Pokémon Which generation had the best starters so far?
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LinkToTheWorld
The past is obdurate
Ah, is incineroar unpopular?
I never took much notice. I actually really like it. Gen 7 are brilliant starters in my opinion. Planning on doing a 3rd playthrough with Popplio, Primarina looks like it could do well competitively
Halloqueen
Senior Member
It's actually pretty difficult for me to decide on which starter trio is my favorite. Quite a few of them have pretty strong contenders. After mulling it over for a while, I think it comes down to either Gen I or Gen IV.
Gen I: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle greatly benefit from nostalgic affection for me. I'm not particularly interested in their middle evolutions, but Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise all have pretty great designs and Blastoise is one of my favorite starter Pokemon overall. Combine nostalgia, strong designs, and the attention they've been paid in recent years with Hidden Abilities and Mega Evolutions and they are very tempting choices for my favorites.
Gen IV: Not a big fan of Sinnoh, but I very much enjoy Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. Torterra is an awesome looking Pokemon with a fun typing, penguins are my favorite animals so Piplup and its evolutions are great in my opinion, and Infernape looks fantastic and has the great Iron Fist Hidden Ability. Their typings and movesets are nice, and I gained a lot of affection for them after using them all in an Alpha Sapphire playthrough.
I think I have to give the vote to Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle/Gen I just because they've been given so much attention and love over the years
Honorable Mentions have to go to Gen II and Gen VII.
Gen II: The Johto games are some of my favorites in the franchise, and Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile and their evolutionary lines play no small part in why I enjoy them so much. Feraligatr has a great design and Hidden Ability, and to my recollection was the first Pokemon I ever leveled up fully to 100 back in Crystal. Also as much as I love a lot of the other Fire-type starter Pokemon and their dual-typing, there's something to be said of Typhlosion and its plain Fire typing. Meanwhile, despite also liking Meganium and its design, I don't like it nearly as much as other starters so it kinda drags Gen II down when comparing the trios like this.
Gen VII: I really, REALLY like the starter trio from Sun & Moon. Rowlet is hands-down my favorite first-form starter in the series, and all three Alolan starters have really great final evolution designs. Decidueye's archer design is great, I'm a lifelong fan of professional wrestling and love Incineroar's heel theme, and Primarina has a great look and interesting concepts behind its design. Despite all of this, I feel like both the Rowlet and Popplio lines take missteps that are kind of disappointing. Decidueye, while a great design on its own, feels like it's not related at all to Rowlet and Dartrix. Meanwhile, the difference from Popplio to Primarina is staggering and I don't feel that Brionne does a sufficient job of making the transition feel natural. Combine these issues with the terrible Speed stats of all three Alolan starters and it drags things down too much for the trio to be my favorite.
As for the others...
Gen III: While I really like the Blaziken evolutionary line, I'm not as interested in the Sceptile or Swampert evolutionary lines. They aren't bad, and I do like them, but they don't compare to the others.
Gen V: The Serperior evolutionary line is great and I like it even more now that it has had its Hidden Ability Contrary made available last year. I'm less interestd in the Emboar line but still like it, and the Samurott is just not very interesting to me.
Gen VI: The Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja evolutionary lines are all great in my opinion, but I don't feel as interested in them as I am the other trios.
TLDR; Gen I > Gen IV > Gen II > Gen VII > Gen VI > Gen III > Gen V
Gen I: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle greatly benefit from nostalgic affection for me. I'm not particularly interested in their middle evolutions, but Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise all have pretty great designs and Blastoise is one of my favorite starter Pokemon overall. Combine nostalgia, strong designs, and the attention they've been paid in recent years with Hidden Abilities and Mega Evolutions and they are very tempting choices for my favorites.
Gen IV: Not a big fan of Sinnoh, but I very much enjoy Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. Torterra is an awesome looking Pokemon with a fun typing, penguins are my favorite animals so Piplup and its evolutions are great in my opinion, and Infernape looks fantastic and has the great Iron Fist Hidden Ability. Their typings and movesets are nice, and I gained a lot of affection for them after using them all in an Alpha Sapphire playthrough.
I think I have to give the vote to Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle/Gen I just because they've been given so much attention and love over the years
Honorable Mentions have to go to Gen II and Gen VII.
Gen II: The Johto games are some of my favorites in the franchise, and Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile and their evolutionary lines play no small part in why I enjoy them so much. Feraligatr has a great design and Hidden Ability, and to my recollection was the first Pokemon I ever leveled up fully to 100 back in Crystal. Also as much as I love a lot of the other Fire-type starter Pokemon and their dual-typing, there's something to be said of Typhlosion and its plain Fire typing. Meanwhile, despite also liking Meganium and its design, I don't like it nearly as much as other starters so it kinda drags Gen II down when comparing the trios like this.
