Seen December 6th, 2022
Posted December 6th, 2022
323 posts
10.3 Years
With all the talk of the Kalos starters, I thought it'd be cool to revisit previous generations and discuss which starter Pokémon are our favorites, and which ones are our least favorites.

I'll start first.

Favorites: Its a tie between Typhlosion and Samurott, with Infernape as a close second favorite
  • Cyndaquil was the first starter I ever chose back in Pokémon Silver. Therefore, its a special one to me. I also like the rest of the Johnto starters, but Typhlosion was a beast. I remember being 9 years old and calling up my best friend at the time to tell him how my Quilava had just evolved into a Typhlosion. Ah, good times.
  • Samurott is also one of my favorites just...because. His design is awesome. I find it so cool that a starter that everyone thought was the ugliest of them all (Oshawott) turned out to have the coolest final form out of all the Unova starters. He's also a very reliable battler. Pretty much a very dependable powerhouse.
  • Infernape. I love the design. That cool flaming Hanuman style. Plus, Chimchar is just...so unique among the starters, in my opinion. I would never have imagined a starter Pokémon based on a chimp or monkey. I would have thought that any sort of primate was too human-like for them, as the starters were traditionally based on animals a little lower on the evolutionary tree like lizards, turtles, chickens, and crocodiles.

Least Favorites: Venusaur and Emboar
  • I know Venusaur gets a lot of love, but its not one of my favorites. Its not bad at all, but its just...okay. I'd much rather have Charizard or Blastoise. I think the real problem I have with Venusaur is that the Bulbasaur evolutionary family shows the least transformation along its evolutionary line of any of the Kanto starters. I mean, Venusaur is really just a bigger, fatter, more intimidating version of Bulbasaur, with a big flower on its back instead of a bulb. Charizard and Blastoise at least show marked change from their original forms, changing in color, size, and even basic body structure.
  • Emboar just looks ridiculous and its not that reliable of a battler. It looks like it should be a powerhouse, but its not. Plus the fact that its the THIRD Fire/Fighting starter doesn't really endear me to it either.
Male
Seen February 13th, 2015
Posted May 7th, 2014
53 posts
9.8 Years
my favorites are charmander,squirtle,the jhoto starters and my least faveorites are the 4th and 5th gen ones really. i think mainly for 1st and 2nd gen starters were really good with good evolutionary line and i think they were good in the anime too. tepig and oshowot for me are not that great in terms of looks and in the anime find them annoying.i completly agree with your view on Venasaur although i still find it better than emboar.i think cyndaquil is really good too. i think as the generations have gone on they have gradually got worse in my opinion.as im still not sold on the x and y starters.i have warmed to them and accepted them but froakie and chespin i think are very basic designs,lets draw a frog now add white bubbles round its neck increase the eye size there done and chespin lets just add a green hat on to indicate it is a grass type.

Firox

eepz, come help pwease!

Age 37
Male
Seattle, WA
Seen September 15th, 2021
Posted July 17th, 2020
2,585 posts
11 Years
My favorite starters are a tie between Oshawott (and it's evolutions) and Mudkip (and it's evolutions). It's their design that most captures my attention. Both can learn my favorite attacks, which happen to be water type attacks.

My 2 least favorite are also a tie between Chikorita's evolution and Torchic's evolutions, when I saw them they didn't seem to catch my attention (design wise).
I ♥ Foxes and Cats!! - art i drew myself
instead of 'Catch 'em All' for me would be "gotta Pet 'Em All"
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Brendino

The Ruins of Alph
Seen 10 Hours Ago
Posted April 6th, 2023
8,567 posts
13.4 Years
I'm going to move this over to Pokemon Voting Polls, since it isn't really a discussion thread so much as looking for people's quick opinions.

