I have issues with Gen IV already because I've heard Fire Types are pretty rare for some reason, and so you kind of need Chimchar if you want to have one, but... as I've said before, I don't really like monkeys.
Piplup’s cool, but I do have a soft spot for Chimvhar. It really carried me through the whole game. Interestingly, even though Gen IV has my least favorite Pokémon designs overall (most look like plastic toys and the colors are pretty bad), I still like the starters overall. They have a nice common visual theme. I also like that mechanically, they each get a type later on that counters the Pokémon they’re weak to. Infernape’s fihting type is a perfect counter for Empoleon’s steel type, Torterra’s ground type makes Infernape much less dangerous to it, and Empoleon’s added steel type reduces its weakness to grass. I don’t think they ever attempted a similar idea later on despite playing with starter types a lot
If I start Pearl, I'm probably going to go with Piplup, I love penguins.
Yeah, the first three gens and Gen 7 have the most solid starters in general, imo. I was honestly surprised with how great the Sun and Moon ones were. Incineroar has actually managed to become my favorite starter of all time, actually. It doesn’t hurt that the in game animations give it tons of personality.
Yeah, the Fire/Fighting typing is a bit more broken than I thought it would be since it opens the Pokemon up for dealing with Rock and Steel types. Honestly, my favorite batches of starters are from the first two gens and then Sun & Moon. At least from a design standpoint. This gen isn't too bad, but they feel like a step down from Gen 2. I think Gen 5 and 6 have my least favorite sets, granted I'm only going by their initial forms and not final forms.
Torchic is amazing, though I am biased because I always pick the fire starter, no exceptions. I also really like the typing it gets later on, even if that bit is controversial because two subsequent fire starters have the exact same ruling. I honestly don’t mind but I can see why people are upset and I find it hilarious how now it looks like Scorbunny is also going to be fire/fighting. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that this is probably the most popular batch of starters aside from the original trio. Usually people who don’t like the design of the other Gen 3 mins like the starters. Not to mention they’re just some of the best starters around competitively.
Torchic, I tend to always like the Fire Starter in these games, especially since Fire tends to be a late game type.
Which starter did you pick?
I only have up to Gen IV I believe. Ruby is interesting just to see how certain elements come into play. I haven't been terribly impressed with the Pokemon selection, though I do feel my Starter is pretty OP. I only have three badges, and currently I'm just trying to level up a few of my Pokemon to their next evolution lines.
Well, GSC is available on the 3DS eshop, if you'd like to play the originals. Though I would personally recommend the remake, I figured this approach would work better for you. Plus, honestly, unlike Red/Blue/Yellow, the originals actually still really hold up, imo. For the longest time gen 2 was my favorite and was kind of this standard to which I compared every other Pokemon game. It's great. I recommend it. Gens 5 and 7 are also fantastic, imo.
