How would Squirtle perform in other regions?

[redkirby]

Imagine, hypothetically speaking, if Squirtle were to be your starter for every region. What would its performance be in every region?

For example, how would it perform in Johto and how would it compare to Totodile in that regard? How would it perform in Hoenn and how would it compare to Mudkip in that region? And so far and so forth. This goes for all regions, of course.

If the Squirtle family were to be the water starter hypothetically for all regions, what differences may they have from all the other regions' actual water starters respectively in terms of important matchups such as general trainer battles, gym battles and E4?

And that'll be it for the threads I make asking this kind of question. The reason why each of the Kanto starters have their own different threads is that it might be unnecessarily massive discussion for one giant thread, so all three of them get their own respectively.

I decided to stick it to only Kanto starters for this discussion. Someone else is welcome to make threads asking about how later starters perform in regions outside of their own.

 

[WyndonCalling]

Squirtle probably has the most limited movepool of the three Kanto starters, as well as pretty limited offenses by the standards of all starters, but Water is a fantastic generalist typing and the stats are evenly distributed enough to ensure it's at least decent in all matchups - it's very bulky all-round, while having just enough Speed to outpace purely defensive opponents and just enough Special Attack to eliminate fragile attackers.

Shell Smash is a bit of a game-changer as of Gen 8; in competitive play it still leaves Blastoise unable to break though particular targets while taking up a vital turn in which it's very vulnerable, but against passive AI foes it's very feasible to pull off two Smashes and quickly curbstomp just about anything with Surf and Ice Beam. I suppose the answer must therefore be that it's rather boring and inflexible, but plenty good enough.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Shell Smash is one of those things that will just turn a Pokémon's whole entire life upside down should they get it. Look at Cloyster in competitive play; once just another bulky Water type, now very often an active sweeper aided by those Shell Smash boosts. That move instantly made Blastoise look several times more appealing as an overall Water type starter, even if I'd still pick Primarina amongst that type,

 

[Iris_clover]

(how I determine the score is by seeing how many gyms they are super-effective offensively)

GYM LEADERS
Kanto - 3/8
Johto - 0/8
Hoenn - 2/8
Sinnoh - 1/8
Unova- 1/8
Kalos - 1/8
Alola - 1/8 (totem Pokémon) 2/4 (kahunas)
Galar - 2/8 (sword) 1/8 (shield)
——————————————————————
ELITE 4 (aka Pokémon league, champeon cup)
Kanto - 0/4
Johto - 0/4
Hoenn - 0/4
Sinnoh - 2/4
Unova - 0/4
Kalos - 1/4
Alola - 1/4 (in sun and moon) 1/4 (in ultra sun, and ultra moon)
Galar - 0/3 (not including Bede but it would stay the same if I did)