Rank Characters based on In Game Use: Reboot!

[Dark Holy Elf]

Fire's a scrubby type (the types it kills either barely exist, suck, or are grass which has many other weaknesses). Not sure why hinode thinks Johto changes this... the good Johto gym leaders are Whitney (neutral) and Clair (resists), and the two relatively competent E4 members are Karen (varies but Houndoom resists) and Lance (resists). The only gyms fire has an advantage against are the really scrubby ones (bug and ice, as well as Kanto grass)... I guess Jasmine as well but her Steelix has rock attacks and is weak to Surf (which you always have) anyway, so just hit her with that. Fire Punch helps... but then most fires apparently don't even get that! WTF?

Charizard: DNR
Ninetails: 5/10. Confuse Ray, then Flamethrower at 31 (along with the evolution of course). Decent at that point! Kinda bad before then though. If Flame Stones really are annoying to get, I may reconsider this.
Arcanine: 4/10. Not really seeing what he brings to the table. Non-STAB dark attacks? Best option is probably to evolve after Flame Wheel at 34, but that just looks trashy compared to other fire options who will have either Fire Punch + Thunderpunch or Flamethrower. Always worse than Ninetales, despite being better at almost every stat, I think this is a running joke on GameFreak's part.
Rapidash: 2/10. Hahaha no.
Magmar: 7.5/10. Hmm. Confuse Ray isn't really a thing in this game (Level 49 lol). However, he has full evo stats as soon as you get him, and Fire Punch (which he has immediately) far exceeds the Ember/Flame Wheel other fires are rocking. He's the most damaging fire type until Typhlosion evolves and even then only barely loses from then on (and takes the lead back again at 41 with Flamethrower!). Even gets Thunderpunch too, yeah. Clear best fire type in GSC.
Flareon: 1.5/10. lol doesn't even get a fire move better than Ember until the 50's, on top of usual Flareon problems.
Moltres: DNR
Typhlosion: 5/10. Really bad until Level 31 when it gets Flame Wheel, mediocre until 36 when it gets its evo and Fire/Thunderpunch, at which point it is a slightly better Magmar which is solid enough to get a respectable score, but certainly nothing high. Not seeing the hype here. If it is the best starter that's due to the scrubbiness of the competition, and I'm not convinced that's the case anyway.
Magcargo: 1/10. Crap.
Houndoom: 2/10. I... I... sigh.
Entei: Pass.
Ho-Oh: 8.5/10. Okay pretty sure he's pretty impressive, yeah. edit: but I think I'll reserve 9 for Lugia since 9.5 seems too high for a lategame pickup

Electric unlike fire is actually worthwhile since waters are a pain to hit weakness on and IIRC GSC is short on good grass attacking options due to Razor Leaf's nerf, although again electrics don't seem to want to learn Thunderpunch.

Raichu: 2/10. See Houndoom?
Magneton: 5/10. Thunderwave and steel typing are nice; I definitely found a niche for it as an annoyer. Damage blows, though. Probably best thought of as an Ampharos who is more durable (due to typing) but notably less damaging. They certainly don't deserve a huge gap, though.
Electrode: 3/10. Well it's fast and can screech/light screen/blow up.
Electabuzz: 3/10. Sure I'll give it a bonus point for Odd Egg shenanigans.
Jolteon: 3/10. You know GSC is screwed up when Jolteon sucks (despite not even being a Kanto pokemon!).
Zapdos: DNR
Lanturn: 7.5/10. Bleh stats, but nice skillset: Spark, Confuse Ray, Thunder Wave, Surf? I'm sold.
Ampharos: 6/10. Actually learns Thunderpunch! Doesn't have the variety of Lanturn (Confuse Ray or Surf) but does have higher SA,. Losing trade but not an awful one, for all that I think of this guy as a scrub on paper (dat speed). GSC!!!
Raikou: Pass.

Dark's typing... well, killing psychics is very useful as very little else even resists them (although I guess punching Kababra would work pretty well). Unfortunately they lack on offence and barely exist.

Umbreon: 6/10. Y'all saying Umbreon's build doesn't work in-game are weird. In-game doesn't call for tanks/walls at base but they work pretty well if they can somehow cripple the enemy, allowing another pokemon to finish the job or even set up with stat buffs (though I dunno how many good setup sets exist in GSC in-game offhand). Umbreon can take loads of punishment, nulls an otherwise extremely annoying enemy type (Sabrina and Ash's Espeon stand out as two of the trickier things I had to deal with in GSC, Umbreon would have killed them dead), and has Sand-Attack and Confuse Ray. It's not amazing but so much better than most of this list.
Murkrow: 1/10. Why you put this crap in Kanto, game.
Sneasel: 3.5/10. Sure, what hinode says sounds right.
Tyranitar: 1/10. -_-

[hinode]

I think the phone calls for stones are just totally random. I just checked my old Crystal files, and across 3 different runs I have a grand total of 1x Leaf Stone and 1x Water Stone that (I think) came from phone calls, plus a set that definately came from Bill's Grandpa. Caveat that one of these files I stopped after beating the E4, but it's not getting a random stone in Kanto is really salvaging anyone's rating.

As for Fire types in Johto, that was a hasty comment based largely on the three types its weak to being locked to Kanto gyms while three of the types weak to it being in Johto, although in hindsight you're right on two of those being really scrubby gyms. I don't consider Steelix's non-STAB Rock Slide a serious problem though, that's not likely to OHKO unless you're seriously underlevelled in which case Sunny Day + healing items can cause Water types problems as well. I'm also used to Typhlosion with Fire Punch+Thunderpunch(+Earthquake sometimes) having good performances in the E4, but that's only partly due to the Fire type itself, thinking more closely on it.

Incidentally, I just skimmed the movepools for Grass types in GSC and... yikes. Nobody besides Meganium is getting better than a 4, and that depends on me giving Bellsprout lots of credit for earlygame.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Regarding Steelix, I'd assume you are fighting Jasmine below Level 31, so all fires are going to be running Ember as their best move (except Magmar)... and Surf post-Sunny Day is still stronger than Ember, and only slightly weaker than Ember post-Sunny Day (I don't recall under what circumstances it will use Sunny Day to comment further here), and of course you get in that first hit at minimum against Steelix speed. Rock Throw's not that scary, no (although better than you'd think because Steelix's level is very high), but it will outdamage a resisted Iron Tail (100 effective power / 90 accuracy instead of 75/75 for Iron Tail), so waters get a definite durability advantage by comparison.

[hinode]

I vaguely recall having Flame Wheel for Jasmine, although my memory of GSC is pretty bad at this point besides the Pokeniu run which I took notes on. My levels are typically higher than yours (fewer temps to siphon off exp, more Rare Candies from Buena) but I can't say exactly how much at this point.

I should note at this point that Typhlosion and Magmar are the only Fires I'd seriously consider using at that point, my half-assed ranking for the Growlithe line was assuming you grabbed it before Violet City and ditched it right after Morty, as probably the most efficient use of it w/o a Fire Stone. <_<

Edit: Dropped Vulpix/Growlithe scores some more, they're really terrible investments without dumb luck in getting a Fire Stone on time. Also dropped some other Fire types that are clearly even worse than those two even further.

