Random: Japanese Gamers Decide Which Starter Pokémon Is The Most "Seriously Useless"

Shameful... Grass starter Pokémon forever here!

Bulbasaur will always be the very best. (like no one ever was)

*Bulbasaur
*Useless
It's either one or the other, not both!

Bulbasaur is far from useless though, that's what I'm saying.

In any case voting for the most useless starter Pokémon is a bit of an oxymoron as they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

I just wanted to express my preference towards Grass-type starters as they seem to be underrated.

Piplup isn't THAT bad...

@S-C-G - Oh no, I wasn't disagreeing with you. Quite the opposite, I'm just saying that those two words don't go together.

Q) What do you make of these results?

A) I'm quite surprised to see all three of the Kanto starters included, given the pedestal they are usually placed upon. That, and they have mega evolutions which does give them a bit of a perk. I'm also surprised to see Piplup so high on the list, I thought it's popularity would make it less likely to be on this list.

Q) Do you agree?

A) Tepig isn't voted the most seriously useless starter of all, so of course I disagree. Gosh, was Tepig a disappointment, actually made me go without a starter in my squad for the first time. To be fair, I didn't particularly like any of the Black and White starters, despite being my favourite Pokémon games.

I also think Chikorita is pretty great; lovely defensive stats and learned Razor Leaf early on. It is definitely not what I'd consider the worse starter, particularly given that Tepig exists. The Kanto starters are all pretty terrific, particularly Bulbasaur, and Turtwig is just absolutely amazing!

All of them are "seriously useless" to me.

Asking people to vote for the most useless is flawed. Obviously popular starters will tend to get more votes Which kinda goes against what the poll is trying to do.

A better poll would also ask the same people which is the best or most useful starter. Then rank them based on the difference between the two results.

For me squirtle will always be the very best.

Bulbasaur is the greatest. Totodile second because he sounds like Donald Duck and he is also a crocodile and therefore the only Australian starting Pokemon.

@DreamyViridi Ah, that's OK then.

Grass types have always been my favourite choice at the start.

Though for most generations, my younger brother and I would perform the "trade trick" in order to get all three, best of both worlds!

Playing through Yellow version recently has been a treat though as it's nice to have access to all three original starters with no trading involved.

but...but squritle is sooooooo cute !!!

Squirrel #4? Heathens.

I just checked to see if Chikorita will take the top place. Sadly, it was true, no love for the green blob :c
Though Bulbasaur wasn't that useless in gen1. It's like the best option for the beginners.
I'm a bit suprised that Snivy isn't on the list. Beating the game with the starter was like having never ending battles of Leech Seed with Coil...

This is where you guys come in and run your own poll to see how different the results will be.

Chikorita, you and I know
How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving...

@SLIGEACH_EIRE You just pop up in every comment section these days, trash-talking whatever the article-subject might be.

Get outside, get some fresh air and meet some friends, maybe your doom-and-gloom will lift!

While a lot better in the 3DS version, Treecko was an absolutely abysmal Pokémon early on in the game in the GBA days. It didn't even learn too many Grass-type attacks. There are least was a long difference in level between the whimpy Absorb and the powerful move Leaf Blade.

@Spideron Do you enjoy lying? Every comment? Really? That's a troll comment right there from you. I don't like Pokemon. Get over it!

Not much stands out when it comes to Chikorita, but it's still the cutest grass starter. I'm always for water starters, but I also enjoy training other starters when I get my hands on them, that is, later. Too bad nobody seems to care about Johto Pokémon in general, but I admit Chikorita, in contrast to other grass starters, has no gimmick (poison for Bulbasaur, speed for Treecko, ground for Turtwig, fighting for Chespin), although Snivy is similarly bland.

Bulbasaur third? I'm just glad I got ninja'd in defending the poor buddy, it is an awesome partner for say the least!

Still surprised to not see Totodile anywhere in the list... I love that crocodile, it's probably my favorite starter ever (until it evolve at least, even played HeartGold without ever evolving it XD), but being a water type focused on phisical attacks always holded it back in my opinion.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Which makes your comment in a Pokémon article more useless than the starters themselves.

@Spideron
I'm similarly grumpy as of late, to be fair, although there's still room for positivity in my comments when the situation proves fitting.

I love Chikorita irrespective of its usefulness. Meganium is byfar the most "beautiful" fully evolved starter Pokémon IMO. I love Venusaur too, but heaven knows it's no oil painting. Serperior is also really pretty but it has a crap moveset and has very little coverage. Serperior is probably the most "useless" fully evolved starter. I still really like it though.

