How do you choose your starter?

[Gampi]

Whichever one I think is the "cutest", or the one with the most rad final evolution, as was the case with Gen IV and Piplup. I tend to buy all the versions of the main series games, which results in me choosing the starter I liked the least on the third game [in the case of B2W2 I picked Oshawott again on W2, and Tepig on B2].

 

[sunny phoenix]

I choose depending on their design....
gen 1: charmander
gen2: it was close between chikorita and cyndaquil but eventually i go with chikorita
gen3: i dont like anyone, first form are good but the finals dont appeal to me
gen4: same as gen 3
gen 5: snivy
gen 6: fennnekin is awesome but i am not very fond of his final evolution.... but still i go with him cause i dont like the other 2 at all

well. usually (except gen 1,2 and 5) i box my starter and start with another pkmn

 

[PinkiePieFox]

I usually go for Fire or whatever one I love the first and final evo for. And occasionally what one will have a better type advantage over the gyms and E4.
Gen 1: Charmander (I love dragons)
Gen 2: Cyndaquil/Chikorita (Chik was the first one I chose, replays I use Cynd)
Gen 3: Torchick (First Hoenn starter I saw in Gen 4 at the battle area)
Gen 4: Chimchar was my first, but Piplup for Platinum.
Gen 5: Snivy
gen 6: Fennekin all the way!

 

[Everlasting]

Purely design. When XY were first announced over a year ago, I prefered Chespin over the other two, and it's Chespin that I chose in my X version. I never pick a starter around its type and the moves it gets, only by how it looks. That way, I have the chance of using many different kinds of starter. Here are the starters I went with in the past years;

Squirtle [Leaf Green] - Chikorita [HeartGold] - Torchic [Sapphire] - Piplup [Diamond] - Oshawott [Black] and Snivy [White 2] - Chespin [X].

I have a slight dislike for Fire types and love for Water and Grass types. Torchic may be my only Fire type starter to date, but it's also my favorite base stage starter of all. Aside of Charmander, Torchic and Fennekin, I always prefered the other two over the Fire type.

Generation I: Squirtle > Charmander > Bulbasaur
Generation II: Chikorita > Totodile > Cyndaquil
Generation III: Torchic > Mudkip > Treecko
Generation IV: Piplup > Turtwig > Chimchar
Generation V: Oshawott > Snivy > Tepig
Generation VI: Chespin > Fennekin > Froakie

 

[MesopotamianSumerian]

I choose the starter that has the best design and/or the most advantageous type against the gym leaders for that region.

Kanto: Charmander
Johto: Totodile
Hoenn: Torchic
Sinnoh: Turtwig
Unova: Snivy
Kalos: Froakie

 

[Wolfaotic]

I plan it way before the game comes out.
Ruby: Torchic
Diamond: Piplup
SoulSilver: Totodile
White: Snivy
Black: Oshawott
White 2: Oshawott (again)
Y: Fennekin
X: Chespin

 

[Lulu_used_SunnyDay]

Ever since I regretted not being able to train an Infernape in gen 4 because I somehow thought I was forced to choose Torterra in order to have a Lucario on my team, I leaned to choose my starters based ONLY on the design of the final evo. Nothing else matters.

That said, I try not to be type-biased, but some time ago I noticed that I generally do tend to lean towards fire and dislike water types... but that still wouldn't prevent me to pick the water one, if it turns out to be the coolest of the 3. Like Empoleon.

Gen 1: Charizard > Venusaur > Blastoise
Gen 2: Meganium > Feraligatr >>>>>>>>>>>>> Typlosion (god I hate this thing XD)
Gen 3: Blaziken > Sceptile > Swampert
Gen 4: Empoleon > Infernape > Torterra
Gen 5: Emboar > Serperior >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Samurott (U.G.L.Y)
Gen 6: Delphox > Chesnaught > Greninja

 

[XXD17]

For me, it's always been about the looks...if the design appeals to me, I WILL use it in my in game team regardless of stats...I've gone with charmander, cyndaquil, treecko, piplup/ chimchar, snivy and fennekin for my first play through...all based on appearance alone...