[Meeplelard]

Pokemon Generation 2 Fire, Electric and Dark types:
Charizard: DNR.  Yeah, trade only = might as well not exist.
Ninetails: 3.5/10  It has issues, but not unsalvage-ably useless I guess.
Arcanine: 3/10.  Is Ninetails with a worse level up set which kind of matters a lot for them.
Rapidash: 2/10.  Rapidash requires Gen 4 to actually get some argument of worth...maybe...
Magmar: 7/10.  Good stats out of the gate relative to when you can get him, TM Punches insure he'll have solid offense the entire game, gets Confuse Ray.  Take notes other fire types!
Flareon: 2/10.  Flareon/10.
Moltres: DNR.  See Charizard
Typhlosion: 6/10.  Good stats and Flamewheel is a better move than most Fire types get, and he can use Thunder Punch TM as well for some coverage (which is also stronger than STAB Ember to boot.)
Magcargo: 1/10.  THink if something wrong with a Pokemon that isn't a "joke" like Farfetch'd, chances are, it'll apply to Magcargo too.
Houndoom: 3/10.  He's good on paper, but has this issue of "Kanto only" which docks him points.
Entei: 3/10.  The raw stats are nice, the moveset not so much; he still has the issue of running Ember late game and what not.  If he got Flame Wheel instead, this would probably boost him 2 points. To top it off? He's also a huge pain in the ass to get. EDIT: On Hindsight, that moveset combined with runner makes it hard to justify getting higher than this.
Ho-Oh: 9/10.  On top of raw stats, Ho-Oh also adds in a very good skillset in the mix AND can even be used as a Fly slave (a move that actually doesn't suck in game.)  In Games where he misses Sacred Fire, he'll still get Fire Blast, which is certainly good enough.

Raichu: 2/10.  Raichu is good, make no mistake, but given the amount of effort required just to get one, which includes raising him from Pichu (who you may not even get due to randomness) and getting an elusive Thunderstone, I cannot realistically place him higher.  Talk about being boned in everyway.
Magneton: 6/10.  Offense + Typing combo is good.
Electrode: 4/10.  He's fast, which is something...I guess.
Electabuzz: 4/10.  Electric Magmar! ...who is Kanto only, this docks him a lot of points, sadly.
Jolteon: 3/10.  With no Thunderbolt TM, Jolteon is running Thundershock for way longer than he should as his best damage.  That's really hard to defend.
Zapdos: DNR.  No different than Moltres.
Lanturn: 5/10.  Can run STAB Surf for damage, and does get Spark for an intermediate electric type attack.  The stats hold him back, sadly.
Ampharos: 6/10.  Ok, that's more like it.  Speed needs work, but it's got good SpA backing up STAB Thunder Punch AND it can use Fire Punch for type coverage as well (like...say...Grass types anyone?) 
Raikou: 6/10.  Ok, he gets Spark...at level 41.  That sounds high...except he joins at Level 40, meaning he's likely overleveled when you first get him and only one level away from a half-decent Electric Attack.  Unfortunately, he's also a pain to get; you can Master Ball him granted, but finding his first appearance is the hardest, so I can't honestly give him higher as the effort to find one offsets everything. EDIT: Docking him a point because that initial finding of him is just awful.

Umbreon: 6/10.  Tanks can indeed go a long way, and Umbreon, unlike other Eeveelutions, isn't reliant on finding a random stone, which makes him actually easier to get than others.
Murkrow: 2/10.  This is the kind of Pokemon that's a good Jagen, evidence by his effectiveness in games like Diamond.  The problem?  YOU GET HIM IN KANTO AND UNDERLEVELED.  This makes him awful.
Sneasel: 3/10.  Sneasel is great...in Gen 4 where he gained physical STABs and an evolution in Weavile.  As he stands, he's a Pokemon whose stats don't mix with the typing, though at least he exists in Johto so that puts him ahead of Murkrow.
Tyranitar: 1/10.  This guy is as badass as he appears, frankly.  So what's the problem?  You find him in the VERY LAST DUNGEON IN THE GAME...as an underleveled Larvitar.  Sorry, but much as I love T-tar, he's the epitome of useless-in-game.  It's basically GSC's equivalent of Nino, only way more extreme.  Yes, a "more extreme Nino"; I'll let you stomach that.

[Meeplelard]

   Average   STDEVA
Charizard   N/A   N/A
Ninetails   3.30   1.10
Arcanine   3.30   0.67
Rapidash   1.60   0.55
Magmar   7.60   0.42
Flareon   1.80   0.27
Moltres   N/A   N/A
Typhlosion   6.90   1.34
Magcargo   0.80   0.27
Houndoom   2.30   0.67
Entei   N/A (2.33)   N/A (1.53)
Ho-Oh   8.90   0.22

Raichu   1.80   0.84
Magneton   4.10   1.60
Electrode   2.80   0.84
Electabuzz   4.10   1.67
Jolteon   2.90   0.22
Zapdos   N/A   N/A
Lanturn   6.70   0.97
Ampharos   6.30   0.97
Raikou   N/A (3.67)   N/A (2.89)

Umbreon   5.00   1
Murkrow   1.20   0.45
Sneasel   3.20   0.27
Tyranitar   1.00   0

Standard Deviation of full cast: 2.29

Best Rating of this session:  Ho-Oh w/ 8.90
Worst Rating of this session: Magcargo w/ 0.80

Charizard, Moltres, and Zapdos all got DNR'd hence no rating.  Raikou and Entei did not get sufficient enough votes to count, so they get similar treatment, however, for those curious, I did list the values based on those who did rate in parantheses; I feel this is a fair compromise.

I might add in Standard Deviation of each typing in this session at a later point, but just trying to get the basic post done now (this is a crazy week for me, and I don't want to say "sorry for another delay!" scenario). 


This session, we do a bunch of more typings!  Please note that we will likely take a break from Pokemon after this next session, because I get the feeling a burn out is happening; if you wish to continue and just to get them done ASAP, please speak up now.


Pokemon Generation 2 Water, Ice, and Dragon types:
Blastoise:
Golduck:
Poliwrath:
Tentacruel:
Slowbro:
Dewgong:
Cloyster:
Kingler:
Seaking:
Starmie:
Gyarados:
Lapras:
Vaporeon:
Omastar:
Kabutops:

Feraligatr:
Azumaril:
Politoed:
Quagsire:
Slowking:
Qwilfish:
Corsola:
Octillery:
Mantine:
Kingdra:
Suicune:

Jynx:
Articuno:
Dragonite:
Piloswine:
Delibird:


I toyed with the idea of removing some of the dual types (notably the Rock and Psychic ones) and placing them with their alternative typings...but realized I'd probably forget I didn't do them already, and that would eb bad, so screw it, LARGE SESSION IS GO!

[hinode]

Maybe run one non-Pokemon game alongside one batch of Pokemon for the next few ranking sessions? That would get get people who don't play Pokemon/don't feel like looking up GSC info back posting in this thread regularly, without totally halting the GSC ranking process.

I'll start with the stuff I've used before (plus DNRs), and then fill in the blanks later on after doing some research. After a while I'll probably just start half-assing them since there are so many Water types and not as many obvious scrubs as other typings due to easy Surf access.

