Every Pokémon game has always begun in the exact same way: you first identify your gender (a questionable practice in today’s enlightened climate regarding gender identity), then you pick your name, and then you are presented with three starter Pokémon. Without any information other than their typing you’re expected to choose one that will become a lifelong partner on your journey to becoming League Champion.
What a load of Zubat guano.
Think about it: in virtually no other environment are you given a selection of three competitors and told to pick the winner on looks alone. It’s ridiculous, and yet you’re required to know from the start which of those adorable digital creatures will grow up to become a League-dominating terror.
That’s why I’m never an early adopter of the latest Pokémon game. While those poor schmucks are picking whatever ‘mon they feel is cutest, I wait to see a few stats before I start training my champion. Then it’s brutal combat day and night until I’ve got a monster worthy of the name.
Some may say this mentality defeats the purpose of Pokémon, that it’s about building a bond of trust and love with your little creature and not about the fighting. To them, I say “nuts to that!” Pokémon has been and always will be about winners and losers, and I only pick winners.
Here’s 8 winning starter Pokémon and 7 losers that only the weakest of trainers would ever pick.
15 BEST: The Flame Of Victory
If you ask some grizzled Pokémon veterans they might tell you that Bulbasaur was the starter to pick in the old Pokémon Red & Blue days. They’d tell you that the first few gyms are all weak to grass (both Water and Rock were among the first three gyms you competed at), while those same gyms all had advantages against a fire type like Charmander.
To those old sissies, I say “no pain, no gain!” Ensuring your Charmander was high enough level to even consider fighting against water-types meant that you had to have a strong competitor in your team!
Besides that, in later generations, Charmander gained a Mega-Evolution in Charizard that gives him huge growth potential for taking on the Elite Four. Charmander is by far one the strongest starters you can ever hope to pick.
14 WORST: The Feeblest Vine Whipper
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Bulbasaur used to be the go-to pick in the days of Pokémon Red & Blue, having type advantages over the first few gyms that made it into a powerhouse. But then the games evolved, the way attack power and moves were calculated changed, and Bulbasaur would now be a terrible choice for a starter.
Like Turtwig, Bulbasaur learns several normal attack moves during its development but has a far higher special attack stat, making those normal attacks seem weak and feeble. Worst still, it never learns anything but Grass-type moves, and has access to very few TMs that give it coverage beyond its regular Grass typing. Mega Venusaur, Bulbasaur’s eventual Mega-Evolution, does solve this problem somewhat but it’s a big hill to climb for a Pokémon that doesn’t really compare to the best on this list. For these reasons, Bulbasaur should be avoided by aspiring trainers.
13 BEST: Don’t Diss This Chic
If I were to pick the best starter of all of them, Torchic would be near the top of the list. It evolves at an early level 16, it gains both a Fire and Flying-type attack after level 10, and it eventually evolves into Blaziken, one of the undisputed kings of the competitive Pokémon circuit.
Those qualities alone kept it at the top of the heap for over a decade, but the release of Pokémon X & Y gave Torchic’s evolutionary line yet another distinct advantage: a Mega-Evolution. Mega-Blaziken is a ridiculous fighter, having an attack stat of 160 - that’s stronger than Arceus, the Pokémon-god of the universe. With that kind of power, you can often one-shot off-type Pokémon, making Mega-Blaziken literally unstoppable. If you want to win, pick Torchic.
12 WORST: A Water-Type Without Water Moves
Totodile has the same problem Turtwig has, only even worse than either Turtwig or Litten. It learns one on-type move, Water Gun, and then doesn’t learn any other Water attack until level 50. Water Gun is a terribly weak move, and not only that, it’s a special attack when Totodile is a normal attack Pokémon, making Water Gun even worse. Without learning any other Water-type moves, Totodile is severely underpowered throughout its life.
Things don’t get much better with its evolution Feraligatr as it remains a normal attack sweeper without gaining access to powerful Water-type normal attacks. With some effort, Feraligatr can learn a multitude of moves to give it decent coverage, but it never gets the same power as any of the best Pokémon on this list. Totodile is a definite loser.
