With seven generations of Pokémon, and an eighth scheduled for a worldwide release next year, the series has naturally built up quite a roster of starters to choose from. For the uninformed, starters are those lovable Pokémon you get to choose at the start of the game. They’re always categorized into three types- grass, fire, and water- and they’re meant to be a trainer’s “main” Pokémon for their journey. You’ll be hard-pressed to find very many players who ditch their starters at any point during the single-player campaign. As expected, this is also a trend that carries into the anime and the series’ overall lore.

When ranking all the starters, it’s important to take a few key details into consideration. In no specific order whatsoever, starters are ranked on: their base design along with that of their evolutions; their move pool and how useful they are in combat; how they personally handle their specific region; how unique they are; whether or not they play a prominent role in the anime; their type advantages; and, in some cases, their stat spread. Not every detail will be taken into consideration when ranking a starter and only the main ones will be explicitly stated. With nearly two dozen starters to choose from, where does your favorite stack?

22 Gen 2: Chikorita

Chances are, the moment you read the title of this article you knew Chikorita was going to be at the very bottom. It’s not so much that Chikorita is bad so much as she’s not good. Her evolution line is pure grass, her move pool is underwhelming to say the least, and she’s the least interesting starter to take with you during Generation II. Two of the legendary beasts, and both of the legendary birds, can body her quite easily. Arceus forbid you bring her with you to take on Red. You’re basically digging your grave. Sure, it’s possible to do everything in the game with her as your starter, but the question is: should you?

21 Gen 5: Tepig

Tepig is useful and a solid choice as far as Generation V goes, but he’s also super dumb and a waste of a fire type. Tepig is the third starter Pokémon in a row to be a fire/fighting hybrid and he lacks all the charm of Torchic’s and Chimchar’s evolutionary lines. A pig Pokémon is neat! A pig Pokémon who just becomes an even bigger pig who can punch hard is not.

Tepig stands out all the worst in large part thanks to his role in Generation V. Gen V feels comparatively fresh to most generations. It almost feels like a soft reboot of the series that didn’t stick. At the same time, seeing a starter like Tepig who just repeats what the previous two fire starters did, but worse, makes Gen V comes off derivative even when it’s not. Tepig’s mere existence gives his gen a bad rap.

20 Gen 1: Pikachu

I know what you’re thinking, “Does Pikachu really deserve to be so low on this list?” Yes. Absolutely, yes. To put it bluntly, Pikachu’s role as a starter in Pokémon Yellow is downright horrendous. Pikachu is the sole factor holding Yellow back from being Generation I’s definitive game. First of all, he can’t evolve meaning you’re stuck with a neutered starter; secondly, the game really wants you to use him to the point where it removes a feature to punish you if you box him; and lastly, he just isn’t a good Pokémon.

Being a mascot doesn't exempt you from criticism. 

Pikachu has a lame move pool, a weak state spread, and is basically worthless if he can’t evolve into Raichu. He doesn’t even have Volt Tackle in Generation I, his one redeeming move. Sure, you can teach him surf by connecting Yellow to Stadium, but you’re better off replacing him with Jolteon and pretending you got to bring the much cooler Eevee along with you.

19 Gen 6: Chespin

As far as the starters go, Chespin is actually pretty cute! He has a nice, lovable design that flocks people to him. Which is exactly the problem. Chespin’s biggest problem isn’t that he’s a bad Pokémon, it’s that his evolved forms are so much worse than him when it comes to design. Chespin turning into what’s basically a dodgeball with legs when he evolves into Quilladin is disappointing, but second evolutions are always deceptive. There’s a chance it’ll lead into something cool. Unfortunately, what it leads into is Chesnaught, a Pokémon with a body so big and a head so small he’d put the Goombas in the Super Mario Bros. movie to shame.

18 Gen 7: Litten

It’s not much that Litten’s a bad Pokémon, it's that he is a bland Pokémon. A straight up cat for the most part, he isn’t nearly as visually interesting as Popplio or Rowlet. Along with Alola being a fairly tropical region in nature, his appearance almost clashes with the world at large. Rowlet looks like he belongs in Alola; Popplio looks like he could belong, and Litten looks like a carryover design from a previous region.

A hot cat doesn't exactly mesh with the aesthetic Generation VII is going for. 

To make matters worse, Litten’s final evolution, Incineroar, is immensely disappointing. Instead of fully embracing the feline aesthetic, Incineroar ends up a super ends up looking like a buff furry. His fire/dark type mix is certainly noteworthy and enough to make him a desirable starter if only for one run, but he looks way too much like yet another fire/fighting starter even if that isn’t the case.