Blastoise: DNR
Golduck:
Poliwrath:
Tentacruel:
Slowbro:
Dewgong:
Cloyster:
Kingler:
Seaking:
Starmie:
Gyarados:
Lapras:
Vaporeon:
Omastar: DNR
Kabutops: DNR

Feraligatr: 8/10. The high attack is kinda wasted, but 79/78 offensive stats are still decent and Surf+Ice Punch before gym 4 is outstanding.
Azumaril: 2.5/10. Same nice Surf+Ice Punch combo as Feraligatr, but off 50/50 offensive stats instead. It was actually one of my top performers in Pokeniu alongside Sneasel and Piloswine, but being strictly outclassed by so many other Water types mean it scores lower than Sneasel who at least fills a unique niche.
Politoed:
Quagsire: 6/10. Great defensive typing, and getting Earthquake at a reasonable level (35) is a huge deal in a game where the Earthquake TM is so heavily contested. Those stats could generously be termed mediocre, though.
Slowking:
Qwilfish:
Corsola: 2/10. Some cool moves by level-up (Recover when you catch it, Mirror Coat and Ancientpower before 45), but those stats are really hopeless.
Octillery:
Mantine:
Kingdra:
Suicune: 8/10. GSC is backloaded enough on difficulty (Clair, E4) that I'm willing to give Suicune, as well as Ho-oh and Lugia, lots of credit despite coming late. Modest offensive upgrade over Feraligatr (except Ice damage) and a large durability lead vs huge availability gap feels pretty close to a push for me, so I'll give them the same score.

Jynx:
Articuno: DNR
Dragonite:
Piloswine: 2.5/10. Needs the Earthquake TM to not totally suck, plus the Icy Wind TM to actually do something with its Ice type before level 56 besides die to Fire moves.
Delibird: 0.5/10, yeaaaah.

[Random Consonant]

lazy, need to fill in blanks later

Pokemon Generation 2 Water, Ice, and Dragon types:
Blastoise: DNR
Golduck: HM slave, no water moves by level until Hydro Pump but hey Surf exists and you can get it around Goldenrod and it has good enough SpA so I'll be nice.  7/10.
Poliwrath: Meh stone evo.  3/10
Tentacruel: Quite useable.  6/10
Slowbro: I guess you could but there are faster things you could use to fit the bill.  Oh well, at least it can HM slave.  5/10.
Dewgong: Availability could be worse, stats could be better. edit: or i could have forgotten something about it's availability, go me 3/10
Cloyster: Meh stone evo.  3/10
Kingler: Dat SpA.  3/10.
Seaking: FUCK YEAH SEAKING.  2/10
Starmie: Meh stone evo but hey Starmie is kind of cool at least.  4/10
Gyarados: Um.  3/10
Lapras: Yeah Lapras is fine.  6/10
Vaporeon: Meh stone evo.  3/10
Omastar: DNR
Kabutops: DNR

Feraligatr: It does get that third form at Lv30 and the SpA and Spd are workable.  Atk is a bit wasted and it doesn't really have the HOLY CRAP THERE ARE NO GOOD X TYPES thing to warrant score inflation but it's fine.  7/10
Azumaril: What are those stats, ew.  2/10
Politoed: Requires trading, no.  2/10
Quagsire: The typing is good and it gets STAB EQ.  The stats are... well.  A thing.  6/10.
Slowking: Requires trading, no.  2/10
Qwilfish: Pretty awful.  1.5/10
Corsola: Those stats.  2/10
Octillery: 105 SpA is nice, but outside Ice Cave and could stand to be faster.  3/10.
Mantine: Doesn't seem too bad.  6/10.
Kingdra: Requires trading, no.  2/10
Suicune: Assuming Crystal, where it doesn't have the fact that it's a roamer dragging it down, yeah it's pretty good.  8/10.

Jynx: Rare and Ice Path, but STAB Ice Punch is something.  6/10.
Articuno: DNR
Dragonite: Uh.  Well at least you can fish up a Dratini before Mt. Silver, that's something right. 2/10
Piloswine: Uh huh.  2/10
Delibird: lol.  0.5/10

[Dark Holy Elf]

Blastoise: DNR.
Golduck: Golduck is pretty much the bog standard of available water pokemon in this game: available fully evolved as soon as you can Surf, 95/85 offence, average defence, Surf/Ice Punch immediately. Compared to Magmar, he comes out ahead a bit... Surf is stronger than Fire Punch, which offsets the slightly lost offence in exchange for better defence. Also better elements. 8/10. Doesn't get higher because the stats are ultimately unexceptional. Screech can provide some okay utility.
Poliwrath: 5/10. Much worse stat build than the above, but can play the same game. Has a few more physical options, but who cares.
Tentacruel: 7/10. Solid. No Ice Punch, but gets STAB Sludge Bomb instead around gym 7 (pretty low demand TM I think?), and 100 speed is great. EDIT: Barrier at L38 is also a really nice push, especially with his speed/SDef already being great.
Slowbro: 5/10. Saved by being catchable as Slowbro, since otherwise Level 37 evo in this game would be brutal. Anyway it's reasonably bulky and does the Surf/Ice Punch thing, but that speed sinks it.
Dewgong: 3/10. Late and underlevelled, unimpressive stats which are awful until L34 evo. Too bad because actually having STAB on Aurora Beam would be nice, otherwise.
Cloyster: 5/10. Outright crap until the Water Stone, at which point it becomes... reasonably durable and actually gets STAB on its Aurora Beam.
Kingler: 2/10. Oh dear. Bad stats, no Ice Punch, bad skillset. The worst possible choice for a water? Poor Krabby in the days between losing Crabhammer and the phyisical/special split was a sorry sight to behold.
Seaking: 2/10. Blah stats, no Ice Punch, bad skillset. At least it's fully evolved immediately so it's better than Kingler. EDIT: But it has less Atk and no Strength. So maybe not!
Starmie: 7/10. Kind of a weird showing for Starmie. Unlike most games it's almost mono water for attacks (until Psychic in Kanto). It can still do Recover + Harden or Flash, though, and Confuse Ray is a great pickup at Level 37. A bit projecty due to that and needing a Water Stone, but once it gets rolling it pretty much trades ice for that and of course the best stats of the bunch, 100/115 offence hell yes.
Gyarados: 3/10. Um um it has non-STAB Bite and Twister! Yeah, otherwise, it's pretty much Seaking with more bulk but available later.
Lapras: 6.5/10. Well... I'm not sure how much to hold "Friday only" against it. Depending on when you are playing the game and how fast that could leave it a bit underlevelled/late. That said it is very solid past that. Slow but tanky, gets STAB Ice Beam (yes, Ice, not Aurora, this probably wrecks Lance), gets Confuse Ray.
Vaporeon: 6/10. Needs a Water Stone. After that it's Lapras with later/weaker ice damage but more water damage, and no Confuse Ray. Still seems like a decent choice. It can run Shadow Ball if you're desperate. Eevee phase... well, it can STAB Headbutt at least.
Omastar: DNR
Kabutops: DNR

