Blastoise is the best starter *
For decades people have been arguing who is the best starter when it comes to the kanto region. This is usually through many means of math, personal choice, and in general, a heavy nostalgia factor. People play differently from others all the time and one of those ways is through the use of the rules called Nuzlocke rules. As of writing this I personally have done a Nuzlocke with all 3 Kanto starters in the 3rd generation game remakes. These games are called Fire Red and Leaf Green. This argument even lasts within these games and I want to try and settle it with a fair argument in several ways. Who is the best starter in Fire Red and Leaf Green?
We need in general to establish a few arguments that are important and a few that I personally have come across. We also in general need to establish the parameters of what this argument is based on. So let us try and do both of those:
:We will only be using Fire Red Leaf Green to quantify this argument BUT I will touch up on those games as well for a reasoning.
:We will be using 3 different arguments from -
Replacing your starter
Who is the best of its type
What battles you will be facing and what each Poke'mon can bring to the table specifically
I hope these are in general the best parameters for people to agree upon to make this a fair argument as some people will play using some ways such as replacing their starter, looking to find a better alternative, or straight up using it on their team.
Ok, first things first. Let's look at the games Red, Blue, Green, Yellow. We have a wonky system of how things work and a bare bones fighting system. This is fine as I would heavily assume that most people find the remakes of games from generations 1 and 2 to be the best games to nuzlocke as they are more within todays times but I know even if that is true that people would be angry if I didn't give some form of commentary on it. I would also be remiss to not give it a small thought as well since one of the arguments people have used against me was the use of generation 1 logic. From what I can conclude is that the best starters come down to 2 main factors. Firstly Charizard is one of the faster choices allowing him to have a huge critical hit factor with almost every move and it also gains slash which has a high critical hit factor which pretty much allows his pretty decent attack stat to allow it to shine through as well as his special attack. He can learn some pretty decent moves as well as will most likely go before everything you fight. Sure, he is frail but in general I think his critical hit chances are pretty decent if that is what you look for when it comes to an aggressive approach to combat. On that note Venusaur is by far probably the better choice as you have the chance to either deal massive damage with a critical hit move such as razor leaf and can set up toxic leech seed  combo. But this is only really my opinion since I personally do not nuzlocke the original games.
So before I really get into the meat of the argument I should explain a couple things. There has to be some sort of assumption written in that debates and any form of argument need to have a civil discourse where both people can make commentary on such things. Since this is right now not really possible I have to make some exceptions such as making assumptions on normal things to assume such as move sets. Next It is important to note the one thing that all nuzlockes have in common. The rules of the nuzlocke itself. If we change these rules than the parameters of the argument are changed as well. We are trying to determine the base question of who is the best starter in a Fire Red Leaf Green nuzlocke. Setting up based around your specific rules and regulations only changes the argument to better fit your wants and needs. We cannot do that as if I were to change the rules to what I follow than the real problem starts to arise. So until the argument is changed to something else we will start with the base argument before we change a parameter. The main parameters were already stated above with replacement and who is best of its type as well the battles you will be facing with only that specific Poke'mon. So without further ado let us begin the main argument and who would be the best and why.
Without giving an argument first I would like to first state who is best and then give the why as I feel that would be easier than to argue first than make the choice. That choice to me is indeed Squirtle. Some of you will see this and immediately go to the comments and start to argue, please, do not do this and read first. I will explain everything fairly.
First before anyone argues move diversity and diversity in general. Know that it is not as important as one might make it out to be. Many pokemon who are of the same type can learn enough moves to actually be diverse move-set wise as well as types only matter who you are fighting against more than anything else and when past the types who would have the advantage against you it would not be as important as you would make it out to be. Secondly we should also note that one bias that I personally have is that with the normal rules of the nuzlocke you would always choose bulkier pokemon as survivability is important since not dying helps you win. This is because with enough levels any Poke'mon can deal enough damage but not always necessarily outlive a stronger enemy.
Why is Squirtle the best choice. Firstly lets take into account the main argument. You can only have one guaranteed choice in your choices. Everything is random and with ever changing rules people use one main thing is consitent unless changed and that it choice of starter. We cannot use the base stats of a starter as they are all relatively even except for where the placement of those stats is. With the idea that survivability is the most important thing we know that Charizard is most likely to die to anything while Venusaur and Blastoise will have a higher chance of living. Since again the stats are very similar in stat total this will not be factored. Out of all the defensive stats Blastoise has the highest of defenses as well as the second highest of the HP stats but only 1 point lower than the highest. Let us take into account the reason why bulk is important is that we have to always assume the worst case scenario when playing. All enemies that can explode will always explode. Charizard is most likely incapable of surviving against those explosions. The best ones to use for this scenario are a Blastoise and Venusaur. With that in mind we have to also look at the important battles will be to see if they can survive those as well. We will be using who has the best advantage in each battle. The most important battles are as follows. Each gym leader, Rival, Elite 4 member, Enemy Team Leader. These battles are Brock, Misty, Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, Giovanni, Blue (for this instance his real name). When it comes to the enemy team we also should note that each member on their team in general will have the main types in Poison, Normal, Ground. So let's look specifically at the things we will be fighting.
