which starter did Red choose?

[Ggpokerbiel]

So... a while ago, when the last episode of pokemon evolutions was released, I remember getting into a discussion that had to do with the fact that Red's starter was changed, well then I said that the protagonists' pokemon always would be changed to represent the player (something I always believed) so much so that red had already had his starter changed several times

Then I got an answer that left me wondering: "but he was never shown having a squirtle as his starter", and I really couldn't remember anywhere he had a Squirtle or a Blastoise (except when he was with the three initials, of course), so it led me to many questions, such as: "what was the pokemon that each protagonist got?", "why do some things appear in some games and then are treated as if they never existed?", "What is the real story of pokemon games anyway?"

well, so I had these questions in my head, if anyone wants to help me with this I'll be grateful

and i'm using google translate so sorry for any grammatical errors

 

[Zeostar]

I assumed Yellow is the canonical version because he leads with a Pikachu in most (if not all) battles. Pikachu is the only starter in Yellow.

 

[Sheep]

Yeah, I always did assume starters changed around in different episodes to better represent the player. In my head Red owns Charmander, Blue owns Squirtle, and Green owns Bulbasaur, but canonically in the manga Red has Bulbasaur, Blue has Charmander, and Green has Squirtle so that's what I've always tried to follow in my head. Makes more sense when you know that in Japan Blue and Green's names are swapped, so Blue (Green in localized content) has Bulbasaur so it fits pretty well aha. :D;

 

[Corveone]

I've never read the manga, so Red = Charmander allways seemed the most obvious choice, or at least I suppose that was the original idea since the moment we have a character called Red and the Pokémon Red cartridge shows Charizard. It seems, however, that at some point Game Freak wanted to make a weird Red-Ash (or Red-Yellow, if Yellow is actually a canon character) fusion to cater the anime fan-base and they gave it a Pikachu and the other starters in gen 2. So in my head canon, I assumed modern "Red" is actually a "Red+Yellow" hibrid who had two starters, then Bulbasaur and Squirtle which he caught later.

 

[Whiteeyes1989]

I actually found a video I enjoyed that did a basic level analysis looking at games, manga, advertisements, promotional and splash art, cards, and anime to try and work out what each main character's canon starters would be.
https://youtu.be/IaMH0Mp9o1A

 

[Palamon]

It depends on the interpretation. I honestly like the idea that Yellow Red is the canon Red, and he got Pikachu as his starter, but was able to get the Kanto starters in a similar fashion to how you would get them if you played Yellow. But, I can also see Bulbasaur being his starter since in Pokemon Adventures, he received a Bulbasaur from Professor Oak when he had to go recapture all of Oak's Pokemon that broke from the lab.

But, to be honest, I don't think there's any definite answer since he has all three Kanto Starters and Pikachu when you face him in both G/S/C and HG/SS, but only Venusaur and Pikachu in LG/PE, which is a callback to Pokemon Adventures.

So, I'm more inclined to say Bulbasaur.

I've never really seen Charmander as his starter because I've always seen that as Blue's due to the manga, but really, it just depends on your interpenetration. If you think his starter is Charmander because Red = Fire, then that's on you. Different canons take completely different approaches to which starter he gets.

For me, though, I'm going to go with "it depends". But, like the idea of either Pikachu or Bulbasaur being his starter depending on which canon we're following.