Chimchar, Monferno and Infernape
OH DEAR GODS IT’S INFERNAPE RUN YOU FOOLS
These are Pokémon to inspire terror. You wouldn’t know it to look at them, but trust me, they are. Not because of sheer power – Charizard, Typhlosion and Blaziken are more powerful than Infernape – but because of two things that, in Pokémon, are often far more important: speed and versatility. I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Ladies and gentlemen: Chimchar, Monferno and Infernape.
The first thing you notice about these Pokémon is that they don’t really have a lot of heft to them. Charmander, Cyndaquil and even Torchic are more solidly built than Chimchar, and that doesn’t change as they evolve. This is because Chimchar marks a (small) divergence, at last, from the fire-as-destroyer archetype and focuses on a closely related quality of fire – its speed. Like Rapidash and Arcanine, Chimchar, Monferno and Infernape are Fire Pokémon whose element manifests not as huge destructive power but as phenomenal agility. They are among the few Fire-types who are not described as fighting primarily with their fire; one assumes that they do, and they do learn attacks like Ember and Fire Spin, but they seem to prefer using fire to intimidate enemies rather than to incinerate them directly (Monferno and Infernape’s bright facial markings, blue and red respectively, likewise seem meant for intimidation, as in mandrills and similar species).
Okay; Diamond and Pearl. The last three starters (since I’ve already covered Tepig, Snivy and Oshawott). I’ve always liked these three; the designs are quirky, they’re all pretty powerful (if I had to use a whole trio on a single team, this is probably the one I’d go for, although the Ruby/Sapphire ones give them a run for their money), and the way they interact with each other is pretty interesting in itself. Let’s take a look at Turtwig and see how he measures up.
So i herd u liek Mudkipz?
Our next starter is a chicken? Really, Game Freak? A chicken?
Sometimes it’s good to have trends within a Pokémon type. They add a sense of identity, a feeling that these Pokémon are defined by more than just an arbitrarily assigned set of elemental powers. Of course, half of the joy in having trends and stereotypes is in finding fun ways to break them, and so it is that the third Grass-type starter was something quite unusual indeed; a highly mobile, aggressive Grass Pokémon. Treecko, Grovyle and Sceptile belong to the inherently badass jungle fighter archetype, which is appealing because Grass Pokémon don’t normally go for ‘badass’ – their power is typically of a very understated sort. Ruby and Sapphire were the beginning of a shift towards more diversity in that respect, introducing Grass-types like Shiftry, Cacturne, Breloom… and these guys. They’re geckos, of course, and as geckos their padded feet can grip onto just about any surface; they can climb walls and walk on ceilings, no problem, which means they can come at you from any direction they damn well please. 
Cyndaquil has never caught my interest. I’m not sure why; maybe I’m just prejudiced against mammals (Cyndaquil is, believe it or not, the only mammalian starter Pokémon of the first three generations; the vast majority were reptiles). In principle, though, she’s based on a fairly neat idea; take a spiny mammal like a hedgehog or echidna and set its spines on fire, because fire is awesome. A lot of Fire Pokémon earn their place in the ranks of their element purely by virtue of being able to breathe fire, so she’s clearly off to a good start in the creativity stakes by integrating her element with her design base in a pleasing way. Personality-wise, although Cyndaquil herself is very shy and timid, her evolved forms, Quilava and Typhlosion, are stereotypical hot-headed Fire-types. That’s not especially bad; there’s no point to Pokémon that defy the stereotypes without Pokémon who conform to them, and if you need to do something like that, the starters are the place to do it. If there’s one place in the game where you want Pokémon to be exactly what players expect, this (arguably) is it. On the other hand, Charizard did it so well that it becomes difficult to expect Typhlosion to live up to that standard.
Yay; more Grass-types! Like Bulbasaur, Chikorita was part of my childhood (less so, since I started to splash out a little on Silver and actually picked one of the other two starters from time to time) so, of course, I love her to bits. However, I must be strong. I have to talk about what these Pokémon mean for me personally, but I’ll do my best to discuss them objectively too…
It’s funny, but I’ve never been a big fan of the Water-type starters. Funny, because some of my favourite Pokémon are Water-types. Maybe it’s because they’re always juxtaposed with the Grass-type starters, which for me is no contest. If that’s the case, then perhaps examining them in isolation will make the truth come out. Let’s give it a try…
There’s something about Charizard. Maybe it’s the inherent awesomeness of Fire as an element. Maybe it’s the allure of his base set trading card, whose Fire Spin was pretty much the most powerful attack in the game. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s a goddamn freakin’ dragon. Charizard is easily the most popular of the first-generation starters and, despite my perpetual love affair with the Grass type, I have to admit that it’s easy to see why. Charmander may be cute as a button but one look at his burning tail shows that he means business nonetheless. Charmeleon has the look of a proud fighter who loves to punch above his weight. Charizard simply demands respect, and incinerates anyone who denies him. What more could we possibly want?