Ranking the Pokemon: #80- Dratini

I don't know which one (in Generation I) is a more overrated type: Dragon or Ghost. Each only has one evolutionary line, and each only has a limited move pool. Yet everyone seems to use either Dragonite or Gengar (or both). I've gotten suckered in to the Dragonite lore, as well. After all, Lance of the Elite 4 (i.e., the final guy you battle outside of your rival) swears by Dragon types as his go-to option. And while putting all of your eggs in one type basket is completely stupid, they're still not a bad option, and Dratini and its evolutionary chain learns some good moves while being fairly well-rounded stat-wise.

The main reason I don't like the Dragons are because there is exactly ONE Dragon type move in Generation I. It's called Dragon Rage, and it will do 40 damage every time no matter what. So...it's great for taking out Level 6 Rattatas you come across, but it's awful against Level 100...well, anythings. Yes, even a Level 100 Farfetch'd can take a few Dragon Rages and be none the worse for wear. And Dragons are only weak against other Dragons and Ice attacks, so essentially, in this generation, they're only weak against Ice. And resistant against pretty much everything else, so it's tough to damage Dragons. 

Dratini also has high Attack, but the problem is that it learns mostly Special moves, so outside of Hyper Beam, which I'm not a huge fan of (any attack you have to recharge after is just sorta so-so in my book), you don't have a lot of physical options with the 'tini. Unless you want to be annoying and just use Wrap a lot. I know I don't have the patience to only deal like 15 damage a turn, even if the opponent's paralyzed with Thunder Wave. I want my kills to be immediate, dammit! So the moral of the story, since we haven't seen a Ghost type on this list yet, is that Dragons are more overrated. They're still good, but overrated.

Battling Grade: B-

Previously: #81- Staryu