Eleven Years and Counting-The RBY Days

On September 30th, 1998, two games were released that changed me forever.  I'm talking about Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue for the original Game Boy.  I was a mere child at the time, being only 13 (I always thought I was younger than that) but the idea of something to collect that wouldn't cost me a fortune, like Magic: The Gathering cards, was intriguing at the time so I did what any kid would do, ask the parents for Christmas.  Lo and behold, Christmas morning and there are two presents I opened: A new Game Boy Pocket and Pokemon Red. Started it up, picked Squirtle as my first pokemon ever, and so started my journey that continues to this very day.  Eleven years has spawned four generations and almost 500 different pokemon.  I'm going to go though each generation and briefly talk about my top five or so pokemon from each generation then list my overall favorites.

Generation I: Red/Blue/Yellow

The generation that started it all, it introduced 150 catcheable (Well, you had to trade to get the other two starters and for the other game's version exclusives) Pokemon, 151 if you count Mew (who could only be obtained from a Nintendo event or by cheating). 

1. Articuno
I love this pokemon.  This thing had a monsterous special stat and it would rip through anything that couldn't handle its ice-attacks.  Plus it's cry is soothing and the official artwork for it is gorgeous.  For those reasons, it still ranks in my top favorites list.

2. Dragonite
It takes a long time to get one of these, but the wait is worth it.  It was the only fully-evolved Dragon type available in the game.  Unfortunately, his movepool wasn't great since the only dragon attack in the game was Dragon Rage but you could still wreck things with it.  He also ranks in my current favorites.  A little tip: If you really want to annoy your opponent to death, use the following moveset: Agility/Wrap/Hyper Beam/Blizzard.  Use agility once to outspeed anything your opponent may have, Wrap it so it can't do anything, continue wrapping until you feel the target is in Hyper Beam, or if your target is a rock-type, Blizzard, range and KO it.  In this generation Hyper Beam does not have a recharge time if you KO a pokemon with it. 

3.  Alakazam
Barring Mewtwo, this thing was one of the scariest pokemon in this generation.  Highest special stat in the game (Again, barring Mewtwo), one of the fastest pokemon, STAB on Psychic and its 30% special drop rate, access to Thunder Wave...yea.  Not many pokemon would stand up to an onslaught from this pokemon for very long.  It's fallen a few personal places with me now, but it's a pokemon I still enjoy having around.

4.  Rhydon
If you want to make things hurt while being immune to those pesky electric types, this is your go to guy.  I loved this pokemon back in RBY.  Earthquake hit like a truck and you could also body slam pesky water types (you still don't want to stick around) for a chance of paralysis, which in RBY happens quite frequently.  I don't use him much any more (nor his evolution) but I think I just may breed one now for nostalgia's sake.

5. Blastoise
Wasn't that impressive as far as stats and moves are concerned, but it was my first pokemon ever and just for that reason, it holds a special place with me. 

Part 1 of 4.  Next, Generation II, Gold/Silver/Crystal