Most underrated starter Pokemon

[PageEmp]

What the title says! Any starters you think don't get as much praise as you would have imagined?

For me, I would say the gen2 starters, all of them. Especially Grass and Water. I feel as if Feraligatr has lost popularity over time. And as for Meganium, I recently tried it out in it's home region and I can say it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Quite the opposite, it was one of my best team members thanks to great defenses and the screens.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

I feel like most starters lose their ten minutes of fan after their game has launched. Like even the paldea gang no one really talks about anymore. So imo all starters i guess are underrated and are strictly 'the first pokemon everyone gets' and thats it. Talk about them on the wait for release, talk about them abit after the game drops and thats it. Unless your charizard, then Game Freak forces you to be relevant every gen because they just cant stop giving it special treatment

 

[ReKoil]

Chesnaught I guess?
I don't think I ever see anyone talk about it, and although it's just kinda there for me design wise it's actually a pretty good mon.

 

[Devalue]

Hm. Cannot really think of too many starter opinions. Tends to agree on those.

In terms of looks: Raboot. Typically forgets middle evolutions. Looked back at the 2020 popularity poll. Ranked Cinderace as #6 and Scorbunny as #12. Chose no starter middle evolution for the top 30. (Kind of deserved for two of the Pokemon in question, though.) Lost some of Scorbunny's cuteness. Still created something good-looking.

In terms of battle: Quaquaval. Forgives anyone for overlooking this bird. Learns a lot of nice moves (some by TM and egg moves): Aqua Step, Swords Dance, Bulk Up, Baton Pass, Feather Dance (for setting some of that up), Encore, and Roost. Acts as a very capable sweeper and a decent enabler too. (In a normal playthrough and in theory, anyways.)

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Me! Ga! Ni! Um! My big stupid land-locked Loch Ness Monster lookin' arse boy! I LOVE him! And I truly feel like it's a tragically under loved Pokemon.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Delphox. It's been my favorite Kalos starter since Gen 6 came out.

 

[Curt_09]

I don't see or hear much about the Torchic or Treeko lines these days.

 

[MVs.C Fan]

I don't see or hear much about the Torchic or Treeko lines these days.

Nah, there a good amount of people who love Torchic, but i agree that Treecko is ignorated and underrated.

From my personal words, Turtwig it's the one who deserve more attention.

 

[Curt_09]

From my personal words, Turtwig it's the one who deserve more attention.

Hopefully Shell Smash Torterra will bring him back into the spotlight soon, he was the most fun starter to use in DPP.

 

[Sheep]

Meganium. Such an awesome starter line but it really suffered in gen 2 and never really gained much traction competitively, iirc. Being a single-type grass starter with a poor movepool tends to do that. But I love this line a lot visually and want more people to appreciate it for that!

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Feraligatr is arguably the most underrated Starter Pokémon. Feraligatr has the Hidden Ability Sheer Force, which increases the power of moves with secondary effects by 30% in exchange for negating said effects. Such moves' base power increase by another 30% when Feraligatr is holding a Life Orb, as the recoil damage from the Life Orb is also treated as another secondary effect, but only with moves that actually have secondary effects. This means, for instance, Ice Punch wouldn't result in Feraligatr taking recoil damage because it has the secondary effect of freezing, but Earthquake would still result in Feraligatr receiving recoil damage because Earthquake has no secondary effect. Either way, Feraligatr with a Life Orb and Sheer Force hits like a truck. Feraligatr also has access to moves such as Dragon Dance, which can make it a deadly set up physical sweeper. Despite this, Feraligatr isn't commonly used in competitive Singles or Doubles despite it being pretty good in battle. Even Game Freak thinks less of it because it never received a Mega Evolution, signature move, or appeared in any new title on the Switch except a remake, unlike some of the other Starters. It's a shame because I have always been a huge fan of Feraligatr.

 

[Gruffin]

I'd say Chespin's line. I've seen plenty of fans for the others but weirdly this line gets the cold shoulder.

 

[KaiserFenrir]

Emboar. This mons design has always been really cool to me, just like the other two gen 5 starters.
Emboar saved my bacon so many times during my second Pokémon white play through and became such a dependable partner.