History DiscOneNuke / Pokemon

* In ''Platinum'', as soon as the player has their first Badge, they can do a little backtracking with Rock Smash and, if they're lucky, find a Golbat. At level 10, when under normal circumstances Zubat evolves at level 22. And it evolves to the insanely fast and strong Crobat at max happiness, meaning that the player could have the final form of a three-stage family by the time they reach the second Gym. Oh, and both of Crobat's types are super effective against said Gym. Yeeeaaaahhhhh...
* It's also possible to get some of these in the ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' games, thanks to the Wonder Mail codes. Once you're able to recruit party members, you can enter codes to take up missions in even the second and fourth dungeons that allow you to get strong, fully-evolved (in a game where you can't even evolve until the end) mons such as Flygon and Metagross.
* Generation I had [[GoodBadBugs the Mew Glitch]], which could get you [[OlympusMons a Mew]] before you beat the second Gym. While it came slightly underleveled for the area and only had one move, Mew has [[JackOfAllStats equal (and good) stats in everything]], and is capable of learning ''any'' TM or HM, putting those good stats to use.
** It gets better! Abusing that glitch a specific way allows you to catch your Mew at level 1. An impossibility normally, and if you look at the EXP count in its stats, it's got way more EXP than you'll ever need to max out any Pokémon. If your Mew happens to gain an amount of EXP less than that necessary to reach level 2, then the game glitches and all that EXP comes into play at once, auto-leveling your Mew to level 100. Sure, you have to click the A button about two hundred times, but after that you can just breeze through the game.
** One last thing about the Mew glitch: if you know it well enough, you can not only get Mew before beating Misty, but they you can also get a ''second'' one by the time you reach Celadon City! Granted, you still have to level it, though, but this is still worth noting.
* Your starter Pokémon, preferably the Water or the Fire type, can be this is you use nothing else. OneManParty is a very viable way to play the games as you'll be so overlevelled with a single Pokémon early on that much of the game won't stand much of a chance against you. It's not as easy to do in Generation V though, due to higher levelled mons getting less exp than at low levels against foes, so you won't be as overlevelled.
** Also harder to do in Generation IV due to more type diversity. On the other hand, in Gen III with Mudkip...
** There's also "Muscle", the Machop you can get in exchange of a Drowzee in Gold/Silver and HG/SS at Goldenrod City. To elaborate: Pokémon obtained from trades grow up faster than normally caught ones but, as a trade-off, once they reach high levels they will rarely obey you - i.e. they will attack only once in a while. As early as the third gym, you can get a Fighting-type Pokémon that will grow faster than other Pokés you can catch normally and whose typing and moves will help you against at least three of the remaining gyms in the region. Not only that, you can train Muscle up to level 30 - by which point it'll have evolved into the stronger Machoke - and it'll still obey you; and, once you get the Fog Badge from the Ecruteak gym, Muscle can reach level 50 before it starts rebelling. Not even the ''Elite 4'' have level 50 Pokémon during your first playthrough.
*** Then trade it to another game and back for Machamp, who's both extremely powerful (especially for the early game) and one of the best Pokémon in the standard-tier metagame.
* Dream World adds a whole new arsenal of nukes to the fifth generation. To elaborate: right after defeating the first gym and retrieving a PlotCoupon (all of which can be done in less than two hours from the beginning of a new game) you have access to the DW. Through the website you're allowed to catch Pokémon not ordinarily available in the games themselves and who also carry very good abilities. This way you can obtain such things as Bidoof with the incredible ability Moody - making him [[LethalJokeCharacter a lethal threat even in the advanced metagame]]-, Nidoran male or female with Hustle - which, upon evolving into Nidoking/Nidoqueen, acquire the brutally abusable ability Sheer Force, especially now that [=TMs=] can be used multiple times -, Tangela with Regenerator, Taillow with Scrappy, among many others. All this after, again, a mere 1-2 hours or normal gameplay.
** In ''Black 2'' and ''White 2'', there are several Gen. V mons you can't obtain until late in the game, but can obtain in the Dream World without any worries. This means you can obtain very strong mons like Sawk, Throh, and Druddigon ''right off the bat'', when you normally wouldn't encounter them in-game until [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Victory Road and Route 23]].
* By exploiting the Event Mon Arceus in ''Heart Gold/Soul Silver'', you can get one of the Sinnoh cover art legendaries at level 1. While Arceus won't likely obey you, the legendary you get will. Needless to say, this requires likely two games, one of ''Diamond'', ''Pearl'' or ''Platinum'', the event Arceus (or the Arceus at Spear Pillar only accessible through hacking), and the ability to trade in ''Heart Gold/Soul Silver''.
* In ''Heart Gold/Soul Silver'', there's the addition of the Voltorb Flip game as early as Goldenrod City. If you're good at the game, you can be pretty well off. They have some of the strongest technical machines, though they're more expensive, and a Dratini happens to be available for an amount pretty cheap to those who are good at the game. The Dratini has Dragon Rage, too, an attack that does 40 hp of damage no matter what, which can knock out both of [[ThatOneBoss Whitney's]] Pokémon in just two moves.
* ''VideoGame/MyPokemonRanch'' has an obtainable Shroomish. Now let's see... Oh wow. Level 45. That sounds nice. But wait! There's more! This Shroomish has Seed Bomb. It also has Spore and Stun Spore to the mix. And it also has... False Swipe? Holy cow! That Shroomish is not just any Shroomish! This is also helpful for catching legendaries at ease!
* Sawk and Throh in ''Black and White'' respectively are catchable as soon as you get to the 2nd gym and have stats that are far beyond anything at that point. [[LightningBruiser Sawk]] is faster than pretty much everything and demolishes anyone who doesn't resist fighting while [[MightyGlacier Throh]] with his massive health will be next to unkillable and being fighting types they make [[ThatOneBoss Lenora]] a complete and utter joke and easily crush most of your rival's Pokémon with their sheer power.
* The Desert Resort (and, by extension the previous route) in Generation V might as well be called Disc One Nuke Resort. It is a home to some of the most devastating Pokémon the game can offer, such as Darumaka, Sandile, Scraggy, and Sigilyph. A special note can be placed on the evolved forms of Darumaka, Scraggy, and Sandile: Darmanitan is [[OlympusMons Kyogre's]] Physical and Fire-type equivalent in terms of immediate power, Krookodile is brutally strong and has amazing abilities/typing to work from, while Scrafty has great defenses on both sides, also has good abilities, and has such a good type match up throughout the whole game that until the Elite Four there are only one or two Trainers in the entire game who have an advantage or resistance against it. To make matters worse, even the Fossil Pokémon, such as the elusive Archen is acquired in the desert. Its almost as if the place is purposefully designed to house as many nukes as possible.
* [[UpToEleven In what is perhaps the most immediate (obtainable before the first gym) AND most devastating (besides trading for legendaries) example for Pokémon yet]], There are the Riolu in ''Black 2 and White 2'''s Flocessy Ranch. Though Riolu itself is weak, its evolution Lucario has endgame stats and [[EnsembleDarkhorse happens to be a fan favorite]]. So one would expect Riolu to be a Pokémon that requires a very late level to accommodate its evolution's stats or require a hard to find stone to evolve, right? Actually, it's a happiness evolution, which means if you're (very) patient you can get Lucario immediately. "Suffering with bad moves" is not a problem here as it is with a lot of early evolutions, because one of the first [=TMs=] you get is Return, [[ThePowerOfFriendship which has base power determined by how high the Pokémon's happiness is, maxing out at 102 with no drawbacks]]... and just look at what "stat" we had to grind to evolve Riolu in the first place! Lucario's unique typing also means it's resistant to the first three gyms' specialty types, the second of which is literally a NoSell to it.
** Even worse (or better)? The preferred EV spread ([=EVs=] boost Pokémon's stats when they level up) for Riolu/Lucario is 252Atk/252Spd. Guess what the only two Pokémon on the FIRST ROUTE are? Patrat (Atk) and Purrloin (Spd).
** With the Pokémon Dream Radar app, you can get Riolu [[SerialEscalation before you leave the first town]] (along with the new forms of the Kami Trio).
** Even if you aren't crazy enough to evolve Riolu before the first gym (which takes an insane amount of walking) under good conditions it should evolve around its mid twenties which is the time you reach the third gym. Until then the first gym leader only uses basic ComMons and the second gym is easily handled by Magnemite (see below).
** You can also use that Return TM to turn Lillipup, a [[ComMons Com Mon]] available in literally the same place as the Riolu, into a powerful sweeper. Return is a Normal-type move, so the Normal-type Lillipup (and it's more powerful evolutions) will get STAB damage using it. Also available early in the game is the Silk Scarf item, which powers up Normal type moves when held. This combination can continue to be useful throughout much of the game, killing nearly any Pokemon that doesn't resist Normal type attacks in one or two hits.
* Another one is Magnemite in ''Black 2 and White 2'', who can be captured right before the second gym, and at worst, one level away from Sonicboom, which at that point in the game is a 2-Hit-KO move to essentially anything while also having a nice Steel/Electric typing granting it 13 resistances, including a lot of Normal-type moves that you will face early in the game. Unlike Riolu, not only does it start strong (having an acceptable 95 base Special Attack), but it also comes with an acceptable STAB move in Thundershock, and has a well rounded movepool thanks to the Move Tutors and the infinitely-usable [=TMs=]. And to take it further, the second gym is extremely weak to Magnemite, and it has overall good gym match ups for the rest of the game. It evolves into Magneton at level 30, which is pretty early, and again into Magnezone at the Chargestone Cave, which is not long after it evolves into Magneton. Forget Riolu; this thing, thanks to its insane availability and utility is widely considered to be the single best Pokémon for an efficient in-game run, up there with the likes of Gen 1 Alakazam.
* Also from ''Black 2 and White 2'', there is a catchable Volcarona accessible through a path in the Pokémon World Tournament. The catch? You have the option to go after it as soon as you beat the Driftveil gym. It may be a bit tough to catch, but you can plow through most opponents with ease afterwards. Sure, it will be underleveled and not have quite strong moves (The underleveled one starts with Fire Spin, Leech Life, Gust and String Shot)...until you remember there's a move tutor who can teach it Signal Beam if you have enough Red Shards in Driftveil, and that the TM for Fire Blast is obtainable around 2 towns later.
