Comparing My 2003 "Competitive" Pokémon Lineup to 2021 Standards
Looking back at the Pokémon team decisions made by kid-Niko. Spoilers: They aren't great.
When you're just over 10 years old and want to face friends in a link cable enabled Pokémon battle in Gen 3 Pokémon, you might go the same route I did:
What's cool? I'm going to use that.
So recently I re-found my old Pokémon games:
- Gold and Silver
- Sapphire
- FireRed
- Platinum
- Y (though this won't be included in this lineup)
And apart from Gen 2 (RIP to the coin cell battery) I was able to check out my saves. I was most prolific in generations 2 and 3, but since my Gen 2 saves are gone, we'll focus on my Sapphire lineup - to which I traded up through the generations and currently sit in my Platinum save.
The following table contains my level 100s with some of their stats then a little comment and a rating both influenced by my memories and builds from Smogon.
| Pokémon | Nature | Ability | Attacks | EVs | Smogon Tier | Comments | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyogre | Docile | Drizzle |
Body Slam Water Spout Ice Beam Hydro Pump |
106 HP 152 Atk 84 Def 33 SpA 66 SpD 69 Spe |
Uber | I guess it's closest to the Water Spout build, with the Smogon comment "and is often seen as amateur". Fair enough. Somehow I ended up with about the right amount of HP EVs (ideal being 108 HP) but am super lacking in the special attack EVs. | 3/5 |
| Sceptile | Careful | Overgrow |
Slam Leaf Blade Detect False Swipe |
88 HP 128 Atk 65 Def 79 SpA 34 SpD 116 Spe |
UnderUsed Banlist | Welcome to my starter. I remember walking by the school pool in intermediate school talking with friends about their final form starters and thinking "Man... Mine is garbage compared." Maybe that's why I went with False Swipe - to make it easier to catch cooler Pokémon. | 1/5 |
| Magneton | Relaxed | Magnet Pull |
Zap Cannon Spark Lock-On Tri Attack |
91 HP 169 Atk 64 Def 56 SpA 61 SpD 69 Spe |
OverUsed | Upon looking at the moveset I instantly remembered that I specifically wanted the Lock-On/Zap Cannon setup. I remember it being garbage, it with how it's built, I very much still agree. | 1/5 |
| Muk | Gentle | Sticky Hold |
Disable Sludge Sludge Bomb Memento |
40 HP 46 Atk 23 Def 14 SpA 15 SpD 15 Spe |
UnderUsed | I think I remember this being a unique case where it was raised in the daycare. That would explain the moveset and low EVs. | 1/5 |
| Gyarados | Lax | Intimidate |
Hyper Beam Hydro Pump Blizzard Fire Blast |
21 HP 156 Atk 112 Def 62 SpA 54 SpD 105 Spe |
OverUsed | Had to be here, always gotta have a cool Gyarados. Except, that moveset and EVs suggest it could hit harder if it was setup like it should be: a special attacker. I think I remember being mildly underwhelmed when battling friends, now nearly 20 years later, I understand why. | 1/5 |
| Swellow | Timid | Guts |
Aerial Ace Wing Attack Double Team Endeavor |
36 HP 72 Atk 43 Def 18 SpA 35 SpD 12 Spe |
UnderUsed Banlist | Perhaps another daycare Pokémon? I remember using Aerial Ace in battles, but that's it. | 1/5 |
| Crawdaunt | Quirky | Shell Armor |
Crabhammer Bubble Beam Protect Guillotine |
25 HP 105 Atk 100 Def 100 SpA 100 SpD 80 Spe |
NeverUsed | I secretly enjoyed this Pokémon, perhaps because it was unique with a Dark/Water typing. Sadly it is the victim of no physical water attacks even though I remember thinking a high attack stat with a move like Crabhammer was good. That cheeky little Guillotine though. | 2/5 |
| Armaldo | Mild | Battle Armor |
Ancient Power Metal Claw Protect Slash |
84 HP 185 Atk 92 Def 29 SpA 89 SpD 31 Spe |
UnderUsed Banlist | I wanted it to be better. I've always been fond of the more ancient and extinct, but man in battle with how this is built, another for the trash. | 1/5 |
| Absol | Mild | Pressure |
Double Team Flamethrower Slash Swords Dance |
107 HP 132 Atk 103 Def 30 SpA 36 SpD 102 Spe |
