>>48078037>>god awful mon distribution>Not fixed in Platinum.I think it was largely fixed. Take the lack of Sinnoh fire types.
In Platinum, if you don't choose Chimchar as you starter, you can always catch a Houndour at Valor Lakefront and evolve it into Houndoom or catch a Magmar at Fuego Ironworks and evolve it into Magmortar.
If you're playing Diamond and Pearl you're basically stuck with Ponyta until you get the national dex or trade in a fire Pokemon from a friend and breed it to have your OT so you won't have problems with obedience.
You can't even get the Eeveelutions till after the National Dex in DP. As far as I know Sinnoh is the only region that introduced new Eeveelutions in spite of Eevee not being found in its regional dex. I think Masuda's decision to limit the regional dex to 151 really hampered the Pokemon distribution of DP and the decision to expand the dex to 210 in Platinum was a welcome move.