There is no proven single best starter Pokémon across the series: “best” might mean most loved, best-looking, or most useful in a particular game. If you want a fan-favorite-led pick, Bulbasaur is a reasonable editorial choice for its visibility in an older fan ranking and its third-place finish in a 2024 reader survey. If you want the latest survey’s top-rated starter, choose Cyndaquil.
What “best starter Pokémon” means
A starter can be a personal favorite without being the strongest choice in battle, and an answer about game performance needs to name the game. The available evidence here compares fan preferences, not gameplay strength across every generation. The rankings below should therefore be read as poll results and an editorial recommendation—not an objective series-wide verdict.
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What the fan polls found
| Source and date | Question and sample | Result relevant to starters |
|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Life, reported February 5, 2020 | Readers selected favorite Fire-, Grass-, and Water-type starters from the 24 mainline starters available at the time, including Generation VIII. The poll was conducted in late 2019; it was an outlet reader poll, not a representative survey. | Among Fire starters, Charmander ranked first, Cyndaquil second with 24% of votes, and Torchic third with 13%. |
| Nintendo Life, January 18, 2021 | The outlet reported 3,942 submitted Tiermaker lists. This was a self-selected user-ranking sample. | Nintendo Life described Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle—the original Kanto trio—as especially adored in the resulting list. |
| Johto Times, results published January 5, 2025 | The poll ran November 22–December 31, 2024, asked readers to rate starters from 1 (“dislike”) to 5 (“loved”), and received 819 responses. | Cyndaquil led with a mean rating of 4.10; Rowlet was second at 4.08, Bulbasaur third at 4.03, and Mudkip fourth at 4.00. |
These polls do not measure the same thing: one compares starters within types, another collects overall rankings, and the Johto Times survey uses a five-point rating scale. Their audiences and methods differ, too. Together they suggest that the Kanto starters remain prominent in Nintendo Life’s 2021 ranking while Cyndaquil and Rowlet scored especially well in Johto Times’ 2024 survey. They do not establish a universal favorite.
Why the official Pokémon vote is not a starter ranking
The Pokémon Company’s Pokémon of the Year 2020 results show Charizard with 93,968 votes, Bulbasaur with 56,015, and Charmander with 14,049 among Kanto results. That vote asked people to choose favorite Pokémon, not the best starter. Charizard is also Charmander’s evolved form, so Charizard’s result cannot be treated as evidence that Charmander is the most popular starter.
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Likewise, Play Nintendo’s poll presents the familiar choice among Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle for Pokémon Red, Blue, or Yellow, but the page does not publish comparative results. It establishes the original choice, not a winner.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which starter should you choose?
Choose Bulbasaur for a fan-favorite-led recommendation
Bulbasaur is a defensible pick if you want a blend of recognition and evidence of affection: Nintendo Life’s user-ranked list emphasized the original Kanto trio, and Bulbasaur placed third in the Johto Times survey with a mean rating of 4.03. That is an editorial synthesis of different polls, not a measured head-to-head result.
Rank #2
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Choose Cyndaquil for the newest survey’s top score
Cyndaquil ranked first in the Johto Times survey at 4.10 and second among Fire starters in Nintendo Life’s late-2019 poll, reported in 2020. Those results make it a strong choice if recent reader preference matters most to you; neither poll represents every Pokémon player.
Choose for the game you plan to play
If “best” means most useful in battle, decide which game you mean and compare the options in that game. The poll results above do not compare starter performance across generations, so they cannot support a series-wide gameplay ranking. If you are choosing mainly for design or nostalgia, those are personal criteria rather than conclusions the polls can settle.
Quick Recap
How to read the results fairly
- A five-point average, a tier-list ranking, and a vote among type-specific favorites are different measures; they should not be combined as if they formed one standardized leaderboard.
- Reader polls describe the people who chose to respond, not all players.
- Popularity is not the same as in-game strength, and favorite evolved Pokémon results do not automatically establish the popularity of their unevolved starter forms.
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