Which Pokémon Region has the Best Early Game Makeup?

Each Pokémon region has its own unique attributes, but I think can all agree if they don't grab you in the early game it'll hard to enjoy anything past that, especially if there are almost no Pokémon to use. So let's rank all the early routes on how well they handle their composition of Pokémon; and there might be more then you think!

[_-Bane-_Main]

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

[AverageEggmonEnthusiast]

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.

[PrisonHoney]

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.

[nintendolife]

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

[harold]

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

[brandonm]

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

[hessiankyojin]

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

[skyfysh]

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

[Ferril]

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.

[MercuryA]

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.

[MGTRR]

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.

[CaptainJack]

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.

[jessedellross]

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

[ThePipofDespair]

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

[michaelnelson]

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.

[thundermcqueen]

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

[infiniteaditya]

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

[Billy-otmk]

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.

[CowboyPrestige]

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

[ChaosBuckaroo]

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.