16 Pokemon Starters And Their Star Athlete Equivalents

Pokemon starters and star athletes: they have more in common than you may think. It's always been fun to compare athletes to successful people in other fields, but strangely, no one has made that jump to do it with Pokemon.

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Several attempts at that very activity were made in the entries below, looking at a Pokemon's physical makeup, stats, design concept, and/or notable Pokedex entries with the intent of finding a matching athlete. There might be better matches than others, with some starters having distinct design inspirations that relate directly to a certain sport, some matching the specific skills of a certain athlete, and some just having the same color scheme as a certain sports team. Either way, making these comparisons was fun, and hopefully, you see the connections hinted at between these Pokemon-to-athlete pairings.

Updated December 3, 2022, by Kyle Laurel: The Paldean starters have just been introduced, and all three of their final evolutions strongly resemble star athletes! Here's an updated list giving some love to Meowscarada, Skeledirge, and Quaquaval.

16 Chesnaught: Gilbert Brown

Chesnaught may be more explicitly inspired by the warrior class in role-playing games, but it just looks like a football player. To be specific, its design, Pokedex entries, and high 122 Defense have the makings for a great defensive tackle. One of those Pokedex entries, fittingly enough, says that its Tackle could flip over a 50-ton tank. All things considered, the all-time great Green Bay Packer, Gilbert Brown, fits best.

To match Chesnaught’s bulk, Brown was one of the biggest players of his day, peaking at a whopping 355 pounds. Brown’s defensive capabilities on the gridiron were just as comparable, as he led a Packers defensive unit that allowed just 19 touchdowns in 1996.

15 Empoleon: Ron Francis

With Empoleon being based on a penguin, there’s one obvious connection to make: the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s a welcome coincidence that most ice hockey players are French-Canadian, with Empoleon being inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte, the notorious French emperor.

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All the above attributes and Empoleon's all-around competitive capabilities could lead you to Ron Francis, the Ontarian center most known for his time with the Penguins. While he wasn’t the superstar his teammate Mario Lemieux was, he was still an elite two-way forward, winning the 1994-95 Selke trophy, leading the NHL in assists twice, and doing all the little things that helped the Penguins win two Stanley Cups.

14 Meowscarada: Simone Biles

Generation Nine's Grass-type starter is a perfect blend of beauty, as seen in its heavily flower-inspired design, and physical prowess, as seen in its high Attack and Speed. If there’s any sport that requires both in spades, it would probably be gymnastics. Besides, accessible moves like Acrobatics, Trailblaze, and Aerial Ace probably indicate athleticism and flexibility fit for a gymnast.

What better gymnast to compare to Meowscarada than one of the most accomplished gymnasts of their generation? Not only has Simone Biles won a ton of medals, but the eye test shows she has incredible athletic abilities and gymnastic fundamentals. Not to mention, they are roughly the same height, with Biles being 4'8" and Meowscarada being 4'11".

13 Incineroar: Kane

Y’all knew Incineroar was gonna be a wrestler. To be specific, Incineroar’s whole design concept is based on the wrestling heel. History has seen many great heels, so most of them would match Incineroar pretty well. There is, of course, this one wrestling heel that – get this – had his entire gimmick based around fire for a while.

Kane is obviously more than his arsonist-from-hell gimmick, with multiple championships and records to his name. But this just makes so much sense. It’s not like Incineroar’s a slouch, either; it dominates VGC everywhere it goes. Kane also packed pretty good clotheslines himself to match Incineroar’s Darkest Lariat.

12 Swampert: Pete Alonso

Swampert would make a great baseball player. Those guns are great for swinging a bat, and those hands make a great makeshift glove. If you take its color scheme into account, a closer look at the Water/Ground-type’s stats shows it has an uncanny resemblance to the New York Mets’ star first baseman, Pete Alonso.

Alonso was one of the MLB’s best sluggers in 2022, leading the National League in runs batted in and landing pretty high up there for home runs, while Swampert’s best stat is its Attack at 110. Their relative weaknesses line up, too: Alonso is an about-average fielder and below-average baserunner, and Swampert has about-average defensive stats and below-average Speed.

11 Feraligatr: Emmitt Smith

Gator chomp! There’s a college sports team out there that fits perfectly with Feraligatr, being the University of Florida’s Gators. One Florida Gator that carved out a fantastic career for himself and fits decently with Feraligatr is Emmitt Smith, former running back for the Dallas Cowboys and all-time leader in rushing yards.

Smith was truly one of the best power backs of his time; he could run over even the most bruising defenses, and he didn’t necessarily do it with blinding quickness. Yeah, Feraligatr would make a superb power back. It was literally designed with shoulder pads, and it has the bulky body and relative Speed to make it work.

10 Cinderace: Eden Hazard

Here’s another obvious one: Cinderace is a soccer player. You could honestly pick some random English footballer, but a closer look shows a strong resemblance to Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard. Hazard isn’t English, but he was once the face of an elite English club, winning the Premier League a few times with Chelsea.

Their abilities are comparable, too. Hazard is a winger known for his pace and overall offensive prowess, and Cinderace boasts high Attack and Speed stats and a wide movepool. Cinderace also has a signature move called Court Change, which transfers over field effects like Stealth Rock and Spikes, also known as…entry hazards. As a little bonus, Cinderace rocks those Belgium colors pretty nicely.

9 Skeledirge: John McEnroe

Bear with us here; Skeledirge and tennis legend John McEnroe have more in common than what the naked eye sees. The more obvious thing to point out is John McEnroe’s infamously “fiery” on-court behavior; he’s probably thrown more tantrums than any current-day tennis player.

One thing, though, that really makes this comparison sing (no pun intended) is both parties putting their voices to good use. Skeledirge’s main quirk design-wise is the little bird on its nose that helps it with sound-based moves like its signature Torch Song. His loud on-court tirades aside, McEnroe’s used his voice regularly since retiring from tennis, both as lead singer for the Johnny Smyth Band and as one of tennis’s premier commentators.

8 Blaziken: Jon Jones

Blaziken, being one of the more multifaceted physical fighters of the starter bunch, would absolutely dominate any MMA promotion. Considering the specifics, though, Blaziken arguably matches up best with Jon Jones, physical build and all.

Doping violations aside, Jones stands as one of the most feared and most popular fighters in the octagon, and that’s largely thanks to his kick repertoire, arguably the best in MMA history. Blaziken, of course, once had Blaze Kick as a signature move and is noted in the PokeDex as having strong legs great for executing kicks. Neither are absolute specialists, though. Jones is one of the most adaptable and creative strikers in the game, and Blaziken packs a wide movepool and near-equal Attack (120) and Special Attack (110).

7 Infernape: Naoya Inoue

To continue the connection between Fire/Fighting-type starters and combat sports, Infernape has Iron Fist as a hidden ability and multiple punching moves in its repertoire, so it pairs best with a boxer. Infernape isn’t quite a bantamweight, going a few pounds over the official range, but it still pairs well enough with the Japanese bantamweight phenom, Naoya Inoue.

Inoue is easily the most notable in his division for his explosive knockout punching, which Infernape can easily stand up to. But like Infernape, Inoue also has as wide a punching repertoire as you’d want. His body shots, uppercuts, hooks, and straights pack equal amounts of power. He can execute all those punches with lightning quickness, too, not unlike the 108 Speed Infernape executing a Mach Punch.