Gen VII: I really, REALLY like the starter trio from Sun & Moon. Rowlet is hands-down my favorite first-form starter in the series, and all three Alolan starters have really great final evolution designs. Decidueye's archer design is great, I'm a lifelong fan of professional wrestling and love Incineroar's heel theme, and Primarina has a great look and interesting concepts behind its design. Despite all of this, I feel like both the Rowlet and Popplio lines take missteps that are kind of disappointing. Decidueye, while a great design on its own, feels like it's not related at all to Rowlet and Dartrix. Meanwhile, the difference from Popplio to Primarina is staggering and I don't feel that Brionne does a sufficient job of making the transition feel natural. Combine these issues with the terrible Speed stats of all three Alolan starters and it drags things down too much for the trio to be my favorite.
As for the others...
Gen III: While I really like the Blaziken evolutionary line, I'm not as interested in the Sceptile or Swampert evolutionary lines. They aren't bad, and I do like them, but they don't compare to the others.
Gen V: The Serperior evolutionary line is great and I like it even more now that it has had its Hidden Ability Contrary made available last year. I'm less interestd in the Emboar line but still like it, and the Samurott is just not very interesting to me.
Gen VI: The Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja evolutionary lines are all great in my opinion, but I don't feel as interested in them as I am the other trios.
TLDR; Gen I > Gen IV > Gen II > Gen VII > Gen VI > Gen III > Gen V
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TheEchoTimes
Proud ace nerd
Well, it was when it was first revealed by Nintendo, at least on Tumblr. (I don't have a blog or anything, but I like to browse the Sun and Moon tag on anon.) Before that, all the Litten fans were vehemently in denial despite all the evidence pointing towards the veracity of the leaks. After they were confirmed, well.. All heck broke loose.Ah, is incineroar unpopular?
Litten fans ran to Primarina in droves, the Rowlet fanbase was split between cool archer boi Decidueye and the newly popular Popplio line, and the "Popplio Defense Squad" was mercilessly making fun of Incineroar and all the Litten fans whom they claimed were getting "karmic justice" for teasing their poor precious Popplio early on, not realizing the irony of downing Incineroar to the seven hells and back.
Now, however, all three starter-loving tribes can coexist peacefully, and Incineroar fans can make their fanart and love posts in peace.
I love my big heel cat too~ I was originally going to get Primarina, but he won me over just before release day~~~
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toadsworthy
Tangsworthy
Snivy --> Serperior are my favorite starters... I always was drawn to Serperior. However, Tepig and Oshawott lines are probably my least favorite in the whole bunch lol! so I cant pick gen 5's
The originals were all cool, but like I never liked them THAT much. And Charizard always got the most attention, I hated when there is one starter always favored over the others.
So Gen 1 and Gen 2 were like blah. I can't even remember who I picked for Gen 2 honestly...
Gen 3 was always solid, but swampert and sceptile mega evolutions lost me, ew.
Gen 4 angered me because I wanted Empoleon to be so good, and I was so disappointed raising mine. The other two never struck my fancy either....
Gen 5 had Snivy but that was it. The other two were terrible.
Gen 6 now... They all were nicely balanced design wise, a blast to raise and I thought had a really cool set to each other. I had the hardest time picking between them all over all the others. They are nicely developed where the others seem like gross creatures. I honestly like Greninja, but he was probably my least favorite of the three.
Gen 7 Popplio was a travesty, Decidueye was too hyped and ended up being kinda clunky imo. I liked Litten the most, but Incineroar's gimmick was too gimmicky (like if Gen 6 had been done bad).
The originals were all cool, but like I never liked them THAT much. And Charizard always got the most attention, I hated when there is one starter always favored over the others.
So Gen 1 and Gen 2 were like blah. I can't even remember who I picked for Gen 2 honestly...
Gen 3 was always solid, but swampert and sceptile mega evolutions lost me, ew.
Gen 4 angered me because I wanted Empoleon to be so good, and I was so disappointed raising mine. The other two never struck my fancy either....
Gen 5 had Snivy but that was it. The other two were terrible.
Gen 6 now... They all were nicely balanced design wise, a blast to raise and I thought had a really cool set to each other. I had the hardest time picking between them all over all the others. They are nicely developed where the others seem like gross creatures. I honestly like Greninja, but he was probably my least favorite of the three.
