Honest question....how do you choose your starter?

[roxanwright]

I choose my favorite pokemons as my starters. Also, appearance is something that I consider too. I like pokemons who are generally cute, cuddly or elegant-looking.

 

[Ravioko]

Most of the time, it goes for whichever one looks the most appealing to me, and which one I just...like, I guess. That's why I picked Squirtle in Blue, and the Squirtle line to this day is my favorite Pokemon line.
Even now, my favorite starter always ends up being the water type. The only exception being Chikorita in gen 2.
I was planning on picking Froakie when X and Y was announced, but when they showed you'd ALSO get a Kanto starter, I knew there was no way I wouldn't be picking Squirtle, and since I didn't want two water types, I decided to go with Chespin....
....that was until I saw the leak of his final evolution and kinda sorta hated it.
So I went with Fennekin, in the end.

 

[maneaterliongirafff1]

Back in the day I used to go for looks; Zard etc. But now that I know what moves they learn at what lvl thanks to serebii, I tend to choose my starters based on the moves they learn. When in doubt, just choose WATER and it will never let you down.

 

[Monkey Smurf]

In my first play through I go purely off of design, but after that I use the one that isn't weak to my first choice (so my rival won't have it) and then I use the last one.

 

[Lugia trainer]

Well I usually pick from a strategic viewpoint. For example: In Pokémon Y I chose Fennekin because the first gym is a bug type gym and there is also a grass type gym and an ice type gym. And then there's the the fact that one of the Elite 4 uses steel types.

 

[FullMoon]

I usually go with the one I like the fully evolved form the most, whether it's superior or inferior to the other starters is just a bonus. So I usually go...

Gen 1: Blastoise
Gen 2: ... I don't like any of them but I guess Typhlosion is the one I like slightly more
Gen 3: Sceptile
Gen 4: Empoleon
Gen 5: Samurott
Gen 6: Greninja

I also seem to have a Water type streak going.

 

[Fairy Ice Ricky]

I choose based on appearance or (depending on the generation's release) based on which type I initially chose in previous generations.

My initial choice in Gen I was Bulbasaur 'cause I liked that Bulbasaur helped nicely with the first three gyms (Grass resists Electric-type attacks, remember). My initial choice in Gen II was Cyndaquil 'cause I was obsessed with Cyndaquil and its evolutionary line the moment I saw them. To this day it's my favorite starter. <3

For Gen III my initial choice was Mudkip because I had chosen a Grass-type starter in Gen I and a Fire-type starter in Gen II, so I wanted to "complete the triangle" by choosing the Water-type starter in Gen III. Turned out I made a good choice 'cause Mudkip is tied with Cyndaquil as my favorite starter. Technically speaking I chose Piplup as my initial starter in Gen IV, but after seeing the Gen V starters I retroactively gave myself a "free card" for this generation 'cause I really didn't want to use Snivy or Tepig for my first playthrough. Also, I really like all three Sinnoh starters so it was hard to choose my first one anyway.

And then Gen V I initially chose Oshawott because its design was the only starter design I liked in Gen V, and for Gen VI I chose Chespin 'cause it looks so adorable~ and I really liked Quilladin when I first saw it so that solidified my choice. This means that Gen VII, I'm most likely going to choose the Fire-type starter to complete the triangle because I chose the Water starter in Gen V and the Grass starter in Gen VI (hopefully it's good!). And then I may give myself another free card in Gen VIII.

 

[Peachy]

It's always by how which one will fit best into my planned team. I don't really care about the designs.

 

[Lyrebird]

I pick whatever, so I catch another Pokemon and dispose of the starter.

 

[PiPie314]

When I buy my games I usually don't get one-day shipping or run to a physical store to buy it (Too expensive D. Some people finish the game in the time it takes for my copy to arrive. I google "Pokemon [Version] starters" and see what they have to say about them. I also have a no fire-fighting/Charizard policy.

 

[HeroOfDarkness]

Any number. I usually prefer the Grass-type. The water-type is 2nd.

 

[brsajo]

I picked Cyndaquil in SS because I liked how it looks and Tepig in White because I picked fire last time. In W2 I chose Oshawott because I didn't like how it looked so I decided to give it a chance. I then went back and played with Totodile and chose Froakie in Y because I liked using water types.

