Worst starter(s) in Pokemon?

[Noir]

I mean, the harshness about using Meganium was that the entire setting of Johto's Gyms was very unfavorable for it (the first two being super effecive, Morty's team being full of Steel types, while there's also Pryce. Koga, and debatably Lance to worry about) that made it generally bad. While it's not going to be used competitively per se (And is arguably the worst starter, yes) but I don't particularly abhor it since I've used it a few times successfully in HGSS, as abysmal as it is everywhere else.

Edited May 13, 2016 by YagamiNoir4896

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

Design-wise, Infernape used to be one of my least favorite Pokemon because it gave me a mental image of someone lying unconscious in a hospital bed covered in their own dried blood.

Usage-wise, I can't really do the "slow/stall/defensive" playstyle. I don't have the patience for it. So any starter that fits that would be the worst for me personally to use.

Morty's team being full of Steel types,

Gastly line is Ghost/Poison.

[Avatar of Grima]

Unpopular opinion me. Charizard. The first 3 gyms it faces are super effective to it's typing, honestly it only gets the one gym it's super effective against, and for Red/Blue it can't learn fly. However, I will agree that Meganium has the same issues gen 2, I just liked the challenge, but the problem with Charizard is that the game designers for Fire Red/ Leaf Green removed the challenge by giving Charmander Metal Claw. Oh well. Hate away

[Noir]

Gastly line is Ghost/Poison.

Wow, damn, that typo. I was looking through all the Johto teams in my mind and I guess Jasmine went into my head as I was typing that. My apologies.

[Avatar of Grima]

Wow, damn, that typo. I was looking through all the Johto teams in my mind and I guess Jasmine went into my head as I was typing that. My apologies.

it happens at times

[Unlimited-Dani-Works]

Actually, I dont really like Torterra, Delphox, Chesnaught, or pikachu as starters, especially since pikachu doesnt evolve in his game, and the other three i just dont like the designs

Edited May 13, 2016 by DirtyDan956

[Monochrome_Complex]

Alright, who is the wiseguy that picked Infernape? Cause we gonna have to fight.

Hmmm going by the entire line, and admittedly taking over design/execution over battle prowess, I'd have to pick Chesnaught easily.

I know from the get go Chespin had the biggest chance of ending up a dud.

Thing is, Chespin was kind of a vague pokemon in its theme and concept. Now admittedly so was froakie at first, but in motion we saw it would end up rouge or ninja like. Fennekin was figured to go in a magical-fox direction from the start, but nothing about Chespin really hinted at anything except hard as a chestnut. Even compared to the other two it hardly looks like its animal basis too much, like it's hard to tell it's a hedgehog at first glance. Remember how just far off base much of the fan evo concepts were? That's mainly due to Chespin's knight/warrior theme being too subdued to where once it evolved, it just felt haphazardly attached.

Quilladin was the first sign of trouble and frankly just looks idiotic. It's not cute anymore, has become a fat pudgy moron, still doesn't play up the chestnut warrior thing up enough(they at least could've done something hinting at the shield to come later on but not even that), and I'd go as far as to say it's one of the worst evolutions visually in the entire franchise. It's not even that interesting ability wise and just feels like Chespin with obesity.

And Chestnaught...man Samurott gets TOO much hate for being too drastic, but this guy is so much worse in this respect it's unbelievable. The colors...did somebody at GF switch the shiny with the default? Because that's what it looks like as Chestnaught's default colors not only look unappealing, but don't fit with the progression of the line much at all(with oshawott the shade of blue got progressively darker at least, but here white comes out of nowhere). Now the spiky shield thing playing off a chestnut's hardness is admittedly a nice idea, but the problem is that neither chespin or quilladin had any build up to this, you'd think that quilladin at least should've had something in its design building up to the shield gimmick, like it's shell starting to crack at the back or maybe even having a little buckler or something.

Then there's Chestnaught's face, which looks straight up corny with those kind of eyes + the beard and head shape. The way his shield shell hangs on his back looks awkward and doesn't flow with its upright bidpedal position, plus it's weird picturing him using it. In fact, does he ever do so? Usually his spikey shield signature move has him forming a shield with his arms in his animation which I assumed was just a game representation thing when in reality he actually takes the shield off his back and uses that. But if the game animation is the canonical representation then his whole back shield is totally unnecessary and a waste of design. Chestnaught's entire design lacks cohesion and suffers from poor execution, as does Quilladin, which is a shame since I actually quite like Chespin's look otherwise.

[Lilleen]

(This reason is purely about design and NOT about how good the Pokémon is in battle)

Where GF high when they made Greninja? Seriously, it make me wanna puke. Why on EARTH did they design it with a tounge scarf? Did they think it would look cool or something, because it doesn't. The fact that it is supposed to be a ninja makes it even more questionable. No ninja wears bright pink when they want to be UNSEEN.

Now, I have never used a Greninja, so I won't comment on it's battling skills, but I refuse to use anything that makes me uncomfortable. So I will most likely never use Greninja no matter how good it is.

[Ironbound]

Here I must point something out about ninjas and about Greninja itself: it is fairly common for ninjas to flash bright colours, especially red, at an opponent when abushing them, as it startles and bedazzles them. It plays on the primal association of red with danger, and the consequent start of fear the human mind makes. So, a ninja when ambushing will flash a cloak or wrap whose inside is red, for instance.

It is similarly the case with Greninja, reflected more in his Shiny avatar, wherein his body is black and his tongue bright red. It is also of note that the anime shows Greninja to be capable of retracting its tongue entirely, thus having a 'normal' froggy visage. Greninja can thus effectively engage in stealth without its tongue flashing when it doesn't befit it.

