Gen 1 is the format everybody wants to try first. It is the roster you grew up with, and it is also the hardest of the generation challenges to grade well, because 151 bodies have to cover 22 jobs that were designed around a 1,025-body pool. No mixing, no imports from later generations, no 500 kg wall to hand the interior line. This page covers the format, the challenge rules, the fastest Kanto options and the strongest Gen 1 board that the grader will accept.
What the Gen 1 format is
The format is a single restriction: the pool. Set the generation filter on the roster board to Gen 1 and the list of 1,025 bodies drops to the 151 entries from National Dex 1 to 151, Bulbasaur through Mew. That includes the original starters, the legendary birds, Mewtwo and Mew. Every other rule of the game stays the same — 22 slots, live grades, a 17-game simulated season — but every body you can pick is one you already know.
What changes is the supply of size. Across all nine generations the pool averages 67 kg and holds dozens of bodies above 150 kg, including walls like Avalugg at 505 kg and Aggron at 360 kg. Gen 1 averages 46 kg and holds exactly one body above 400 kg, Snorlax at 460 kg, with Golem the only other body above 250 kg. The seven jobs that want 120 kg or more do not get easier because the pool is smaller; they get harder. That single fact decides every Gen 1 board.
The 151 challenge rules
- Gen 1 pool only. All 22 starters must come from National Dex 1-151. No imports from Johto, Hoenn or anywhere else, and no exceptions for legendary bodies.
- One body, one job. Twenty-two different Pokemon. The sandbox builder will let you stack Snorlax in all seven heavy slots, but the challenge is a roster, not a cloning experiment.
- No mid-season trades. Pick your 22, then play the season with them. Swapping bodies after week 9 is a different game and does not count toward a 151 run.
- One simulation. Press simulate once and take the record. Re-rolling until the schedule falls your way is not the challenge.
- Optional strict mode: the 150 variant bans Mew, which costs the pool one 100-stat-everywhere body and forces a real decision at quarterback, receiver and safety.
The restriction bites hardest in the secondary and on the interior line. Gen 1 has plenty of fast bodies — Electrode, Jolteon, Aerodactyl, Alakazam, Persian, Dugtrio — and thin supply everywhere else. It also has no dark-types at all, which quietly kills the right outside linebacker's biggest typing bonus: the ROLB formula rewards dark, poison and fighting, and only poison and fighting exist in Kanto, so the job falls to a poison or fighting body by default.
Who the fastest Gen 1 options are
Speed is the easiest trait to find in Gen 1 and the hardest to fit. The table below lists the fastest bodies in the pool with the slot where the grader likes them best — and the grade shows why raw speed is only the start of the story.
| Fastest Gen 1 body | Speed stat | Best slot | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrode | 150 | FS | 59 |
| Aerodactyl | 130 | RB | 55 |
| Jolteon | 130 | K | 55 |
| Mewtwo | 130 | QB | 60 |
| Alakazam | 120 | WR1 | 65 |
| Dugtrio | 120 | RB | 45 |
| Persian | 115 | CB1 | 53 |
| Starmie | 115 | QB | 55 |
| Dodrio | 110 | QB | 60 |
| Gengar | 110 | WR1 | 61 |
| Tauros | 110 | SS | 63 |
| Raichu | 110 | K | 48 |
Three of those rows carry the whole lesson. Alakazam grades 65 at WR1 even though it is only the fifth-fastest body in Kanto, because 1.5 m and 48 kg sits inside the receiver band and psychic typing is on the WR1 bonus list. Tauros turns 110 speed into a 63 at strong safety because 1.4 m and 88.4 kg is almost exactly the middle of that band. Dugtrio has the same 120 speed as Alakazam and grades 45 at running back, because 0.7 m and 33 kg falls outside the running back size range on both measurements — too short and too light.
Electrode is the curiosity of the format. Its 150 speed is the highest number available in Gen 1, yet the best grade it can reach anywhere is 59 at free safety, with 58s at running back and cornerback. That is a compromise body: 1.2 m and 66.6 kg is fast enough for three different jobs and ideal for none of them. The speed and combine breakdown explains the same trade-off across the full 1,025-body pool.
The strongest Gen 1 board
This is the highest-grading 22-name board in the Gen 1 pool: 58.0 overall, 56.2 on offense and 59.7 on defense. Notice where the points go. The defense survives because Cloyster's 180 defense and Machamp's 130 attack are the best fits in the pool; the offense suffers because the interior line is assembled from bodies that fail one of the two size measurements — too short, or too light for the guard and tackle weights.
