Favorite mainline Pokemon game?

[Fox1]

What is your favorite main series Pokemon game? The main core ones released on GameBoy/DS/3DS/Switch.

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P.S. Pokemon after Gen 4 is lame and gay

[Poityu]

Don't like addition of cellphones, and breeding felt like deliberate time sink so I reject all iterations after gen 1.
Even then it's not sth I'd pickup again, it was fun back then, but that's it.

[Fox1]

Don't like addition of cellphones, and breeding felt like deliberate time sink so I reject all iterations after gen 1.
Even then it's not sth I'd pickup again, it was fun back then, but that's it.

I do enjoy the simplicity of Gen 1 when I go back and play them from time to time. The addition of Natures, EVs and IVs made the games more of a time sink in the later gens

[maidenhaver]

Monster Rancher looked more fun, but by the time I got a ps1, I couldn't find it.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

For me it is a tie between RSE (Sapphire) and BW (White).

Sapphire had the holistic best feel in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. On the GBA you were playing with a dimly lit screen (as opposed to the later DS or smartphones or LED monitors), which when combined with the color palette, the overall wilderness setting, and the world design with interconnected routes that looped in on each other, it made me feel like I was traversing the vast untamed world depicted in the early anime. Having to pick which one or two Pokemon to focus on levelling as my mainliner for any given stretch, and rationing my money and potions as I bushwhack my way through a rainforest during a thunderstorm and finally reaching a treehouse village was very memorable. And then there was the second half of the game when you are sailing on the back of your Pokemon across a vast ocean and exploring these mazes of shoals and island caves and underwater trenches.

I think White has a good videogame story, and the best of the mainline Pokemon games. It also tells a good story without constantly trapping the player in long, unskippable cutscenes or being about some other character you are not playing as like with the 3DS games onward. The writers did a lot with a little dialogue for each character. Bianca is sympathetic in how she can't keep up with her friends, Cheren feeling pressured to conform to "the meta". N ofcourse is the most interesting in how he is a hero-antagonist who is not evil, and bumps into you throughout the game, and privately reveals to you on the ferris wheel that he is the king of Team Plasma, and then performs a rearguard action trying to cover his subordinates' escape. Alder comes across as more of a real, fallible person and an older man who has succeed and failed a lot rather than your typical fiction mentor. Running up and seeing N having defeated Alder was surprising. Team Plasma are interesting for how they show up in villages with their banners trying to persuade the populace. And then at the end of the game you have the unnerving reveal that Team Plasma had taken control over the Pokemon storage servers and the evil Ghetsis who kicks his son while he's down. You also have some memorable music that heightened the drama.




White version also has one of my favorite evolution lines, Reuniclus. I also preferred the two traditional themed towns of Opelucid and White Village. Reshiram visually looks better as N's Pokemon than Zekrom.




However, aside from BW's increased difficulty (with the final stretch from Victory Road through the Elite Four and the final boss being very tense) and the game visually being apotheosis of the 2D aesthetics with the animated sprites, the actual gameplay is overall a step down from prior generations. The interconnected world design is gone, so now you are just running down a corridor. There is no side content to progress through like Pokemon contests. The Battle Frontier is gone. Etc.

[rusty_shackleford]

I had blue

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Played the **** out of Pokémon Crystal back in the day with my GameBoy Colour. Good times.

[Classix]

First one I got was OG Red, a friend had Blue and we'd swap sometimes for a few days and trade some stuff.

Second one I got was Yellow. I had a team once of all Pikachu's for a fun run lol.

3rd and 4th was for me and my brother, Pearl and Diamond.

Got HeartGold and Soulsilver afterwards but that was it.

I only liked the original Gen1. Had a favorite team. Mostly like the bulkier, more health/tankier ones. All this IV and trait w/e nonsense I never cared for lol. I just played. That was it. Have a Coromon save from a few years ago I haven't finished yet but I started it with the stipulation of only catching/using 'shinies' or special versions of the creatures you can catch including a random chance you could get one as a starter. Was relaxing to play at night. I have no time for anything lol..ffs. I'll load up my Coromon save maybe and take some screenshots of what I got currently on there when I can.