We will start with the enemy main team first. The enemy main team will almost always consist of Zubats, Rattata, Ekans, Sandshrew, Machop Drowzee, Grimer, Koffing, Magnemite, Voltorb, Cubone. If we look at most of them it is something that Venusaur in general will have a more difficult time to fight, A total of 7 pokemon are either going to have a clear cut advantage or go even with him in terms of typing. When it comes to Blastoise it is a total of 2 that has a distinct advantage over him. We could put in favor of Blastoise in this situation as it favors him more methematically. Charizard to be fair is only effected by those same 2 in that they are electric types. Move sets are a little more difficult to break down against the fact that there are too many factors to take in with this so keeping it to the types with the worst assumption that each one has a super effective move at the best option would make it a better argument than assuming they are all with their weakest moves. This would mean we would assume all Zubats would have wing attack when fighting against a Venusaur while say all Voltorbs would have at worst Thunderbolt. This makes the arguments on these pokemon fair for all pokemon. On the adverse side of things we must assume that each of our chosen starters have no specifically advantageous moves learned from anything other than their move set for these as well. We could use moves taken from the TMS and HMS but let us instead put them at their individual weakest. Charizard can in fact defeat Machop no problem as it learns a flying move. Venusaur can defeat Sandshrew and Cubone as it learns a grass move. Blastoise learns a total of 2 different advantageous moves for things such as Drowzee with a dark move and both Cubone and Sandshrew with water moves. This would put Blastoise in the lead with most beneficial fights while venusaur will be at the least with charizard in the middle. This doesn't make any of them best or worst as this is only the weakest of arguments for any of them and we will now continue onto the leaders.
We need to take into account of how each type will give either a clear cut win, or a clear cut loss, or in fact it is even. In case of each of these we will also take move sets into account of what you would normally have at the level in case we want to use the argument of no over leveling as anyone with enough focus, commitment and sheer fucking will can in fact level up to level 100 before brock so using this as a parameter is the most fair way to make an assessment. Brock is the first person we will be fighting and he has 2 pokemon total in Geodude and Onix. Firstly we have Bulbasaur who has not evolved yet as your pokemon is in general the same as his highest level pokemon. Level 14 at most. This makes your move set Tackle, Growl, Leech Seed, Vine Whip. Brock will have no moves that are super effective against you thus you will be able to defeat him no problem. Charmander will have Growl, Scratch, Ember, Iron Claw. Brock will have on one of his pokemon Rock tomb allowing you to go "even" in this match. Squirtle will have tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble, Withdraw. Brock will have no super effective moves giving you the advantage.
This puts Venusaur and Blastoise at a clear automatic advantage. Charizard is right now trailing behind by 0 to the others having 1. Misty would be second. from here we are going to assume very heavily that you will evolve your pokemon when given the level chance. Mostly because in general that is what the majority of people do unless your pokemon would learn a move before their next stage. Thankfully (to my knowledge) none of the starters do this. Ivysaur would to all assumptions for this have the move set of Vine whip, Leech Seed, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder. Misty would have Tackle, Recover, Harden, Water Pulse and her Starmie would have Recover, Water Pulse, Rapid Spin, Swift. You would have the advantage in that nothing hurts you that much and you could mitigate her healing with a Poison Powder. When it comes to Charmeleon you would have Smokescreen, Metal Claw, Ember, And most likely Scratch as it would not be resisted by her pokemon. Misty would again have her water move and would destroy your starter. You lose this match in general. When it comes to Wartortle you have Bite, Water gun, Withdraw, Tackle. Both her pokemon are in general psychic type and would lose to your super effective move giving you the advantage to her water and normal moves. Now Ivysaur would in general have an advantage since I assume you would use Powders and Leech seed to mitigate damage. This puts both Venusaur and Blastoise in the lead of 2 to 1 gyms where you can beat the gym leader or at least go even with. From now in instead of listing the move sets that will be used we will instead list the moves that will give each person of you and the gym leader a clear advantage on each of their pokemon because making the assumption for later move sets would cause too much of a problem and we will even at that point just show that brock would lose to grass move, lose to water move, go even with steel move to rock move, misty would lose to grass move, lose to dark move, and win against your non effective moves. When it comes to fighting Surge people would assume heavily that the victories are pretty cut and dry with things. Ivysaur would resist all of Surges moves that he mainly uses, Charmeleon would have a super effective move in Dig while taking normal damage going even as well with Ivysaur, and Lastly Wartortle would go even as well taking double damage but also learning how to use Dig would put you on more even terms. So far when it comes to who is at the most advantage it is still pretty even ground of 2 to 1 Â for Blastoise and Venusaur to Charizard.