Feraligatr: 6/10. I don't see any compelling reason not to dump him for something better as soon as you get Surf (in particular: Golduck completely outclasses him), but at least he gets Surf/Ice Punch and has no overtly bad stats. Good enough for an above average score.
Azumaril: 2.5/10. Those offensive stats are gross. It can Surf/Ice Punch, so it's not Kingler bad.
Politoed: DNR
Quagsire: 4/10. Surf/Ice Punch/Earthquake sure is a skillset in GSC. Unfortunately, 35 speed and no other especially good stats really hold it back. Why not just run a Graveller and another water who is actually good at the water side of things?
Slowking: DNR
Qwilfish: 1.5/10. Kanto scrub. (Apparently you can get it earlier via a swarm or something but I remember those being annoyingly random.)
Corsola: 3/10. Quagsire trading STAB Earthquake and Ice Punch for Harden/Recover. That neat typing means you can do much worse, but it's not very good anyway. Being slow makes that healing game much worse unless you can switch it in on something asleep or something.
Octillery: 2/10. Kanto/swarm scrub with slightly less awful stats. A shame because it actually has good special coverage off good SA.
Mantine: 5/10. Wishes it got more of that solid skillset earlier. Anyway it's a decent special tank and has an okay STAB Surf, but as far as tanky waters go you can do better.
Kingdra: 2/10. Like Seel this is late/underlevelled, and it doesn't even get STAB Ice. If you're actually willing to consider Kingdra, unlike me, it gets notably better, but still, why bother.
Suicune: 8/10. Yep, this one's good.

Jynx: 6.5/10. A bit rare/underlevelled... but STAB Ice Punch and 75% sleep off 115/95 offence is great. Durability is atrocious, however, and it doesn't have an second-type special until Kanto.
Articuno: DNR
Dragonite: 2/10. Late and underlevelled, no real point. It can Thunderwave at least, and you might as well give it the Dragonbreath TM if you're going to use it, but you're not going to catch it up into anything worthwhile.
Piloswine: 2/10. So, when I played Crystal, I missed Jynx and Lapras, so I tried to use this as my ice type. I can assure you: it is horrible.
Delibird: 0.5/10. A present for youuuu~

[DjinnAndTonic]

Never realized there were so many freakin water types in this gen. I know there's a lot in general, but it feels really skewed here.

Pokemon Generation 2 Water, Ice, and Dragon types:
Blastoise: DNR
Golduck: 6 - I like Psyduck, but I never used him, like many water types, because I just picked one that didn't look terrible and never bothered with any others til Suicune.
Poliwrath: 6 - Looks fine.
Tentacruel: 7 - This is the one I snagged.
Slowbro: 6 - It's fine.
Dewgong: 4 - I like the dual ice-types for general coverage.
Cloyster: 4
Kingler: 2 - Wow, the suck.
Seaking: 2 - The suck.
Starmie: 7 - the one I -should- have used. I had a Water Stone lying around that I never used.
Gyarados: 7 - I always liked the Gyarados payoff of grinding a Magikarp. But Gen 2 also guarantees you one out of the box, so it's better than usual here.
Lapras: 6 - The best of the dual Ice-types.
Vaporeon: 6 - Usable Eeveelution/10!
Omastar: DNR
Kabutops: DNR

Feraligatr: 6 - There are better water options, which is kinda sad for a starter in this Gen.
Azumaril: 2 - Hey, the suck!
Politoed: 3 - What a terrible evo option, and it requires trading? Why?
Quagsire: 6 - Overall usable
Slowking: 4 - I think it's better than Slowbro in theory but requires trade and a hold item. Lame.
Qwilfish: no comment
Corsola: no comment
Octillery: no comment
Mantine: 5 - Hey, you're pretty good and available!
Kingdra: 5.5 - Requires Trade, but snags you both a good water and one of your few Dragon options.
Suicune: 8 - The Water-type we deserved.

Jynx: 5 - Ugh, I am reluctant to admit it is kinda useful in this Gen. That makes me sad.
Articuno: DNR (this also makes me sad)
Dragonite: 2 - Lategame beasts don't get to catch up, unfortunately.
Piloswine: 3 - Really needs that Gen4 evo. Swinub is so cute though, I used it anyway (fondness for Ice-types)
Delibird: 1 - Gimmick/10

[Dark Holy Elf]

Gyarados may not require raising in GSC, but unfortunately they made it suck to compensate for this. Bad Special Atk (unlike RBY), and almost nothing which runs off its physical attack (unlike RSE onwards; heck, it has less than in RBY due to Bite going special). Its offence is either non-STAB Strength, or a Surf which does less damage than Seaking's.

EDIT: On that note Seaking's stats are somehow even worse than I thought + apparently it doesn't even get Strength, okay, lowering it some.

[Meeplelard]

Pokemon Generation 2 Water, Ice, and Dragon types:
Blastoise: DNR.
Golduck: 7/10.  Adequate and gotten early enough to be worth something; he'd be worse if you couldn't catch one in the Wild under the normal levels because Psyduck sucks.
Poliwrath: 4/10.  Unimpressive, but not awful.  Stone Evo holds it back.
Tentacruel: 6/10.  Fast with passable SpA, it'll do.
Slowbro: 5/10.  Tanky, but probably not overall worth it; second typing doesn't hurt though.
Dewgong: 2/10. No.
Cloyster: 2/10.  Requires a stone Evo to be usable, and isn't even that good once evolved.
Kingler:  1/10.  Sorry Kingler, but before Gen 4, you just plain suck.
Seaking: 1/10.  Sorry Seaking, but you're just plain bad, period.
Starmie: 6/10.  Starmie is great, but the stone evo is a legitimate hold back; yeah, this rating works.
Gyarados: 2/10.  He's not unusably bad, but yeah, Gen 2 Gyarados was really bad.
Lapras: 7/10.  I don't think I hold the "Friday Only" thing too badly, so what we have is a Water/Ice type with good stats and a moveset to back it up.
Vaporeon: 5/10.  Similar to Starmie, but not as good; the stone issues hold it back.
Omastar: DNR
Kabutops: DNR

Feraligatr: 5/10.  It's usable but worse than Golduck in the notable ways, on top of picking Feraligatr prevents you from getting like the only decent Grass or Fire type in the game, where as filling that Water slot is much easier.
Azumaril: 1/10.  Slow, damageless, and no redeeming qualities other than ABOVE AVERAGE HP!!!
Politoed: 2/10.  It's like Poliwrath with an even MORE restrictive evolution...so eewww to that.
Quagsire: 5/10.  Passable Water type that is available early.
Slowking: 1/10.  Slowbro with a god awful Evolution mechanic, so no.
Qwilfish: 2/10.  Thinks it is Tentacruel, it is not Tentacruel.
Corsola: 3/10.  It's Quagsire with worse typing, and not sure how much I respect Harden + Recover on a typing that can be exploited.
Octillery: 2/10.  Unimpressive.
Mantine: 4/10.  It's got special bulk!  And ok stats!  I guess this works.
Kingdra: 3/10.  Good if you can get one!  Pity you won't, so this is basically what a Seadra gets.
Suicune: 8/10.  In Crystal, he is completely bad ass.

Jynx: 6/10.  Effective for what it is.
Articuno: DNR.
Dragonite: 2/10.  I think you get a Dratini for free after Claire, but it's probably not sufficiently leveled at all, so uh, yeah.  It does have all of Kanto to gain levels and do stuff, so
Piloswine: 2/10.  Umm...what good thing can I say about it?  COOL TYPING (no pun intended) does not offset his other failings.  There's a reason he got a Gen 4 Evolution.
Delibird: 1/10.  He's like Articuno except with horrible moves and bad stats...so nothing like ARticuno outside of the typing!

