Legendary Pokémon Stats in Yellow and Crystal

Rod Lockwood

rodlockwood at provide.net

Abbreviations:

• Atk - Attack for both versions.

• Cr - Crystal

• Def - Defense for both versions.

• HP - Hit points for both versions.

• Lv - Level

• Sp - Special for Yellow version.

• SpA - Special attack for Crystal version.

• SpD - Special defense for Crystal version.

• Spd - Speed for both versions.

• Yl - Yellow

Have you ever wondered what the stats of the legendary pokémon would be if you started them out as hatchlings? Well, in the second and third generation games pokémon hatched from eggs start out at level five. In Diamond and Pearl they now start out at level one. Starter pokémon in all versions have also started at level five. You can catch some wild pokémon at levels as low as level two (I have never seen a level one and it seems to me the egg stage is level zero). Well, in Red, Blue and Yellow, thanks to the Mew Glitch, players are able to capture any pokémon at level seven. I now am the proud owner of an articuno, a moltres, a zapdos, a ditto, a mew and a mewtwo-all at level seven. Why would anyone want those pokémon at such low levels? Simple. As a trainer and a breeder, to raise them as I see fit and try to nurture them into the best pokémon they can be. As a research scientist, to find out how these pokémon who have never been seen at such low levels naturally will grow. Of all of these pokémon, only the mew has been acquired at a lower level. This is my control pokémon to compare the known stats of the mew with the stats of the mew that I raise. That way it will be known how much variance should exist with the others. I do this because since Yellow, even two pokémon of the same species will have different stats and level up differently.

Pokémon from Yellow had their stats tweaked and learn their skills differently than from Red and Blue. In order for my research to be complete, I probably should try to catch these pokémon in my Blue game and raise them there and post those results also. Maybe I will. If any one else would like to run this experiment in their own Red or Blue game and share info with me that would be great. In any event, I have backed up my game and plan to port these pokémon to one of the second generation games in order to raise them. For this experiment I will choose Yellow’s counterpart, Crystal. In Gold, Silver and Crystal these pokémon will change even more differently than in Yellow. Since none of these pokémon appear in these games at all except by importing from the earlier games, this will be a fair evaluation for the pokémon I will be using. I will be able to follow the development of these pokémon in both versions. In order for this to be a fair evaluation, I will refrain from feeding the pokémon nutrients or using the experience all/share. In Crystal I will not let them hold items that might affect their stats. Trading also affects pokémon stats. I will use the Monster Brain to make the adjustment to the pokémon traded to Crystal so that they will not have this advantage. Although normally you would never see these pokémon except as trades in Crystal, I want to know how they level up without advantages. Perhaps later I will run the experiment again to see how trading affects the stats. The pokémon cannot be imported to any game beyond Crystal, but I do not believe that will matter as these stats have remained the same throughout the rest of the series. The only difference in the later games is the addition of other stats such as Cool, Tough and the like. There is also the Tameness stat, but that is changed by the trainer’s treatment of the pokémon. So that stat is also not so important. The physical stats that appeared in the guides were always the final stats at level 100. I will be keeping track of all of the stats at each level.

OK, so here is my team:

*Sp is in Yellow; SpA and SpD are in Crystal.

According to Prima, a mewtwo in Yellow should start with Confusion, Disable and Swift. He wouldn’t get his next skill, Barrier until level 63. He shouldn’t get Psychic until level 66 and Recover at 70. Of course, there he is: Psychic at level 7.

According to Versus Books, there is no data prior to level 70. The starter moves are Swift, Barrier, Psychic and Recover.

After that they both report just Mist at 75 and Amnesia at 81.

Both report that a mewtwo in Crystal should start with Confusion and Disable, then get Barrier at 11, Swift at 22, Psych Up at 33, Future Sight at 44, Mist at 55, Psychic at 66, Amnesia at 77, Recover at 88(!), and finally Safeguard at 99.

How either company would know this in Crystal, since a mewtwo couldn’t be imported before level 70, I don’t know. I don’t know how Prima found out about mewtwo starter moves either, but they were dead on about the first three.

It will be interesting with the legendary birds too. They won’t learn any new moves in Yellow until level 51?

May 2007

This is going to be my journal of the development of these pokémon. I will raise them, leveling them up through battling, recording at what level their stats are and the order of the new skills they learn and at what levels.