Gen 7 Popplio was a travesty, Decidueye was too hyped and ended up being kinda clunky imo. I liked Litten the most, but Incineroar's gimmick was too gimmicky (like if Gen 6 had been done bad).
Nerd House
Content Creator
I'm quite partial to the Gen 2 starters. Always picked Cyndaquil.
watercolorwish
Happy🎃Halloween!
i may not be really familiar with gen 2 (the only gen i havent played) but i really like all 3 starters and their evolutions. they each have something about them that i really like which is rare in starters! i usually only like one starter but gen 2 has some adorable pokes. even through each phase lol
a close second is gen 6 but only because of nostalgia...X/Y was my first game so thats probably why. i also really liked what they were based off of (knight, mage, ninja). their final evolutions were all really great as well.
gen 7 comes in third mostly because of their final evolutions, but they're starting to grow on me tbh especially incineroar. i really like what they did for the color pallets of the starters too, especially with litten and popplio (i love pink and blue together same with red and black).
now... gen 4 has to be the worst mostly because i dont like monkeys or most birds and i didnt even understand what the grass type one was, but i do have to admit that piplups evolution line was pretty awesome. but all the other starters were just not that great especially their final evoltions. i found this gen to be kinda...color impaired??? lotsa things in gen 4 were colored wrong imo even characters hair colors (hint hint elite 4). these are imo btw
a close second is gen 6 but only because of nostalgia...X/Y was my first game so thats probably why. i also really liked what they were based off of (knight, mage, ninja). their final evolutions were all really great as well.
gen 7 comes in third mostly because of their final evolutions, but they're starting to grow on me tbh especially incineroar. i really like what they did for the color pallets of the starters too, especially with litten and popplio (i love pink and blue together same with red and black).
now... gen 4 has to be the worst mostly because i dont like monkeys or most birds and i didnt even understand what the grass type one was, but i do have to admit that piplups evolution line was pretty awesome. but all the other starters were just not that great especially their final evoltions. i found this gen to be kinda...color impaired??? lotsa things in gen 4 were colored wrong imo even characters hair colors (hint hint elite 4). these are imo btw
Soot Sprite
~dirty~
Gen 2 is definitely my favorite. Johto is my favorite region, and the first one I played so I'm a little biased on my opinion. Cyndaquil will always be my favorite starter line, but i do like Venusaur and Serperior better. I'm more a grass type starter but I have a soft spot for Typhlosion.
Hopeless Opus
diluc is my king
gen 3 had the best starters hand down, gen 2 in 2nd, gen 1 in 3rd. the others are all weak af
daughterofdawn
Novice Author
Gen 4 were the ones that had the most impression on me, mostly because I got so attached to my Torterra after ages of playing. I didn't care much for Gen 5 as I traded my Servine for a shiny Zoroak not far into the game 
Pansear-and-Nana
✣✾Stupid Monkey✾✣
*crying* 3-4-5 gen starters are so adorable and memorable
I loved playing around with mudkip memes as a kid, and torchic was my first starter ever(started playing in gen3).
I had a piplup and chimchar in a rom game and I named them funny words.
I was a big oshawott fan, and because of that, I also got pansear in my gameplay. They were like brothers!
Not a big fan of grass type starters. The only grass type starter I chose out of each gen is Chespin, but it seems to be the least favorite of this community.
I loved playing around with mudkip memes as a kid, and torchic was my first starter ever(started playing in gen3).
I had a piplup and chimchar in a rom game and I named them funny words.
I was a big oshawott fan, and because of that, I also got pansear in my gameplay. They were like brothers!
Not a big fan of grass type starters. The only grass type starter I chose out of each gen is Chespin, but it seems to be the least favorite of this community.
GreatUsername
the koala guy
Probably gen 5, really like the evolutionary lines of all of these, specifically tepig
It's Generation I, isn't it? All the other generations have 1 where I'm not too keen, if it weren't for Chikorita then Generation II would take it since Cyndaquil and Totodile beat Charmander and Squirtle individually, plus they are the only starters to have a single type all the way through evolution. I started with Bulbasaur too so am officially biased.
Torn between 3 and 7. They're the only gens in which I don't hate any of the starters, and LOVE 2 of 'em instead of just one.
In gen 3 I love Sceptile and Blaziken the same way and Swampert ain't bad either.
Gen 7 has Decidueye and Primarina, which have both AMAZING designs, and Incineroar while not great is ok too.
In gen 3 I love Sceptile and Blaziken the same way and Swampert ain't bad either.
Gen 7 has Decidueye and Primarina, which have both AMAZING designs, and Incineroar while not great is ok too.
