The Most Marketed Starter Pokemon in Every Region (Kanto - Sinnoh) 

Who are your favorite starter Pokemon?

The FIRST point where Pokémon acknowledged the popularity of Charizard is the intro to Pokémon Gold and Silver. It had no reason to be there, but it made it anyway

One thing I appreciate about Unova's starter Pokémon is that I can't think of a single time in any Pokémon game all the way until Legends when any of the three was receiving extra attention moreso than the others. Every other region has at least one starter Pokémon, especially when evolutions are taken into account, that I'd say gets at least some extra attention (Charmander, Cyndaquil, Torchic, Piplup, Froakie, Rowlet, and Scorbunny). By comparison, It took Oshawott *over 11 years* to have some form of bias presented its way over Snivy and Tepig.

"When, other then Grovile from Mystery Dungeon, have you had any strong feelings towards a midstage starter?" *Cries in Dewott being my favorite pokemon of all time*

Another thing I remembered: Totodile also lags behind as the only Johto starter not given a presence on the Pokémon Pinball fields that it could. Both Chikorita and Cyndaquil are on the Ruby field

The other thing about Blaziken that might matter for this is that it got its Mega Evolution in XY, while the other two got theirs in ORAS.

At this point I'm convinced Piplup is a tertiary mascot of the series behind Pikachu and Eevee.

I think it's safe to skip gen one with how overbearing the Bulbasaur love is from the pokemon company

The Gen 2 starters need more love. They have that “simple but excellent”. A lot of later Gen starters seem over designed to me.

I would argue that gen 2's most promoted starter was still charizard. It was the only kanto starter in the opening to gold and silver and was heavily pushed during much of Gen 2. None of the Johto starters compared. Not until Blaziken did anything even come close once Charizard rose to prominence (unless counting pikachu :p ).

Curiously, I heard that Chikorita was the most popular starter in Japan. I find it always a shame that Totodile doesn't get more love. With the happy-go-lucky nature often related to the lil guy plus Japan being so often home to Reptiles of the kaiju genre, you'd think a mini Gojira/Godzilla would make up a fine balance of cute and cool. Cyndaquil kinda does cover that spectrum so that might be why there is that slight edge but still. To me at least there will always be that special connection to my favorite starter Totodile.

Well Mega Sceptile did have a major role in the XYZ anime being a rival to Ash's Greninja.

12:04 tbh, until Typhlosion got it’s Hisuian form, I always liked Quilava more. Quilava has a rly sleek and cool design imo, whereas Typhlosion feels like a basic badger and doesn’t have enough details to make it feel like a true final stage. The most interesting part is the fire wrapping around it’s neck, but it could have had so much more imo. Keeping the fire on top of its head and tail, as well as adding some on its elbows, would have gone a long way to feel like more complete. Also, knowing the Pokémon community, I think u’ll find a lot of fans that prefer Braixen over Delphox lol

12:10 It's weird for me when people talk about how middle stage pokemon are forgotten and people don't have strong feelings for them. It is certainly true for most people, but I remember liking charmeleon, wartortle and ivysaur much more than the other stages. For me they looked "edgy" and cool without being too cute. I think it's because I saw then as "teenagers" and I was at an age that being a teenager was as cool as you could be hahaha

I think Gen 8 was the few regions where everyone like the First Stage starters WAY more than the middle and final forms!

The Squirtle line has always been my favorite gen 1 starter family.

For me personally, my favorites from each Gen are: Kanto - Squirtle Johto - Totodile Hoenn - Treecko Sinnoh - Piplup Unova - Snivy Kalos - Froakie Alola - Rowlet Galar - Grookey Gen 9 - Fuecoco

When it came to a member of Ash’s team returning Charizard was nearly always that member. Silver Conference, Battle Factory, final Battle Pyramid challenge and even in Unova. It returned from the Characific Valley in the Unown movie!

blaziken got a special treatment in XY with his mega evolution because rooster is the mascot of France

Funny how the first 3 are fire starters, which is by far the most promoted type of the starters. Based on my predictions and this video, 5 of the 8 generations have their fire starters the most promoted (Charmander, cindiquil, torchic, litten and scorbunny) compared with 3 water starters (Piplup, oshawott and froakie).Of course I'm not saying they didn't promote grass starters, treecko and rowlet still got more promotion than your average starter, but there is a huge biase thoward fire starters since gen 2.