Here is an explanation of the table:

A guide skill column is what is reported in the Prima and Versus Books guides as what each pokémon is supposed to learn at a given level. (Prima never gave stats for Mew at all!) Already Versus Books are wrong with the mewtwo. (So much for the ‘Perfect Guides’.) There will also be three rows for level 100. One is the final statistics for my pokémon when they reach level 100. The next is the maximum stats that a pokémon may reach by training. I went to the table that appears on the Legendary Pokémon website. The calculations for this are pure mathematics, but they only have a table for the fourth generation. This should not matter since all pokémon have had the same base stats from Green, and we are assuming max IVs which have been in the game since Yellow. The two specials used the same IV in Crystal, but that should not matter since they are both at the maximum. For pretty much the same reason, the stats in Yellow would not be different. Since natures were not in use for Yellow or Crystal, I used the stats from the ‘neutral nature’ rows. The last level 100 row is what the Versus Books guides reported (the Perfect Guides were the only ones to give these stats as numbers and Prima never reported these stats until Gold and Silver). I never had any of the Nintendo guides, but if anyone sends me whatever stats they did give it would help. Keep in mind the final stats that Legendary Pokémon is mathematically perfect. The stats Versus Books came up with were based on leveling up a lot of pokémon and then taking the mean average of the stats. I am only doing one of each species. Your results may vary.

An asterisk next to a skill means that it is unknown at what level the pokémon actually learns that skill. Mew is the only one we know for sure starts with Pound at level five. We can safely assume a ditto always has Transform. The legendary birds we do not know for sure when they learn their second skill. It is possible that the mewtwo might learn something prior to Confusion that was replaced by a new skill, but we cannot be sure. The starting skills could be different in the second generation also, but there would be no way to find out. There are also the egg skills introduced in the second generation games, but unless Nintendo relents and allows legendary pokémon to breed, this information is moot. The only thing we know for sure is the order. Oh, almost forgot, one other thing that will affect starter moves, pokémon in the wild learn their moves differently than tame pokémon.

July 2007

Leveling up the legendary pokémon has become both easier and more difficult. By level 15 they were able to take on level 20 pokémon and be able to level up with only one battle. I have to be careful, they probably could take on stronger pokémon, but if they increase two levels I would miss being able to record the stats for the skipped level. Ditto in the Yellow version can hold his own with pokémon a few levels above, but for some reason, even though the Crystal version has almost the same stats it has to struggle even if it battles a pokémon only one level above. Finding new areas for them to fight is also becoming more difficult.

Also note that at level 13, Fire is the only legendary bird not to learn a new move. According to the guides, the moltres should have learned Fire Spin, but since Fire already knew Fire Spin, he did not learn anything. Usually, if a pokémon already has learned a move, either through a TM or by learning it earlier by delaying evolution, he will learn a different move instead. Apparently, since the moltres knew this move from ‘birth’, this did not count. This would give credence to the assertion by the guides that a moltres would naturally know Ember instead of Fire Spin by level 7.

November 2007

Finally got enough time to get everyone up to level 25. Notice in Crystal Moon Shadow did not get a move at level 20. Just like Fire at level 13, he already had Swift which is what he was supposed to have learned at level 20. Perhaps in the second generation, he was either supposed to have only two moves or something else instead of Swift.

February 2008

I have leveled everyone up to level 35. Now the ditto in Yellow is having a hard time. I have decided to level the dittoes in both games up ten levels higher than the others. The legendaries have to fight pokémon five to ten levels higher than their level. Evolved pokémon can be fought a lower levels and give more experience.

April 2008

Both dittoes are now at level 45, while the others are at 35. Not ready for the Elite Four yet in either game. In Yellow, I have Cerulean Cave (unknown cave) to go to. In Crystal I have the cave at Mount Silver. In order to avoid fights with marginal pokémon, I have issued everyone in Crystal smoke balls. This is because of the lack of high-level pokémon in the second generation games. They should have left Cerulean Cave open.

August 2008

I have the legendaries up to level 45 and ditto to 55. No one has been learning any new moves in Yellow. In Crystal they have been learning the moves that they normally do. It is harder getting enough experience points for the pokémon, and they do not have any problem running from wild pokémon anymore, so I have taken away the smoke balls and given each one a lucky egg.

3 October 2008

The dittoes are now at level 60, while the legendaries are at 50. We are beating the Elite Four now, although it is a struggle. My training style is a system of rotation. Whichever pokémon is a the top of the roster that is who will fight until they reach the next level. Unless everyone is at that level then the pokémon at the top has to do two levels in a row. (Quit your whining, Metamon.) Even with taking into account the extra battle with the rival in Yellow, the Elite Four from Yellow seem harder than the Elite Four in Crystal. Against Red, my Crystal team (without having given them nutrients, hold items, TMs, etc.) don’t even make it past Red’s pikachu. I did not use any potions though, but even with potions, I can’t get past the snorlax.

I have been at this for about a year and a half?! I planned on being done by now. Grinding is a bear.

In Crystal, Devil learned Ancient Power and Fire learned Flamethrower (at last). Freezer and Thunder learned nothing since they already knew the moves they would have learned at level 49.

