
Is Caterpie Good in Yellow Playthrough?
More important in Yellow than in any other version. Butterfree is one of the only things that can beat Brock when your starter is Pikachu. Catch Caterpie in Viridian Forest and rush to level 10 before Pewter City.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Brock's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Misty's team.
Lt. Surge's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Blaine's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Giovanni's team.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Lorelei's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Butterfree has the type edge here and should clean up Agatha's team.
Lance's team hits Butterfree's weaknesses hard.
Butterfree trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Catchable
Catch Caterpie in Viridian Forest (walking, Lv 3-6, common).
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 3)
- LV 3NormalTacklePower 35Accuracy 95%PP 35
How to Get Caterpie in Yellow
Caterpie packs into Viridian Forest, common in the grass at low levels. That one early spot is the whole story, so it's an easy first bug catch.
1 location to catch Caterpie
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Where To Catch Caterpie in Y
Step 1Caterpie ✓
Step 2Catch or Evolve into Metapodor evolve from Caterpie (Step 1)
Step 3Evolve into Butterfree
Bring the right balls: check Caterpie catch odds in the Yellow Catch Rate Calculator before you throw.
Caterpie Weakness
Type-wise, Caterpie takes extra damage from Fire, Poison, Flying, and Rock. Standard number of weaknesses for the Bug typing.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fire, Poison, Flying, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass, Fighting, Ground |
- Only 15 types exist — Dark, Steel, and Fairy are absent
- Ghost has no effect on Psychic (a known bug, fixed in Gen II)
- Special stat governs both offense and defense — no Sp.Atk / Sp.Def split
What is Caterpie Weak Against
VulnerableBest Pokemon Against Caterpie
Pidgeotto Normal | C | |
Nidoran♂ (male) Poison | D | |
Nidoran♀ (female) Poison | D | |
Caterpie Evolutions
Caterpie starts a line toward Butterfree. Can't breed this Bug type (195 stats), so keep the evolution path going. Evolving adds up to 200 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Y Caterpie Best Moveset
Nothing in the move list threatens anything at any level. The entire purpose is reaching Butterfree, and even that destination barely justifies the trip.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Tackle
- String Shot
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Not a lot to pick from. Caterpie gets Bug STAB for same-type damage, and Normal coverage rounds things out. You're building around what's available rather than choosing from a deep bench.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Tutor
- NPC tutor (cost: items, BP, money).
- Reminder
- An NPC reteaches any move this Pokemon could have learned by leveling up.
- Transfer
- Carried over from an older game using Pokemon HOME.
- Event
- Given out through Mystery Gift events.
Visual Signals
CAT (Category)
How the move deals damage and which stats it uses.
A small dot on the icon's corner marks the move as contact.
Tier (S to D)
Each move's competitive rank in RankedBoost's system. TM and Tutor sort by tier by default (best first). On Level-Up, click the Tier header to do the same.
PWR (Power)
Base damage. Numbers shown in a type color include STAB (base × 1.5). Hover any colored number to see the math.
— means no power (status moves) or variable power.
Sorting & Filter
Click any column header to sort. Level-Up opens with Lv 1 at the top. TM and Tutor open with the highest-tier moves at the top.
Search filters by move name or type. The Filter button limits the list to STAB, Physical, Special, or Status moves.
Level-Up Moves
TM Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
If you touch the feeler on top of its head, it will release a horrible stink to protect itself.
Caterpie Yellow Guide
For Yellow, you can run Caterpie through the first few routes without issues. 195 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Metapod as fast as you can.
Game Availability
One of the original 151, Caterpie has appeared in 19 games: most mainline games. From Red & Blue through the latest titles, it's rarely been left out of a regional Pokedex.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RBDebut

Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS

Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS

Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG

FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DP

Diamond & Pearl - Gen 4Pt
Platinum - Gen 4HGSS

HeartGold & SoulSilver - Gen 5BW

Black & White - Gen 5B2W2

Black 2 & White 2 - Gen 6XY

X & Y - Gen 6ORAS

Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire - Gen 7SM

Sun & Moon - Gen 7USUM

Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - Gen 7Let's Go

Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee - Gen 8SwSh

Sword & Shield - Gen 8BDSP

Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl - Gen 8PLA
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV

Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW

Winds & Waves
Explore
Where to go next after Caterpie.