Your First Starter and Your Favorite Starter

[Karxrida]

So I'm subscribed to Good Vibes Gaming on YouTube, and the guys over there like to poll their audience for different topics and make videos about the results. To celebrate Pokémon Day they asked what people's favorite starters were, but at the beginning of the vid the hosts had a short discussion on what their first starters were and if they were different from their favs. I thought this would be a neat thread topic, since first and favorite don't necessarily overlap and it's a nice way to look back on our experiences with the franchise.

I sadly cannot recall what my first stater was. I definitely started with Red when it was new back in '98 or '99 when I was 4-5, as I have distinct memories of exploring in old school Kanto. However, those memories are mixed in with experiences with Yellow version, which obviously has every Kanto stater available. It does not help that I definitely used a Butterfree to muscle past Brock, but am unable to recall if it was due to having chosen Charmander or being stuck with Pikachu. There's also a good chance I did multiple playthroughs. If I had to guess what my first starter was between my proclivity for going with Fire over the years and the fact the first game was Red version, I want to say I went with Charmander?

Now onto favorite.



While Kanto was my first, Hoenn is easily my favorite. My memories of Gen 3 are much stronger between me being slightly older and actually owning spin-offs from that era. GameCube my beloved.

Why Mudkip? It was what I first picked when I got my hands on Sapphire all those years ago. I have a somewhat core memory where I learned of the existence of Gen 3 via bookmarks being handed out in my elementary school's library. The starters and box Legendaries were on that bookmark, and for some reason I thought Mudkip and Kyogre were connected lol. I don't know, maybe it was because they were both blue.

Anyway, I picked Mudkip and was definitely not disappointed. One of the best starter lines for single player ever, plus Mudkip itself is really cute.

 

[Ironmage]

First starters:

My first pokemon game was MD Blue, so there's two starter slots. While I haven't become super attached to the standard starter set, these two included, there's still a trend that begins here. By starting with Charmander, the Mt. Cleft friend area is available much earlier. This meant that Aron was recruitable early as well, helping to jump-start my love of Steel-types. Not that I knew this while filling out the quiz.

For favourite, I have a hard time picking between Venusaur and Primarina. The Bulbasaur line has the uniqueness of its Poison typing alongside a damage-over-time focus, and its Mega is quite good for PVP. On the other side, I find myself returning to USUM more often than most as the last pre-Dexit game. Since that's usually in some variety of challenge run, Popplio's smoother early-game is pretty noticeable: there's a lot more ways to mess with physical attacks early (both used by enemies and usable by the player), so Water Gun being special and Leafage being physical helps quite a bit during the phase where you're the most reliant on the starter.

 

[Jeffers]

My first starter was Squirtle. I was planning to choose Charmander and my mum bought me Red, but I loved the Squirtle with the sunglasses in the anime so I ended up going for him.

My favourite starter is probably Rowlet. For the longest time it was Cindaquil but I fell in love with Rowlet's design from the first time I saw it. Choosing my starter in PLA was a tough decision (I did pick Rowlet).

 

[CynicalGiant]

my first starter lines:

my first non spinoff pokemon game was Silver but my parents also bought me Blue at the same time, I just thought Lugia looked cooler. my first pokemon game was actually Stadium 1, in which I did use Blastoise a lot. I also played a lot of the pokemon tcg game on the gameboy color where I always picked the squirtle deck.

my favorite starter line:

all the reasons people usually list for why they dislike tepig/pignite/emboar are why I love them so much. big, rotund, wrestler, fire/fighting but more imposing to me than the chicken and the monkey, closely resembles a pig with no neck, etc., also helps that emboar is insanely good in the gen 5 games.

I was so insanely happy when we got mega emboar, absolutely love the chinese general vibes

If I had to pick a runner-up favorite starter line it is probably

big slow bulky monster with a secondary typing I really like. dinosaur turtle also pretty cool.

 

[Pale Rose Star]

My first, and my favorite, is Turtwig. Something in me felt bad for the little buddy, they always felt overlooked growing up compared to the Chimchar line and the Piplup line. And they were so cute... I love Gen 4 starters designs, especially the final evos. The scope is amazing, I love the way it draws on mythology. Three cheers for the littlebud (thats what i named him hehe)

 

[PokemonCrusader]

First starter: Charizard

Favorite starter? Tough to answer. Perhaps, Greninja, but I have a soft spot for Chesnaught (after all, he is a knight). I like Feraligatr, too.

 

[Ske]

My first starter was Cyndaqwill my first game was Gold it was my favorite mons experience

My favorite is Mudkip out of all the in games mons i played my gen 3 Swampert put in the most work

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

My first starter ever was Squirtle in Blue, which was my first Pokémon game. Why did I pick Squirtle? Because it would evolve into Blastoise, which was the mascot of the game, and my favorite (Kanto) starter at the time. I didn't get Red (until much later) because I thought Charizard was terribly overrated, and since it was a Fire-type, it would lose against Blastoise in battle, which meant that Blastoise was the better Pokémon (child logic). What about the Bulbasaur line? Since it wasn't on the cover for either game (I wasn't aware of Japanese Red/Green at this point), it meant that it was obviously not as good as Blastoise (or Charizard).

