Ausuka ranks Pokémon starters (COMPLETE)

[Skygazer]

my guesses
torchic
fuecoco
fennekin

[Ythan]

Totodile robbed

[GeorgeBailey]

My guesses:

1. Charizard
2. Charmeleon
3. Charmander

[Ythan]

Charizard is so popular though.

[Haschel Cedricson]

Totodile robbed

[hellbooks]

Firstly, I have to confess that I have a bias against gen 4. It is my least favourite generation.

just fell to my knees in jubilife city

[SleepyKrew]

I’m here to dissent

[Ausuka]

Firstly, I have to confess that I have a bias against gen 4. It is my least favourite generation.

just fell to my knees in jubilife city

i liked legends arceus?

[Ausuka]

I’m here to dissent

don't worry i think you all will be even more angry with the next round

[DkKoba]

i wanna say I have all 3 johto starters at my bottom 3 because they're all boring (pikachu is below them if that counts lolz) so totodile isn't controversial to me, feraligatr is the most boring water type starter out of all them. you could tell they made a rough design for the starters during gen 2 development and never really fleshed it out like gen 1's or gen 3's, the surrounding gens

[Cheetory6]

Totodile robbed

[Silverclaw]

Okay but BDSP is aggressively bad. You need to try Platinum instead

[DkKoba]

Okay but BDSP is aggressively bad. You need to try Platinum instead

eh its still one of the weaker gens of all time, barely better than GSC and RBY, both of which were massively improved with their remakes

[Ausuka]

#23: Mudkip

This entry is a return to tradition. Instead of the controversial pick being last, it's going first again! Hoenn fans, get out your pitchforks because we are going to be talking about Mudkip, which is without a doubt the best starter to play through the games with and widely considered to be a massive cutie.

And I don't dislike Mudkip! I do actually think it's pretty cute. The 'mud fish' idea for a starter Pokemon is fundamentally a good one, and it has adorable eyes and a cute little tail. I think the orangey-brown whiskers (?) aren't super visually appealing, and they could have been done a lot better. But yeah, I don't know, it's not what I picked when I played ORAS for the first time and it's not what I pick now, but it is by no means bad.

I think its evolutions are pretty questionable, though. Marshtomp's tail fins look pretty good. The whiskers are still weird, but now they're worse because it just looks like a spike and it's super artificial. Also it stands up, which kind of just feels like ... idk why? And the stomach patch thing is just kinda goofy. Then we have Swampert, which everyone loves except me. I mean, like, to be honest I don't want to be too negative about Swampert. It's a cool Pokemon and I like it, but it just doesn't appeal to me as much as the other starters. The whiskers still look like spikes that businesses use to stop birds from sitting on ledges and it's forced to walk around using its hands as feet which I find slightly upsetting.

I tend to like balance in starters, so I find it a bit objectionable if any starter is too bad or too good to play through. I don't care that much about competitive I guess. Swampert falls into the 'too good' category because it's only weak to one type. That type, of course, is Grass, which is totally absent from the elite 4 and the entire gym system, which makes it great to sweep the game with. This has made the Mudkip line beloved to many people, especially speedrunners. Personally I just find it kind of irritating. If you're making a Pokemon with one weakness as strong as Swampert is a starter, that weakness should be prevalent. I don't like 'correct' choices like this!

#22: Quaxly

We're going to see a trend now where I increasingly struggle to find things I can strongly criticise about these Pokemon. I mean, Quaxly is like, just a duck? A pretty cute duck with a hat made of water and a good personality. It's just a good Pokemon. It's probably the least appealing to me of the Paldea starters, but that's not due to anything especially wrong with it. When it evolves, the hat becomes a helmet, which is like meh. The hat on Quaxly looks like it's smiling and they could have done something interesting there, but obviously they didn't want to. Whatever. Anyway, I'm not a massive fan of Quaquaval as far as final evolutions go. First off, it kind of looks very sticklike? I don't mean to be rude, but these proportions feel kind of unrealistic and maaaaybe a bit unhealthy? And its feet just aren't super appealing to me. Ugh I feel like I'm bullying this poor duck now, but it's a Pokemon so I get to judge its aesthetics and it's just not my thing. I guess things that look too elegant often do just end up feeling uncanny to me.

Quaxly should have been water/bug and the bubble on its head is also an organism which like communicates with quaxly. Like a parasite/Paras but their relationship is co-operative and they're friends. I think that would have been cool.