24 October 2008

Yellow: Finally, at level 51 the legendary birds learned a new move. At level 55 they learned their next moves exactly as if they had been caught normally. So you won’t get anything different with mew, or the legendary birds as far as moves are concerned. I have also raised this ditto an additional ten levels above the others. With the new moves for the legendaries it is a little easier going through the Elite Four, except for Fire. What a rip-off. The only good fire move available to a moltres is a TM. Yeah, when training for real, trade to a second generation game so it can get Flamethrower early on, if Fire Blast is unavailable. It remains to be seen when the mewtwo actually gains Barrier and Psychic. All that is known is it should be before level 70.

Crystal: I had to raise the ditto in Crystal ten more levels also. No new surprises really. The only reason I haven’t been fighting against the rival is because it just happens that I don’t play on the only two days of the week that he shows up at Indigo Plateau. I finally remembered to play on a day when he is there a couple of times.

4 January 2009

Yellow: Metamon is now at level 90 and everyone else is now at level 70. I didn’t stop to make out a report at level 60, but there was really nothing surprising to report. Moon Shadow did not get Psychic or anything else at level 66. I replaced Disable with Recover. I checked Metamon’s stats when he was at 86. It was already higher in most categories than the average stats that Versus Books reported for level 100 dittoes. The only problem that Metamon has is with the limitations GameFreaks put on Transform. Limiting the PP of the moves combined with the inability to use any of the PP restoring aids were really unecessary when used by any pokémon. Even more so when the pokémon only has access to that one move. Fortunately, in the next generations, Struggle ignores type, but that doesn’t help my ditto when it comes up against a ghost pokémon in Yellow.

Crystal: Well, no suprises. I have finally activated the battles with the rival on Mondays and Wednesdays. At least that gives my pokémon some variety for training. On to level 80 (90 for Metamon).

4 April 2009

I decided to go ahead and finish both dittoes. Both are now at level 100. Look at those stats! Plus, the ditto in Yellow actually wound up with better stats than the one in Crystal. Leveling up the others should go faster now.

3 June 2009

Moon Shadow wound up getting the option to have Amnesia right on schedule in Yellow. He is the only one that still can learn moves at above level 80. He already has Recover in Yellow. He has to wait until level 88 in Crystal.

26 August 2009

The Elite Four and Gary are still harder than the Elite Four and Lance. The rival from Crystal is not much better, but “Red” is really tough. I had to wait until the pokémon reached the 80s until I even stood a chance against him. For whatever reason, I decided to handicap the legendaries from level 85 on by only using physical attacks. At least the birds will get STAB for the flying attacks, but Moon Shadow and Devil will not. Also Moon Shadow only has Swift in both versions and Mew only has Mega Punch in Yellow. These normal moves are ineffective against ghosts and that means they cannot fight against them. I have to substitute Fire for Moon Shadow and instead of Mega Punch, I have Devil use Metronome. It isn’t an ideal choice since the moves are picked at random so I have no control over whether Devil uses only physical moves or not. Unfortunately, most physical moves are normal moves. At least Devil is able to fight ghost pokémon on his own. The toughest pokémon that Red has is the snorlax, by far. Between the high HP, special defense and defense, and the move, Rest, he is very frustrating. As bad as Fire is Freezer is at a distinct disadvantage with the handicap. The articuno has the worst attack stat of the legendary birds and the best flying attack that it naturally learns is Peck. Articunoes really were short-changed in both versions. The moltres has a better attack, but only just. Sky Attack is a two-turn move so the overall effectiveness is almost as bad as Peck. Couple that with the fact that moltreses have the worst defense (and special defense in Crystal), and that makes for a tough time in battle. Also, the legendary birds take longer to level up in the later levels than the mew or mewtwo. Finally, Moon Shadow gets Recover in Crystal at level 88.

25 September 2009

The 90s were better in both versions, but the snorlax was still the toughest opponent in either version right to the very end. Thunder with his Drill Peck did fantastic against the snorlax though. Safeguard was offered as an option at level 99 in Crystal for Moon Shadow. Finally, everyone is at level 100. Hmm, interesting. Everyone in Yellow has slightly higher stats than in Crystal. You would think they would be doing better in the Crystal game. Well, I did better that the guys at Versus Books. In Yellow my mewtwo came within five points of the base stat for defense at level 100. Oh well. It is done.

Rod Lockwood

This page was last updated +2009.09.25.

Home Index

Ditto (normal)

Dittoes copy all other statistics from the foe except health points. Transform depends on the speed of the user and their defense/special defense. So, for dittoes, these are the only statistics that really matter.

Articuno (ice-flying)

Zapdos (electric-flying)

Moltres (fire-flying)

Mewtwo (psychic)

Mew (psychic)