What's the Best Starter to Choose in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen?

Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen are a perfect chance for trainers to relive the Gen 1 adventures of this marvelous franchise. And like in any Pokemon game, the first important step of the adventure is to pick your starter. For years, there has been a heated debate on which Gen 1 Starter is the best, and with FireRed/LeafGreen, that debate has reignited once more.

To avoid falling into an endless discussion, and more precisely, to aid newcomers (and veterans as well) in picking their Starter for this new chance to live the original Kanto journey, we've come up with an exhaustive explanation about which starter is the best, according to the trainers' playstyle, needs, and also the Pokemon's stats, moveset, type-advantage, and other important factors. If you are about to embark on your Pokemon journey and have doubts about this important (and permanent) choice, then read this guide to know which is your ideal starter.

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Should You Choose Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen?

Knowing which Starter is the best is the eternal question for all Gen 1 Trainers, and those playing Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen will face this difficult choice from the get-go. There's no way to avoid it, so let's get straight to the point. Here are three answers to this question, based on type-advantage, difficulty to train, and overall power.

• Charmander is the best in terms of overall power and second in defense. However, it places third in training difficulty and type-advantage.
• Squirtle is the best in terms of defense, but places second in difficulty, type advantage, and power.
• Bulbasaur is the best in terms of training difficulty, and first in type advantage, but places third in terms of defense and power.

With those factors considered, the answer to the question becomes clearer: Choose Charmander for Offensive Power, Squirtle for Defense, and Bulbasaur for type-advantage and faster training.

But if players are not satisfied with this answer, then look ahead for a careful analysis of all starters in Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen, their pros and cons, movesets, and playstyles.

Charmander

Charmander is the Fire-type Starter in Pokemon, and is considered the overall best choice in terms of end-game utility, though the most difficult to train.

Charmander

Charmeleon (Lv. 16+)

Charizard (Lv. 36+)

Charmander has been one of the favorite starters across 9 generations, and that has a clear reason: It has one of the most powerful evolution lines in the series, and also one of the coolest designs. Even though picking Charmander puts players at a clear type disadvantage from the start of the adventure until the third gym, there are many good Pokemon to pick in Route 2 to avoid falling for Pewter City's Gym Leader.

Charmander evolves into Charmeleon starting at level 16, and then, later, starting at level 36, it evolves into Charizard, a Fire/Flying-type Pokemon.

Charmander's first evolution is Charmeleon, a tough and resilient fire-type with an absurd amount of power. With Flamethrower, Charmeleon can cause lots of STAB damage to rival Pokemon, and unless they're resistant to fire, trainers who pick Charmander will soon find out how absurd this Pokemon's power spike is. More so if they decide to have Slash, which causes a lot of Physical Damage, an attack that has a high critical hit chance.

Its second and final evolution (no megas in this game) is Charizard, the best of the best. Charizard will learn Wing Attack when evolving at level 36, and it's a decent attack of the Flying-type that will help players deal with the Fighting-type gym in Saffron (for example).

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Charmander and its evolutions can learn the following moves naturally:

It is also a great candidate for using Cut and Strength (learned by HM) and Fly (only Charizard), and can even learn TM moves like Iron Tail, Dig, as well as Fire Blast and Overheat (the most powerful Fire-type Moves in this game.

Later in the game, players can teach Charizard a variety of moves that will grant players tons of coverage, like Aerial Ace and Earthquake, but perhaps the most vicious and broken move players can teach this Pokemon is Toxic. Granted by TM 06 (obtained from Gym Leader Koga), Toxic's effects can be combined with Fire Spin to cause a ridiculous amount of damage per turn. A decent strategy against tough foes like the Elite Four.

Squirtle

Squirtle is considered the 'safest' choice, since it has access to powerful physical moves and great defense. It is moderately difficult to train, and becomes a bit difficult to fit into a balanced team without proper moveset tweaking.

Squirtle

Wartortle (Lv. 16+)

Blastoise(Lv. 36+)

Squirtle's line has the strongest defense, and an easy type advantage for the first two gyms, then later into the game against Blaine, and his Fire-type Pokemon, or Giovanni and his Ground-type Pokemon.

Sadly, it gets wrecked by Surge (third Gym, with electric-type Pokemon) and by Erica (fourth Gym, with Grass-type Pokemon), and from there on, there are few battles where Squirtle or any of its evolutions can truly shine.

Squirtle's first evolution is Wartortle (at level 16), which is slightly more bulky and has better stats all across the board. Naturally, evolving any Pokemon will significantly slow down the rate at which they learn new moves.

But in the case of the Squirtle line, players should aim for a more defensive play. So once their Squirtles learn Withdraw and Bite, they're quite set for the rest of the game, and they can safely evolve it without losing too much advantage. Plus, they can teach it lots of interesting moves early, including Water Pulse or even Surf (HM 03).

Here's a complete list of all the moves Squirtle can learn:

With access to delay moves like Skull Bash, and Protect, it can also learn most of the powerful Ice-type moves like Ice Beam, Blizzard, and Hail. This Pokemon is the only starter evolution that can learn Facade, a powerful Gen 3 move that hits for double damage if the user is Poisoned, Paralyzed, or Burned, and it's ideal to deal with pesky status effect users.

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Bulbasaur

Bulbasaur is considered by many to be the best option for rookie trainers. It holds the type-advantage over 4 of the 8 gyms in Kanto (Super effective against Brock, Mysty, and Giovanni's Pokemon, and resists Surge's Electric types). It is super easy to train, and has a lot of utility moves.

Bulbasaur

Ivysaur(Lv.16+)

Venusaur(Lv. 32+)

Bulbasaur is the second most popular option to pick in Gen 1 games, and in FireRed/LeafGreen, it shines like a beacon of hope for all rookie trainers who want an easygoing starter to train. Its dual-type Grass/Poison, allows Bulbasaur and its evolutions to tap into double STAB bonuses throughout most of the game.

True, players attempting to face Sabrina or Blaine later in the game will suffer greatly if their main Pokemon is Bulbasaur or any of its evolutions. But tricky opponents like Surge, Erica, Koga, and even Giovanni will pose no threat to a well-trained Ivysaur, or its powerful final form (Venusaur).

Here's a complete list of all the moves Squirtle can learn:

Bulbasaur and its evolutions can also learn moves like Bullet Seed, Giga Drain, and it is also a decent candidate to have Cut from early on. Can also learn Toxic, Sludge Bomb, Body Slam (tutor), Swords Dance (tutor), and Rest.

In later levels, Bulbasaur's utility falls a bit short, but throughout the main game (except versus Elite Four), it shines brighter than any other of the starters. At least, in terms of versatility. Bulbasaur at level 15 also has an important move to catch Pokemon: Sleep Powder.

Though using Bulbasaur solely as a Pokémon-catching machine could be considered a war crime. Still, with little to no decent Plant-type Pokemon (no, Vileplum is honestly not a good option), it also reigns supreme in that aspect.

And if trainers want to build a balanced team, then they might consider the type-advantage factor as well. All in all, a decent lineup for Bulbasaur trainers (including Venusaur) would be: Nidoking, Clefable, Raichu, Gyarados (or Lapras/Vaporeon), Arcanine (or Ninetales).

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Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

RPG

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Released

September 7, 2004

ESRB

e

Developer(s)

Game Freak

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

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Pokemon

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WHERE TO PLAY

PHYSICAL

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Genre(s)

RPG

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