey
Chances are that you've heard of SkarmBliss or CressBliss before; Blissey makes up the latter half of both of those phrases, and it evolves from Chansey. In Competitive battling, Blissey has proven to be one of the most overused Pokemon (next to Garchomp) due to its massive HP stat and sizeable Special Defense. Chansey shares these traits with Blissey, and in this game, it can wall off Special attacks with next to no effort, and recover easily using Softboiled.
However, since the main storyline is not Competitive, Chansey sees very little actual use on these types of teams. Its offensive and speed stats are pitiful, which means that it can't kill anything, all it can do is sit there and take it (which, while lauded in Competitive, is much less useful in our case). Plus, it can't take Physical attacks all that well either, so that can be overcome fairly easily if you send it up againt the wrong opponent. Except for filling out an entry on your Pokedex, you really shouldn't have a Chansey on your team.
Magmar
Another LeafGreen exclusive (if you haven't noticed the pattern yet, the Gen III game that I own is LeafGreen), Magmar is a fairly good choice for a Pokemon if you didn't choose Charmander as your Starter. It's fast, and it can hit hard on both the Physical and Special sides if you invest in it properly. While it's not nearly as powerful as its Gen IV evolution Magmortar, it's quite capable of holding its own against many Pokemon in the game.
The down side of this Pokemon is that it can't take hits very well, especially Physical hits. More likely than not, you'll have to go in trying to take your opponent out in one shot, even if it's of a type that you're strong against. There's also the problem that by the time you can get a Magmar, the only opponent that you can use it effectively against is Lorelei, whose Pokemon often have Water mixed in as a type. But if you don't mind that, Magmar can be a great Pokemon to use.
Pinsir
As Pinsir is a LeafGreen exclusive, extremely hard to encounter, and just as difficult to catch, most people will opt not to use it (in fact, I only managed to capture it once on my Blue cartridge, and have yet to even encounter it in LeafGreen). However, it has some very respectable base stats that make investment worth it; it has massive Attack and respectable Speed, plus it takes hits rather well. On the flip side, its HP takes some investing, and it doesn't learn any moves that use STAB through leveling up. While all of its moves do take advantage of its great Attack stat, those moves don't particularly hit very hard, so you may want it to learn Swords Dance if you decide to use one. But be sure to beware of its weaknesses, as Fire can be common at times, and its Special Defense isn't quite as high as its Defense.
Magikarp/Gyarados
Magikarp is famous for being one of the hardest to raise Pokemon in the game. It doesn't learn any actual attacks until level 15, it's pathetically weak in every aspect even if it does know how to attack, and it absorbs a lot of experience per level before leveling up. In fact, before it hits level 20, Magikarp will be an absolute liability to your team, so you'd better hope that you're the patient type if you decide to raise one. However, once it does hit level 20, it'll evolve into the all-famous Gyarados.
Gyarados has often been lauded as one of the most powerful Pokemon in the game, as well as in the anime, sometimes taking a near-legendary status. Unfortunately, it comes up somewhat short in Gen III; if you want a powerhouse Gyarados, Dongle it over to D/P. The reason for this is because while it does have a fearsome Attack stat, great speed and bulkiness, and carries the ability Intimidate, its types are Water and Flying; it doesn't learn any Flying type attacks, and Water is a Special type. For that reason, using a Gyarados, you will not get any STAB bonuses on your Physical moves, and most of its better moves are TM moves. So unless you're willing to put that investment in your Gyarados, you're far better off playing a Gen IV game, where Waterfall and Aqua Tail are Physical Water moves. If you decide to raise one, avoid Electric attacks like the plague. Those attacks are capable of bringing your mighty Gyarados crashing down in a single hit before it even knows what hit it.
One last note: unless you picked Charmander, your Rival will have one of these on his team. While it does have Intimidate, you can seriously turn the tables on him by using Electricity attacks, which are Special type, and take it out easily, even without STAB.
Snorlax
While Snorlax isn't very highly lauded in Gen IV, it's an extremely useful Pokemon in Gen III, especially at the stage where you get it. If you'll recall, you get the ability to capture either of two Snorlax right after getting the Poke Flute, which comes before facing Sabrina and Koga, and Snorlax is extremely capable of laughing at either of these Gym Leaders once you get it to the proper level.