11 BEST: The Killer Chestnut
After the lunacy of Blaziken, Pokémon’s developers decided to cut back a bit on the power levels. Chespin may not have the same potential as Torchic to turn into a world-ending monster, but he’s definitely a strong choice for one very simple reason: coverage.
Having a type advantage over your opponent is critical to success in Pokémon. You can have the defensive advantage by having a typing that your opponent can’t strike super-effectively against, or you can have attacks that can strike your opponent for super-effective damage.
Chespin gains a whopping three moves very early in its development that allows it to strike with double damage against nearly every type of Pokémon it faces. On top of that, it has an incredible pool of moves it can learn from to develop its type coverage even further. If Chespin were just a bit faster, it would even be better than Charmander.
10 WORST: Shoulda Stayed In Anime
There’s a reason why Ash keeps losing in the cartoon - it’s because he insists on using a Pikachu as his lead fighter. Pikachu is an inherently limited Pokémon that can never reach the power levels seen by the likes of Blaziken or Swampert.
I’ll admit that Pikachu does have an early-game advantage in that it often was faster than any other Pokémon it fought, and that it learns some on-type moves fairly early, but it's after the early-game that Pikachu starts to suffer. Raichu, the evolution of Pikachu, is extremely fragile and often falls to the weakest of attacks. Its most powerful move, Thunder, has terrible accuracy that will often fail you in your most desperate hour.
Sun & Moon did bring an Alola form that gains a powerful Z Move as well as the Fairy type that helps with survivability, but since you can’t pick Pikachu as your starter in Sun & Moon, it’s a non-factor.
9 BEST: We Do Like Mudkips
Mudkip received a bad wrap when they were first released in Gen II. It looked weird, it was kinda slow, and worst of all, it was a normal attack-based damage dealer when all the moves it learned were special attacks. For generations, the noble Mudkip languished.
Then came Gen VI. and Mega-Evolutions, and the whole ballgame changed for the mighty Mudkip.
Mudkip still has problems early on with having weak attacks, but as it develops it games a strong Water-Ground typing, and then after finally evolving into Swampert it gains powerful normal attacks and a game-changing Mega-Evolution. Now you see this brutal tank slough off damage that would faint even the hardiest of ‘mon. Not bad for a Pokémon that grew up as a meme for weakness.
8 WORST: A Terribly Tiny Turtle
Turtwig suffers the same problem as Litten does, only much worse. It begins life with access to plenty of special attack moves, but it starts off with a higher normal attack stat and never gains any power in its special attack. This means that for more of Turtwig’s life it has horribly underpowered attacks that will fail to dent even the weakest of opposing Pokémon.
Eventually, Turtwig evolves into Torterra where it finally gains access to more powerful normal attack moves, but its strength never really compares to the likes of Charizard or Blaziken, making it feel weak even when it’s fully evolved. It does have some toughness which can be helpful at times, but the mark of a true champion has always been power, and that’s something Turtwig severely lacks.
7 BEST: A Ninja In Disguise
Like many Pokémon on this list, Froakie is a bit disarming. But looks can be deceiving, as behind that mask of gentle ignorance is a ninja lying in wait, ready to strike after it gets enough experience. That’s just how Pokémon-ninjas work.
There’s a lot to like about Froakie. It gets an on-type move very early at level 5, and can be trained in either normal or special attacks depending on the trainer’s needs for their team. Later, Froakie evolves into Greninja, an extremely strong special sweeper that can single-handedly decimate teams with quick and powerful abilities. It can also dodge attacks if Greninja has its Hidden Ability: Protean. It causes any move it uses to change its typing to be that of the move, meaning you can throw out a Psychic attack to dodge an incoming Fighting move. In the hands of a veteran trainer, Froakie (and Greninja) can be terrifying opponents indeed.
6 WORST: The Sniveling Snake Starter
There is one word that describes Snivy’s problem: underpowered. Sure, it’s tough, and it’s fast, but if it can’t get in there and down its opponent then Snivy is of no use to anyone.
