Charmander is one of the first Pokémon that trainers can start with along with Bulbasaur or Squirtle. Although many fans show their love for Bulbasaur and Squirtle, Charmander seems to hold a special place in the hearts of most fans. While choosing Charmander can be difficult at first, it offers players the opportunity to bolster their roster of support Pokémon in the process.
The mighty fire lizard can be hard to appreciate in the early stages of the game, but his final Charizard form is well worth it. However, like the rest of the protagonists, there can be setbacks when choosing Charmander and they become apparent quite early.
7 Perk: Once Charmander learns Ember, the Viridian Forest is a breeze.
Luckily for trainers, it doesn’t take long for Charmander to learn her first Fire-type attack. Once Charmander reaches level 9, he learns Ember. Although Ember is not the most powerful technique, he does have 25 PP (Power Points) and a 10% chance to leave his opponent with a nasty burn that continues to deal damage.
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Assuming players can get Charmander to level 9 before reaching the Viridian Forest, taking down the other trainers in the forest is pretty straightforward. Almost all of the opponents the forest faces use Bug Pokémon, which are Grass-type Pokémon, meaning Fire is super effective against them. With Charmander at the forefront of the lineup, players can take down their enemies with an Ember or two and make their way through the forest to the true challenges beyond.
6 The Ugly Reality: Charmander Has It Very Hard Against The Top 2 Gym Leaders
Unfortunately for Charmander, Fire-types aren’t very strong against Ground-type Pokémon (specifically Rock-types) and are almost useless against Water-types, as Water is their natural weakness. Brock is the first Gym Leader in the game and uses two Pokémon that are essentially giant rocks and don’t give up easily against Ember or Scratch.
Misty is the next Gym Leader, and she’s much harder to beat with her powerful and rare Water-type Pokémon. Ideally, leave Charmander in her Poké Ball during this battle. Even though Charmander can attack first, moves like Water Gun and Bubble Beam can quickly knock it out.
5 Perk: Picking Charmander almost forces players to level up their party early and often
Although some may see this as a disadvantage due to the extra work involved, the benefits of a strong group pay off. Since Brock and Misty are hard to take down with a Fire-type Pokemon, Trainers are forced to level up their party early and often to stay one step ahead of the next challenge.
When trainers level their first Pokémon up to level 12 or higher, Brock becomes a relatively easy opponent. Additional leveling on Route 3, Mount Moon, and Nugget Bridge will make Staryu and Starmie feel like a hindrance instead of a barrier. Although Charmander/Charmeleon aren’t preferred to fight Misty, the rest of the group should be strong enough to finish her off in one go.
4 The Harsh Reality: Charmander’s Guy Provides No Help Against Cinnabar Gym And Its Other Challengers
Cinnabar Island is a fun little island in the middle of the ocean with a myriad of Fire-type Pokémon to catch and battle. Since Charmander and its evolutionary forms are Fire-type Pokémon, they aren’t very useful on this volcanic island.
Although Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard are capable of learning some powerful non-Fire techniques, such as Slash and Fury, they are not the most effective attacks against other Fire-type Pokémon. Not only is the Cinnabar Gym a place to avoid for Charmander, but the Pokémon Mansion is also full of strong Fire-types that it wouldn’t be much help against.
3 Perk – Charmander makes quick work of the Celadon Gym so players can focus on the Team Rocket problem
Erika is the Gym Leader of Celadon City, and she and her group of trainers almost exclusively use Grass-type Pokémon. This bodes well for Burning Lizard, whose Fire attacks are super effective against Grass-type Pokemon, even if they’re at a higher level.
Trainers should have evolved her Charmander (at least once) by this point in the game, though her most powerful fire attack will probably still be Ember, unless trainers gave her a TM to learn. Even with just Ember, Charmeleon makes quick work of the trainers at this gym. Once Erika and her gang of grass-type gladiators have fallen from grace, the trainers can focus on Team Rocket, who are a big problem in Celadon City.
2 The harsh reality: Once your rival has a Blastoise it is much more difficult to beat him
Trainers must defeat their rival (Professor Oak’s grandson) at least eight times throughout the original games, and he usually gets much stronger between each battle. One of the things that makes it so hard to beat it is the fact that its starter Pokémon has a type advantage over whatever type the trainers have chosen at the beginning of the game.
Once the opponent has a Blastoise that knows Surf and Hydro Pump, trainers with a Charizard should be careful. Most trainers wouldn’t even consider starting a Fire-type against such a powerful Water-type. However, sometimes trainers are forced into a sticky situation, and with Charizard as the last line of defense against types like Blastoise, the chances of victory are slim.
1 Perk: Charizard can learn a couple of HMs (3 in the yellow version)
Charizard is one of the most powerful Fire-type Pokémon in the entire game, and in addition to its naturally learned powerful attacks, it can also learn a ton of MTs and HMs. Like Blastoise, Charizard can learn two of the five HM techniques, although unlike Blastoise one of them is not dependent on its type.
Charizard is capable of learning Force, which is not only a powerful attack in battle, but is also useful for moving rocks out of the way. Charizard can also learn Cut thanks to his sharp claws. The technique is similar to Slash, but is capable of cutting bushes and trees out of battle. On the yellow versionthe game’s developers allow Charizard to learn Flight as well, which makes sense given his huge dragon-like wings.
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