My favorite starters would have to be the Sceptile family and the Empoleon family. Pokemon Sapphire was one of the first Pokemon games that I completely invested myself into (even though I'd played previous ones), and Sceptile was such a huge presence in my party. It was one of the few times I actually enjoyed using a Grass type Pokemon, and I still have that Sceptile on my HeartGold. As for Empoleon, I wasn't a big fan of any of the Sinnoh starters, but I hadn't used a Water one in a while, so I decided to pick Piplup. To be honest, I had no idea it would evolve into a part-Steel type, which seemingly made Empoleon indestructable, and the key component to my Platinum team.

As for my least favorites, I'd go with the Johto starters, the Torterra line and the Emboar line. These are more design based than anything, but still enough to make me not want to use them. That's why any time I play a Johto game, I usually ditch my starter as early as I can, even if they're my best Pokemon for a while.

MOVED.

Crunch Punch

fire > ice

Age 25
Male
England
Seen March 18th, 2019
Posted January 16th, 2017
1,374 posts
10.2 Years
Definitely Typhlosion. Cyndaquil was my first ever starter in my first ever Pokemon game (Crystal) and because of that Typhlosion is just like more awesome to me compared to other starters.

Other favourites include Serperior (totally great design) and Sceptile (again great design and found his Leaf Blade totally badass hack in Emerald).

Least favourite starter? I don't have one. I love all of them :p
>> paired to gimmepie · last.fm

Entermaid

Non-binary
The States
Seen November 6th, 2016
Posted October 27th, 2016
2,138 posts
10.3 Years
Most Favorite to Least Favorite:

Serperior, Meganium, Venusaur, Samurott, Blazekin, Torterra, Charizard, Infernape, Typhlosion, Feraligtr, Sceptile, Blastoise, Emboar, Empoleon, Swampert,

I only go by aesthetics for favorites.
#Team Popplio & Brionne

Hiatus

Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted July 24th, 2021
12,283 posts
10.8 Years
Squirtle is my favorite starter Pokémon. It was the first Pokémon that I've ever had, and it looks simply astonishing when it finally evolves into a Blastoise. The canons on its back are amazing, and I love the way how it's able to take them in and out of its shell so quickly. Battling-wise, this Pokémon isn't so bad. It may not be used too often, but it has decent defensive stats and it's a great user of Rapid Spin. If it had a few recovery moves in its arsenal, maybe people would have used it more. Charizard is my favorite as well. I'm a big fan of its design. (:

My least favorite starter Pokémon would have to beeee... Sceptile. xD" It does have good Attack, Special Attack, and Speed stats, and some people are able to utilize this Pokémon quite nicely, but I'm certainly not one of those people.
Route 49
Seen February 7th, 2016
Posted June 21st, 2015
612 posts
10.5 Years
Samurott, Blaziken and Torterra are my three favorite Starter Pokemon according to type. A kicking chicken that can launch fire-type moves is such a cool idea. Torterra's unusual typing (Although not a great typing competitively) inspires me to vote for him. Samurott's general all around excellence, wonderful looks and unpredictability captures my vote.

As for a least favorite I'd be thinking Meganium and Emboar. Meganium looks uninspiring and boring, and really should be a Grass/Dragon for its design. Emboar is a cool name, but the horrible design, and the fact that it's the third consecutive Fire-Fighting starter explains why.
Boilurn, the Scald Pokemon and the evolved form of Hottle. It can burn the holder by the lightest of touches when it boils. It can boil 3 gallons of water in one minute.

Hikamaru

Age 30
Female
Australia
Seen January 24th, 2019
Posted September 4th, 2018
50,214 posts
12.2 Years
My most fave starter line of all time is obviously Oshawott and its evolution line due to that awesome samurai theme they have, and not to mention my fave of the starter types, Water! None of the Water-types have ever disappointed me, maybe Froakie did when it was first revealed but its design grew on me. 6th Gen's starters all look pretty awesome in general so I'm hoping they get awesome evolutions, especially Froakie due to my preference for Water.

