Ghost

Grass Pokémon

Ground

In general, Grass types have high Special, mediocre Speed and Attack, decent HP, good Defense, and carry Sleep attacks as well as Stun Spore, one of the few Paralysis moves that work on Ground types. Sleep attacks are somewhat weaker in Stadium, so replacing Sleep Powder with stronger defensive moves (such as Growth, which would normally take second place in straight RBY game) may be in order.

All can take a non-critical Psychic from Mewtwo, even the part-Poisons. The last three carry the Poison type weakness, but can function better without the aid of TMs.

Grass isn't that bad a type to have defensively, weak to Bug, Fire, Flying and Ice. Ice is probably the only one of the four worth worrying about, as the first three are so rarely used and should be covered by the rest of your team in any case. Resistance to Water, Grass, Electric and Ground can come in handy.

Suggested attacks: Psychic/Solarbeam, Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, Double Team/Substitute.
Bog Standard: Mega Drain, Psychic, Hyper Beam/Strength/Double-Edge, Sleep Powder.
Exegguthor's Hammer: Toxic, Leech Seed, Rest, Double Team.
Benedict: Toxic, Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, Mega Drain.

Everyone loves Exeggutor. You can't pass him by if you're looking for an anti-Psychic wall. Exeggutor is part Psychic, and coupled with his decent Attack, Leech Seed and defensive stats through the roof, there's no way an Alakazam is going to survive a one-on-one with this baby.

Solarbeam's really only good used in conjunction with a defensive move to back up Leech Seed, making Double Team/Substitute a must. Sleep Powder is learnt very late, ruling him out for Poké Cup matches. Evolving Exeggutor early causes you to miss out on Sleep Powder, but after seeing how weak Exeggcute is, it can be very tempting as it needs TMs in order to attack with anything better than Barrage in the early stages of the game.

His attack level equals Parasect (which isn't saying much), and his Special/HP levels are way above average. Amongst the Grass types, Exeggutor's Defense level is second only to Tangela and equals Vileplume's. The only stat which he lacks is Speed, as with most of the Grass types. His stats are his main advantage, as well as his half-type.

If you're looking for a Toxic/Leech Seed setup, Exeggutor is the way to go. For those who don't know already, Leech Seed's power increases with Toxic, through a glitch in the game that can probably be traced back to the programmers who wrote the code for Focus Energy in RBY. "Exegguthor's Hammer" is designed for that sole purpose. As Toxic is best for polishing off the last Pokémon, behind a barrier of Double Teams, very little is going to stop this monster from being the last Pokémon standing on the battlefield, unless, of course, you've forgotten to take out that Jynx or Charizard.

Benedict plays with Toxic's countermove. After Toxify-ing a Pokémon, inexperienced trainers will usually switch on the first turn to avoid Toxic's damage building, allowing a free hit with Sleep Powder.

Exeggutor can sustain serious damage with his high defensive power. Without a critical hit, only Sky Attack can take it out in one hit, and even Sky Attack gives it a window of opportunity to use Sleep Powder before biting it. With Hyper Beam (some prefer Strength or Double-Edge), Mega Drain and Psychic for an all-out offensive against an inexperienced player, or Double Team and Leech Seed for a defensive setup, Exeggutor is a force to be reckoned with.

Suggested attacks: Spore, Substitute, Leech Life, Swords Dance.
First Alternate: Spore, Substitute, Rest, Slash.
Second Alternate: Spore, Substitute, Growth, Mega Drain.

Parasect appears at first to be a useless lump, even with the equal-highest Attack of the Grass types. On top of being immensely slow, (one of the slowest final-evolutions in the game), having the lowest Special and HP of the Grass types, and being double-weak to Fire, Flying, and Poison, he learns no decent moves aside from his one saving grace: Spore. Spore is the only Sleep move in the game with 255 accuracy, the highest obtainable. Spore can be a tool of mass destruction if used properly, especially in the manner described below.

Most people laugh at the Suggested setup when they first see it reported as an almost perfect way of disposing of Mewtwo. Leech Life, even with three Swords Dances under the belt, is far too weak to cause any real damage to psykers. However, this setup can easily wreck the most common Mewtwo setup: Double Team, Recover, Psychic, Blizzard.

Parasect can survive either of the two attacks (barely, and assuming that they do not critical hit), and put Mewtwo to sleep with Spore. Once Mewtwo is asleep, Swords Dance and Leech Life can be used to heal Parasect past 25% HP, where it uses Substitute. Once the player has a sleeping Mewtwo facing a Substitute-shielded Parasect, barring an act of Goddish, the Mewtwo's as good as dead.

The main problem with this setup is that you'll somehow need to catch the Mewtwo on its own in order to ensure that you won't be facing anything that could splat Parasect in one hit. Once the rest of the lineup is down this should be no problem, but Mewtwo is almost always the opening Pokémon. Switching in is not an option: Parasect will only be able to withstand one hit from either of the Generic Mewtwo's attacks.

