The Pokémon franchise is an excellent propaganda machine. Thanks to the anime focusing so heavily on the powerful bond between Ash and his starter Pokémon, Pikachu, everyone feels like they have to love their first partner in each game. These cute little guys are typically given to you by a professor, and they serve as an early foundation for the rest of the team you’ll build out over the course of the game. But sometimes, you’ll boot one of these games up and realize you don’t like any of your options. Then you’re stuck with this hangnail of a Pokémon you don’t really care about. Friends, what if I told you that there’s another option? One that most trainers, chained down by sentimentality, never even consider? Put that little shit in the box and catch your actual fave.
Every time a new Pokémon game comes out, fans decide which of the three starter monsters they’ll be taking out on their adventure. These fire, water, and grass-type Pokémon are meant to give new players a sense of the series’ rock-paper-scissors-style types and weaknesses, and usually end up being faces of the franchise for a few years until the next game comes out. The Legends games, however, have handled this a bit differently. Instead of three new critters to start your journey with, these experimental spin-off RPGs bring back old starters from previous games, but with a new twist. Arceus gives Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawatt’s final stages regional variants, and Z-A gives Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile Mega Evolutions.
Z-A, however, has gotten a bit of flak for its starter choice which includes Chikorita and Tepig, arguably two of the least popular starters in Pokémon history even though they are both my special babies who have never done anything wrong. So if you fire up a new Pokémon game only to find yourself greeted with three Pokémon you’re not particularly thrilled about, are you just forced to use them for several dozen hours? No, my friend. That’s just what Big Pokémon Company wants you to think.
While I’ve never boxed a starter during my initial playthrough, I’m no stranger to treating my game-sanctioned first partner like any other Pokémon on my team. That’s because the second I boot up one of these games, I’m looking for my real starter: a Pichu or PIkachu. My favorite Pokémon is Raichu, and because it’s the evolved form of the series’ mascot, my basic ass has the wonderful privilege of knowing my favorite boy is going to be in most games (we don’t talk about Black and White). So every time I pick a starter in these games, I know they’re going to end up playing second fiddle to my electric rat. I learned at an early age that I don’t have to believe the lie that my starter has to be my best friend, because they’re often just a placeholder for the little yellow guy in my mind. That was true in Z-A. I picked Chikorita, and when he evolved into Meganium, he was a surprise MVP of my playthrough thanks to the new grass/fairy-type Mega Evolution. But even though my time in Lumiose City began with this Pokémon, he didn’t have to be in my party any longer than it took me to catch another critter. In fact, most games barely acknowledge the starter after you initially get one.
In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, we have one of the more underwhelming starter line-ups ever, at least for people who hate good and cute babies like Chikorita and Tepig, with Totodile being far and away the most popular of the trio. What if you don’t need a water-type Pokémon in your party because your favorite is Gyarados? Did Totodile’s ugly Mega Evolution after it becomes Feraligatr put you off the blue dude altogether? The secret no one at Game Freak wants you to know is that you can put that little guy in a box and make a party that has no starters in it at all. Hell, take it a step further and release that red-headed stepchild back into the wild. Taunie and Urbain don’t have to know you sent their Pokémon down the street with a bindle. Break free of the chains of decades of Ash and Pikachu brainwashing and write your own story.
