What's your go-to PMD hero/partner duo?

[arctozolt]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is my absolute favorite game series, and I've played and owned almost all of them. Usually, on subsequent playthroughs, I find myself returning to hero torchic and partner skitty (if available!) That's made me curious if anyone else who enjoys pmd does something similar.

If you're reading this thread and you are also a major mystery dungeon fan, please let me know who your main duo is and why! For example, I've always really loved torchic. It was my first starter, so there's some nostalgia involved, and I also kind of find it relatable. Like, it's a cute little feisty fire chicken, and if I were a pokemon, it's what kind I would want to be. Skitty seemed like a natural choice for a partner; they're from the same generation, they've been paired up before in merch/anime (may's pokemon!), and their colors look super nice together. I love this team dearly and I always name them the same things: Maggie (torchic) & Penny (skitty)!

[mittens]

rescue team: meowth and torchic (variable nicknames for both, usually hina for torchic though)
explorers: riolu and shinx (fido and nedjem!)

i've been pretty consistently picking those ones for years for no super deep reason. they're just my favourites out of the available options :]

[candycanearter07]

I personally shifted the main protag a lot between playthroughs (I think it went Treecko, then Mudkip, and more recently Cyndaquil) but I ALWAYS put Squirtle as my partner hes just a lil guy and also I used one of his PMD sprites as my first profile pic so its pretty nostalgic.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

Ok so when I had Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team as a kid, I really, really, really wanted to be Eevee. But the test gave me a Skitty. I hated it as a kid, but nowadays, I embrace my silly pink kitty side  Skitty is now one of my favourite Gen 3 Pokémon because of the whole experience.

As for my partner, I think as a kid I went with Pikachu because I was recommended it through a magazine. But nowadays, I chose Torchic (beautiful avatar of it by the way arctozolt). The reason is simple: Torchic is my first starter, and my favourite starter of all time.

I named "him" Sanban, just like my partner in Pokémon Emerald, but it turns out Sanban was a "she" all along in PMD  I don't know if this is a thing in all versions but in my language, your partner doesn't go by any pronouns in particular until the very end of the story. I think they just match your gender, but I didn't know about this until that moment.

The team name is Team Skibidi. For the meme, for the similarities to "skitty", because I couldn't really think of anything better back then. Of course, I'm talking about my current playthrough, not my childhood one