I particularly appreciate when early routes have a really unique rare spawn, like the Riolu in BW2 or Bagon in SM. Something to reward players dedicated enough to find them and change up the usual party members. In Sinnoh, it’s usually some combination of Starter, Starly, Shinx, Machop, and Budew

I really love how the Alola games have grass in some of the cities because it’s the closest we’ve had to Pokémon truly being everywhere like the anime. And logically, feral Pokémon would be in the cities and parks so it makes sense. I know some indoor locations across the various games have encounters but those are usually ruins or abandoned spaces.

Being able to catch a level 10 Salamence is freaking insane.

Alola having such a hugely diverse range of Pokémon available so early on makes sense when you think about it. Tropical regions tend to have more biodiversity, so therefore more species of Pokémon. Not sure if this was intentional by developers, but if so, nice touch.

The Pokémon you encounter in the first few routes can really impact my impression on a new region. Probably a significant factor why ended up really liking Kalos. Great combination of cute and strong new and old Pokémon

Shroomish can also be found in Petalburg woods in hoenn, thus also giving you a solid team member. You’re even given an incentive they are there

You forgot something at number 6: You can fish next to the profs house to get magikarp and arrokuda.

11:44 Don't forget about Shroomish there, which is arguably the best one in that selection.

Johto will always have a special place in my heart. You feel the culture and identity of the region very early on and it just grows from there. Unova is a good one too

I absolutely agree that USUM has the best early route options. I think I read you can potentially have a Pokemon of every type before leaving the first island.

Glad I’m not the only one who spent 3 hours in that first area of Legends Arceus, I was just filling out the dex challenges the whole time, and it took me a while to find an Eevee, I didn’t know they were there at the time.

That schoolyard Zorua/Zoroark from my Ultra Sun help turned the Ultra Necrozma battle into a joke iykyk.

It really says something about Galar’s early options when by the end of my first playthrough, I had 3 of them on my final team with another one in reserve.

The Pokémon you can get early in USUM are amazing. I love how diverse overall the Alola dex is. I played Ultra Sun three times and used different 6 Pokémon each time. The team building potential is so fun in these game, unlike some others where your options can be limited.

I was honestly surprised at how low paldea is. When I started the game I was just hucking balls at everything and anything and I was in awe at the fact that I had like 20 dex slots filled before I even finished the TUTORIAL! Even if you follow my rule of new Pokemon only, I was still already making team decisions by the time I got to school because there's just so many Pokemon in the little slice of land.

Despite B/W having the fewest early options, Herdier does end up being in my opinion the best early route Normal pokemon.

Don't forget Houndour, Diglett and Yungoos in the cavern on Poco Path!

To me it has to be Alola. You can have your team done by the first island. Galar is also great with this as well.

Surskit only has a 1% encounter rate in the Hoenn Route 102 grass. That’s lower than Ralts. Even though Surskit/Masquerain isn’t that good in Hoenn, it always felt so special because I knew how rare it was at that point in the game.

This is why Alola is still my favorite region. It's just so expansive.

Yellow version is part of the reason I loved the mankey line. Being a kid i was always into using attacking moves and never bothered with stat moves. So in pokemon Red, I struggled because I refused to choose anything other than Charmander. Mankey was a game changer for Brock. That original Primeape episode also greatly helped lmao

This reminds me of the great difficulty balance Alola had, they gave you many tools for the adventure yet they weren't easy games.

If you were to include the Wild Area, it would expand upon Galar's options immensely. You go there before Motostoke, and there's tons of Pokemon to find that aren't too strong to catch.

You can also fish on Route 2, adding a Magikarp and Arrokuda in Galar. Which would give you a Gyarados before gym 1.

I do think the "route 1" options of hisui are insane and diverse too. imagine if they make a Route 1 where every single type even dragon is available?

3:48 I honestly didn’t know this between giving the player an early grass Pokémon and allowing Venonat to spawn earlier let’s go really fixed a lot of problems the Kanto region has when it comes to encounters and where they spawn

6:22 It's not padding the numbers, it's called giving player different options. Want a normal type but doesn't like ratatta ? Okay, here's zigzagoon, bidoof, pidgey and whatever. Also, it makes random encounters less grading. Encountering pidgey and rattata 100 times gets annoying much faster than encountering multiple other pokemon at an equivalent frequency

Your videos have inspired me to play Pokémon again. The nostalgia has gotten to me so I’m happy to say I bought a DS lite and 2 emulator cartridges that include all of the DS lite and GBA Pokémon games + random other games.

Alola was the best region for early route Pokémon in my opinion. You can literally get Pikachu, Bagon, Zorua, Munchlax, Smoochum, and the Kanto and Johto starters before you even start the first trial. Most of these Pokémon are usually found/gifted in the mid to late game or even post game in other titles.

This is an awesome video concept! Looking forward to see if a future video will cover the early game options (before the third gym)

In SM/USUM, you can catch Makuhita before the first trial, and during the trial you have access to Brick Break TM that help alot against the Totem. Especially in Moon/UM that 4x super effective Brick Break would make short work of Totem Alolan Raticate.

