They never want to hear the "Psychic-type being the best typing in Gen I is historical revisionism" rant but it's still true
I know this seems insane but let me walk you through it because it is actually really important.
Yes, the Psychic typing does have two of the best Pokemon in Generation I: Mewtwo, and Mew. But it's worth understanding why those Pokemon are good to understand why that's not as important. Starting with Mew, Mew is actually a Pokemon that I think would be considerably stronger as a Normal type rather than a Psychic type. You can use Mew as a Psychic type, but you'll have to grapple with the fact that Mew only has 100 Special, which is actually fairly middling for a Psychic type. If you want a Special Attacker, you're better off with Pokemon like Starmie, Exeggutor, Alakazam, Slowbro, or of course Mewtwo. So Mew differentiates itself by being the best Swords Dance user in the game, but it's lack of STAB physical moves keep it from being truly amazing. If Mew was a Normal type instead of a Psychic type, I think Mew would be Mewtwo level powerful.
Mewtwo is obviously insanely good too, but it is kind of a weird case. Mewtwo is primarily just a stat stick in RBY, and actually really doesn't benefit from a lot of RBY's quirks. It hates paralysis and doesn't benefit much from it because it's so fast, being frozen is one of the best ways of dealing with Mewtwo, and critical hits often lower its damage output. It's very fitting that Mewtwo is a genetic freak who relies on nothing but brute force compared to the rest of RBY, but it does make it a bit of an odd fit.
Now, in addition, one extremely good Psychic type does not make the Psychic type the best type. There are other good Psychic types, but they're not typically considered the best Pokemon of their metagames either. But I am not even going to address that yet. Let's go back in time to 1997.
The Red and Green Era: Keeping It Chilly
It's 1997. You're playing competitive Pokemon on live TV. What is the one Pokemon you know you're going to see a ton of? No, it's not Mewtwo, the format doesn't allow for him. It's not Alakazam either. You're going to see a lot of this fucker:
It's not just Jynx either, because you're going to see a lot of these two as well:
So what is going on? Well it's Pokemon Red and Green, and that means that the best typing in the game is the Ice-type. That might sound incredibly odd, because the Ice-type is generally one of the most maligned typings in all of Pokemon. But, there is a lot to like about it in the context of Gen I. Defensively, the Ice-type is quite solid, only having one relevant weakness and one resistance. Sure, you're weak to Rock Slide, but the most common users were Golem and Rhydon, and they're weak to Ice. Ice-types, defensively, actually were much closer to Psychic types than you would expect, especially since Fire and Fighting types were pretty awful all around.
In addition, it has one of the most insane buttons in all of Pokemon: Blizzard. 120 Base power, 90% accuracy, and a 10% chance to freeze. You can't thaw out naturally on your own in Gen I either, since you'll only thaw out if you're hit with a Fire-type move that can burn, and Fire-types are so universally bad that they don't see use. In 99% of games, Freeze is essentially a OHKO. Articuno's Blizzard, along with Zapdos's Thunder, Moltres's Fire Blast, and Exeggutor's Solarbeam, are actually the strongest unboosted special moves in the game. Articuno's Blizzard will deal more damage than Mewtwo's Psychic. It's crazy.
But I've buried the lede here, because this is Red and Green, the OG Gen I games, and Blizzard does not have a 10% chance to basically KO the opponent.
It has a 30% chance to freeze!
Red and Green Blizzard ranks as one of the most powerful moves in Pokemon period. Ice types not only got STAB on this move, making it do 50% more damage, but they had a really key and important defensive bonus too: they were immune to freeze. This made Ice-types basically mandatory. Which Ice-type you wanted to use depended on the format: in the bring 6, pick 3 format of the Spaceworld championships, Jynx was the clear contender, packing both the powerful Blizzard and the devastating Lovely Kiss. Jynx as a Pokemon could essentially threaten 2 KOs due to how debilitating Sleep is as a status ailment in Gen I, and with only 3 Pokemon, that's incredibly powerful. In a full 6v6 however, I think Articuno and Lapras are much more powerful thanks to their defensive presence and raw power.
How could you possibly stand up to Jynx? Well there was a way, and it's time to segway into what I think is truly the best typing in Generation I.
The Kings of Bullshit: The Plain Boys
Normal-types are at their absolute best in Generation I. Psychic types always have had to deal with a significant problem: they suck versus other Psychic types. When Psychic types are good, they need something to punish them, and that's initially where Normal types came in. It was well known even at Spaceworld that Tauros was one of the best Pokemon in the game. It's faster than most Pokemon in the game, great in a generation where your Speed stat determines your crit rate, and hits pretty hard. More importantly, Normal types got two incredibly good moves to use.
The first was Body Slam. Slightly weaker than Psychic or Ice Beam, Body Slam did good damage but came with a 30% chance to paralyze Pokemon who weren't Normal types on every hit. This made dealing with Tauros really difficult, as you always risked getting your Speed dropped. Critical hits were also a concern, because Tauros had the second powerful button the Normal type had.
Hyper Beam.
It's actually a little difficult to explain just how busted Hyper Beam was. The damage you take from Tauros's Hyper Beam basically determines when you can take risks. Hyper Beam still has its recharge turn in Generation I, but if you knock out the opposing Pokemon with it, you skip it. This makes Hyper Beam a really strong finisher, and with 150 Base Power, Hyper Beam is the king of damage dealing moves.
If you were Jynx, and your opponent had a free turn with Tauros, you were basically fucked. At Level 50, a critical hit Body Slam and a Hyper Beam both had chances to outright KO you on the spot. You basically had to switch out, and the constant looming threat of Tauros keeps Psychic type Pokemon in check. Unlike with Psychic type Pokemon, whose best answers are all good Pokemon (including Chansey, another Normal type), Normal type moves were only resisted by Rock-type Pokemon. While Rhydon is good and Golem is usable, they aren't anywhere near as good. They're slow and can be predicted on and hit with moves like Earthquake, Blizzard, or Surf.
There also was no physical sponge Pokemon. There was no counterpart for Chansey. While physically bulky Pokemon such as Cloyster existed, they could be worn down and predicted. They all lacked recovery outside of Rest, which eats up a number of turns. This isn't even going into the highest damage moves in the game, Self-Destruct and Explosion, which are also Normal type moves. The fact that Snorlax can explode in front of Mewtwo and KO it if Mewtwo switches into Body Slam or Earthquake is a big part as to why Snorlax is so good in Ubers.
Normal types just ended up having it really good. Psychic types are obviously good, and once you get past the three best Normal types in the game, you start seeing names like Starmie, Exeggutor, and Alakazam start to pop up. They're all quite strong Pokemon who have solid movepools, and each of these three Pokemon do different things. Normal types are often the best Pokemon in whatever tier they're in, and for good reason.
Always remember to put respect on the king of bullshit.















