Best starter?

First of all, let's look at each of their traits. Let's start with Turtwig. As a Torterra, he has good attack and defense. His only weakness is Ice, and with a good Rock attack, he's able to take down all his weaknesses. However, he has horrible speed, and the opponent will most likely attack, first. With a good attack, they opponent can take Torterra down pretty instantly; especially if they attack with a Special Attack. This is a good Pokemon for beginners. Now, let's move on to Chimchar. As an Infernape, he has good attack, special attack, and speed. He can learn moves that can take down almost all his weaknesses, except for Water. Although he has good speed, he has has horrible defense and special defense. So almost any hit that lands on him will take off some serious damage. This Pokemon is more than likely to be used by advanced trainers. And finally, Piplup. As an Empoleon, he has good special attack and special defense. However, he also has horrible speed, and probably won't be the first to attack. On the bright side, he's not really weak to anything besides fighting and electric attacks. He can also learn Ice Beam; a nice attack for any water pokemon. This Pokemon is more or less neutral; a bit hard to learn attacks to take down his weaknesses, but not as hard to take down. Now, it's your decision. I told you the basic advantages and disadvantages to each one; now, you make your decision and choose whatever you prefer.

I do not know anything about that. I chose Chimchar because he is fast, and built for speed, and still have good attacks. Here is how it works.

Piplup= attack
Turtwig= defense.
Chimchar= speed.

That is their best stat, so you can just go bye that, if you like attacking, and have offensive strategies, then choose piplup. If you tend to think that the best offense is a good defense, then choose Turtwig. But, if you think that you can blaze through battles, then choose Chimchar.

Well there isn't much of a difference, but yeah, I think one levels up a little bit faster than the other two, but they all have advantages over the other two. For example, one might be more dominant than the other two in attack, while another might be more dominant in defense, and the last one might be the fastest. There really isn't one thats better than the othe two, it pretty much just depends on your taste, and how you raise them.

--Gamez_Freak--

Piplup is the best starter pokemon. If you take a look at all of the starters final evolution they have a different type. But with piplup, he can also learn the flying type moves drill peck and peck. Also, your rival would have chosen turtwig so his final evolution is a ground type, so water would be regularly effective. They all have at least on stat better then your rivals, but grass type moves don't hurt steel so that grass is only regularly effective on empoleon who is piplups final evolution. But if you are only worried about stats I can't help you. You can also use protein and iron and stuff if you want to specialize in a stat.

I personally love Piplup! He's a little slow, but eventually you will find a Quick Claw for him to hold and he goes first everytime! Your rival would then choose the turtwig Pokemon or whatever, and he's really hard to beat, but all you have to do is catch a Ponyta and it doesn't have a chance!
- Squirrels_r_Cool!

That is their best stat, so you can just go bye that, if you like attacking, and have offensive strategies, then choose piplup. If you tend to think that the best offense is a good defense, then choose Turtwig. But, if you think that you can blaze through battles, then choose Chimchar.

PIPLUP!!!!! He is the best my Piplup is awesome as an Empoleon! After Piplup choose Turtwig because as a Torterra it has Earthquake and Absorb. Lastly, pick Chimchar, Chimchar is so-so it's not the best.

Hey I'm going to agree with everybody on this I really would have a piplup one it's attack is good being water it's deffense is great being steel type so speed dosent matter like some one said a quick claw is great also I would recomend

DRILL PECK
HYDROP PUMP
Whrill pool (or aqua jet)
METAL CLAW these moves will woop grass types trust me on this I've done this before also if you don't want drill peck whirll metal claw or aqua jet just have surf water fall and dive if you whant but those moves are better and just have a biebarel have those moves!

Infernape has the best speed attack and sp attack. It is the best sweeper because like you hit the opponent HARD 90% of the time and it usually gets one hit KO'd and you win.

Torterra is like slow but physical ( Attack and Defense ) .So if like you need a physical Pokemon then bingo, you got it.But the best thing by far is that it is a good GRASS type Pokemon .They are really hard to get for the elite four espicially bertha's Quagsire and cynthia's Gastrodon.