Erika comes next and this is where things get a little bit trickier. TMS are now a more important detail in that you can now if able buy or get some TMS that are most important to your playthrough. For this we have to keep in mind that the rules do no go against teaching your pokemon new moves via TM. Firstly you will go less than even against Erika when it comes to Ivysaur in that in general you do not learn any moves that allow you to have an advantage against any of her pokemon. Even Tangela goes even as it learns Ingrain to combat your Poison Powder. Charmeleon here is the clear winner of who has the advantage against this gym leader. Seeing as it learns Ember. It might not be the strongest move but it gives the clear advantage and seeing as in general they don't really have super effective moves you win this fight. Wartortle can go even with Ice Beam. This makes Charizard at an even 2 for everyone to have who would have the most advantage against gyms.
Koga is next and has the clear advantage over Venusaur. Venusaur does not learn moves that allows it to combat fairly any of his pokemon. Charizard is the same way except with dig against his Muk. Lastly the same is true for Blastoise who does not also learn anything except Dig to fight Muk. To be fair though most of Kogas team use the Defense stat as their main defensive stat and those are the ones who are able to stop you from using Dig on them with Levitate. This would put Charizard and Blastoise as a clear cut winner compared to Venusaur who does not learn any super effective moves. The points now follow as such with everyone having 2 points for clear advantage against gyms as having a better stat distribution does not make you a clear winner.
Sabrina Has the clear victory in that each of her pokemon learn a psychic move which defeats your venusaur. Charizard only defeats one of them with his fire moves and Blastoise has the clear victory with Bite and Dig to combat her Venomoth. This would give you the distinct advantage against her gym with Blastoise who now has 3-2 advantage.
Blaine comes next and Blastoise as well as Charizard both resist his fire moves while also having moves to deal massive damage. 4-2 advantage of Charizard and Blastoise over Venusaur.
Lastly is Giovanni with his rock and ground moves give him an advantage over charizard while Venusaur goes even against the types who are poison as well as ground who can go even with his poison type. Blastoise is the only one who has a clear cut advantage over them making in the end by this count 5-4-2 Blastoise, Charizard, Venusaur.
Many people would argue the ability to heal or items but we have to make it that those things are not your pokemon so much as your bank account fighting. Secondly an easier way to look at fights is this. Venusaur learns a total of 4 damaging move types because Sludge Bomb is post game. Ground, fighting, normal, and grass. Out of all of these you will most likely not be putting Rock Smash on your pokemon as it makes 0 sense and other pokemon would learn it and Rock Smash is relatively a garbage move for fighting. So grass and normal moves are the things you would use in Strength and Razor Leaf or Giga Drain. Charizard learns a total of Fire, Fighting, Steel, Ground, Dragon. You would not get Dragon Claw until the E4 . Leaving Flamethrower, Iron Claw, and Wing Attack or Aerial Ace or Fly, and Brick Break. Blastoise would have Water, Dark, Fighting, Ground, Ice. You could fairly state that in general You would have Surf, Brick break, Ice Beam. Lastly you would most likely throw Earthquake on them if it was your only pokemon on your team as Earthquake would be helpful depending on the starter you chose. Venusaur and Blastoise would not need it as Charizard resists ground 100% while Arcanine would take damage from it and it would be best to throw it on charizard as well for other reasons.
When it comes to the Elite 4 we have to remember that their teams are not just one type like they say they are. Each one has a pokemon on their team that has nothing to do with their type. The idea here is to do the same thing as last time and see who would have the clear advantage over one trainer. Venusaur loses against lorelei as much as it has some advantage not every pokemon it fights is weak to grass moves while it is weak to ice moves. Charizard loses as much as venusaur in that even though it deals normal damage to some it also loses to all of them except Jynx who is the only real ice type while everything else has water moves. Blastoise is the only one who can go either even of with an advantage in that it has moves that cant be resisted as well as a dark move to deal with the two psychic types on their team.
Bruno Goes even with everyone as he has some rock moves, and no one has real advantage move wise against everything so in the end it is relatively a fair fight.
Agatha has a clear advantage with Venusaur as her pokemon resist him and in general he doesn't have anything special to deal with them. Charizard goes even while Blastoise has a ground, ice and dark move to go against them while not being defeated by their moves. This makes Blastoise a clear winner. Blastoise 1-0.
