Water-type Starter Pokémon - The Top 3 As Voted By You

The soggiest starter of all is Pokémon Sword and Shield's Water type Sobble, coming in at 8th. Surprisingly, popular pinniped Popplio isn't far ahead, with Oshawott and Piplup taking 6th and 5th place respectively. Just missing out on a medal is Gen VI amphibian Froakie, but once again, the top 3 belong to the first three generations...

3. Mudkip

3Mudkip

Mod-ish Mudkip made it to third place with a respectable 18% of the vote, just edged out of a silver medal by a conniving croc...

2. Totodile

2Totodile

At 2, it's Gen II with Totodile creeping into second place by a tiny margin of just 29 votes. The winner, though, took the lead early on and stayed out ahead of the pack...

1. Squirtle

1Squirtle

Yes, no other Water-type really stood a chance against the might of Squirtle Squad. Squirtle won 24% of the vote putting him in pole position by a comfortable margin.


And there you have it! According to public opinion, Pokémon starters peaked in Gen 1 all those years ago, with none of the later 'mons doing enough to unseat the Triforce of Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle. We're sure there's a mighty dollop of nostalgia not only for the original Pokémon Red and Blue games, but also the anime, the Trading Card Game and all the assorted, peripheral PokéProducts. With over two decades of exposure, it's no wonder the newer monsters find it hard to compete against the old iconic favourites.

Gen1Starters

Still, that doesn't take away from the brilliant trio of winners that kicked off the Pokémon franchise all those years ago on Game Boy. When it comes to Pokémon, it seems the old 'uns really are the best 'uns - which goes some way to explaining the furore which accompanied the news that Pokémon Sword and Shield won't feature every single one of our old favourites.


Gen I - we choose you! If you fancy finding out how the mainline games rate against each other, you should check out our ranking of the best Pokémon games of all time. Alternatively, if you're about to start Pokémon Sword and Shield and want some advice on which starter to pick there, peruse our rundown of the Gen 8 starters and their evolutions. Don't worry, we still love you Sobble.

Did anything in these perfectly predictable results surprise you? What did poor Chespin do to come last? Reckon this pole was skewed by blundering boomers? Let us know if this panned out as you expected.