The Pokemon: Let’s Go games essentially retell Pokemon Yellow‘s story, albeit with new protagonists. You encounter Blue shortly after beginning your adventure, but if you’re wondering where Red is, where the much-hyped Green is hiding, and how to battle them all, we’ve got you covered.
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How to Find and Challenge Blue in Pokemon: Let’s Go
You’ll run across Blue in Pewter City, then again on the S.S. Anne, and basically in all the places you found him back in Gen I.
But, you only battle him twice. The first time is in Silph Co., when he wants to check and see whether you can handle Team Rocket. His team isn’t too well-developed at this point:
- Exeggutor, lv. 38: Power Whip, Psychic, Light Screen
- Charizard, lv. 40: Heat Wave, Slash, Air Slash
After you obtain the Earth Badge and defeat the Elite Four, Blue takes up residence in Viridian Gym, just like in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. You can challenge him once per day, and as longtime fans will already know, his team has no stand-out weaknesses.
- Tauros, lv. 66: Double Edge, Earthquake, Rockslide, Iron Tail
- Gyrados, lv. 66: Waterfall, Crunch, Outrage, Earthquake
- Aerodactyl, lv. 66: Rock Slide, Crunch, Iron Tail, Earthquake
- Alakazam, lv. 66: Dazzling Gleam, Reflect, Psychic, Foul Play
- Exeggutor, lv. 66: Power Whip, Stomp, Psychic, Light Screen
- Charizard/Mega Charizard Y, lv. 68: Fire Blast, Hyper Beam, Air Slash, Dragon Pulse
Be prepared for a tough fight. Almost all of his part Flying types use Earthquake, so you’ll need to bank on either your Pokemon toughing a hit out for you or demolishing the opponent with Thunder in one turn. A fighting type could withstand Tauros’s rock and steel attacks, then quickly dispatch the opponent.
As always, Exeggutor is devastating the longer the battle; if you have a strong fire or flying type, though, it goes down pretty quickly. Charizard’s dual weakness makes a rock type ideal–with Dragon Pulse being the only somewhat dangerous move in the set–though a water type could bring it down quickly as well.
How to Find and Battle Green
At long last, Green leaps out of the manga and into the Pokemon universe proper in the Let’s GO games. You won’t encounter her until the postgame, though.
Your rival mentions a girl who wanted to catch Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave and tells you she’s inside the cave looking for it. Naturally, you catch it first, so she challenges you to a battle. After defeating her in the Cave, you can battle her once daily in Cerulean City.
Green’s team is equally as strong as Blue’s, though a quick-moving ground type could handle half of it.
- Clefable, lv. 66: Moonblast, Light Screen, Reflect, Tri Attack
- Gengar, lv. 66: Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Will-O-Wisp
- Kanghaskhan, lv. 66: Dizzy Punch, Sucker Punch, Thunder Punch, Brick Break
- Victreebell, lv. 66: Power Whip, Poison Jab, Sucker Punch, Leech Life
- Ninetales, lv. 66: Fire Blast, Dark Pulse, Foul Play, Hyper Beam
- Blastoise/Mega Blastoise, lv. 68: Hydro Pump, Flash Cannon, Ice Beam, Fake Out
Your own Victreebell would be ideal for handling Clefable and Blastoise, since its speed means it stands a chance of doling out serious damage before getting hit by the latter’s Ice Beam. At the very least, you’ll need a poison type attack to exploit Clefable’s weakness and get around its massive amounts of HP and high defense stats.
Ground or psychic would take care of Gengar and Ninetales–possibly Victreebell, though psychic stands a much better chance against Victreebell’s Power Whip. Your best heavy hitter could take care of Kanghaskhan with little trouble, and chances are, Pikachu or Eevee could handle Blastoise if you don’t have any other viable candidates.
How to Find and Battle Red
Finding Red involves you meeting a specific set of requirements. First, you have to beat the Elite Four and unlock the ability to challenge Master Trainers–the 153 trainers scattered across Kanto, specializing in superpowered versions of one Pokemon.
You have to beat six Master Trainers and have a party of six Pokemon on your team, then head to the gates of the Indigo Plateau, just before the Pokemon League. Red will be there, waiting for your challenge. And it’s quite the challenge, as Red is the strongest trainer in the game–and you can’t use any items.
- Pikachu, lv. 85: Thunderbolt, Brick Break, Iron Tail, Reflect
- Machamp, lv. 85: Superpower, Fire Blast, Earthquake, Hyper Beam
- Arcanine, lv. 85: Heat Wave, Crunch, Will-O-Wisp, Roar
- Lapras, lv. 85: Ice Shard, Waterfall, Body Slam, Megahorn
- Snorlax, lv. 85: Toxic, Protect, Rest, Body Slam
- Venasaur/Mega Venasaur, lv. 85: Sludge Bomb, Leech Seed, Mega Drain, Amnesia
There’s no one Pokemon that can easily sweep Red’s team (even your overpowered starter). Pikachu won’t be able to do much against a ground type, preferably Dugtrio, and it’ll handle Arcanine easily too. Pigeot or Fearow would crush Machamp and Venasaur fairly easily–or one of the legendary birds, should you be so inclined to pull that trump card.
Snorlax admittedly loses some of its potency by being limited to Gen I moves, since you don’t have to worry about Sleep Talk or Snore. If Rest gives you some hassle, consider using a Pokemon with Disable to take that move out for at least two turns while you lay on the damage meanwhile. Your starter would probably work best on Lapras, especially if you’re playing Let’s Go, Eevee! but if all else fails, a strong Raichu would make quick work of the beast.
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There’s a ton of postgame content in the Let’s GO games, but finding and fighting Red, Green, and Blue offers excellent challenge and plucks the nostalgia strings at the same time. Let us know how you’ll be tackling these legendary trainers in the comments, and be sure to check out our other Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee guides!