 

[blue8arman]

I always pick the starter whose evolution line looks cooler and cuter than the the other two for me.
1. Squirtle
2. Totodile
3. Mudkip
4. Turtwig
5. Snivy
6. Froakie

 

[HMSSparky]

I'm not one to care about stats and type advantages and planning all the way through the game so I usually pick based on looks or if it's the underdog of the other starters from what I've observed.
Kanto: Squirtle, it was my favourite for a long time and I couldn't think of picking anything else, okay maybe Bulbasaur but I find it hard to freely pick Charmander.
Johto: Chikorita, absolutely adorable and Meganium was somehow the first Pokemon I knew about properly and was my favourite before Squirtle. Plus it is sort of the underdog for Johto.
Hoenn: I've never had an overbearing opinion on any of the Hoenn starters so I can't really say, they all look nice in all evolutions.
Sinnoh: For my favourite generation I couldn't pick a favourite starter, they're all great to me, I have all three generation four games and on each of them I've chosen a different starter to be able to play them all.
Unova: Just based on looks, Oshawott because it is rather cute in its own special way.
Kalos: Chespin, I love that little spiky ball-rodent thing. On my first play through I had no hesitation in choosing it, I'm not so keen on Froakie but its other two evolutions are good. Haven't yet played through with Fennekin and I probably won't until the third game comes out because I don't want to restart my game again (I have my Raichu to blame for this).
So yeah, starter choice is purely aesthetic and I will admit that the anime has played a part in some choices (Squirtle and Chikorita, you amazing little rascals).

 

[Mintt]

I choose whichever one I think is the coolest, and if I get another version of the game i'll usually pick the best type to use for the gyms. I usually end up picking the fire-type starter. (the only except was unova, where I chose Snivy)

 

[Colton S]

I usually pick the Water starter on my second playthrough, but here's my pattern.
Squirtle
Cyndaquil
Treecko
Turtwig
Oshawott
Fennekin
I usually pick based on my initial impressions, so water normally impresses me!

 

[Mr. Ribbles]

I choose them based on general usefulness ingame and looks, general usefulness outweighs looks slightly, Ie I really like how the Chickorita line looks, but they're kinda meh all the way through.

 

[Gligari]

I usually choose them for looks. Charizard, Cyndaquil, Sceptile, Infernape, Emboar, and Greninja.

 

[Mi-tan]

I'm surprised so many people choose regarding looks - I thought I was in a minority with that actually

So yeah, I usually choose the one that I think is the coolest or prettiest. This makes some of the later games a bit tough, lol. There are also replays when I choose a starter whose look I normally wouldn't like, just to see what it's like to battle with it.

Anyway, my usual choices are:

FR/LG: Charmander
G/S/C/HG/SS: Cyndaquil (which I usually keep at Quilava level just because Quilava is so gorgeous) or Chikorita
R/S/E: Treecko
D/P/P: Piplup
B/W: Snivy or Oshawott
X: Froakie (the only one I've chosen thus far, and kind of a departure from my standard as I don't think any of the Kalos starters are that good-looking anyway)

 

[Team Volt Grunt]

I chose Squirtle the first time I played Blue because the turtle looked the coolest and because it was Blue. I think my first Johto starter was Cyndquil because I never choose grass first (until Gen 5) and I didn't like Totodile back then.

Just looked through each of my games. Here's what my current save files started with:

Ruby: Torchic
Sapphire: Mudkip - My favorite from Hoenn is Mudkip
Emerald: No idea, none of the starters still on the cart have a matching ID number. It most likely got transferred to Diamond/Platinum years ago.
FireRed: Charmander
LeafGreen: Squirtle

Diamond: Turtwig
Pearl: Chimchar - My Favorite from Sinnoh is Turtwig
Platinum: Turtwig
HeartGold: Cyndaquil
SoulSilver: Totodile

Black: Snivy
White: Oshawott - My favorite from Unova is Oshawott
Black2: Snivy
White2: Tepig

X: Froakie
Y: Chespin - Haven't really used Fennekin yet, but so far my favorite from Kalos is Froakie

 

[~Sea_Spirit~]

I usually follow the chubby to Bad-Arceus rule or pick the water starter
For those of you who don’t know the chubby to Bad-Arceus rule it’s when a chubby-ish pokemon’s final evo is a monster, like..

1. Charmander to Charizard
2. Cyndaquil to Typhlosion
3. Torchic/Mudkip to Blaziken/Swampert
4. Piplup to Empoleon
5. Oshawott to Samurott
6. Chespin to Chesnaught

I didn’t follow it in second gen (Totodile) or fifth gen (Snivy)

 

[mradamjm01]

I usually pickwhat I think is coolest.
For excample:Charmander, Qindaquill, Torchic, Chimchar, Snivy, Froakie

 

[Lord Trollbias]

I pick the one with the coolest looking final evolution (except for Cyndaquill. I everstoned him once he evolved to Quilava)

 

[amazingname]

I always pick Water