I'm not much of a Card player, aside from earlier clueless attempt when things were first introduced...
The games on the other hand I do remember.
My first ever game was Pokemon Red but I can't recall my first ever starter but it's between Charmander and Bulbasaur. I think I had two runs if I'm not mistaken. One that my Charmander suffered from Brock & Misty a lot, and I had to really on Pidgeotto (Best starter bird 2nd evo design to date) to trouble Brock but was unaware of the type disadvantages that much. On the other hand, with Bulbasaur I was like pew pew on them.
However, I clearly remember my Silver game because I still have it. My starter there was Totodile and that game did stick in my head for years.