* ''Black 2 and White 2'' have another in the form of not Pokémon, but cash. In Castelia City, you have access to Castelia Cones, which heal any status ailment and you can buy 12 at a time for just 100 Pokédollars. While this item is pretty fantastic in itself (Full Heals, which do the same thing and are found in Pokémarts, cost six times as much and aren't available until after you win 5 gym badges), there's an NPC another town over who will buy a single Castelia Cone for 2000 Pokédollars, which gives you a 1900 profit per cone. And, since you can buy twelve each day, that nets you a profit of ''22,800 per day''. This becomes especially useful with the introduction of Join Avenue, which can have a shop (or multiple shops) for training Pokémon. The cost to train your Pokémon up a level is high, but it's still less than the profit you get from the Castelia Cones, and you'd still have enough left over to train a Pokémon's individual stats. And again, this is all ''before the fourth gym''.
* Yet another example from ''Black 2 and White 2'' is Pokéstar Studios. It's available after the second gym and is basically this game's version of contests, but it doesn't take a whole lot of skill to get good items. The items include gems such as Moomoo Milk (not purchasable outside of Driftveil), Full Restores (not purchasable until after earning all the gym badges), and Max Revives (not purchasable ''at all''). There's no limit to how many movies you can make, either, so you can rack up a pretty good amount of healing items before you even get to the third town.
* In HGSS, it's possible to catch a Heracross in Azalea Town after beating Bugsy without much trouble. Coming off with a huge Attack stat, even by endgame standards, as well as decent bulk and speed, it can be taught Rock Smash through an HM to get decent STAB right off the bat. By the time it learns Brick Break, it'll be able to annihilate Whitney, especially if it has Guts. It also can learn a pretty good variety of moves by early-game standards, such as Aerial Ace and Shadow Claw, letting it take on Morty as well.
** This also applies to [=DPPt=], where Heracross can be captured after the first gym, which by then you'll also have the Rock Smash HM, though using [[ScrappyMechanic honey]] to try to catch one requires a lot of patience.
* And ANOTHER area from Black 2 and White 2 full of solid Pokémon for you to use is the Lostlorn Forest, which you can access not long after getting the third badge. Every single Pokémon findable there except Combee makes a great addition to your team: Heracross in Black 2 is just as powerful as in HGSS, though White 2 instead gets the less powerful but still good Pinsir, with equal Attack and Swords Dance to utilize. Roselia has very high Special Attack, can utilize many ways to get the foe poisoned and slam them with Venoshock, and use strong Grass-type attacks like Giga Drain and Petal Dance, then it can evolve into a Pokémon with monstrous Special stats. Didn't get a Sewaddle early in the game? Here you can catch an evolved Swadloon instead. Same with Venipede, who evolves into a devastating Scolipede. Lastly, Petilil and Cottonee evolve into monstrous Pokémon (though Cottonee needs the Prankster ability to really be effective). So if you're short on team members, the Lostlorn Forest will be sure to offer.
* There's also Zorua. While acquiring one in ''Black'' and ''White'' requires a [[ThatOneSidequest long sidequest involving a]][[LostForever fateful encounter Celebi]], it can be obtained as soon as you get to Castelia City. (In ''Black 2/White 2'', you get it in Driftveil City.) It already starts off with decent speed and good offenses for an unevolved mon, but once it gets to level 30 and evolves into Zoroark, it gets even better. Zoroark has ''monstrous'' offenses (including great Special Attack) and great speed, as well as a great movepool. Plus, it gets Night Daze, which has a good chance of lowering accuracy as well as being a pretty strong move in its own right. Its ability is also good for [[ConfusionFu mind games]]. It's definitely a good idea to train one, seeing how early you can get it.
* Mystery Gift, a function through which Nintendo gives out rare {{Mons}} through Wi-Fi. If you happen to have bought your game during one such giveaway, you can get an exclusive legendary such as Celebi or Mew near the start of the game.
* Drilbur from Generation V is a mild example. At level 31, it evolves from a mediocre Pokemon into Excadrill, a LightningBruiser that can be ''twice'' as fast when a sandstorm is in effect (or have powered-up Ground/Rock/Steel-type moves) and if you delay its evolution, learns ''[[AwesomeYetPractical Earthquake]]'' at level 33! That's roughly 20 levels before most Ground-types naturally learn it!
* In the rom hack ''VideoGame/PokemonCrystalEnhanced'', you can get a [[OlympusMons Mew]] with the powerful signatures moves Sacred Fire and Aeroblast ''before the third gym''. It's not a guaranteed find though, so you might have to do a little [[SaveScumming Save Scumming]] to get it.
* At one point during ''Black 2'' and ''White 2'' you're [[ButThouMust forced]] to encounter a male Mincinno with his hidden Skill Link ability. Catch him, train him, and evolve him into a Cincinno, and he's [[KillerRabbit surprisingly powerful]]- TailSlap, BulletSeed, and Rock Blast all hit exactly 5 times for lots of damage. STAB Tail Slap alone does ''188'' base damage [[note]]For comparison, that's just slightly weaker than '''[[ActionBomb Selfdestruct]]'''. And much more practical, too.[[/note]], and the latter two deal 250 if they're super-effective. Pokemon weak to Rock or Grass? Taken down very fast. Substitute or Focus Sash users? They don't stand a chance. Steel-types? Just slap them silly with Wake-Up Slap, which he also learns. And he's damn fast and packs a punch, too. The kicker? He can be encountered before the 4th gym, and you'll have to run into him eventually.
* If you use the [[NostalgiaFuel Memory Link]], you can encounter a level 35 Darmanitan that used to belong to N in the Desert Resort. Even in challenge mode, your enemies don't reach that level for another two gyms. The only thing stopping it from being a GameBreaker is it has the rather lousy ability Zen Mode instead of the amazing Sheer Force.
* Pokémon obtained in ''VideoGame/PokemonRumble'' via passwords can be this, as they can one-shot anything that's not a boss.
** Want to have some fun? Get the NFC figures that you can use in ''Pokémon Rumble U,'' use it '''before the area that has Keldeo as a boss,''' and it can kick some butt. But what really takes the cake is the PreOrderBonus Toy Pokémon figures Black Kyurem and White Kyurem. Now, it's just a bonus at first glance, but when you scan it, you will ''eventually'' realize that Black Kyurem and White Kyurem have strength power ''in the freaking 2,000s! And that's impossible to get this early in the game!'' Using Black Kyurem or White Kyurem, any of them can kick any boss square in the butt in '''''one freaking hit!''''' Those Toy Pokémon that don't reach beyond that level will '''NOT''' stand a chance against your amazing Black Kyurem or White Kyurem figure. To make things even more awesome, tune up your Pokémon figures using the coins that defeated Toy Pokémon drop, and they'll kick even more butt.
* In Gen-6, you can catch a Pikachu early on. Not only are both of the first Gym Leader's Pokémon weak to Electric-type attacks, but at Level 18, Pikachu learns Electro Ball, a move that does more damage the higher the user's Speed is than the target's. Pikachu also naturally learns Thunder Wave (a 100%-accurate Paralysis-inducing move) beforehand. Pikachu's naturally high Speed and Special Attack allow it to fully take advantage of this particularly devastating combo - Paralyze the target, which drastically cuts their Speed, and then fire an Electro Ball. Congratulations, you now have a highly-accurate 'Zap Cannon Lite' potentially before the second Gym. Anything weak to Electric-type attacks ''will'' keel over, and even neutral-damage targets will get a huge chunk taken out of them, if not a KO. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill And if you're lucky enough to score one holding a]] [[StatusBuff Light Ball]]...
* Like Black 2 and White 2, you can score Riolu before the first gym. This time though, there is a mechanic that will assure anything in the undiscovered group (including Riolu) to have a ''minimum'' of 3 IVs at 31. If you're lucky with the right stats, Riolu starts proving its uses, especially since you get Return before entering Lumiose City. Then comes Shalour where you get another Lucario with Hasty nature/31 Speed IV, but by this point you may use the Mega Stone on your own Lucario.
* Also like Black 2 and White 2, in Gen VI Azurill can be captured fairly early in Route 3. Thanks to the addition of the Fairy Type, Azurill's family gains additional resistances including an outright immunity to Dragon-type moves, and Huge Power is a massive boon offensively when it evolves and finally matures into Marill and then Azumarill, giving you access to a strong and bulky Water-type physical attacker that can easily trounce Dragons with Rough Play and smack everything else around with STAB Aqua Tail or Waterfall. Also like Riolu, Azurill is caught as a ''baby'' in the No Eggs breeding group, which guarantees 3 perfect-strength IV stats.
* Early Adoptors of Gen VI got access to a downloadable Event Torchic via Mystery Gift, which comes with the ''Blazikenite'' Mega Stone and has the ability ''Speed Boost''. This gives you extremely early access to an [[GameBreaker Uber-tier]] pokemon even before you challenge the first gym. As the badge/level loyalty limit for "outsider" pokemon starts at Level 30 after you beat Viola and keeps incrementing by 10 with each Gym victory, you'll probably never have Torchic disobey you after Viola unless you LevelGrind too intensely.
** X and Y also introduced a feature called Wonder Trade, which allowed you to randomly trade Pokémon with anyone in the world. You could get anything from Chespin to Zygarde (not that anyone would be willing to send a legendary) before you even reached the first Gym. Although sending something like Scatterbug or Pidgey will reward you with being hated by someone you will never meet.
* In X and Y, Pokémon-Amie is available right from the start, and using it to max out a Pokémon's affection only takes about half an hour's worth of minigames, petting, and tasty treats. Doing so will reward you with a Pokémon that has a chance of shrugging off status ailments, surviving an attack with 1 HP that would've knocked it out, gets critical hits much more often, and gets the same experience boost that traded Pokémon do. With a little time and effort, you can effectively have an entire team of lesser nukes by the time you get to the second town. Isn't ThePowerOfFriendship great?
* In Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and X/Y, one can obtain a Ralts rather early on. While it starts off [[MagikarpPower very weak]], by level 30 it becomes the powerful Psychic type Gardevoir. Gardevoir is as powerful as Alakazam, except without the requirement of trading. Or, if it's male and the game was released after Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, a Dawn Stone can be used on one for it to become the highly versatile Gallade.

