Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan in red?

Question

I've beat the fighting gym in saffron and I have to choose between Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan.
Which one should I choose?

Notice this is for the original Gen 1 Red/Blue game only!

Comments

Dont you need to fight sabrina next who has pokemon who are way more effective to fighting (not saying you shouldnt choose one)

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I did beat her

Answer 1

HITMONLEE
Pros:
-High 120 Attack.
-Somewhat high 87 Speed (Speed matters way more in gen 1 because of how crits work).
-When recieved, already has a STAB move with Double Kick.
-Basically the only Fighting type in R/B to get actually decent Fighting STAB with Rolling Kick at 33 (both Hitmons are obtained at Level 30), which isn't the best, but you only need to wait 5 levels before learning the way better Jump Kick, and then HiJumpKick comes at 48. It also learns Strength.
-Decent against Giovanni (mainly the Rhydon).
-Very useful against Lorelei (neither Slowbro nor Jynx have Psychic attacks).
-Also pretty useful against Bruno's Onix and can sometimes bait Lance at spamming Agility and Barrier because they think its Super-Effective (Gen 1 A.I. is dumb).

Cons:
-Trash defences in gen 1 (50 HP, 53 Def and 35 Spc isn't taking a whole lot).
-Sabrina.
-Pretty much walled by Agatha.
-Bad movepool, basically only learns Normal and Fighting moves.
-Not the best against Blue, although it has some good matchups (such as Rhydon).

HITMONCHAN
Pros:
-Coverage with the elemental punches.
-Pretty high 105 Attack, but worse than Hitmonlee.
-Bulkier than Lee, but not by a whole lot.

Cons:
-Slower than Lee at 76, which is pretty mid.
-Only Fighting STAB available is the Submission TM in the Victory Road or the Game Corner and, let's be honest, no one is spending 3000 coins in the Game Corner for Submission.
-35 Special makes its coverage pretty bad since the elemental punches are special moves, and it has no other coverage other than these.
-When received in the Saffron dojo, its only damaging move is the unreliable Comet Punch.
-About the same advantages and disadvantages as Lee when it comes to major battles, but without any STAB until the Victory Road, so objectively worse than Hitmonlee.

OVERALL TOUGHTS
While none of them are incredible choices in a R/B playthrough, Hitmonlee is the better one, due to not suffering from being slow and lack of STAB. Here is a moveset for it:

Hitmonlee
-Jump Kick (Level 38) (Use when possible to save HiJumpKick PP)
-HiJumpKick (Level 48)
-Strength (HM)
-Mega Kick (Level 53) / Meditate (Already learned when received)

Again, the moveset isn't the best, but it is better than Hitmonchan and it has great STAB options.

Hope I Helped!

Comments

I feel like this should be BA

Answer 2

Hitmonlee has more attack and speed, while Hitmonchan has slightly more defense.

Overall, I would go with Hitmonlee because of that high attack and a better movepool. But if you wanted coverage of more types (ice/fire/thunder punch), Hitmonchan is the definite way to go.

Answer 3

Hitmonlee is definitely better in Red because it has higher speed and higher attack. At the time of Gen I, those stats (120 & 87) were extremely high. Later in gens !V and V, you might want Chan.