• Our software update is now concluded. You will need to reset your password to log in. In order to do this, you will have to click "Log in" in the top right corner and then "Forgot your password?".
  • Forum moderator applications are now open! Click here for details.
  • Welcome to PokéCommunity! Register now and join one of the best fan communities on the 'net to talk Pokémon and more! We are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.

Which Gen had the worst starters?

Which Gen had the worst starters?


  • Total voters
    240
50,218
Posts
13
Years
Johto for me, I didn't like their designs much and bar Totodile, they had not-so-good movepools.

Chikorita's line was clearly the worst of the bunch, Totodile's line is the only one with good moves and Cyndaquil's only advantage was for defeating the 2nd and 6th Gyms.

Also, I hated Kanto's starters cos they're overrated, especially Charizard.
 
Last edited:
585
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Feb 7, 2017
I voted Gen 4. Not only is it the generation that I like the least, but the design of starters (Turtwig being an exception) is horrible IMO.
 
1,959
Posts
13
Years
  • Age 26
  • Seen Jul 14, 2021
Generation V, the only Generation that I did not really rely on my Starter as much as I did n the previous games. I also don't really like the designs of all their 3rd evolutions though I must give it to them, the 1st Evolutions which are Oshawott, Tepig and Snivy are cute, but as I said, the design sucked after the 2nd evolution (or whatever you them).
 

ZettaSlowbro

Veteran
45
Posts
11
Years
I had to go with 4th gen. Mostly based off design, since game play wise it's an eh decision.
Torterra was okay, didn't like Turtwig or any of the other starters third evolution much.

I wonder if anyone will actually vote Gen I, probably not.
 
Last edited:

rocky505

<Now who's awesome!
1,332
Posts
15
Years
Kanto or Johto did for me. Type wise

Grass- Best: sceptile/Torterra Worst: Serperior/meganium
Fire- Best: Blaziken/Charizard Worst: Emboar
Water- Best:All 5 are awesome to me.
 

curiousnathan

Starry-eyed
7,753
Posts
14
Years
fhngikd, why are people picking Fourth Gen, this is drisgraceful!?

Haha nah. Admittedly, I'd either say Fourth Gen's (meaning Sinnoh's) or Kanto's were my least favourite starters. While I like Fourth Generation a lot as a whole I found the Sinnoh starters to lack the 'oomph', or character I should say compared to that of the Johto and Hoenn starts. Gen V's were alright, and now that I think of them, weren't too crash hot either so I'd inclde them in my least favourites for sure. I disliked the Kanto starters for similar reasons as above.
 

PiemanFiddy

Dark-Type Gym Leader
194
Posts
11
Years
Well, In my opinion, Gen. 3 AND 4 had bad starters, so I just voted for Gen. 4

I should've voted for Gen. 3 since that's the catalyst Nintendo drew for Fire/Fighting starters. Excluding Treecko. He was cool :3
 

Pinkie-Dawn

Vampire Waifu
9,528
Posts
11
Years
Obviously Gen V since Samurott's the only starter who is decent, but it has the stats a generic Water type. Serperior severely lacks coverage outside of Move Tutors, and Emboar's speed level him dead weight with his low defenses (its HP and Attack need to switch for it to last longer).

Fire- Best: Blaziken/Charizard Worst: Emboar

Where does Infernape go into this?
 

Captain Gizmo

Monkey King
4,843
Posts
11
Years
I never played the Gen V games so it's pretty hard to choose. But Gen IV had some slow Pokemon, but they were also very sturdy. My Empoleon took lots of hits before going down.
 
589
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Mar 29, 2015
Gen 1: Charmander is good, the other two are meh...
Gen 2: I used Cyndaquil, but it didn't compare to the other fire starters. The other two are on the lackluster side.
Gen 3: I love using Mudkip & Treecko, Torchic, not so much.
Gen 4: Chimchar!!! My favorite family of fire-types! The other two are more like tanks, but overall, they're still useable.
Gen 5: I really struggled finding a use for any of their starters. They all have wonky stats. Oshawott is the only one that doesn't, but I'm not a fan of water-types in general.

So, gen 5 has the worst starters for me.
 

Pizzey

Shutter-Shaded Minccino
19
Posts
13
Years
4th gen. 4th gen as a whole was ehhh imo, and the starters were no diffferent :\
 

CourageHound

Trust & Courage. Nothing More
823
Posts
11
Years
I dont think any gen had "the worst" starters because its subjected to personal preference whether you like them or not. I knowvalot of people might say 5th gen might be the worst, but imo theyre pretty cool. So, I think all gens had great starters that had variation each gen introduced.

And ALL the starters as for every pokemon created, have their place in competitive battle to shine, so too think thats subjective.
 

Cid

3,666
Posts
16
Years
Probably the starters from Gen IV. I mean, I like Piplup, but that's it. I felt like I had no choice but to take it when I was given the choice back in my Diamond. And unlike the Gen V starters, I've never really warmed up to them as much as I'd like to. Chimchar's okay now, but still, I really don't like the Gen IV starters as much as I like the other generations' starter lineup cumulatively.

I like most of the starters, though. Some minor flubs in Gen I (wish I liked Bulbasaur more), Gen II (I'm looking at you, Cyndaquil) and Gen V (no one in particular among the available three, but I felt disappointed when their final evos were revealed) in my opinion, but yeah.
 

Sydian

fake your death.
33,379
Posts
16
Years
Gen IV and V are easily my least favorite starters. I like the design on gen V's first stages much more than gen IV's though, so that's a plus for them. But, considering final evolutions, at least Infernape had a niche in competitive battling. As far as I know, you can't really say the same for gen V's starters. I ditch my starters in DPPt and BW(2) though, so it's hard to really say. But I'm going to go with gen V. I did use all the starters, and I found that I struggled with Snivy, Oshawott's line is overall a bit boring, and Tepig was probably the best of the three for me, however it bores me because we've seen the Fire/Fighting thing. Nothing new.
 
15
Posts
11
Years
in terms of design gen 2 wasnt fussed about any of them and none really stood out and their evolutions were just the same design except pixels are added or removed, in terms of balancing gen 4 mainly because every single starter had an advantage over their weakness i mean come on it is possible for torterra can make infernape faint in one move because it is also a ground pokemon and fire is weak to ground, same goes to infernape and empoleon, infernape has fighting moves which is strong against empoleon because it is also part steel but other than that im a fan of gen 4
best will have to be gen 3 because i like all 3 starters regardless of what form their in especially blaziken :)
 
141
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Apr 29, 2013
I hated Gen's 3's starters. Mudkip and Treeko were good for the early part of the game, however I ALWAYS choose the fire-type of the new generation, Torchic let me down
 
Back
Top