>>48186584The level of your opponents as you advance through the region. Johto has a bit in the middle where you can do the gyms out of order, so the levels are all pretty similar. This means that by the time you get to whatever gym you left for last you'll almost certainly curbstomp it. There's also most of Kanto's gym leaders being weaker than the Elite 4 and Champion, meaning they're usually pretty easy as well. Then you hit Blue who's probably 10 levels higher than you, and then you get to Red who's usually 30-40 levels higher. The important thing to remember is that the Kanto stuff is 100% intentional, it would make no sense if the gym leaders were stronger than the Elite 4, otherwise any of them could challenge the Champion and probably end up winning. Blue is the exception because he's done it before, he doesn't bother doing it again because he got his shit slapped by Red and there's no point in being Champion if he doesn't get to beat Red at the same time. Red being as absurdly overleveled as he is serves to illustrate just how good he is, as well as communicate to the player that they're not supposed to grind to overpower him, but outsmart him with skillful play instead.
tl;dr every major complaint people fling at Johto is a totally intentional design decision that work very well for the game they made