17 Gen 7: Popplio

Popplio is a step up from Litten, but not by much. While she looks far more region appropriate, she also suffers from a fairly disappointing final evolution. Primarina looks less like a Pokémon and more like a Shin Megami Tensei demon or Final Fantasy boss. While that’s not an inherently bad trait to have, it doesn’t exactly work for this series. Primarina is way too over-designed for her own good. Her main saving grace is that by being a water/fairy hybrid, she ends up with quite the interesting move pool.

16 Gen 2: Totodile

Totodile being so low almost seems blasphemous, but this is the point of the list where the starters stop being “bad” per se, and more just become “not as good.” As a Pokémon to bring with you on your journey through Johto, Totodile is great. Feraligatr is ferocious, can handle most of the Gyms without breaking a sweat, and even learns some ice type moves to help out against Lance. So what’s the problem?

Honestly, Totodile’s line is just kind of boring. Feraligatr has a cool design and all, but most Pokémon in Johto tend to look better than him. Considering he’s a single type water starter just like Blastoise, he also comes off slightly derivative and not nearly as visually appealing. There’s something nice about his simpler design, but he doesn’t quite compare to his counterparts.

15 Gen 3: Torchic

In a region that’s about half water, is Torchic really the best choice for a starter? In a way, absolutely. You’ll be hard-pressed to find as good a fire type in Hoenn. At the same time, though, do you really want a fire type in Hoenn? If you’re playing Ruby, it’s a bit excusable since Steven is a steel champion, but Wallace in Emerald would straight up punish your poor Blaziken with his water-based team.

The fire/fighting starter who started it all. 

Torchic’s not bad at all outside of Hoenn though. Blaziken has an incredible design, a great move pool, and was the original fire/fighting starter. He’s just a bit awkward to place since context is important when ranking the starters and Hoenn truly is not a good region for a fire type. If nothing else, Torchic makes for a fun hard mode.

14 Gen 5: Oshawott

When it comes to Generation V starters, Oshawott is definitely the “safe” choice. Snivy comes off smug and perhaps too posh for his own good while Tepig is yet another fire/fighting starter, but this time without the luxury of having an interesting or appealing design. Oshawott, on the other hand, is a cute otter with a light color palette and a fairly predictable evolutionary line.

Or so you’d think.

Rather than becoming a bigger, buffer otter with a penchant for being adorable, Oshawott evolves into Samurott: an armored, samurai-inspired sea lion ready to pierce the opposition. It’s a bit out of left field which will likely disappoint fans expecting Oshawott to stay cute as a button, but Samurott is downright awesome. How many Pokémon can you say are a genuine samurai?

13 Gen 3: Treecko

Treecko is proof that true beauty can bloom in even the most unsurprising of places. Just a little green gecko, Treecko is definitely the least interesting of the Hoenn starters, at least on a visual level. Until he starts evolving that is. Each evolution is better than the last, a rare trait for just about any Pokémon. Grovyle gives Treecko an acrobatic quality that screams maturity, and Sceptile is just so prim and proper that it’s hard not to love him.

Be careful who you pick on when they're pre-evo. 

It’s really not hard to see why Sceptile ended up one of Ash’s more iconic Pokémon in the anime. His design is built for combat. The blades on his arms lend themselves naturally to battles and his body type is human enough where he can pull off some genuinely impressive choreography in the animation. Most importantly, he’s just a great looking Pokémon that’s fun to have on any party. That’s a starter worth picking.

12 Gen 5: Snivy

Smug, sinister, seductive, or maybe all of the above, Snivy is certainly one of the more enticing starters in the franchise. His first form is almost laughable in how he presents himself, but his evolutions prove he can hold his bravado well. The appropriately named Serperior looks like a snake right out of Chinese myths. Mythology has typically played a role in the series’ designs, but it’s never felt truer to form than with Serperior. Throw in a surprisingly varied move pool for a single type Pokémon, and Snivy ends up a likable, and useful, starter.

11 Gen 4: Piplup

Arguably the cutest of Sinnoh’s starters, Piplup may seem rather plain at first, but he very quickly turns into an absolute beast. A water/steel penguin named after none other than France’s Napoleon, Empoleon is easily one of the coolest looking Pokémon in the entire franchise. His unique type advantage also makes him incredibly durable. If you’re battling a trainer with a properly trained Empoleon, chances are you aren’t going to last long. Aesthetically pleasing, beyond powerful, and one of the more unique starters in the series, Piplup is a force to be reckoned with.

10 Gen 4: Chimchar

Torchic introduced the concept of the fire/fighting starter, Chimchar perfected it. A charming little monkey whose next evolution is consistently better than his last, Chimchar evolves into the ferocious, terrifically designed Infernape. Infernape is Journey to the West come to life, truly bringing Son Wukong to Pokémon. His design has an almost royal elegance to it. Along with being one of two catchable fire types in Sinnoh, Chimchar comes off all the more worthwhile. Him actually being awesome and taking names only makes picking him all the easier.

