Strongest starters in the gens they were introduced

[somebody1000]

Gen 1: Venusaur. Beats the 1st, 2nd, and 8th gyms well. Also a type resistance against third gym. Also, toxic/leechseed.
Gen 2: Feraligatr. It has a wide movepool with different types, able to help progress speed a lot. (Unrelated, but also worked well in Gen IV remake of GS)
Gen 3: Blaziken. Those who took the trouble to evolve torchic before first gym would get the double kick, useful for first gym. Even later, the 3rd and 5th gym would be a breeze. Also, Fire/Fighting were some of the best typings offensively. Though Swampert was quite good, the x4 grass weakness was a pain in the ass. (played gen III twice :/ )
Gen 4: Infernape. Worked well in game. Competitively this was also very strong, but I feel that it just cannot take hits.
Gen 5: Mixed opinion between Samurott and Emboar, can't remember why though \:
Gen 6: Didn't get to play it but competitively I would say Greninja. Protean making every move a STAB is quite powerful.

 

[homer.homs]

This is mine-

1st Gen- Charizard: Though it was really tough to handle Charmander in early game, I appreciated during the Elite Four challenge
2nd Gen- Feraligatr: I love Typhlosion, but Feraligatr got it all. especially when I got the Waterfall move. Totodile is also the easiest starter to handle at the earlier game maybe because of its good def/atk balance.
3rd Gen- Sceptile: This is the Gen that I had a hard time choosing because I love the three starters. But Sceptile is the best for me because of its high speed and atk/sp.atk balance.
4th Gen- Empoleon: No doubt. Empoleon for me is the best. The combination of Steel and Water type is just amazing. Though Infernape has the best stats(Atk./Sp. Atk.Spd), but Empoleon will rock him.
5th Gen- Emboar: For me, this Gen has the weakest and weirdest stats of all Gen starters. so I just picked Tepig because of its Fire/fighting type defensive combination.
6th Gen- Delphox: The combination of Water and Dark is good. However, the combination of Fire and Psychic rocks! I just love that I got to choose only one type of move which is Special atk type.

 

[Mitchman]

Charizard, Feraligatr, Blaizken, Empoleon, Samurott, and Greninja. I might seemed biased towards the water starters, but lets be honest, they've always been a standout. Either they had a great type setup, or in general worked their theme in an excellent way. Spamming crunch with Feraligatr was always a great way to get through most of the routes way back when.

 

[Vadise]

Gen 2: Feraligatr. Although I prefer Typhlosion a bit more, Feraligatr is a better choice overall due to its bulk and great movepool. It gets Surf, Return, and Ice Punch incredibly early in the game, which lets it tear through NPC trainers for pretty much the rest of the game. Typhlosion is a better special attacker though.

Gen 3: Swampert. This thing basically takes what made Feraligatr so good and turns it up to 11. It has all-around great defenses, a better typing with only one weakness (which at the time hardly had any decent moves), the same great movepool, and the stats to take advantage of said movepool, both physical and special. That being said, Blaziken is more offensively powerful, but Swampert's bulk makes it much better.

Gen 5: Meh. I'm going to say Samurott, but thats mostly because I like its design. Really none of the Gen 5 starters are particularly notable. Serperior is offensively weak and has a bad defensive typing, Emboar is another Fire/Fighting type, and Samurott is essentially Feraligatr but with less bulk. Still, it looks cool, and can do mixed offense pretty well.

Gen 6: Greninja. This thing is great in-game and competitively. It has a good movepool with lots of different options (including interesting non-attack moves like Spikes), it's very powerful and fast, and it has the Hidden Ability Protean, which makes it pretty devastating when played right. That being said, Delphox and Chesnaught are great choices too, since they have more bulk and some decent support options of their own, like Will-o-Wisp and Leech Seed.

I'm kind of confused. How does good bulk help a Pokémon deal out more damage? You said yourself that Blaziken is more offensively powerful even though it has less bulk than Swampert.

1st Gen- Charizard: Though it was really tough to handle Charmander in early game, I appreciated during the Elite Four challenge
5th Gen- Emboar: For me, this Gen has the weakest and weirdest stats of all Gen starters. so I just picked Tepig because of its Fire/fighting type defensive combination.

How does Charizard being good against the Elite Four make it the strongest starter in Gen I overall? Meaning throughout most of, if not the entire game. I'm also not sure how Emboar's defensive combination is supposed to help it offensively.

or in general worked their theme in an excellent way.

What do you mean?

 

[The Big Al]

Gen I: Venusaur and Blastoise both have strong arguments. Bulbasaur plows through the first half of the game. However, after Celadon, it
s typing and limited movepool are more of a liability. Squirtle on the other hand is an asset all the way into the Elite 4.

Gen II: Typholsion had access to Flamethrower, Thunderpunch, and an admittedly less than great Earthquake. Gen II had some weird movepools, and Typhlosion took the most advantage.

