11 Starter Pokemon That Need A Regional Form

Summary

• Starters like Sceptile, Blastoise, Torterra deserve new forms for a chance to shine.
• New Regional forms could breathe life into underappreciated starters like Chesnaught and Quaquaval.
• Potential for new forms like a Samurai-inspired Chesnaught or a sprinter Cinderace to enhance variety.

With every new Generation of Pokemon games, we receive a batch of brand-new Pokemon to partner up with for the journey. With so many of the Starters being some of the most beloved Pokemon of all-time, they get tons of love, including Mega Evolutions and Regional forms.

Regional forms are a brilliant way to breathe new life into old Pokemon. Giving them new types, remixed designs and changed stats, all thanks to the different environments and climates of other regions. No matter what, any Starter Pokemon will always have a dedicated group of fans and some of the less popular ones deserve another chance in the spotlight with a new form.

11

Sceptile

Not Enough Grass

Generation Three’s Starters all got wonderful Mega Evolutions in the Ruby & Sapphire remakes, but that still wasn’t enough to make poor Sceptile all that good. Sceptile is a pure Grass-type special attacker with a ton of Speed, who has an amazingly cool Grass/Dragon Mega form that left a lot to be desired. That is why Sceptile needs another, more permanent, form.

Only having the Grass-type leaves plenty of room for a creative form to bring Sceptile up to the standards of its Water and Fire counterparts. Many Pokedex entries mention its extremely sharp blades, meaning a future form could take this to extremes and give Sceptile a blade-like tail and sharper arms made of various metals to don the Steel-type when adapting to the Alola region.

10

Blastoise

Move Over Charizard

While Generation One gets more love than any other, there’s clearly a favorite Starter. We don’t even need to say who it is, and they will instantly pop into your head when thinking of an over-hyped Pokemon. We have all always hoped that the other two would get more attention at some point and, of course, what’s better than a Regional form?

Perhaps instead of the two water cannons, a new Unovan Blastoise could have a firefighter-inspired design with a hose made of ice, making it a Water/Ice type, allowing it to destroy its biggest rival, Charizard, with another typing that even counter any Grass-types.

9

Torterra

A New Season Means A New Form

Sinnoh is best known for giving new evolutions and forms to old Pokemon from previous Generations, but has barely any of its own. This also includes the Starters that got nothing, even in Legends Arceus, and this injustice is a huge reason for any of them to get a Regional form.

Being themed all around land and nature, it would be very easy to have a regional form for Torterra by just changing what environment or season it inhabits. For example, a spring-themed Torterra with a Sakura tree blooming on top of it from Johto would make for a great Grass/Fairy type, or a snow-coated one from Galar’s Crown Tundra being a Grass/Ice type.

8

Skeledirge

Singing A Different Song

One of the greatest modern Starters, Skeledirge has a whole host of creative inspirations from a variety of cultures. The one thing that we need to see more of in the future is its singing abilities, which are focused entirely on opera and mariachi in its Paldean form.

Perhaps a Regional Skeledirge from Galar could embrace another form of singing, such as the iconic heavy metal genre to become a Fire/Steel type just like the powerful Tera ex Card it has. This could be just like Galarian Zigzagoon and take a ton of inspiration from an iconic British band, such as Iron Maiden.

7

Quaquaval

Abandoning The Dancing

In Generation Nine, we got three Starters with final forms all inspired by various forms of entertainment. While two of these Starters were applauded for their performances, one has been mostly a supporting act for many trainers. The Quaxly line is one of the most under-appreciated Water Starters and a second chance should fix that.

Quaxly and Quaxwell both share a sailor theme that Quaquaval seems to abandon for the rhythm of the beat. Focusing back onto this with a Regional form from Galar would make it super easy to fit within the evolution line. Instead of becoming the Water/Fighting dancing sensation we know and love from Paldea, Quaquaval could become a captain or sargent of a ship, becoming a Water/Steel type with a blade to dance around foes.

