>>56136546He does have a little bit a niche in RBY in basically being the only Grass Type that isn't also Poison (Exeggcutor and Tangela aren't available till the end of the game). Furthermore he makes some sense in the particular context of Gen1's design philosophy, where if you didn't choose bulbasaur he's your Grass type to use on Misty, and you're meant to replace him with Vileplume/Victreebell immediately after. I also found a good niche for him in Yellow to sweep Saffron Gym since he learns Swords Dance, which Buffs Leech Life into usability as the only move that gives SE STAB against Psychics in the entire game. Plus he learns Spore which is always good.
But in short yeah he's definitely suffers from being an obsolete relic designed for a very specific context that existed in gen1 and nowhere else.