Lance Is at an advantage against Venusaur as he learns multiple moves that hurt grass types and pokemon who resist his moves. Charizard doesn't fair much better with pokemon that resist his moves and lastly in general Blastoise is the only one who has a super effective move on all but one single pokemon while not having any weakness they exploit. This makes Blastoise an almost perfect fight against them. But sadly, that Gyarados fights against it.
The champion has the most diverse team in the game to fight against. He will always have a water, grass and fire type that changes depending on your starter choice and the main thing to remember is if you can again go even with moves against a pokemon on his team.
Venusaur fights and goes even with Rhydon, as well as Gyarados, and Exeggutor. Losing only to his other 3 pokemon in Charizard, Alakazam, and Pidgeot.
Charizard defeats Rhydon, Arcanine and Exeggutor with moves like Earthquake as well as Flamethrower and goes even with Alakazam and Pidgeot while losing to Blastoise.
Blastoise has the best fight in that he has 4 moves that give him pretty even coverage to everything. You have Bite to fight Alakazam, You have Ice Beam for Venusaur and Pidgeot and even Gyarados and lastly you can outright beat Arcanine and Rhydon with Surf.
This makes Blastoise out of the starters the best against the E4 and Champ.
Lets Take it even one step further and just assume Super effective moves let you outright win a fight against an enemy with some over leveling but not to level 100. A good amount is up to about 10 levels more than an enemy. This is a decent amount to give as some people (myself included since I wanna win) will do. In this we can look at all the moves given to each and say that in the end Blastoise is the only one with a real advantage in that he in general will be a pokemon who can outright defeat almost any enemy with a super effective move he can learn. What with Water moves to Brock, Dark to Misty, Ground to Surge, Ice to Erika, Ground to Koga, Dark/Ground to sabrina, Water to Blaine, Water to Giovanni, Dark to Lorelei, Water to Bruno, Dark/Ice/Ground to Agatha, Ice to Lance, and lastly, Ice, Dark, Water to Blue. Blastoise has way too many advnatageous matches in super effective moves that allow him to pull ahead of each main battle.
No other starter does as much as Blastoise does when it comes to being super effective. If we take roles into account blastoise has enough damage output with move choices as well as being able to get defensive moves to do the same as Venusaur. It learns Toxic as well as things like Rest and Double Team to make it hard for them to actually defeat him if he throws out Surf and Ice Beam. Charizard is just easier to beat if he goes the defensive route because he is not bulky enough to really take advantage of it. Venusaur is more of a defensive pokemon in general but can be offensive if need be. In the end Blastoise is the only one who can comfortably switch roles with no real issue. This would be my argument in general for using just a Blastoise only but the main thing to remember is you can alwasy fill your team with multiple members even if they are all water. Remember. It isn't specifically the type your pokemon is compared to the entirety of what it can do and what it fully has to offer. Stats, moves, abilities, stat distribution, typing, move set learning. Many things make up the importance or usability of your pokemon. Some people would assume replacing your starter would be the best idea. Let's look in general at the pokemon who could replace your starters.
One of the arguments I've faced when it comes to "replacing" a pokemon was that nothing compares to Venusaur but many things compare to Blastoise to which I would argue is an ignorant point to make. Let's talk about some hard facts when it comes to a nuzlocke. Before Brock in general you have some pokemon who can help out. Now sure, some of them might just end up dying before they can get in but thats chances we have to take. Sometimes a sacrifice is necessary and a completely horrible thing to do but 1 vs all is a fair thought to have. If this pokemon dies here i can save the rest and even this run. That's a thought everyone who has made a run has had ever. Let's be honest though. Saying there are no pokemon before Brock that can't fight as good as a starter is kind of wrong to say. Firstly you have Butterfree, Beedrill, Mankey. Now in general Beedrill is the worst of those three, but with enough growls and poison you should have no real issue fighting his rock move. Now, that is if for example Brock has no full heals. I believe in general he uses a potion or two but no full heals. Secondly even so, Butterfree and Mankey are pretty good solutions to Brock. See many people forget that even though he can throw a huge boulder, his pokemon kind of can't tank special attack hits making Butterfree a beast to fight with since it has a respectable special attack and learns Confusion. This is important to remember as special attacks are pretty much what really wins even more than than X4 damage from water and grass moves. Physical grass moves and water moves would probably hit that boy but not as hard as a special move does in general. That's why even with the resistance to fire you can still do some damage with even Ember. Mankey also in general just learns fighting moves that allows you to deal a decent chunk of damage while also resisting rock moves. Before misty you can catch magikarp, paras, zubat, clefairy, ekans, oddish/bellsprout. Magikarp who can evolve into gyarados who learns bite and is specially defensive, paras who is part grass and can tank some hits with his typing, zubat who learns bite who can damage them easier, clefairy who is specially defensive, ekans who has alright special defense and can learn bite, and oddish and bellsprout who are grass types with grass moves. Next you have surges gym which pokemon you can get before it are as