>>57343253The issue with Johto's selection is that the Gen 2 Pokemon are uncommon and require game knowledge and some light backtracking to find, however its entirely possible to finish the 2nd gym and exit Ilex Forest with a team of
>Starter>Wooper/Mareep/Hoppip>Dunsparse>Heracross or Aipom>Togepi Egg / Primo Egg >some other shit like Gasly idkBecause nothing is kept from the player, just obfuscated by gameplay mechanics that require the player to interact with the world like Dunsparse being found in Rock Smash rocks or Heracross being found via Headbutt.
Gen 4 does not do this, instead the early game dex selection is
>Shinx>Starly>Bidoof>Kriketot>BudewAnd everything else that's available is genuinely just Gen 1 common dex filler people tend to avoid when starting a new game in a new generation. Let's break these down.
>Shinx/StarlyThe standard two because they're cool Pokemon and everyone jumps at getting an Electric Type.
>BidoofPrimo HM slave, but not a serious choice for your actual team.
>KriketotMorning only so easily missed, and route 1 bug so falls off before even the first gym.
>BudewBaby mon that will take ages to evolve and is also an auto skip for anyone who picked Grass.
This leaves exactly 2 options for the player with no real downsides, and you go through the entire route to Orebrough, the mines, the first rock smash cave and the route to Floraroma with ZERO new Sinnoh Pokemon, it's only until you get to Valley Windworks that you finally start seeing new shit.
The reason Generic Sinnoh Team is such a meme is because Sinnoh has zero fucking early game selection, the worst in the franchise, and any fun new Pokemon are only to be found much later in the game while the standard Shinx and Starly are locked in due to there being nothing better or even half as good.
