Over Half of You Are Picking Totodile as your Pokémon Legends: Z-A Starter

At the time this piece was written, water-type Totodile had 56% of the vote, with 24% choosing grass-type Chikorita, and only 20%, one-fifth of our readers, picking fire-type Tepig — and we agree with the winner: Totodile is the best pick, stats-wise, with some caveats we go over in our Pokemon Legends: Z-A Best Starter Guide. Update: At 32K votes, Totodile remains locked at 56%, Chikorita at 25.3%, and Tepig at a tepid 18.7%).

This might not be a shock to anyone, though, as Totodile has long been a fan-favorite. Just look at the bitey boy! Chikorita and Tepig have historically gone less-loved, and Tepig in particular is an outlier in this trio as both Totodile and Chikorita hail from Johto, while Tepig was a starter in Pokémon Black, White, Black 2, and White 2.

That said, while I personally went with Chikorita (having picked Totodile in Generation 2 every single time and wanting a change-up), I gotta say, Tepig by far has the best final Mega Evolution of the three. All members of this trio get new Mega Evolutions in Z-A, and while I won’t spoil them here, Meganium’s was rather disappointing and Feraligatr’s just looks weird. Emboar though? Looking awesome.

Don’t overthink it though. All three starters are perfectly viable for the entirety of Z-A’s campaign, and it’s very easy to catch all three Pokémon for your PokeDex once you hit the endgame, so you won’t be missing out.

You can learn more about the starter Pokémon and their evolutions in our Wiki guide if you’re still on the fence. Then check out our in-progress Pokémon Legends: Z-A Walkthrough, plus our Side Missions List to make sure you don’t miss anything. We’ve also got a Pokémon Legends: Z-A Pokedex, and most importantly, a guide to All Clothing Stores and Clothing in Pokémon Legends: Z-A so you can catch ’em all in style. And my review-in-progress of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is now live, if you want to check out my impressions of the first 24 hours, with a full review coming next week.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.