Since it’s the 20th anniversary of Pokemon’s creation and Pokemon Sun and Moon were just announced, we decided to go through each generation of Pokemon and put together dream teams. Sticking to the Pokemon new to each generation and ignoring Legendaries and Megas, we chose the strongest Pokemon for each Stat according to Base Stats only. (Sorry EV trainers). We’ve also created some recommended movesets for each of the Pokemon to help you craft the ultimate team.

Generation I

Pokemon Red and Green Versions (for the Gameboy) hit Japan in 1996 while Red and Blue Versions (Gameboy) took North America by storm in 1998. These games defined childhoods and are still played on a regular basis.

NOTE: In Generation I, Special Attack and Special Defense were grouped together into one Stat so we chose the two best Special Pokemon. Also, the pictures show stats for later generations. The Special Stat is usually the higher of the two.

HP: CHANSEY

Chansey is the clear choice for having a bajillion health points. Her HP base score is 90 points higher than the next option. Plus, her Special is nothing to sneeze at. The drawback to Chansey is that she has no Attack or Defense to speak of so don’t do anything physical with her.

Recommended Moves:

Softboiled: This move will drive your opponent crazy as they barely dent your HP just to see you bring it back up.

Defense Curl: Make Chansey more resistant to physical damage.

Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Psychic: With her good Special, these are how you go on the offensive with Chansey.

Minimize: Chansey is a defensive Pokemon mostly so this is a great way to make it that much harder to kill her.

Growl: Make your physical opponents weaker even if Chansey does get removed from battle.

Thunderwave: Furthering Chansey’s defensive position, this will make any Pokemon Chansey faces at a great disadvantage no matter who your next Pokemon is.

Attack: DRAGONITE

Dragonite is a great overall monster but he shines most with his physical might. Not to mention with Ice being his only true weakness (since the only Dragon move only does 40 damage ever) it’ll be hard for your opponent to take him out.

Recommended Moves:

Hyper Beam: The strongest move in the game (barring of course OTK) and he’s hearty enough that the extra turn to recharge shouldn’t be too bad.

Body Slam: An excellent move for physical damage plus it has the chance to paralyze your foe.

Leer: Let your attacks do more damage by taking down your enemy’s Defense.

Thunderwave: Great if you want to guarantee that paralysis.

Double-Edge: Very powerful if you don’t mind the recoil damage.

Defense: CLOYSTER

Cloyster is gonna be hard for your opponent to hurt with physical attacks. Its hard shell isn’t just for show, surpassing the hardness of Rock-Types like Onix and Golem.

Recommended Moves:

Ice Beam/Surf: Cloyster’s Attack is slightly better than its Special but you’ll get a Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB) that may make up the difference or at least make it close.

Withdraw: Awesome choice if you want to really make Cloyster your Defense choice.

Tri Attack: A powerful move that can also induce paralysis, freezing, or burning.

Blizzard: Stronger than Ice Beam but it doesn’t have as good Accuracy.

Reflect: If you want to help Cloyster against those Special Attacks.

Special 1: ALAKAZAM

The best Special in the game and extremely fast. Not to mention, in the early games Psychic-Types are a little OP.

Recommended Moves:

Psychic: Very powerful and STAB.

Recover: Alakazam isn’t very tanky, it’s more DPS, so a nice healing move can go a long way for it.

Kinesis: Since Alakazam lacks Defense and HP, this will help your opponent’s attacks miss.

Reflect: Gives it a nice Defense bonus when needed.

Special 2: GENGAR

Gengar is just behind Alakazam in Special and Speed but has a bit more of a Physical boost. Plus, Normal and Fighting moves can’t hurt you at all!

Recommended Moves:

Confuse Ray: Give your opponent the chance to hurt themselves! After all, why should you do all the work?

Hypnosis: Make your opponent useless for at least one turn.

Dream Eater: They do have to be asleep for this one but it’s very powerful and heals you.

Thunderbolt: Sometimes it’s nice to have an unexpected move. Not to mention how good this move is.

Night Shade: This move is tricky since its damage is equal to your level (also see Seismic Toss) so it’s really only good at high levels.

Speed: AERODACTYL

For Generation I’s speedy team member we chose Aerodactyl. Technically Electrode is faster, but Aerodactyl is second fastest and has more bite and health making him a much better candidate. Not to mention, Aerodactyl looks a lot cooler than an upside pokeball with eyes and a mouth.

Recommended Moves:

Bite: An excellent basic attack.

Hyper Beam: The most powerful move in the game, just be careful since you have to take your next turn recharging.

Fly: A good Flying move that’ll get a STAB Bonus and the first turn allows you to evade your enemy’s attack.

Reflect: Aerodactyl has decent HP but it’s DEFENSE is lacking a little. You can help him take more of a beating with this.

Double-Edge: A very powerful move, but be careful since he’ll take ¼ of the damage himself.

Post By: Tommy Wiliams, Catherine Wilson, and Yifan Zhao