It wouldn’t be so bad if Snivy, and its later evolution Serperior, had the toughness to put down a few entry hazards and then poison its opponent to death, but it doesn’t have nearly the toughness as a real Grass tank like Ferrothorn or even Chesnaught. The speed to get in the first move is nothing without the power to down your opponent or the toughness to survive counterattack, and so Serperior suffers in every role it could find itself.
Combined with the fact that Snivy learns nothing but Grass moves through its evolution, and it is one of the weakest starters of any Pokémon game.
5 BEST: Adorable, But Deadly
The latest generation of Pokémon starters have been largely disappointing to professional trainers, but one stands head and shoulders above the rest: Rowlet.
Rowlet has several features that set it apart from any other starter. First, it naturally learns an assortment of moves that provide it with decent coverage of Pokémon types. Second, it eventually evolves into Decidueye and gains a unique Grass-Ghost typing, allowing it to dodge Normal and Fighting moves entirely. And third, and most importantly, Decidueye has access to ultra-powerful Z Moves, capable of downing any opponent in one blow.
Rowlet is far from perfect, with a notable weakness being a lack of speed until it finally evolves into Decidueye, but it has potential that far outweighs the other starters in Sun & Moon.
4 WORST: A Schizophrenic Starter
Litten suffers from a typical problem among the worst starters on this list: it begins life as one thing, but ends it as something completely different.
Let me show you what I mean. In the beginning, Litten is fast and learns some early on-type special attack moves that set it up to become a special attack sweeper (that is, a Pokémon that tries to sweep opposing teams by always going first and hitting hard enough to down each opponent that comes up). Litten evolves into Torracat, another fast special attack specialist, but then eventually evolves into Incineroar where things get flipped on their head. Instead of having powerful special attack moves and speed, it gains powerful normal attack and goes slow as molasses, wasting whatever training you performed in special attack and speed.
All that wasted progress makes Litten a terrible choice for a starter.
3 BEST: It Can Hear You Just Fine
I’ve always been suspect of Fennekin. Mostly because it eventually evolves into something that has more ear hair than a 200-year-old Romanian man that’s been dowsing his ear canals in Rogaine for the past century. But despite its appearance, Fennekin is undeniably a strong choice for aspiring trainers.
From the very start, Fennekin identifies itself as a special attack sweeper, and it doesn’t change its role at any point in its evolution. This allows you to train up its stats in a consistent way that will eventually lead to a very powerful end-game. Fire-Psychic typing on Delphox is very strong for coverage, and with an arsenal of naturally-learned moves, Fennekin is a very easy Pokémon to train into a true competitor.
2 WORST: The Circus Clown
As a starter, Popplio isn't that bad. It starts with Water Gun and quickly learns Disarming Voice to give him some pretty good early coverage. It mostly learns special attacks and his special attack stat stays consistently strong throughout its evolution. It also has access to powerful Z moves to give it some real late-game punch. It also gets a very strong set of defensive stats, the Fairy typing gives it, even more, damage mitigation from Dragon, Bug, Fire, and Water moves, and if it didn't have such a crappy speed stat I'd say it's almost perfect.
So why is it so awful? Clowns. It's a clown. I'm terrified of clowns. Popplio is useless to me because I throw my 3DS away in terror whenever it pops up on my screen.
1 BEST: Say Wott?
In many ways, Oshawott is a lot like Froakie. It gains access to on-type moves at an early level, it can be either a normal or special attack sweeper depending on its trainer’s whims, and it eventually evolves into the powerful Samurott as its final form.
However, Oshawott has a distinct advantage over Froakie in that it learns its signature move at level 17 - far earlier than any other starter since signature moves became a thing. Razor Shell is an amazingly powerful attack that hits at 75, which is a power level that most other Pokémon have to wait well into their 20s or even 30s to possess. This early power boost will make any trainer with Oshawott on their team glad they picked the little warrior otter.