Starter Pokemon have an incredible pedigree. After all, they’ve got the iconic trio of Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle to live up to; they're some of the most beloved Pokemon of all time! With each new generation, then, these are the critters that fans most anticipate seeing, and the ones that they often agonize over choosing between.

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Today, we’re going to look at a particular fan favorite set of starters: Generation III’s Torchic, Mudkip and Treecko. We all know that everybody likes Mudkip, but here are some more obscure facts you may not have known about the Pokemon Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire starters.

Updated on September 2, 2022, by Gabrielle Huston: With a new Pokemon game on the horizon and everyone trying to decide which starter to choose, we can't help but reflect on some of the starters of the past! This article has been refreshed with new entries and extra details.

13 Swampert Is (Officially) The Greatest Fully-Evolved Starter Pokemon Ever

Whoa, whoa, whoa. We know what you’re thinking: "You can’t go ahead and make a controversial statement like that!" The Pokemon community can be a cut-throat bunch — they have their own opinions, and they’re going to voice them. However, Swampert is objectively the best in terms of its overall base stat total.

While this huge, noble creature doesn’t really excel in any one area, its stats are super well-rounded. It has high HP, Attack and solid defenses, lacking only in Speed. As a result, the total of its base stats is 535, which no other starter can touch (Mega Evolutions aside).

12 Marshtomp And Swampert Have A Unique Weakness

Of course, every trio of starter Pokemon to date has followed the Fire-Water-Grass pattern. It’s a staple of the series, even if there are some more interesting alternatives for Game Freak to potentially branch out into.

To date, Marshtomp and Swampert are the only two starter family Pokémon to boast the Water/Ground typing. Fans of obscure Poke-facts will know that, as a result, they’re the only ones to have a double weakness to another starter type (Grass). The whole point of the Fire-Water-Grass thing is that it teaches the way that type advantages work right off the bat, so they’re supposed to be weak to one and resist the other, but this case is unique.

11 Torchic And Blaziken Originally Looked Very Different

Because the mighty Blaziken is just that darn good, many fans have flocked — pun intended — to Torchic upon starting their Pokemon Emerald, Ruby, or Sapphire adventure. Many of us have spent a good deal of time with this adorable little chicken!

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What you probably don’t know, however, is that this particular starter and its final form looked very different in the planning and design stages of the Hoenn generation. The image above shows Blaziken and Torchic in their pre-alpha state. Torchic has rabbit-esque ears and a distinctive pattern on its body, while Blaziken looks eerily similar to Latias.

10 2/3 Of Their Hidden Abilities Are Terrible

When it comes to Hidden Abilities, it’s always a mixed bag with starter Pokemon. Sometimes they’re given a fantastic one, like Greninja’s Protean (which essentially gives it STAB on everything), and sometimes it’s entirely lackluster.

That’s definitely the case with two of the Gen 3 Pokemon starters. Unburden doesn’t do very much for the Treecko line, which is already super speedy. The very bulky Swampert, by the same token, could have done much better than Damp (which prevents explosion attacks).

Meanwhile, though, the Torchic line was given Speed Boost. With this, Blaziken can snowball out of control and leave whole teams shattered.

9 The Treecko Line Is The Most Frail Ever

So, we’ve covered the fact that Swampert is an excellent tank, with its high defensive stats and single weakness. Its fellow Hoenn starter, the Treecko line, is a different case entirely. At least it's pretty cute.

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As a fast and relatively hard hitter, it’s only fair that Treecko and its evolved forms have precious little defense in exchange. That’s video game balancing 101. Sadly, though, although it is very fast (especially after Mega Evolving), Sceptile isn’t all that powerful. It’s quite unfair, then, that Treecko’s pitiful base of 35 Defense is the lowest of any starter in Pokemon history, a trend its evolved forms follow.

8 Treecko Doesn't Flinch, Though

So, yes. With its base 35 Defense in mind, it would be completely understandable if Treecko chose to avoid any and all fights. After all, a snowflake in a volcano is more resilient than this little critter. Don’t dismiss Treecko, though, because it’s as tenacious as it is flimsy.

According to Pokemon Alpha Sapphire’s Pokedex, this teeny lizard is so chilled out that it “never panics under any situation. If a bigger foe were to glare at this Pokemon, it would glare right back without conceding an inch of ground.” So, there’s a lesson learned. Never underestimate a Treecko, no matter what the numbers say.

