These are the Pokémon that our respective professors offer us before we go on to begin our journeys.
Being some of the first Pokémon encounter in-game, many veteran players have a sentimental bias towards one or the other.
While the debate between who’s the best within generations is already harsh enough, fights between generations is something else.
(Queue the person in the back clinging to his three floating magnets and purple rat screaming ANYTHING BEYOND 150 IS TRASH. THERE’S NO MORE CREATIVITY).
No matter where you stand, you can’t really argue the popularity of fire-types across the generations.
After being a member of the Pokémon fandom for over two straight decades I have seen my fair share of fights over which one is better. Preferences generally range from memories, stats, and of course, cuteness.
Considering we all are looking for something different, some may think it’s impossible to decide on “the best”. But that’s not going to stop this list! (but it will probably create a lot of hate mail, sorry in advance)
8. Tepig
Tepig came into the picture when people started really hating on the fire-fighting combo. For that I think the poor thing got a lot of undeserved hate. I personally always found Tepig pretty cute, but he was overshadowed by the other options from Unova. To make matters worse, puberty hit hard. That cute chubby piglet grows up to be more of an awkward frat guy that nobody invited to the party. To add salt to the wound his stats left a lot to be desired. It’s not even that great compared to all starters, let alone the notoriously powerful fire Pokémon. Its lack of style and failure to live up to competition in battle dropped this little piggy to the bottom of the list.
7. Chimchar
Chimchar is a solid Pokémon. Strong, aesthetically cool, and not really so hated. That being said, he’s also not really anyone’s favorite either. This fiery monkey has good enough stats to stand up to a lot of fan favorites and he was a popular choice in the Sinnoh era. Sadly, he didn’t get the same love or treatment as some of the other contenders and failed to remain in the limelight. While he did have a role in Pokémon Conquest, he never had any more notable role in other titles… not even a mega evolution.
6. Scorbunny
For those who don’t know, Scorbunny is the newest member of the fire starters. Since I don’t know much about this little guy or much about its evolution path (or even its final types) this ranking is going to be based off of a lot of speculation and hope. At least until I can update later on! To start off, rabbits are awesome. And I have never felt disappointed with the final looks of any of the starters (excluding Sceptile, sorry not sorry). That being said, I am just going to assume that this is going to be some amazing powerful rabbit -maybe a ninja or samurai or something, my hopes are rather high for Sword and Shield. In terms of types, there is a LOT they can do with this. I am down for essentially anything that isn’t fire-fighting as I think I speak for many fans when I say we’re kind of done with that. Considering how much the game’s producers respond to fan criticism(especially recently) I am going to go ahead and hope they heard our whims loud and clear. Scorbunny can always be moved around this list, but for me he’s pretty darn close to the middle.
5. Fennekin
Foxes hold a great significance in Japanese culture and are one of the more treasured animals in a lot of countries. They are no stranger to the Pokémon franchise as elegant and adorable favorites. So it came as no surprise how excited fans were when they saw Fennekin, the adorable fox starter. As fire-psychic it grew up from an adorable fox to an awesome and mature looking Delphox. It became one of three fire-psychic types(including Victini, Darmanitan, and itself). It also became a fast fan favorite – not only because of its cool look, but it has got great stats too. It’s got the highest special attack of any fire starter(second highest overall, just bested by the Empoleon chain). Its second form even made an appearance in Pokken Tournament!
4. Litten
If there’s one thing that nerdy shut-ins love more than video games and anime, it’s cute cats. I fell in love with Litten the second I saw him. And although I was disappointed to see another wrestling-looking starter, I wasn’t unsatisfied with the look of the whole evolutionary journey. And to the surprise of many, Incineroar, the final evolution for this cat, is actually fire-dark rather than fire-fighting starters. With decent stats(and cool looks) he really became the better version of Tepig in evolution. He even went on to join other Nintendo titles too. Although he didn’t make the cut to join Braixen, Charizard, and Blaziken in Pokken, he did manage a spot with the Kanto starters in the newest Super Smash Brothers game! While its stats aren’t exceptional, it is still a well-balanced and highly valuable character. According to the Pikalytics from the competitive Pokémon world at the Video Game Championships(VGC), it’s been the most used Pokémon competitively the last few years. That says a lot.
3. Torchic
I remember when I first played Sapphire back in the day. While I went with Mudkip, I couldn’t help thinking the whole fire-fighting thing was fresh and cool(before I knew the games would drag out the combination for a while…). Torchic gets special points for this combo while it was still original. Plus, those who followed the anime series saw how cool Blaziken was in action! And we can’t ignore the amazing transformation from little chick, to anthropomorphized chicken, to confident totem God. This is the makeover of a century even Queer Eye couldn’t pull off. The mega evolution only continued to get cooler and the amazing stats make it a favorite competitively too.
2. Cyndaquil
I personally find myself going for the water or grass starters, but Cyndaquil is my one exception. Introduced rather early on in the Pokémon universe, a lot of people would agree when I say that he is a personal favorite fire starter of the bunch. If we are talking about purely aesthetics, this guy is easily the cutest in my book among the other contenders. Whether we are talking about its behavior in the anime or its appearance in the game, it is absolutely adorable. German translations even call the thing Feurigel, roughly translating to fire hedgehog. This little rodent isn’t just precious, it’s actually pretty strong stats-wise. If it wasn’t for the sheer unignorable fame of the next Pokémon, it would have made number one easily.
1. Charmander
Charmander is one of the most famous Pokémon in existence.
It’s cute, classic, strong, and recognizable by pretty much anyone… fans of the franchise or not.
He is a lizard that’s also a fire breathing dragon, which is pretty much one of the coolest creatures ever.
The only thing that could make him even more metal would be if he could come in black… oh wait, he does, TWICE(with both the shiny variant and a mega evolution).
Speaking of, the fact the franchise gave him special attention when it came to mega evolutions speaks for itself.
Charizard was the only starter to get two evolutions (Mewtwo being the only other Pokémon to receive a second additional form)!
Looking at the numbers, Charmander also comes on top when it comes to starter stats and remains a competitive member of any team after several generations.
While he doesn’t necessarily have the absolute best stats in everything, he is well balanced and considered one of the strongest starters overall.
On top of that, being an original starter has fans hold a special place in their hearts for this little lizard(especially for those who were traumatized by his introduction into Ash’s team on the TV show as a kid).
Sure, this is not exactly an original or groundbreaking opinion by any means. But I hope most people can agree Charmander has truly earned its spot at the top of this list.
