Which starting Pokemon is best on the GOLD version. . .

[Freshman]

UPDATE: I went with Cyndaquil which seemed to be the majority's choice. It is freakin' awesome! May not look as cool as the original fire type starter charmander but coupled with a level 13 Pidgey, my level 14 evolved Cyndaquil (can't remember evolved name) has blitzed through the first gym and "bellsprout tower". Now I just need a pokemon capable of flash to get through the cave; HELP!

you can get a lightning sheep (what its name?) in the area south of the first gym town, if nothing else i'm pretty sure bellsprout can learn flash, also cut making it a good Hm slave for early game.

 

[Vesuvius Hetlan]

Totodile. Because Feraligatr can curbstomp Typhlosion any day.

But here's the thing
Meganium is tough as nails but is limited by a lack of movesets.
Typhlosion is very strong but its defenses are lacking. But it is typically fast enough to compensate.
Feraligatr is more balanced than the rest of them but doesn't have the higher stats of the others.

Correct me if i'm wrong but were the original three (Charizard, Venasaur and Blastoise) not all equally badass? I can't remember ever playing through with squirtle, but i'm sure he was pretty good still.

What? Ummmm... Well I've always liked Venusaur the most...Never really cared for the other two. Charizard is cool I guess? Don't like blastoise very much.

@Freshman: Mareep. Mareep is the electric sheep.

 

[Russian_Assassin]

I personally like Chicorita but they're all good. The first gym is fly type gym so grass alone is not good in that case you must catch something else before the gym. I can't give advice on the whole game but catch stuff you think look cool that works for me ^^

I disagree, you don't catch Pokemon you think are cool. YOU. CATCH. THEM. ALL!!!

My favorite is Cyndaquil because it is cute. I don't care about stats or difficulty!

 

[Vault Girl]

Cyndoquil hands down. i stop playing pokemon after Gold but to me pokemon was at its best back then, cant stand anything after.

Couldn't agree more! A friend recently showed me his copy of the new BLACK on DS and though the adventure part of the game looked outstanding, from what i could see the character design of the actual pokemon (in particular the first three) looked and to be lacking, and as if Nintendo have been struggling with coming up with yet ANOTHER 150 pokemon. I'm not sure if it's just naustalgia but i remember the original 151 so fondly. Aesthetically at least i think the original 151 were the most impressive/memorable.

True, they must be running out of real world animals they can parody right now. the first 151 were just great and the second gen were too. They dont even seem to bother to think of a reason why in the earlier games you never saw the later gens that were introduced.

Maybe it is nostaliga but what they are doing to pokemon now is ruining the fond memories i have of them. i was actually really excited when i heard they were releasing an uptodate Heart Gold/ Soul Silver. Why cant they just stop and finish honorabily like Digimon did?

 

[Drafon]

I would say Cyndaquil or Totodile. Chikorita only sucks because the constructs of the game put the first two gyms as things Chikorita could only take on if it were vastly overleveled (Fly and Bug), plus you've got the Bellsprout Tower in the first gym's town, so you'll want Cyndaquil on that one.

 

[Flunk]

All Pokemon games are so easy it really doesn't matter which you had picked.

 

[emeraldrafael]

my level 14 evolved Cyndaquil (can't remember evolved name) has blitzed through the first gym and "bellsprout tower". Now I just need a pokemon capable of flash to get through the cave; HELP!

The name you're looking for is Quilava.

Bellsprout learn flash, I think thats actually hte whole point of having spout tower there (you know... besides the obligatory middle finger to the water and grass types (who usually got a free pass through at least one if not two of the first two gyms in R/B/Y

I would say you made the right decision with Cyndaquil. As far as I know, its the starter that gets the most competitive play use, and arguably the best stats (thought that depended on what you needed a pokemon to do.

Overall though, here's how the gyms broke down based on majority typing (which doesnt really say alot because of mixed typing, but meh):
Cyndaquil: 9 Neutral, 3 Weak, 4 Strong
Totodile: 10 Neutral, 4 Weak, 2 Strong
Chikorita: 5 Neutral, 8 Weak, 3 Strong (those arent really till the Kanto)

And thats not counting the Elite Four, which adds up to:
Cy: 5 Neutral
To: 5 Neutral
Ch: 3 Neutral, 2 Weak

And the battle with Red s a toss up.

Overall though, the best thing about going with a Cyndaquil is Fire pokemon (particularly good fire pokemon), are rare early in game (with the first fire pokemon you can catch being growlithe right outside Goldenrod), so to have that leg up and being able to fish for a water type (might be a magikarp, but that gives you a Gyrados, who does Feraligatr's job well enough) and catch the aforementioned grass type in a bellsprout at Sprout Tower.