7 The Fire/Fighting Legacy

Torchic's line began the trend of the Fire-Type starter evolving to become a Fire/Fighting-Type. The next two generations after Pokemon Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire included Fire/Fighting-Type starters! There hasn't been a Fire/Fighting-Type starter since then, so the tradition isn't as big as some people make it out to be, but it does feel pretty significant to have three starters from three different generations with all the same Type pairing. Plus, Cinderace really looks like it could be an honorary Fire/Fighting-Type.

6 Mega Sceptile Is Just The Fastest… Everything

We’ve already touched on one of the cardinal rules of video game designs: wherever there are multiple characters to pick from (especially in fighting games), things work out best if they have different strengths and weaknesses. You know, the brawny and tanky characters who are agonizingly slow, the nimble speedsters who hit like wet noodles — that sort of thing.

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Mega Sceptile is no powerhouse, but it’s an excellent cleaner. At base 145 Speed, it’s the fastest fully-evolved starter ever. Not only that, it’s one of the fastest Pokemon to date, outpaced only by Electrode (base 150), Pheromosa (base 151), and Ninjask (base 160).

5 Gender Differences

Pokemon having different characteristics depending on gender was introduced officially in the fourth generation of Pokemon games (with the small exception of Nidoran), but Torchic is one that has a tiny gender difference! On males, there's a tiny little brown dot on its back. It's apparently a reference to "vent sexing," which is a technique that Japanese farmers use to determine the sex of a newborn chick.

Torchic is generally considered to have the smallest gender difference since it amounts to just one pixel. On top of that, the Torchic line also holds the title of the only line of starter Pokemon where all members have gender differences! A female Combusken has larger feathers on its head than the males, and a female Blaziken has a smaller crest on its head than the males.

4 Mudkip Hides Its True, Incredible Power

Now, there’s no denying that Mudkip is one heck of an adorable little creature. Just look at its face, the face that launched a thousand snarky memes. Be that as it may, though, Mudkip certainly isn’t to be underestimated. Have you heard about the astonishing power that dwells within it?

As the Alpha Sapphire Pokedex explains, “If it is faced with a tight situation in battle, this Pokemon will unleash its amazing power — it can crush rocks bigger than itself.” Can you imagine being able to do this yourself? Not unless you’re Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5, you can’t.

3 Blaziken's Anime Debut

Most Pokemon are introduced in the Pokemon anime after they've been officially unveiled in a game. Ash tends to journey to the newest region after its game has come out to avoid any spoilers for the players.

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There is an exception to the rule, though, and it's Blaziken! Blaziken is the only starter form from any generation (after the first) to appear in the anime before its game was released. It meant that tons of players knew what Torchic's evolution looked like! Its anime debut was in the 265th episode, 'Pop Goes The Sneasel.' That episode is the first time the Hoenn region is mentioned in the anime, too.

2 Swampert Is Actually A Speed Demon (Sometimes)

As we’ve already seen, Swampert’s fantastic all-around bulky stats give it the highest base stat total of any fully-evolved starter Pokemon. Its only drawback is that it’s super slow, right? Well, try telling it that after it’s outsped your entire team and crushed them beneath its huge, meaty, Arnold Schwarzenegger biceps.

That’s right, friends. This magnificent creature is Mega Swampert, and it defies every rule of Pokemon design logic. Despite looking like it weighs about as much as the Chrysler Building, this thing boasts the Swift Swim Ability, allowing it to get the drop on just about everything in the right circumstances.

1 A Combusken Was Once Nurse Joy’s Guard

Now, as all Pokemon fans know, the anime isn’t afraid to play a little fast and loose with the established rules. Pokemon evolution, in particular, is a muddy issue, with Pokemon spontaneously evolving during battle and all sorts of shenanigans.

What happens when a Torchic that was intended as a starter Pokemon gets all riled up and spontaneously evolves into Combusken? Well, apparently, it’s secretly swapped for May’s Torchic, which new trainers are dissuaded from choosing. This sneaky deed was perpetrated by Ash himself in the episode “Having a Wailord of a Time,” with the Combusken being chosen by Nurse Joy to guard the Pokemon Center.

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