[Ranmilia]

Pokemon Generation 2 Water, Ice, and Dragon types:
Blastoise:  DNR
Golduck: 4/10  So the thing about waters is that they all get STAB Surf, so there's a floor on how bad they can be.   That said a lot of them are unexciting and there's no real reason to use them over something else better, so you'll see a lot of this 4/10 business.
Poliwrath: 5/10 good but stone
Tentacruel: 8/10  Nobody *wants* to use one because they're so common but actually Tenta's stats kind of rule.  It's like Bizzaro Water Kadabra.
Slowbro: 4/10
Dewgong: 5/10 +1 for STAB ice
Cloyster: 5/10 ditto
Kingler: 5/10
Seaking: 4/10
Starmie: 6/10  like tenta but stone evo
Gyarados: 8/10 gets handed to you and can be leaned upon, terrible IVs aside it's nice to actually have Dragon Rage and physicals
Lapras: 9/10  this is the water type you should actually use to kill things with, it is strong and has good moves and is guaranteed access.
Vaporeon: 2/10 I know I said there was a floor on STAB surf, but if you get Vaporeon with the intent of using it, you are dumb and also wasted your Eevee.
Omastar: DNR
Kabutops: DNR

Feraligatr: 7/10, it's a starter with STAB surf but it also means you picked the worst starter.
Azumaril: 4/10 wasn't there another l?
Politoed: DNR  I refuse to believe anyone legitimately obtained this pokemon for normal ingame use worth ranking.
Quagsire: 7/10  If you're too lazy for Lapras this is the water you should get.
Slowking: DNR see Politoed
Qwilfish: 4/10
Corsola: 4/10
Octillery: 4/10
Mantine: 3/10 -1 for opening yourself up to electric W4 for no reason and not being Gyarados
Kingdra: 6/10  I almost want to DNR this but its plot power means people actually get it.  That said it takes a LOT of work and the end result isn't actually as impressive as Claire's.
Suicune: 9/10  In Crystal this carries your entire game with ease.

Jynx: 8/10  actually super badass, Smoochum is the best random egg baby.
Articuno: DNR
Dragonite: 6/10  it won't actually BE Dragonite most of the game, but why are people docking ranks for that, Dragonair is fine and one is handed to you.  If you choose to use it it's quite good.
Piloswine: 5/10  it actually does have good coverage for ingame and reasonable stats.  Putting your Icy Wind and EQ on this might not feel optimal but you could do a lot worse.
Delibird: 2/10  I used this.  It really does suck.  However it does have STAB Ice so it isn't 1 or 0/10 suck.

[Meeplelard]

Ok, before I post ratings, I have a simple question:

Anyone opposed to, at some point in the not too distant future (which is about as vague a statement as I can make!) about re-ranking previously ranked games?  This is more gauging interest and they would only happen alongside something else added on.

   Average   STDEVA
Blastoise   N/A   N/A
Golduck   6.40   1.52
Poliwrath   4.60   1.14
Tentacruel   6.80   0.84
Slowbro   5.00   0.71
Dewgong   3.40   1.14
Cloyster   3.80   1.3
Kingler   2.60   1.52
Seaking   2.20   1.10
Starmie   6.00   1.22
Gyarados   4.60   2.70
Lapras   6.90   1.24
Vaporeon   4.40   1.82
Omastar   N/A   N/A
Kabutops   N/A   N/A

Feraligatr   6.50   1.05
Azumaril   2.33   0.98
Politoed   N/A (2.33)   N/A (1.34)
Quagsire   5.67   1.03
Slowking   N/A (2.33)   N/A (1.67)
Qwilfish   2.25   1.19
Corsola   2.80   0.84
Octillery   3.25   1.5
Mantine   4.60   1.14
Kingdra   3.70   1.92
Suicune   8.17   0.41

Jynx   6.30   1.10
Articuno   N/A   N/A
Dragonite   2.80   1.79
Piloswine   2.75   1.17
Delibird   0.92   0.58

Standard Deviation of session: 1.90

As before, highlighting and itallics indicate the best and worst users of this session respectively.  Easier than typing it out again!

This session, I am putting on a non-Pokemon game alongside more Pokeymanz because someone suggested it.  I will decide what I do based on what happens here...and yes, feedback one way or another is appreciated provided it doesn't involve orbital death lasers.


Digital Devil Saga:
Serph:
Heat:
Argilla:
Gale:
Cielo:


Pokemon Gen 2 Grass, Bug, Ghost, and Poison types:
Venusaur:
Vileplume:
Parasect:
Victreebel:
Exeggutor:
Tangela:
Meganium:
Bellossom:
Jumpluff:
Sunflora:
Celebi:

Butterfree:
Beedrill:
Venomoth:
Pinsir:
Ledian:
Ariados:
Yanma:
Forretress:
Scizor:
Shuckle:
Heracross:

Arbok:
Nidoqueen:
Nidoking:
Muk:
Gengar:
Weezing:
Crobat:
Misdreavus:



RANDOM FACT: I was going to only do Bug, Grass and Poison, but then realized that we're doing half of the Ghost types this session anyawy, hence why I tossed Ghost with this set.  No, this is completely meaningless, I just decided to mention this.

[Ranmilia]

Pokemon Gen 2 Grass, Bug, Ghost, and Poison types:
Venusaur: DNR
Vileplume: 2/10  it's not called Oddish Tower.
Parasect: 2/10  scrub.
Victreebel: 6/10 it is called Sprout Tower.  more importantly though, this line is your best non-starter bet vs waters for quite a while, Growth/SlpPowdr/VWhip does work.
Exeggutor: 3/10  project mon with too small of a payoff.
Tangela: 2/10 scrub.
Meganium: 7/10  The best starter.  Absurdly early Razor Leaf in a game lacking other ways to hit waters, plus innate Synthesis and Body Slam.
Bellossom: 1/10  @_@ why 
Jumpluff: 2/10 Annoyers are cool but not really good ingame.
Sunflora: 0/10  @_@ wynaut
Celebi: DNR but 3/10 if you get it or hack it in, just for the record.  For being a super hyped time traveler mon it is surprisingly quite bad at fighting. 

Butterfree: 4/10  shamefully better sleeper than most of the grassers!
Beedrill: 2/10  scrub.
Venomoth: 1/10  super scrub.
Pinsir: 3/10 if you actually get it and Fury Cutter it it's ok I guess.
Ledian: 1/10 no
Ariados: 1/10 no
Yanma: 1/10 no
Forretress: 1/10 yes it's annoying when Koga breaks it out and you don't know what type it is.  in your hands, not so good.
Scizor: DNR Scizor, 5/10 Scyther.
Shuckle: 4/10  OK NOW HEAR ME OUT HERE: one is handed to you, it's an ideal Rock Smash whore, and it has STAB on both Rollout and Fury Cutter which do allow it to do actual damage while not being bothered by enemies doing anything.  Given the incompetence of gen 2, I think this is a legit better niche than most scrubs.
Heracross: 3/10 ingame, basically is Pinsir.  By the time you get Megahorn, it doesn't matter anymore.  Can't even safely sweep what's her name, Karen?