Gen III: Sceptile was fast, hit decently hard with its Special Attack and had access to some nice special moves to give it a great movepool.

Gen IV: Infernape, just Infernape.

Gen V: Uhh...

Gen VI: Greninja is the best starter in the competitive game, but Delphox is much like Venusaur as it can rip through game itself.

 

[homer.homs]

1st Gen- Charizard: Though it was really tough to handle Charmander in early game, I appreciated during the Elite Four challenge
5th Gen- Emboar: For me, this Gen has the weakest and weirdest stats of all Gen starters. so I just picked Tepig because of its Fire/fighting type defensive combination.

How does Charizard being good against the Elite Four make it the strongest starter in Gen I overall? Meaning throughout most of, if not the entire game. I'm also not sure how Emboar's defensive combination is supposed to help it offensively.[/QUOTE]

I don't know, it just that Charizard, because of its speed, I got to atk first always and make my opponent faint. I was just a kid then and that's important for me, making my opponent's Pokemon faint. And take note, not the entire game since I had a really hard time playing Charmander in the first phase of the game.

For Emboar, well, my mistake, it should be offensive combination, not defensive. Type-error. Peace out!

 

[----]

Gen 1: Venasaur
Gen 2: Typhlosion
Gen 3: Blaziken (Swampert at a close second)
Gen 4: Infernape
Gen 5: Samurott
Gen 6: Greninja
Through my playthroughs this is my opinion.

 

[Mitchman]

I'm kind of confused. How does good bulk help a Pokémon deal out more damage? You said yourself that Blaziken is more offensively powerful even though it has less bulk than Swampert.

1st Gen- Charizard: Though it was really tough to handle Charmander in early game, I appreciated during the Elite Four challenge
5th Gen- Emboar: For me, this Gen has the weakest and weirdest stats of all Gen starters. so I just picked Tepig because of its Fire/fighting type defensive combination.

How does Charizard being good against the Elite Four make it the strongest starter in Gen I overall? Meaning throughout most of, if not the entire game. I'm also not sure how Emboar's defensive combination is supposed to help it offensively.

or in general worked their theme in an excellent way.

What do you mean?

Greninja is a water ninja frog, so its speedy hits hard, but can't take a hit. Were as Samurott is a bulky, high HP samurai sea lion that can get a good hit in, if it weren't so slow.Stuff like that.

 

[Tyrfing]

I don't play competitive or even Battle Maison, so this might sound stupid and it probably is going to end up biased. Megas are not included.
1- Blastoise; always found it to be the only that can take and deliver damage. Plus it gets Rapid Spin to get rid of entry hazards.
2- Typhlosion; while Gen 2 probably has the weakest starters, probably Typhlosion for nothing else than good SP. Attack and Speed.
3- Blaziken. Explanation is not required.
4- Infernape. Good speed and attack stats, AWESOME move pool, and is the only good one out of the starters (While I like the two others more, they are incredibly bad by starter standards, especially Torterra)
5- Samurott. Mostly from experience and the fact these starters unfortunately suck.
6- Greninja. Protean + wide move pool = rain of death (get it? Never mind, that was bad)

 

[CynthiaLover]

Since I'm not talking from a competitive perspective (never have, never will), I might be slightly biased. However, I've used virtually every starter in various playthroughs, so this is my view from years of playing.

Gen 1: Venusaur: Bulbasaur had the easiest time in Gen 1. It could deal with the early Gyms easily, had better moves at the time, Razor Leaf was a powerhouse back then, and it had better bulk. Charizard does deserve some credit, but back then its moves were a bit more limited (plus it made little to no use of its Flying-type back then).

Gen 2: Typhlosion: Easily the best of the three. While Feraligatr had the best bulk, Typhlosion made the most out of its moves. Even at that early stage, it was able to capitalize on its Sp. Atk and Speed, along with the odd choices of moves back in that gen. It also steamrolled most of the Johto Gyms, with ones like Clair being the only real "obstacle" at the time.

Gen 3: Blaziken: While Swampert had good bulk and Sceptile had great speed, Blaziken was extremely powerful. It had the best moves, the best coverage, and can be a monster in any battle. If you spent the time early in the game to evolve it into Combusken before Roxanne, then that flaming chicken could kung-pow everything from there. Plus facing the Fire/Fighting combo back then was a deathwish.

Gen 4: Infernape: Basically the same as Blaziken, only much faster and hit with more equality, no matter what moves you taught it. While I love Torterra, being my favorite Grass-type Starter, Infernape did get the job done with ample amounts of gusto. Platinum further expanded its power with moves like Thunder Punch. Plus it evolved early, giving it an edge right away.

Gen 5: Emboar: Gen 5 had the oddest Starters. Their moves/stats were all over the place. While Samurott was the most balanced, I found Emboar to work best. It had the widest moves available to it (which B2W2 expanded on) and when trained the right way could pound everything in its path. Yes, I'll admit, it's a bit slow and low in the defense, but the tank-ish HP and heavy firepower more than made up for it.