I always felt that the Pokémon Company tend to favor Fire types most of the time when designing the starters. They often get the best movepool, hidden ability, and stat distribution, are almost always bipedal in design, and two of them in particular happen to be Ash’s Top Tier Pokemon in the anime.

Piplup also came out around a time where everyone was suddenly obsessed with penguins. Like, the mid to late 2000s was Penguin Mania

My favorite starter is Snivy..... but for each gen here's my favorite: Kanto: Squirtle Johto: Totodile Hoenn: Treecko Sinnoh: Chimchar Unova: Snivy Kalos: Froakie Alola: Litten Galat: Sobble Hisui: Oshawatt (hisuin Samarott is my favorite) Gen 9 Spain: counterpart: it may change because i usually take the entire evolution line into account but as of now Sprigatito. if it goes bipedal it's probably going to fuecoco. or maybe Quaxly because he reminds me of Josuke. that hairstyle makes me hear Josuke's theme every time.

My preference for grass types over fire types always causes me pain with how often fire types get the Spotlight way more than others

I think it's also worth noting that Meganium was prominently featured on the front cover for New Pokémon Snap and Bayleef is seen as one of the more well liked middle stage evolutions. Infernape also played a big part in the rivalry between Ash and Paul, though in the end that is overshadowed by the sheer amount of appearances from Dawn's Piplup. Also, Poor Swampert really got the short end of the stick in the anime didn't it? It at least got to be Brendan's starter in the manga at least.

Chikorita is super nostalgic to me, it was one of my favourites as a kid. The anime heavily influenced this as I didn't play the video games back then, so to me I never saw it as weak. As for influential middle stage starters other than Grovyle, Ivysaur and Bayleef always stood out due to the former's great design and presence in Brawl, and the latter's appearance in the anime. The first three gens just really hit the mark with those middle stage grass starters imo.

At the very least, Torterra got one of the coolest appearances in detective Pikachu

These were my chosen starters in every region. Kanto - Charmander Johto - Chikorita Hoenn - Mudkip Sinnoh - Turtwig Unova - Snivy Kalos - Froaky Alola - Rowlet Galar - Sobble

I've felt the Cyndaquil line was much too similar-looking. The regional Typholsion added much needed depth- and in general, the deactivated flames seemed odd. Although, the consistency may benefit it to others.

This was such a cool and interesting video, looking forward to next week's sequel!

I can understand why the middle stage starters aren't as loved my majority of people. They aren't bad, they are wonderful in their own right and I'll argue important for that transition from the base forms with a new trainer to those final forms with a trainer who's experienced and been through some things. But I can see why the cute base forms and the powerful final forms are more beloved. As for the results, honestly kind of expected. Everyone is different, but I understand overall why these are the results.

I love your intro song so much, it's the best part of the video and it's the reason I subscribed!

One thing I think should be considered for Hoenn is Grovyle's prominent role in Mystery Dungeon 2. Definitely not just saying that because I want that game to be discussed more. Edit: Of course you mention him at the end lol

Empoleon is my favorite starter pokemon and the Piplup line means a lot to me it was the first starter I chose in my journey as Pokemon Platinum back then. Not to mention Empoleon is a Water/Steel type a combo we need more of we just have one.

JPR! I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU FOR REVIVING MY LOVE FOR POKEMON. BOTH ANIME AND COMPETITIVE. I just discovered you 2 days ago and I have been non-stop watching your content. I havent even clicked on another youtube channel to watch.

unova - galar predictions: samurott, greninja, decidueye and cinderace

I'm not sure if you're aware, but there was this "Project Pochama" account that the Pokemon Company launched on Twitter not long after Pokemon Day 2021. Pochama ポッチャマ being Piplup's Japanese name. They often posted artworks of Piplup and occasionally mixed some other Pokemon in there as well and showcased some merch. Heck, Piplup even showed up in music video called "Piplup Step". I think it was pretty wild

I love how you mentioned when did people care about mid evo starters but earlier you mentioned two main characters in the anime both had a Quilava not to mention a lot people like Quilava more than either of its other stages for various reasons (I’ll never forget the Dark Quilava art from the tcg my self it’s one of my favorite arts)

Treeko line does have a good showing with Grovile being a prominent character in Pokémon mystery dungeon explorers of time/darkness/sky A lot of people like quilava

There's one thing you didn't mention for Chikorita/Meganium. Meganium is marketed for New Pokemon Snap. That is, Cyndaquil literally getting a new regional form in Legend Arceus is more outstandable.