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[methoxetamine]

Gen 2 (Crystal) is the last Pokemon game I played so my experience with the series is quite limited. If I had to answer based on the games I've played then it's easily Crystal. Not sure why I just completely lost interest after being obsessed with Gen 1 and 2 but it was probably because of Runescape/WoW. **** MMOfaggotry

I actually just installed Alpha Sapphire and Super Mystery Dungeon yesterday so I appreciate the timing of this thread. Is Alpha Sapphire is a good point to attempt to get back into the mainline series? If not, where should I go?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Is Alpha Sapphire is a good point to attempt to get back into the mainline series?

ORAS is a solid game, but not a replacement for the original RSE. You lose the aesthetics of the original game, getting brightly lit and desaturated and overexposed game world that looks like a cheap modern plasticky anime rather than a lived in wilderness. You are now accosted quite often and trapped in long unskippable cutscenes, the story characters will routinely heal your team to full and/or teleport you so you don't have to hike through a route. You now get a team wide exp share so you no longer have to pick and choose which one or two Pokemon to be focusing on at any given time. Money is no longer an issue. Etc. So the preparation and attrition RPG gameplay is gone and you don't feel like you are bushwhacking on a wilderness trek anymore.

The plus is that you get 1. cool mega evolutions, and 2. in the postgame you gain easy access to almost every gens 1 through 5 Pokemon, including past legendaries like Reshiram or Entei. You still have to buy X&Y to get the new Gen 6 Kalos Pokemon.

For Gen 6, I think the way to do is to play X&Y first. The game is very short with hardly any postgame content, taking just 20 to 25 hours to complete. Get the Kalos mons you want and then transfer them over to ORAS, and then you stay there for many hours catching and raising your favorite mons across the franchise. I think I have 100 or 200 hours invested into my ORAS save.




The downside is that the Battle Frontier never returned after Gen 4, and it is unlikely you will have friends you can do the duo Battle Tower challenge with in person. So you can spend a lot of time catching and breeding these mons only to have no actual use for them. You can transfer them to S&M, but that requires you to have beaten that game's story first and then once again there is nothing to do after that. Transferring your Pokemon to S&M also means you will almost certainly lose your favorite Mega Evolutions, as you can't transfer Mega Stones, and most Mega Stones in S&M are unobtainable and were only given away by online events, so you will need to acquire a cheat device or jailbreak your 3DS and do elaborate save editing stuff to get your Mega Evolutions back. I do kinda regret transferring my Pokemon from ORAS to S&M as I lost my Megas, and you can't convert back. And there is no reason to transfer my Pokemon to the Switch games when those look worse and still don't have substantial content to use your old Pokemon for.

If not, where should I go?

My usual answer would have been to play the series in release order. If the last game you played was Gen 2, then I would recommend Emerald > Platinium > maybe HGSS if you don't feel like you have already done that in Gen 2 > BW1 > maybe BW2 if you want more Unova > X&Y > maybe ORAS if you don't feel you have already done that with Emerald > S&M. But that's a 100+ to 200 hour long time commitment, playing at least 4 games that are 20-25+ hours long each. If you have limited free time then I would just say pick whichever game seems the most appealing to you. I still suggest maybe playing through X&Y before ORAS, because it introduces Mega Evolution and is a very short playthrough. I might be importing my biases from the Mega Evolution Special anime, which really hyped it up and tied it to Kalos, whereas in the ORAS game I feel that Mega Evolution is just introduced as an after thought and doesn't get anywhere near as much build up. It would probably be disappointing to sink a lot of time into the better ORAS, and then go back and play X&Y.

[Fox1]

Gen 2 (Crystal) is the last Pokemon game I played so my experience with the series is quite limited. If I had to answer based on the games I've played then it's easily Crystal. Not sure why I just completely lost interest after being obsessed with Gen 1 and 2 but it was probably because of Runescape/WoW. **** MMOfaggotry

I actually just installed Alpha Sapphire and Super Mystery Dungeon yesterday so I appreciate the timing of this thread. Is Alpha Sapphire is a good point to attempt to get back into the mainline series? If not, where should I go?

