I've managed to miss out on all Pokemon games so far, but I have interest. Anyway, judging by the looks:

• 1: Bulbasaur (looks pretty stupid even though I like how it has more character than Squirtle)
• 2: Chikorita
• 3: Mudkip
• 4: Turtwig (was about to say Piplup for being too rounded but Turtwig looks really dumb)
• 5: Oshawott
• 6: Froakie
• 7: Popplio

Gen 7 seems the worst overall. I wouldn't want to pick a single one of them. Gen 4 has pretty much the same situation, but they're a bit better. I have no idea why people are disliking gen 5.

Sooooo since you missed out on all Pokémon games have you seen the evolutions for the 5th gen starters ? 

Yerm said:
Gen 1: Bulbasaur- i already have a harted of grass types due to their insane amount of weaknesses. but bulbasaur is especially useless. if i ever needed a grass/poison type, i could always catch a Bellsprout/Oddish up in Cerulean City. on my VC Blue game i just trained up a Parasect and he does great.

You can tell when someone doesn't play competitvely. Before mega's Venusaur was the only truly viable Kanto starter and with his mega he's even more viable. Calling him useless is simply wrong, its just that you don't know how to use him.

Gen 2: Chikorita- aside from my dislike of grass, i used Cyndaquil in silver and totodile in SoulSilver so i just have no attachment at all to it.

Gen 3: Treeko- i dont get what the big deal is or why the treeko line is so loved. it is the only gen 3 starter not to get a secondary type and really my only attackment to it is from the mystery dungeon games.

Because its a good Pokemon that doesn't need a secondary typing, Yes it gets dragon as a mega but that just makes him ice fodder for his lacking defence. Treecko is amazing Pokemon has great stats and did you see grovyle's design?  Its pretty clear as to why treecko is loved.

gen 4: Chimchar- this started didnt really bring much new to the table. a monkey, nothing special. Blaziken already beat Infernape to the fire/fighting typing. and look at the other 2. Torterra is still the only grass/ground type and Empoleon gets so many resistances with that steel/water typing.

And Prior to gen 5, Infernape was also superior to Blaziken, and he honestly has a better diesgn by far. Empoleon is just an absolutely terrible mon compared to the other 2.

Gen 5: Tepig & Snivy- for Tepig, we got 2 fire/fighting already so this is just lame. and Snivy just becomes a snake with no unique features. like... where did its arms go?

Gen 6: Fennekin- Delphox is just a lame final evolution design and compared to Greninja and Chesnaught, it gets put to shame.

Gen 7: Popplio- i love water types, and i am definitely choosing Popplio in sun and moon, but come on, that design is just bad. the clown theme is not going well for it, and I have even seem fans redraw Popplio and make it look 10x better while only changing a few details. but how did water starers go from a Ninja to a Clown? seriously?

The starters are unrelated to previous gens. I like his design, you saying his design is bad is your opinion. I find him cute.