Do you prefer catching new Pokémon every route or building a consistent team early?

I typically plan my team before I even do my run since I like to have Pokémon with no type overlap. Namely if I have a Psychic/Fairy type, then no other Pokémon on my roster shares either of those types. I also try to prioritize early route Pokémon because in Gens 1 and 2, you benefit a ton from EV's and if I have my team all set to go by the time I reach the 4th Gym, it means I don't have to backtrack to a previous area to grind up my final team member.

@NoahLaprasForum would you keep the legendary you find?

Well, actually yes! And for the discussion; i always have my favorites before i play the game, so i have placeholders until i got my favorite Pokemon in my team!

To follow up on my previous post, take my thought process for Team Building on Pokémon Yellow(which I’ve had for 25+ years, still works). You start with Pikachu instead of a regional starter(yet you can later get all 3 as compensation and to mirror the Anime). Pikachu isn’t horrible but being a Pokémon that cannot evolve, the only thing going for it is that you will have tons of EV’s thanks to starting with it, is a solid Pokémon to battle Misty and naturally learns Thunderbolt at level 26(so no need to burn TM24 on it). However, it simply gets outclassed by other Electric Types. The first opportunity to replace it comes at Rock Tunnel with Magnemite. Magnemite learns Thundershock at level 25 so the early levels can be rough depending on what level you catch it but evolves into Magneton at level 30. Magneton has the strongest Special for a non-Legendary at 120, hence why Blue uses one if he doesn’t have Jolteon, the other Electric option that comes much later in Celadon City. Jolteon is insanely fast and has a respectable 110 Special. The combination of Speed and Special make Jolteon arguably the best pick(especially if you factor in Critical Hits). Downside to both Electric alternatives is that you must use TM24 on them to get Thunderbolt and both will require grinding to get them up to speed. I typically go with Magneton here because that Special is crazy good and I can always use Thundershock to save that Thunderbolt TM for duplication later. Until then, Pikachu is my Electric placeholder and all three can learn the Flash HM. Voltorb is f-tier and Electabuzz is an exclusive(can only be glitch caught) so don’t bother.

Early on you must find a counter for Brock. Since there’s no hand holding in Gen 1, they basically force you to take one of three options, two of which were “buffed” for Yellow version specifically. First option is Mankey, a Fighting type who gets Low Kick at level 9. Since Fighting is sadly a joke in Gen 1, I typically bypass it in lieu of the second option in Nidoran. Both the Male and Female learn Double Kick at level 12, hence it’s personal preference on which one you opt to take. I tend to grab the Female for Nidoqueen because I like Body Slam a whole lot more than Thrash. Getting a fully evolved Pokémon at level 23 is nothing short of insane and the secondary Ground typing is a must-have for Lt.Surge’s Gym. Both Nido options make excellent Strength users. I should mention the third and final option in Butterfree. Such a strong early game pick but like Fighting, Bug is just bad in Gen 1 and Butterfree doesn’t learn Bug moves but instead Psychic type moves to go with useful Status ailments. Prefer to gain STAB from my moves if you don’t mind. If I do opt for Butterfree, it’s on a temp basis so I can catch a Ground type on Route 3 in Sandshrew. Underrated Pokémon that learns Slash at 17 and is an optimal TM28(Dig) candidate.

Mount Moon is an important area in Yellow, at least for me. I catch two team members there. The first one is Paras, a Grass/Bug type. That typing is horrible given it has three x4 vulnerabilities(Fire + Flying it still has, but it also had Poison in Gen 1) and is insanely slow. Yet I typically use it for three BIG reasons. One, it’s an ideal Cut user and HM’s are the central pillar of team building in the early Generations. The second reason is that it actually learns a Bug type move that I can gain STAB in Leech Life. Combine that with Stun Spore it learns early on and it’s a capable counter to Misty’s Starmie(that has Psychic typing). The third and final reason is that it learns Spore, arguably the best Sleep move in the game. Since the secondary objective is to complete the Pokédex, Parasect’s Spore is a huge component to achieving that goal. Obviously you can wait a bit to get Bulbasaur in Cerulean or Oddish/Bellsprout on Route 24/25 but they can’t put opponents to sleep as effectively(and Electric is better than Grass in Gen 1).

The second Team member I catch is Mr.Mime. I know your thinking… Mr.Mime!? There aren’t any wild Mr.Mime and you’d be correct. I trade for a Mr.Mime by catching a Clefairy, hence I get two for completing the Dex. By trading for Mr.Mime I get a capable Psychic type that gets 50% more XP, hence can quickly catch up and be a useful addition seeing as how Psychic dominates Gen 1. Other Psychic alternatives are Drowzee east of Vermillion(Route 11 if memory serves), Abra(Route 5-6 or north of Vermillion), or Mew(not hard to get with Abra’s Teleport). Exeggcute, Staryu and Slowpoke come too late for my liking. Drowzee is a solid pick and I sometimes opt for him over Mime since it naturally learns Psychic. I never use Abra because I can’t trade evolve(so filling the Pokédex is a chore) and Mew is stupidly OP but doesn’t learn Psychic, it’s lone Psychic type move, until level 40.

Fifth member is typically a Fire type and I often choose between two Pokémon. The first is my all time favorite in Vulpix. Obtained from Rocket Game Corner, it learns Flamethrower the earliest at level 35 and has the best Speed and Special combination of 100 each and is why Blue uses one. Downside though is that’s all she’s good for is being a pure Fire type since her Physical repertoire is not very good so that often leads me to taking the other viable option in Charmander. Charmander is available much earlier, can be grinded against the Grass types on Route 24/25 where you get it and learns Flamethrower at level 38(as a Charmander, much later if it evolves). The upside to taking Charmander is that Charizard can learn Fly, an HM move it cannot learn in Red/Blue. It also can use Dig and Slash so it’s Physical move pool is much better. Other Fire options simply aren’t viable. Growlithe comes much too late and Magmar is an exclusive(can only be glitch caught).

Final Team member is a Water type and there are tons of options. First one is Magikarp that you get at Mount Moon Pokémon Center. A real early game grind but yields Gyarados, a monster of a Pokémon. Given the grind, I often forego it. Next option is Squirtle after defeating Lt.Surge in Vermillion. An easy default pick for me since it comes right when you’ll need one for Rock Tunnel and can be trained in Diglett Cave. If you opt to wait, another solid option is Vaporeon. I love this Eevolution since it learns Aurora Beam in Yellow. Final option is Lapras. Comes really late and requires a big grind but is a solid Pokémon. Other Water options like Tentacruel and Starmie are solid but come too late for my liking.

TLDR: My yellow team is typically Magneton, Sandslash/Nidoqueen, Mr.Mime/Hypno, Parasect, Charizard/Ninetales and Vaporeon/Lapras. Barring taking Lapras, all are acquired by the time I reach Celadon City or the 4th Gym.