The majority of Pokémon fans have probably already decided which starter they want to use in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, although it’s worth considering how odd it is to be having these conversations so early. While starter reveals have been all the rage over the last decade and a half, there was a time when your first encounter with Mudkip was after mega moron Professor Birch got mauled by a bunch of Zigzagoon. Put plainly, classic Pokémon never needed hype.
Those aren’t the words of an old man yelling at clouds. For what it’s worth, we love hype. We just think it’s neat that Pokémon has reliably revealed starters several months ahead of launch ever since Diamond & Pearl. This paragraph was brought to you by The Simpsons.
Obviously Red & Blue never revealed their starters early — at that point, Pokémon was an all-new series that nobody had any reason to care about. Those words might sound strange when applied to what has ultimately become the most commercially successful entertainment franchise in history, but they’re true. If someone showed you a Charmander in early 1996, you’d probably have thought it was a cool new Dragon Quest enemy called “Lizardo,” or something. And while both Gold & Silver and Ruby & Sapphire enjoyed launching off the back of existing popularity, they also refrained from unveiling three cute, magical animals a year before the games came out. It could probably be argued that the modern starter reveal as we know it didn’t properly come into effect until Gen 6.
This is why Scarlet & Violet’s announcement was so refreshing. Despite the fact that Greninja is one of the most popular Pokémon of all time — it literally won the “Pokémon of the Year” poll in 2020 — X & Y’s starters are nothing special. Popplio performed admirably in our list of the best starter Pokémon, but Sun & Moon generally didn’t fare a whole lot better. Yes, we know a lot of you like Rowlet. Consider: Dartrix, one of the worst, most stupidly designed Pokémon who ever existed.
Weirdly — and perhaps even unpopularly — Sword & Shield had a remarkably strong starter lineup. Sobble is terrible and Grookey is just okay, but Scorbunny instantly became an all-timer. Certainly, it was the strongest trio since at least Diamond & Pearl, with Gen 5’s roster being useless outside of Oshawott. But Scarlet & Violet has topped it — to the disbelief of potentially every major Pokémon fan on Earth, Gen 9 has managed to introduce three objectively solid starters.
Sprigatito, the Grass Cat Pokémon; Fuecoco, the Fire Croc Pokémon; and Quaxly, the Duckling Pokémon are all worthy of being picked in a way that ‘mons like Tepig, Litten, and Sobble could only ever dream of. For the first time in almost two decades, Pokémon has gone three for three with its starters. Do you realise how huge that is for someone who has put an embarrassing amount of hours into these games? It’s roughly similar to Oasis getting back together.
Admittedly, the reveal itself was a little lacklustre. After being spoiled with the likes of New Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Legends: Arceus, seeing a rectangular portrait of three Pokémon on a TV screen through your actual TV screen seems a bit underbaked. We want movement! Enthusiasm! Visuals that are not just a still image that is slowly magnified for a frankly awkward amount of time! But the important thing is the Pokémon themselves, all three of whom have already made impressive waves in the community.
Obviously we don’t know what the final evolutions of Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly are — can we just stop for a minute to appreciate the brilliance of those names? — but we have reason to believe they’ll be great. A lot of fans have made jokes about Sprigatito becoming a leafy, less beefy Incineroar, although we don’t reckon it will make the transition to two legs. Bipedal cats are so 2016.
To be completely honest, Sprigatito looks more like the kind of ‘mon who would grow up to be a leopard than a lion — Liepard is fine, but we don’t believe it deserves to monopolise the idea of “Leopard Pokémon.” Meanwhile, Fuecoco’s premise as a fire crocodile is the kind of thing that sells millions of dollars’ worth of t-shirts. And if Quaxly gravitates more towards the school of Pelipper than Swanna, it will instantly become a legend. Game Freak would have to voluntarily orchestrate a mishap of spectacular proportions to mess this up. Has it happened before? Obviously. Will it happen again? Jesus, let’s hope not.
The point of this article is to say that Gen 9’s starter trio is not just a breath of fresh air, but an entire change in atmosphere. For too long, it has been easy to dismiss new Pokémon generations as enjoyable but safe games that we will moan about while simultaneously playing them as if we have no adult responsibilities. Any time we’ve covered Gen 9 in the past, it has attracted the ire of fans who are convinced that nothing will be different — it’s a $60 toll for more of the same. This is simply not the case.
Pokémon has been — excuse the pun — evolving for years at this point. Let’s Go, while bizarrely detested by some, was arguably the most radical game the mainline series knew until Legends: Arceus. Sword & Shield’s Wild Area was imperfect but conducive to progress. Arceus itself is a bona fide revelation, despite the fact it occasionally looks like something that was produced in the era it’s set in. A lot of people are all too willing to condemn Pokémon for being in stasis despite the fact it is clearly metamorphic. To quote Margaret Atwood in probably the first and most openly liberal usage of her work as it might indirectly pertain to Pokémon, “Nothing changes instantaneously. In a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.”
Gen 9’s starters are the clear culmination of all of the above. Yes, it looks like Scarlet & Violet are truly open-world RPGs. Sure, the visual fidelity seems markedly higher than Legends: Arceus. It’s cool that they’re inspired by somewhere as historically fascinating as the Iberian Peninsula.
But those are all enhancements and advancements we could have predicted based on what previous entries have introduced to the series. We’ve had the Wild Area. We’ve witnessed the transition from 2D to 3D. We have seen Pokémon Paris and the New York City of Ash Ketchum’s world. What we haven’t yet been privy to is a clear demonstration that Game Freak is listening. Very few people want sentient car keys in 2022 — fire-breathing dino crocs are way cooler.
Obviously previous starter lineups are not as egregiously uninspired as ice-cream cones or steaming piles of actual trash, but the little amphibian who cries in a corner can’t compete with Squirtle or Totodile. A bird in a bowtie might hit Bulbasaur for super-effective damage, but it still loses in virtually every other way. Fennekin is so bad that a surprising amount of people misconstrued it — a fox — as a dog.
All of this is to say that there have been no perfect starter lineups for a very long time. We’re wary of the fact that awarding that accolade to Diamond & Pearl’s trio could be a product of confirmation bias. Treecko is good, but it lets the side down when it comes to Hoenn. The last time we saw something like this was in Johto — over two decades ago. If you’re ever in the humor to feel old and decrepit, simply Google “Pokémon Gold & Silver release date.”
We promise we’ll shut up in a minute, but we felt like this was something worth celebrating. For the first time in a long time, a new generation of Pokémon feels… exciting? Our heads are overflowing with theories and possibilities. What does a Spanish-themed villainous organisation look like? When exactly will these games take place? Will the Grass Cat just be green Incineroar? Much to think about.
We’re not sure — no one is. Maybe Game Freak should reveal games via weird paranormal detective trailers more often.
Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.