| Position | Pick | Grade | Why it wins the job |
|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Charizard | 63 | Sp. attack 109 and speed 100 on a 1.7 m, 90.5 kg frame, with fire on the quarterback bonus list. The only Gen 1 body that fills the quarterback size band and throws. |
| RB | Electrode | 58 | Speed 150 carries 45% of the running back formula. Nothing else in Kanto comes close on the speed term, and 66.6 kg sits inside the weight band. |
| WR1 | Alakazam | 65 | Speed 120 with sp. attack 135 and a 1.5 m, 48 kg frame: the best receiver build in the generation, plus the psychic bonus. |
| WR2 | Jynx | 62 | Ice typing is the WR2 bonus the second receiver slot wants, and 1.4 m plus 40.6 kg lands near the middle of the band. |
| TE | Dewgong | 56 | The tight end formula reads attack 35% and sp. defense 25%, and Dewgong's 1.7 m, 120 kg frame fits the band better than any other leftover body. |
| LT | Golem | 51 | Defense 130 with rock and ground typing gives a full typing bonus, but 1.4 m is far below the 1.6-2.4 m tackle band, so the size term collapses to 24. |
| LG | Exeggutor | 49 | 2.0 m and 120 kg is the right height and the wrong weight for guard. It grades on hp 95 and defense 85 with no typing help at all. |
| C | Rhydon | 57 | Defense 120, hp 105 and attack 130 with ground and rock typing on the center bonus list. The best value pick on the Gen 1 line. |
| RG | Mewtwo | 52 | Hp 106 and defense 90 on a 2.0 m frame. A legendary used as an interior guard is the clearest statement of how thin this pool is. |
| RT | Moltres | 50 | Hp 90 and defense 90 at 2.0 m. The right tackle band wants 120 kg or more and Moltres weighs 60 kg, so the size term is doing all the damage. |
| K | Jolteon | 55 | Sp. defense 95 with a 0.8 m, 24.5 kg body — almost exactly the middle of the kicker size range, which is a term worth 79 points. |
| LE | Arcanine | 59 | Attack 110 and speed 95 at 1.9 m and 155 kg, with fire on the edge bonus list. The best two-way edge body in Kanto. |
| DT1 | Dragonite | 53 | Defense 95 with hp 91 and attack 134. It is 2.2 m tall but only 210 kg, well under the 150-960 kg interior band's midpoint. |
| DT2 | Snorlax | 67 | The highest grade in the generation. Hp 160 and defense 65 at 460 kg lands the size term at 87, and no other body in Kanto is in that weight class. |
| RE | Aerodactyl | 51 | Speed 130 on the edge at 1.8 m, but 59 kg is under the 80-300 kg band, so the size term stops at 39. |
| LOLB | Machamp | 65 | Attack 130 with fighting typing at 1.6 m and 130 kg. The size term scores 89, and fighting is on the OLB bonus list. |
| MLB | Cloyster | 70 | Defense 180 with 132.5 kg at 1.5 m. The middle linebacker formula reads defense first, and this is the highest defensive stat in Gen 1. |
| ROLB | Blastoise | 52 | Defense 100 with hp 79 at 1.6 m. With Cloyster and Machamp already spent, the third linebacker job falls to the least-bad remaining body. |
| CB1 | Fearow | 59 | Speed 100 with normal and flying typing, which are both on the CB1 bonus list. Ideal corner speed at 1.2 m and 38 kg. |
| CB2 | Magmar | 58 | Speed 93 with sp. defense 85 at 1.3 m and 44.5 kg. The second corner job wants the same profile and there is only one Fearow. |
| FS | Nidoking | 60 | Speed 85 with attack 102 at 1.4 m and 62 kg. The closest thing Kanto has to a modern safety body. |
| SS | Tauros | 63 | Speed 110 with attack 100 and strong-safety size at 1.4 m and 88.4 kg. The best defensive back in the generation. |
Read the line grades as a warning. Golem at 51, Exeggutor at 49, Mewtwo at 52, Moltres at 50: that is four of the five interior jobs grading below everything else on the board, and it is entirely a supply problem. Gen 1 has fifteen bodies at 1.9 m or taller, and most of them are thin, like Onix at 8.8 m and 210 kg. Onix is so far outside every size band that its best grade anywhere in the game is a 43 at left edge. The one body that solves the problem, Snorlax, can only hold one job.
The practical answer is to accept two mid-40s grades and protect them. Put the best available body at center, where defense carries 40% of the formula, keep the run game on the right side with Rhydon, and let the rest of the board carry the average. If you would rather fix the size problem than live with it, play the unrestricted format and read the highest-grading all-22 board for the target numbers.
How to run the 151 challenge
Open the roster board
The same builder runs every format. There is nothing to download and no account to create.
Set the generation filter to Gen 1
The pool drops from 1,025 bodies to 151. Keep it there for all 22 picks — that single setting is the whole challenge.
Fill the seven heavy jobs first
Snorlax takes one interior job. Rhydon, Golem, Lapras, Onix and Dragonite are the next heaviest, and thinking about them early is how the line avoids a 30s grade.
Check the scoreboard before you simulate
The board shows a filled count plus separate offense and defense averages. If either side is stuck in the mid-40s, one swap usually moves it a point.
Simulate 17 games and compare
Run the season, then run it again with one body changed. The Gen 1 format is the fastest way to feel how much a single size term is worth.
Running the mixer instead? The full all-generations board opens with every body from Bulbasaur to Pecharunt and grades around 66 overall when it is filled well — eight points better than the best Gen 1 roster.
Draft the original 151 into all 22 jobs
Set the filter to Gen 1, fill the board, and take one shot at a 17-game season. Free, in your browser, no sign-up.