For Pokemon players, one of the most important questions for every new mainline game is which starter they'll pick when they begin their journey. When Pokemon Sword and Shield's starters were first revealed, the Internet quickly became embroiled with discussions and debates over which of the three was the best one.
Thanks to website Tiermaker, Pokemon fans have been able to share exactly how they rank the starter Pokemon of each generation so far, with only the best of the best reaching the coveted S Tier. And with over 4000 tier lists made specifically for the starter Pokemon, Tiermaker has compiled the data in order to work out the average rankings and created a separate tier list to show which are the most and least popular starters.
Unsurprisingly, there is clearly a lot of love for the original generation of games, Pokemon Red and Blue, as all three of its starters - Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle - made it to S tier. The only other Pokemon that managed to join them was Mudkip, the Water starter from Ruby and Sapphire. Mudkip very quickly became a fan favorite upon its debut and is well known among some fans for spawning the "i herd u liek mudkipz" meme.
As for the least popular ones, the maligned E tier consists of Tepig from Black and White, Popplio from Sun and Moon, and Chespin from X and Y. Funnily enough, they are respectively a Fire type, a Water type, and a Grass type, meaning fans would be extra disappointed if there was ever a game that offered these three as the choices for a starter.
Just above them in D tier, though, are all three of Sword and Shield's starters, which very much suggests that fans ultimately weren't impressed with what the most recent games offered. It's rather shocking to see Sobble there, considering it quickly became an Internet darling when it was initially revealed.
The only other Pokemon to join them is Chikorita from Generation 2's Gold and Silver. Chikorita has always been overshadowed by the other two starters, Cyndaquil and Totodile. Both of them fared much better, managing to reach A+ tier.
All in all, the Pokemon are evenly spread out, with most of the tiers consisting of four Pokemon and the bottom tier consisting of three. The only exception is C tier, which contains only one Pokemon: Fennekin, the Fire starter from X and Y. Seems it hasn't left much of an impact on fans, with Froakie managing to reach B tier, making it the most popular starter from that generation. What probably helped was its evolution into Greninja, which was voted the most popular Pokemon in the world last year.
Source: Tiermaker