If you ever wanted to know who the strongest trainer in Pokemon history really is, one person has simulated over one million battles to figure out just that. But in the process, he's also discovered the inescapable truth that "Johto is garbage."
YouTuber Patrick Smith, better known by the SmithPlaysPokemon moniker, recently posted a video breaking down his process for ranking all 152 gym leaders, Elite Four members, Pokemon League champions, and other legendary trainers in the Pokemon series. Basically, he pitted all those trainers against each other to see where their win/loss records ended up. Trainers fought over 15,000 battles apiece, simulating all matchups 100 times each, and there are some pretty notable winners and losers.
The biggest loser is Falkner of the Johto region, originally explored in the Game Boy Color games Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Falkner only managed to win five of his 15,000 battles, a dramatically worse performance than anyone else in the series. The next worst trainer, Viola, still managed 214 wins.
Since each trainer fought with their original team compositions, you'd generally expect low-level gym leaders to fare worse than high-level counterparts, and that's exactly what's happened here. Since Gold, Silver, and Crystal have a much broader array of post-game content than most other series entries, the game's gym leaders and Elite Four members have Pokemon parties with much lower average levels. The Johto champion, Lance, is even the lowest-ranked champion across the entire series.
"Even when considering levels, their horrible team composition had them ranking consistently worse than trainers of a similar level and team size," Smith explains. "Johto is garbage. Of 152 trainers, Johto's average placement was 100, and the only trainer to perform above his weight class was Red."
Red, of course, is the original Pokemon protagonist, who you can fight as a sort of ultimate challenge at the end of Gold, Silver, and Crystal. He's tough - the fourth-toughest trainer on the entire list - but as Smith is quick to note, Red "isn't even technically from Johto."
Our ranking of the best Pokemon games puts Gold, Silver, and Crystal at the very top, and for good reason, since they refined the vision of the originals into pretty much the same iconic formula that we're still playing today. Just don't expect the trainers in those games to put you to the test.
Pokemon games will continue for "hundreds of years," according to The Pokemon Company's COO.
