Many consider the Pokemon introduced in the gen 1 Pokemon games to be some of the best designed in the entire series. This makes a lot of sense really, considering that the team at Game Freak were pretty much able to do whatever they wanted without having to worry about differentiating their creations from their earlier work.

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Just because a Pokemon looks great though doesn't always mean that it will perform well in battle. Granted, there are exceptions to this like Charizard and Mewtwo, but there exist quite a few gen 1 Pokemon that lack either the moves or the stats needed to compete at even the lowest levels. It's not so much a case of "Don't judge a book by its cover," but more a prime example of how "Not everything that glitters is gold."

10 Magikarp

Max Raid Battles Dynamax Game Freak can't catch

With its goofy expression and Fu Manchu style whiskers, Magikarp is one of the most iconic looking Pokemon from the gen 1 games. Unfortunately, however, its inability to do anything other than splash around before it reaches level 15 makes it all but useless in battle.

To make matters worse, it's impossible to teach Magikarp any TMs in the gen 1 Pokemon games meaning that Tackle is the only offensive move that the Pokemon has access to before it evolves. Thankfully, players only need to reach level 20 in order to get their hands on a Gyarados which, while frustrating, is fairly easy to achieve with EXP share or by swapping the Pokemon out early on.

9 Onix

Onix from the Pokemon anime

Onix's huge size and snake-like shape makes it an incredibly intimidating Pokemon and one of the coolest looking rock-types in the series to date. Sadly though, it doesn't have the kind of stats needed to even come close to backing up its badass appearance.

Aside from its high physical defense, Onix has very little going for it, with poor speed, HP and attack placing it at a huge disadvantage against Pokemon with even average special attack stats. Its learnset isn't great either, with players typically needing to waste valuable TMs just to give it half a chance in battle.

8 Kakuna

While Kakuna may look cool at a glance, it's actually one of the lamest Pokemon to have been introduced in the gen 1 games and the most awkward middle-stage evolutions in the series. It has terrible stats all round and a move set that has about as much bite to it as one might expect from a Pokemon that doesn't have a mouth.

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Aside from Poison Sting, which is fairly useless in and of itself, Kakuna only has access to Harden and String Shot. As a result, the only half-viable strategy in battle is to poison the other Pokemon and then alternate between raising Kakuna's defense and lowering the other Pokemon's accuracy in the hope that Kakuna can somehow survive long enough for the poison to do its job.

7 Zubat

Zubat swarm outsite Mount Moon

For as intimidating as a flock of Zubats might appear, these eyeless bats have very little going for them in battle. This perhaps bodes well, considering how frequently they ambush players in Mount Moon and other cave locations throughout Kanto in the gen 1 Pokemon games.

Moves like Poison Fang can certainly be a little annoying, but thanks to the Pokemon's abysmal defenses, it's incredibly unlikely that any Pokemon afflicted by the attack will ever actually succumb to the poison. It's a fairly slow Pokemon too, so most of its opponents should be able to knock it out before it even gets a chance to use the move anyway.

6 Parasect

Pokemon Fan Theories Believed Parasect

Seemingly inspired on the Cordyceps parasitic fungi that features so prominently in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us games, the idea of Parasect is a pretty cool one, albeit a little dark. Unfortunately, however, the execution leaves an awful lot to be desired.

Despite having access to one or two decent moves, Parasect is just far too weak to dish out any meaningful damage. Its bug and grass dual-typing also places it at a huge disadvantage when compared to many of the other gen 1 Pokemon, which typically leads to it getting easily defeated in the majority of encounters.

5 Venomoth

Flying Pokemon

Both Venomoth and its unevolved Venonat have pretty cool designs, but they too suffer greatly on account of their typing. Bug-types have always struggled in competitive battles, especially those with mediocre stats. Sadly, Venomoth definitely falls into that latter category.

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None of its key base stats exceed 100, with its physical and special defenses being particularly weak. This problem is compounded by a fairly underwhelming learnset, which, despite one or two half-decent attacks, is unlikely to cause too much trouble for the majority of opponents.

4 Metapod

Weak Pokémon

One of Venomoth's few saving graces is that it at least doesn't need to go through a pupal stage. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Butterfree, which must first endure three hellish levels as a Metapod before finally being able to spread its wings.

Much like Kakuna, Metapod's primary method of attack is defense, with Harden serving as one of only three moves that the Pokemon has access to. Thankfully, one of the other two is Tackle, so it can at least dish out a little bit of damage here and there. Unfortunately, its pathetic 20 physical attack stat means it will likely be out of HP long before its opponent breaks a sweat.

3 Spearow

The first episode of the Pokemon anime made Spearow seem like a totally badass Pokemon. It was able to indirectly hospitalize Pikachu and would likely have done the same to Ash had the little yellow rat not stepped in when it did. In the games, however, they are nowhere near as deadly.

They certainly look just as cool, but their base stats leave an awful lot to be desired. They're one of a few common Pokemon that players encounter a lot at the beginning of the gen 1 Pokemon games, but while Pidgey eventually evolves into a solid Pokemon and Rattata can learn Hyper Fang, there's very little point in catching a Spearow other than to acquire its Pokedex entry.

2 Seaking

Seaking from the Pokemon anime

While Seaking is a little better than its unevolved form, Goldeen, for a fully evolved Pokemon it falls well below the curve. Its stats are subpar, the moves it learns through leveling are poor and it only has access to a handful of decent TMs.

So bad is Seaking's learnset, in fact, that it can only actually learn four attack-based moves naturally; one of which is the abysmal Fury Attack. Granted, this problem can be mitigated somewhat by teaching it moves like Blizzard and Hyperbeam, although given its low stats and the fact that TMs are single use in the gen 1 games, most would see this as a massive waste.

1 Arbok

Arbok's King Cobra design is arguably one of the very best in the gen 1 Pokemon games. Other than its badass appearance though, the Pokemon is actually an incredibly underwhelming one. The same could perhaps be said of its unevolved form, Ekans, as well, despite its more reserved design.

The Pokemon's base stats were increased a little in the gen 7 Pokemon games, but, even then, they're fairly mediocre when compared to other fully evolved Pokemon. Worse still, it only learns four attack-based moves innately, the strongest of which is Bite which boasts just 60 attack power. It can learn more powerful attacks with the help of TMs, but there's really very little incentive to waste them on Arbok in any of the games where the technical machines are single use only.

NEXT: The 10 Worst-Designed Pokemon Of All Time