follows of sandshrew, drowzee, diglett/dugtrio, nidoking/queen, and also the dig tm. Sandshrew, diglett, king/queen are all ground type and pretty much can defeat any of surges pokes and drowzee has a high special defense that he can straight up tank surges hits. The dig tm can be placed on things like raticate, arbok and so on. Lastly for erikas gym we have, well, we have a very large amount, theres like so many past and current route pokemon like flying types, psychic types, fire types, and so on. The list is diverse enough that by erikas gym you have a pokemon who in general can fight erikas pokemon and don't need your starter to do anything. From there you can collect and make sure you know what is basically going to be the main parts of your team for the rest of the game. Eevee is available, you can get a lapras and so many other things might pop up as well as even one of the Hitmons. Either way saying starters couldnt possibly be replaced compared to other pokemon is kind of a strange way to look at things from my view point. One of the arguments I heard was specifically that Bulbasaur is just too good compared to others of its type that you couldn't possibly do a fair trade while you can fair trade off Blastoise in general. Firstly, before getting into that I would like to again, say that you can in general not have a type on your team and team diversity is a small detail people get caught on. Personally I've had Blastoise, Lapras, and even Gyarados on my team and everything worked out fine. That's because middle to late game is where final team building is at its utmost importance. By the team you get to the end needing to have a grass type on your team or even a fire or water type isn't as important as figuring out what's best out of all your choices. You don't need a water pokemon who can surf if any pokemon that can use surf can fight evenly against Blaine. With that being said let's look at the pokemon who would be "replacing" anything because that is the next form of argument.
Venusaur - If we look at venusaur and what it has we need to look at what it mostly does as a whole. Venusaur is a defensive tank more than anything else. It has a somewhat shallow movepool diversity wise in that it learns 5 types, 1 of which suck and two of which are in general just tm's no one wants on their starters. Those moves being cut, strength, and rock smash. Strength in general is one of the only tms in the game that is worth using besides surf which is just strong in general and goes directly on anything that can learn it unless they have such low special it wouldnt matter. Like rhydon can learn surf, but why would you teach it surf? Point being that the main moves you can learn as Venusaur that are offensive that are really worth a damn in a nuzlocke are razor leaf, strength, giga drain, earthquake, sludge bomb. 2 I believe are late game in that earthquake is from giovanni, and sludge bomb is post game and a nuzlocke really ends when you beat the champ so you're not gonna need or get that move at all. So your 3-4 main moves are mostly razor leaf/giga drain, strength, earthquake. But I wouldn't throw earthquake on venusaur unless he was the only one on my list of possible team members who would learn it because venusaurs main strength lies in his tech moves and defensive stuff. This means your best moves lie in having sleep and poison powder/toxic, leech seed, synthesis/rest, double team, and maybe protect. Point is in offensive stats venusaur isnt really worth it as much as his stats show he can do damage because his best stuff is in things like poison powder, leech seed giga drain for more health and then outlast the enemy. Venusaur is a "thinking mans" pokemon which is great for fighting stuff no doubt but defense doesnt always win you a fight. If something comes along that can knock you out before you can outlast and whittle an opponent down the fight is mostly lose and we all know grass is one of the worst typings in the game being weak to most of the things you're gonna fight. Let's look at the other pokemon to show if they can "replace" venusaur.
Vileplume - If we look at vileplumes stat distribution and compare it to venusaurs roughly the same stat levels in everything but speed but since we're not looking to compare an offensive pokemon to an offensive pokemon and more leaning towards a defensive build like venusaur would we could take into account that the speed doesn't really matter too much in the end. With the leaf stone being what you need to evolve into this bad boy you could have him sooner than venusaur in your Locke if you for some reason had a stone, but since you get it around erikas gym lets assume they would evolve around the same level. Move pool isnt that much different except you don't learn strength or rock smash which isn't really a big loss. Moves are however a little more in favor of Vileplume in that it can learn petal dance while venusaur cannot. So if you wanted more offense you can do that instead of having to wait for or set up solar beams. (I personally don't use them but to each their own man.) You have acid, giga drain but again we're not looking for a super offensive pokemon in this 1 to 1 trade. Vileplume learns everything that venusaur learns except leech seed. But Vileplume learns stun spore which allows for an equal amount of trade off. Say you need to switch out but want to cripple them with lower speed for a pokemon to fight theirs. You can tank a hit, paralyze them, and then switch out. They now have that paralyzation for the match. Better than leech seed in some instances. Vileplume is almost literally a fair enough trade off to venusaur. They have the same typing, almost the same stat ratio, and to be 100% fair, its base stats are only so much lower, because of the speed loss. Theyre both pretty much even except by 5 points. Is 5 points too big a difference? No. 5 isn't that big and shouldnt sway anyone to choose venusaur because of it.
