Favourite Pokémon game(s)?

[Prowler]

This place has several Pokémon fans. Let's have a discussion, shall we?

Well, as much as I loved Pokémon Red and played it more times than any other game in the series, it has A LOT of flaws and most of my love for it nowadays is purely based on nostalgia. It was my 1st ever Pokémon game after all. Plus, I love so many of gen 1 Pokémon to this day.

As for gen 2, as epic as it was back then, it also shows its age these days. Plus, it requires a lot of grinding later on. The fact you have to beat 16 different gym leaders with a lot of them being under leveled after a certain point, means you gotta grind a ton before tackling the elite 4. It's quite a hassle. Also, Johto lacks some identity as a region. It might as well be a province of Kanto. And most Johto Pokémon aren't that great imo.

I'd say the remakes of gen 3, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are my favourite Pokémon games as of today. Really fun remakes with a lot to do such as contests and a lot of Pokémon to catch from different generations.
Most of the Hoenn Pokémon are pretty cool too.
Plus, I really like the Hoenn region. No idea why the hell IGN said it had too much water. It really doesn't.

I've enjoyed the remakes of gen 4, but the contests aren't as good as they were in ORAS and I don't like Sinnoh as much as I like Hoenn. Plus, you don't get to unlock most pokemon available in the game until after you beat the Pokemon League. And Sinnoh Pokémon in general aren't as cool as Hoenn ones imo.

Gen 6... I couldn't really get into it. Something just felt off. Greninja is a cool Pokémon though.

What about you?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

My personal favourite is Yellow. It has the nostalgia of Red and Blue, but does everything better.

For example, Yellow has better sprites, a Pikachu that follows you around and you can interact it, more challenging trainers, a cool Pikachu surfing game etc. Last year, I attempted to beat the game with just a Pikachu without items in battle and it was alot of fun.

Honestly, I think the gen 1 games are better than their remakes, FireRed and Leafgreen. Ironically, the remakes are supposed to be more updated but feel more generic imo because you can't do freaky stuff in them like you could in gen 1 (Missingno., Mew Glitch, wacky battle mechanics, Glitch City, walking through walls), and there is not much new stuff in there that you can't do in the orginals.

Also, I don't like how FireRed/Leafgreen didn't let you explore Johto, despite having some Johto Pokemon. Seeing how Johto and Kanto are two regions opposite each other and are connected in the main timeline, that was a big missed opportunity, and the Sevii Islands do not make up for it even if they have Johto music and some Johto Pokemon.

I also really love Gen 2, and just like Yellow, I prefer Crystal to Gold and Silver because of the various updates. Being able to explore 2 regions and seeing all the changes 3 years after the events of gen 1 really sell those games to me.

Gens 3 and 4 I also really enjoy, both narratively and mechanics. Outside of competitive battling simulators, I've never played past Gen 4 though.

Speaking of competitive, Pokemon Showdown is awesome. You can make any teams without having to train them, and competitive battling is honestly a whole different kettle of tea than a casual playthrough, till the point where you need to know specific calculations of damage dealt to win a game.

Competitive Pokemon is hard on the mind, but that makes winning in it all the more satisfying. My two favourite formats in Pokemon Showdown are Gen 7 Ubers and Gen 1 Overused.

These are the two teams that I use for competitive battling, in case you're curious:

Gen 1: https://pokepast.es/1097bdc03c07aac0

Gen 7: https://pokepast.es/0243bdba8f72f3a1

[Prowler]

Yellow is good mostly for getting the 3 starters.

Screw Pikachu, though. Can't even evolve him into Raichu. I just stored him after I got Squirtle. Don't care much nsojt his surfing game either.

I've never played the gen 1 remakes. Are the Let's go Pikachu and Eeevee games any good?

Crystal was a good game yes.

I've never cared about competitive playing. I know some people are heavily into it and some will even reroll a new save file tons of times just to get the perfect stats and nature for their starter. That's insane.