I also love Totodile, but its evolved forms are just so damn ugly that I just can't bring myself to ever train one (unless perhaps I can hatch a shiny, though I wouldn't go out of my way for one).

I saw this somewhere yesterday. It's a total BS list, since the three 1st gen starters shouldn't even be there. Although, I do begrudgingly acknowledge Chikorita being a weak link for 2nd gen competitively. (Although I think it's easier to use than the other two for the single player journey, due to early Reflect/Synthesis.)

But yeah, otherwise, I wasn't expecting NL to repeat this list. It's not very good, and we have no way of verifying the authenticity of the primary source site. It appears to be more of a tabloid site of various subjects than a "data research" site. It doesn't even tell you exactly who was polled, where they were polled, and how the process was conducted. They just somehow polled some "Pokémon fans" amongst "hundreds of Japanese men and women" for these various categories... Yeah, right... The Sun can claim they're a "data research" outlet too!

@Tsurii Carp?

@Spideron I think it's warranted this time. This article is just a reprint of some possibly bogus "study" where we have no idea how it was really conducted. Who knows how this Goo site actually works. It's called a "Data research site," but if one actually visits their other pages, it just seems to be a site involving disparate activities with no focus and little real information. Only one of the tabs is related to Pokémon, and it's clearly not a dedicated site like Serebii.net. Even if one can read Japanese, it doesn't seem like a terribly useful information source. I'm not sure I would trust this one.

The game is designed so whatever starter you pick, with a bit of over levelling you can squish pretty much anything. It just all comes down to aesthetics.

The real useless Pokemon is everyone's favorite corporate mascot Pikachu.

@MrGawain Pikachu can be evolved into after 1 level up from a happy Pichu with nice egg/inherited moves, then gets stoned (lol) and becomes a Raichu for over 90 levels of top evolution stat growth, while the starters all wait until 32+. So I'd say Pikachu is pretty good. Also, don't forget the Yellow version's Surfing Pikachu with a Light Ball... Squishy, but strong. Pretty much annihilates the water starters and Charizard, while having an edge on the other fire starters, and one shots the other otherwise impervious (to non-Surfing chu's) rock/ground types.

Never cared for the "usefullness" of a Pokemon (unless, of course, I play against people online but that rarely happens and I haven't done so in ages). If I like a Pokemon's design (which is about 90% of all Pokemon, the rest is just meh) and I feel like training it in that playthrough, I'll train it. That's also how I come to train 30+ Pokemon in every playthrough.

For starters, I've always went for Fire until the cutest gritter of all time, Oshawott, rolled around - and then Chespin. But 7th gen is Fire again!

Aww. Chikorita was my very first Pokémon back in SoulSilver. I don't care about this list, here PoisonPowder and Petal Dance were very useful during my first journey.

@RealPoketendoNL I thought early Reflect and Synthesis, along with Razor Leaf, made Chikorita a good defensive starter that doesn't need to rely on items like the other two. Eventually, getting Body Slam and Solarbeam rounds out their effectiveness. So even though the Chikorita line is bad competitively in multiplayer, they're excellent for the single player journey.

How is anybody gonna vote Froakie as the most useless starter? Greninja's arguably the BEST one. Obviously Blaziken gives it a run for its money since it has a Mega but geez. That's wild. Most of the rest of the list I can agree wth though

@Joshua179 Frog ninja is pretty cool, though.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Here's a community of 500,000 Pokemon fans who've yet to learn how little interest you have in the games: https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon

Go on, enlighten them. I'm don't think any of them have "gotten over it" yet. Tragically, I don't think any of them are even aware it's something they need to "get over".

Seriously, if you don't like smart arsed comments, stop leaving yourself so wide open. You're like an open goal, with its own gravitational field.

I know you said I'm not "worth your time" in our last little chat, so I'm not expecting a reply, but who's time do you think your comments are worth?

"Hi guys! I don't care about this. GET OVER IT!!!"

What do you really think this contribution is worth to anyone?

Chikorita is my favourite 2nd gen starter

Chespin is the GOAT so I feel that this list is kinda flawed.

@Maxz A SLIGhtly irate EACH time Irish (EIREish?), and a MAXimum Zeal Pokémon fan...Still a better love story than Twilight.

