
As well, Fire and Dragon types will block you completely, while Water types mostly block you and also do double damage. Type coverage is the main reason - for example if your highest level Pokémon is just a Fire type and can only do Normal and Fire attacks, then you stand a hefty disadvantage against Rock types who resist all your attacks and can deal double damage. You don't need multiple high level Pokémon, it simply helps.


There was once a run of Pokémon Yellow, I believe, done with just a Pidgey. It's disadvantageous to stick to a single Pokémon, but not all that impractical.
