Hmm, indeed. I think I remember it as being less complicated because there were less pokemon and the ratio of single to dual type was much, much higher back then.
There are more, yeah. Wouldn't say it was
much higher, though.
41% of Pokemon in gen1 were dual types.
As of gen5 that's gone up to 47% of Pokemon.
All depends on what you consider "much" higher, I guess. :x
The held items, pokemon abilities and repeat use of TMs does still make a mockery of the game at times.
I don't see how they make a mockery of the game. The abilities and held items just add another element of strategy to the rock, paper, scissors game that Pokemon was before them.
Repeated TM use was possible (and worse, because it restored PP) in previous generations too, and as you said the only difference was that you had to pay for them, and money isn't exactly hard to get in Pokemon games.