Picking a favorite starter is difficult. There too many that I like. So I'll do a top six. Last year, I made a team in Violet which consisted of my six favorite (fully evolved) starters, which was possible thanks to all of them being available with the DLC. The team is named Endless Beginnings, and it consists of these six:



Why are they my favorites? Because I have had great success with them in the games, and they were all my first starter choices for each of their generations. With the exception of Gen 1 and 2, the first starter I picked in a generation has always ended up becoming my favorite.

Here are the full details for the team, if anyone is interested.

Endless Beginnings

Infernape (M) @ Expert Belt ** Flare Driver
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Att / 6 Sp.def / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/15/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Jolly
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- U-Turn

Serperior (F) @ Leftovers ** Snakeflower
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Sp.att / 6 Sp.def / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/14/31/31/31/31
Nature: Timid
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Tera Blast
- Giga Drain

Greninja (M) @ Life Orb ** Tintoretto
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Sp.att / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Timid
- Surf
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Primarina (F) @ Assault Vest ** Taco Tuesday
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Sp.att / 50 Sp.def / 80 Spd
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Modest
- Sparkling Aria
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball

Cinderace (M) @ Muscle Band ** Pyre O’Morph
Ability: Libero
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Att / 6 Sp.def / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/20/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Jolly
- Pyro Ball
- Low Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- U-Turn

Meowscarada (M) @ Muscle Band ** Joker
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Att / 6 Sp.def / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/5/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Jolly
- Flower Trick
- Knock Off
- Brick Break
- U-Turn

 

[Pikachu315111]

 

[skip]

First


Favorite
duh

 

[MoonlightRose]

First starter was... Piplup, I think? Definitely wasn't Turtwig, I know that much.

Favourite is and likely always will be Oshawott.

 

[PokePoindexter]

My first starter was Squirtle when playing Blue way back in the day.

My favorite starter, which also happens to be tied with Alolan Ninetales and Volcarona for my favorite Pokemon of all time, is Hisuian Samurott.

 

[CTNC]

My first starter was Treecko. The two main things I remember about using it were having fun with Bullet Seed's randomness (The number of hits and the animation are both random. Each seed in the animation bounce left or right.) and that Grovyle's back sprite reminded me of the Mona Lisa. In RSE, you're stuck with 10 Power Bullet Seed until Leaf Blade, but I remember skipping Leaf Blade because Bullet Seed had been a faithful move... My past self was such a noob... -_-

My second starter was Squirtle. One day my mom told me she was going to get me Fire Red and I was planning on using Charmander after that because of Charizard being the mascot, but in the Battle Factory I got offered Wartortle as a rental Pokemon. I took that as a sign to pick Squirtle.


My favorite Water starter is either Piplup because of Gen 4 nostalgia and gaining a cool type combo when it evolves or Froakie because it has everything historically inaccurate about ninjas. (In other words, everything that makes ninjas cool. :P)

My favorite Fire starter is Cyndaquil and my favorite stage of the evolution chain is Quilava. Before the 3D games it looked cool and after them it looks kind of cute when its flames aren't burning. The same can't be said for Typhlosion though... It looks so plain when its fire isn't burning. Hisuian Typhlosion in a major improvement just because its flames are always active in battle. (At least in Legends: Arceus. I haven't seen if that's still true in SV)

My favorite Grass Starter is Bulbasaur. It was the starter I chose for my first Status Moves only playthrough and it taught me to love Leech Seed. (Best. Move. Ever.) It's also the only starter I've used for multiple Status Moves only playthroughs if you count playthroughs of fan games.
I'd like to give an honorable mention to every other starter who can learn Leech Seed, which is all of the Grass starters other than Rowlet. (Sorry to Rowlet fans for pretty much giving a dishonourable mention.)

I'm not sure if my favorate overall is Cyndaquil, Bulbasaur, or Eevee. I like how Cyndaquil looks the most, but Bulbasaur earned my respect. Eevee is a starter from XD and Let's Go, I'm a sucker for fluffy stuff, and the evolution gimmick lead to a lot of cool Pokemon. (My favorate Eeveelution is Umbreon.) Eevee at the very least gets an honourable mention if it doesn't count as a starter.


BTW, is it too early for anyone to say any of the Gen X Starters? (Pombon is my favorite of the Gen X Starters, but I'm not going to rank it high until I see the evolutions.)

 

[TerrickTerran]

Favorite starter overall is Torchic/Blaziken.
Favorite water starter is Primarina.
Favorite grass starter is Venusaur.