It’s easy to underappreciate the impact that the second generation of Pokemon had on the franchise. Pokemon Gold & Silver were released only two years after the original Kanto entries, but they introduced all manner of vital new mechanics, such as baby Pokemon, breeding, and held items. Along with the new mechan🉐ics, the second generation also introduced 100 new Pokemon, bringing the total up to 251 at the time.
Where would we be without the Johto region? Well, Ditto wouldn’t be getting all that action, for one. To celebrate Gold & Silver, then, let’s rank all 100 Pokemon that were introduced in 🙈Generation II, working from the bottom of the barrel upwards.
Note: The primary focus of this ranking is competitive viability, but we've also considered designs, roles in the anime, and more!
Updated October 21, 2021, by Michael Christopher: It's been a while since we initially published this ranking, and we thought it was time for a bit of a refresh. We've updated the ranking, moving some Pokemon around, adding some info for their placements, and improved the overall structure for readability.
100 🐭 Unown: Spelling It Out 🎃
That’s right, friend✃s. The very worst Pokemon of Generation II is Unown, a Psychic-type with abysmal stats. It can learn a total of one move: Hidden Power.
Almost any Pokemon can learn this move, and it's not even really that good in most contexts. However, we'd be remiss to not mention the cool role Unown played in representing the Latin alphabet. Now you can spell words with Pokemon. Cool!
99 Sunkern: A Cute Seedling 𝓀
Despite bearing a hilariously woeful♒ base 30 across the board in its base stats, this Pokemon has a sunny disposition that could cheer up any Trainer.
It's worth noting that, almost as hilarious as its terrible base stats, Sunkern ties with some Mythicals, Legendaries, and others for the best Pokeathlon potential. The only Pokemon capable of perfect scores in Pokeathlon potential are Mew, Ditto, Giratina (Origin Form), Arceus, and Sunkern. If this list were ranking Pokeathlon stats, Sunkern would raꦦnk #1 in all of Johto.
98 ཧ 🐷 Igglybuff: Puffy Balloon Friend
The design brief for Jigglypuff’s baby form was probably a simple one: Pinker. Cuter. Puffier. It's adorable, of course, but when it comes to battle, you aren't going to make it very far.
If cuteness 𝓡were the primary ranking factor here, this retconned Normal/Fairy-ty🐼pe was a perfect success.
97 Ledyba: P🍷retty Spots
Another example of a feeble early game &lsqu꧒o;mon, you can nab yourself one of these little ladybugs on Route 2.
But, that's only if you were playing Pokemon Silver; Gold owners had to trade for it. Ledyba is cute, and had a fun anime episode early in the Johto arc, but it's mostly a 'Dex-filler.
96 ꦇ Togepi: The Most Famous Of All The Eggs
Togepi does crop up quite often in the show and other Poke-media. It’s quite a fan favorite, but it’s also… well, put it this way: it'll stand up in battle as well as an egg will, for the most part.
Togekiss, two evolutions🧔 away, is pretty good in battle. But, Togekiss was yet to exist at this point in time.
95 Sentret: T🌳he Rattata Of Johto ꧙
Ah, yes indeed. The early game in Pokemon is🐷 never complete without a completely generic and fairly standard Normal-type rodent. That’s Sentret’s lot ꦺin life, poor little guy, and it’s had to come to terms with that.
94 Yanma: Not♋ a Dragon-type
Bug Pokemon find it super, super difficult to stand out. It's definitely one of the least-appreciated types of all. While Yanmega isn’t bad at all, it’s hardly top-tier material. There are lots of Bug/Flying-types around.
Now, if Yanma, wꦓhich is inspired by a dragonfly, was a Dragon-type, there might be something worth mentioning here.
93 Spinarak: Bugs, Bugs🐷, Bugs 🍬
One could alternate tꦦhe placement of Yanma and Spinarak. Both are pret🃏ty boring bugs.
The primary difference in their battle roles is that Yanma has the Flying-type and Spinarak has the Poison-type. Also, Spinarak evolves in this generation, whereas Yanma✨ had to wait until the Sinnoh games.
92 Chikorita: Leafy Wonder ♏
If one were to rank the Johto Starter Pokemon based on cuteness, it might be a tough choice, but Chikorita could definitely hold its own. However, in terms of competitive prowess, the Chikorita family is widely considered the worst choice. Also, what was with the weird crush Ash's Chikorita had on him in the anime?
91 Chinchou: 𓃲A Cu𓃲te Angler Fish
Here in the real world, anglerfish are creepy-l𝓰ooking abominations from the depths of the sea. They live deep down in the oceans, so nobody has to look at them.
In the Pok&e💮acute;mon world, meanwhile, they look like sweet little Chinchou. The Electric/Water-type combination is an interesting one, too.