>>21518351Gen II isn't exactly shit, but I will explain, beginning with the fact I love all of them.
All of them have identical stats to the Gen I starters, simply moved around.
Meganium suffers from being a defensive monotype Grass that doesn't receive the usual benefit of being Grass (status moves outside of Poison Powder - which is inferior to Toxic anyway) and has to make due with only average bulk; where Venusaur had serviceable Special Attack and defensive stats, Meganium has to deal with 82/83 offensive stats. Meganium was and still is best used to set up dual screens and hope to stall the opponent, a scenario where the deck is stacked against it and is a little used strategy in-game. Additionally, the game itself is brutal for Meganium - the first two gyms are super-effective against Chikorita with no real way to defend itself (meaning you'll really have to grind to keep up to level) and later on Pryce also has an edge, while Jasmine and Clair resist all the moves it gets via level up. Team Rocket has several Pokemon in the repertoire to make life difficult for Meganium, and Koga has a type advantage as well, not to mention Lance. The biggest punch is that Meganium's STAB is never super-effective against any of the main Johto trainer's types - it has to wait to Kanto to be of any use in terms of type advantage. Beating the game extensively using Meganium is a labor of love for your bro.
Typhlosion is identical to Charizard in terms of stat spread, and like Gen I Charizard only gets Normal and Fire moves by level up - meaning by level up it can only use Fire types with its best stat, Fire. However, this is in-game more than serviceable for Typhlosion. Super-effective on Bugsy, Jasmine, and Pryce and only resisted by Clair, Typhlosion has ample opportunity to level up - not forgetting Sprout Tower in the beginning. Additionally, Typhlosion has unique access to ThunderPunch in game, giving it a nice Electric coverage move for Water types.