Least fave, definitely Charmander's line. The reason? Charizard is soooooo overrated and also didn't like the way he was handled in the anime, especially the disobeying Ash part. The others aren't too bad though, I don't even mind Emboar or Meganium but they didn't live up to my expectations, at least I loved most starter designs.
Gone forever for personal reasons.
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Synerjee

Atra du evarinya ono varda.

Everywhere and anywhere.
Seen May 28th, 2016
Posted February 25th, 2016
2,901 posts
10.6 Years
Favourite: Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil and its evolutions really captures my attention in terms of battle potential and its incomparable adorableness in its Cyndaquil stage and awesomeness in its fully evolved stage. :3

Least-favourite: Treecko. I just don't really have a lot of sentimental connections with the Treecko family I guess, that's why it's not on the top of my list. I do like Grovyle though! I think it looks the best amongst the three of them. Also, thanks to PMD for that. :P

moon

they/them
Seen 12 Hours Ago
Posted 2 Days Ago
37,443 posts
15.5 Years
Charmander and Bulbasaur and Chikorita might be my first choices for non-evolved starters, just because I feel like it. Middle line, I like most of the starters actually, and fully evolved it's probably Blaziken or Infernape.

In general, I prefer fire starters and like grass starters the least. But then there's Chikorita and Bulbasaur, so there is no fully functional rule in me for that. I also like bipedal starters more than four legged, so Samurott and most grass pokémon fall behind on that account.
paired with Ivysaur
Seen December 6th, 2022
Posted December 6th, 2022
323 posts
10.3 Years
I also like bipedal starters more than four legged, so Samurott and most grass pokémon fall behind on that account.
Although, Samurott, like Swampert, is a starter that can alternate between being quadrupedal and bipedal. I just think some people, such as myself, thinks it looks cooler as a quadruped.

KorpiklaaniVodka

KID BUU PAWAA

Age 24
Male
Eastern Europe
Seen September 26th, 2016
Posted September 26th, 2016
3,318 posts
9.9 Years
Favorite: Sceptile. He looks so cool and I like the "king of the forest" idea, and he's pretty good too.
Least favorite: Definitely Charizard because he's overrated(3% raw usage in OU!!!!!) and sucks horribly competitively thanks to its weakness to Stealth Rock, common weaknesses, Solar Power making it even more sensible in the sun, and Politoed and Tyranitar. I'm pretty sure Mega forms are going to be banned in OU so Charizard is still gonna be horrible.
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Victreebel's Bro

The Day Is My Enemy

Male
Sesame Street
Seen March 11th, 2016
Posted January 20th, 2016
66 posts
9.7 Years
In order from favourite to least favorite:
Feraligatr, Blaziken, Blastoise, Swampert, Sceptile, Torterra, Typhlosion, Serperior, Emboar, Infernape, Charizard, Venusaur, Empoleon, Meganium, Samurott


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Pokemon Omega Ruby IGN: Beck

classiccartoonsftw

Nintendo is for awesome people

Male
Seen January 18th, 2017
Posted January 17th, 2017
9,225 posts
11.9 Years
Favourite first stages: All Water starters (sans for Oshawott), Bulbasaur, Treecko, Snivy, Charmander, Torchic, Chimchar, and Fennekin.
Least favourite first stages: Tepig and Chespin. I don't really like their designs.

Favourite second stages: All gen 1 ones, all gen 3 ones, Croconaw, Servine, Dewott, Braixen, and Frogadier.
Least favourite second stages: Probably Quilladin. In my opinion, it's design was kind of a downgrade to Chespin's.

Favourite final stages: All gen 1 ones, all gen 3 ones, Feraligatr, Infernape, Delphox, and Greninja.
Least favourite final stages: Emboar. I don't like it that it's the third Fire/Fighting starter in a row.

EDIT: The Kalos starter lines are now known, so I decided to add them. Also, Charizard is once again one of my favourites.

Nolafus

Aspiring something

Age 27
Male
Lost in thought... again
Seen March 3rd, 2018
Posted March 11th, 2017
5,722 posts
10.9 Years
My favorite starter is obviously Serperior, although, other favorites are Empoleon, Samurott, Sceptile, Venusaur, and Swampert.