Parasect - This is one of the worst pokemon to have in any nuzlocke. Parasect sucks man. It really does. It is supposed to be offensively strong but there are some pokemon just stronger than it. Here is a quick list of pokemon who are generally better than parasect. Everyone. There, that is the list. Parasect has one move. Spore. That is its strong point and if sleep is good AFTER you tank a strong hit than fucking run 6 parasect. Tangent aside Parasect offers nothing besides spore and slash. Sure it can get dig and aerial ace but why would you teach it those moves when any other pokemon are better at attacking things like spearow, sandslash, arbok, dugtrio, and so many other pokemon who also outspeed this bad boys 30 base speed.
Victreebel - Even though we can't compare them both on a defensive stance Victreebel is literally the opposite in that offensively it is much better than venusaur. It might not learn strength like venusaur can but it does learn slam which is a comparable move power wise, while it deals equally as much damage. Now if we did compare them defensively Victreebel would indeed lose which I concede that point but in general they can both do the same offensively in growth, and special attacks such as razor leaf. Now in general Victreebel is kind of not that good compared to others, but in general it is good enough when it comes to being offensive compared to almost all the other grass. It comes in 4th and if you would rather have oddish in your party over bellsprout than the answer is simple. Play the game that has oddish in it.
Exeggutor - This is what I would say is equal to the other two best grass pokemon but I would compare them as apples and oranges. Both great but not for the same reasons. It learns strength, psychic, giga drain, stomp, and egg bomb. If you want it defensive it can learn all of what venusaur learns and stun spore as well as reflect, it can tank as well as be a power house. Is it slower? Yeah but if you're worried about speed just teach something sunny day and this bad boy will most likely outspeed things and take them on. As a 1 to 1 comparison it can't be dont but to say this isnt equal in value is what I would say in a word, wrong. Because venusaur is defensive compared to the offensive power of exeggutor.
Tangela - Do you want a tanky pokemon who can take hits and dish out some sweet sweet damage? Well look more further cause tangela isnt it! Jokes aside tangela isn't THAT bad but boy is it not that good either. Yeah it can tank physical hits but dies to anything special so even though it wont take double damage to psychic moves its gonna eat shit to all special moves in general. So it would tank against almost all the things that kill it (fire being the only special thing) but why would you purposely tank those moves anyway? Sure, in some scenarios its sometimes best to trade out something and let it die to let something better live but having a tangela on your team for that purpose feels, you know, kinda dumb. Positives? It can learn everything every other defensive pokemon learns except it also learns to dig into the ground and refuse to leave until it dies. You know, ingrain. Point im making is yeah this is fine, but it doesn't compare to anything and shouldn't be tried to be defended to take anythings place. Not a horrible pokemon, but certainly not good enough to take a first place spot. This is filler if there was anything it could be.
So the pokemon who are comparable to venusaur are exeggutor and vileplume. One of which is right before the second gym and also has multiple chances to be gotten in general. There are 3 grass types total who in general have the same level of use and that's a fair trade off compared to the lack of actual grass types compared to water types. Fire has it a little different in that it has even less options. Let's face it, Most of these pokemon as "fine" as they are only maybe 2-3 tops TOPS are even worth considering as one of the fire types to use in general but in the end I'd almost always give it up to the boy zard.
Charizard - Speed and damage are pretty much what you would get from big ol tubs the dragon. Charizard has a fair move set in that he can learn  a powerful fire move that is pretty much its strongest asset. Sure it can learn dragon claw but having a move set trying to be diverse isn't really the pull of someone like Charizard as you want to go in hard and go in fast. So having a tool box of moves isn't as important as hitting with the thing that will deal the most damage and if that is stopped use your second choice. This means throw out Lizard. Flamethrower. Repeat. If First move cannot be used than the best bet is to in general smack it with dragon move to deal damage. If that doesn't work than why use Zard?
Ninetails - The problem with Ninetails is that outside of meta it is not that good. It is equally as frail physically as other pokemon but it has a high special defense. The thing is it's a speed attacker who works like Charizard in that it wants to hit fast and hard but because its second main stat is special defense it doesn't hit like you want it to, and the only real move it learns is Flamethrower. Skipping Vulpix on your team also allows you to fill something else on the team to just have a Flamethrower slapped onto it that can perform special attacks and deal a ton of damage.
