The Best COMPETITIVE Starter Pokemon in Every Generation 

HAPPY JPR FRIDAY Who if your favorite starter to use competitively? I really enjoy using Infernape, he punches a lot lol

Absolutely fascinating seeing the history of these pokemon. Shame poor gen 2 lags far behind their peers though.

Flower Trick not only hits hard but it also hits through defense boosts making it a great way to deal with dondozos that ruled the early gen 9 meta

You missed a very important victory for empoleon. It does have a world championship win in vgc 2009! Wolfe also got top 8 with emboar and samurott also made top 4 in 2011. Chesnaught got top 16 in 2014 vgc worlds the highest of the kalos starters(the kanto starters with their megas got higher placements throughout that year too in the various age divisions) My favorite starter competitive has got to be venu, incin,charizard,and meowscarada!

Will be interesting to see if Torterra or Empoleon see any decent usage with their buffs.

I love Blaziken ❤️

I love Samurott 😍 I’m happy that it had some relevance in competitive.

I'm surprised you didn't consider Mega Charizard Y when talking about Zard. Sure, it's still not enough to overturn Venasaur, but it's definitely worth mentioning as it's two forms saw a ton of usage in both Singles and Doubles, with Mega Charizard Y being a major player in VGC.

Serperior and Skeledirge are my favorite starters! And they're both SO fun to play with in competitive~

That gen V sprite of Venusaur looks so good. I hope Game Freak goes back to sprites for a gen to give us super clean sprites that they can likely make run better on whatever hardware.

Fridays wouldn't be the same without a good JPR video. My favourite starter to use competitively is definitely Mega Swampert cause I love me some rain teams. Honourable mention goes to Greninja with pre Protean/Battle Bond nerf.

Empoleon had no VGC coverage that’s true, but in 2008 it did win at Worlds so it’s not entirely absent compared to Infernape

11:32 Never thought I'd see the day where Overgrow could actually be very useful.

He mentions the only pokemon being able to wall blaziken are giratina and lugia. Life orb swords dance blaziken does nearly 81 to 96% to standerd sets Giratina with Flare blitz in the sun. Lugia gets roasted after stealth rock. Giratina and lugia can only wall it with rain or when sun isn't active or theres no stealth rock. It does 76.2 to 89.9% to lugia after stealth rock. Which is a guarantee KO if your wondering. Conext Giratina in its Orgin form has base 150 HP 100 defense and is resistance Fire. The only Giratina form that walls blaziken is Alerted form. +2 Flare blitz in the sun only does 30 to 35.5% a 3 hit KO. Yes i did the calculations with the most common and standard sets and evs which is the the great wall sets.

Greninja was so good that JPR forgot to even mention Chesnaught and Delphox at all

I am amazed you have not run out of JPR-Avatar entrance ideas for your videos yet. Love it :D

So glad my favorite Pokemon, Serperior, is good. Contrary is one of my favorite abilities because of it

Except for Sceptile all the starters I really like got first place which makes me very happy. Infernape was close and will probably fall behind in the grand scheme due to ScarVi giving it only a friendly handshake while the other two get big bags of cash but this "victory" is enough for me.

I’m so glad that most of my favorite starters (Venusaur, Greninja, Infernape) are the most viable in competitive play.

empoleon is a vgc world champ!! it was 2009 i think that put it on top of infernape, great work with the video and amazing topic! always waiting from argentina to see the weekly uploads

My boy Torterra bout to be shining in the competitive scene

You should totally update this when all starters become available.

as a vgc player, I love when you dabble in competitive content

1:05 I know PU is supposed to sound like the "ew disgusting" sound people make, but I like the idea (that I've seen somewhere before) that it means "Practically Useless".

Will say at least Blastoise one in the 2022 Worlds Junior division.

Contrary can still backfire on you if your opponent uses moves like Swagger or Flatter. Believe me, it has happened to me and my rental Malamar in the Battle Agency. I know they’re “not too popular” moves, but it happens a lot in competitive tournaments and facilities.

If I were playing competitively I would be inclined to use my unaware skeledirge. If it can make Quaqsire worth using it can certainly make chonky boi good

GRENINJAAAAAAAA!!!

Great video!

