4th Gen Let's get started

[Hiatus]

In generation four of games, there were six starter Pokémon in total. First comes Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. In these games, our selection ranged from Piplup, Turtwig, and Chimchar. Piplup is a baby penguin Pokémon, and is primarily water-type. Turtwig's based off turtles, and is grass. As for Chimchar, this one is fire. Next, are HeartGold and SoulSilver, and in these two versions, our starters were Chikorita, Totodile, and Cyndaquil, whom are grass, water, and fire, respectively.

If we have played DPPt, which starter did we select--Chimchar, Turtwig, or Piplup? What was our reasoning behind choosing them? Were we satisfied with these Pokémon? Did we like its overall appearance, evolution line, and how well it was able to perform while battling? What about HeartGold and SoulSilver--which stater did we wind up picking while going through these two?

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

In Diamond the first time around I went with Piplup, primarily for design and also cause penguins are insanely adorable lol :) I did like it but I think I ended up replacing it with Gastrodon as my main Water-type. The next time I played through was with Turtwig (which I nicknamed Sheldon for some reason lol) and I think it stayed on my team for longer, mainly cause Leafeon wasn't available for ages but also cause it served my team well.


In HGSS, my favourite generation of starters, it was SO hard to pick I can't even say lol :) I used Totodile once on the original Silver (which was amazing, for a long time until Pokémon X it was the highest level Pokémon I ever raised and then Cyndaquil was my main starter from then on). So then by the time HGSS rolled around I decided to give Chikorita a go... best decision ever!! :) I feel like it's quite an underappreciated starter actually but it did SO well in my team, and was one of the Pokémon I used the first and only time I beat Red :) So yeah, the HGSS starters are pretty special to me :)

 

[Pendraflare]

While playing through DPPt, Chimchar is definitely the starter I chose the most playthroughs out of all of them. I used Turtwig and Piplup a fair amount of times, though. And with HGSS, i'd say I chose Totodile and Cyndaquil a good number of times when I played through them, I think I only chose Chikorita once (and dropped it before it even became its final form).

 

[Nakasu]

In Platinum I chose Turtwig. I was really fond of it's design when i watched the trailer. i also wanted to start with a new type, since I usually go with water Types. i was very happy when i choose it though. Torterra is an absolute monster. The only weakness it has is ice which can be covered with the right moveset. In Diamond I choose Piplup, since I was a big fan of Empoleon. Water Steel was such a very interesting combination that I wanted to see how it would work. When I got Pearl I got infernape..which im really not a huge fan of. I don't know why, it just didn't impress me much.

 

[Hikamaru]

4th Gen was all about me picking the Fire starters, which is rare since I'm usually someone who chooses the Water-type. But there's good reasoning as to why I picked them.

For the Sinnoh games, I did get decent chance of using all three, but my personal fave is Chimchar because it's fast and a strong mixed attacker which suits my usual playstyle, and it learns a lot of good attacks. Piplup's line is nice as well, especially Empoleon's Steel-type making it resist a lot of things. Turtwig is the one I've used the least, but that's not to say Torterra has its niches as well. It's slow, but very tanky with access to some strong moves.

For Johto, I used Cyndaquil in my SoulSilver playthrough and it does a good job despite the limited move options (I surely remember Pendraflare's HG Wedlocke where he had a Typhlosion survive all the way to the end) and it's cute. Chikorita is adorable as well, but it's another one limited with move options and that's why I never used it much. Totodile is solid, but it's more physical-based unlike most other Water starters. It does at least get good moves though.

 

[Rosehip]

Unlike quite a few people here, I had absolutely no idea of how good the starters in D/P were, or of what they were before I got around to selecting them. I took a good look at all 3, and decided to ask my friend who was with me while I was unboxing my DS Lite + Diamond. He decided on Chimchar, and I went along with his choice.

When I got Platinum, I first chose Piplup, cos let's face it, it's adorable. Also rather strong, as I learned as I played through Platinum...both Chimchar and Piplup were a mixture of strong and adorable - and their final evolutions definitely earned a place in my heart for being among my favourite starters.

 

[Guardian]

Piplup. I loved Empoleon, not only cos it looks like a magnificent beast, but also because it really grew on me during my playthrough in Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia :D