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Hi, I’m eight. I’m blowing out the candles on my birthday cake, wishing that Pokémon were real. I dream of becoming best friends with fantastical creatures travelling the world, meeting weird and wonderful people, and being the very best, like no-one ever was. Of course.
In any Pokémon game, this adventure starts with a choice—a crucial decision for any aspiring trainer. It can impact your entire journey through a region, influencing all battles from how quickly you take out Youngster Joey’s super cool, top percentage Rattata all the way to Cynthia’s legendary Garchomp.
One Professor. Three balls. Three branching timelines.
But which starter is the best Pokémon for each region? As this is a long one, I’ll be chopping this blog into 2, so for now, let’s look at Kanto to Unova.
I’ll be considering type advantages, overall stats, and versatility in their region to help you make the ultimate decisions to help you become Pokémon Champion.
Spoilers abound for gameplay. No plot spoilers.
Kanto
So many of us feel nostalgia for the earliest Pokémon games. As such, we can get super defensive over our favourites.
“Charizard is the best; it’s so cool!” “But it’s not even Dragon type. Blastoise gets Ice moves, so it’s needed to defeat Champion Lance!” “No, Bulbasaur all the way—it’s much better suited for the Gym line up”.
All valid. But we’re looking at this with logic and facts, not vibes.
Note: if you have Yellow or the Let’s Play games, you’re forced into picking either Pikachu or Eevee as your partner Pokémon. Let’s simplify this and say: Eevee is decent with its versatility (and the eeveelutions are pretty strong), but your Pikachu (that can’t evolve) is just trash. Moving on!
Fire Type Charmander is often considered to be the toughest starter to begin your Kanto journey with. Brock stonewalls you with his Rock Types, and Misty has no issue dowsing your flames with her impressive Starmie, so picking Charmander can be considered hard mode. If you over level your little lizard, you might be fine, but playing smart by catching yourself a Nidoran, Mankey or Pikachu for better Type advantage is the best option here. Actually, the smarter play is picking Squirtle or Bulbasaur in the early game.
But what about the mid to late game?
Maybe it’s worth sticking with Charmander as it becomes a powerful ally later on, whilst Bulbasaur, despite its solid defences and ability to learn status moves and heal itself, tapers off towards the later game. Its Grass/Poison Typing matches up poorly against late game leaders like Psychic Gym Leader Sabrina, Fire Type Gym Leader Blaine, and Ghost Elite Four Member Agatha, meaning you have to be very careful as the journey evolves. Additionally, Team Rocket has a lot of Poison Pokémon, making their usually weak partners surprisingly strong against our bulky dino.
Even though Bulbasaur flies through the early game, I’m going to have to give the trophy to Squirtle. Blastoise has well rounded stats and access to a fantastic move pool, able to learn Ice Beam for coverage against Grass and Dragon, Surf for a useful and formidable STAB Water move, and powerful Earthquake to help take out its biggest weakness, Electric types.
Blastoise has early game strength, mid to late game versatility, defensive reliability, and impressive coverage. And it’s got Squirtle Squad cool points. What more could you want?
Johto
Ah, Johto. The region of steadfast tradition, stunning architecture, and mythical beauty. Even though it’s my favourite region, I’ll try to remain unbiased.
Let’s get the elephant—or dinosaur—in the room out of the way first. Chikorita has, sadly, a huge disadvantage right from the get-go. It’s devastated by the first two Gyms (Flying and Bug) and can’t do much to touch Morty’s Ghost Gym filled with Poison/Ghost Pokémon. It doesn’t do very well throughout the rest of the Gym Leaders either, with its only super effective advantage against Chuck’s Poliwrath and Pryce’s Water/Ice Pokémon. Even then, it’s weak to Ice, so it won’t last very long. Its weakness to Poison means that it struggles against even the leaderless Team Rocket. This all puts Chikorita firmly in last place.
Totodile is a fantastic pick. A STAB Surf user that can learn an Ice move is always a solid choice to take throughout any region to dowse most Pokémon and to take out the Dragons you’re sure to see later on. Jasmine’s Steel Types can be tricky, but Water Type Feraligatr is perfect to take down her Steelix. Claire and Lance’s Dragon Types are notoriously tough, but a perfectly chilled Ice Punch is sure to make them shiver in fear. Apart from Claire’s Kingdra. Good luck with that.