 

[Lysson]

I pick my starters by what their final evo looks like, if it's cute or cool. I don't care much for strength as they're all roughly the same. But it seems I always tend to pick fire, not sure why but I usually prefer their final evos.

 

[Wispy Willow]

I basicly go by design: whichever starter has the best one (in my oppinion) will be the one I pick (they also end up becoming one of my favourite 'mons in that generation, but that's besides the point.) Either that or, if I'm doing another run through the game then I might pick one I havn't used before/often. What I usually go for, however, is this:

(F)R/B/LG: Charmander/Squrtile
(H)G/(S)S: Cyndaquil
(O)R/(A)S/E: Mudkip/Torchic
D/P/Pt: Piplup/Chimchar
B/W: Snivy
X/Y: Fennekin

 

[Berrenta]

I usually go for appearance, though how the final form plays out is a minor factor that I also consider.

 

[~Pachirisu~]

I go for the adorable ones, like

Froakie
Piplup
Fennekin
Chikorita
Snivy

Rest are ugly to me, (final evolution wise)

 

[IlluminationTheory]

All right, let's think.

RED - Bulbasaur
I learned of pokémon by watching friends playing it in the playground, and I got into the cartoons and I had a little book before I ever got a game of my own - so I'd been lapping up as much info as I could and when I picked my Bulbasaur it was because I knew, or I thought I knew, that Bulbasaur was, statistically and unequivocally, the best starter. Cos it beat Brock and Misty.

SILVER - Totodile
I got Pokémon Silver on import, so way before it was available in this country, but plenty long enough to have hoovered up as much information as I could find - posters, magazines, and in the age of dial-up, the Gen II pokedex on Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden! I didn't know much about the gym leaders, but Totodile was the coolest design.

RUBY - Torchic
For the first time, I knew nothing about any of the new pokemon - spur of the moment choice, adorable! And I hadn't done fire.

PEARL - Piplup
As Ruby - hadn't seen the Pokémon, picked the most adorable.

WHITE - Oshawott
Bit different, I'd been wolfing up everything BW related, and I think I'd actually composed what I thought would be the ideal team long before any of the names were localised - so Oshawott was the first phase of a six-headed plan. I think I'd mapped it out so no more than two pokémon were weak to the same kind of attack, and I was going to use Serperior, Simipour, Excadrill, Chandelure, Eelektross, Reuniclus. My brother also wanted Snivy, so Oshawott became my water type, and I ended up using a Lilligant as my grass type. Somehow I ended up using an Archeops, and a Scolipede got in there for a few gyms, too. Best laid plans!

Y - Froakie
Nothing like as detailed as BW, and I didn't have any idea what he evolved into - I just liked how dorky he was. Like a little Benjamin Franklin.

A lot of water types - I went for Squirtle in Leaf Green, too. It's always at the back of my mind that if you pick a water type you don't have to catch a surfer, so that comes into it. I'm picking Mudkip with the next game, cos I like that it's water and ground - sea and land. I'll probably go for grass types and flying types, too, and completely refrain from picking a side in the Aqua/Magma battle.

 

[Miar]

First, if you're grass you won't last long with me (And after five lifetime failures, Chikorita is pretty much banned). I finally broke this streak with Chespin, but I have a tough time keeping and using them in general.

From there, it's the same as all my mons. If I want that type and don't find much better that run, the starter is used and put on a "keep, don't redo" list for a few years. Otherwise, it'll get a second chance sooner

In OA, There's so much water and Breloom is on hold, so I'm going to open the first run with Treecko, hoping that A.) the grass-type curse won't hold now that it has a Mega, and B.) that I don't find a shiny Oddish.

 

[elveonora]

Yeah, all grass-type starters suck, while all water-type and fire-type are good (except Emboar)

 

[RainbowSylveon]

I tend to go with whichever one I think is most adorable, especially in the first playthrough. After that, though... I tend to pick ones I haven't used yet, and once I've used all three, I tend to stick with my top two favorites for the rest of the playthroughs and pick between those two.

Gen I: Bulbasaur/Squirtle
Gen II: Cyndaquil/Totodile
Gen III: Treecko/Torchic
Gen IV: Turtwig/Piplup
Gen V: Oshawott (I only have one favorite for this one because I just plain do not like Snivy at all and Tepig is meh to me)
Gen VI: Fennekin/Chespin

I think I might be pretty equally balanced typewise between the gens.