Poll: Which Starter Pokemon did you choose?

[Atmos Duality]

Arcanine actually gives Charizard a run for his money. Flareon beats both of them in attack and is found in both games. Ninetales isn't a bad substitute either.

Arcanine was a (or really, only THE in Red/Blue) strong contender, but Charizard just had a much better movepool. Great stats on Arcanine though. Ninetales had one (albeit, useful) role as a debuffer and little else.

Flareon...was only good on paper. In practice, most just died to Surf. Jolteon and Vaporeon had much better stat assignments of the EV Standard (all Eveelutions had the same stat blocks, but just rearranged differently) suited for their roles/elements.

Then there were was the problem of all fire moves being Special attacks when most fire pokemon prioritized physical attacks. The great move-stat split that fixed this wouldn't occur until Pearl/Diamond (I think, I haven't played in a long time).

 

[BrailleOperatic]

Squirtle
Totodile
Treecko
Fuck That
Fuck That

Seriously, Fuck Gens IV and V. But seriously, I usually just pick the ones I think look the coolest.

You have never played them and believe that the first three were best because you played them as a kid. You haven't played the DS games have you, because gen 5>gen4,3,2,1

Actually, I have played them. And it is because I played them I know they suck. Generation V was quite possibly the worst generation yet with hideous character designs, worse pokemon art, a story that defeats itself, and generally abysmal construction. Generation IV wasn't as bad, but it was still a distinct slip, showing the first precursors of the artists running out of good ideas for what anything should look like.

But this is neither the time nor the place for this argument.

 

[mandaforever]

charmander cause I thought Blastoise and Venosaur were ugly.... XD

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

Charmander: Mainly because it evolves into a special attacking pseudo-dragon.
Totodile: It looks like a mini-godzilla.
Torchic: 'Cause I don't like Mudkips. Also it's final form is a really good mixed attacker.
Turtwig: I decided to try out a grass type. It was awesome.
Oshawott: It evolves into a motherfucking samurai. What more could you want?

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

Charmander. I am an advocate of Fire-type leading. Yes, you started with a game disadvantage, but that just made it more satisfying to finish off Brock and Misty.


So yeah. For every other gen. just swap Charmander with the requisite fire type from that game.

 

[Grayjack]

I chose Bulbasaur. I usually choose the fire starter though.

 

[ntw3001]

Bulbasaur, Totodile, Torchic, Piplup, Tepig. Not that I've played any of Gen 5. So I guess I don't lean toward any particular type, unless you count 'type' in the sense that 'obvious correct starter' is a type of Pokemon.

Really though, in the first generation at least, none of them are especially useful. Grass and fire types aren't really necessary, and water-types aren't exactly hard to come by. Venusaur would be great if he could learn a decent poison attack, but his second type is all downside. Charizard is boring as hell, really. Blastoise is cool, but unfortunately Poliwrath exists. In fact, Poliwrath kind of obviates the need for any other Pokemon to exist, ever. Plenty could beat it in a fight, but even in death Poliwrath is better.

 

[GodofDisaster]

Pokemon Blue Squirtle

Pokemon Sliver Totodile

Pokemon Ruby Mudkip

Pokemon Plantium Piplup

Pokemon Black Oshawott.

For any pokemon game I have ever played, I always pick the Water starter, simply because they're usually the most balanced and have the abilty to defeat the other two starters, they can take out grass easily using Ice type attacks, provided they hit first of course.

 

[Double A]

Charamander. I had watched the anime long before I even played the games, and I had noticed that Charizard was plain fucking awesome. I liked Charizard so much I grinded my Charamander to level 36 so I could beat Misty with him (I did).

 

[honestdiscussioner]

I loved Bulbasaur, but Squirtle at the end game was far more powerful than either of the other two. Seriously. Blastoise could take out high level pokemon that he was generally weak against and susceptible to.

 

[Alcamonic]

Squirtle, because I had Pokémon Blue for Game Boy.
Also, the last evolution stage of him has two giant cannons, can't step to that! Stupid dragons =P

 

[Sansha]

Depends on what the first couple of gyms are. Important to get a head start on those, so you can catch other types for the next lots.

So, I took Bulbasaur for Red and Blue, to easily nuke the Rock and Water types of the first two. By the time I got to the third one, I had enough backup to topple it and beyond.

Gold and Silver seemed to counter this by having the first gym full of birds, and if I recall correctly, neither Fire, Water or Grass is Super Effective against Flying. But, the second gym being Bugs, I chose... Cyndaquil? Is that it? The Fire one.

 

[R4ptur3]

Mother fucking Squirtle!

And from then on, every other starter pokemon for me has been water type.

 

[Mittens The Kitten]

but by the end he's practically useless...

All of the starters are severely outlassed when other options become available. Charizard is replaced by Moltres and Blastoise by Starmie or Lapras or one of the 50million other, better water types. Venusaur is, of course no exception, as Exeggutor is a grass type that has the coveted psychic subtype (and we all know how OP psychic was in gen 1).

 

[NellNell]

I didn't mean to put Bulbasaur. I chose Squirtle because I wanted a giant turtle that had canons on its back! Hell yeah!

 

[Lambi]

Charmander. He's cute, and evolves into Charmeleon, who evolves into my favorite Pokemon, Charizard. Plus, I like Fire types a lot.

 

[Mad1Cow]

Way back when I was new to Pokemon, I picked Bulbasaur because it made life easier and it just became the one I'd always use becasue it was like winning the game for me. Now whenever I play it I usually pick Squirtle...just because Blastoise is such an amazing concept...

 

[PureChaos]

Bulbasaur mainly because I prefer Gyarados and Ninetails as water/fire types. the only other grass possibility would be Bellsprout/Weepinbell/Victreebel so for me it would be Bulbasaur every time, unless i decide to go for a random group

 

[Bobbity]

Charmander and Dewott.

Charmander is aesthetically awesome, but as the game moves on, he becomes kind of shit. Still, so do most of the starters, so I kept using him.

I had a lot of trouble choosing my gen five starter. I love fire, but Tepig was kind of shitty, so it came down to Dewott or Snivy for me. I eventually went with Dewott, and didn't regret it, although I was still very happy to nab a Snivy off my friend later.

 

[JackRyan64]

Charmander
Chikorita
Mudkip
Turtwig/Chimchar (It varies on different playthroughs)
Snivy