[Abe Sargent]

On Starters:

When you choose your starter, that Pokemon is likely to be with you for much of, or all of, the game. It’s unlikely that other Pokemon you get at this point will go the distance. Your starter will also dictate who you take and don’t take, in terms of other Pokemon. If your starter is water, then you are unlikely to take any other water Pokemon. The same is true of grass and fire. Historically, the fire Pokemon are harder to find, and generally of a lower quality, making the fire starter a good choice for the long game (but often a bad choice to start out with since the early gyms typically are rock and/or water).

I have played – Charmander, Squirtle, Chikorita, all three from 3rd Gen, Piplup, and Turtwig. That’s 3 grass, 3 water, and 2 fire. That leads to me taking the fire Pokemon here. But it’s another fire starter that evolves into a fire/fight Pokemon, how boring (so did Torchic and Chimchar). None of the others gain a second type in later evolutions (which was often true, Venusaur was also poison, Charmander also flying, Torterra also ground, Empolean also steel, etc).

The combination of Fire + Fighting is pretty good, because you get a fight pokemon without having to use an actual one. I’ve regularly finished the game with a fight Pokemon (Lucario, Heracross, Blaziken, Poliwrath – all have been in my final, game-winning group 6).

There are usually good grass pokemon early, and you aren’t able to develop them if you have a grass starter. I never realized the power of Pokemon like Victreebell until I played a game with Charmander. One good thing about taking grass starter is that there has never been (before now of course), some grass legendary Pokemon you capture and use for the last part of the game. In Sapphire you can capture a legendary water Pokemon so powerful that if you have Marshtomp, you have to decide if you want two water Pokemon, or two bench one of your two most powerful Pokemon. There are similar issues with Ho-oh with Cyndaquil, Moltres with Charmander, and more. In gen 4, the legendaries you get pre-Final Four are psychic or dragon, eliminating this issue.

There are usually great water Pokemon in the mid game that can take you very far. If you start with a water, then you won’t get one or two and raise them.

I just beat Heartgold a few weeks ago. My game winning team for the Final 4 + leader was:

Tauros
Misdreavus *
Ho-oh
Pinsir
Meganium
Gyarados

(Misdreavus was level 21, and was included solely to defeat a few of the fighter Final Four guys who couldn’t damage it; since I had only 5 major Pokemon and a HM dude for most of the game).



Overall:

Plusses and Minuses for fire Pokemon:

Even though another fight/fire is boring, it gives me the powerful Fight at the end to give me some extra power.
Unlikely to find good fire Pokemon early to compete with its space
Can rape forests easily (Charmander in the Viridian Forest is a joke)
Historically has competition from legendaries later (Entei, Ho-Oh, Moltres, Heatran post Final Four in Gen 4).
Tepig has low defense (it has the lowest special defense of any fully evolved starter, and tied for lowest defense) and its slow. It has a high Sp Attk, and very high attack, and many HP.
Tepig is the coolest looking starter at the beginning, and the worst looking at the end. (Snivy’s is the coolest at the end, Oshawott’s in the middle)




P/Ms for Grass Pokemon:

Unlikely to be replaced later by a more powerful grass Pokemon, such as legendary
Tends to rape entire regions of the map (Caves, deserts and water)
Snivy is not a capture Pokemon (one with Sleepowder or Spore to help capture Pokemon)
Snivy is a fast, defensive Pokemon with higher Def and Sp Def.
Removes possibly of early to mid game cool grass Pokemon



P/Ms for Water Pokemon:

Guaranteed surfer without needing a slave HM
Also rapes caves and deserts.
Historically has competition from legendaries (Suicune, Kyogre)
While Oshawott has better attack and special attack than defense, it’s reduced from the extremes of Tepig. (Samurott doesn’t look like the cool Samurai Pokemon I’m expecting)
Removes possibly of useful mid game water Pokemon.



Tepig almost has it, except for that dumb look. But the abilities pay off, so we are taking Tepig!