Arbok: 2/10 scrub.
Nidoqueen: 4/10  Good TM compat but that's about it.
Nidoking: 4/10  not significantly different from queen.
Muk: 2/10 scrub.
Gengar: 8/10  the game encourages you to use Haunter and break it.  immune to tons of junk, fast sleeper with high spA and good special TM compat and a strong STAB physical.  there's little reason not to have one on your team.
Weezing: 2/10 scrub.
Crobat: 6/10  nobody wants to use a Zubat, but if you do, the payoff is pretty good.
Misdreavus: ...... DNR, no, this just doesn't feasibly exist and do anything.  I would guess the number of people who hacked in Celebi vastly outnumber the people who caught Missy and legitimately used it on Red.

[074]

Digital Devil Saga:
Serph: Customizable stats make this a hard one.  I suppose between that and having a full run of the Karma Grid, Serph gets a solid 7/10.  He's good, but DDS gameplay focuses a lot on synergy.
Heat: Physical tank/bruiser.  The only one if you choose not to make Serph go that way.  Full run of the grid not unlike Serph and Argilla, and leaving once (thus meaning a free node complete) adds some pluses, but physicals are generally on the low end when you're not fighting optional bosses--at which point powercharge Execute comes into play.  5/10
Argilla: Argilla comes off as a generalist mage of sorts.  Healing and Earth options to start, and full run of the grid.  She's held back for the first dungeon by refusing to gain any AP, but she leaves twice.  Two free node completions count for a lot.  Not a big fan of her stats, though.  5/10
Gale: I always saw Gale as the more dedicated offensive mage of the set.  His stats don't hurt there from what I remember, and he starts with both Zan and Mudo series spells, in case you didn't unlock the latter at that point.  For some reason he was the only one who got the Megido series on my playthroughs.  5.5/10
Cielo: ...Yeah, Cielo's easily cast-worst in DDS1.  He starts with a more healer/support setup which isn't too bad, but his stats are generally not that good, and Weak:Ailments is probably the worst thing that can happen to a guy in a series where a ton of enemies...use...ailment-type attacks.  He's not cripplingly bad when enemies don't have this, at least, so there's that.  3/10

[hinode]

Gen 2 is probably the nadir for Grass's utility vs Water in-game; regular trainers with Water types are notoriously underlevelled in Johto to the point where I have no difficulty sweeping them with an Aipom's STAB Strength, while the list of bosses with Water types pretty much boils down to Chuck's Poliwrath, Will's Slowbro, and Misty who like almost every other Kanto leader is underlevelled by the time you reach her. Wild Pokemon are even lower levelled then their trainer counterparts, but that's probably a good point for Grass types anyhow since they are mostly Tentacools. On the upside, killing Rock types is still pretty valuable, especially earlygame where your Water options are limited unless you pick Totodile.

(Oh, there's also a couple of bosses witih Gyarados, but those are both Grass-neutral and fairly scrubby in gen 2 anyhow)

Also the only Grass TMs are Solarbeam (available right before Victory Road!) and Giga Drain (in Kanto!) so if your natural movepool sucks you are S.O.L this generation. This is applicible for, oh, every single Grass type besides Chikorita!

Venusaur: DNR.
Vileplume: 2/10. Stuck with Absorb as its only Grass move until L44 Gloom ahahahaha no. Can't even dock it for the stone evo since you'll probably be in Kanto by then anyways. Non-Grass offensive movepool is pretty dire as well, it's stuck with Cut as its best Normal move for most of the game.
Parasect: 2/10. Slow, kinda fragile, bad at both Grass damage and Bug damage. Spores comes surprisingly early but it has pretty much nothing else going for it.
Victreebel: 4/10. By far the best Rock slayer if you pick Cynaquil or just bench your starter for whatever reason. Sleep Powder comes early enough to help you catch a Water type to replace it, unless you're willing to rely on Vine Whip for damage all the way up to L42 Weepingbell.
Exeggutor: 3/10. It gets some decent moves (Leech Seed, Reflect, Confusion, Stun Spore) but the stats really suck without a Leaf Stone it can't reliably get, and it learns no Grass moves whatsoever by level.
Tangela: 2.5/10. Comes late (shortly before gym 8) with mediocre stats and nothing as valuable as Jynx's STAB Ice Punch. Better Grass moves than Oddish while retaining Sleep Powder though, my kneejerk is that it's a hair better. Willing to take arguments, though! <_<
Meganium: 6.5/10. The only even halfway acceptable option for Grass offense in this game, which inflates its performance well beyond raw stats/movepool to me. I'm not fond of its lack of status options, or its mediocre long-term damage, or its lousy gym/E4 matchups, but a monopoly on a (modestly) relevant attack type is still significant, and screens let it help out even in gyms with unfavorable matchups. Earlygame performance is great for the 50-60% of things that don't resist Grass, too.
Bellossom: 1.5/10. On the upside, Sun Stones can be procured reliably, unlike Leaf Stones. On the downside, it loses STAB on Acid and Sludge Bomb. The more I think about it, the more I think this is a losing trade, you're probably stuck waiting for Petal Dance as a Gloom anyhow.
Jumpluff: 3.5/10. Sleep Powder+Leech Seed is pretty fun, but a lot less effective than just smashing the scrubby opposition with a few rare exceptions like Clair, and Jumpluff's offenses are bad enough to actually hinder it from getting exp efficiently. Grinding it up early is pretty awful as well, especially the Splash-only phase. Really fun the one time I used it, but I can't really call it an efficient use of exp.
Sunflora: 2/10. Fun fact: Sunflora actually learns Razor Leaf by level! This would make it borderline competent at Grass offense... except that you have to evolve it at L10 or earlier, and wild Sunkern only come at L11-14. >_< I did mention I actually had to breed at one point in Pokeniu, right?
Celebi: DNR

Bug types are almost uniformly bad, so I'll half-ass them now instead of forgetting them later like I did with all those Water types.

Butterfree: 3/10. Butterfree's worst generation, with Psychic and Giga Drain TMs locked in Kanto and no Compound Eyes yet.
Beedrill: 2.5/10. Twineedle+Sludge Bomb means its damage is actually half decent, but it's still stuck with Beedrill stats.
Venomoth: 2.5/10. Movepool looks too backloaded to be good this gen, can't be bothered to check its availablility for more precise stats. Better lategame than Butterfree but worse overall sounds about right.
Pinsir: 2/10. Does it actually get any decent non-Normal moves? *checks* Nope.
Ledian: 0.5/10. I actually rejected this from Pokeniu for being too sucky.
Ariados: 1/10. Which says a lot, when the likes of Ariados made the cut.
Yanma: 1/10. Might be overrating this. Don't really want to think about it.
Forretress: 2/10. Self-Destruct+lots of revives might be funny. Not even remotely cost effective, but better than freaking Yanma.
Scyther/Scizor: 3/10. Wing Attack off Scyther stats is actually pretty decent, but kinda late and not exactly quality endgame material. Scizor requires either hunting wild Magnemites for a Metal Coat or postgame which does not really merit a comment in a game where the postgame is so dull, unlike HGSS. I guess you might SD+Quick Attack vs Red's team somewhere, but eh.
Schukle: 1.5/10. It does have more potential than the total scrubs, but eh.
Heracross: 2.5/10. It's basically a Normal type minus the STAB until Megahorn at L54, which is something of a sick joke.