As you'll notice when fighting it, Snorlax has a massive HP stock, a high Special Defense to back it up, and can use Rest when things get dicey, so trying to kill it with Special attacks is not a very good idea. However, its base Defense isn't as high, so if you capture one, be sure to invest some EVs in that area. It's also extremely slow, and just about any opponent at any level you face will be able to attack first, but if you raise it properly, Snorlax is capable of laughing these attacks off and then returning the favor; in the case of Sabrina, you can effectively wall off her Psychic attacks, and return the favor with Physical STAB Normal type attacks, the bane of any Psychic Pokemon.
Snorlax comes with one of two abilities, Immunity or Thick Fat. Immunity prevents poisoning, which lets you steamroll over Koga with no effort, while Thick Fat halves Ice and Fire type attacks, which may become useful against Blaine and Lorelei. Either way, a properly raised Snorlax can become a real monster that can blow away its enemies at its own pace.
Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres
When you capture one of these things, it's really hard to resist the temptation to use it on your team and wipe the floor with everything you encounter; hell, I used all three of the legendary birds back on my Blue cartridge and basically coasted through the rest of the game with no effort (though Moltres seemed to underperform for some reason). The real trick is to capture them though; there's only one each of these per game, and they're extremely hard to capture if you don't have enough patience or pack enough Ultra Balls for the job, all the while they're raping your team senseless with their attacks. Plus, once you do capture one, there's the question of whether you want to use it here or Dongle it to D/P, where applicable; while they will make playing through the remainder of the story child's play, they also have their value in D/P as well.
Articuno is a monster when used against Lance, since it can rape every single one of his Dragon Pokemon senseless with STAB Ice Beam backed by its respectable Special Attack, and laugh at almost anything that they throw back in return. Zapdos can utterly destroy Lorelei's team with its massive Special Attack and STAB Electric attacks, since most of Lorelei's Pokemon are part Water type. Moltres is also capable of taking out much of whatever opposes it, though it doesn't really carry any type advantages against most of the Elite Four.
Dratini/Dragonair/Dragonite
Next to the Larvitar family, the Dratini family is the only other Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon family in this game, as well as the only one available before the Elite Four. It's extremely hard to find and catch Dratini, and almost as hard to raise it to level 55. Is the investment worth it? Both yes and no; Dragonite can be a real powerhouse in the right hands, and its monster base stats make it extremely tough to take on, but one of its greatest weaknesses in this generation is that the Dragon type is a Special type, which means that you can't really take advantage of its massive Attack stat and rape your opponents with Dragon attacks. The flip side is that its Special Attack stat isn't all that bad, so using Dragon attacks will have a noticeable effect on your opponents, even without using its monster Attack stat.
Gen IV really does turn Dragonite into a monster Pokemon, since many Dragon attacks become Physical and it can take advantage of them with STAB, plus Outrage gets a damage buff. Sadly, this isn't Gen IV, so you'll just have to deal with it. Also, remember to avoid Ice type attacks, as those can put Dragonite down really fast.
Mewtwo
Uber Mega Pokemon of Death and Destruction? Why yes, please.
Long considered the absolute most powerful Pokemon of all time (and rightfully so), Mewtwo is capable of taking out entire teams in a row with no effort at all, and this at the level that you catch it at! With the absolute highest Special Attack of the original 151 Pokemon (only surpassed by Attack Forme Deoxys when all Pokemon are counted), and the Speed to back it up, Mewtwo is capable of one-shotting almost every Pokemon in the game if used right, and even if it somehow doesn't, it has enough durability to laugh away most attacks.
Of course, in the event that you actually do decide to use Mewtwo, you'll have to capture it first. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear until you can reach the Unknown Dungeon, which you can only access at the very end of the game, long after you've already beaten virtually every worthy opponent (and even if you decide to trade for it early in your game, it only obeys you after you get all 8 badges). And if you opt not to use the Master Ball, Mewtwo will absolutely rape your team senseless as you attempt to capture it. As the Legendary Beasts didn't appear in Gen I, capturing Mewtwo in Red/Blue simply involved the act of tossing your Master Ball at it, problem solved. But if you do choose to capture Mewtwo using conventional methods, expect to have to reset several times.
Fin
Well, that's pretty much everything I have to say for now. Though I'll say this, I haven't tried out every Pokemon yet, so if you feel that something is worth mentioning in this guide, shoot me a PM and I'll try to add it if I have time (note to school-going posters, do NOT become a Physics major in college). If you have a FireRed Pokemon that you think makes a good team Pokemon, by all means send away. I'm still going to play through the game at least one more time to get Entei anyways, so what you see here is far from final.