* You can catch Caterpie in the Viridian Forest. A little bit of LevelGrinding (just a few levels), and it becomes a Butterfree with the Confusion move. In fact, Yellow Version makes it even easier to obtain, since Butterfree learns Confusion as soon as it evolves (presumably to compensate for the fact that Pikachu cannot harm Brock's Pokémon, so you really almost NEED a Butterfree to beat Brock). Since Confusion is a psychic attack, it's strong on its own, exploits many opponent's weaknesses, and it inflicts [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin confusion status.]] This is taken further from Generation III onwards, when Butterfree's standard Ability becomes "Compound Eyes", as it makes all of Butterfree's learnt Status Powder attacks much more accurate and effective.
** Scatterbug, Spewpa, and Vivillion carry on the tradition of being a fairly powerful early-game Bug-type in Generation VI, even potentially getting Compound Eyes, eventually learns the Fairy-type Draining Kiss which is also a lifesteal attack, and finally gets the very powerful Hurricane which normally has lackluster accuracy but the Compound Eyes ability greatly increases it.
* You can also can catch either gender of Nidoran west of Viridian City, which is before you enter ''Viridian Forest'', and when it evolves into Nidorino or Nidorina at Lv16, you can use the Moonstone you can find in Mt. Moon after beating the first Gym and immediate evolve it into the powerful Nidoking or Nidoqueen respectively. While the two monsters didn't learn many moves through level ups besides Thrash in the 1st generation, they make up for it in stats and the powerful TM/HM moves both of them can learn such as Dig, Hyper Beam, [[GameBreaker DoubleTeam]], Surf, and several others.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, one can trade for an extremely high-level Pokémon from another cartridge very early in the game. The game tries to prevent this practice by making the new Pokémon disobedient in the early areas, but the stat gap is so high that you'll crush your enemies anyway, despite your Pokémon only moving every fourth turn or so.
** If you have access to another cartridge, you can also trade one Pokémon from the "weak" savegame to the 100% Completion cartridge, level it up ''there'' (obedience is no problem there, plus it even gets experience bonus for being traded) and then trade it back. It now will obey on the "weak" savegame but can be strong enough to plow down most of the game.
** Alternatively, breed a powerful Pokémon (such as Dratini) on the "strong" save file, trade the egg to the weak one, hatch it there, trade it back to the strong one, train it there, return it to the weak game. Since it hatched there, it will obey you regardless of badges. If you breed some powerful egg moves or [=TMs=] onto it, it could easily enter GameBreaker status.

