In Pokemon Light Platinum, you are given
starters from Gen 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. You can only pick one from each Professor,
so which one are you going to choose? This guide is here to help you see what’s
good, and maybe what’s bad about each starter.

Professor Jasmine: During a short cut scene regarding the
mysterious language of Alpha, a Team Steam Grunt attacks the Professor!
Startled, she asks you to choose 3 starters from a bag, Charmander, Squirtle,
and Bulbasaur

Charmander: Most definitely an OU starter, this Pokemon
is one of the most popular choices. He is OU for a reason! Its physical and
special-attack move pool certainly compliments Charizard, making him
a strong threat. He will be able to OHKO many Pokemon, and take down Team Steam
w/out batting an eyelash. An excellent sweeper, you really won’t regret
choosing Charmander.
However, one thing to be wary about Charizard is its weakness
to Water, Rock, and Electric type moves, making it a bit less formidable.

Squirtle: Squirtle is not a popular choice, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t
a great Pokemon! He is in the UU tier however, since he goes up against
choosing Charmander who obviously turns into the great Charizard, so that isn’t
a surprise. Blastoise, the final evolution of Squirtle, is a bulky water type,
so he can make for a nice tanker since I wouldn’t necessarily use him much.
Water types do help quite a lot during the game, but there are better water
types to choose from (*ahem* Milotic, *cough cough* Swampert*). Choosing
Squirtle isn’t a bad choice however – Blastoise isn’t offensively strong, but
makes up for it with a nice defense. Teach him Toxic and Protect, and he can be
an ideal for switch-ins during the E4. Protect and @Leftovers can really wear
down an opponent. Surf is Blastoise’s best STAB attack, so if you choose
Blastoise, you don’t need to worry about using an HM slave for Surfing.

Bulbasaur: Most definitely UU, Bulbasaur
has received a bad rep for not being of much use in FireRed/LeafGreen. Yes, he
did make the first 4 gyms easy, but where was he for the 3 hardest gyms
(Sabrina, Blaine, Koga)? Venusaur did get a boost in the later Gens however, with
the ability Chlorophyll, doubling speed during strong daylight. Venusaur has
some nice moves, able to OHKO many Pokemon, but w/out the ability Chlorophyll,
he will be lagging behind. It is pretty important in the E4 to strike first and
deal as much damage you can as quickly as possible…this dinosaur won’t be doing
that well.

Professor Oak: After receiving your
Pokedex, talk to him once more, and he will give you 3 starters from Gen II

Cyndaquil: Cyndaquil is an early
bird when it comes to evolving, turning into a Quilava at lvl 14. This small
Pokemon packs a vicious punch once he becomes Typhlosion. Typhlosion is
certainly one dynamic Pokemon, with nicely distributed stats so as to not be
high in attack but low on defense. A +1 for Typhlosion is the mix between his
ability, Blaze, which boosts STAB attacks by 50% when his HP is at 1/3rd
or less. Typhlosion does not have the best of defenses, so he would actually be
easy to bring down…this being said, if Typhlosion were to keep having red HP,
he would have a massive boost to his attack, basically OHKO before you finish
him. The point is to keep Typhlosion with maximum HP in order to sweep, but
when it looks like he’s about to die, that’s when the heat comes in!

Totodile: Feraligatr, the final
evolved form of Totodile, is certainly a bit different than regular Water type Pokemon.
Feraligatr is a bulky physical sweeper, relying on its high attack to
effectively sweep anybody’s team. Feraligatr is defensive too, able to take a
few hits. By then, he should have OHKO most of your opponents Pokemon anyway. Being
in the UU tier, Feraligatr certainly is a nice addition to your team if you are
looking for a physical sweeper, but he isn’t special.

Chikorita: Meganium is not a bad Pokemon,
but it is more like a one-trick pony. It excels nicely in defense, but is
outclassed by all the other grass type starters. The best option for Meganium
is to use it as a Support Pokemon, someone who you can switch out to heal other
Pokemon in your party, since it has moves like Reflect, Light Screen, and
Synthesis + its defense, which make for a nice wall. UU tier, not really hard
to see why.

Professor Elm: After beating Team
Steam in the woods, all the Combee have stopped blocking the entrances in
Inhore…talk to Professor Elm at the top floor at Inhore University, and he will
let you choose between 3 starters from Gen III.

Torchic: The tiny bird packs a
wallop once it turns into Blaziken, the fire-fighting Pokemon. Even though it is outclassed by Infernape,
really by the time you get to Chimchar, your Blaziken should be at a high level
already that it won’t matter as much. With nice speed and good offensive
abilities, Blaziken can do well on your team, especially as a special sweeper.
Being outclassed by Infernape pushes Blaziken in the UU tier, but that doesn’t
make him less of a threat. Blaziken isn’t really of a must need…you can cover
fighting (and dark) types by catching a Scraggy at the Safari Zone, and that
being said, it would be better to have a solid fire type rather than a dual
type that you may already have covered.

