Yeah Venusaur being #1 on the uu usage chart makes him a piece of "beta shit". Really all the starters are pretty good in their own way, but compare to were they are placed, the 2nd gen. starters are the worse.
And just as Gyara found its fangs, Roselia found its evolution.
Venusaur is only the UU Scizor because Roserade left, just as Flygon is out of BL-land because 'Chomp left. If for some reason Gyara receives a Water-type Megahorn, a Dark-type Megahorn, and Volt Tackle (making it more BROKENZORZ than 'Chomp,) then I am certain Feraligatr will rise to the occasion (unless Floatzel gets a half-arsed movepool itself.)
So in terms of good starters (in Gens III and IV)...
OVER 9000!!!!!
Infernape (...duh?)
S-Rank:
Empoleon
Swampert
Sceptile (My favorite Hoenn starter anyway, fast with Leech seed and good special attacks. If Game Freak announces TerraRuby and HydroSapphire, I'm picking this thing and renaming my Smogon name "Scep+(four letters from the fire starter's final form's name)+(four letters from the water starter's final form's name)".)
A-Rank
Feraligatr (the only decent Johto movepool with Water, Normal, Ice, Dark, and Dragon at
least, and it gets the much-appreciated Surf and later Waterfall [conveniently when you hit the Move Deleter,] though the Red Gyara is the only reason this thing isn't S-Rank...)
B-Rank
Torterra (STAB EQ in-game by level-up is always appreciated)
Venusaur
Blaziken (alright, it's powerful, if a bit slower than Ape, and it still gets a half-decent level-up pool.)
C-Rank
Typhlosion
Blastoise (I find your lack of level-up moves disturbing, though your defenses prove valuable)
F-Rank
Charizard (hai guyz letz make something that isn't even a good NU and is nigh completely outclassed by Moltres! Since Moltres is a legend anyway, it's not like they'll use that over him! Right? Right?)
Meganium (...Status-er, poor STAB anyway, cannot do a thing against Koga, Victreebel beats out this thing to be quite honest)
Hopes for Gen V starters:
-Something based on a nonvertebrate. It's about time we got a silverfish Pokemon...heck owning stuff with a lobster evolved from a shrimp that evolved from the silverfish that doesn't look like it went through a limb splicing machine before it hit OU would be AWESOME.
-A Grass starter that makes OU for multiple gens. Bonus points if Celebi is forced into BL with its brother Shaymin-L as a result of this starter. Sceptile doesn't count: "OU in Gen III" doesn't mean anything.
-Something other than Fire/Fighting. Preferably not Fire/Rock (though I'd LOVE to see that on a base 165 speed fossil Pokemon based on a Creodonts...yeah shameless plug for my Prymal fakemon,) but a Fire/Ghost WOULD prove to be awesome due to Ghost's inherent badassery as a typing...
-I WANT A QUADRUPEDAL FIRE STARTER. CYNDAQUIL LINE DOESN'T COUNT.
-WATER AND FIRE STARTER FINAL FORMS WITH A DECENTLY-RIPPABLE FOUR-LETTER GROUP IN THEIR NAMES FOR ME TO USE IN MY USERNAME.