** Fletchling in X and Y carries on like Starly, getting fairly powerful as you teach it new moves, and then it becomes Fletchinder and starts getting STAB coverage in the offensively-strong Fire type. Once you raise it to Level 35 and evolve it into Talonflame, it becomes a swift and hard-hitting fiery bird of prey with a great offensive typing, and it eventually gets access to endgame moves like Brave Bird and Flare Blitz (the latter via Heart Scale at the Move Reminder).
* Various kinds of Pokémon also exhibit types of MagikarpPower that can be taken advantage of fairly early in the game:
** By training the useless [[MagikarpPower Magikarp]], which can be acquired the moment you get an Old Rod (or even earlier in the first games, if you're willing to buy the Pokémon from a shady merchant), it will evolve into the incredibly powerful Gyarados at level 20. Even if you don't go out of your way to power-level your Magikarp, it's not hard to make this happen before you or most opponents have anything else that compares. You can also obtain one via the Pokéwalker in HG/SS, at a higher level than normal and with a decent offensive move to boot.
** A similar example from Generation I (when [[GameBreaker Psychics were still the rocket launcher of]] ElementalRockPaperScissors) would be to catch an Abra as soon as you reached Cerulean, level it up until it evolved into the very-respectable Kadabra at level 16, then trade it to a friend and back to make it further evolve into Alakazam. [[HilarityEnsues Carnage ensues.]] Sending it to the Generation II games also allows it to learn the various elemental punches, making it even more powerful.
*** Since the Abra has Teleport, you can also use it to trigger the Mew Glitch.
* The games played this straight during the second generation. The [[MinigameZone Game Corner]] was located early in the game at [[HubCity Goldenrod]]. If you had the patience and skill then you could earn the coins to buy incredibly powerful [=TMs=] and Pokémon. They started out at low levels, but the Daycare (which will raise your Pokémon for you) was just a short walk away.
** Similarly, if you have a spare Master Ball from any other game, you can trade it to [=HeartGold=] or [=SoulSilver=] and catch either Entei or Raikou (or both). If you catch them almost right after they flee from the tower, it gives a real big advantage.
* While this admittedly requires a lot of luck, and you'll probably do a lot of SaveScumming, if you have the patience in Generation I and III you can buy a Dratini from the Celadon City Game Corner, quite early on in the game. By this point, you'll probably have a TM for Dragon Rage (if you don't or can't be bothered, it will learn anyway at Level 22), which will cause it to rip through most of your powerful enemies in two or three moves at most. Even better, it will have virtually no weaknesses to worry about, owing to the virtually nonexistent Dragon-types and limited numbers of Ice-types.
* The second generation (and remakes) also gave out Surf after just the third Gym - with the highest possible power without some sort of drawback (lowered accuracy, recoil damage, or the like), it's considered a viable move for endgame and competition-built Pokémon. ''Gold/Silver/Crystal'' gives it to you about a quarter through the game - giving you enough power to breeze through nearly anything that doesn't specifically resist it. Moves of that power become more standard about 75% of the way through the game, which keeps it from being a true GameBreaker.
* There's also the Pickup ability in ''Ruby'' and ''Sapphire''. It gives a 10% chance of acquiring an item after each battle. This item can include a Nugget (which can be sold and turned around into 50 Poké Balls or a bunch of healing items), a RareCandy (a free level-up), or either a PP Up or a Protein (both stat-boosting items which can be sold for almost as much as a Nugget if you don't want the stat boost). Only slightly less useful is its ability to acquire healing items much more powerful than available until around the halfway point of the game or the best Poké Ball carried in stores (with a much higher catch rate for Pokémon). And it is available on Zigzagoon, one of the game's ComMons found in almost every grass patch and probably one of the first three Pokémon caught by every player. With a little luck or patience, a player can have an entire medicine cabinet at their disposal to go with a never-ending supply of Poké Balls before running into the first Gym Leader.
** You can pull the same trick with Lillipup in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Black and White]]''. The swag is not as high-end, but you'll still be set for the rest of the game if you grind early on.
*** Even better, in ''Black and White'', Pickup can now steal away a one time use item the opponent uses up or thrown at them with Fling, meaning you can snag several good berries in a short amount of time.

