I'm not going to lie, I feel Gen III has my least favorite starter designs. With that said, I chose Torchic and I have not regretted that decision since. I don't know how he stacks up against the other starters but I love his diverse moveset compared to the last two starters and as usual, good water and grass mons are pretty easy to come by in the early-to-mid section of the game whereas Fire remains pretty uncommon.