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I really want to know which starter does best in every game because I have my opinions and theories, but I'd like to know the facts of the subject.

Answer in terms of which starter makes completing the playthrough most efficient and hassle-free.

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Swampert in gen 3 for sure
In gen three, it is Swampert but it has a neutral matchup against most of the game

In gen four, definitely Infernape. Fire types are not that common in gen four so that's already a point in its favor and it has incredible high based damage stabs. It's also really fast so that's something and has priority mach punch, which you will rarely need but useful in the early game

In gen five, I think it is Oshawott for the same reasons as Swampert. It mostly has a neutral matchup with the exception of the electric gym

In gen six, I think it is Chespin. I'm not sure on that though

In gen seven, I'm not sure about this but I would say whatever the water type is since it gets the fairy typing and water is a very good type
Neutral matchup? It beats Roxanne, Wattson, Flannery, and Liza & Tate which it’s STABs. It also has coverage for Winona, Sidney, and Glacia. It also learns a bunch of HMs which is helpful.
Oh in that case Swampert has an even better matchup than I first thought. If that's the case, then Swampert is definitely the best. Now that you mention it, the only thing that Swampert has to worry about is one Roselia somewhere. I can't exactly remember where it is. I think it was in the desert
Are gym leaders and the Elite 4 really all that you need to worry about in a playthrough? Rival battles and other significant battles exist, too, but not a single person has mentioned anything other than gym leaders and the Elite 4 in their answers.
No. I don't think any of the answers are great.

4 Answers

0 votes

here's the answer for your question with all the knowledge I have and with a bit of help with the video that MandJtv made aka micheal .

kanto gen 1 red/blue : bulbasaur, mainly because it one handedly handles brock then misty.after that heres the type match up lt.surge resists,erika resista,sabrina weak but wilk survive atleast one hit t counter,koga neutral,blaine weak,giovani strong

yellow : easy pikachu. because it is the only one.

gen 2 johto g/s/c :even though totodile does do a better with surf and strength but will lack power for e4. so cyndaquill the better starter. i've used it in silver and handled the ef alone almost had to switch here and there but mostly typhlosion handles everything with this moveset
fire pinch
thunder punch
earth quacke
strength

gen 3 hoen r/s/e : mudkip but torchic close second. handels roxanne,wattson,flanner,tate and liza

gen 3 kanto fr/lg : bulbasaur same as gen 1 r/b

gen 4 d/p/plat : chimchar roark,gardenia,maylene's lucario,candice,byron

gen 4 hg/ss : totodile you can figure it out by watching micheal's can I beat Pokemon hg without cathcing any Pokemon.

gen 5 b/w/b2/w2 :piginite brycen burgh lenora

gen 6 x/y : as you said delphox,venasaur

gen 6 oras : again mudkip for same resons as gen 3 but with mega

gen 7 s/m/us/um : poplio handles almost half of the trials alone and with a creative move set maybe even more than half.

gen 7 lp/le : depending on version eevee for let's go eevee and pikachu for let's go pikachu

gen 8 sw/sh : scorbunny because it handles milo,melony for shield but not for sword and raihan's ace duraludon

gen 8 bd/sp ( with all info we have) : chimcahr same resons as gen 4

gen 8 legends arceus : we don't know a lot about it so far but we know that the starters are cyndaquill,rowlet,oshwat.

hope this helps because i'm an kid (12 years old) so please don't scold me I tried my best to give the best answer.
sorry in advance if you didn't like it

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Glad someone else knows Mikey!
0 votes

OK, I agree with some people about different things.
First, Bulbasaur is the best Gen 1 starter.
This is because the first gym is Rock, the second gym is water, the third & fourth gyms are strong against Squirtle,
Giovanni's gym is Ground, and that's mostly it.

As for Gen 2, Totodile is the best, although they're all fun. This is because Jasmine's Steelix, Pryce's Piloswine, all of Brock's Pokemon, Blaine's Pokemon, Blue's Rhydon and Arcanine, Lance's Charizard and Aerodactyl, Bruno's Onix, and Karen's Houndoom are all weak to it.

Gen 3 gives us Mudkip as the best, though Treeco is a decent competitor (aside from weakness to Flannery's Pokemon). A total of 11 different Gym leader/Elite four Pokemon are weak to it.

Onto Gen 4; Turtwig and Chimchar are the best. Each one is super effective against 3 gym leaders and one elite 4 member.

Next up: Oschawott is the best for generation five.

