Is Meowth Good in Crystal Playthrough?
Available in Crystal without needing Silver version. Routes 38 and 39 at night. MovePay Day generates bonus money, which helps fund the Game Corner for move tutor coins. The battle value is low, but the economic boost is real if you grind it.
Meowth has the type edge here and should clean up Falkner's team.
Meowth trades roughly evenly with Bugsy's team.
Meowth trades roughly evenly with Whitney's team.
Morty's typing presses Meowth's defenses.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Chuck's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Jasmine's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Pryce's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Erika's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Brock's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Blaine's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Will's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Persian trades roughly evenly with Bruno's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Persian has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Meowth on Route 38 (walking, Lv 16, common).
Recommended Moves
- After Falkner
- TM39NormalSwiftPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Union Cave
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Morty
- TM30GhostShadow BallPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Prize for defeating Morty
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- LV 46NormalSlashPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Lt. Surge
- TM42PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Viridian City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
Evolve Meowth to Persian
Meowth evolves into Persian at Level 28. Your Meowth should hit Level 28 before you reach Chuck, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- After Falkner
- TM39NormalSwiftPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Union Cave
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Goldenrod Game Corner prize (5500 coins)
- After Jasmine
- TM10NormalHidden PowerPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a fisherman in a house at Lake of Rage
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 225Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner prize (7500 coins)
- TM42PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Viridian City
- TUTORElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Goldenrod City
- LV 53NormalSlashPower 105Accuracy 100%PP 20
How to Get Meowth in Crystal
Meowth is a night cat, common across seven Kanto and Johto routes but only after dark. Walk those same routes in daylight and you won't see a single one.
7 locations to catch Meowth
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 3
Badge 4
Badge 5
Badge 6
Badge 7
Badge 8Where To Catch Meowth in C
Meowth is where the line starts, caught through walking encounters at Lv. 13-18. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
To plan your throws, open the Crystal catch rate calculator with Meowth preloaded.
How to Get Shiny Meowth in Crystal
Meowth prowls at night across Route 38 & Route 39 in Johto and Route 5 through Route 8 in Kanto; evening loops near Olivine deliver constant common encounters. Compare Shiny Meowth odds across every game
Crystal Shiny Meowth Calculator
2 MethodsThe best route is Breed w/ Shiny Parent, about 1 in 64 on each try.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
Breed w/ Shiny Parent: Eggs inherit stats from a shiny parent, so about 1 in 64 hatch shiny. A shiny Ditto helps every egg, and any other shiny parent (the red Gyarados works) helps only eggs of the opposite gender.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 7-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 19-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 45-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 147-- | -- |
Time assumes -- at your pace and does not change your shiny odds.
How is this calculated?
Every encounter has the same shiny chance, the Shiny Odds Per Try shown above. Each one is a separate roll that does not care how many you have already done, so the more you hunt, the higher your overall chance of at least one shiny. The formula below turns your odds and your number of tries into that combined chance.
chance after N tries = 1 − (1 − p)^N, where p = 1 / odds per try
Example at 1 in 8,192 (classic full odds): about 864 encounters for a 10 percent chance, 5,678 for 50 percent, and 18,862 for 90 percent.
The table above flips that around: it shows how many encounters it takes to reach a 10, 25, 50, and 90 percent chance at your current odds. Turning on boosts like the Shiny Charm, sandwiches, or chains improves your odds, so the encounter numbers drop.
These are estimates, not promises. Most games have no pity counter, meaning no guaranteed shiny no matter how many you hunt, so even Very Likely is not guaranteed: some hunters find one early, others go well past that point.
For time estimates and charm math, open the Crystal shiny odds calculator with Meowth already selected.
Meowth Weakness
Meowth is weak to Fighting. On the flip side, it's immune to Ghost-type moves entirely. Just 1 weak spot to worry about, which keeps teambuilding straightforward.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Fighting |
| 0x (Immune) | Ghost |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
- Special stat split into Sp.Atk and Sp.Def
What is Meowth Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Meowth
 Hitmonlee Fighting | C | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Tyrogue (Mt Mortar Gift) | ||
Meowth Evolutions
One evolution ahead. Meowth grows into Persian through a straightforward two-stage chain. Plenty of partners for breeding via one egg group. Eggs take an average time to hatch. Evolving adds up to 150 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed Meowth easily with 66 breeding partners from the Field egg group. Pass egg moves like Amnesia, Charm, Hypnosis and 1 more to offspring.
C Meowth Best Moveset
Critical hits from MoveSlash no longer scale with Speed since the formula changed, removing the gimmick that gave this line relevance before. Low Attack limits everything to small damage. Persian at least has the Speed to go first consistently.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Return
- Shadow Ball
- Bubble Beam
- Thunderbolt
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Egg moves make a real difference. Meowth gets Amnesia and Charm exclusively through breeding, filling gaps that TMs and level-up can't touch. Coverage across 7 types rounds out the picture alongside Slash and Headbutt.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Egg
- Inherited via breeding.
- 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, Egg, 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, Egg, 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
21 of 27 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
It loves things that sparkle. When it sees a shiny object, the gold coin on its head shines too.
Meowth Crystal Guide
For Crystal, you can run Meowth through the first few routes without issues. 290 BST won't carry you far though. Get it to Persian as fast as you can.
Meowth has 2 regional forms: Alolan and Galarian. Each one changes the typing and stat distribution. Added Alolan in Gen 7 and Galarian in Gen 8.
Game Availability
Since debuting in Red & Blue, Meowth has appeared in 21 titles over 9 generations. Along the way, it received an Alolan form in Generation 7 and Gigantamax and Galarian forms in Generation 8, keeping it relevant across different competitive metas.
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 7SMAlolan
Sun & Moon - Gen 7USUM
Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - Gen 7Let's Go
Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee - Gen 8SwShGigantamaxGalarian
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 Meowth.
Keep playing · CrystalCrystal Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Crystal Tier List