With this week’s release of ORAS I thought I would write an article about Pokemon.  Pokemon is like second nature to me as I can write about so many random topics about it that it isn’t even funny.  But for this week I thought I would talk about where every Pokemon trainer’s story begin, the starter.

The starter Pokémon are some of the most recognized, most remembered Pokémon, especially for their respective generation.  It’s kind of bittersweet though as when each new generation is introduced, a new wave of starter Pokémon come by to represent it and the old starter Pokémon are then replaced.  But Pikachu keeps on staying that yellow bast-

Anyway, the starter Pokémon are the most important Pokémon to you.  Period.  Without them, you couldn’t have beaten the Elite Four, or acquire all eight badges, or even catch your first Pokémon.  They are the genesis of your journey.

Unfortunately, some trainers, including myself, may not keep them for all of their journey.  This is probably one of the worst sins you could commit in the Pokémon world.  Maybe you find other Pokémon you like better or maybe you’re just not a fan of them.  It doesn’t matter, you have sinned.  Go and confess your sins to Arceus (or your respective diety, I don’t want to be prejudice).

Okay, so for me, I had my starters from beginning to end in Generation I, Generation II, and Generation III.  Generation IV though was when I began to waver from this sacred tradition.  When I played the Sinnoh games the first time through I had Turtwig and then I eventually gave up on him…The second time I played through I had Piplup…and gave up on him as well…the most recent time was with Chimchar and for him I finally held onto into the very end.  I initially refused to play him because of my love for Combusken in the last game and I didn’t want another fire/fighting Pokémon.

Generation V though was when I really didn’t care.  Now let me say up front that Generation V is not my favorite generation at all.  After the amazing Generation IV, I was…not too pleased with Generation V for several reasons.  It didn’t help that I thought each of the starter Pokémon looked so…bleh.  I mean, I guess Snivy is cool…but man…Oshawott and Tepig just didn’t strike my fancy.  I gave up on them when they were only level 16 or so.  Poor guys.

Generation VI definitely fired on all cylinders.  All three of these starters were well-designed and definitely represented what a starter Pokémon should be like.  The best part was that there was not a dominant favorite starter for Generation VI.  Everyone I knew who played the game didn’t overwhelmingly go for one starter.

As for me, I chose Froakie.  When the initial line up was revealed I was somewhat torn which Pokémon I would choose.  It wasn’t until the reveal of the starter’s second stage that I made my decision.  Fennekin’s Fire/Psychic typing was tempting but I ultimately went for Froakie and his Water/Dark line up.  I can’t explain it but I just like his initially dorky look and his evolution to his final, cool and slick stage.

This is a decision that I do not regret.  Though Froakie is alright I actually like Frogadier more.  I probably stayed with this stage for most of the game.  That kind of bonding time really gets to you after awhile and I missed Frogadier when he eventually evolved into Greninja.  Many battles were won with this guy.

My love for Greninja actually increased after I finished Pokémon X.  When Greninja was revealed to be a fighter in Super Smash Brothers, I was happy but not ecstatic.  But once I played him in the actual game my adoration for him just went through the roof.  He’s great!  Granted, his Substitute move has been done before but I like his Shadow Sneak and his amazing jumping and running speed.

I also like how Greninja is portrayed in fancomics as pretty lax compared to the other two starters and just goes with the flow.  Check those out.

I actually recently made a poster for my university’s local geology conference that was enspired by Greninja’s color scheme.  I pretty much suck when it comes to color palate and layout for posters.  I decided to just screw it and base the poster off of his colors and the poster looks pretty good actually!

In the end, Greninja is one of my favorite Generation VI Pokémon for many reasons and the best part is how my friends really like their starter Pokémon as well.  It really speaks volumes on how awesome Generation VI has been so far.

And with the release of Pokémon ORAS this week, we can continue on with the progression of Generation VI and Pokémon in general.  I’m especially looking forward to the releases as I like the starter Pokémon a lot.

Combusken is actually one of my favorite middle stage Pokémon of all time.  My love for this dorky Pokémon grew first from necessity as I desperately needed a Pokémon to take down Roxanne and her rock type Pokémon.  After that, I held onto Combusken for as long as I can so he can learn his moves as early as he could.  This method of evolving Torchic early and Blaziken late meant I spent so much time with Combusken that he eventually became my favorite stage of the three.

I have yet to decide if I’m going to pick Torchic again for ORAS as I already had one trained in X and Y.  I’m tempted to train Treecko since I haven’t picked him yet but I just love Combusken so much.  Regardless who I choose, I’ll guarantee you two things; one-ORAS is going to be great and two-whoever I choose, he’ll be with me from starter to finish in the wild lands of Hoenn.

If you have read through my article then riddle me this!  What’s your favorite starter?  I’m curious to hear!