#19 - #20: Rattata & Raticate

Rattata, the first generic normal-type rodent.

Rattata, probably one of the most annoying Pokémon in Pokémon Red and Blue aside from Zubat, would set the trend for introducing one normal-type rodent Pokémon that you could catch at the very beginning of the game in every subsequent generation. Sentret would be introduced in Gen. II, Zigzagoon in Gen. III, Bidoof in Gen. IV, Patrat in Gen. V, and finally Bunnelby in Gen. VI. Rattata was the original rodent though, and it was annoying as hell... well, at least in my opinion. Ain't nobody want no goddamn rat in their team, least of all me. Real-life rats aren't popular with most people to begin with, so did Rattata (or rather its evolution, Raticate) have a chance anyway? Surely there are some people who do like these disgusting animals, but they're absolutely not my cup of tea. Neither are they Ash's favorite animals, apparently: in the season 1 anime episode "Battle Aboard the St. Anne" he traded his Butterfree for a gentleman's Raticate. He regretted it immediately after, however, causing him to trade the Raticate back to its original owner while the ship Ash and his friends were on was sinking, although this was probably because Ash had become too attached to his Butterfree by then.

Add up the fact that both Rattata and Raticate can adapt to any environment to live in and almost always have the need to gnaw on something, often on rocks or logs but sometimes even on the wall of a house, and you have a nuisance rather than a useful Pokémon. By the way, Raticate is capable of chewing concrete walls, which might result in buildings to topple over if you're unlucky. Just imagine a plague of these things... Goddamn, you'll have the devil to pay.

Apparently, according to Game Freak, Rattata and Raticate
(depicted) are mice.

Oh, before I move on to discussing Raticate's fighting abilities, there is one little thing that really bugs me for some reason: Rattata and its evolution were classified as 'Rat Pokémon' in the first two generation, but from the third generation onwards, Rattata and its evolution have been erroneously called 'Mouse Pokémon'. Quite obviously, though, mice are not rats. They're from the same order (rodentia), superfamily (muroidea, which also comprises hamsters and gerbils and the like) and family (muridae, which basically includes all members of the muroidea superfamily), but not from the same genus. 'True' rats belong to the genus called rattus, while mice are most often classified as mus. Now, I know that these kinds of real-life things are often incorrect, inconsistent and sometimes even ignored in the Pokémon world, but Rattata and Raticate are obviously rats, not mice. I mean, it's in their names, for God's sake. I would really like to know which genius came up with the idea to give these rats the label of 'Mouse Pokémon', because I can't help but finding this the dumbest thing ever. Well, I guess I shouldn't worry too much about that now.

Fan art of Raticate.

Let's just see how Raticate fares in battle then, shall we? Well, as opposed to the other Pokémon you can find on the very first route in Red and Blue, which is Pidgey, Raticate is actually a lot more diverse. The only problem is that most coverage moves it learns are special-based, like Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Shadow Ball and Psychic. It learns Crunch by level-up. Dig and U-Turn are the only TM moves worth mentioning, but they are nothing special for in-game purposes (you're most likely not going to use Raticate for competitive battling, although one of its ability is Guts and boosts Raticate's attack by 50% when it is suffering from a status condition, which works pretty well when it's holding a Toxic Orb or Flame Orb) and don't hit as hard as they should when used by Raticate, although they provide decent coverage. Wild Charge is to be avoided, because Raticate learns Double-Edge and that move hits just as hard as Wild Charge does when used on a Pokémon that is weak to electric-type moves. The only difference is that Double-Edge is slightly stronger when Raticate is holding a Silk Scarf, for example, which you should let it hold, because one of its staple moves is going to be Return, a move that has a maximum power of 102 when Raticate's friendship level is maxed out. It learns Iron Tail and Zen Headbutt through Move Tutors, but you will probably have defeated the Elite 4 and the Champion by then.

The official Raticate art has changed quite a bit in this image.

Raticate has access to just enough physical moves to complete a decent enough moveset, but in the end it is just a bland Pokémon. It's speedy and its attack stat is decent, but it has nothing to make it stand out to other Pokémon. I don't dislike Raticate as much as I used to, but I can't give it any rating higher than three stars.

Rating: 3/5