I dont wanna be THAT guy but You CAN get headbutt before badge 2, its incredibly unlikely someone would put up with the grind needed, but you can

emporer cubone: "hmm, i'm not sure we should count route 22 for kalos with great encounters like riolu, litleo and psyduck, so kalos should be no. 9" also emporer cubone: "ok so i know they come after reaching jubilife but let's just count route 204, the ravaged path and the old rod, sinnoh should be no. 7" feels like you're doing kalos a little dirty

Not that it changes ratings, but Paldea also requires you to go through a cave with Diglett and Yungoos.

Another Tuesday, another great video by EmperorCubone

Sapphire was the game that got me into gaming at all, so it made me so happy to see Hoenn so high up

Pokemon Red and Blue you can also find Pikachu in Viridian Forest. It's a 5% encounter rate, but already starts off knowing thunderstruck. Useless against Brock's Ground type Pokemon sure, but pays off when you go up against Misty in the very next town.

I would count the early routes as anything before the first gym in the first six generations, the first trial in Alola, before the Wild Area in Galar, and before the bridge in Hisui. Haven’t played Scarlet and Violet, so no comment on Paldea.

Shroomish in petalburg forest too - breloom is a beast

USUM's Melemele is the goat it literally has mons for ALL 18 TYPES available before Hala. Need a Ghost Type? Ghastly, Drifloon. Need a Steel Type? Magnemite, Mawile. Need a Fighting Type? Hawlucha. Dragon? Noibat, SALAMENCE. Ice? Smoochum, Delibird. You literally have options for any type. USUM Melemele Island is the GOAT.

Excellent video bro

"affectionately refered as rodents" is cute. as a "Early Normal Types" (or Early Normals) terminology enjoyer, I do back your wording, my Emperor.

I love the Hoenn early mons, many of them always make it through my full playthroughs! Theyre all so charming! :)

So excited to see the gen 7 love :) my favourite games for sure

I think you undersold Paldea. I'd consider any area you can legally reach before you get your mount pokemon to count as the early route. It's like 50 different pokemon.

I think you put paldea too low, everything from start to the nemona battle in front of mesagoza feels lush with not only options, but interesting options

Happy that My 3 favorite regions made the top 5 being Hoenn for nostalgia, Alola cause it was the first region I got my shiny charm and Paldea cause I love the route Pokémon is taking the franchise! I also do love Legends so honorable mention to it! 😊

For paldea you can also find a lv5 gimmighoul on the ledge by the light house too!

Alola will forever be my favorite Region. The Region that got me back into Pokémon after a 2 generation hiatus. If I got Isekaied to the Pokémon world, Alola is where I would want to go.

I love Ledyba and Spinarak and I have a phobia of spiders..but Lechonk won my heart and I kept Oinkologne for a fair bit. ( Redone )

These videos are the best

In sm/usum, you exclude the pokemon you need tauros to get, but you include the SOS pokemon, which are unlocked after the first trial.

I always love the first run out in a new game too, building up your starter and adding new Pokémon to your team 😃

Sinnoh definitely. The first few areas before the first gym, even just the first route, this place has some great Pokemon that will take you through to the end of the game. Hoenn and Alola too come close. And the fact that Kalos has so much variety is a good thing.

I personally like having a lot of different pokemon in the early routes. Having a lot of different team options to choose from is always something I enjoy

i love alola, it will always have a special place in my heart since it was the first mainline pokemon game i played

LEVEL FREAKING 10 SALAMENCE! the only fully evolved pseudo legendary in Pokémon’s history

USUM also has the option of the island scan that can include starters from other regions which further bolsters it’s lineup

I'd put Kalos above Sinnoh personally, primarily for the variety of Pokemon you can get. While yes, there are a lot of Normal types in the early routes of Kalos, you're likely to have a different team each playthrough. I can't say the same for Sinnoh.

finally a vid about early game pokemon

For the hoenn region, you can catch shroomish in the forest,marill and also abra outside the cave

I feel like an old man. I was 8 years old when Red/Blue hit the US. Nothing so satisfying as teaching my sons to play the game.

I would’ve gone up to the first gym/trial. That would make paldea and galea the best options due to the wild area and the huge open world

for sake of fairness i would have included encounters possible before the first gym, rather than the first major town as that can be fairly subjective

What an interesting topic 😊

I feel like early game should encompass every route you can access before fighting the first gym leader. not just up to the first major city. although maybe for galar and paldea, the first major city should be their limit. for galar, the first gym is turfield so i think everything before motostoke is up for grabs. Actually maybe the wild area should be excluded too. in paldea’s case, you can choose the first gym you take on and its so open ended where you can go so that’s just unfair for the other regions, yeah everything before you can access before entering mesagoza excluding glitches.

Zorua or/and Inky being found early is the game going 'you'll need this later'. Considering you are going to get trucked by the Nuzlock Killer.