I believe the best is Piplup. If you think about it, the first gym he dominates with even just Bubble, a weak water move. The next gym, you need to train a bit for, or (in my case) get a starly and level it up in eterna Forest. For the third, Marlene, if you continue to train, I got my Empoleon to level 52 by the time I fought Marlene, so Empoleon had learned Drill Peck, and I destroyed. Next, Wake. I just got an electric Pokemon to like level 25 (thank you poke-daycare center), so I just put a Shinx in and went up and down the path that went straight through Solaceon City on my bike (you can use any straight, long path, but I suggest a place with no grass). Next comes the creepy european ghost lady. I got Empoleon to level 55 and just one-hit KO'd all of the trainer Pokemon with Metal Claw and Drill Peck, and I only took damage from Aftermath (Drifloon and Drifblim has that special ability, and there are about 4 drifloons, 1 drifblim, and the leader has a drifblim). Finally comes my favorite part; Canalave City. Now, TEACH EMPOLEON SURF! Then, go to Iron Island and train with the guy that has a Lucario. Jusr search for wild Pokemon and use Surf (it'll hurt Lucario, but the guy heals you after every battle). I got my empoleon to about level 65+ by doing this (I did this multiple times, and got it to level 72 once). Then, take on the gym leader. Mainly the steel types are part ground or rock (perfect examples are Steelix and Bastiodon) so just use water moves. Next, of course, is Snowpoint. The gym is ice, so Metal would be smart, but also they use the ice and grass Pokemon that you find on the way over to snowpoint. So, use Drill peck and Metal Claw (unless you used a TM to replace Metal Claw). Next, of course, is finding Dialga/Palkia in the mountain. And after that, head over to Sunnyshore. This, I just sort of winged it. Catch a wiscash, quagsire, or other ground type Pokemon, since, as you should know, electric doesn't affect ground. Then, after you beat the leader and get through Victory Road, comes the Elite Four (and Cynthia, that lady you keep seeing everywhere). Prepare by buying plenty of full restores, Max Potions, and Revives, and check to see if yo need to look up where to find Ethers and Elixers, just in case. Now, the Elite Four with Empoleon is fun! First, Aaron is Bug type. YOU HAVE DRILL PECK! Bam. Done. Moving on. Next is Bertha with ground. Have fun with Water moves, or if you want, teach Empoleon Ice Beam! Fun, right?! Now, beat her. Good? Good. Moving on. Now, next is Flint, who uses Fire (this is the guy you met at Sunnyshore). Again, destroy him with water moves. Now, if you used up water moves to the point of depletion, then you should use an ether or Max Ether. Now comes the last 2; Lucian and Cynthia. Now, for Lucian who uses psychic. The way I did this was use surf for all of them except for Medicham which I used Drill Peck. Lastly is Cynthia, the champ! I'll go 1 Pokemon at a time. First is Spiritomb; Now, it's Ghost and Dark. I just used Surf. Next is Garchomp; It's Dragon, so THIS is why I told you to teach Empoleon Ice beam. Use it. It has potential to one-hit KO. Next is Gastrodon; I don't care what you do, but I just use Surf. It's basically my fall-back attack. Next is Milotic. Here's the tough part. If you kept training that electric or grass Pokemon, better bring it to the elite 4 and use it here. Or just use Drill Peck until it is KO'd. Next is Roserade. I use Drill Peck or Ice Beam. Either way is good. Lastly is Lucario. I just use Surf.
That's it! Now, I want you to know my Empoleon Moveset.
Surf (15 PP)
Metal Claw (35 PP) or Steel Wing (25 PP)
Ice Beam (10 PP)
Drill Peck (20 PP)
Also, if you want, you can collect PP Ups throughout the game and up moves' PP amounts. I used PP Ups on Surf.And if you decide you don't want to have one of these moves, then make your own decisions. My decisions might not be the best. But remember, training when you have those guests (like in Eterna Forest, Iron Island, or Wayward Cave) is usually a very good idea.
Now, go and dominate!

I picked Piplup and I beat every single gym with it so by the time I got to the Elite Four my Piplup was lvl 93. I had 2 other party Pokemon, a Bidoof lvl 4 that I caught at the start of the game(I use it to carry my HMs), and a Gengar lvl 68. I just love Gengar so I added it to my party. Long story short, pick the Piplup for ownage, Turtwig for beginners, and with Chimchar, don't even think about it because it's just a rip-off of Blaziken.

So basically what everyone who promoted Piplup is saying is that for a beginner, like you, piplup is the best choice as it makes the game EASY. But if you were an experienced player and maybe wanted a little bit of a challenge then you might go ahead and take turtwig. And then for those advanced players who want a challenging play through instead of walking all over everyone go ahead and choose the Pokemon that requires you build a good team around it and grow it in strength as the game is designed for! Chimchar. Or if you are stuck on fire Pokemon ever since you got your first charmander in Pokemon blue when it first came out and loved it like me you can just choose chimchar for that reason too.

I would choose chimchar it make it easier because fire is super effective against most of the gym leader

Personally, I would choose Chimchar because besides Ponyta, he is the only fire Pokemon in the game. He has great speed and powerful fire moves. He can take out his weaknesses, quite a few gym leaders, and the Bug Type guy in the Elite Four.

They all are great chose who you want.I chose to get all three chimchar as my bigginer,empolion got
Traded over to me,and tortera on my peral:]

Chimchar=1st
Piplup=2nd
Turtwig=Bad

Chimchar is the bestest!

The thing I like about the Diamond/Pearl starters is that the final evolutions learn moves that cover the weakness from your rival's starter. Infernape learns Close Combat which can easily KO Empoleon due to it's steel type, & is faster than Empoleon so it will most likely hit first. Empoleon can learn Ice Beam which is 4x effective against Torterra. Torterra can learn Earthquake to take out Infernape, but is the slowest of the three starters, so it probably will not hit first, however he does have high defense, so if leveled up enough it might be able to take a hit from Infernape to get an Earthquake off. Simply put, Infernape has high attack & speed, but low defense. Empoleon has good Special Attack & Special Defense & good resistance against many types. Torterra has high attack & defense, but low speed. If you pick Infernape I highly recommend getting a strong grass & dark type because you will need them for the Elite 4 since two of them use Ground & Psychic types which Infernape is weak too. If you choose Empoleon Id recommend getting a Gyarados, or ground type to counter Flint in the Elite 4, especially his Infernape. Torterra will not be good against Aaron or Flint in the Elite 4, so Id recommend getting a Rapidash & a Gyardos for those battles, but will dominate Bertha & can do pretty good against Lucian. The champion uses a variety of types so no starter is the best or worst against her. Be careful when using Empoleon against her Garchomp since it is part ground which is super effective against Empoleon's steel type.

The best starter is a matter of opinion

The best starter is chimchar