 

[Star_Seeker]

If you want another pokemon to get you through the cave with flash, catch a mareep (electric)

 

[emeraldrafael]

The answer is always to pick the fire type, no matter what

I disagree. There's no reason to go with Tepig, because its the third Fire/Fighting type and gets outclassed by Speed Boost Blaziken (as does Infernape).

 

[brick]

Cyndoquil hands down. i stop playing pokemon after Gold but to me pokemon was at its best back then, cant stand anything after.

Couldn't agree more! A friend recently showed me his copy of the new BLACK on DS and though the adventure part of the game looked outstanding, from what i could see the character design of the actual pokemon (in particular the first three) looked and to be lacking, and as if Nintendo have been struggling with coming up with yet ANOTHER 150 pokemon. I'm not sure if it's just naustalgia but i remember the original 151 so fondly. Aesthetically at least i think the original 151 were the most impressive/memorable.

True, they must be running out of real world animals they can parody right now. the first 151 were just great and the second gen were too. They dont even seem to bother to think of a reason why in the earlier games you never saw the later gens that were introduced.

Maybe it is nostaliga but what they are doing to pokemon now is ruining the fond memories i have of them. i was actually really excited when i heard they were releasing an uptodate Heart Gold/ Soul Silver. Why cant they just stop and finish honorabily like Digimon did?

Well i suppose that Digimon, at least to the best of my knowledge, never had the same long-term potential as pokemon? As the whole pokemon franchise was based on the game it probably meant that new versions was always at the back of Nintendo's mind, particuarly when the main idea is 'catch them all'. Though in fairness I think Digimon was based on some sort of virtual world? So maybe they could have continued the series, due to 'unlimited amounts of data' or something along those lines? Sorry i'm just rabbiting on now :/

 

[brick]

my level 14 evolved Cyndaquil (can't remember evolved name) has blitzed through the first gym and "bellsprout tower". Now I just need a pokemon capable of flash to get through the cave; HELP!

Bellsprout learn flash, I think thats actually hte whole point of having spout tower there (you know... besides the obligatory middle finger to the water and grass types (who usually got a free pass through at least one if not two of the first two gyms in R/B/Y

I swear i did not meet ONE wild bellsprout in the tower I did find one previously in grass en route to the town but swapped it for an onyx with an in game trainer.

Also thanks for the other info

 

[brick]

UPDATE: I went with Cyndaquil which seemed to be the majority's choice. It is freakin' awesome! May not look as cool as the original fire type starter charmander but coupled with a level 13 Pidgey, my level 14 evolved Cyndaquil (can't remember evolved name) has blitzed through the first gym and "bellsprout tower". Now I just need a pokemon capable of flash to get through the cave; HELP!

you can get a lightning sheep (what its name?) in the area south of the first gym town, if nothing else i'm pretty sure bellsprout can learn flash, also cut making it a good Hm slave for early game.

Yeahh looking for the 'Mareep' as we speak!

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

Cyndaquil! He's my favorite starter ever!

 

[emeraldrafael]

my level 14 evolved Cyndaquil (can't remember evolved name) has blitzed through the first gym and "bellsprout tower". Now I just need a pokemon capable of flash to get through the cave; HELP!

Bellsprout learn flash, I think thats actually hte whole point of having spout tower there (you know... besides the obligatory middle finger to the water and grass types (who usually got a free pass through at least one if not two of the first two gyms in R/B/Y

I swear i did not meet ONE wild bellsprout in the tower I did find one previously in grass en route to the town but swapped it for an onyx with an in game trainer.

Also thanks for the other info

I had that problem too until about the... third floor I wanna say. But there are tons of them around, and odds are it will only be an HM Slut (I dont call mine slaves, I find it degrading), since Bellsprout are rather crappy pokemon, and if you have a mareep, there's not a lot of reason to get a grass type outside of not having a water type to do with ground. point is there arent really a lot of worth while grass types early in that game, and few that you really NEED to have.

But I wouldnt waste the move space on Mareep like others are saying. You'll miss out on the T-punch, Lightscreen, Zap Cannon, Cotton Spore combo.

This of course being back before T-bolt came as a TM, and when you had to breed for it (thank god that got changed in later generations).

And no worries, I always like to share.

 

[luckycharms8282]

It's purely preference, man. Seems like you've made your decision already anyways.

 

[Slash12]

The answer is always to pick the fire type, no matter what

I disagree. There's no reason to go with Tepig, because its the third Fire/Fighting type and gets outclassed by Speed Boost Blaziken (as does Infernape).

Alright, I'll admit that I only played pokemon up until gold/silver because after that it started getting stupid for me. So I stand by my opinion that the fire starters are always the coolest.