Pokémon
Professor Oak was the toughest trainer in Kanto and could be battled in Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow
At one point, Professor Oak was considered one of the toughest trainers in Kanto, the region of the first generation of Pokémon.
One of the hottest debates is who was the strongest Pokémon Trainer in the first generation of games: Pokémon League Champion Lance, Gary/Blue, or Ash/Red himself. Well, it wasn’t any of those three: it was none other than Professor Oak.
The strongest trainer in the first generation of Pokémon was Professor Oak himself.
You may think we’re crazy, or that this brief report is crude clickbait, but nothing could be further from the truth: Professor Oak was the strongest trainer in Kanto, the region where the first-generation Pokémon games - the Game Boy Red, Blue, and Yellow editions - take place.
This can be verified because, in the actual games, Professor Oak is just another trainer with his own team of Pokémon, which was not included in the final version for unknown reasons, but still exists in the code. Using hacks or a very elaborate bug, it is perfectly possible to battle Professor Oak, as we can see in the video below (the fight starts around minute 5:00):
His team is formidable, even though he only uses five Pokémon instead of six. His Pokémon are the highest-level Pokémon in the game that belong to a trainer. These are the Pokémon that he uses:
- Tauros (level 66): Take Down, Leer, Rage, and Tail Whip.
- Exeggutor (level 67): Stomp, Barrage, and Hypnosis.
- Arcanine (level 68): Take Down, Ember, Roar, and Leer.
- Gyarados (level 70): Hydro Pump, Dragon Rage, Leer, and Hyper Beam.
- Venusaur (level 69): Razor Leaf, Growth, Sleep Powder, and Solar Beam. | Blastoise (level 69): Bite, Withdraw, Skull Bash, and Hydro Pump. | Charizard (level 69): Rage, Slash, Flamethrower, and Fire Spin.
As you may have noticed, Professor Oak uses one of three possible teams, and in each of them, he uses one of the original Pokémon in its most recent evolution (Venusaur, Blastoise, or Charizard). This probably means that Oak kept the starting Pokémon that were not chosen by Gary/Blue and Ash/Red in the Red and Blue editions. The move set he chose for his Pokémon is questionable; some, like Exeggutor, only have three moves instead of four, and there are meaningless attacks like Arcanine’s Roar that have no effect in battle. We’ll chalk this selection up to Oak being in the prototype stage.
When you enter the battle against Professor Oak, there’s no dialog or anything: it’s just the fight and that’s it. Perhaps Game Freak’s intention was to add him as a “special boss” after completing the Pokémon League, like Ash/Red in Generation 2. Plot-wise, it makes sense for Oak to be the toughest trainer in the entire Kanto region. After all, he is considered the ultimate authority on Pokémon and has studied them all his life.
Why was this battle removed from the final version of the games? One reason could be the similarity to his grandson Gary/Blue’s team, which also uses Gyarados, Arcanine, and the final evolution of one of the original Red and Blue Pokémon. At this point, it remains little more than an anecdote, although imagine what a surprise it would have been if it had been included in the games.