The only online aspects I care about Pokémon is trading. It's honestly ridiculous how, in 2022, you still have to trade Kadabra, Graveler, Machoke and Haunter for them to evolve. That's one outdated mechanic!

Also funny thing, earlier today, I traded a Turtwig for... a shiny Arceus on Brilliant Diamond. I can't believe the other trainer wanted to trade a shiny Arceus in the first place. Let alone trade it for... a Turtwig. :lol:

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I will agree that Pikachu is very underwhelming stat wise. The only reasons to use him without evolving are either to have a challenge, and/or because of someone's attachment to the anime.

I've never played Lets Go Pikachu or Eevee, but I do plan on getting them. They personally appeal to me more than the other Switch Pokemon games, and they seem to be more unique than FireRed/Leafgreen which added almost nothing new as remakes besides the graphical upgrade.

I've never reset for a competitively viable Pokemon either since I just make my Pokemon in the simulator. I do respect the dedication of many competitive battlers though, since they do participate in real life tournaments with money involved.

I have reset for a Shiny Pokemon though. I ended up resetting a couple of hundred times for Shiny Slowpoke in Crystal which is tedious, but weirdly fun in its own right.

[superstaff]

Favorite(s): Black/White, then Sun/Moon.

Least Favorite(s): Sword/Shield, X/Y

[Prowler]

I will agree that Pikachu is very underwhelming stat wise. The only reasons to use him without evolving are either to have a challenge, and/or because of someone's attachment to the anime.

I've never played Lets Go Pikachu or Eevee, but I do plan on getting them. They personally appeal to me more than the other Switch Pokemon games, and they seem to be more unique than FireRed/Leafgreen which added almost nothing new as remakes besides the graphical upgrade.

I've never reset for a competitively viable Pokemon either since I just make my Pokemon in the simulator. I do respect the dedication of many competitive battlers though, since they do participate in real life tournaments with money involved.

I have reset for a Shiny Pokemon though. I ended up resetting a couple of hundred times for Shiny Slowpoke in Crystal which is tedious, but weirdly fun in its own right.

Yeah it's disappointing how the mascot of the series isn't that great in the game. He sucks in Smash Bros. too.

Raichu is pretty underrated though.

Whenever I read threads where people make a top 5 of their most played games in Nintendo systems, sometimes you see someone with nearly a thousand hours in Pokémon games. They turn out to be competitive battlers and also shiny hunters. I only caught 1 shiny so far. A shiny Wingull. And I wasn't looking for it either. And I got a shiny Arceus in a trade. Other than that, nothing. Don't see the point in spending hundreds of hours looking for shinies.

They're just pokemon with a different colour scheme that happen to be pretty damn rare. Nothing else is different about them from the standard pokemon. I dunno how the hell that Player got a shiny legendary though. Kinda cool for me to be in possession of it now.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Have you ever tried playing Solo Runs of Pokemon? I've found them to be a pretty fun way of playing the game since regular 6 team playthroughs are too easy for me now due to being familiar with the mechanics.

If I'm using a good Pokemon, I try to beat the game as fast as possible, otherwise I would just try to see if beating the game is even possible if using a terrible Pokemon. I have attempted the following solo playthroughs (hacking used to change your starter Pokemon but no cheats aside from that):

Gen 1:
1. Snorlax (Beat the game in 3:20, Snorlax is absolutely dominant despite being slow).

2. Charizard (Currently at Celadon City, 1:20 so far. So far, Charizard is beating everything easily, but I wanna see if it can beat Snorlax).

3. Clefable: Beat the game in 2:57, the absolute best. Clefable has many of Snorlax's strengths, but is also fast).

4. Pikachu: Solo run in Yellow, didn't allow myself to use Items on Pikachu or TMs. By the time I beat the elite four, my Pikachu was almost Level 100.