My least favorite is Emboar as I don't really like its design all that much.
PairPC sister

Brendino

The Ruins of Alph
Seen 10 Hours Ago
Posted April 6th, 2023
8,567 posts
13.4 Years
With all the talk of the Kalos starters, I thought it'd be cool to revisit previous generations and discuss which starter Pokémon are our favorites, and which ones are our least favorites.

I'll start first.

Favorites: Its a tie between Typhlosion and Samurott, with Infernape as a close second favorite
  • Cyndaquil was the first starter I ever chose back in Pokémon Silver. Therefore, its a special one to me. I also like the rest of the Johnto starters, but Typhlosion was a beast. I remember being 9 years old and calling up my best friend at the time to tell him how my Quilava had just evolved into a Typhlosion. Ah, good times.
  • Samurott is also one of my favorites just...because. His design is awesome. I find it so cool that a starter that everyone thought was the ugliest of them all (Oshawott) turned out to have the coolest final form out of all the Unova starters. He's also a very reliable battler. Pretty much a very dependable powerhouse.
  • Infernape. I love the design. That cool flaming Hanuman style. Plus, Chimchar is just...so unique among the starters, in my opinion. I would never have imagined a starter Pokémon based on a chimp or monkey. I would have thought that any sort of primate was too human-like for them, as the starters were traditionally based on animals a little lower on the evolutionary tree like lizards, turtles, chickens, and crocodiles.

Least Favorites: Venusaur and Emboar
  • I know Venusaur gets a lot of love, but its not one of my favorites. Its not bad at all, but its just...okay. I'd much rather have Charizard or Blastoise. I think the real problem I have with Venusaur is that the Bulbasaur evolutionary family shows the least transformation along its evolutionary line of any of the Kanto starters. I mean, Venusaur is really just a bigger, fatter, more intimidating version of Bulbasaur, with a big flower on its back instead of a bulb. Charizard and Blastoise at least show marked change from their original forms, changing in color, size, and even basic body structure.
  • Emboar just looks ridiculous and its not that reliable of a battler. It looks like it should be a powerhouse, but its not. Plus the fact that its the THIRD Fire/Fighting starter doesn't really endear me to it either.
Congrats on being selected as the first Poll of the Week here in Pokemon Voting Polls! This is the type of thread that suits PVP perfectly- asking a multi-answer question that gives members a good chance to talk about their likes and dislikes, but gives them a chance to expand on that as well.

moon

they/them
Seen 12 Hours Ago
Posted 2 Days Ago
37,443 posts
15.5 Years
Although, Samurott, like Swampert, is a starter that can alternate between being quadrupedal and bipedal. I just think some people, such as myself, thinks it looks cooler as a quadruped.
Yeah, I guess. I'm just partial to bipedal pokémon. Not sure why! I think maybe I'm imagining them fighting more easily and freely.

In order from favourite to least favorite:
Feraligatr, Blaziken, Blastoise, Swampert, Sceptile, Torterra, Typhlosion, Serperior, Emboar, Infernape, Charizard, Venusaur, Empoleon, Meganium, Samurott
That's quite the list! Care to give an explanation for why you like some more than the others?

Congrats on being selected as the first Poll of the Week here in Pokemon Voting Polls! This is the type of thread that suits PVP perfectly- asking a multi-answer question that gives members a good chance to talk about their likes and dislikes, but gives them a chance to expand on that as well.
Indeed~

Maybe we could add the Kalos starters to this talk too now? Since they have one evo each for now which gives us a little more feeling for what they are meant to turn out to be.
paired with Ivysaur

Squirrel

Age 28
Male
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted July 10th, 2021
9,551 posts
11.7 Years
My favourite first stage starters are Piplup and Tepig because they're both so ridiculously cute and they're both Pokémon which you can tell will evolve to reach their full potential, and my least favourite first stage starters are Totodile and Oshawott because I find them both to be really ugly haha. My favourite fully evolved starter is Infernape because it's a badass and a lot of fun to use (plus I'm not hugely fond of any of the others) and my least favourite is Feraligatr - that family is my least favourite in the whole of the Pokémon world and I deeply wish they'd never been made.

