A lot of people always have no idea what Pokemon starter to pick. So, I decided to give in depth guides on what choice is the best one. And I'm sure I will piss plenty of fanboys off who are mad that their favorite is not as good as they thought. Which will happen several times, trust me. So, I'm going to rank them based (in no specific order) typing, stats, movepool, and alternative Pokemon. So, I'll start with the original Red and Blue versions, and will continue onto the later ones.
Typing:
Bulbasaur's Poison typing comes to bite it in the ass, as Psychic types are incredibly overpowered and it loses its Ground resistance. Its Fighting resistance and Poison neutrality it gains meanwhile, are not useful at all in this game. Not a terrible typing, but not a good one.
Charizard's typing is horrible. There aren't any good Flying moves in this game while Fire is not a good offensive type. Meanwhile, it's weak to three of the best offensive types: Water, Electric, and Rock with only a Ground immunity to really make up for this.
Water is one of the best offensive and defensive typings in the game. Water starters will always be at an advantage for it.
Best: Blastoise
Worst: Charizard
Stats:
These starters all have very balanced stats, where nothing is exceptionally well, but nothing is bad either. Jack of all trades describes them best. But they do have one pretty good stat each. Venasaur has a great Special stat, Charizard has great speed, and Blastoise has great defense. So Venasaur is the only one who hits pretty hard, while also being pretty good at tanking special hits.
Overall, I'd say Venasaur works best here while Charizard works worst. Charizard is only fast while not hitting hard enough to justify its speed. Blastoise isn't fast, but can tank hits even if he can't dish them back that well. Venusaur meanwhile, while not fast, can tank and dish hits which is nice.
Best: Venusaur
Worst: Charizard
Movepool:
While Venusaur is the best stats, its special moves don't exactly take advantage of its stats, with Razor Leaf being its only worthwhile move from there. However, its support movepool does make up for this with Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, and Stun Spore. And it can learn Body Slam or Hyper Beam (which works amazingly with Swords Dance) as well which aids its physical movepool.
Charizard has the distinction as being the only Fire type with Earthquake. However, Fire is just not a good physical typing in this game. Ice hits Grass types better, Rock hits Bug types better, and Steel types don't exist yet.
Blastoise meanwhile, receives pretty much a perfect movepool. Surf, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Body Slam/Hyper Beam has perfect coverage and hits a lot super effective.
Best: Blastoise
Worst: Charizard
Alternatives:
So, another good question is if there are any Pokemon that do what these Pokemon do better? Exeggutor has a better movepool, stats, and typing than Venusaur. The downside, however, is you have to go without a Grass type for a long time and when you get there, a Grass type will be less useful than it was before. Other than that, it's as good as Grass types are.
Charizard is hands down the best Fire type because Earthquake is that important. Too bad Fire types aren't that good in this game. So there you go.
Cloyster, Starmie, Slowbro, and Poliwrath are all better options than Blastoise while Vaporeon is a fine option as well, and you can get the Slowpoke/Poliwag between the third and fourth Gyms so it's not that bad a wait. So you have plenty of options for a Water type.
Best: Charizard
Worst: Venusaur
Winner:
Am I biased here? Absolutely, since Venusaur is my favorite starter line ever. But, that doesn't change that it is the best of the three if you build a team that it can support. If you want your starter to carry your team, Blastoise is better even if it is outclassed by other Water types. Charizard is definitely the worst of the three, meanwhile, as it has bad offensive and defensive typing. So if you play the original games, you know what to pick.
Also: Those who love Yellow, Pikachu is awesome, but he is the worst starter ever. He is horrible.
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