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 mechanics, 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, friends. 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
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 rank #1 in all of Johto.
98 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 were the primary ranking factor here, this retconned Normal/Fairy-type was a perfect success.
97 Ledyba: Pretty Spots
Another example of a feeble early game ‘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 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: The Rattata Of Johto
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, which is inspired by a dragonfly, was a Dragon-type, there might be something worth mentioning here.
93 Spinarak: Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
One could alternate the placement of Yanma and Spinarak. Both are pretty 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: A Cute Angler Fish
Here in the real world, anglerfish are creepy-looking abominations from the depths of the sea. They live deep down in the oceans, so nobody has to look at them.
In the Pokémon world, meanwhile, they look like sweet little Chinchou. The Electric/Water-type combination is an interesting one, too.
90 Aipom: Handy Monkey
Another fairly generic Normal-type, you encounter Aipom once you’re able to headbutt trees. That's appropriate enough for a speed and agile arboreal creature.
On evolving, Aipom becomes quite potent, but its base form is all kinds of disappointing in battle.
89 Phanpy: A Trunk Full Of Potential
Statistically, Phanpy isn’t bad at all for a pre-evolved form. You can see that its strengths are going to be as a physical tank, with its higher Attack, Defence and HP.
It’s got to evolve before it can really do that, though, as we’ll see with Donphan later.
88 Magby: A Teeny Fan Favourite
It's not readily obvious what determined which original 150 Pokemon would have baby forms. However Game Freak went about that, we can be glad they chose Magmar.
Magby can’t do much of anything until it evolves, but you can’t really fault the design here.
87 Swinub: The Furry One
Just wait. In a couple of generations, Mamoswine is going to be released, and this helpless little furry pig ‘mon is going to make you regret ever snarking on it.
Until then, it’ll just continue to look like a plum that you’ve had in the cupboard since 1989.
86 Cyndaquil: Big Shoes To Fill
Many people love to always choose the Fire-type Starter Pokemon. As such, Cyndaquil was always a common choice. It got the job done, sure, but Totodile had the most potential of the trio.
85 Hoppip: Great Design Inspiration
The Hoppip family is one that has a great design inspiration: dandelions. Hoppip represents the leafy beginning stages, Skiploom takes the yellow-petalled flower, and Jumpluff is the final wispy stage that you'd pick up and blow away as a kid.
It's a cool design, but Hoppip, unfortunately, lags behind in battle. It'll be a great supporter once it's fully evolved, though.
84 Mareep: Static Sheep
Of all the Pokemon designs inspired by real-world animals (and there are a whole lot), this has got to be one of the fan-favourites. As Gen II Electric-types go, there aren’t really any options other than the Ampharos line, so it kind of wins by default.
83 Houndour: The Edgiest Pet You’ll Ever Have
With Gen II introducing the cool new Dark-type, it’s only fair to expect some decent new Pokemon to adopt it. Houndour and Houndoom were the first Fire/Dark types, and while they’re sub-par statistically, you can’t really fault their design.
82 Elekid: Another Gen I Favourite In Miniature
The Electabuzz line doesn’t really stand out offensively, but its coverage is excellent. Even the teeny Elekid can learn a great range of moves, even if it doesn’t have too much power to make the best use of them.
81 Natu: Tiny, Tiny Bird
Well, come on. If you’re going to give it the official Pokedex designation of the "Tiny Bird Pokemon," you can understand why people might not be too impressed by it.
The thing is, Natu isn’t bad at all. It has some decent tricks up its sleeve, and even more so on evolving. Also, the Psychic/Flying-type combo is an interesting one, even if Lugia was its poster child in the same generation.