#21: Litten

I like Litten. Is it okay for me to be positive about these Pokemon yet? I mean, it's just a brilliant cat. I actually think it's a better cat Pokemon than Sprigatito is. It's just really super cute, and very catlike. Its personality feels *just right* for a Cat pokemon - it's distant, slightly mean and doesn't like too much affection but is still capable of bonding with its trainer given enough time - eventually, if it trusts you, it will let you pet it without scratching. The Pokedex even says that if you try too hard, it won't get close to you, which I think is appropriate. And the black and red theme, with yellow eyes... I mean, it just *works*. And I think Torracat is actually one of the best middle evo starters out there. It's a perfect extension of what Litten is - bigger, tougher and with new features. It looks cool. It actually has a pouch near its throat containing fire and it behaves like a bell - which is, like, amazing. Aaaaaand then it evolves and it becomes a stupid furry wrestler out of nowhere - litten and torracat have no wrestler qualities - looks like it belongs on a CEREAL BOX and it's another fucking HUMANOID FIGHTER, it becomes a tiger-human which bears like NO resemblence to the kitty it evolved from, and then they put it in SMASH BROS and UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH i fucking hate incineroar

[Ausuka]

hints for next round

#20 - Kanto starter!
#19 - Water type from gens 4-8
#18 - gen 1-3 fire type

[Skygazer]

charmander
piplup
torchic

[DkKoba]

#23: Mudkip


Image

This entry is a return to tradition. Instead of the controversial pick being last, it's going first again! Hoenn fans, get out your pitchforks because we are going to be talking about Mudkip, which is without a doubt the best starter to play through the games with and widely considered to be a massive cutie.

And I don't dislike Mudkip! I do actually think it's pretty cute. The 'mud fish' idea for a starter Pokemon is fundamentally a good one, and it has adorable eyes and a cute little tail. I think the orangey-brown whiskers (?) aren't super visually appealing, and they could have been done a lot better. But yeah, I don't know, it's not what I picked when I played ORAS for the first time and it's not what I pick now, but it is by no means bad.

I think its evolutions are pretty questionable, though. Marshtomp's tail fins look pretty good. The whiskers are still weird, but now they're worse because it just looks like a spike and it's super artificial. Also it stands up, which kind of just feels like ... idk why? And the stomach patch thing is just kinda goofy. Then we have Swampert, which everyone loves except me. I mean, like, to be honest I don't want to be too negative about Swampert. It's a cool Pokemon and I like it, but it just doesn't appeal to me as much as the other starters. The whiskers still look like spikes that businesses use to stop birds from sitting on ledges and it's forced to walk around using its hands as feet which I find slightly upsetting.

I tend to like balance in starters, so I find it a bit objectionable if any starter is too bad or too good to play through. I don't care that much about competitive I guess. Swampert falls into the 'too good' category because it's only weak to one type. That type, of course, is Grass, which is totally absent from the elite 4 and the entire gym system, which makes it great to sweep the game with. This has made the Mudkip line beloved to many people, especially speedrunners. Personally I just find it kind of irritating. If you're making a Pokemon with one weakness as strong as Swampert is a starter, that weakness should be prevalent. I don't like 'correct' choices like this!

blocked

[Ausuka]

I'm hoping people will be able to predict my choices more the later the series goes as I explain my thoughts but honestly I don't blame anyone who skips or skims that part

[Haschel Cedricson]

I’m confused; I herd u liked Mudkips.

[Ythan]

Hoo girl

[Cheery Dog]

I'm just assuming Eevee wins.

[Ausuka]

#20: Pikachu

Where do I even begin with Pikachu? Well, it's an electric mouse, which is like kind of objectively amazing? It's cute and well designed - it's a little chuby, it stores electricity in its cheeks, it lives in the forest - it's filled with personality. The problem is my appreciation for Pikachu has been worn down a lot from prolonged exposure. Like at some point I stopped seeing it just as a Pokemon and started seeing it as a corporate mascot. I feel like that's really worn down my perception of this Pokemon. Raichu is... fine, but can be slightly frustrating to use compared to like almost any other final evolution in the games.

