Ranking the Pokemon: #24- Aerodactyl

Man, Aerodactyl looks fierce. Those teeth, that point tail, those bat-esque wings. Just glorious. Dacty is the only Rock/Flying type in the game, and it uses its dual-type well, with fantastic Speed and strong Attack. The other stats? Well, my mother (and mothers everywhere) probably uttered the phrase, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." So I won't mention that Aerodactyl's Special and Defense in particular are bad, and should feel bad.

In Generation I, Aerodactyl is weak against four types (then added Steel as a weakness in later generations), but none of them--Rock, Water, Ice, or Electric--do more than 2x damage, which is a nice lil' bonus. What's more, mostly thanks to its Rock type, Aerodyne Solutions is resistant to Normal, Bug, Flying, Poison and Fire types. Granted, that's a bunch of crappy types, but still, to resist a third of the types in the game is no small feat. Even though Aerodactyl does have some tiny feet (badum tsh).

Aerodactyl is one of just a dozen Pokemon that can learn the move Dragon Rage via TM, since Generation I is the only time Dragon Rage WAS, in fact, a TM. It was also the only Dragon-type move in Generation I, but since it always deals 40 damage, there really is no actual Dragon-type move in the first generation. Just like there's only a small handful of Bug and Ghost-type moves. GameFreak really got lazy on some of these types and their attacks. Oh well. All of this is to say that you probably shouldn't put Dragon Rage on your Aerodactyl.

So what SHOULD go on there? Better make Aerodracula a physical sweeper, and set it up with Hyper Beam/Double-Edge and Sky Attack/Fly. Curiously, the only Flying attack Aerodactyl learns that doesn't require two turns to pull off is Wing Attack, which is too weak to be viable. Too bad. Aerodactyl also learns Fire Blast, which I guess is worth putting on if you run across an Ice-type that isn't also Water (i.e. Jynx), but I'm more inclined to go on the defensive with Reflect and then Double Team or Rest. Because, hey, like the saying goes, if you're not killing someone with your potent attacks, you might as well be bolstering your defense and/or regaining your HP.

Battling Grade: B

Previously: #25- Mew