** You can get a Kangaskhan at the very start of the game by doing so. Kangaskhan is normally an end game Pokémon, and as such has base stats comparable to fully evolved ones. Use it to breeze through the early Gyms, particularly Morty's.
*** You can get a Kangaskhan early on in the game in the Gen V versions as well, thanks to the Dream World. Likewise, you can get a Nidoqueen/Nidoking not long after the second gym through the same method. This trend continues in Gen VI, where Kangaskhan can be found in the Glittering Caves before the second gym.
** You can also get powerful Pokémon like Dratini, Staryu, and Gastly this way.
** And even more Pokéwalker abuse is possible if you own two copies of the game. Supposing you have beaten the game on one copy, you have likely unlocked the National Dex, and with it, the later Pokéwalker routes that include decently high level Pokémon from Hoenn and Sinnoh. Now, supposing you start a new game on a new cartridge, you can use the gift option with the Pokéwalker from your original cartridge to gift your new game level 30+ rare Pokémon. And the kicker? They count the new game as their trainer. That's right. You can be running around the second town with level 30+ Pokémon that will always listen to you.
** A Pokéwalker can also give you access both to a Pikachu and a Light Ball as early as the beginning of the game. Considering Light Ball doubles Pikachu's Attack and Special Attack, you might be able to train an absolutely unstoppable beast before you win your first Badge.
** If you can get your hands on a Jirachi (a Disc One Nuke in and of itself) - which many players did before they even started the game, considering they were handed out for two weeks leading up to ''[=HeartGold=] and [=SoulSilver=]'''s launch - you can unlock a Pokéwalker course called Night Sky's Edge as early as the second town. With a lot of walking and a little luck you can get your hands on a TM for Psychic, one of the strongest Psychic-type moves and the strongest one with no real drawbacks to using it.
* Back in Generation I, you could get Dig before the second Gym, even though it had the stats of an endgame attack. Better yet, it was [[ForMassiveDamage super-effective]] against several Gyms and most {{Mon}}s could learn it, including two of the starters.

