Every generation of Pokemon will provide players with different experiences, which ultimately will guide them towards the exciting end-game. However, before you get that far, it's important to think carefully about your decision from the very start and in Pokemon Sword & Shield, Scorbunny is your best bet. Battling gym leaders in the new Galar Region, much like every other Region in past generations, require you to have Pokemon that are a strong counter to that gym in order to win. Milo is the first gym leader that you encounter in Pokemon Sword & Shield, being a master of the grass-type Pokemon, a type which fire-types have a 4x effectiveness over. Scorbunny can blast his way through this gym relatively quickly, without having to rely on your other secondary Pokemon for assistance. Pair that with Scorbunny’s natural speed stats and you’re pretty much in and out within minutes.

Stats on a Pokemon can determine whether that said Pokemon can handle its own in battle, and can thrive in the long game once you’ve trained it to a high enough level. Scorbunny is the original evolved form, with Raboot and Cinderace being its second and final evolutions on its life tree. As you continue to level up through the game your stats continue to increase which ultimately allow you to determine just how much potential your Pokemon has. Once you’ve evolved Scorbunny all the way up to Cinderace it becomes an entirely new beast, with its speed stats being the most impactful, and strong attack power to back it up. With its Blaze ability, allowing for a 1.5x fire attack buff at ⅓ or less of its max HP, Cinderace becomes a massive threat when it’s leading the team. It can come in and score some serious damage, allowing for the rest of the team to play around its other weak points, a mediocre defense and Sp.Atk. So if you’re looking for a speedy fiery Pokemon who can dish out some critical hits with a complementary team to back it up, then Scorbunny is the way to go.

Back before Pokemon Sword & Shield released, the internet was going wild about the new starter Pokemon designs, and immediately we were enamored by Scorbunny’s look. For one, Scorbunny took on a different appeal, one that felt refreshing from past fire-type starters, and gave it a unique feel that we fell in love with immediately. You could tell right away that Scorbunny was going to be an incredibly swift Pokemon and perhaps hard to deal with if you didn’t have a counter to his speed. Once the game dropped and we finally had a chance to really dabble with the fiery bunny, we realized just how cool its overall design is, especially in its evolved forms Raboot and Cinderace. Scorbunny is like the small rambunctious child who just wants to go outdoors and explore with all of its heart, with Raboot conveying a more mature yet rebellious teenage version of the once wild child that it had been before. Cinderace shows a lot more maturity and takes on this role as a professional futsal player with fiery kicks and can likely outrun you on the pitch. Every evolution of Scorbunny is a direct reflection of childhood into adulthood, while still maintaining a playful demeanor.