To quote someone from the subreddit: "The problem wasn't having a magikarp, he could still level it and get gyarados. The problem was not being able to EVER hav

To quote someone from the subreddit: "The problem wasn't having a magikarp, he could still level it and get gyarados. The problem was not being able to EVER have a pokemon that can learn cut. He was out of money to get pokeballs, and out of trainers to get money from defeating." This wouldn't have been a problem in Generation 2 and onwards, because there you can exchange numbers with trainers to have rematches which can yield more money.