* [[UpToEleven In what is perhaps the most immediate (obtainable before the first gym) AND most devastating (besides trading for legendarys) example for Pokémon yet]], There are the Riolu in ''Black 2 and White 2'''s Flocessy Ranch. Though Riolu itself is weak, its evolution Lucario has endgame stats and [[EnsembleDarkhorse happens to be a fan favorite]]. So one would expect Riolu to be a Pokémon that requires a very late level to accommodate its evolution's stats or require a hard to find stone to evolve, right? Actually, it's a happiness evolution, which means if you're (very) patient you can get Lucario immediately. "Suffering with bad moves" is not a problem here as it is with a lot of early evolutions, because one of the first [=TMs=] you get is Return, [[ThePowerOfFriendship which has base power determined by how high the Pokémon's happiness is, maxing out at 102 with no drawbacks]]... and just look at what "stat" we had to grind to evolve Riolu in the first place! Lucario's unique typing also means it's resistant to the first three gyms' specialty types, the second of which is literally a NoSell to it.

* There's also the Pickup ability in ''Ruby'' and ''Sapphire''. It gives a 10% chance of acquiring an item after each battle. This item can include a Nugget (which can be sold and turned around into 50 Poké Balls or a bunch of healing items), a RareCandy (a free level-up), or either a PP Up or a Protein (both stat-boosting items which can be sold for almost as much as a Nugget if you don't want the stat boost). Only slightly less useful is its ability to acquire healing items much more powerful than available until around the halfway point of the game or the best Poké Ball carried in stores (with a much higher catch rate for Pokémon). And it is available on Zigzagoon, one of the game's ComMons and probably one of the first three Pokémon caught by every player. With a little luck or patience, a player can have an entire medicine cabinet at their disposal to go with a never-ending supply of Poké Balls before running into the first Gym Leader.

** Scatterbug, Spewpa, and Vivillion carry on the tradition of being a fairly powerful early-game Bug-type in Generation VI, even potentially getting Compound Eyes, and eventually learns the Fairy-type Draining Kiss, which is also a lifesteal attack.

** Speaking of X and Y, it also introduced a feature called Wonder Trade, which allowed you to randomly trade Pokémon with anyone in the world. You could get anything from Chespin to Zygarde (not that anyone would be willing to send a legendary) before you even reached the first Gym. Although sending something like Scatterbug or Pidgey will reward you with being hated by someone you will never meet.
* In X and Y, Pokemon-Amie is available right from the start, and using it to max out a pokemon's affection only takes about half an hour. Doing so will reward you with a pokemon that has a chance of shrugging off status ailments, surviving an attack with 1 HP that would've knocked it out, gets critical hits much more often, and gets the same experience boost that traded pokemon do. With a little time and effort, you can effectively have an entire team of lesser nukes by the time you get to the second town.
* In Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and X/Y, one can obtain a Ralts rather early one. While it starts off somewhat weak, by level 30 it becomes the powerful psychic type Gerdevoir. A equal to the might Alakazam, it has the added benefit of not requiring a trade.