5. Makgikarp: With Dragon Rage, a move Magikarp learns through events, its possible, but only if you also use items in battle. I beat the game with a Dragon Rage/Tackle Magikarp, but having to use items ruins the fun for me.

6. Kakuna: Extremely frustrating, but I'm surprised that its actually beating stuff on its own. Not at the end yet, but getting there slowly with Poison Sting and Harden.

Gen 2:
Wooper: Very challenging for a solo run due its 4x grass weakness, but it has an interesting movepool, getting both Earthquake and Water moves that hit pretty hard. I beat the whole game with it without any items on Wooper or TMs, but Red took alot of resets to beat his Venusaur.

[Prowler]

No I have not. And it doesn't sound appealing. I'd hate to stick to only one pokemon the whole game. What makes the game fun is catching different ones throughout it.

I know some people do something called Nuzlocke challenges. Which is, whenever a pokemon of theirs faints in battle, they release it forever and just get another one instead. That also sounds kind of crazy to me.

[sdp]

No, I've played every generation of Pokemon at launch (https://miscrave.com/articles/pokemon-first-impressions/) though this upcoming Gen I might not even do it, Pokemon lost its soul long ago and I just don't like the current product anymore. I still love Pokemon, especially Gen 1 since it's the one that had its most originality. I also love Gen 3. Other gens have good and bad but overall lack the adventure aspect the first games had, they're all "fine" games just cookie cutter and safe.

Spin-off games are great, TCG is amazing, Snap is so comfy, Mystery Dungeon 3 is the finest of the MD Pokemon games. I highly recommend any of those. Pokepark 2 is cute but might not be for everyone it skews young, Colosseum is awesome to me but might not be for everyone either, especially if you're playing it today and not in 2003.

Pokémon TCG GBC
Pokémon Snap
Pokepark 2
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 3
Pokémon Colosseum

Mainline games? Gen 1 Blue, Gen 3 Emerald none of the others bothered to try

[Prowler]

Pokémon TCG GBC
Pokémon Snap
Pokepark 2
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 3
Pokémon Colosseum

Mainline games? Gen 1 Blue, Gen 3 Emerald none of the others bothered to try

Strange that your favourites are all spinoff titles.

I haven't played any of the spinoffs. I did want Colosseum when I was a kid but the decision when it came to getting new games was not mine back in the day. So I never got it. Must have been great for its time though.

You only played Blue and Emerald, seriously? That's surprising.

[Prowler]

What's with the article link?

2003? I guess I mixed up Colosseum with Stadium, the Nintendo 64 game. That's the one I wanted when I was a kid. Magazine screenshots of it looked so cool back then.

Like all kids of my generation, I had some Pokémon cards back in the late 90s. I remember buying a deck of them in Belgium during summer vacation when I was a kid. But no one I knew played it. We collected the cards and that's it. I remember everyone wanting the Charizard card which no one had.

Mystery Dungeon must be one of the 3DS games or something. There's also a few spinoff titles for the Switch. One of them being Pokémon Unity and another one which is a puzzle game of some sort?

Gen I will always have a strong place in my heart for obvious reasons. But I don't think I have any desire to play through RBY for the 20th time.

I began noticing criticism for the series around the time of gen 6. That's when people began saying Pokémon was getting stale. I know gen 7 wasn't to everyone's liking either. Nor was Sword and Shield. But everyone seems to love Arceus.

[Prowler]

BTW FWL, interesting teams you use competitively. I didn't know you could use legendaries. I thought it was kind of a thing one isn't supposed to do due to unfair advantages they have.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Depends on the tier. In the case of the Ubers tier in gen 7, all legendaries except for Mega Rayquaza are allowed.

In the standard Gen 1 competitive format, the Legendary birds are allowed but Mewtwo and Mew are not. Funnily enough, the legendary birds are not even the best Pokemon in standard competitive gen 1.

Snorlax, Tauros and Chansey are considered to be the best Pokemon in gen 1 competitve. Zapdos is one of the best behind the big 3, but Moltres and Articuno are not.