Unless the Mewtwo manages to wake up before the Parasect has a chance to put up a Substitute, it will eventually fall to Leech Life and Swords Dance. This tactic can be attempted by the other, more surviveable Grass types, but to a lesser degree of success due to lack of Spore.

An alternate plan for Parasect has been formulated to deal with a broader spectrum of targets. Rest and Slash replace Leech Life and Swords Dance. Leech Life and Swords Dance require four turns to get enough health back to make a Substitute anyway, and Parasect won't die if he's at full health (unless the attack critical hits). Growth and Mega Drain could also be lethal if used correctly.

Sadly, with the crippling of Sleep moves in Pokémon Stadium, it seems likely that Parasect will be returned to his status as a weak, useless Pokémon.

Suggested attacks: Sleep Powder/Rest, Growth, Double Team, Mega Drain/Solarbeam.

HP and Attack aren't so hot, but Tangela's got masses of Defense, only falling 10 points shy of Rhydon. In percentage terms, however, it takes around as much damage as Exeggutor from Physical attacks.

Tangela's main selling point is Growth. Having more staying power than Venusaur and Victreebel due to lacking a weakness to Psychic, Tangela can beef itself up with Double Team and Rest while charging up Growth. This is one case where replacing Sleep Powder may not be such a bad idea, as Rest is a perfect aid to digging in with such a weak setup move.

Like Exeggutor, Tangela learns almost no decent moves on its own save for Sleep Powder, the mainstay of all the Grass types. Absorb should be kept while raising (lots of PP to wreck the Elite Four), and then replaced with Mega Drain once perfect stats have been achieved.

It isn't as weak to as much as the Grass/Poison types, missing the part-Poison weakness that Venusaur, Vileplume and Victreebel carry. If Bug attacks were any better, Tangela would have a massive edge in that it would sustain very little damage from them. The other Grass types (except Parasect) are all quad-weak to Bug attacks.

A somewhat minor advantage is that he is already a final-stage evolution. If his statistics can weigh up to the other Grass types, and he can be caught at low levels in the Yellow Safari Zone, imagine what he'd do to anything that hasn't had the chance to evolve yet. Sadly, he's too big to take into Petit Cup.

Suggested attacks: Razor Leaf, Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, Substitute/Double Team.
Alternate: Solarbeam, Leech Seed, Growth, Double Team.
Offense setup: Razor Leaf, Body Slam, Sleep Powder, Swords Dance.

Venusaur has the edge in being the fastest of all the Grass types, which isn't saying much considering their universally low Speed. An all-rounder in terms of stats, despite the specialist nature of Grass moves. A Physical attack seems tempting, but it's better to treat him like a Psi-weak Exeggutor that attacks with Razor Leaf. Or, you could combine Tangela's Growth/Solarbeam combo with Leech Seed/Sub to get really dug in.

Venusaur's a good solid choice if you don't mind his weakness to Psychic. He's better than Victreebel; both take the same amount of Swords Dances at L100 to reach full power. He's a Tobybro killer and a good Pokémon to have when there aren't too many psykers nearby.

Suggested attacks: Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder, Body Slam, Double Team/Swords Dance.

Good Attack level, and second-fastest of the Grass types. HP isn't too bad either. Lowest Defense of the Grass types. If you don't have access to Venusaur, Victreebel's your replacement.

Bellsprout is good for taking out Misty near the start of the game with Vine Whip, but you'll be relying more on Acid and Wrap's PP as you progress through the early stages of the game.

Learns the kick-ass Razor Leaf, an incredibly strong attack. Though its Attack is quite high, it needs the same amount of Swords Dances to hit maximum Attack as Venusaur. His higher Attack stat gives him an edge in Poké Cup, however, where neither will be reaching 999 Attack under any circumstance and thus, resulting in Victreebel having a much higher relative Attack at the end of the day.

Quite fun to use, as well as looking better than the aforementioned ugly blue toad.

Goddish: Absorb, Petal Dance, Sleep Powder, Solarbeam.
(Goddish needeth no heathen TMs.)

Despite a kick-ass basic stage and Petal Dance, Vileplume is probably the worst of the Grass types. Its only noticeable feature stat-wise, the highest Defense of the Grass/Poison types, is only four points away from Venusaur.

Petal Dance, like Thrash, is of limited usefulness in link battles due to the inability to switch away after a kill. Your opponent could spring something resistant, or almost completely immune to the attack. This attack is often thought of as Vileplume's main selling point, as it is considerably more powerful against the theme-oriented trainers of the game itself. Petal Dance is covered in more depth in the Attacks section.

However, Vileplume's kick-ass first stage has won a special place in the hearts of many. Oddish is, by far, the cutest thing alive.

Complete Type Listing
Pure Grass Type Pokémon Total: 1
Tangela
Half Grass Type Pokémon Total: 13
Bulbasaur Ivysaur Venusaur	Oddish Gloom Vileplume	Paras Parasect	Bellsprout Weepinbell Victreebel
Exeggcute Exeggutor