All the dark type starters won 🥇

The Discord sound at the start of the video made me panic check if I was in a Discord call jesus christ

Just wanted to point out that the sole reason that empoleon was in OU at the time was new toy syndrome since it got roost and competitive (and also that it had a semi decent matchup against gliscor but like that ran earthquake so not really) while infernape was a former gen 4 staple. Also serperior has seen a decent amount of use in doubles and is a threat if left alone

Empoleon has been much better than Infernape on gens 5-7. Empoleon was a fantastic replacement for the Swift Swim Pokemon in the rain meta, and then became one of the most reliable Defog users in the game.

Funny thing is that meowscarada most of the time does not even use protean. It uses overgrow. This is because it’s so frail that it often holds the focus sash, meaning it is often on 1 HP. The added versatility of protean does not really matter because it just wants to use flower trick most of the time and not much else. So overgrow helps that while protean does not.

A JPR video, and on my birthday? Sweet

Bro... Empoleon won VGC worlds one year. Infernape never won worlds.

As an Emboar fan I really hope it gets something when it comes into gen 9

God the regal snake will soon again wreak havoc in a few months going to get gen 6 and gen 7 OU war flashbacks soon

Having 5 Zigzaguma is only used in Ruby and Sapphire since rare items from Pickup only depend on the level since later in Emerald.

I’m no competitive Pokémon player, but I did wonder how good a full team of starters would be.

Please do a video like this but with competitive legendaries/mythical (:

Empoleon won the 2009 world championships how is it not good in vgc

There will come a day when Meganium will have justice, it might not be now or in the near future, but mark my words. It will have justice.

Can’t wait for Indigo Disk.

5:52 wdym Empoleon non existent in vgc, it won worlds once

The fact that Tony the Tiger got buffed this gen is ridiculous, he was doing just fine in gen 8 but they just HAD to give him helping hand and knock off.

Something worth noting is that in the mega zards era, Charizard was FAR better than venusaur, mainly in VGC, but also in singles. Venusaur was the better option in gen 8 when It comes to VGC tho, and I do agree with Him being the more consistent of the two.

Cinderace and Meowscarade: Big move go Boom

What video? 10:57 has chuggaaconroy posted a scarvi vid? Or is it from Twitter or somewhere else

If only the Johto starters (not just H Typhlosion) got some form of justice, especially Meganium (which is not only the worst Johto starter, but the worst starter to ever perform competitively). Fortunately, H Typhlosion could work quite well with its dual STAB alongside Focus Blast & maybe Grass Tera Blast

“Goofy looking cabbage frog” 😂😂😂

Just wanna say, skeledirge is the best in singles by far, it’s unironically one of the best mons in ubers despite not belonging to the tier, it sits on koraidon, it sits on arceus, it sits on zacian, it’s just too good defensively while being an attacking Pokemon at the same time

Bashya-mo with Speed Boost is so cool. Booster should have gotten that Hidden Ability, and the Nitro Charge move to be a take of the Pokémon's name.

Grass type dominance baby 😎

Love the content.

Sceptile will always be my favorite. The first Grass Dragon in the series. Getting Lightningrod and Unburden was strange though.

Can you do this video for legendary trios?

Sa-naito with Synchro and any neutral Nature is the best leading Pokémon to hunt for the best starting Nature. Ralts can evolve to Kirlia to Sa-naito by leveling up.

Protean + life orb greninja was my ace for years

Can’t wait to watch a 12 minute video about how busted Meganium is!

Incineroar is bananas good…

7:21 Is that a Gallade using Wide Guard in a singles battle???

Anyone else notice the discord call and kingdom hearts pause menu sounds?

I just like Inteleon. He doesn't need bulk. Its fun to use

I wonder if that’s why we got like 3 more fire/ fight starters. They were trying to make one better than blaziken.

3:53 im goated i know

5:24 Yeeeeah Empoleon wasn't surviving the higher tiers in Gen 5 with a weakness to Fighting... It's kinda why it is still kinda my least favorite Water Starter to this day. He has good typing, but a low special defense and is week to Fighting and Ground. Those are just hard to get behind a lot of the time for me.

Blaziken is my boi 🥰

Even though I don’t play competitive I still doubt this so interesting

Did not watch but hopefully Charzaird Y or maybe X is on Gen 6

I would say though, in gen 2 specifically, Meganium is actually the best starter competitively, out of the Jotho starters.

charizards been annoying in gen 9 as well with torkoal in doubles.