[Prowler]

Depends on the tier. In the case of the Ubers tier in gen 7, all legendaries except for Mega Rayquaza are allowed.

In the standard Gen 1 competitive format, the Legendary birds are allowed but Mewtwo and Mew are not. Funnily enough, the legendary birds are not even the best Pokemon in standard competitive gen 1.

Snorlax, Tauros and Chansey are considered to be the best Pokemon in gen 1 competitve. Zapdos is one of the best behind the big 3, but Moltres and Articuno are not.

Snorlax is one of my all time favourites. He was such a tank in RBY. Tauros is pretty good too.

I've never used Chansey. He was a pain to catch in the Safari, and when I managed to catch him I simply stored him in Bill's PC lol.

[Mad Dog McMutt]

My favorite pokemon game is the trading card game for the gameboy color. I have spent at least 400 hours on it. I also got 150 pokemon on my pokedex legit about 6 months ago. I used pokemon red, blue, and pokemon stadium to do it.

[Powder]

Favorite(s): Black/White, then Sun/Moon.

Least Favorite(s): Sword/Shield, X/Y

This, exactly. Much love to older gens too, I grew up with them, but those two perfected the formulas.

+ honorable mentions to Pokemon Snap, & Pokemon Pinball, spin-offs I loved just as much as the main games.

[superstaff]

This, exactly. Much love to older gens too, I grew up with them, but those two perfected the formulas.

+ honorable mentions to Pokemon Snap, & Pokemon Pinball, spin-offs I loved just as much as the main games.

I really want something that combines the best aspects of BW and SuMo.

Sadly, I think we're just going to be getting SwSh type stuff instead.

[MikeandRaph87]

I watched the anime for seven seasons which was through the seconf generation (Johoto). As for the games I played through Diamond/Pearl. However, I was two years late in playing the 4th generation. I had Blue/Silver/Sapphire/Diamond and Leaf Green. Blue is the one Pokemon game that I beat in every way with a lineup of level 100 Pokemon, completed Pok'e Dex, and beat the Elite Four probably 100 times over. After the second genration it got too difficult to complete the Poke' Dex and my interest lay elsewhere as the roster of Pok'emon continued to expand and my interest was primarily in the anime and I had reached my Junior year of High School when I stopped watching it. My interest like most things was in a specific set of characters and I was indifferent of any new sets while bored of the formula, kinda like with Power Rangers, I needed the same set of characters, but an evolving formula and instead I got the opposite. I enjoyed the interplay of Brock and Misty and the core four Pokemon of the 1st generation.

Overall my favorite was Leaf Green. While I did not add all then 386 existing Pok'emon I had the storngest roster that I ever would and had by then had mastered a pretty effective strategy in team building and battles. By the end I believe I had between 360 to 365. I surpassed that with Alpha Sapphire with 580 species thanks to the internet trading system. I was not familar with the 5th generation and beyond. I remember litterally falling over laughing when I learned that a scoop of vanila ice cream evolved into a sundae.

[Wesley]

I’m not as into Pokémon as I used to be and haven’t played any new games since Gen 7.

My fav games are:
Black 2
Snap
Emerald
XD

Fun fact: Me being a big wildlife photography fan stems from playing Snap lol.

[Prowler]

Surprised no one has mentioned Arceus as a favourite. It got a lot of praise and positive criticism from both fans and the press alike. It's basically the BOTW of Pokémon games isn't it?

I really want to play it one day. Probably will get it this year still.

[Prowler]

It's been about a year since this thread was made. Since then, I've played Black/White, Sun/Moon and some of Scarlett/Violet.

I really enjoyed Black and White, and it's now my favourite Pokémon game alongside ORAS. I have to play BW2 someday but it's hard to find for a good price.

Sun and Moon is the best generation from the most recent Pokémon gens, imo. The best since the series made the 3D jump. Pretty solid games. But not personal favourites.

S/V is a glitchy mess.