Favorite Starter Pokémon Picker

From Kanto to Paldea: The History of Starter Pokémon

The tradition of choosing a starter Pokémon was established in the very first games in 1996. From a design standpoint, the choice between Grass, Fire, and Water is intentional: these three types form a perfect elemental circle where each one counters the next (Fire beats Grass, Grass beats Water, Water beats Fire). This triangle ensures there is no objectively "wrong" choice—only different experiences.

What makes each generation's starters special is how they evolve beyond this basic triangle. Generation 2's Chikorita (Grass), Cyndaquil (Fire), and Totodile (Water) are deceptively simple designs that explode in personality during their final evolutions—Meganium becomes a gentle floral giant, Typhlosion a fierce badger warrior, Feraligatr a terrifying prehistoric crocodile. Generation 5 broke tradition by making all three Unova starters dual-type, giving each one a more complex narrative: Serperior is pure Grass royalty, Emboar adds Fighting aggression to Fire, and Samurott becomes a Water-type samurai.

Generation 9's Paldea starters—Sprigatito (Grass/Fairy), Fuecoco (Fire/Ghost), and Quaxly (Water/Fighting)—represent Game Freak pushing even further into adventurous dual-type combinations. Fuecoco's Ghost typing, referencing the "dead flame" aesthetic, is particularly striking and unexpected. The Nuzlocke challenge community has made starter choice a strategic decision of enormous consequence: choosing the wrong starter for a Nuzlocke can result in an early-game loss against the first rival battle that ends an entire run.

Starter Powerhouses: How Starters Dominate Competitive Play

Starter Pokémon are not just nostalgia machines—many of them have become genuine titans of competitive play. Their designs are deliberately polished, and their abilities are often among the most unique in the game, giving them distinctive competitive identities that non-starter Pokémon rarely achieve.

Blaziken holds the extraordinary distinction of being the first Pokémon ever banned to the Smogon Ubers tier due to a hidden ability. When Speed Boost was revealed as its Dream World ability in Generation 5, it immediately outclassed every other physical attacker in the metagame—raising its already good Speed by one stage each turn until nothing could outspeed it. Blaziken's ban was so controversial that it sparked widespread debate about the legitimacy of banning Pokémon based solely on one specific ability.

Greninja is perhaps the most famous example of a starter defining an entire generation's competitive narrative. Its Protean ability—which changes its type to match whichever move it is about to use—effectively gives every single one of its attacks a 50% STAB bonus. This results in incredibly powerful, unpredictable damage output that made Greninja one of the premier offensive threats in Generation 6 and 7. Its appearance in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Ultimate also introduced it to millions of non-Pokémon players.

Cinderace's Libero ability in Generation 8 was Protean under a different name, and the discourse around whether it should be allowed in OU was immediate. Similarly, Swampert's Mega Evolution combined 150 base Attack with Swift Swim under rain to create a terrifying rain sweeper. Virtually every generation produces at least one competitive standout from the starter trio. Don't miss our dedicated Fire Pokémon Picker to rank the Fire starters against the entire Fire-type roster!