I’ve bounced around on who my favourite Pokemon starter is my whole life. It’s not even like I constantly change to the newest ones; I don’t like any of the Unova three, for example, while none of the Sinnoh three would eclipse my favourites from earlier on – although Monferno does get credit for being one of the few Pokemon ever, starter or no, to peak in the middle evolution. I still couldn’t tell you who my favourite Kanto starter is. I mean, it’s Bulbasaur, right? But Blastoise is great, probably better than Venusaur. But then Charmander is cute, and Charizard has both the best shiny and the best Mega. Except I’m bored of Charizard being in everything, and despite Charizard’s great battles in the anime, there’s an unshakable underdog spirit to Bulbasaur. After playing Pokemon Unite though, I’m convinced I’ve figured out the answer – my favourite starter is Scorbunny.
Scorbunny is part of the most recent trio of starters, debuting in Sword & Shield’s Galar alongside Sobble and Grookey, but this is not recency bias in action. When it comes to Pokemon starters, the opposite is usually true – both Kanto and Johto’s starters were perfect, and so every subsequent Pokemon gets compared to those and usually falls short because of the nostalgia bias. Popplio is brilliant, but it’s no Totodile, is it?
Related: Why Pokemon Unite Is So Important For The Series' FutureTypically, Scorbunny isn’t the type of Pokemon I'd go for. I don't mean that literally – Fennekin, Litten, Cyndaquil, and of course, Charmander are amongst my favourite starters. But single type starters always feel like a little bit of a waste, and humanoid Pokemon in general are creepy. It's because of these things, and because Galar felt like a missed opportunity and failed to explore my home city despite its British inspiration, that I had consigned Scorbunny to the 'close, but no cigar' realm of Pokemon starters, unable to depose whichever of the original six I preferred on any given day. Pokemon Unite has changed that.
It's not like I hated Scorbunny before Unite. It was my pick for Pokemon Shield, and little Raheem (named for Sterling) took Galar by storm. Even as I built my dual type team, Scorbunny – and eventually Cinderace – was the exception. Pyro Ball, Cinderace's signature move, is my favourite Pokemon ability ever. It's through this, and my Cinderace's name, that you might be able to figure out why I love them so much.
Cinderace is known as the Striker Pokemon, and is modelled off a footballer, which makes sense for a game taking inspiration from Britain. I've written about football a lot at TheGamer, mostly about FIFA or PES (sorry, eFootball), but I've also wedged it into other articles from time to time – I even combined it with Pokemon, comparing every England Euro 2020 squad member to a Pokemon. Cinderace did not feature, for the record, with Sterling instead being assigned Gyarados for his impressive evolution in an England shirt post-Russia 2018.
It makes sense then that Cinderace would be the Pokemon for me, and Unite underlines that. While attacking players are always going to be my forte over more tactical defenders, I haven't played enough to have the tactics or optimum builds of anyone down yet. Having had some early success though, it's hard to imagine I won't be a Cinderace main moving forward.
Cinderace (and Scorbunny and Raboot) have a fiery football with them in Pokemon Unite, dribbling all over the battlefield like an on-fire Jadon Sancho – literally. It's such a charming use of the football motif that perfectly fits the carnage of Unite and suits Cinderace's moveset to a tee. Unite is narratively thin by its nature, but it understands the essence of what makes Pokemon so loveable, and Cinderace is the best example of that.
Next: Pour One Out For All Those Pokemon Doomed To Terrible Shinies