Bulbasaur....really? I would like to know how they are rating "uselessness". Is it going on ease of going against gym leaders with little to no problem, which by the way Bulbasaur handles the first two soundly. Pikachu doesn't make it out the ROCK gym, ugh I can't stand Pikachu.

"#3 Bulbasaur"
EXCUSE ME!?

Definitely Chikorita.

I'm shocked that Piplup is so high on that list, considerin how great Emploeon is.

@PlywoodStick Pikachu has access to Grass Knot though. While not as great as Surf, it's still an option that wrecks all those heavy rock types

@Detective_TeeJay I knew Pikachu could learn Surf under special conditions (eg: "beating" Pokemon Stadium for N64 with Pikachu on your team), but I didn't know about Grass Knot. I'll have to try that, especially if Pikachu is my last Pokemon and the other trainer has a line-up of ground types.

A lot of my favs are on the list! Oh well! I think I like some of them more because of how they act on the show.

Chespin eating the macarons is awesome. Bulbasaur is soooo much more creative then the both Charmander (a dragon) and Squirtle (a turtle, although Blastoise is super cool).....but it's not who is the coolest. It's who is the useless.

Couple of thoughts.

These results seem to be influenced by fans' dislike of some starters as opposed to their actual usefulness. Hence you have all the popular G1 starters and Froakie, whose fans have attracted haters as well.

Chikorita deserves that spot as #1. It was a bad gen for a Grass starter, seeing how Ground, Rock, and Water did not get gyms. Looking back, there was not a single gym where grass typing or moves have an advantage, with the possible exception of that Fighting leader who used a Poliwrath. And the League itself didn't offer any foes weak to Grass. And to top it off, the Chikorita line didn't have diverse enough moves to give it an edge anywhere. Even those common status moves were largely absent.

@Maxz Don't let him get under your skin I've only been a member for month , and have been reading articles since last year, he goes out of his way to complain. On multiple articles from what I've seen, he's like that Sasori guy on mynintendonews. Don't worry about it.

I think the question was worded weird, that or Japan starter favorites are opposite to American favourites, kinda disappointed froakie is on the list, good thing it's low, Totodile is the best obviously tho

Yeah I agree with the poll, Chikorita just isn't very good. I generally drop my starter towards the endgame though, so Chikorita is a good pick in the way that dropping it stings the least.

Venusaur is a wrecking machine. Was very useful in my pokemon y run.

Chikorita, one of the best Pokemon of all time number 1??

Bulbasaur, the FACTUAL, UNDENIABLE NUMBER ONE BEST POKEMON OF ALL TIME AT NUMBER THREE??

I will kill someone today

They have some of my favorite starters here. Poor Chespin and Charmander.

I honestly don't think any of them are useless

sees Chikorita at number 1 and Charmander on the list...
Yeah, welll...fffffffffffffff-....
goes to corner TwT lol

I still think (grass/flying) Rowlet is gonna be the worst type starter 'mon... Tropius (the other grass/flying type) was seriously underused and utterly useless. Still we' shall have to wait 'n see what the base stats and move pool reveal.

Cyndaquil is best gir-er, best starter!

Chikorita was my answer, but I can't take this poll seriously with Bulbasaur at number three.

WORST BORT
With a total of 18 starters, I guess Bacon is near the middle of the list, no wonder even TPP couldn't kill it (twice).

I guess people do like those Gen 3 pokemon a lot

I guess it's because I don't play competitively but I've liked all the starters. I'd pick whichever one I thought looked the best and trade with my brother later in game to get the other starters, or just have more playthroughs. I mean there's definitely ones I like more than others, but I wouldn't consider any to be useless; but then again I don't pay attention to stats or anything, I just play through the story.

I don't care! Piplup will always have a spot in my heart.

silently sobbing

Not surprised to see Chikorita, I was already thinking that was the case. It's historically always been underestimated.

Meanwhile, I'd argue all of the 5th generation starters, Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott, are the most useless. Their final forms just aren't very good Pokemon, even at the time of their creation. First time in series that none of the starter Pokemon were placed into the OU tier, and two of them were in the Never Used tier. They are just trash.

@greengecko007 Contrary Serperior? Smogon doesn't count anyway. VGC is the only true format.

@CosmoXY

Contrary Serperior became available just recently, and was not possible when the Pokemon was first introduced into the series. I'm not a big fan of Smogon at all. Other competitive Pokemon groups use tiers, but most Pokemon are all placed pretty similarly. The 5th generation starters, fully evolved, were all terrible in their respective generations, and well below what we've seen from others.

