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Why does everyone choose Piplup as their Gen 4 starter?

TapLover

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I believe it's partially because of the Diamond and Pearl anime and how successful it was. I saw a meme a long time ago saying that people chose Piplup because "Penguin Time!" which is not the exact reason. I would've preferred hearing people say Chimchar was the most-chosen Gen 4 starter because it resembles Charmander.
 
I think it's partially because Piplup is considered to be the cutest of the three and its final evolution is rather popular as well. Generally, it appears that cuter starters (and yes, I know this is subjective) tend to be very popular. See: Sobble, Rowlet, Fennekin prior to the reveal of Delphox, etc.
 
Tbh, I chose it because I don't like the design/aesthetic of the Turtwig or Chimchar lines.
 
Well, I didn't.

I chose Turtwig.
Lol, was about to comment exactly this XD

Anyway, I was under the impression that Chimchar was the most picked Gen 4 starter, at least in Diamond and Pearl due to the fact that you have literally only one option for Fire-type coverage (a downright necessity in Sinnoh due to the abundance of Steel-types) if you don't pick it, that being the somewhat underwhelming Ponyta. Platinum does expand the Fire-type pool a bit, though, so I could see Piplup being the favorite pick there. As for the reason, I'm guessing because people just find it adorable. Piplup is the most plush-like of the three, after all.
 
Choosing Piplup means Barry takes Turtwig and spams Withdraw for that whole first battle while your only attacking move is physical. Rubbish choice. I’m a Turtwig or Chimchar guy all the way
 
I feel that it's Dawn from the anime that influences all those players picking Piplup. The problem is, as mentioned before, you have the hardest first rival battle in Platinum due to having to deal with a Withdraw-spamming Turtwig. Chimchar I feel is actually the best Sinnoh starter choice due to the limited pool of Fire-types in the Sinnoh Dex.
 
I believe it's partially because of the Diamond and Pearl anime and how successful it was. I saw a meme a long time ago saying that people chose Piplup because "Penguin Time!" which is not the exact reason. I would've preferred hearing people say Chimchar was the most-chosen Gen 4 starter because it resembles Charmander.

Was there any official and worldwide pool that I missed? Because otherwise, it's a pretty big generalization.
I went with Turtwig because I'm a Grass type trainer and because I love it's cute design and the whole line is awesome.
Piplup is also cute (all Sinnoh starters are tbh) but I disliked Dawn's and instead liked the artwork that was included in the instructions manual that came with the games.
 
I’ve used all 3 starters before and Empoleon is honestly my least favourite one to use. It doesn’t have many notable stab moves via level up, as it relies on bubble and bubblebeam (which it learns fairly late). Brine is alright, but you’ll usually just be running surf anyway. This is kinda why I don’t use water starters as much, because they’ll usually take up a hm moveslot (often multiple). Then it only learns metal claw for steel stab via level up, which is only a weak physical move.

Yeah you can teach it flash cannon, but even this is relatively lacking compared to Torterra and Infernape - who get earthquake and close combat via level up anyways. Although Torterra and Infernape also have weak grass/fire stab moves on level up, they can be mitigated imo. With Torterra you’ll be using earthquake most the time and have curse to set up, and Infernape can use TMs (and it’s a mixed attacker).
 
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Probably because people thought it was the cutest of the trio, at last that was in my case. Actually the anime had little to do with my decision, I would have chosen Piplup anyway even if it wasn't prominent in the anime since I like the designs of its line the best.

So far the only starter that has become my favorite because of the anime is Fennekin, if I didn't love Serena's Braixen so much I would have chosen Froakie.
 
I normally choose fire types by default, but Piplup is pretty cute looking, has a good personality, and overall stood out to me more than the other two for that region.
 
I chose Piplup because I wanted to try to replicate the manga xD

But nowadays, I’d choose it because I think it’s really cute and Empoleon is bad***, I like Ponyta (so it being the only other Fire type line doesn’t bother me much), and it was the first starter Pokémon I ever chose.
 
Lol, was about to comment exactly this XD

Anyway, I was under the impression that Chimchar was the most picked Gen 4 starter, at least in Diamond and Pearl due to the fact that you have literally only one option for Fire-type coverage (a downright necessity in Sinnoh due to the abundance of Steel-types) if you don't pick it, that being the somewhat underwhelming Ponyta. Platinum does expand the Fire-type pool a bit, though, so I could see Piplup being the favorite pick there. As for the reason, I'm guessing because people just find it adorable. Piplup is the most plush-like of the three, after all.

Why is Fire a neccesity with Fighting and Ground doing the exact same thing.
 
Why is Fire a neccesity with Fighting and Ground doing the exact same thing.
Because the Bronzong line is a thing. Back in the Gen 4 games it only had two weaknesses plus two Abilities that could negate one of those, and literally all the ones the NPCs use have Levitate, and even if they didn't Fire would still be more reliable because Heatproof doesn't outright turn a weakness into an immunity.
 
I tended to choose Piplup for its cuteness and later evo typing. It also let me pick up Heat-Rotom and Roserade without feeling too conflicted on my team setup when I was younger, not too sure why but whatever starters I didn't choose, would always look for two Mons that had one of the typings for a starter (ie, Fire/Rock and Water/Electric for example.)
 
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