As for including X&Y, Chespin's my new favourite base form! It's way too cute omg.

Lycanroc

under the sun

Male
U.S.A.
Seen November 24th, 2018
Posted June 11th, 2017
728 posts
10 Years
In order from favorite to least favorite:

Empoleon, Blaziken, Swampert, Samurott, Charizard, Feraligatr, Sceptile, Infernape, Torterra, Typhlosion, Blastoise, Serperior, Meganium, Venusaur, Emboar

As you can see, I'm not a fan of Grass-types.

Oh, and out of the X/Y starters,

Fennekin, Froakie, Chespin

No hard feelings, Chespin.
pokemon lazuli • coming soon
Tennessee
Seen September 24th, 2015
Posted September 28th, 2013
11 posts
16.9 Years
GenI

Squirtal, Wartortle, and Blastiose
Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard
Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur

GenII

Totodile, Croconaw, and Feraligatr
Cyndaquil, Quilava, and Typholsion
Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium

GenIII

Treecko, Grovyle, and Sceptile
Mudkip, Marshtomp, and Swampert
Torchic, Combuskeen, and Blaziken

GenIV

Chimchar, Monferno, and Infernape
Piplup, Priplup, and Empoleon
Turtwig, Grotle, and Torterra

GenV

Snivy, Servine, and Serperior
Tepig, Pignite, and Emboar
Oshawott, Dewatt, and Samurott

favorite to least favorite:
Infernape, Blastoise, Charizard, Feraligatr, Typhlosion, Empoleon,
Sceptile, Serperior, Venusaur, Meganium, Swampert, Emboar,
Samurott, Torterra, and Blaziken

Imho Infernape is the best of the fire/fighting starter combo with good stats and movepool. And I hate Blaziken because its stats and movepool. The reason for Venusaur for where he/she positioned is because it's to slow for my tastes and it's evolutions don't change enough. I've never liked the design of Chikorita, nor Bayleef.
Torterra is to slow for my tastes and even with ev training I could never get him fast enough to keep him.

As far as genVI Braixen and Fennekin, then Chespin and Quilladin, and finally Froakie and Frogadier. I just like the way Braixen and Fennekin look. Froakie would have been in second place if not for the way Frogadier looked. My biggest complaint with Frogadier is its hands. But I think these are the best three looking starters since genI. In every other gen with the exception of this gen and genI have had one or two of the starter that look a little wankie or just down right terrible.
Male
Seen January 25th, 2014
Posted January 25th, 2014
21 posts
9.8 Years
Favourite: Sceptile, I love it's design, and it's signature moved (which other Pokemon copied), Leaf Blade. Samurott, Blastoise, Feraligatr and Serperior are pretty cool too.
Least Favourite: Emboar, obviously. While not as bad as Dratini to Dragonite, he looks nothing like his 1st form in any way except in colour scheme. Then there's the fact he's the third Fire/Fighting type in a row! Masuda said that they put most of their effort into the starters but Emboar (and Infernape, and Quilladin...) is evidence of their laziness. I always thought Venusaur and Meganium were a bit plain as well.
Current Challenges: Emerald Tri-Species Challenge 0/8, Black Randomizer Nuzlocke 1/8, Black Delta Species Challenge δ 0/8

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?

Age 29
Male
Canada
Seen July 31st, 2020
Posted May 30th, 2020
12,958 posts
12.7 Years
My favorite starter is Mudkip because it's the first Pokemon I ever started with. Swampert is also pretty good, even though it took a hit in usefulness in Gen V. Chikorita is my least favorite because of how hard it is to use in its respective games.