>>38571029Normal types weren't about power, they were about coverage and versatility.
Most normal types had a ridiculously large and diverse move pool, allowing one to easily act as a counter to just about anything you might face.
The trade off of course was no stab on any of those elemental moves, but back then a lot of normals actually had pretty decent stats to work with.
Nowadays though they're mostly regulated to early route shitmon duty.
