I've been looking at the Starter Pokémon article and I'm starting to question whether the Ranger series should be covered there. By our definiton, a Starter Pokémon is the first Pokémon a trainer receives at the start of their quest and the one used to battle until they can catch some more Pokémon by themself. Now, Mystery Dungeon and Rumble fit this mold well enough, as do examples from the anime and manga. Obtaining Pokémon in the Ranger series is another matter.
Partner Pokémon aren't a necessity since you only really need the styler to capture Pokémon and can get through the early sections of the game without any assistance. In fact, you have to go through the capturing process to get your partners in the first place and they aren't even the first Pokémon you get in the sequels. Let's look at the specifics:
Pokémon Ranger - Plusle/Minun is the ONLY Pokémon you get to keep. It's the first Pokémon you capture but you don't get to keep it until after catching Taillow and a few others in the tutorial mission.
Shadows of Almia - This is closer to the mold since you choose one of three and later collect more partners. But you don't get your first Partner until after the first boss encounter. The first Pokémon you capture is Pikachu and you capture plenty of standard Friend Pokémon in the early school section.
Locus of Light - In the present, Pichu is the only Pokémon you can keep again. But you can't take it with you when you go to the past. You do collect more partners there and start out with Piplup. So is Pichu a Starter? Is the Piplup you get later a Starter? Again, you capture a Pidgey before Pichu and then Pichu wanders off while you capture some Friend Pokémon...
We have a Partner Pokémon article anyway. Do they really count as starters too?
Partner Pokémon aren't a necessity since you only really need the styler to capture Pokémon and can get through the early sections of the game without any assistance. In fact, you have to go through the capturing process to get your partners in the first place and they aren't even the first Pokémon you get in the sequels. Let's look at the specifics:
Pokémon Ranger - Plusle/Minun is the ONLY Pokémon you get to keep. It's the first Pokémon you capture but you don't get to keep it until after catching Taillow and a few others in the tutorial mission.
Shadows of Almia - This is closer to the mold since you choose one of three and later collect more partners. But you don't get your first Partner until after the first boss encounter. The first Pokémon you capture is Pikachu and you capture plenty of standard Friend Pokémon in the early school section.
Locus of Light - In the present, Pichu is the only Pokémon you can keep again. But you can't take it with you when you go to the past. You do collect more partners there and start out with Piplup. So is Pichu a Starter? Is the Piplup you get later a Starter? Again, you capture a Pidgey before Pichu and then Pichu wanders off while you capture some Friend Pokémon...
We have a Partner Pokémon article anyway. Do they really count as starters too?