Last week, I was casually playing through 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Sword & Shield’s Isle of Armor expansion when it struck me: wow, Pokemon really is still living off dividends from its 25-year-old original starter trio, isn♎’t it? Aside from Pikachu, I’m not sure the series has ever ꦉbeen this brazenly invested in any other Pokemon.
I understand the appeal, obviously. These are the OG starters, the brilliant and beloved ‘mons we set out on our first ever Pokemon adventure with. I should also probabl📖y mention that Blastoise is my favourite Pokemon of all time - I even have a Squirtle with no eyes (don’t ask) tattooed on my leg. I’m not dismissing the Kanto starters, nor am I arguing that they shouldn’t take centre stage as often as they do. I am merely making the observation that it’s sometimes a bit weird how conspicuously present they are… well, everywhere.
Given that it’s the reason I’m writing this piece in the first place, I’ll start ༺off by talking about the Isle of Armor. After you get to the dojo and meet Mustard, Klara, and the rest of the gang, a brief cutscene will play where you’re introduced to two new Pokemon. I say ‘two new Pokemon’, but what I actually mean is ‘two of the oldest Pokemon in existence’. I am, of course, talking about Squirtl▨e and Bulbasaur.
It’s a bit wild how much heavy lifting this single, relatively minor scene does for the ꧋entire Isle of Armor story. Again, I’m not even shaming it for that - when S💛quirt and Bulba rolled out into the middle of the dojo, I smiled so hard I nearly Jokerified myself. I love all three Kanto starters from the bottom of my heart - I still think it’s worth examining why that love endures.
There is obviously one particularly noticeable omission from thi𝔍s Isle of Armor charade: Charmander. This is because Charizard, what with being one of the most illustrious Pokemon of all time, is already in the base game as Leon’s ace. It gets more screen time than pretty much every single Pokemon that’s actually native to Galar and plays a prominent part in the story. I mean, Leon quite literally takes the remaining Galarian starter after you and Hop choose yours and Charizard is still the Pokemon associated with him.
All three of the Kanto starters have massive roles in loads of other Pokemon games, too. Despite Blastoise being slightly delayed at launch, all three of them are in Pokemon Unite. Their first and last forms are all present in New Pokemon Snap. Even though Let’s Go technically replaces them with either Pikachu or Eevee, they’re all catchable in those games, with Squirtle and Charmander each being obtainable as gift Pokemon. The only mainline games where they aren’t either catchable or were tied to a specific event are Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Sun, and Moon. Including remakes, that leaves 2💃7 games where there was at least temporarily a way to get them without trading.
It’s all just a bit wild. I love these Pokemon and if I were a betting man I’d put the house and kids on the fact you do too. No other Pokemon have ever 🃏maintained this sort of relevance though, nor has Game Freak ever intentionally placed so much em🧜phasis on individual ‘mons. When I sit down and think about whether or not we’ll ever get over the Kanto starter trio, the answer is obvious: we won’t.
I mean, how could we? Blastoise and Squirtle are ꦯo𝔉bjectively the best Pokemon of all time. Wartortle is alright, too.