And LOL. VGC is a joke. Top players running box art legendary Pokemon or broken mega evolutions like Kangaskhan doesn't sound very fun.

@greengecko007 Uh, yes I know that Serperiors hidden ability only recently became available. My point is it is widely available now so it is competitively viable, which the comment I was replying to seemed to imply that it wasn't. Sorry if I misunderstood that.

Regardless of what website commenters seem to think, VGC is the officially sanctioned format, Smogon is not. Even box legendaries and Megas have checks and counters. Hopefully 7th gen fixes some balance issues.

@CosmoXY No, I get what you mean about Contrary. No doubt it is better than something like Meganium, but all I was trying to say was that Meganium was at least good in its own time, despite Chikorita always seeming underwhelming to maybe more casual players simply because of the low damage output. Serperior only stands out now because of a hidden ability, and even then struggles greatly because grass is not really a good type of move to just sit and spam, and its decent defenses are really hampered by grass also not being a good defensive type.

As for VGC, I think it's just an absurd mess, even if it is the official format. Sure, some of the less versatile legendary and mega Pokemon have solid checks or counters, but there are still many that don't. You'd be hard pressed to come up with something that can definitely take out something like mega Rayquaza safely, without having to lose another Pokemon in the process, and without the Pokemon's only use being a check or counter.

>bulbasaur
>"useless"
>"3rd Most Useless Starter Pokemon"

Let's just ignore the amazingness that is Mega Venusaur, then.

I'm so TRIGGERED

I'm mildly offended that 3 of my favorite starters (Piplup, Squirtle, and Chespin) are in the top 5 of this list...

Bulbasaur? You mean the Kanto starter that has been consistently the best throughout the years both competetively AND playthrough-wise? Okay.

So... I just checked the Smogon Tier List for each generation, and here are the best Kanto starters according to only their tiers in each generation:

Gen I: Venusaur
Gen II: Charizard
Gen III: Venusaur and Charizard
Gen IV: Venusaur and Blastoise
Gen V: Venusaur
Gen VI: Venusaur and Blastoise
Gen VI (Mega Evolutions): Venusaur and Charizard.

So... how is Bulbasaur useless again?

@Krisi Cause it's a starter that pathetically needs a mega to be reconized.

Honestly bulba isn't that awful, the vote was probably based around starters to pick from rather than competitive viability. This list seems pretty accurate to me in the fact that if you choose these starters the story modes and gyms will be harder to do without another counter on the team.

@greengecko007 box legendaries are banned in VGC. Idk why we're worried about mega rayquaza in VGC when all box and event legendaries are prohibited as well as soul dew.

@MegaBeedrill But that's what I'm saying: Bulbasaur is not only good competitively, but throughout the story mode as well. It has a giant advantage over the first 3 gyms, and can stall out the 4th one, and by the time the 5th one comes around, you should have a pretty solid team anyway.

This list is pretty accurate. I mean not their evolved forms obviously but just the base forms. But I wonder if it was judged on region based, cause Charmander seriously sucks on the first 2 Kanto gyms. While Squirtle is pretty strong throughout all of the Kanto region, except 2 gyms which 1(electric gym) he can attack and it'll still be effective. but that's just Kanto gyms. idk its a hard topic to debate on but this list seems like a pretty good fit. (Thank god my dear Cyndaquil isn't on this list.)

Chikorita and the Unova starters are the worst of the bunch! That dumb dino was my first Grass starter and I hated it so much I started the game over, thus robbing me of my very first shiny, Ratata.

It was worth it to start going through Johto again with Cyndaquil however.

@S-C-G

I don't like Grass types much, but Treecko, Bulbasaur and Turtwig are great starters!

Worst Water Starter
Oshawatt

Best Water Starter
Squirtle

Worst Grass Starter
Chikorita

Best Grass Starter
Treecko

Worst Fire Starter
Tepig, but he's the best and cutest of a crappy trio.

Best Fire Starter
Cyndaquil

@MegaBeedrill

The current official rules state all Pokemon, excluding event only/mythical (like Mew), are legal, with only a limitation on the number of box art legendary Pokemon you bring.

http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/the-2016-video-game-championship-format-has-been-announced/

Also, totally agree with @Krisi in that Bulbasaur, while historically not as popular, is objectively the best starter Pokemon in its own game, and Venusaur has always outshined both Charizard and Blastoise in terms of competitive use.