9 Gen 4: Fennekin

After three consecutive generations of fire/fighting starters, fans were eager for Game Freak to break free from what was becoming a predictable formula and change up the fire starter for the better. For years, a fire/psychic Pokémon was one of the most requested starter types to the point where it almost seemed like an impossibility. If the jump from 2D to 3D taught us anything, though, it’s that nothing is impossible.

It only took 17 years, but fans finally got their fire/psychic starter. 

In a stroke of genius, Game Fream introduced Fennekin, a firefox who could evolve into a psychic mage. Although Delphox is by no means an overtly powerful Pokémon, her design is downright phenomenal and her unique type advantage gives trainers more than enough room to experiment with her very novel move pool.

8 Gen 1: Squirtle

50% squirt, 50% turtle, and 100% awesome, you could not find a more iconic water type starter if you tried. He may not be the best one in his subgroup, but he’s one of the few Pokémon with the staying power to define the entire franchise for some people. He can breeze through Kanto rather comfortably, Blastoise was Pokémon Blue’s mascot, and he turns into a turtle with literal cannons on his shell. To prove just how cool he is, Squirtle even has his own gang in the anime and gets to wear sunglasses. You’d be a fool not to love him.

7 Gen 2: Cyndaquil

Arguably the most noteworthy of Generation II’s starters, Cyndaquil brings some much-needed heat to Johto. He doesn’t exactly make easy work of the region, and being a pure fire is more a disadvantage than an advantage, but his base design and evolutionary line are so likable that it’s hard not to appreciate Cyndaquil and his evolutions for what they are.

What's not to love about a flaming hot echidna?

Typhlosion is undoubtedly one of the more exciting fire starters in the series and he contrasts rather nicely with Gen I’s Charizard. There’s a clear identity for all the Johto starters, really, keeping them from feeling like carbon copies of their predecessors. That said, Typhlosion does share a stat spread with Charizard. It doesn’t exactly make him a copy, but it does mean he can pack a punch or two when utilized properly.

6 Gen 7: Rowlet

Generation VII was a mixed bag for most people. Despite their flaws, Sun and Moon brought a much-needed dose of fresh air for the series… only for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to release and immediately make the series feel derivative again. There’s a lot to love about Gen VII, and a lot to criticize, but most people can surely agree that Gen VII shines in one key area: Rowlet.

A grass/flying hybrid who evolves into a grass/ghost hybrid? What’s not to love? Decidueye is easily the most memorable Pokémon to come out of Alola proving that Game Freak is still very much capable of busting out the big guns when it comes to their designs. Rowlet may not have been a good fit in Kanto, but his line is proof that the series’ modernization isn’t all bad.

5 Gen 2: Mudkip

You’d think a water type in a region that’s mostly water would end up relatively unpopular, but Mudkip’s the kind of Pokémon who can transcend his regional drawbacks. Swampert is easily one of the coolest looking evolved starters in the series and his ground/water type hybrid gives him a unique advantage other Pokémon simply don’t have. To give you even more perspective on Mudkip’s popularity and sheer likability, he was even meme back in the mid-2000s. That’s got to be worth something.

4 Gen 1: Bulbasaur

Number one in the Pokédex and number one in the hearts of many, Bulbasaur is Generation I’s resident grass type. He may not be as popular as Charmander or Squirtle, but he pulls his weight just as hard. This is a Pokémon who can tear through Kanto like it’s paper all while being a genuine cutie.

Number one in the Pokédex and number one in our hearts. 

Venusaur tends to get a bit of flack for being the “ugliest” of the evolved Gen I starters, but there’s beauty in his design. He may not be as aesthetically pleasing, but there’s some real power in how Venusaur looks. There’s a floral element at play with his almost mythological appearance that makes him come off larger than life. He may not be everyone’s first choice as far as Kanto goes, but he should be. Very few grass types live up to Bulbasaur’s reputation. He’s such a great starter, Red even chooses him in the manga!

3 Gen 6: Froakie

The next time someone tells you that Pokémon designs keep getting worse with each generation, just point to Froakie. Easily one of the best-designed starters in the series, if not quite possibly the best, Froakie is Generation VI’s not so hidden gem. Undeniably the best choice of the starters, this little frog goes on to become a bona fide ninja who’s just as much a water type as he is dark.

The fact Ash's Greninja mega evolves into a Pokémon version of Ash and it works is a testament to how cool Greninja is. 

Seriously, it cannot be understated how cool Greninja ends up being. A water/dark hybrid with one of the best move pools in the series? And he looks awesome? He’s basically Charizard for a modern generation. Along with being in Smash and easily becoming one of Ash’s most iconic Pokémon, Froakie being so high on this list is a no-brainer.