Definitely one of the most creative videos coming! I loved this one!

This was nice 💪 Thank you for making this

6:39 Chikorita got featured in the Pokemon TCG McDonald’s promo in 2021 as well as a jumbo card in the 1st partner packs.

12:11 The whole Chikorita line is among my favorites, which includes Bayleef.

It's such a shame the best Johto starter (Totodile, which is also my most favourite Pokémon ever) gets so neglected by Game Freak. Definitely the best designed one of the Johto starters. Seriously. Totodile is underrated.

I like Swampert. I've used it in every Hoenn playthrough and it was my first female starter. If I could get my Alpha Sapphire and Star Sapphire Swamperts on the same ROM (probably not possible because one's on a cartridge and the other one's in ROM hack played via Citra) then I would be happy. With that said, Typhlosion was my favourite for a while and I always pick it when I have the chance. I have started to gravitate away from it however and more towards Squirtle. Not Blastoise or Wartortle. Squirtle. Probably because I was one in a Minecraft thing I did with my friends a while back, when I still had friends. I don't think I'll be getting the dog to play Minecraft with me any time soon though so Squirtle remains on the top spot for now. I would happily pick Bulbasaur over it on occasions however, as I did for Soul Silver and Wilting Y.

The pokemon company realized the fire starters they were dropping were too good the first few generations so they decided to reel it back on those starter lines for bw and xy now I get it

Awesome job on the research!

Glad to see that the birdie starters are getting a lot of love! As a lover of birds, this is something I love to see!

Taking a guess before watching: Kanto: Charmander (they seemed to have pushed Bulbasaur at first but Charizard is by far the most marketed now) Johto: Cyndaquil (actually I am unsure of this one) Hoenn: I’d say it was Torchic in the beginning, especially with Blaziken being the first to get a Mega Evolution, but Treecko saw a lot of marketing too, being Ash’s Pokémon and showing up alongside Brendan in a lot of ORAS promotional material. Sinnoh: Piplup Unova: Oshawott (also a little unsure on this one) Kalos: Froakie Alola: my gut is Litten, but then again Rowlet gets lots of attention too Galar: Scorbunny

I've always felt so bad for GEN 2 Starters... yeah I even remember the day Gold&Silver released for me all of them looked great... I have no idea why Totodile and its evolution line never gets the love its deserves.... My theory is almost everyone was so bounded with Kanto Starters at that point.... I remember everyone has gone mad after Ash released Charizard, squirtle and sent Bulbasaur back to Oak's Lab.

I’ve always liked the bulbasaur line more than the chsrmamder or squirtle line because I just love it’s design. Also it’s number one. Literally #001, to be exact

Great video! Can't wait for the next one

Monferno is the only non grovyle mid stage evolution I actively like. Chimchar was my gen 4 choice and I had a toy monferno as a kid which definitely helped.

The music matching each gen 🤌 chefs kiss

the anime was one of the main reason why Chikorita, Torchic, and Piplup were my three favorite starters as a kid. I thought all three were like the cutest pokemon ever and so I always chosed them as my starter when I played any of the games. And it was kind of heart breaking when I found out that Chikorita was the least popular starter for people on the internet. I also remember there was like a cult of Mudkip worshippers back then, but I never understood why so many people loved it. I wasn't a meme enthusiast then so I wasn't aware of the I Leik Mudkip meme, but later on I found out that was the reason. This might be only me ,but when DP was at its peak (like 2006-2009) I thought the reason why Club Penguin was so popular too was because of Piplup. Like I thought lking penguins was a cool thing as a kid and I even named my Penguin character as Piplup followed by some numbers.