Cyndaquil, the adorable Fire echidna/porcupine, can be seen as another Squirtle situation. It starts out lukewarm, doing poorly against Mud Slaps in the Flying Gym and Whitney’s Miltank (who knows the devastating Rollout Move), but it gains easy EXP in Sprout Tower and wrecks Bugsy’s…well, bugs. It soon comes into its own, being the perfect counter to Jasmine’s Steel Types and doing surprisingly well in the Ice Gym and the rest of the game.
It’s a close one, but I think Cyndaquil just edges Totodile, despite the latter’s dominance over Claire and the Elite Four. If only Typhlosian finished off with its regal Ghost Typing that it gains in Hisui—then its supremacy would be much clearer cut. As it is, picking either for Johto won’t do you far wrong.
Hoenn
As the region’s Grass Starter, you’d think that Water-heavy Hoenn would warrant a Treecko line sweep. Well, let’s investigate.
Blaziken, Torchic’s final evolution, is the best Fire and Fighting Pokémon in the game. Sadly, this might not be enough to carry a torch throughout the game. Like a lot of early Fire Starters, it suffers at the beginning of the region due to the early Rock Gym in Rustboro City. Once it becomes Blaziken, however, it becomes durable against Grass, Bug, Ice, Fire, Dark, and even Steel, meaning only Ground/Water Pokémon like Quagsire or Psychic/Water Pokémon like Starmie will ruffle this ferocious falcon’s feathers. Sadly, its biggest disadvantage is Hoenn’s water routes, which comprise half the region.
So, it’s Treecko’s time to shine with a SolarBeam, right? Sceptile, its final evolution, is fast and strong, particularly when it comes to Special Attack. If you’re playing Emerald, with both Water Gym Leader Juan and Elite Four Champion Wallace in the pool, Sceptile is a no-brainer. Plus, unlike Blaziken, Sceptile has an advantage over one of the evil teams, who use Water or Fire Pokémon respectively. This means that you can speed through some of the most repetitive battles in the games that little bit easier—particularly if you’re playing Sapphire.
The problem is, Treecko has a lot of weaknesses. It has limited Type coverage, especially early on when we tend to see a lot of Flying, Bug and Poison Types. Ice Types are also prominent towards the end of the game, meaning that battles like Glacia in the Elite Four are trickier than they seem. Low defensive stats and its dependence on critical hits means that Sceptile is a fine but ultimately risky choice for Hoenn.
That just leaves Mudkip. It has early-game Type advantage due to the Rock, Electric and Fire Gyms, as long as you have evolved Mudkip into its Water/Ground big sibling Marshtomp by the time you take on Wattson. Whilst Hoenn’s Water routes can be a bit frustrating as mutual resistance means we can’t just blast through them, at least we aren’t being drowned left right and centre like Blaziken. Its evolutions have one of the best Typings of any Starter, Water/Ground, nullifying its weakness to Electric types and leaving it with just one weakness—Grass. It’s a bulky, strong choice, with access to powerful STAB moves in Earthquake and Surf. It can even learn Ice Beam for Drake’s Dragon Types in the Elite Four—a crucial advantage in a generation where the Fairy Type hasn’t yet been invented.
Ultimately, despite Blaziken’s clear power, picking up Mudkip will give you an easier time throughout waterlogged Hoenn. Plus, it’s a cute axolotl, which translates to “mud puppy”! Checkmate, rivals.
Sinnoh
Did you know that Sinnoh was the first region ever created by our lord and saviour, Arceus? That means that our Kanto trio weren’t the first Pokémon ever discovered, as previously thought!
Turtwig may be the first time we have seen a truly sturdy, defensive Grass Starter. It has strong physical stats, and throughout the playthrough, it evolves into a tanky, terrestrial tortoise. It’s the type of impressive earthy beast we all deserved in the Bulbasaur line!
Then, when it becomes Torterra, it gains the fantastic Grass/Ground dual Typing. Whilst this means it’s even weaker to Ice moves (so make sure to bench Torterra against Ice-Type Gym Leader Candice!), it gains immunity to Electric attacks. Additionally, if you can get a Pokémon to learn Earthquake, you’re already halfway to victory. This means that, if it comes up against even a Fire or Poison Type, then you can hold your own and potentially come out on top.