Poison types are better than Bug types thanks to Sludge Bomb TM (which is also why I rated Beedrill over Pinsir) and largely better stats. Unfortunately that means I can't half-ass them quite as easily. Saving them for later, if I can be bothered. Except Haunter/Gengar, I have an opinion on them.

Haunter: 4/10. Early availability is actually a mixed blessing, since it can't touch Normal types for a long time and has pretty awful offenses in general. Things don't really get all that much better without a trade evo, as Haunter's only special moves pre-Kanto are Dream Eater and a really expensive Thunder TM (5500 coins!); either way, you need to deal with lots of misses. Probably needs Shadow Ball for STAB, despite running off a mere 50 attack.
Gengar: 7.5/10. Gengar on the other hand can grab three element punchs upon evolving and be awesome. The earlygame is still kinda rough which keeps its score down, but at least the payoff is real. By far the biggest beneficiary of a trade evo in GSC.

Misdreavus: 2/10. I actually used one to Perish Trap Red's Snorlax, just for giggles. This is worth almost nothing but it's better than trash like Kangaskhan and Chansey, so I need to give it a better score than them.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Digital Devil Saga:
Serph: 8.5/10. There's a limit to how good PCs like Serph can be, since everyone in DDS has the same skillset. That said Serph is at that limit. His stats are by definition the best possible; you decide what those are.
Heat: 3/10. Fighters in DDS1 were pretty bad.
Argilla: 7/10. Argilla has the most magic, which is the best stat: it means the best magic damage (i.e. best damage), best MP, AND the best magic defence. Her durability could be a touch better but because Magic affects MDef (as mentioned) it's not too bad.
Gale: 5.5/10. Gale's okay. Third in magic (= third best PC because :dds:), okay durability, doesn't have a crippling weakness.
Cielo: 3/10. Has a crippling weakness, and the stats aren't great anyway.


Pokemon Gen 2 Grass, Bug, Ghost, and Poison types:

I'm generally willing to assume the Sludge Bomb TM can go to a STAB poison user; it's not a highly-coveted TM for coverage. This helps a few people on this list, though does mean that using, say, a grass/poison and Tentacruel at the same time is less desirable.

Venusaur: DNR
Vileplume: 2.5/10. Sleep Powder is a great skill and singlehandedly saves a lot of pokemon here. Past that, Vileplume has bad speed and crap damage outside Sludge Bomb, so is a very inferior choice of sleeper.
Parasect: 2/10. Spore is more accurate than Sleep Powder, but it's later (Level 28) and Parasect is even slower. Bah.
Victreebel: 6/10. Growth/Vine Whip is a far more capable earlygame offence than what Vileplume offers, and the speed is better too. So's the attack stat when you give it Sludge Bomb. It adds up a lot.
Exeggutor: 4/10. It has an okay Confusion as its damage (beats Vileplume). Reflect is nice, Leech Seed is nice. Hypnosis instead of Sleep Powder (until high levels) isn't nice, nor is the speed.
Tangela: 2.5/10. See Vileplume, remix the stats a bit, take away Sludge Bomb.
Meganium: 6.5/10. Grass is a good attacking element. Why am I bringing this up now? Because NOBODY ELSE GETS IT. Meganium, however, has a Level 8 ~65 effective power grass STAB, so that's pretty cool for a long time, even if eventually outclassed by the likes of Surf. Reflect + Synthesis gets it past some tough fights, too. It doesn't have much status, though, so it's not a straight improvement over other grass options. Still... sure, best starter.
Bellossom: 2/10. See Vileplume, minus Sludge Bomb STAB. Okay.
Jumpluff: 7/10. Great speed! Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, healing = kill even most bosses provided they aren't packing ice. The damage makes it annoying to level though. I found it pretty awesome in FRLG and it's not that different in GSC on paper.
Sunflora: 2/10. It can actually launch grass attacks... but that speed... and that Sunkern stage. No.
Celebi: DNR

Butterfree: 4/10. 70 speed Sleep Powder and not much else. But hey, that's enough.
Beedrill: 1/10. Oh god. This was mediocre enough in RBY, but delaying Twineedles until Level 20? Really?
Venomoth: 1.5/10. Kinda like Butterfree... except joins underlevelled and Sleep Powder's at Level 42. Ugh.
Pinsir: 4/10. I have no idea how practical the bug catching contest is, but... eh, it's Gyarados available earlier (which matters), non-STAB Headbutt/Strength/Return and not much else (late Submission instead of shitty Surf). Just use a damn Normal if that's what you want.
Ledian: 3/10. It... has dual screens, and Boltbeam Punch, off okay speed and crappy stats otherwise. This isn't actually... that terrible. But certainly isn't good.
Ariados: 1/10. Slow, bad durability, crappy skillset.
Yanma: 1/10. 1% encounter? Fuck that. It's bad anyway! Non-STAB Headbutt off crappy stats outside decent speed.
Forretress: 1.5/10. Uh, trash stats until Level 31, and even then it's not good for much besides non-STAB Strength and blowing up.
Scizor: DNR, 4/10 Scyther yeah. Good stats, trash skillset, trash typing. Someone else who runs non-STAB Strength/Return oh boy.
Shuckle: 2/10. I guess... Rollout lets it almost kind of do something.
Heracross: 4/10. More non-STAB normal moves off good stats awww yeah why is this not actually an awful option. Also I really doubt it can sweep Karen given that her best if a Houndoom and it still likely won't have Megahorn by then anyway...

Arbok: 2/10. So there were a few pokemon I randomly fanned over due to design/anime appearance rather than in-game. Some of those (Starmie) turned out amazing, most of the rest (Persian, Dodrio) at least turned out competent. Arbok, though? No, Arbok is pretty bad, especially after RBY. STAB Sludge Bomb helps it, and the stats aren't total garbage, and it has 75% stun which works on grounds... but otherwise it's really blah all around.
Nidoqueen: 5/10. Good TM/HM list, average stats... eh, it works. I can't say I liked them in RBY (just use Clefable, better Special), but in GSC the standards are lower.
Nidoking: 5/10. As above.
Muk: 2/10. Kanto scrub with some usability.
Gengar: 6/10. (as Haunter) The stats and typing are nice, and between Shadow Ball/Sludge Bomb and Night Shade it isn't completely awful damage, and Hypnosis/Confuse Ray is decent annoyance. That said the sleep could be more accurate.
Weezing: 2.5/10. Doomed by a Level 35 evolution. It could have been useful otherwise, Weezing stats are pretty okay.
Crobat: 6/10. Great stats, confuse ray... offence is kind of iffy until Fly, though. (gym 5) I found it pretty great in HGSS but Wing Attack is a lot earlier there, and Bite is earlier/physical.
Misdreavus: 3/10. You can use this against Ash... uh. Well it wrecks the Snorlax. I guess that's worth something.

