My very first starter was Pikachu from Pokemon Yellow. My brother refused to let me play the Red version, so I got stuck with Yellow and basically was forced to have a Pikachu. I really wanted that Squirtle so bad. ;-;
My first ever pokemon caught with these bare hands was -drum roll- a rattata.
I hated it.
I hated it so much.
But in HG/SS I decided to use one for the fun of it and it's not so bad.
I think as a kid I hated the rat because of how it was portrayed in the anime as being sneaky and stole stuff.. and how I would always come across one in the wild. It was so annoying. But he's a cute lil' guy and is pretty tough if you give him the chance. I bet my rattata is better than Joey's. >C HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF ALL. FEEL MY RAT POWER, MAN, FEEL IT.