Personally, if you want to continue where you left of with Gen 3 I'd recommend playing Emerald before playing the 3DS remakes, but that's just me. If you're interested in revisiting Gen 2 I'd recommend the remakes (Heart Gold & Soul Silver) as they were well made.

[Classix]

All special skin 4 man team. " Coromon "

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Had to reload new game save maybe 40 times to get a shiny out of the initial 'ball choice'. Chilly boy #1.

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Snake bud.

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Lil puppies : )

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Weirdo 2 headed thing.

[J1M]

Pokemon Red.

[psychic_dream]

I played Omega Ruby on the 3DS with a copy my cousin lent me for about a week. After around nine hours, I lost interest and gave it back. I’ve never really seen the appeal of Pokémon. Digimon World 3 always felt far more engaging and challenging to me.

The anime didn’t hold my attention either. I gravitated more toward Yu-Gi-Oh and the card game. It’s sad that both franchises hit their peak around the same time, yet only Pokémon managed to evolve and stay relevant, consistently drawing in more youngins. Meanwhile, nu- Yu Gi Oh utterly lost the plot with endless meta wanking and a string of unimaginative, low-effort reboots and sequels that don’t seem to appeal to anyone.

Also, why does Pokémon attract so many creepy adult pedos?

[RangerBoo]

I'm playing a ROM hack of Pokemon HeartGold right now. Forgot how fun all these old games used to be. Glad to see that emulation is still going strong despite Nintendo being cocksuckers and issuing take downs of ROM's and emulations.

[SpellSword]

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Pokemon Blue.png

The one I played was Pokemon Blue. (Picked the Charmander)

With the mechanic of recruiting your party from encountered enemies being more common now, thanks to games like the Megaten series, Pokemon may look more like a standard RPG now. It felt like a bit of a different genre when it first came out though.

I remember having a good time with it.

[Classix]

Cloyster used Ice Beam!

Machamp used Seismic Toss!

Nidoking used Body Slam!

Haunter used Psy Beam!

Magneton used Thunder Bolt!

Arbok used Bind!

Fuckin good memories man.

[Fox1]

Cloyster used Ice Beam!

Machamp used Seismic Toss!

Nidoking used Body Slam!

Haunter used Psy Beam!

Magneton used Thunder Bolt!

Arbok used Bind!

Fuckin good memories man.

Gen 1 always had the best tunes Gen 2 is a close 2nd for me

[MC_Sea]

Pokemon HeartGold/Soulsilver will always be my favorite. It has the most amount of side content available that makes use of your Pokemon roster. The Pokeathlon, the Battle Frontier, the Wifi Plaza (RIP), collecting all the cellphone numbers for rematches with gym leaders from other games, going into all the optional dungeons to find unique, mythical, and legendary Pokemon, Pokemon following you with unique reactions to areas, and general Quality of Life upgrades. It's pretty much everything anyone could ask for in a remake.
It does have some flaws like the awkward level curve, Team Rocket's strange plot, the toned down personalities for some gym leaders like Lt. Surge, Blaine, Sabrina, etc. but these are relatively minor. Overall, if there was 1 game to recommend from the series, it would be this one.

I do agree with Val that Black/White 1+2 have the best music especially since they had a ton of dynamic music that changed on your surroundings.

[Classix]

New ager stuff passed gen1..........

Classix wants to battle!

[methoxetamine]

My usual answer would have been to play the series in release order. If the last game you played was Gen 2, then I would recommend Emerald > Platinium > maybe HGSS if you don't feel like you have already done that in Gen 2 > BW1 > maybe BW2 if you want more Unova > X&Y > maybe ORAS if you don't feel you have already done that with Emerald > S&M. But that's a 100+ to 200 hour long time commitment, playing at least 4 games that are 20-25+ hours long each. If you have limited free time then I would just say pick whichever game seems the most appealing to you.