[hinode]

Minor nitpicks that (probably) shouldn't impact anyone's grades:

Synthesis is only 25% healing unless you use it between 10 am and 6 pm in gen 2, which makes it severely unreliable in-game unless you only play the game at very specific times. This is so incredibly dumb they made it 50% all the time like in link battles in later generations. Morning Sun and Moonlight work similarly but at different points in time. I suspect Moonlight is the best of these in practice, since playing from 6 pm to 3 am only is actually pretty common for a lot of people on weekdays.

Sunkern and Sun Stones are both available at the same place, National Park. The caveat here is that you have to win the Bug Catching Contest to get the latter, which is Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday only. Winning is pretty easy if you know how the scoring system works, but it does require you to plan out what days you play the game on or stall a day, which might well be worth knocking some points from its already-bad score.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Oh right. I even remember being confused about Synthesis until I looked it up.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Digital Devil Saga:
Serph: 8/10.
Heat: 3/10.
Argilla: 7/10.
Gale: 6.5/10.
Cielo: 3/10.

[Cmdr_King]

Digital Devil Saga:
Serph: 8.5/10. There's a limit to how good PCs like Serph can be, since everyone in DDS has the same skillset. That said Serph is at that limit. His stats are by definition the best possible; you decide what those are.
Heat: 3/10. Fighters in DDS1 were pretty bad.
Argilla: 7/10. Argilla has the most magic, which is the best stat: it means the best magic damage (i.e. best damage), best MP, AND the best magic defence. Her durability could be a touch better but because Magic affects MDef (as mentioned) it's not too bad.
Gale: 5.5/10. Gale's okay. Third in magic (= third best PC because :dds:), okay durability, doesn't have a crippling weakness.
Cielo: 3/10. Has a crippling weakness, and the stats aren't great anyway.

Sounds about right.

[Grefter]

Digital Devil Saga:
Serph: 8/10.
Heat: 3/10.
Argilla: 7/10.
Gale: 6.5/10.
Cielo: 3/10.

[Meeplelard]

Digital Devil Saga:
Serph: 8/10.  In a game like this, you can only be so good, but Serph is by definition the best.
Heat: 3/10.  Physical Fighter in DDS, you drop him as soon as you get Gale.
Argilla: 7/10.  Focuses on the right stats.
Gale: 6/10.  On one hand, he's notably worse than Serph or ARgilla, but he's easily the #3 character so above average score!
Cielo: 2/10.  Never a reason to use him; at least Heat was forced due to early game.  Weakness to status is worse than weakness to an element on top of all that.


Pokemon Gen 2 Grass, Bug, Ghost, and Poison types:
Venusaur: DNR.
Vileplume: 3/10.  Grass types have issues in this game, and Bellsprout is gotten first.
Parasect: 2/10.  This guy sucks.
Victreebel: 6/10.  If you didn't pick Chikorita your viable grass types basically end at this guy.  STAB Sludge Bomb gives it some worth late game.
Exeggutor: 4/10.  Thanks to Confusion, he's passable as a Psychic type who can resist Water moves.
Tangela: 2/10.  Tangela got an evolution in Gen 4 for a reason.
Meganium: 7/10.  Probably the best starter AND best Grass type in game.  Tanky, gets Razor Leaf REALLY early so it has actual offense the entire game, and even has better speed than most!
Bellossom: 2/10.  Vileplume without STAB Sludge Bomb potential.
Jumpluff: 4/10.  It has Status and nothing else.  That makes it better than most Grass types.
Sunflora: 1/10.  An odd case where if you could catch it at a lower level, it'd be better, but nope!  Misses the only move that would make it workable, and so it's garbage.
Celebi: DNR.

Butterfree: 5/10.  Butterfree as always has some use for early game purposes due to actual speed and status, high stats for early game, and early confusion slinger.  His use is probably a little higher here because of how levels are lower so it's bad stats vs. other higher stage Pokemon doesn't present itself until later.
Beedrill: 3/10.  Beedrill has always had issues.
Venomoth: 3/10.  On paper, should be a better Butterfree; in practice gotten too late to care.
Pinsir: 3/10.  I guess he can do damage with Strength or something.
Ledian: 2/10.  Reflect and Light Screen give it something resembling a niche, but I can't raise it above this because it's kind of bad.
Ariados: 1/10.  And yet, this guy is even worse...
Yanma: 1/10.  Like Tangela, it got an evolution for a reason.
Forretress: 1/10.  I tried to use one in a game, but good god is Pineco awful, and Forretress just doesn't make up for it.
Scizor: 5/10.  This ranking mostly based on Scyther because you are unlikely to get a Scizor.  He's fast with offensive stats, and reasonably obtainable due to bug catching contest. 
Shuckle: 2/10.  It doesn't die, but it won't kill anything else.
Heracross: 4/10.  I tried to use Heracross too; at least STrength gives him some offense to use that 120 Attack with, but yeah, really needed Mega Horn or an actual Fighting move at a lower level.

Arbok: 1/10.  Is Bad.
Nidoqueen: 3/10.  Is subpar.
Nidoking: 3.5/10.  Slightly less subpar!
Muk: 1/10.  Is also bad.
Gengar: 5/10.  As Haunter, it's still service-able.
Weezing: 1/10.   One more Generation Weezing and you won't suck.
Crobat: 6/10.  Oh hey, look! Something that's actually good and obtainable in game!
Misdreavus: 2/10.  Stupid late and not very good? Don't you love these options?  One point for Red's Snorlax I guess.

[Random Consonant]

Pokemon Gen 2 Grass, Bug, Ghost, and Poison types:
Venusaur: DNR
Vileplume: lol.  2/10
Parasect: I don't care about sleep *that* much.  2/10.
Victreebel: yeah there are a grand total of two grass types that actually matter ingame and one of them is the grass starter.  That is worth turning a blind eye to some shortcomings there.  5/10
Exeggutor: better than vileplume does it want a cookie.  3/10
Tangela: lol.  2/10
Meganium: early razor leaf is a thing and at least half the stuff it matches up poorly against sucks anyways.  7/10
Bellossom: Vileplume that loses STAB options FUCK YEAH.  1.5/10
Jumpluff: Well it's funny, at least.  Too bad about having zero offense.  And manages to be #3 for grass anyways because lolgen2 grass options  4/10.
Sunflora: good fucking grief.  1.5/10
Celebi: DNR

Butterfree: It has its earlygame uses but probably its worst gen yeah.  4/10
Beedrill: On the other hand this still sucks.  1/10
Venomoth: No.  2/10
Pinsir: I'd rather use a Normal type.  2/10
Ledian: ah... ha... ha... 1/10
Ariados: no.  1/10
Yanma: fuck.  1/10
Forretress: getout.  1/10
Scizor: 3/10 based solely off of Scyther.  At least it has stats to avoid being a complete embarrasment, but good grief, get a better moveset.
Shuckle: It's funny, at least.  2/10
Heracross: 120 Attack avoids being a complete embarrasment but good grief does it really have no actual STAB offense until Lv54.  3/10

Arbok: lol. 2/10
Nidoqueen: At least it has options.  4/10
Nidoking: As above, so below.  4/10
Muk: Kanto scrub.  1/10
Gengar: 5/10 assuming Haunter, which is serviceable though not outstanding.
Weezing: nah.  2/10
Crobat: holy shit a reason to use zubat.  6/10
Misdreavus: MT. SILVER.  No I'm not going to give it a full point extra for owning Red's Snorlax.  1/10.