* In Gen-6, you can catch a Pikachu early on. At Level 18, Pikachu learns Electro Ball, a move that does more damage the higher the user's Speed is than the target's. Pikachu also naturally learns Thunder Wave (a 100%-accurate Paralysis-inducing move) beforehand. Pikachu's naturally high Speed and Special Attack allow it to fully take advantage of this particularly devastating combo - Paralyze the target, which drastically cuts their Speed, and then fire an Electro Ball. Congratulations, you now have a highly-accurate 'Zap Cannon Lite' potentially before the second Gym. Anything weak to Electric-type attacks ''will'' keel over, and even neutral-damage targets will get a huge chunk taken out of them, if not a KO. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill And if you're lucky enough to score one holding a]] [[StatusBuff Light Ball]]...

* In X and Y, Pokemon-Amie is available right from the start, and using it to max out a pokemon's affection only takes about half an hour. Doing so will reward you with a pokemon that has a chance of shrugging off status ailments, surviving an attack with 1 HP that would've knocked it out, gets critical hits much more often, and gets the same experience boost that traded pokemon do. With a little time and effort, you can effectively have an entire team of lesse nukes by the time you get to the second town.

** In fairness, the entire concept of Pokémon is that you can catch a weak one and it will eventually evolve into a strong one. Nidoran in itself being able to evolve into Nidoking or Nidoqueen over the course of normal gameplay isn't itself a Disc One Nuke in any shape or form. However! Most of the fifth gen natives don't evolve until much later levels than their siblings from bygone ages. Basic-form gameplay lasts a lot longer in Generation V, with Scraggy, for instance, not evolving until level 39. Being able to get a twice-evolved Pokémon as early as level sixteen - as in, before your ''starters'' have evolved - is absolutely astonishing. Nidoking/Nidoqueen, then, are very much Disc One Nukes.

** Speaking of X and Y, it also introduced a feature called Wonder Trade, which allowed you to randomly trade Pokémon with anyone in the world. You could get anything from Chespin to Zygarde (not that anyone would be willing to send a legendary) before you even reached the first Gym. Although sending something like Scatterbug or Pidgey will reward you with the hatred of someone you will never meet.

* Also like Black 2 and White 2, Azurill can be captured fairly early in Route 3. Thanks to the addition of the Fairy Type, Azurill's family gains additional resistances including an outright immunity to Dragon-type moves, and Huge Power is a massive boon offensively when it evolves and finally matures into Marill and then Azumarill, giving you access to a strong and bulky Water-type physical attacker that can easily trounce Dragons with Rough Play and smack everything else around with STAB Aqua Tail or Waterfall. Also like Riolu, Azurill is caught as a ''baby'' in the No Eggs breeding group, which guarantees 3 perfect-strength IV stats.

** Scatterbug, Spewpa, and Vivillion carry on the tradition of being a fairly powerful early-game Bug-type in Generation VI, and even eventually learn the Fairy-type Draining Kiss, which is also a lifesteal attack.

*** You can get a Kangaskhan early on in the game in the Gen V versions as well, thanks to the Dream World. Likewise, you can get a Nidoqueen/Nidoking not long after the second gym through the same method.

* Also like Black 2 and White 2, Azurill can be captured fairly early in Route 3. Thanks to the addition of the Fairy Type, Azurill's family gains additional resistances including an outright immunity to Dragon-type moves, and Huge Power is a massive boon offensively when it evolves and finally matures into Marill and then Azumarill, giving you access to a strong and bulky Water-type physical attacker that can easily trounce Dragons with Rough Play and smack everything else around with STAB Aqua Tail or Waterfall.

** Scatterbug, Spewpa, and Vivillion carry on the tradition of being a fairly powerful early-game Bug-type, and even eventually learn the Fairy-type Draining Kiss, which is also a lifesteal attack.

* Early Adoptors of Gen VI got access to a downloadable Event Torchic via Mystery Gift, which comes with the ''Blazikenite'' Mega Stone and has the ability ''Speed Boost''. This gives you extremely early access to an [[GameBreaker Uber-tier]] pokemon even before you challenge the first gym.

* You can catch Caterpie in the Viridian Forest. A little bit of LevelGrinding (just a few levels), and it becomes a Butterfree with the Confusion move. In fact, Yellow Version makes it even easier to obtain, since Butterfree learns Confusion as soon as it evolves (presumably to compensate for the fact that Pikachu cannot harm Brock's Pokémon, so you really almost NEED a Butterfree to beat Brock). Since Confusion is a psychic attack, it's strong on its own, exploits many opponent's weaknesses, and it inflicts [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin confusion status.]]

* In Gen-6, you can catch a Pikachu early on. At Level 18, Pikachu learns Electro Ball, a move that does more damage the higher the user's Speed is than the target's. Pikachu also naturally learns Thunder Wave (a 100%-accurate Paralysis-inducing move) beforehand. Pikachu's naturally high Speed and Special Attack allow it to fully take advantage of this particularly devastating combo - Paralyze the target, which drastically cuts their Speed, and then fire an Electro Ball. Congratulations, you now have a highly-accurate 'Zap Cannon Lite' potentially before the second Gym. Anything weak to Electric-type attacks ''will'' keel over, and even neutral-damage targets will get a huge chunk taken out of them, if not a KO.

