The gym leaders in Pokémon Red, Blue & Yellow are some of the most iconic in the franchise and where most Pokémon fans earned their stripes. Each gym leader emphasizes a particular Pokémon type which can make them easy to beat if you have something to counter or brutal if you don’t.
This list will consider some of the gym leaders in Pokémon Yellow, different entities as they have different teams and strategies. There will also be some tips on each entry for how to take down these talented individuals yourself.
10 Erika (Yellow)
Honestly, Erika is more annoying than she is tough. She utilizes grass-type Pokémon which is a breeze if you picked Charmander as your starter in Pokémon Red & Blue, but a bit more problematic in Pokémon Yellow with your Pikachu.
If you managed to get a hold of a fire or psychic type Pokémon you’re in good shape, but most players will be forced to fight grass with grass or suffer the grind of finding and training one of the aforementioned types. Be prepared for a lot of back and forth low damage dealing attacks if you go in with grass.
9 Giovani (Red/Blue)
The criminal mastermind and last gym leader is surprisingly not that tough in Red & Blue. His Pokémon are all ground-types and you’re likely to have plenty of water Pokémon to counter with, especially if any of them know surf.
If you get your hands on Articuno with Ice Beam this gym is a breeze. The only reason you’d have trouble is if you haven’t been leveling your Pokémon properly which is a mistake many trainers will make by this point in the game and why he even makes the list.
8 Brock (Red/Blue)
Brock was the first trainer encountered in Pokémon Red & Blue and posed a serious challenge for many gamers. If you picked Squirtle or Bulbasaur you’re in better shape as your attacks do great damage, but Charmander users are in trouble.
Onix with his high defense and Bide attack is a nightmare as it’ll return any damage it receives over two moves back double. So either don’t deal damage or have something that can take the hits. If you picked Charmander go grab a Caterpie and train it up to a Butterfree with Confusion.
7 Brock (Yellow)
Brock was much harder in the Yellow version despite the fact that his two Pokémon are lower levels than in the other versions. Pikachu is absolutely useless and essentially becomes either a support or a meat shield for your team.
Your only hope is to go in with a Butterfree as mentioned before or snag a Mankey or Nidoran which are both capable of learning fighting moves that are strong against Brock’s Pokémon. Either way, you’re doing a lot of grinding to get everyone’s health up enough to survive Bide.
6 Misty (Red/Blue/Yellow)
Misty is a problem no matter which version you are playing. Having Bulbasaur in Red/Blue is a benefit as is Pikachu in Yellow, but even then her Pokémon are strong and it remains a challenge. Surprisingly she’s the only trainer that has the same team, Pokémon, and tactics across all three games.
What makes her a challenge is Starmie. It’s a beast at level 21, uses Recover to restore 50% of its health up to 20 times in battle, and Misty applies an X Defense at the beginning of the fight to make it more resilient to attacks. Grab a Pikachu from Viridian Forest (If Red/Blue) or a Bellsprout/Oddish and grind out a few levels before going in.
5 Koga (Red/Blue)
Koga fights with poison-based Pokémon and loves to use status effects. Your Pokémon will often be asleep and poisoned in these fights so grab plenty of antidotes and awakenings. His general strategy is to lay down poison and then tank the damage to weaken your team before you face his high-level Weezing.
If you have any psychic Pokémon use them or take the hits with ground types like Geodude or Onix. The trick is to focus on raw damage to take him out before your team is dropped or have tanks that can bear the poison damage and occasional naps.
4 Koga (Yellow)
Koga utilizes almost the same tactics, but with a much different team setup. Instead of two Koffings, a Muk, and a Weezing, he rolls with three strong Venonats and a brutal Venomoth. The true challenge is the Venomoth with its Toxic attack and status effects.
Your best bet in Yellow is to have a few flying and fire types on your team. The Charmander in Cerulean and a high-level Fearow or Pidgeot is great for this. Try to avoid the attacks or apply status effects of your own and you should manage.
3 Sabrina (Blue/Red)
Psychic types are the undisputed kings of Generation I and Sabrina specializes with them. Her team is a mix of Kadabra, Mr. Mime, Venomoth, and Alakazam. Kadabra isn’t too bad, Mr. Mime and Venomoth are more status effect dealers and specialists than anything, but Alakazam is the real challenge with heavy-hitting psychic attacks.
If you can swing it, get a Pokémon that can deal bug type moves without being poison or fighting type. This is brutal as there are only three offensive bug moves and many of the few Pokémon that can use them are also poison types. Your only options are Parasect with Leech Life or Jolteon with Pin Missile.
2 Sabrina (Yellow)
Sabrina has traded out her old team for a high-level Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam. Abra is no problem as it doesn’t have any damage-dealing moves. Kadabra is a little more trouble but has a low defense stat. What makes this fight one of the toughest in the game is that monstrous Alakazam.
Alakazam is the second strongest Pokémon in the game and poses a major challenge here. Like Misty’s Starmie this Alakazam will use Recover and you have few options that are strong against it. If you can, get a Parasect with Leech Life or Jolteon with Pin Missile. Otherwise, go with some strong ground and normal types with lots of health.
1 Giovanni (Yellow)
This is the criminal mastermind fans were expecting to face in Red/Blue. Giovanni steps outside the lines a bit with a normal type Persian and has trained his Nidoqueen and Nidoking to use Thunder to zap your water Pokémon.
Definitely use water Pokémon to counter his Dugtrio and Ryhdon, but you’ll need to get creative with the others. Articuno with Ice Beam is still a solid Pokémon to use in this fight and can hold its own against Persian. For the Nido royalty, use tough Pokémon like Snorlax to take the hits or get crafty yourself and teach your own Nido royalty a water move like Water Gun.
NEXT: The Myers-Briggs® Types Of The OG Pokémon Gym Leaders
