The Gen 1 Pokémon: Rare Monsters That Made You a Legend

Back in 1996, when Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow dropped, the world was a very different place. No Wi-Fi, no Wonder Trade, no Reddit guides. If you wanted a rare Pokémon, you had to grind in the Safari Zone, hunt through obscure areas, swap with your friends using a chunky Link Cable, or pour endless hours into training.

And if you did manage to catch one of these elusive creatures? Oh man—you weren’t just another kid with a Game Boy. You were a hero on the playground. The one everyone crowded around to see.

Let’s take a hype-filled walk down memory lane and look at 15 of the rarest, most brag-worthy Pokémon from Gen I.

The Yellow Version Friendship Test

Raichu
In Red, Green, and Blue, Raichu was no big deal—just evolve a Pikachu with a Thunder Stone. But in Yellow? Forget it. Your starter Pikachu refused to evolve, and no wild Pikachu spawned. The only way to get Raichu was through a trade from another version. Owning one in Yellow meant you had friends willing to help—and that made it a symbol of effort and friendship.

Safari Zone Nightmares: Catch Them If You Can

Clefairy
Adorable? Yes. Easy to find? Absolutely not. With a measly 2–7% spawn rate in Mt. Moon, Clefairy was practically a myth. Game Corner coins could get you one, but even then, it was pricey.
Pinsir & Scyther
Bug-type icons of Gen I, but with encounter rates as low as 1–4% in the Safari Zone. Worse? They bolted constantly. Sure, you could blow 2,500–6,500 coins at the Game Corner—but for a kid’s allowance, that was like selling your soul.
Kangaskhan
The mom Pokémon. Only 1% spawn in some areas of the Safari Zone, and like all Safari-exclusive mons, she’d bail instantly. Owning one was pure bragging rights.
Chansey
The stuff of legends. With only a 1% spawn and one of the highest flee rates in the game, catching a Chansey was like winning the lottery. In Yellow, finding one at level 7 was almost urban legend-tier rare.
Tauros
Another Safari beast, with only a 1–4% spawn. But unlike most rare mons, Tauros was actually a meta monster. High Speed, high Attack, and a ridiculous Hyper Beam (no recharge if you KO’d!) made Tauros a competitive god.

Version Exclusives & Oddball Trades

Jynx (Blue only, low encounter rates in Seafoam Islands). In other versions, you had to trade, and in Yellow, it was trade-or-bust. Packed Ice Beam and Psychic, making her a deadly combo attacker.
Lickitung (trade in R/G, Safari-only in Blue, post-game in Yellow). Not exactly strong, but quirky and super rare. A badge of honor for collectors.
Mr. Mime (trade-only, with a forced nickname from the NPC). You couldn’t even catch it in the wild—purely a one-of-a-kind exchange deal.
Tangela (appeared only on Route 21 at about 10%). Rare location, late-game. A “hey, check this out” kind of flex more than a battle staple.
Electabuzz (Red-exclusive, 1–4% spawn in the Power Plant). Many players didn’t even know it existed! Fast, stylish, and way cooler-looking than its stats.

Casino High Rollers

Porygon
Forget Safari odds—the real grind was coins. In Red and Yellow, you needed the max cap of 9,999 coins to buy one. That’s basically ¥200,000 worth in-game. No sane kid farmed that at the slots. If you had a Porygon, you were either insanely lucky or backed by real-life money. Either way? Playground legend.

Grinding for Glory

Dragonite
Catching Dratini wasn’t too bad—fishing in Safari or buying from the Game Corner. But training it? That was hell. Dratini → Dragonair at Lv. 30, and then all the way to Lv. 55 for Dragonite. Remember: most Elite Four mons were around Lv. 50. If you owned a Dragonite, you had patience and dedication beyond belief. And the payoff? A 134 Attack stat and one of the strongest overall Pokémon in Gen I. Absolute powerhouse.

The Ultimate Legends

Mewtwo
Post-game only. Sitting at Lv. 70 in Cerulean Cave, with a catch rate that made you cry unless you saved your Master Ball. Once caught, it was an unstoppable force. So powerful it was banned from tournaments. Owning it meant you’d officially “beaten Pokémon.”
Mew
The holy grail. Never available through normal gameplay. The only legit way was attending official Nintendo events or special distributions. Kids who had one weren’t just lucky—they were gods. With all stats at 100 and the ability to learn almost every TM, Mew was the ultimate status symbol.