The persimmon-colored Pokémon Fuecoco is stocky, with pointed buckteeth in an open mouth. With tiny, possibly inflexible arms, it uses its stone-sized toes to bounce around Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, trying to devour charred fruit. What a dummy. But Fuecoco also leaks and breathes fire, which is both worrisome and a major reason why it's one of the more commonly recommended starters for new games.

This is for good reason - Fire Pokémon are hard to come by in the early game, and Fuecoco's strength, high HP, and defense can help you chew through your initial gym encounters straight away. But Scarlet and Violet also offer an open world and non-linear progression, so you might not care about zipping through the gym just yet. The pretty glossy mane of Quaxly the Duck in a wig (I think) might be calling out to you too. There is no need to resist. I'll help you choose the best of the three options Fuecoco, Quaxly, and Sprigatito.

Fuecoco

HP: 67

Attack: 45

Defense: 59

Special attack: 63

Special defense: 40

Speed: 36

Baby Fuecoco is resistant to bugs, steel, fire, grass, ice, and fairy-like attacks, and excels against Scarlet and Violet's two first gyms, Cortondo (bugs) and Artazon (grass). The cute cutie evolves into the fiery red, frowning crocodile Skeledirge, a fire/ghost type that makes it ultimately immune to battle and normal type Pokémon. It's strong from the start.

But because Scarlet and Violet let you jump between three story paths--your goal isn't just to step on the gym leader, but to take down Herba Mystica, who guards the Titan Pokémon, and teach bad boy Team Star who is Bosses (via actual boss fights) - Fuecoco is not universally dominant. Still, its strong HP and defense, the most powerful of the three Scarlet and Violet starters, protect it in the first titan battle you encounter, Stony Cliff, although Fuecoco is weak against its rocky Pokémon Klawf weak.

Quaxly

HP: 55

Attack: 65

Defense: 45

Special attack: 50

Special defense: 45

Speed: 50

The steel, fire, water and ice-resistant water type Quaxly transforms into a rather dashing bipedal Quaquaval, a water/combat type. It is very effective against fire, ground and rock-type attacks, making it the first choice for Stony Cliff fights, and it has more speed than Fuecoco and the best offense of all three starters.

Handsome Quaxly's strengths—meaty offense and super-efficiency—also make it ideal for anyone who wants to start the game exclusively collecting Fire, Ground, and Rock-type Pokémon, effectively rounding out your team and Protecting Quaxly's Achilles' heel.

Sprigatito

HP: 40

Attack: 61

Defense: 54

Special attack: 45

Special defense: 45

Speed: 65

Spry and well-rounded grass-type kitty Sprigatito turns into heavy-lidded Grass/Dark Meowscarada, which is immune to psychic attacks and resistant to darkness, electricity, grass, ground, ghosts, and water. You might have a hard time at first though, because this Eggshell Pokémon has the lowest initial HP and is weak to Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, Poison types, some of which unfortunately make up Scarlet and Violet's Open gym and fight with titans.

But Sprigatito is fast. If you utilize it correctly, along with its balanced offense, defense and Meowscarada's consistently accurate key-hit gimmick, the Sprigatito will help you win quick, clean fights.

How to get all the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet starters

Fuecoco will start your game with a bang, but all Scarlet and Violet starters have their merits, depending on your goals.

Scarlet and Violet starters will never appear in the wild and will no longer be available to you, but can be traded and hatched. So your options are to find two well-meaning friends or strangers to swap, play the system with multiple copies of your own game, or get lucky by laying some eggs with a female starter or pansexual Pokémon Ditto.

But even with standard individual starters, you don't have to worry too much about having "the best" or covering every one of your bases. Fuecoco is very strong in heads-up, but Scarlet and Violet have their own advantages and disadvantages in the first round, it depends on personal choice. Most trainers choose Sprigatito because it looks better. You can buy shiny Pokemon SV at https://www.pkmbuy.com/pokemon-sv/held-items