* ''VideoGame/MyPokemonRanch'' has a obtainable Shroomish. Now let's see... Oh wow. Level 45. That sounds nice. But wait! There's more! This Shroomish has Seed Bomb. It also has Spore and Stun Spore to the mix. And it also has... False Swipe? Holy cow! That Shroomish is not just any Shroomish! This is also helpful for catching legendaries at ease!

* [[UpToEleven In what is perhaps the most immediate (before the first gym) AND most devastating (besides trading for legendarys/Mythicals) example for Pokémon yet]], There are the Riolus in ''Black 2 and White 2'''s Flocessy Ranch. Though Riolu itself is weak, its evolution Lucario has endgame stats and [[EnsembleDarkhorse is a fan favorite]]. So one would expect Riolu to be a Pokémon that requires a very late level to accomodate its evolution's stats or require a hard to find stone to evolve, right? In actuality, its a happiness evolution, which means if you're (very) patient you can get Lucario immediately. "Suffering with bad moves" is not a problem here as it is with a lot of early evolutions, because one of the first TMs you get is Return, [[ThePowerOfFriendship which has base power determined by how high the Pokémon's happiness is, maxing out at 102 with no drawbacks]]...and would you just look at what "stat" we had to grind to evolve Riolu in the first place! Lucario's unique typing also means it's resistant to the first three gyms' specialty types, the second of which is literally NoSell to it.
** Even worse? The preferred EV spread ([=EVs=] boost Pokémon's stats when they level up) for Riolu/Lucario is 252Atk/252Spd. Guess what the only two Pokémon on the FIRST ROUTE are? Patrat (Atk) and Purrloin (Spd).

* Another one is Magnemite in ''Black and White 2'', who can be captured right before the second gym, and at worst, one level away from Sonicboom, which at that point in the game is a 2-Hit-KO move while also having a nice Steel/Electric typing granting it 13 resistances including a lot of Normal-type moves that you will face early in the game. Unlike Riolu, not only it started strong, having an acceptable 95 base Special Attack, it also come with an acceptable STAB move in Thundershock, and has a well rounded movepool thanks to the Move Tutors and the infinitely-usable [=TMs=]. And to take it further, the next gym is extremely weak to Magnemite, and it has overall good gym match ups. It evolves into Magneton at level 30, which is pretty early, and again into Magnezone at the Chargestone Cave, which is not long after it evolves into Magneton. Forget Riolu, this thing, thanks to its insane alvailability and utility is widely considered to be the single best Pokémon for an efficient in-game run, up there with things like Gen 1 Alakazam.
* Also from ''Black 2 and White 2'', there is a catcheable Volcarona acessible through a path in the Pokémon World Tournament. The catch? You have the option to go after it as soon as you beat the Driftveil gym. It may be a bit tough to catch, but you can plow through most opponents with ease afterwards. Sure, it will be underleveled and not have quite strong moves (The underleveled one starts with Fire Spin, Leech Life, Gust and String Shot)...until you remember there's a move tutor who can teach it Signal Beam if you have enough Red Shards in Driftveil, and that the TM for Fire Blast is obtainable around 2 towns later.

* You can catch Caterpie in the Viridian Forest. A little bit of LevelGrinding (just a few levels), and it becomes a Butterfree with the Confusion ability. In fact, Yellow Version makes it even easier to obtain, since Butterfree learns Confusion as soon as it evolves in Yellow version (presumably to compensate for the fact that Pikachu cannot harm Brock's Pokémon, so you really almost NEED a Butterfree to beat Brock). Since Confusion is a psychic attack, it's strong on its own, exploits many opponent's weaknesses, and it inflicts [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin confusion status.]]

** Want to have some fun? Get the NFC figures that you can use in ''Pokémon Rumble U,'' use it '''before the area that has Keldeo as a boss,''' and it can kick some butt. But what really takes the cake is the PreOrderBonus Toy Pokémon figures Black Kyurem and White Kyurem. Now, it's just a bonus at first glance, but when you scan it, you will ''eventually'' realize that Black Kyurem and White Kyurem have strength power ''in the freaking 2,000s! And that's impossible to get this early in the game!'' Using Black Kyurem or White Kyurem, any of them can kick any boss square in the butt with '''''one freaking hit!''''' Those Toy Pokémon that don't reach beyond that level will '''NOT''' stand a chance against your amazing Black Kyurem or White Kyurem figure. To make things even more awesome, tune up your Pokémon figures using the coins that defeated Toy Pokémon drop, and they'll kick even more butt.

** Want to have some fun? Get the NFC figures that you can use in ''Pokémon Rumble U,'' use it '''before the area that has Keldeo as a boss,''' and it can kick some butt. But what really takes the cake is the PreOrderBonus Toy Pokémon figures Black Kyurem and White Kyurem. Now, it's just a bonus at first glance, but when you scan it, you will ''eventually'' realize that Black Kyurem and White Kyurem have strength power ''in the freaking 2,000s! And that's impossible to get this early in the game!'' Using Black Kyurem or White Kyurem, any of them can kick any boss square in the butt with ''''one freaking hit!'''' Those Toy Pokémon that don't reach beyond that level will '''NOT''' stand a chance against your amazing Black Kyurem or White Kyurem figure. To make things even more awesome, tune up your Pokémon figures using the coins that defeated Toy Pokémon drop, and they'll kick even more butt.

*** Then trade it to another game and back for Machamp, who's both extremely powerful (especially for the early game) and top non uber tier in competitive play.