Littleroot Town¶

When you finally gain control of yourself, walk out of the van into your new hometown, Littleroot. Above, you see something jetting by in the sky… But you are broken from your stupor by your mother. Go upstairs and examine the clock after the cutscene with your mother ends.

Unlike Ruby/Sapphire, you won’t set it manually; the 3DS does it for you. Go downstairs after and you’ll mother will call you to the TV; it seems Petalburg was on the TV and your father may have shown, but it doesn’t look like it. You’ll be told, though, that one of his friends lives next door: Professor Birch.

Walk outside and you’ll find his house next door. (Apparently only he and you live here) There, you won’t find Birch, but he has a daughter/son about your age. (It varies on whether you choose to be a male or female character.)

Go upstairs to meet Brendan/May. They will head off in a moment to help Birch catch some Pokémon. Go outside and north of the two houses onto Route 101 . May as well take a glance, eh?

Route 101¶

As you enter the Route, you’ll here someone screaming up ahead: continue further onto the Route, being threatened by a Poochyena. … … It’s more cute than anything.

Shouldn’t a Pokémon Professor have some kind of Pokémon on him at all times? Despite this, the game fails to let you leave him to die a horribly cute and ironic death, so it’s best just to do what he says. Examine his bag right in front of you and you’ll be able to choose your starter Pokémon .

This is a serious decision, as you’ll rely heavily on this Pokémon for much of the game more likely than not, so pick carefully! First, we’ll open with some stat comparisons of each and their evolutions…

Also keep in mind how your rival will later pick their Pokémon! They will have an advantage over you!

Treecko¶

Treecko, of the three, is the most oriented towards Special moves and Speed. It has great advantages over Water, Ground, and Rock, which helps take care of the first Gym with relative ease and he won’t have major problems until the fourth, which is Fire-typed.

Beyond these, there is not much to comment about Treecko in terms of advantages. However, it is worth noting that Torchic has a number of overwhelming type and strategic advantages over Treecko.

Treecko as a Pokémon sits somewhat on the border between being intended for challenge and moderate difficulty playthroughs, and is not the best for a series newbie.

Torchic¶

Torchic’s evolutionary chain is the strongest in the offense stats and also works well as mixed-attackers, though often favoring Physical. Additionally, with Speed Boost, Torchic’s chain easily becomes the fastest of the three as well, although you’ll need Blazikenite to Mega Evolve it before that happens.

In terms of Gyms, Torchic’s chain will have problems in the first and sixth Gyms, as well as the seventh if you evolve it by then. Torchic’s chain can earn advantages over Grass, Bug, Steel, and Ice Pokémon to begin with, later furthered through evolution to advantages over Normal and Rock and Dark.

The Normal advantage will be very helpful in the fourth Gym, and you can also settle the Rock weakness in the first Gym through evolution. Torchic is, despite these things, not best for the newbie player but rather for Pokémon veterans, especially those that missed out on the X/Y launch Blazikenite.

Mudkip¶

Mudkip marks out the walling Pokémon of the group, at least in how people tend to use him: he becomes somewhat bulky as he levels up. He is also one of the better physical attackers of the game.

Initially, Mudkip will have a weakness to Grass and Electric, but evolution throws that back to just Grass, though it is quadrupled (giving you a hard time in rival battles).

Mudkip will have advantages to Fire, Rock, and Ground, later furthered by evolution to include Poison, Electric, and Steel, as well as furthering those for Fire and Rock.

In terms of Gyms, Mudkip or its evolutions will not have a significant problem throughout the game (assuming you evolve it in a timely manner) except for rival battles against Treecko’s chain which you will certainly find a way to circumvent by the point it becomes a significant issue.

In summation, Mudkip of these Pokémon is by far the best oriented for beginners to the series.

To the rescue!¶

When you’ve chosen your starter, the battle begins against the Poochyena! It should be an easy enough battle.

Note that, unlike Ruby/Sapphire, your Pokémon does have a move of its type to begin with: Torchic has Ember, for example, which is a Fire move. Use this move here, as it gains 50% extra damage due to STAB (Same-Type Attack Bonus), which is obviously good!

After the battle, Birch will take you back to his Lab.

Littleroot Town¶

Inside the Pokémon Lab, there will be a brief scene, the primary event in which concerns you being given the Pokémon you used earlier! Feel free to give it a nickname! After, Birch will mention that his kid is out on Route 103, and that you should visit.

Sounds like a good idea. Once you regain control, leave the Pokémon lab and head north onto Route 101 .