>>27167783Mantine is terribly weak compared to the others, Kingdra is obtained later and has movepool issue in gen 2, Quagsire is slow and not that strong, Lanturn is slow and not that strong, and Slowking is both incredibly slow and needs a trade evolution.
None of those are better than Feraligatr. I don't know why you'd ever think that.
All of those have issues that Feraligatr doesn't have and are more difficult to just run through the game with. In addition, GSC and HGSS both have gen I water-types which you might as well use since they're generally better. Starmie and Lapras are better than every Pokemon you mentioned. Even Tentacool gives them a run for their money.
Gyarados' special attack is still low regardless and there's no point in teaching it fucking Fire Blast when it can muscle through most of the Pokemon you fight anyway. What exactly does Fire Blast cover in HGSS that Ice Beam, Waterfall, and EQ don't? Also, Dragon Rage? Are you retarded? Why would I waste my time 2-3 shotting Pokemon when I can just 1-2 shot them with a different, better move? Dragon Rage is irrelevant here, it's only really good during early game.
Victribell exists in GSC and HGSS and is more then workable. You can also forego grass-types and not really miss out on much.
Feraligatr is still the best at cheesing the game regardless and is far superior as a choice for a starter than the other two. Chikorita barely pulls its weight the entire game in GSC and HGSS, and Cyndaquil has severe movepool issues in HGSS and isn't as good later on in GSC. It's not even that good early on beyond wrecking Bugsy.