Arcanine - Even though it has a shallow move pool it is probably as good as or better than Charizard. In general you can still skip it but you have such high attack stats that even if you didn't just flamethrower things you could always just extreme speed them for a but ton of damage as well as priority. Iron tail allows you to fight rock types as well as ice that aren't resistant to it with water typing, you know, if you forget that in general that you can melt ice.
Rapidash - The only thing this pokemon has is that it can learn Solarbeam. That's about it. And if I didn't think Ninetails was a good replacement for Zard than I wouldn't think this is either.
Magmar - See, as strong as it generally is and how it can learn Thunderpunch which in this gen is amazing to have since it is a special attack and not a physical it sucks that you can't have it since that is an egg move. Here is the thing. Magmar just isn't that good compared to something like say Arcanine or even Charizard. Just no need to replace him unless you NEED Flamethrower using pokemon and Zard dies.
Flareon - Most people would assume I would say Flareon sucks but quite the opposite in fact. It has a large special attack even if it is lower than Zards and others but it has a huge physical attack in general. Which works for its more diverse move pool than the other two. You can learn a ghost move which is physical as well as ground, steel, and even dark type moves. Heck if you really want there is even a poison move. That's not the end of it. You also have a pretty decent special defense so you can tank some hits as well. The real issue is it is the worst of the 3 Eeveelutions in the game and most people would in general rather have one of the other two instead of Flareon.
When it comes to fire pokemon in general the 3 best ones in the game are Charizard and Arcanine and lastly Flareon. Now let's look at blastoise and see what compares to it and if you think this was alot to read and digest you have more since there are 16 of these water boys in the game and even though so many are later in the game we gotta compare them all since that's what we're doing here. Comparing every thing that could replace blastoise that is water type.
Blastoise - This bad boy is a tank who can dish out and take all kinds of damage and I mean all kinds of damage. Let's look at blastoise and see what hes got under the hood. Besides surf which comes on all water pokemon as if they were airbags on a car, we have bite, skull bash, rock smash, dive, focus punch, water pulse, toxic, ice beam, blizzard, iron tail, earthquake, dig, brick break, double team, rest, strength. All of which are pretty much viable moves on this bastard cause he has relatively equal offensive stats. He's almost as fast as a venusaur by 2 points and in general more tanky in pure stats but not in healing moves. Because blastoise, doesn't have anything other than rest which is fine because guess who has a pokeflute? You do. See as much as blastoise has so many other things it has to contest with, before even looking I can say it's going to outright be better than most of them with only 3-4 maybe tops by sheer volume being equal to it. Instead of going through and looking at them in order by number, we can look at the stuff that no one cares about first (nothing against faves, I mostly mean in stats, these pokemon are good and I like them but if seaking was good it wouldn't be in this dudes mod for the worst pokemon in the game as would most of these other pokemon.)
Kabutops - Let's be honest. It's alright. Its not the worst, but it's not really that good. Sure it has slash, and some speed, and it has rock moves and water moves grass ground flying and so on that it has diverse move pools but 1: It takes forever to grind out, and 2: It is slightly frail and the moves it does learn don't work on it well. Now sure The 2 gyms it will be good against as well as the elite 4 with some of the things you will fight you might have an upper hand but nothing that blastoise or something else in the better stuff can handle.
Omastar - Actually worse than kabutops in some ways except of how much of a wall it is in comparison. That being said it falls into the same categories because in general it has a worse move pool and just doesn't have anything special.
Seaking - Fuck yeah, seaking. AS much as I love this pokemon. It is hot garbage, Sure it can learn a grass and flying move. Sure it can learn water and ice moves. and yeah it's got ok stats but thats it. It's ok. It's not good and doesn't compare.
Seadra - This feels like a tangela in that it can tank a hit and deal a hit but only if that hit is not special. The thing is as much as it is fast and learns dragon dance it just also has nothing to offer compared to blastoise.
Golduck - Golduck is cool and all and can do a ton of things in that it has stats like blastoise does but it's just weaker and not a 1 to 1 comparison.
Kingler - Sure it has an amazingly high attack stat and yeah that is great but it lacks in move set areas where it is needed. If it could learn earthquake or maybe arial ace than sure, I'd rate this guy higher but in general he just isn't that good for a nuzlocke. Other play throughs sure. He is a good choice but his lack of moce set make it an issue to try and use him.
So here is where I'll start the good stuff to have and see if they can compare to blastoise.