The problem is, the Turtwig line has low speed, a limited movepool that hampers its ability to take out its most problematic challenges (Flying and Bug), and considerable vulnerabilities in key battles. This includes Gym Leader Fantina’s Ghosts, two out of the five Elite Four members (Aaron’s Bugs and Flint’s Fire Types), and, of course, Candice’s Ice Types. Take this bulky shellshocker at your own risk.
Piplup, on the other hand, is a real contender. It has solid defences, strong special attack, and key battle utility against the early Rock Type Gym, Gym Leader Byron’s Steel Pokémon (a Typing that’s always a challenge), and even Cynthia’s infamous Garchomp through Empoleon’s ability to learn Ice Beam. I also just love Empoleon. Its unique Water/Steel typing is a force to be reckoned with, allowing it to be a daunting special sweeper.
So what’s the issue? It has a super low speed, meaning that if you are banking on it sweeping, you might not get out a move before you’re taken out yourself. Additionally, its exclusive Typing makes it weak against Fighting, Ground and Electric Types, which are common in Sinnoh. Earthquake is commonly used in the late game and Elite Four and can take Empoleon out swiftly. Gym Leader Volkner can also KO your beloved penguin, if you’re not careful.
As usual, Fire starts off at a disadvantage with Roark’s Rock Gym, but—wait! What’s this? If Chimchar can get enough EXP, Monferno learns the Fighting move Mach Punch at level 14. This gives it advantage against the early Grass Gym, and it doesn’t stop there, burning both Gym Leaders Byron and Candice with its white-hot skills. It might slow down in the Elite Four, with weaknesses against both the Ground Type user Bertha and Psychic enthusiast Lucian, but its early game strength and mid-to-late-game versatility makes Infernape the real MVP of Sinnoh.
Unova
Unova is a tough region to analyse, as not only do we have to look at the first versions of the games, Black and White, but Black 2 and White 2 must also be considered. You start at different points of the region, and the Gyms are challenged in a different sequence depending on your version. So, let’s look at the region more holistically to see which of its Starters fare the best, no matter the order.
Unfortunately, as per, it seems that Snivy is the clear worst choice to take on the New York-inspired region. Whichever version you’re playing sees the intelligent reptile at a disadvantage, all the way through to its final evolution, Serperior. The Gym Leaders boast Poison, Bug, Electric, Flying, Ice, and Dragon Types—all seriously dominant over a mono Grass Type. Additionally, whilst Serperior has decent speed and defensive stats, it has a limited offensive movepool and a lack of strong type coverage. Unfortunately, grabbing yourself a Snivy is Unova’s hard mode.
Tepig and Oshawott are much more well-matched. Oshawott and its subsequent evolutions storm through plenty of the key battles, and, as always, its useful to have a Water Pokémon to teach a powerful Ice Move for any Dragons about. Removing the Ice Gym from the second iterations of the game does help to improve Samurott’s standing, but just not enough to combat Pignite’s superior strong offensive capabilities.
In my opinion, Pignite manages to eek out Samurott in this generation. It has a strong Attack stat, it’s bulky, and it has impressive Type coverage. Team Plasma, the evil team, often uses Dark and Steel Types, meaning that Fire/Fighting is the clear choice to pummel Ghetsis and his goons into the ground and liberate N.
But you know what really makes Tepig, and therefore its final evolution Pignite, the dominant Unovan Starter?
It’s dual Typing.
For some reason, the devil pig is the only Starter to be given two Types: Fire and Fighting. This combination’s clearly a favourite of the Pokémon Company’s—it’s the third Fire/Fighting Starter we got in a row—and its Fighting moves are vital to help out the Fire Pokémon that really suffer against Rock and Ground users, particularly early on.
I feel bad for Snivy and Oshawott, but them’s the breaks! Grab yourself a blazing pig next time you venture into the Big Flapple.
Wrap Up & Next Time
Whether you want an easy sweep or a bit more of a challenge, I hope this list has helped you decide which starter to pick next time you play through a Pokémon game. Keep an eye out for my next blog, where I’ll look at the best starter Pokémon to pick for your playthroughs of Kalos, Alola, Galar, and Paldea.
Let us know your favourite starter via our Zatu socials!