I never realised just how common Piplup (I normally say pochama will explain why in a second) merchandise is, especially because Turtwig was always my favourite. It wasn’t until my girlfriend (who is Japanese hence Pochama) and I started talking about Pokémon and her saying her favourite it Pochama despite not having ever played a game did I start to see it. Piplup is everywhere, and I actually really like it

I think Hoenn had the Grovyle love glossed over, seriously. Being featured as a prominent character in multiple spin-offs, among other things, Grovyle is probably the most promoted second-stage. lol nevermind spoke too soon

I always thought that overall fire starters (including evos) usually got the most love from Gamefreak and the fans alike. It's hard out here in these water streets

Who else feels like the opening music brings tears to the eyes because of nostalgia?

Ivysaur is one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, some mid stage starters dont get their deserved love

This only just reminded how when I started playing Pokémon (Gen 3 cause it was new at the time) that Torchic was the popular starter to get the Blaziken. I went with the Mudkip because my brother got Torchic and fell in love with Mudkip’s line. I started a new game to give Treeko a run, but Mudkip was still superior. Kinda crazy to think how after several years the “best” starter went from being Torchic to Mudkip

Back in 1999, I played Pokemon Gold for the first time but it was in Japanese so I couldn't understand anything and the internet at the time lacked information. When it came to the three Johto starters, I picked Totodile because it resembled Charmander the most and I found it to be the most cool looking. Its evolution Croconaw looked kinda fat but I absolutely loved Feraligatr.

Mudkip/Swampert may not be the most marketable compare to the other Gen 3 starters but that just means it’s the hidden gem among the other two.

I’m genuinely curious about starter choice numbers region to region as well as overall type popularity. I admit I fear grass may be the least popular but that’s more intuition. I also have a theory like fan favorites are often those that are birds or mammals (sans Kanto which were ALL reptilian/amphibian and Alola which was ALL mammalian/avian), which mirrors real life preferences for charismatic species when it comes to pets and conservation funding.

Didn't even mention how Blaziken got a Mega in XY while the other two had to wait until ORAS for their Megas

I always thought it was the chase rare status of Charizard in Base Set that pushed it so hard. It was "the best" card according to most kids' perspectives, pushing Charizard upwards in people's brains, making them pick it more, then making the card worth more, and just started a brutal cycle upwards. Also Totodile getting the shaft just hurts me, Feraligatr gets no support and will never get its missing letter.

My favorite final forms for each gen are 1. Charizard 2. Feraligatr 3. Swampert(also favorite Starter overall) 4. Infernape(although Torterra is VERY close) 5. Samurott 6. Greninja 7. Decidueye 8. Inteleon As for base and middle stages, I actually like Rowlet and Torracat more than Decidueye and especially Incineroar. I have a soft spot for Bayleef thanks to the Gen 2 anime, and for Grovyle thanks to Mystery Dungeon.

Actually, I really like the middle stages of all the kanto starters. They're actually my favorite stages for all three of them. At one point, ivysaur was my favorite pokemon.

I just saw a totodile plushie the other day and I knew I had to get it at some point. my very first starter and my favorite to this date

I don't think will make a difference, but you forgot to mention that Meganium was featured in the cover of New Pokémon Snap and was one of the Lumina pokemon there, having a role in the story.

I’ve always loved Squirtle, and Cyndaquil they will always be my favorite starters

Hoenn starters are pretty much equally marketed, and they're all great. easily the strongest lineup of starters pokemon has ever made imo

Everyone may hate the gen 5 starters but my favourite is Snivy due to the Black and White anime being the first full series I ever watched when I was younger. Also its design looks really cool so theres that too.

Hey! Mid stage evolutions tend to be the perfect mixing grounds for cute AND cool! Consider you have Monferno, Bayleaf, Marshstomp, Combusken, Grotle, and so much more! I love Bayleaf the most, despite it being an absolute garbage pokemon in Silver, Gold, and Crystal.