The blue and cream of its normal form is also a form of camouflage by aquatic animals; the pale underside blends with the sky when seen from below, and the dark blue back melts into the abyss when seen from above.

I must disagree; Greninja has a well-thought-out design.

[Lilleen]

Here I must point something out about ninjas and about Greninja itself: it is fairly common for ninjas to flash bright colours, especially red, at an opponent when abushing them, as it startles and bedazzles them. It plays on the primal association of red with danger, and the consequent start of fear the human mind makes. So, a ninja when ambushing will flash a cloak or wrap whose inside is red, for instance.

It is similarly the case with Greninja, reflected more in his Shiny avatar, wherein his body is black and his tongue bright red. It is also of note that the anime shoes Greninja to be capable of retracting its tongue entirely, thus having a 'normal' froggy visage. Greninja can thus effectively engage in stealth without its tongue flashing when it doesn't befit it.

The blue and cream of its normal form is also a form of camouflage by aquatic animals; the pale underside blends with the sky when seen from below, and the dark blue back melts into the abyss when seen from above.

I must disagree; Greninja has a well-thought-out design.

It's perfectly fine if you disagree, my friend. I just stated my opinion. ^^

[Ironbound]

That's fine too~

I only attempt to clarify, not argue.

[Monochrome_Complex]

The tongue scarf is such a Japanese monster design quirk that I can't help but love it. Greninja would fit right at home among classic yokai, many of which were flat out weird or grotesque.

Looking at Chestnaught more, it turns out the shell on its back was never removable like I thought and is kind of just there(I think he's an armadillo or is supposed to be now) which sort of makes him even more awkward than before. I feel like his shield gimmick could've been implemented better rather than just growing from the green on his arms which always looked silly. Like the idea of a paladin hedgehog/armadillo is pretty cool, but GF just completely dropped the ball on execution and ends up feeling like a pokemon that could've used more development time and a better design approach.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Monochrome_Complex

[Unlimited-Dani-Works]

i honestly would pick greninja as one of the best ,(even tho I havent used him) because ive seen a buddy of mine wreck entire teams with just greninja. i plan to try to use him in the future.

[Ironbound]

That's a good reason for why Greninja can be considered the 'worst' starter: he's so broken it isn't even funny, and thus he got what was long overdue: an exit from OU in competititive battling.

I want a word with the whoever thought Empoleon was the worst. It's the BURD OF HONOUR!

[Masquerain]

I always choose starters based on design so wellp, design-wise, the worst for me are Venusaur, Blaziken and Chesnaught. As for status and stuff, wellp, Pikachu and Meganium definitely

[DW~]

Emboar could've been a bulky fire fighting, but is instead wasted potential

[Spineblade]

I generally choose based on design too, so my choices for the worst-looking fully evolved starters are Emboar and Serperior.

[Samalet]

I generally choose based on design too, so my choices for the worst-looking fully evolved starters are Emboar and Serperior.

Does not comprehend. I personally think Serperior has one of the coolest designs in Pokemon. Combining that with a kickass HA in Contrary and being the only competitively good Snake Pokemon (no, Zygarde and Rayquaza don't count) makes it one of my favourite Pokemon overall.

[Spineblade]

Does not comprehend. I personally think Serperior has one of the coolest designs in Pokemon. Combining that with a kickass HA in Contrary and being the only competitively good Snake Pokemon (no, Zygarde and Rayquaza don't count) makes it one of my favourite Pokemon overall.

I won't deny that Contrary Serperiorb has its uses competitively, but it's design just didn't stick with me. I prefer my snakes having more conventionally reptilian features.

[Lilleen]

I generally choose based on design too, so my choices for the worst-looking fully evolved starters are Emboar and Serperior.

I actually find Serperiors evolution line interesting, because it fits what scientist's theorize: that snake used to have limbs, but lost them during evolution.

[Ojama Yellow]

wow guys what the hell cut meganium some slack will you

as for me definitely pikachu, fuck that rabbit

also emboar because triple fire/fighting is too much and GAMEFREAK WHY WOULD YOU GIVE EMBOAR FIGHTING AND NOT SAMUROTT YOU BUNCH OF DINGUS-HEADED NITWITS

[NickCrash]

Why is Pikachu even in the poll? It's not a starter! Yellow never happened.

[Ironbound]

I refuse to cut Meganium any slack. As I said earlier, its pathetic as a starter, a Grass type in general and even a so-called bulky supporter in general. It's literally outclassed in every way by something or the other.

[NickCrash]

People forgetting you could have Pikachu learn Surf in Pokemon Yellow, by transferring it to Pokemon Stadium, lol.

I'd rather have Nidoqueen learn Surf. Pikachu is outclassed by everyone at everything, and I refuse to acknowledge it as a starter.

[Froiky]

First I'm not sure it was meant this way but the poll lets us pick as many of the options as we want. Thus anyone could pick every single starter or just one.

My Answer: Meganium, Samurott, and Chesnaught.

Meganium - It's just a bad starter. Mostly everyone knows this. It's is plain grass type without learning any strong non-grass moves (besides maybe Body Slam). It also has a disadvantage in the region it's introduced with the first two gyms plus others.

Samurott - This isn't based on stats and only a little on movepool, but mainly on my expectations of its evolution line. Oshawott and Dewott suggested an upright figure and followed the samurai theme, but Samurott ended up hunched on all four legs. This ruined it for me as my expectations were shattered.

Chesnaught - This also plays off of Samurott. After having my expectations for Samurott broken I saw Chespin and its similarity to Oshawott in body shaped got my hopes up. Then we had Quiladin the pin cushion and Chesnaught the hunchback juggernaut and I was again disappointed.

So there are my reasons and opinions.