Nebbygetinthebag
Well-Known Member
I only played Heartgold and the starter I choose is Cyndaquill mainly because it has a solid stat and movepool and also it's my favorite johto starter, Totodile is ok and I don't care for Chikorita.
I always found Chikorita to be a pain to use since there's so many Bug and Flying types about, plus the early Team Rocket battles and the fact that your rival uses Pokemon who all resist Grass until mid-way through the game. A Pokemon focused more on support does not typically do well in-game, at least based on how I play. It just never does super well, and where it does do solidly other Pokemon do just as well or even better.
I picked Totodile in both Silver and Crystal but chose Cyndaquil in Gold. I noticed that a lot of people didn't like Chikorita.
I typically go with Cyndaquil as my starter of choice, mainly because it's fast and I think Typhlosion looks pretty cool. Fire types are usually pretty solid and a rarer type to have in Johto (especially if you're using Johto-only Pokemon like I try to do) and Typhlosion has a good enough moveset to cover its weaknesses.
Yeah, if you don’t choose Cyndaquil and only try to use Johto ‘mons, you can’t really catch any other Fire-types until after the post-game (unless you count Entei and Ho-Oh, although I doubt most people would use legendaries as part of their main team). I’ve always wondered why you only find Houndour and Slugma in Kanto rather than Johto.
Luckily the Kanto selection of Fire types were available reasonably early in Johto - you could have Growlithe/Vulpix, Magmar and even Flareon possibly by the fourth gym (can't quite remember how/where you get Fire Stones, think someone who calls you gives you one) and they're all solid in their own right.