Chillll, Chikorita was my first choice going into Silver all those years agooo

Piplup is so popular it has its own ice cream in Japan

Actually bayleef ivysaur and wortortle are really sweet midstages, and I could also argue for marshtomp and grotle. Going past the gens of this video, dewott, braixen, and frogadier are also incredible

Charizard was made popular not by marketing but by the people. Game Freak eventually just decided to cash in on it. Had Ash’s Cyndaquil fully evolved during the Johto region I 100% believe it’s popularity would have exploded. In fact, I think we were all awaiting for Cyndquil to fill the spot where Charizard left. Which never really came to fruition. Piplup debuted when the whole penguin popularity and marketing thing was peaking; March of the Penguins, Happy Feet. It was weird to say the least but people were eating it up. Piplup just road that wave.

I think it's fairly easy to argue that Meganium is *the* poster child for New Pokemon Snap, and honestly I can't see any other starter that would fit as well on the front cover. If you think of any member of the Chikorita evo line you're very likely to picture a smile on its face. Plus its design is a lot less fierce and aggressive as most starters, Meganium is just an all around photogenic Pokemon. In an alternate timeline where it didn't get absolutely bodied in its native region, I think Meganium would've stayed a lot more marketable.

Re mid stage starters along with Grovyle I think Dewott is pretty cool.

im surprised u didnt mention grovyle from PMD!! but i do agree, torchic/blazekin is probs the more popular

At least somebody finally said why Piplup is one of my most hated Pokémon

Swampert was featured at least in a movie roll ! It was one of alva’s goons Pokémon in volcanion and the mechanical marvel

the last time time has a feeling for s mid stage starter was in my nuzlocke my charmeleon clutched in the gary fight in the ship all my pokemon were dead but him

I am sad that chikorita is considered the least favorite starter because she is my number one top favorite Pokemon of all time. I loved her attitude, I loved her colors, she was the first Pokemon i learned to draw from memory. Her evolution may be boring I guess, but I love her so much 💚

You are a cool guy JPR!

Maybe it's just me, but I find that I'm far more likely to watch the sponsor advertisement if it's timestamped. You help the people skip the ad if they want, so I... decide to watch it lol

Don’t forget that piplup had an entire music video dedicated to him

In which concerns Feraligatr, the worst thing is the number of fingers in its hand. Compare with the number of fingers of Krookodile or a real croc, you'll note what's wrong with Feraligatr (it's my favourite gen2 though).

I know that a lot of people didn't like the fact that Charizard gets a lot of attention from gamefreak but tbh Charizard getting a lot of attention is isn't the problem, the problem is that most of the other starters don't get as much attention. The only starters that gets almost as much attention as Charizard are Venusaur and Blastoise I say almost because even they get shafted in favour for Charizard sometimes like in x and y where Charizard got two mega forms while Venusaur and Blastoise only got one or in sword and shield where Charizard is the only Kanto starter in the base game while Venusaur and Blastoise has to wait for dlc. Meanwhile All the other starter trios especially the unpopular ones are left in the dust (although the hoenn starters got mega forms in gen 6 they didn't get Gmax forms like the kanto starters did in gen 8) and even greninja the most popular starter pokemon didn't make it to gen 8.

I think it should be noted that Meganium is also pretty much the face pokemon for Pokemon Snap. The Cyndaquil line still wins but it just means that the Totodile line is far behind in comparison

fun fact, before catching her, a wild chikorita beat Ash's charizard in the anime.

A small thing that at least puts chickorita just a little higher is the prominence it has in the new pokemon snap not quite a new form so I would say cyndiqul is still overall more popular but I do think it's a little closer than 1 might think

I watched the second part first. Don't tell me what to do. Good videos.

I actually love all the kanto and johto starters but especially charmander and cyndaquil but I very much adore litten and am excited about sprigatito

12:16 I can answer that, Quilava and Torracat and Servine are my favorites in their specific region, so, there you go~

100% agree piplup is the most popular but that merch segment is a bit warped. the only reason it has so much merch is bc of project pochama, which yes again, the fact that it exists already makes it the most popular. but without it numbers would diminish by a lot

waiting for the Explorers DX announcement so i can hope that there would be Grovyle merch

Overall popularity rarely lines up with own preferences except for gens 1 and 4. I can already predict that Fire will be the most numerous top popular while Grass will be the least.