Chikorita Needs More Love | Bulbagarden

Disclaimer: Long Post.

I, for one, really like Chikorita! Its appearance is easy on the eyes, it has a neat design and I really like its name. I remember first seeing it in the dub, when Ash met Casey. Shortly after, he caught his and I become fond of the little green Leaf Pokemon. Surely enough, it was my first choice as starter when I received Silver version and Meganium had the honor of being my first fully evolved starter Pokemon (couldn't evolve Pikachu in Yellow). I actually was considering raising one to partner with my Torchic in my current ORAS play through (but Treecko won out in the end since its regional and I had never raised one before unlike Chikorita).

As in regards to your questions:
1) I wouldn't say that Game Freak "has it out" for the Chikorita line. Instead, I think it is more of indifference. The generation of Chikorita has passed and it is no longer in the starter limelight, or regional limelight, as the current starters (Rowlet, Litten and Popplio) are. Game Freak instead are focusing on other things and projects such as Ultra Sun & Moon, Pokken, the next generation of Pokemon games that will likely be on the Switch, promotional wifi/dlc materials and so on. As it goes with each new generation to the next. Rarely do they focus on promoting and investing in a Pokemon unless it naturally proves really popular with fans and customers (such as Pikachu, Charizard, Mewtwo, Lucario & Greninja). As the Chikorita line, along with many other starters, have never reached those heights, Game Freak doesn't particularly care about how to improve such a Pokemon for in-game usage (let alone competitively!). It just doesn't make sense, especially since complaints and concerns about Chikorita stem from a vocal minority.

In terms of what can be done about it, I don't see much. Technically, Chikorita are native to the Johto region. And as a starter, it shouldn't even have relevance outside of its region to begin with (as can be applied for most starters). Yeah, you may get tid bits like the Island Scan from Sun & Moon, but aside from a rather bland egg-move, they didn't change Chikorita. And that should indicate to you how much Game Freak cares. Otherwise, you'd be able to easily catch starters everywhere and without online assistance. Unless we revisit Johto, I don't see Game Freak investing in ways to improve the Leaf Pokemon and its family.

2) Your argument can easily be made the other way. Just like "hundreds of people" clamor for Luvdisc or Farfetch'd, the same amount of people champion Chikorita. In fact, on other forums and websites that I've visited, I've seen numerous people come to the Leaf Pokemon's defense with comments along the lines of "I love Chikorita," "I always start with it," "Chikorita is my favorite Grass starter," and the like. While it may be one of the least popular starters, it does have its share of fans. But to answer your question, it is probably because of how the line is structured. The Chikorita family is one of few defensive oriented starters in the series-it doesn't have any attacking stats at or over 100 (or 90 for that matter), its Speed stats doesn't reach 90 or higher, its move pool isn't diverse in type or attacking options, its Hidden Ability is defensive in nature (and potentially a double edged sword, since its activation has a byproduct of one of Chikorita's weaknesses be powered up further), its type isn't very good offensively or defensively (especially in earlier generations), and it doesn't have a Mega Evolution (currently) that allows it to go from being defensive to offensive (like Blastoise). Every other final evolution starter you listed is, while less popular, able to be decently to exceptionally offensive. And that, generally, is the name of the game-when people play Pokemon (generally the demographic of children), they expect their Pokemon to be able to deal out decent damage without too much difficulty. Hyper offense is the most utilized style of play for in-game, across all players. Chikorita unfortunately was unable to do that in the region it was introduced in. Which leads to me to my next point.

The Johto region was horrible to Grass types. I firmly believe this was a large reason that led to Chikorita's reputation. Most starters do decently well as partner Pokemon to a player character. They're able to put up a good match against several of the important opponents such as Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and the Champion, can do decently well against the Pokemon owned by the villainous team, and are great Pokemon for standard trainer battles. Chikorita unfortunately didn't match a lot of that criteria, even when it was given a second leash on life in HeartGold & SoulSilver. This is all best summed up with an excerpt from TV Tropes:

• Consider how often you, anyone you know, or anyone you've seen play these games have ever picked Chikorita. Many Pokémon in the games are weak to Typhlosion's Fire-type attacks (notably being the best counter to the new Steel type as their Special Defense is never as good as their Defense, which is generally high enough to tank their other two physical weaknesses to Fighting and Ground), while Feraligatr quickly gets a powerful STAB move in Surf right before the 4th badge. Meganium, sadly, struggles to damage most of the gyms, the Elite Four and the largely Poison-oriented Team Rocket, won't get any better STAB move than Razor Leaf (which has been nerfed from Gen I to stop constantly getting critical hits) for most of the game, has the most restricted movepool and worst offensive stats among the three starters, and its cutesy design is generally regarded as less cool-looking than the more ferocious designs of Typhlosion and Feraligatr.

Because of the way Johto was constructed, using Gym Leader types who were not featured in Kanto, the Chikorita line had many more obstacles to overcome than its fellow starters. And this is what the line is remembered for today. It also doesn't help that future, sole Grass starter lines had niches that actually made them usable-both Sceptile and Serperior are the fastest of their trios with better attack options (Serperior can abuse Contrary boosted Leaf Storms while Sceptile has a diverse move pool with Mega Evolution to boot). As the Chikorita line had already been established with the damage done, and no significant revamping afterwards, they faded even further into obscurity. Its stigma became too great, in some cases exaggerated. And most of all, the expectations set for it were not met. Several of the initial Pokemon you listed for this point are joke Pokemon, not starters. With a starter, there are always expectations (some explicit, some implicit, good or bad) regarding design, utility, strength and such-that's why they tend to be most controversial and scrutinized Pokemon compared to others. That's also why they tend to be last Pokemon created by illustrators. Hence why the fanbase can be more explicit about them rather than other random Pokemon.

3) I've often wondered this myself. The best I've thematically been able to come up with is maybe making the line, or at least Bayleef and/or Meganium, part Rock type, to reflect their sauropod design. Include Ancient Power in their natural move sets while allowing them to learn Rock type moves-this would give them much needed coverage against Flying, Bug and Fire type opponents. They could also then become even bulkier with Sandstorm support. Also, maybe, since Meganium is associated with revitalizing plant life, throw in some water moves like Brine, Soak and Surf (Sauropods spent a lot of time in swamps and bodies of water!). I think it should also get Earth Power given the fact that it can learn Earthquake and is based on a dinosaur, as well as Play Rough (Ash's Bayleef memories anyone?). Ability wise, I would retool its Hidden Ability into something more defensive-namely Filter (or Solid Rock if it became a Rock type). That way, it would actually have a better chance at doing its job as a defensive mon (and it isn't so outlandish for it to have said ability, given the other Pokemon who get it). Or thematically, it could have Harvest to fit in with the lore of it being able to regrow plants with ease (this would also make it bulkier). That, or Friend Guard since it is known for soothing opponents and making them less likely to attack. I feel like either of these options are miles better over Leaf Guard.

Alas, I doubt Game Freak will give the Leaf Pokemon the love it truly deserves. Only time will tell at this point. I am hoping out though that its Hidden Ability can at least be revamped, given what's happened with other Pokemon in the past.