Categorising Pokemon: The Original 150 Quiz

Answer: Water

Squirtle, a well known Water-type Pokemon, is one of the three options available to Ash as he starts his adventure in Pallet Town. Opting for Squirtle provides an advantage early on in your 'Pokemon Red' or 'Pokemon Blue' adventure as the first gym leader, Brock, is a Rock-type specialist whose Pokemon are weak to Water-type attacks.

The other starter Pokemon are Bulbasaur (Grass/Poison) and Charmander (Fire), the latter of which is largely ineffective against Brock's Geodude and Onix.

Answer: Electric

Perhaps the most famous Pokemon of them all is Pikachu. This loveable electric rat features heavily in the television and movie franchises of 'Pokemon' and has its own Game Boy game dedicated to it in the form of 'Pokemon Yellow'. In 'Pokemon Yellow' you must begin with Pikachu whereas this option is not available to a player of the 'Pokemon Red' and 'Pokemon Blue' games.

In order to pick up a Pikachu in the latter two games a player would need to stumble upon one in the wilds of Viridian Forest or later on in the journey at the Power Plant.

Answer: Normal

Snorlax is known for being the lazy Pokemon that falls asleep and blocks Ash's progression at some key points on the Kanto map. In order to encourage a Snorlax out from its slumber, a player would need to obtain a Poke Flute (one can only hope that despite looking like a recorder, it sounds somewhat better), stroll along Route 12 or Route 16 until you meet your foe, play a tune, weaken the wild Snorlax in battle and then hopefully, with the appropriate Poke Ball, catch him! There are limited opportunities to catch a Snorlax so a tactical saving of the game ahead of battle is advised! Generation I Normal-type Pokemon such as Snorlax tend not to have many strengths or weaknesses over other elemental Pokemon types and that neutrality can make this group of Pokemon seem dull in comparison to others.

Answer: Normal

Other than having no real strength or weaknesses to other elemental types, Generation I Normal-type Pokemon more often than not map across to real animals. In this example Raticate, and its less evolved relative Rattata, closely resembles - you guessed it - a rat. Raticate is far from the most exciting Pokemon available in the 'Pokemon Red' and 'Pokemon Blue' games but where time has been taken to train Raticate to a high level, it can regularly defeat hostile opponents with a single attack.

Answer: Dual: Flying, Fire

The evolutionary chain of Charmander > Charmeleon > Charizard demonstrates how a type can change when a Pokemon undergoes its evolution. If a player of 'Pokemon Red/Blue' opts for Charmander as their starting Pokemon they will witness the evolution of their acquisition from Fire-type to the dual type of Flying and Fire.

The Flying characteristic is developed when Charmeleon evolves into the mighty Charizard, a Pokemon that can learn Fly (HM02). Once a player has a Pokemon that has learned Fly, it really opens up the Kanto map as it allows for players to hop immediately from one settlement to the next without having to walk the full journey.

The only snag is that you must have already discovered a city through the normal means of exploration, such as by foot, before you can fly to that settlement.

Answer: Fighting

The Fighting-type Pokemon Hitmonchan fancies himself as a bit of a boxer and this is reflected in his ability to learn the Thunder Punch, Fire Punch and Ice Punch attacks. This variety of punching attacks makes Hitmonchan a very versatile addition to any Pokemon collection, allowing a trainer to exploit elemental strengths and weaknesses when battling an opponent.

Hitmonchan can be obtained at the Saffron City Fighting Dojo, but if a kick-boxer is more your style then you can instead opt for Hitmonlee.

Answer: Dual: Flying, Poison

Taking the form of a bat, the cave-dwelling Golbat has the two types of Flying and Poison. Golbat, and its lesser evolved relative Zubat, are very commonly seen around Kanto; it is therefore very likely that both these Pokemon will be added to a trainer's collection without much effort. Golbat is able to frustrate an opponent by use of the Confuse Ray attack, a move which causes the affected opponent to damage itself in confusion...over and over again!

Answer: Dual: Grass, Poison

Ivysaur (Grass/Poison), the evolved form of Bulbasaur, is able to learn the Poison-type move, Poison Powder. Ivysaur evolves into Venusaur at a minimum level of 32, though it is advisable to stick with Bulbasaur or Ivysaur for as long as possible because the strongest moves, such as Solar Beam, are learned at a much lower level than is the case with Venusaur.

Due to Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur having the Grass/Poison duality, they are vulnerable to the attacks of Pokemon from a raft of other types; a challenging journey awaits those who opt for Bulbasaur at the outset of the game in Pallet Town. What's life without a challenge though, right?

Answer: Fire

Ponyta, a horse-like Fire Pokemon, tends to exploit its speed in defence more than its elemental attacks when in battle. Despite being a Fire-type Pokemon, Ponyta doesn't naturally learn many Fire attacks (Ember and Fire Spin) but this can be augmented by the use of TM 38 (Fire Blast). Ponyta evolves into Rapidash at level 40.

Answer: Dual: Ice, Flying

Articuno, the dual Ice/Flying type, was my favourite Generation I Pokemon and is one of the trio of legendary birds that can be captured in 'Pokemon Red/Blue'. Articuno is known for its very strong Blizzard attack, which it learns naturally at level 51. It can only be found in one location in all of Kanto, in the deepest dungeons of Seafoam Island. With only one opportunity to capture this majestic Pokemon, make sure you are well equipped with Ultra Balls and perform a tactical saving of the game before approaching Articuno.

The other two legendary birds are Zapdos (Electric/Flying) and Moltres (Fire/Flying) which can be found in the Power Plant and on the Victory Road, respectively. If you are interested in Italian you may have noticed the endings of the three legendary bird Pokemon are 'uno', 'dos', 'tres'.