Mudkip: Swampert is a nice
addition to any team. ?Its dual type
canceling out the weaknesses it would normally have (Water cancels out the
Water and Ice weakness Ground would have, Ground cancels out the Electric
weakness Water would have). This being said, Swampert can last quite a long
time in battle due to its lack of weaknesses and good defense. Another thing is
that Swampert has a wide move pool in regards to STAB attacks. Surf, Waterfall,
and Earthquake make for a really solid Swampert, most like able to OHKO opponents.
Ice Beam is there for Dragon type coverage and Grass type coverage. Nice HP and
overall good defensive abilities make Swampert a good all-around Pokemon…just
watch out for the 4x weakness to Grass types!

Treecko: Sceptile’s nice speed
allow it to hit fast and hopefully OHKO before possibly dying due to it’s not
outstanding defense. Sceptile has pretty good offensive stats, but it isn’t
anything special. One thing that you should really note is that Sceptile just
does not have a good move pool in this game. Pretty much Leaf blade, and that’s
it. Of course, you can teach it Giga Drain, and use Toxic for long term battles
that you may want to switch Sceptile out…Dragon Claw is also a good move to
teach it, giving it another offensive strike other than Leaf Blade. Overall,
not too shabby, but not special either.

Professor Rowan: He is said to be
sitting at a table in one of the house in Snowce City…talk to him and he will
allow you to choose 3 starters from Gen IV.

Chimchar: Infernape is really
something to be careful around if you are the opponent. Very nice offensive
abilities along with his great speed and STAB attacks allow for OHKO many
times. That really speaks for itself. One thing that really hinders Infernape
is his horrid defense. He will make for a nice sweeper, but you make the most
use of him when he OHKOs – other than that, he can be easily defeated, so he
relies on having solid bulky Pokemon alongside him.

Piplup: Empoleon makes for a nice
defensive Pokemon to have on your team, with 11 resistances and 1 immunity,
along with a decent defense and nice HP. His speed is not something you would
like, nor would be that lack of special attacks that support his well-rounded
special attack stat. He has a lower attack with somewhat of an abundance of
physical attacks in his move pool. Overall, Empoleon is decent, but again, not
really a necessity.

Turtwig: Torterra, the living
fortress. That pretty much sums it up. Torterra has an exceptionally high
defense with very nice offensive capabilities. However, his slow speed is a
trade-off to those attributes. Due to Torterra’s typing, its 4x weakness to Ice
really hinders him. His weakness to fire is easily dealt with (Earthquake).
Torterra makes for a nice wall with a decent move pool…even if he is slow, many
times he can OHKO, making him a nice addition if you are looking for bulky
defensive types for your team.

Professor Ellie: Once you beat the
Zhery Elite Four, you can continue on into the neighboring Lauren region. Once
there, you will be confronted by Professor Ellie, a friend of Professor
Jasmine. She will take you into her lab, allowing you to choose one of the 3
starters from Gen V.

Tepig: Emboar is a fire/fighting,
like Blaziken and Infernape. Emboar is very outclassed by the both of them. Not
much of a good move pool, slow, and surprisingly low defense (shouldn’t a giant
pig have somewhat of a good defense lol). Anyway, by the time you get to choose
Emboar, your Pokemon should already be lvl 60+…if you really want to grind him up
to par with your team, that’s your choice. These starters are not really needed
anyway.

Oshawatt: Samurott looks pretty
intimidating, and just plain cool. Anyway, he has nice offensive abilities, but
low speed. Defensive abilities aren’t the greatest either, so you shouldn’t
really need to make a spot on your team for him. All the other starter water
types are a bit more useful than Samurott.

Snivy: Probably the most popular
starter in this Gen, Serperior is most likely the better of the two other
starters. A fairly decent grass type with nice speed and nice defense, it can
take quite a few hits, while dealing some of its own first. Serperior does not
have much of an offensive strike, but a fairly nice move pool can help. Unfortunately,
Serperior’s dream world ability, Contrary, is not available. If it was, it
would make Serperior absolutely worth every minute grinding him up to par.
Contrary reverses stat changes, so it can help boost Serperior’s attack to an
acceptable level during battle.

Anyway, I hope this helps a bit when you
are considering what starter to choose…these are just overviews that just
scratch the surface of it…if you can use the Pokemon wisely, you are going to
easily breeze through this game.

When choosing my starter I always go with the grass type except with Chikorita . If I do not pick Chikorita I will more than likely pick Totodile .

Sidewinder : I always go for Cyndaquil when I'm playing gen 2 because its my favorite fire type.
Bulbasaur is a great special attacker with good special defence in gen 1.
Treecko is my gen 3 choice because of its speed.
Chimchar is my gen 4 choice.
Oshawatt is my gen 5 choice.

Wow this is pretty helpful. There is no way I could have written that much about this topic. Good job.

Sidewinder : um thank you for this starter guide it helped me a lot with the game and my choices were charmander also because i love chairzard adn then chicorita because i fav grass then mudkip and piplup also snivy

OU? OHKO? UU? WTF? Don't really understand those, but this is pretty good guide, you explain well every Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses. Good job.

OU= Overly Used;  competitive battling tier that often drips over into describing how well a Pokémon does in battle in general
UU= UnderUsed: ----^
OHKO= One hit Knock Out; As simple as that...knocking out the opposing Pokémon in 1 hit