Thanks for the thorough reply as always. Honestly I'm not interested enough to go through and play all of them, I just figured I'd check out the best 3DS game more for the novelty than anything since I just got a 3DS. Who knows, maybe I'll get more into it than I'm expecting, if so then I'll go in release order after that. What are the Mystery Dungeon games like? Pokemon roguelike sounds interesting but I have no idea what to expect

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I’ve never really seen the appeal of Pokémon

I believe that most of the appeal of Pokemon carries over from the early anime and its movies, which promises an adventure through a vast and appealing world that the games don't fully deliver on. It's a familiar near modern setting with conveniences but also without the baggage of having to do an urban commute and work a 9-to-5 job. The actual games themselves provide a serviceable enough challenge and let you mix and match your favorite critters, but you never get to really interact with your Pokemon as companion pets like the characters do the anime, never get to reenact action setpieces as cool in the anime, don't get to have companion party members, etc. The "side" games like Colosseum and Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky actually provide slightly more exciting adventures in that regard.

only Pokémon managed to evolve and stay relevant, consistently drawing in more youngins

Pokemon is the inexplicable black swan here. For whatever reason, they managed to become so utterly huge that they pretty much became a second Disney, ie a brand so trusted by parents that even after Pokemania died out, parents would still sit their kids down in front of a Pokemon brand product to keep them occupied, thus ensuring that there would be new generations of kids growing up with Pokemon. No other franchise besides Star Wars up until the 2010s and Disney managed to keep bringing in generation after generation. Every other franchise fell victim to the corporate franchise death cycle where they were a thing for a few years, and then died as they couldn't bring in enough newcomers to replace the oldtimers leaving.

With the mechanic of recruiting your party from encountered enemies being more common now, thanks to games like the Megaten series, Pokemon may look more like a standard RPG now. It felt like a bit of a different genre when it first came out though.

Having a huge roster of playable characters to pick from to mix and match and make a party of my favorites is a huge part of why I found Suikoden (party size of 6, 50 to 60 playables to pick from) and the latter Trails of Cold Steel games so compelling (party size of 4 with 4 more in reserve, 50 playables to pick from). With regular RPGs or JRPGs with only a handful of party members, you often run into an issue where you only really like maybe 1 or 2 of the party members, and have to fill in the rest of your slots with people you are so-so on.

What are the Mystery Dungeon games like?

Lemme dig up my review from the MMO-C forum.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - 7/10 (Good)

I was pleasantly surprised by this game. The writing is a cut above your average JRPG. Nothing mindblowing, but the dialogue is short and concise. The plot isn't overambitious and doesn't overpromise, so the good moments really standout. The characters were pretty fun. I really liked the Wigglytuft and the final episode, and the final act of the game had me on the edge of my seat. Felt good to beat the final boss and see the ending. The postgame storyline is... okay. It doesn't reach the highs of the main story, but the decision at the end caught me off guard.

The game is overall aesthetically meh, but there are a few pixel art cutscenes that stood out. There were a few good tracks too. The music during the final act was really on point and sold the emotional moments. Gameplay wise, the early game is meh, as you're poor and can't afford to buy any TMs and haven't levelled up enough to get some good moves. The midgame when you are customizing your team is pretty fun. That being said, the gameplay begins to wear out its welcome towards the end, and it doesn't help that you get thrown into one dungeon after another with little breather room. The main story took me 50 hours to beat, and an additional 10 hours to beat the postgame story. I game overed a few times and lost several hours, so I'd say it overall took me about 70 hours to beat the game.

If you play this game, I would recommend picking Pikachu, Meowth, or Eevee as your partner, as they have the most expressive sprites, which you will be seeing a lot of as they are pretty much the deuteragonist of the game and carry a lot of the best scenes. If you pick... Vulpix, as your partner, then there just isn't going to be much difference between the faces.

Definitely in the upper echelon of Pokemon video games.

[maidenhaver]

Colosseum was the one where you steal pokemon from team sandstorm. It was fun. You had a gf, a motorcycle, and an evee, so you could pick from five or six evolutions.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Colosseum was the one where you steal pokemon from team sandstorm. It was fun. You had a gf, a motorcycle, and an evee, so you could pick from five or six evolutions.

Being a former member of evil who sets out to set right what went wrong and take down his associates was pretty compelling.