Another close battle in gen 6: Fennekin and Froakie are both excellent Pokemon.
Fennekin is super effective against Viola, Ramos, Wulfric, Korrina if you evolve it into Delphox before you fight her, Diantha's Arourous & Gourgeist, and Wilkstrom.
Froakie is super effective against Grant, Olympia if you evolve into Greninja first, Diantha's Arourus and Tyranitar, Wilkstrom's Probopass, Malva, and Siebold's Starmie.

In Generation 7, Popplio is the best -- after evolving, it's super effective against 3 out of 4 Kahunas. Litten is also a decent contender, but not as good.

And finally gen eight. Sobble is great against Kabu, Gordie, and Melonie, and it's diverse movepool and absudly high special attack and speed help greatly.

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What makes Oshawott the best for Gen V?
Snivy is weak to half of the Gyms, and Tepig is terrible against Caitlin and any water/pk types.
TBH, Snivy would be my pick for mainly stylistic reasons.
How is Sobble great against Melony when she’s an ice gym leader and her ace resists water?
I'd say Infernape is a bit better than Torterra in DPPt. A lot of grass, flying, and bug Pokemon resist all of Torterra's STAB moves, and no type resists all of Infernape's STAB moves. In Pt, Infernape learns thunder punch, and this fire fighting electric combination is resisted by only one Sinnoh Pokemon (Giratina), which is not used by any trainers. Infernape also has higher speed, which makes it easier to sweep entire teams.
> Tepig is terrible against Caitlin and any water/pk types.

Why would you use Emboar against Caitlin? It is awesome against Lenora, Brycen and Grimsley.

> Korrina if you evolve it into Delphox before you fight her...

Actually Braixen can beat her using Psybeam / Psyshock. Evolving Braixen before battling Korrina is... li'l difficult.
Primordial, Water type resists Ice, not the other way around. And, TastyMushroom, I usually drastically overlevel my Pokemon, and while Braixen beats her with Psy-beam/-shock, Delphox resists the attacks (which is even better.)
PrimardialSea wasn't saying that Ice resists water, they meant that Inteleon doesn't have much of an advantage over Melonie and her ace resists Inteleon's STAB. Any Pokemon functions well if you drastically overlevel them, and it's somewhat unrealistic to have a Delphox before Korrina.
–1 vote

According to MandJTV's video:

The best starter in Kanto is Bulbasaur. It's good against the first two gyms (which Michael greatly emphasizes).

The best starter in Johto is Cyndaquil. The gyms of Ice, Bug, and Steel all have a weakness to Cyndaquil's Fire-typing. The other gyms that are weak to Water and Grass are in Kanto.

The best starter in Hoenn is Mudkip. It's good against the first few gyms of Rock, Electric, and Fire.

The best starter in Sinnoh is Chimchar. (Assuming you evolve it into a Monferno before taking on Roark) It's good against Roark, Gardenia (aka the first two gyms), Byron, and Candice.

The best starter in Unova is Tepig. Again, (if you evolve it into Pignite before taking on the 1st gym) it's good against Lenora, Burgh (the first few gyms), and Brycen.

The best starter in Kalos is Fennekin. The first gym is Bug.

The best starter in Alola is Popplio. It's great against ALL of the Kahuna battles as well as against Hala (by using your Fairy-moves), the Dragon-trial, and the Fire-trial.

The best starter in Galar is Scorbunny. The first gym is Grass.

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Siebold’s Gyarados has no flying move and Clemont’s emolga only has Aerial Ace, which although 4x super effective, isn’t absolutely devastating and is around 50% or so if I remember correctly. Your other points are good, though.
The video is a bad source. Even though it considers the moves that each gym leader uses, it often ignores the starters' movepools. He sometimes assumes every starter always has access to powerful STAB moves and no coverage, which is definitely not true.
McRibRarewellTour I disagree, Grass types have terrible matchups at the start of the game and the Chikorita line has an awful movepool.
My comment was a satire
McRibFarewellTour sorry mate, I thought you was genuine when you put that comment
–2 votes

Gen 1. Bulbasaur - Better for gyms and early games
Gen 2. Cyndaquil- no other better options :)
Gen 3. Mudkip - Best for the first 5 gyms
Gen 4. Chimchar - its chad and good typing
Gen 5. Oshawott - better for elite 4
Gen 6. Fennekin & Bulbasaur - type coverage combo
Gen 7. Popplio/Litten -Decent typing coverage
Gen 8. Grookey (PKM Sword) - Better for early games and Grodie / Cinderace (PKM Shield) - Good in early games and good for Melony
- Hope this helps :)

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You need to explain your choices a little more. At least with Bulbasaur, it's been decided in previous discussions on this thread that being good for gyms, especially for the early ones doesn't make them the best starter Pokemon. Please read those discussions.