>>31539553gen 1: hyper offensive. Normal and Psychic were the dominant types. Hyper Beam didn't have to recharge if you KO'd and explosion did RETARDED amounts of damage with it so it was vital to have Rhydon/Golem/Gengar around as ways to absorb hyper beams and explosions. Ice was also a great type due to blizzard having 90acc, but many normal and water types learned it and also took advantage of it for coverage. Tauros carried it to break Rhydon/Golem.
It was before the special split so basically all pokemon were either bulkier or more powerful on the special spectrum. Chansey was actually a somewhat relevant offensive threat, and Alakazam had reasonable bulk against special attacks. Gen 1/2 used stat XP instead of effort values which had the effect of making everything more well rounded in the stat department.
gen 1's viable competitive pokes were Alakazam, Chansey, Cloyster, Exeggutor, Gengar, Golem, Jolteon, Jynx, Lapras, Rhydon, Slowbro, Snorlax, Starmie, Tauros and Zapdos.
gen 2: hyper defensive. Dominated by Snorlax. There is not a more dominant pokemon in ANY meta than Snorlax was in gen 2 other than possibly M-Ray before he was banned to his own tier. Meta was extremely tanky in general, particularly because the item mechanic was kind of broken, the only items worth holding were leftovers for 99% of pokemon. Marowak became relevant as before items were super relevant, Marowak got the Thick Club as a way to boost his attack. Every team needed either a Raikou or a Zapdos for breaking bulky waters. Fighting became a viable type again. Tauros fell off hard due to the special split, hyper beam nerf and blizzard nerf.
Gen 2's good pokes were Snorlax, Raikou, Zapdos (every team had Snorlax plus either Raikou or Zapdos), Cloyster, Exeggutor, Forretress, Gengar, Machamp, Marowak, Miltank, Misdreavus, Nidoking, Skarmory, Starmie, Steelix, Suicune, Tyranitar, Umbreon, Vaporeon.
Other stuff like Blissey, Clefable, Porygon2, was viable as well but not top tier.