Dude the Discord chirp at the beginning threw me off.

Bulbasure is the nerd

RAAAAAAAHHHH FERALIGATR SWEEP!!!!!!🐊🐊🐊

Just today I had a Link Battle where my Battle Bond Greninja swept through five of my opponent's Pokémon until his own Life Orb and poison damage took him out. He was simply too strong and fast for the opposing team. Protean may suck now, but I honestly don't see why some people think that Battle Bond is ruined. So what if Greninja can't switch anymore, if it can take out even one or two opponents after the BB boost, it's usually worth it.

Bro did you forget blastoise got shell smash and then got banned for it??

I think Typhlosion with Eruption has had better history that Feraligatr

I ❤ Beefysaur.

Man, meganium needs a nee regional form.

Greninja is my favorite

Why'd they have to nerf my first starter Inteleon 😔 Doubling up on Crit Chance with Focus Energy and Snipe Shot was so good

Me, personally, while I do like basketball shoes and sneakers (not enough to call myself a sneaker head), I can’t bring myself to justify spending more than $200 CAD on a pair of shoes; I would only spend that much on a pair if I *REALLY* wanted them, but that’s rarely ever the case.

Sceptile is nowhere near 4 time in a row OU swampert. Edit: with a significant role in Gen 9 OU

Not mentioning zard’s gen6/7 vgc appearances is a crime

Gen 3 charizard in singles was good

Feel a bit cheated that we didn't discuss anything lower than bdsp, I undsmerstand that most wouldn't care but it makes the smtitle feel.a bit clikbaity

HE’S NOT A FROG 🐸 🐸🐸🐸

2 gens straight where the grass starter is actually viable and stronk? Wow.

Using Kingdom Hearts sfx I see 👀

Me hping sceptile gets a torterra level buff (its not happening, im on copium).

Agree with everything except Kanto. Mega Zard X / Y > Mega Venusaur. Bottom tier at Singles? You kidding me? It was on a lot of teams. Same with GMax Zard.

Interesting to see your perspective. I don't do competitive battling, but I do a lot of raids in Gen 9. The Kalos starters in particular I see very differently (I'm not disputing what you are saying, just coming from a raid side of things) - but Chesnaught is amazing as it can belly drum, it is grass/fighting, it can use drain punch, it can finish with wood hammer or close combat after it teras (if it even needs to). Not good for every situation, but just the one I need sometimes. My Delphox is set up to use mystical fire and light screen, as well as nasty plot (or sometimes skill swap) and blast burn for once she teras. She has a clear amulet, which helps with her witch theme as well as allowing her to avoid debuffs and tons of damage (a handful of raid bosses try to slow you down so they can flinch you or some other similar strat, if they can't slow you down they will still keep trying to with a rare chance of actually attacking, don't tell the devs). She is situationally extremely good, with her special defense support. She can survive against a lot of special attackers that are strong against her (I used her as much as I could against the event Hydreigons and Hatterenes before the Mewtwo raid, notably using dark pulse and earth power). You could even do a psychic build, mine is all fire. Greninja I do not use, he dies too quickly and protean doesn't really offer that huge of an advantage with his moveset when you can choose someone else better at whatever he's trying to do. Also protean only works once in gen 9, sadly. I'm not saying he can't make it through a raid, but I would not pick him tbh. I have seen a lot that have not made it through a raid. It is hard to salvage things when your timer is constantly getting drained by a Greninja dying each turn, it turns into a race sometimes. I doubt most people look at it the raid-focused way I do so I thought I'd share, thanks for the informative video!

they did my boy inteleon dirty in gen 8 :( ig the ability is fitting to the design but other starters in gen 8 got way better ones

Its funny how in the modern day mega blastoise is the most superior out of all the kanto megas due to it getting shell smash,now its in national dex ubers chilling with mega blaziken

Dude are you ever going to get Venusaur's damn name right?

Fool Chuck Norris wqould have Magikarp as his starter and then beat the E-4 with a team of Magikar, not because he caught 6 magikarp but because he roundhouse kicked his starter and it broke into six fully grown Magikarp.

Tbh if middle east comaptitve pokemon did not take off and is played casualy here

Poor Meganium.

Blastoise is KING