I think the way you discussed the redundancy in the beginning of gen 6 is off the mark. (But I like the video!) I think the reason there are so many of the same kinds of Pokemon is intentional. They are suggesting in a way, for you to catch a Bug and a Normal type to fill out your team early, however they are giving you a choice of several of that type, all of whom have different evolutionary paths and final design styles. Although Vivillon/Butterfree are pretty much identical, you might say its a choice for older players to be able to not use the regional bug, or you could say it's a chance for new players to see an old regional bug. Either way I actually think redundancy in an early route leads to better design than an abundance of types. It gives more control over the players experience at each milestone/roadblock which can lead to great things.

Its good to be a usum fan. Its actually my favorite mainline games

starting fauna is also y fave congrats on having taste

I had a cool thought for a video that's right up your alley. Top 10 Pokemon that should be in every region. And the 10 that should not (discluding legendary, regional forms, and mythical and convergent pokemon)

This video just reminded me of how much I used to love SOS shiny hunting in early-route USUM just for the vast array of options!

At some point I will catch that lvl 10 Salamence. I think it's hilarious

3:19 and pikachu in the forest. When was little I found one in that forest. It was blue or red version

I will definitely argue that Paldea should be higher on the list. On my first playthrough in Violet, the day after release, I was able to collect over 50 unique species (although this may include a few early evolutions, I don’t remember) BEFORE I even visited the academy. I had absolutely NO issue finding a fun, diverse team very early, even with my rule of only using new Pokémon/forms for my first playthrough of a new region. I even found a team member that I wasn’t expecting to be as amazing as it was, a Paldean Wooper, later Clodsire, that stayed on my team for nearly the entirety of my playthrough.

You forgot to say how early Unova is actually worse then you think because cut and by extension Munna is blocked off by the first gym battle, it’s crazy how fun those games are for how limited they can be

10:44 you can also catch Pokemon while walking in the Cave with Lizard. So that Diglett and Yongoose

4:34 very small correction: if you level up a pokemon that learns it naturally you can actually get it and use it on the field before then. Dont think any pokemon before the first gym learn it though so in the end it does not matter

Shroomish: sir, you miss something here.

LOA, SW & SV greatly improved the routes. Im the type of person to ditch my starter and I never regret it😂

amazing. the protags are indeed main characters

You forget that houndour, yungoos and diglet can spawn extremely rarely at poco path mostly because they glitch out of inlet grotto on the path which i found out because i got a shiny diglet before arvens first battle xD

Not going to lie Hoenn was my first & One of my all-time favorite regions but I did not expect it to be so high on the list

Casey (Synchro), Eevee, Otachi (Pickup), Zigzaguma (Pickup), and Ralts (Synchro) are the best early Pokémon that can be featured in any Pokémon game.

A. Grimer my beloved in gen7 amazing typing, moveset, solid ability and can come with black sludge

"I don't think we've ever seen Ghost types before the first gym" *laughs in Shedinja*

For me personally it's hoen, i played most of the games excluding legend of arceus and then gen 4 remakes and out of all the generations i would say it's emerald and ORAS in particular. You can find 2 possibly 3 solid team members in the early routes being, shroomish, ralts and slakoth, then right after that you can grab a makuhita right before the second gym and then you'll find another valuable team member before the third gym being electrike, those 5 pokémon are really good for a hoen run and the fact that you can catch them early in the game makes it easier for them to level up and you can use all of them in your team though i wouldn't recommend using both hariyama and breloom cuz you'll have a typing overlap, oh and how can i forget freaking zubat is available before the second gym, crowbat is specially good specifically in ORAS cuz the fairy types were introduced, and those pokémon that i mentioned fits well with any of the 3 starters with the exception of breloom (i love my breloom okay! My favorite hoen starter is mudkip so i always use breloom over hariyama😭😭) with that being said you've pretty much got a 5 pokémon team before the 3rd gym.

In SV, can't you also get Diglett and Houndour, or do we bot have balls at that time? You also forgot to mention the Bagon in USUM, but seeing as you mentioned it's SoS partner, I'll give it a pass.

Would like to see what the best in game team of 6 you can make before the first gym in every game. So all the routes you enter before getting your first badge. This team would not include your starter. Early gens you wouldn’t have much choice but would have more in newer gens. My say would be crystal where you can get Crobat, Arcanine, Poliwrath, Gengar, Victreebel & Golem

In Hoenn remakss Poochyena can even learn Fire fang at an early level

In Paldea, if you have a deathwish, you can also get murdered by a lv50 Tera Leafeon just outside Los Platos too, right at the start

I remember finding phanpy early on in crystal very rewarding

The fact that Shroomish didn't get a mention in the Hoenn section is a crime

"Magikarp is on the table." Mmm, delicious.

Galar is my favorite off the top of my head cause I found most of my final team in the first 2 routes

Dubwool was in my first playthrough of Sword's champion team

Ok but have you tried Super Luck Unfezant (with air cutter) ?

I love the digimon reference 😊

Regarding Paldea, you can catch pokémon inside the cave with the houndour, at the top of my head I remember Diglett and Yungoos, but I'm certain I caught even more

in unova of the first black and white, you can get audino after beat the first gym too.