6

Rillaboom

Rockin’ Out Even Harder

Generation Eight introduced three great Starters that unfortunately all felt underwhelming, mainly due to them being only Mono-type Pokemon. That’s where a Regional form needs to come in and save the day. Rillaboom specifically has seen a ton of usage in competitive and features a unique design that could easily be taken in another direction due to the many forms of drums and music genres that exist.

With a fresh style and decked-out drums made of stone, a Unovan Rillaboom could rock out even harder than before with the Rock-type to help it counter any Fire-type foes. With Unova being inspired by America and how much the country is known for its rock music, it would make Rillaboom fit perfectly with an even more rock-inspired form by bands such as Metallica and Guns N’ Roses.

5

Chesnaught

A Change Of Culture

Chesnaught may just be one of the least popular Starter Pokemon of all-time, but that gives it more reason than any other to receive another form. The Kalos form of Chesnaught is inspired by an armored knight and this is reflected in its heavy defensive stats and Grass/Fighting typing, but typical knights look quite different all across the globe.

One of the most fitting cultural knights would be to base a Johto or Sinnoh form of Chesnaught on the classic Japanese samurai to go along with Greninja’s Ninja theming. This would likely lead to it gaining the Ground or Rock type instead of Fighting, with it using one of its quills as a giant blade to become a slow physical attacker.

4

Incineroar

Can The Pokemon Universe Handle Two Of Them?

A competitive powerhouse since its introduction, Incineroar has become one of the most terrifying threats in the scene for its dominating Intimidate ability, wonderful attacking options and strong Fire/Dark typing. While Primarina may be more deserving of a regional form, a new Incineroar has a ton of potential both in design and in utility.

A new Unovan-inspired Incineroar form could easily be based around a different form of fighting, such as boxing, to make it into a Fighting-type and, of course, give it a new ability. With a shift over to a more bulk-focused stat pool, this could be a perfect chance to make a defense-lowering version of Intimidate. Whether this would be good for the competitive scene is a loaded question, but variety is never a bad thing.

3

Greninja

Embracing Japanese Heritage

Ash-Greninja was a surprising addition to Generation Seven and gave a glimpse into what another form of Greninja could be like, but since it has now been left in the past along with Ash himself, it’s about time your favorite water ninja got even more Japanese with a new form that lives in the eastern climates.

The most obvious and easy way they could create a new Greninja is to make it a shinobi warrior with a rough blade instead of its iconic water shurikens that hails from either Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn. In the 19th century, Japan and France were close partners, and so perhaps a future Legends title set in one of the regions could even turn Greninja into more of a fencing or musketeer type to reflect the history.

2

Cinderace

A Second Chance At Glory

Before Sword & Shield were released, many fans theorized that the Scorbunny line would end up being a Fire/Electric type with it being a very fast football player and a lot of suspiciously Electric-type colored yellow on its design. Unfortunately, though, Cinderace just ended up being a Mono-Fire-type Pokemon which was super disappointing for everyone.

One easy option is to make Cinderace into an Olympic sprinter. This potentially Greek-inspired form would allow it to finally obtain that Electric typing and focus on its Speed stat. It even already learns Baton Pass as an egg move, which fits this concept perfectly. We could also see it gaining Blaziken’s ability, Speed Boost, to further emphasize Speed beyond any other stat.

1

Serperior

A Changed Royal Monarch

As of Legends Z-A, Serperior is the only Generation Five Starter not to have any Regional form or Mega Evolution, despite its brilliantly classy design. Even with its heavily French-inspired design, it skipped out on Kalos twice. This is all the more reason for one of the best Grass-type Starters to get a Regional form and, since Serperior is a Mono-Grass type, the floodgates are wide open for potential.

We would love to see Serperior gain the Psychic-type and become a royal mastermind of strategic plotting, as with this type it can deal with its Fire rival, Emboar. Instead, it could also become a Poison-type to fit a corrupt ruler that reigns terror over many species, which fits its serpent origins.