UnderUsed | How cool was the edgy blade bits? Looks like I kept the moves that felt the part and with a tad bit of type coverage with flamethrower. Competitively, another bad one in the lineup - double entendre intended. | 2/5 |
| Medicham | Bashful | Pure Power |
Psychic Recover Reversal High Jump Kick |
97 HP 147 Atk 93 Def 51 SpA 67 SpD 55 Spe |
UnderUsed Banlist | My thought process as follows: the power for High Jump Kick + this being a kicking Pokémon = powerful. I got to the right answer with the wrong workings. What was carrying me was the ability which doubles attack along with amazingly having okay EVs. | 4/5 |
| Wobbuffet | Jolly | Shadow Tag |
Counter Mirror Coat Safeguard Destiny Bond |
82 HP 181 Atk 53 Def 99 SpA 53 SpD 42 Spe |
Uber | I didn't realise how incredibly powerful Wobbuffet was. I knew it was good but I could never get the hang of it. Probably because I didn't understand how Physical and Special worked. I barely used it. | 3/5 |
| Glalie | Relaxed | Inner Focus |
Crunch Ice Beam Sheer Cold Blizzard |
79 HP 182 Atk 56 Def 84 SpA 62 SpD 47 Spe |
NeverUsed | I thought it was neat and remember thinking I had great moves on it. I think I had a similar soft spot here as with Crawdaunt along with another OHKO move of Sheer Cold. | 2/5 |
| Solrock | Hasty | Levitate |
Cosmic Power Rock Slide Solar Beam Explosion |
7 HP 7 Atk 0 Def 3 SpA 3 SpD 21 Spe |
UnderUsed | This has to be the cutest attack pairing to a Pokémon so far in this list. Each attack is deeply related to the Pokémon in my young mind. It's the sun so of course it's cosmic, shoots a solar Beam and explodes. I remember also being surprised it was a rock type, so I guess I threw in Rock Slide for good measure. Also, another daycare 'mon. | 3/5 |
| Lunatone | Sassy | Levitate |
Cosmic Power Psychic Future Sight Explosion |
9 HP 6 Atk 2 Def 3 SpA 0 SpD 3 Spe |
UnderUsed | I'm sure this was in daycare with Solrock, a beautiful pairing. Again with a fitting moveset, I think I've come to enjoy how I built both Solrock and Lunatone. But they weren't great in battle. | 3/5 |
| Aggron | Modest | Rock Head |
Double Edge Headbutt Iron Tail Protect |
56 HP 171 Atk 62 Def 106 SpA 65 SpD 50 Spe |
UnderUsed | Another ability I took notice of. Basically the job of Aggron was to hurtle itself into the enemy with no recoil damage. | 2/5 |
Something we see all the way through is a lack of EV understanding. I didn't even know they existed until about 2006/7 when a friend of my told me if I just kept battling against wild Skitty I would get a faster Pokémon. After knocking out about 10 low level Skitty, I moved on and never revisited the idea.
Abilities are something I never really took notice of - we only see it about three times in this list. They were more a garnish rather than an integral part. Looking at you Muk.
Held items. The only ones I understood were berries and Leftovers. No Choice Band, Choice Specs or Macho Brace for me.
"Hidden Power? The move that could be any other damage type? It's always weird and weak, I'm not interested" - well early-to-mid-2000s-Niko, it's really useful to expand a move pool to get coverage or super effective attacks when otherwise impossible.
Overall I remember winning a lot of battles, so I feel we were all as bad as each other. But it was enjoyable regardless because we were at the same level, it would've been awful to fight against a properly decked out Blissy, Rayquaza, Metagross or Salamence to name a couple.
In terms of strategy, you can tell from above it was mash my Pokémon into their Pokémon until win or loss. A friend of mine sprung a Milotic on me one day in battle. I had no idea this existed because it's kinda hard to get, but it was my first experience against a proper wall and it was scary. We also had no concept of setting up things like traps, or stalling or sweeping. As long as my Hyper Beam was stronger, then all was well.
Oh and if you want to know how I grabbed my old saves to analyse this stuff, you can check this post:
Niko Uusitalo