Due to the many great Pokemon games that have released over the years, Pokemon Black & White are often overlooked by series fans; as too are their three starter Pokemon. Granted, they may not quite measure up to some of the other great starters, but there’s still an awful lot to love about Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott.
From their creative designs to their unique movesets, each one brings something different to the table. What’s more, there are plenty of interesting facts about the trio that help to provide a bit of extra depth to the Pokemon while also making them that little bit more memorable in the process.
10 They Were Officially Unveiled In A Japanese Magazine
The first glimpse that fans were given of the Unova starter Pokemon came in May 2010 during an episode of the weekly Japanese television show, Pokemon Sunday. Rather than giving them a clear image, however, the show’s producers opted for a “Who’s that Pokemon?” style silhouette image instead. Thankfully though, fans would not have to wait too much longer to get a proper look at them.
Their official unveiling came less than one month later, with an image of the trio appearing in the June issue of CoroCoro. This wasn’t the first time that the popular Japanese magazine had revealed new Pokemon, nor was it the last either, with the publication later unveiling some of the new Pokemon from Pokemon Sun & Moon.
9 Snivy Was Nicknamed ‘Smugleaf’ By Fans Of The Series
It’s not uncommon for fans to create nicknames and other such terms to describe elements of the Pokemon series. What is a little unusual, however, is for those terms to be picked up by official Nintendo sources. The most famous example of this is undoubtedly the term “Eeveelutions,” although Snivy’s “Smugleaf” nickname is perhaps a close second.
After an article discussing the moniker appeared on the video game website Kotaku, the name went on to be used in an issue of Official Nintendo Magazine in Australia and New Zealand. Shortly afterwards, the name showed up in the UK version of the magazine as well which helped to spread it to a much wider audience.
8 Tepig Once Had Its Own Signature Move
Not all starter Pokemon have signature moves and that’s once again the case with the Unova trio. Tepig was once one of the lucky few, although, like many of the others, eventually saw its move shared around with other Pokemon in future generations Pokemon games.
At the time of Pokemon Black & White‘s release, Tepig, Pignite and Emboar were the only three Pokemon capable of learning the fire-type move, Heat Crash. When gen 8 rolled around, however, the move was assigned its own TR and was also added to the learnsets of the RolyColy evolutionary line.
7 Oshawott Will Be One Of The Starter Pokemon In Pokemon Legends: Arceus
The idea of an open world Pokemon game is an interesting one and promises to bring with it some big changes to the series. One thing that won’t be changing, however, is the tradition of starting the game with a choice between three different Pokemon; one of which will be Oshawott.
How exactly Game Freak settled on the starters for Pokemon Legends: Arceus isn’t exactly clear, but Oshawott seems set to make a return as the game’s water-type starter Pokemon. Joining it will be gen 2’s Cyndaquil and the Grass Quill Pokemon Rowlet from the seventh generation games.
6 Their Base Stat Totals Are Some Of The Lowest For Starter Pokemon
Starter Pokemon have never been the strongest Pokemon in their respective games, but are usually a little above average to help give players a bit of an edge during the early stages of the game. That all went out of the window in Pokemon Black & White, however, with the Unova trio’s stats being some of the lowest of the series’s many starters.
To this date, Oshawott and Snivy’s base stat totals are lower than all of the grass and water-type starters to have featured in Pokemon games. Tepig, isn’t much better either, with Fenekin the only fire-type starter with a lower base stat total. Things do improve quite a bit once they evolve, although this does little to help players who are just starting out their journeys.
5 Snivy’s Pokedex Placement Is A Little Unusual
Traditionally, the grass-type starter has always been listed first in their respective regional Pokedexes, but while Snivy is listed as #001 in the Unova dex, it’s not actually the first Pokemon to feature in it. That honor goes to Victini, who remains the only Pokemon to have ever been given the #000 position in a regional Pokedex.
The reason for this switch supposedly came down to Victini being the games’ director Junichi Masuda’s favorite gen 5 Pokemon. As a result of this ordering, Snivy is also the only grass-type starter Pokemon not to appear in the first slot of its region’s section of the National dex.
4 Tepig Is Based On A Type Of British Pig
Tepig’s design is based on the British Saddleback piglet, although designer Ken Sugimori has suggested that the Pokemon was also designed to have a Chinese appearance. This has led many to believe that its design may have been partially inspired by a pig demon known as Zhu Bajie from the Chinese novel, Journey to the West. If so, it would not be the first Pokemon inspired by Asian mythology.
Despite Sugimori’s comments though, he is not actually the one responsible for Tepig’s design. The credit for that belongs to Korean designer and TCG illustrator, Lee HyunJung. Tepig, Pignite and Emboar make up three of the four Pokemon that Lee has designed, with the other one being the gen 6 digging Pokemon, Bunnelby.
3 Oshawott Appears In A Different Egg Group Than The Rest Of The Water-Type Starters
Traditionally, all fire and water-type starter have belonged to the Field and Water 1 Egg Groups respectively. There have been two exceptions to this though, one of which is Oshawott. Rather than appearing in the Water 1 group, the Sea Otter Pokemon instead belongs to the Field group. For those wondering, the other is Charmander, who features in both the Monster and Dragon groups rather than Field.
Although many of the earlier grass-type starters followed a similar pattern (usually belonging to one or both of the Grass or Monster Egg Groups), the grass-type starters from both the gen 6 and gen 7 games weren’t placed in either. Normal service was resumed in gen 8 though, with Grookey being a member of the Grass Egg Group.
2 Their Experience Yield Was Lower Than Any Other Starter Pokemon
The base experience yield for starter Pokemon has always been 62. In Pokemon Black & White, however, it was less than half of that amount. All three of the gen 5 starters had a base yield of just 28. For the most part, this had very little impact on a typical playthrough, but the change did serve one very important purpose.
Due to the lower experience yield, players were unable to level up their starter during the first battle with Bianca; thus ensuring that they did not have a level advantage for the battle with Cheren shortly after. The yield was changed in the games’ sequels, with developers raising it to 62 in order to bring it in line with the rest of the series’ starters.
1 Tepig Was Once The Lightest Heavy Slam User In The Series
Much like Heat Crash, the damage dealt by the move Heavy Slam is tied not only to the weight of its user, but also the weight of the opposing Pokemon. Depending on the difference, it can either be devastatingly powerful or incredibly lackluster. Given that Tepig weighs less than 10KG, it generally ends up being the latter.
There was a period of time, in fact, where Tepig was actually the lightest Pokemon with access to Heavy Slam, although it has since been overtaken by Flapple. Thankfully for Tepig fans, the move does become pretty useful later on once the Pokemon has fully evolved, with Emboar’s 150KG weight making it a far more effective user.
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