But it doesn't really matter what I think of Raichu, because this is a starter ranking. For the uninitiated, Pikachu is the starter in 'Pokemon Yellow' from Gen 1 and 'Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu' from gen 8 - it can only be chosen in games exclusively designed for it, and is not available as a starter in most Kanto playthroughs. And the Pikachu you get can't evolve. In Pokemon Yellow, which is based on the anime, it presumably just rejects the Thunder Stone like the anime Pikachu, and in Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu, well, it's the mascot and it won't let you evolve it. Personally, I think not evolving at all just holds a starter back. Seeing it change forms is fun, it feels like your partner is growing along your journey, and on a more practical level it's going to make the early game trivial and will be squishy

at best

in the late game. Both games have some way to mitigate this - in Yellow, you face Brock with only Normal and Electric moves, and both of his Pokemon are Ground/Rock type and can easily withstand Pikachu's attacks. In Let's Go,

they just let pikachu sweep the entire game

you learn new moves throughout a game, in locations where they are most convenient, in order to keep Pikachu growing in strength. Let's Go gives Pikachu boosted stats to allow it to be a lategame team member. Even so, I can't say I find the experience preferable to having a regular starter.

I think seeing so much 'special treatment' given to Pikachu has also soured my opinion of it. It's a good Pokemon, but it's not that good - I don't need to have All Pikachu All The Time, and it just makes me want to use one of the franchise's other amazing Electric pokemon.

I do have to say I enjoy that choosing Pikachu allows you to catch all of Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, though. I think those are three really excellent Kanto pokemon.

#19: Froakie

I can already hear the outcry that I'm eliminating a frog this early, and I mean fair. I think Froakie does have some charm? But it doesn't click for me in a way my ideal frog starter would. It does get bonus points for being a frog though. Anyway, why is its default position squatting? I think it looks kind of ridiculous. Something about the shape of its like, bubble fur? rubs me the wrong way too. Also it looks like it would tell the teacher they forgot to set homework. Frogadier is actually awesome and easily the best Pokemon in this evolution line. I think Greninja is supposed to be cool, and clearly objectively a lot of people think it is. And I see why - it's a frog, it has a nice colour scheme, and it has an unique style of being sneaky and a 'thief' or whatever. However, it looks way too much like Sonic the Hedgehog but more froglike. I'm not sure how to explain it, that's just how I feel when I see Greninja.

Greninja getting its 'Ash Greninja' form and a Smash slot and everything bothers me a bit too. I mean, as I've said over and over, I like when the starters are treated equally!

#18: Charmander

It's finally time to talk about Charmander! I'm not even sure if I want to rank this thing so low. I mean, I genuinely REALLY like Charmander. Its design as a fire lizard is cute, simple and effective. Lots of people love the little thing, and for good reason. Charmeleon is meh but like whatever. Charizard is like, good? It's a fairly cool fire dragon with a cool aesthetic even if it looks a little goofy sometimes. Overall, it's a good starter line. I liked its appearance in the anime too - I would have liked if it got some more time as Charmeleon or whatever, and its whole betrayal thing was kind of sudden, but overall Charizard is a pretty cool character and has a heartbreaking origin story with Damian. I don't have that much negative to say about the line itself, except I prefer some of the other starters and Vulpix is probably slightly better than Charmander is in terms of Kanto fire types (design wise). I guess Charmander, and sort of Charizard, feel a bit on the underdesigned side of things, and Charizard's batman wings and posture make it feel silly in a way a dragon possibly shouldn't be. But it's still good, just not great to me.

I really resented when it got two Mega evolutions and it soured my feelings on the line as a whole pretty severely. I get it, everyone loves Charizard, but a lot of people love Blastoise and Venusaur too! Charmander appearing in gen 6 was good - I think they should have made it optional, but like I don't hate the idea, and they put in Squirtle and Bulbasaur alongside it. It being Leon's ace in gen 8 felt totally unnecessary when Squirtle and Bulbasaur were literally locked behind DLC. And again, just how do you justify it getting two mega evolutions, when so many great Pokemon - AND THE STARTERS OF THE GAMES THEMSELVES - didn't get any. The lack of Mega Chesnaught, Mega Greninja or Mega Delphox in favour of nostalgia bait Lucario and Charizard forced down your throat is one of the worst things about gen 6, and whether it's fair or not, my mind associates the whole thing with Charizard and how it gets treated. Oh, and also in gen 9, Charizard is in the main game with the Tera raid spotlight, again, while Squirtle and Bulbasaur are left for the DLC. Again. Wow.

[Ausuka]

Hints for next time around
#17 - Kanto or Johto starter
#16 - Fire type (sorry)
#15 - gen 5-8 grass type

[Skygazer]

Cyndaquil
Fennekin
Rowlet

[Ythan]

Wow