Poliwrath - I'm gonna say it now. This dude is probably under rated. I wouldn't know as I have never used one in a nuzlocke but knowing its move set, and what it can do and its stats this bad boy is great to have in that he is just so good. Except the reason I haven't gotten one is I never get one. He is a little hard to get in general so as good as he is, he can't really be compared. It is better offensively in damage but not as good defensively.
Tentacruel - Easy to get but when it comes to a 1 to 1 in what they can do blastoise is well rounded while tentacruel is much more defensive. Sure it is easy to get as the Zubat of the sea which means that it doesn't die to sabrina but in general I think blastoise is gonna have to take this one. If built more defensive blastoise can easily fill the same role as tentacruel in that they can both poison a pokemon and set up healing and such. In the end as good as tentacruel is blastoise is still just better.
Dewgong - This is just like tentacruel in that as good as it is as a defensive pokemon, blastoise can do the exact same thing.
Cloyster - This is one of those amazing walls that if you can get it, use this bad boy. However, It loses to special attackers in that it just can't take this hits. It has one thing over blastoise while blastoise has several things over it. The defense stat is off the chart and sure with enough switching around you can make sure to mitigate most damage but in the end it isn't a 1 to 1 comparison like with venusaur and vileplume.
Vaporeon - A great pokemon with bulk and damage and even speed. Sure it might not have the greatest attack stat in the game or even compared to other water types but it has decent defense and hits the major move needed later in the game with ice. There are better choices than this in general and it only slightly falls short compared to blastoise in some areas but its bulk puts it up there.
These are the final ones who I think are even with blastoise.
Slowbro - You can only get this in leaf green but man if you can get it, put this bad boy onto your team cause the only thing it can't do is outspeed your enemy. you got psychic, surf, strength, water pulse, ice beam, toxic, iron tail, earthquake, psychic, shadow ball, brick break, flame thrower, fire blast, double team, rest, amnesia, curse, and yawn. Jesus man this is one of the best pokemon in the game when it comes to a nuzlocke it's like you're playing pokemon or something cause man your game is now easy. This isn't even a comparison in that this pokemon is so good that you can tank the hit, and proceed to flip them off and the game will see it and feel bad. It's also, psychic type. So it's the best type in the game.
Starmie - Man this bad boy is so good. I don't know how many times I'm gonna have to tell you these pokemon are good because in general the rest here are just that good. So let's drop that part and just say what they can all do from now on. Starmie can heal, it can do thunderbolts, ice beams, psychic, surf. It attacks hard and fast. You want an offensive pokemon? This is it.
Lapras - It tanks and hits hard with pretty much more diverse moves as well as being pretty much equal to blastoise. The only reason this is "better" is because of its typing and the fact it learns thunderbolt. But in the end they're pretty even.
Gyarados - Last but not least is gyarados. It's not as tanky as blastoise in some areas but what it lacks it makes up for in offense. It learns pretty much all the same stuff but only lacks in that it is "harder to raise". Which isn't a bad thing? The point is this is a great pokemon and is pretty much just as good as blastoise.
Looking at this large list of just water pokemon and trying to find a list of things to replace in general is one of those things that is easy to do but I have to stress that replacing your starter seems like a faulty idea to have in that in general they have great stats and decent move pools when compared to most other things. The other thing to remember is that grass types are some of the worst pokemon in the entire games types and even here you don't have much advantage trying to replace pokemon 1 for 1 in type specifically when you can per se' just throw moves onto a pokemon who can lose them. For example fire isn't needed in general but if you wanted one why not teach your Gyarados Flamethrower? Do you NEED to have a Fire type? That's a faulty way of thinking when it comes to team creation. It locks you into a team and how you construct them. Sure it would be good to have a good replacement for when a team member in general falls but to say you need to replace the one with another is just a foolish idea in and of itself.
Look, i get it. As someone who has had this argument a couple of times now with friends and random people on the internet and have now for some crazy reason made a large written reasoning why Blastoise is the best starter specifically in the generation 1 remakes that I get it. I love pokemon and I love nuzlockes in general because of how fun they are and can be. I also have nostalgia for certain pokemon in general. Heck, my favorite pokemon isn't even that good and most of my favorites are just bad in general but when we look at how good something is we can't just look at one angle and express that it's this specific reason and thus for all reasons this pokemon is the best. Blastoise out performs all other starters in Kanto. It also out performs most other pokemon in general in a nuzlocke scenario. It has some of the best moves any one can use and it also has great stats. Typing is not important compared to if your pokemon is able to not die. Again this also comes down to rules set up by the person playing the nuzlocke. Remember, the main 3 rules are as follows. Name it, First encounter only, and If it faints it is gone forever. With those in mind, not knowing what we can get and only being able to choose our starters, Squirtle is the best choice to make.