Gen 6: Greninja: While I do love my Delphox (being my first choice), Greninja proved to be the master of the battlefield. With or without Protean, it could decimate most foes with ease. While Delphox could handle most of the Gyms with ease, along with its awesome typing, Greninja has proven to be the best of the Water-types (both Starter and commonplace wise). Basically it was like Infernape; fast, hits hard, wide choice of moves, and could handle many situations.

 

[Vadise]

I don't play competitive or even Battle Maison, so this might sound stupid and it probably is going to end up biased. Megas are not included.
1- Blastoise; always found it to be the only that can take and deliver damage. Plus it gets Rapid Spin to get rid of entry hazards.
2- Typhlosion; while Gen 2 probably has the weakest starters, probably Typhlosion for nothing else than good SP. Attack and Speed.
3- Blaziken. Explanation is not required.
4- Infernape. Good speed and attack stats, AWESOME move pool, and is the only good one out of the starters (While I like the two others more, they are incredibly bad by starter standards, especially Torterra)
5- Samurott. Mostly from experience and the fact these starters unfortunately suck.
6- Greninja. Protean + wide move pool = rain of death (get it? Never mind, that was bad)

Rapid Spin wasn't introduced until Gen II. Like I said before, I'm specifically talking about the gen that the starter was introduced in, and nothing from anything after that.

 

[Integra]

Infernape, Samurott, Greninja.

Gens 1-3 I can't speak on.

 

[Tyrfing]

I don't play competitive or even Battle Maison, so this might sound stupid and it probably is going to end up biased. Megas are not included.
1- Blastoise; always found it to be the only that can take and deliver damage. Plus it gets Rapid Spin to get rid of entry hazards.
2- Typhlosion; while Gen 2 probably has the weakest starters, probably Typhlosion for nothing else than good SP. Attack and Speed.
3- Blaziken. Explanation is not required.
4- Infernape. Good speed and attack stats, AWESOME move pool, and is the only good one out of the starters (While I like the two others more, they are incredibly bad by starter standards, especially Torterra)
5- Samurott. Mostly from experience and the fact these starters unfortunately suck.
6- Greninja. Protean + wide move pool = rain of death (get it? Never mind, that was bad)

Rapid Spin wasn't introduced until Gen II. Like I said before, I'm specifically talking about the gen that the starter was introduced in, and nothing from anything after that.

Oh, sorry. I make that mistake frequently; I generally think of low-powered normal type moves as Gen 1. But I still do believe Blastoise is the best out of them.

 

[Battaman]

Gen1:
Blastoise, Bulbasaur is awesome early, but it becomes less and less effective as the game progresses, and it's a joke against the latter E4 and Green, only Rydhon fears it, Blastoise have a little harder time after Brock, and face a all time low after Misty, but it only goes up from there, it's even good against the E4 and can deal with Green. Charizard are mediocre the entire game apart from Erika imo.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

I'm gonna try to not be biased with this list:

Gen I: Charizard. Wait, you may say, I thought you weren't going to be biased! Well, I may be a Charizard fan, but I am being serious here. Charizard, to me, was great to use offensively. He could be balanced out with Pokemon captured throughout the game, and I just found him a lot of fun to use. Blastoise is also pretty good, but a bit too slow for my liking. Venusaur wasn't really great to use until Gen VI!

Gen II: When Gold and Silver first came out, I started with Chikorita, and let me tell you, she wasn't all that good to use in-game. She's great to use as a wall and a staller, but for an in-game team, that doesn't mean much. The Pokemon that I found really great to use to this day is Typhlosion. He has a great movepool, he's fast, and he hits hard. Feraligatr comes second.

Gen III: Swampert. His typing makes him a joy to use! He fears Grass-type moves, but those weren't all that common, and he takes hits like they were nothing. Nowadays, it is Blaziken who outshines him, but he still has his great uses. Mega Swampert looks horrible, but how he fairs competitively, I don't know. If he is good to use, I may give him a chance.

Gen IV: *sigh* I am not a fan of any of the starter Pokemon that came out this Generation. If I had to choose, I'll go with Infernape. He was fast, he hit hard, and he had great moves. He was also frail like a 124-year-old grandma. Empoleon was also really good, and at the time, his typing was kind of a big deal. Torterra is nothing.

Gen V: I'd have to go with Samurott. I love using Sammy! While his movepool could be better and he is not that fast, he had some tricks up his sleeve that made him worth using. Emboar was good, too, but his major flaw was his speed, and with so many weaknesses, he was not the best choice to use in competitive battles. Serperior was decent, but I have a hard time using Grass-types, so I am not the best judge on how well he fairs.

Gen VI: Greninja. This guy kicks ass! As much crap as I said about the starters in this Gen, they are all fairly useful, but the one I have to give props to the most is the ninja frog himself!