4d ago

Let's discuss: Pokémon

The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!

Let's discuss the Pokémon series. What is your favorite game in the series? What do you like about it? What doesn't work for you? Are there similar games you like or even prefer to the original series? Feel free to share anything that comes up and react to other comments. Let's get the conversation going!

If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).

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47 comments

RGBY - You had to be there. By today's standards, these games are incredibly dated, to a point where it's hard to explain to anyone who didn't grow up on them why they were so magical. Despite feeling aged now, they honestly were ahead of their time in several ways, and there's a reason these games took off and became such a massive cultural phenomenon that dominated the late 90s.
GSC - In comparison, it's honestly surprising to me how well GSC still holds up after all these years. The sequel carries forward the magic of the first games, while polishing and improving the formula in every way. Being able to revisit Kanto for the postgame was the coolest thing ever, and it's sad that we'll never see anything like this again.
RSE - I will forever be a Hoenn hater. Coming off the heels of GSC, these games were just a massive step back in many ways. One region and 202 Pokemon. Weirdly unbalanced with the excessive amount of Water-types, and tedious amount of Surfing. Began the trend of Legendaries becoming more and more god-like, and forced in the story. Not a fan of the art style or trumpet-heavy OST either. Only good thing this game brought to the table was Abilities.
One thing I don't think a lot of people today remember is that this was Dexit before Dexit. When RS first launched, you only had 202 Pokemon in the Hoenn Dex, a step back from GSC's 251, and the missing 184 species were not mentioned or referenced at all. At the time, I thought that they had been retconned out! Eventually, linking to later gen III games would unlock the National Pokedex, but at launch no one knew that was going to be a thing. And it was still fairly wack how many games they spread it out over, gen III as a whole was a mess.
FRLG - RGBY minus the soul. It may be more modernized, but it just doesn't hit the same. I know this is very much a "you had to be there" take.
Colosseum - Painfully slow. Never finished it. Never played XD either.
DPPt - These games were just... bland. There's not much I can actively hate on as much as RSE beyond just how slow they were, but there's also not much that stands out either. I don't have much to say.
HGSS - IT'S PEAK. Does a much better job than FRLG of feeling faithful yet modern. And the sheer amount of bonus content they added in was incredible. By far the best game in the series, nothing else is even close.
BW - Gen V really had a hell of a vibe to it, this era felt like Game Freak really wanted to experiment and it paid off. I give this game a lot of credit for being the first and only entry to have a good plot. However I do feel that the gimmick of new species only wasn't so great, dragged down by the fact that half the Unova Dex is blatant copies of existing Gen I mons. Why bother doing that?
BW2 - However, this game's story was so bad that I stand by my conspiracy theory of it being a last-minute rewrite from a planned Gray. I wonder what that would've looked like. Other than that though, everything else about BW2 was quite strong.
XY - The jump to 3D was rough, but could've been a lot worse. These games honestly feel like an unfinished beta to me, there's a really good game in here somewhere but it's dragged down by performance woes and very very little content. With more time in the oven, I think Z could've been one of the best games in the series, but they never gave this game the Director's Cut it needed.
SM - Since XY's framerate was so troublesome, let's make it worse by adding more models onscreen! Also, let's drop XY's best feature, the Player Search System, in favor of doing almost nothing on the bottom screen! People really liked Megas, so let's replace those with attacks that just do big damage and call it a day! And let's really go way overboard with the cutscenes, tons of long tedious cutscenes! Most of all it was the framerate that really pissed me off. This was actually the first time I bothered finishing the Regional Dex, but I was too fed up with the framerate that I decided I would wait until the next generation on new hardware to try for National...
And so that ended up being the last game I played. Skipped USUM because I didn't want to deal with this engine any longer, and then SS... Seeing how they'd just been cutting more and more corners with each game, I simply saw Dexit as the last straw. Maybe I'd have been willing to accept it if they'd actually been bringing new things to the table to compensate, but they don't. I've come to terms with the fact that the Pokemon that I know and love, the Pokemon that I grew up on, the Pokemon that I named my account after, is dead to me.
- Great writeup. In retrospect it's absolutely insane how many series-defining features were introduced in Gen 2. That kind of generational leap is mindboggling.
  I love your username btw, brings me back to the schoolyard, to Kangaskhans with Fly and rumours of finding Mew under the truck in Vermilion.
- Have you played ORAS? I think this was the peak for me. Good vibes, good features, massive pokedex.
  
  Ah, completely forgot ORAS!
  Combined the worst parts of gen III with the worst parts of gen VI (that is to say, the engine).
- I agree with literally every point you've made (especially the 'had to be there' notes, it's so hard trying to explain that) but one.
  Here comes a billion words on how I love Sun and Moon. Feel free to skip them, I'm just trying to add to the conversation.
  Sun and Moon is on my list of faves because of the slow island vibes, the sun and moon motif... Oh. Let me take a moment and say, as a grass type trainer, I have gotten absolutely effed with starter choices. I love plants, I love flowers, and... It's insane how often the grass-type starter is the weakest in design. So let me say when Rowlet hit the scene, I fell in love. This precious little floof who turns his head all the way around to look at me in battle, and then turns into a moody teenager when he becomes Datrix (if you're petting him after battle, and you touch the feather in front of his face he gets so MAD!), finally turning into the extremely badass Decidueye? Grass/Ghost? Hell. Yes. After watching water and fire get bangers of starters for ages, only occasionally getting a starter that felt like it was "good enough" rarely, finally getting my owl was like a sword-in-the-stone moment.
  I hear you on Z-Moves but I do really love the idea of doing a little Hawaiian-style dance with your Pokemon to power them up. It feels more like I'm contributing than pointing a rock at something. I actually enjoy that some of the dances look really stupid because you have to ask yourself, "Do I want to look cool right now, or do I want to look a little silly and absolutely destroy my enemies?" There's also something excellent in facing a friend in battle, and watching them choose to do a dumb pose with mounting horror. "Hahaha, Chris is doing a dance and the background is pink and oh god no he's chosen to destroy me."
- Could someone post the decoder ring for the abbreviations for us uninitiated?
  
  Shouldn't be very hard to figure out from looking at a list of Pokémon games. RGBY = Red, Green, Blue, Yellow; GSC = Gold, Silver, Crystal; RSE = Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald; DPPt = Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, etc. etc.

Oh boy. I got into Pokémon when I was 8 and I still love the format. It has a great progression system (at least in my mind) and can be used in easy and super challenging ways, like Nuzlockes. I have way too much nostalgia for the series and I like the music way too much.
My short opinions of the each game:
R/B/Y: Unbalanced, seriously exploitable glitchy games. At least there's no cutscenes.
G/S/C: Terrible level curve, ruins the games.
R/S/E: The first games to really nail the format.
FR/LG: What R/B/Y should've been.
D/P: Great potential but please play on emulator because they're so slow. Play platinum instead and don't bother with the remakes.
HG/SS: Best for a grand Pokémon Game, but still retains some of the bad progression from G/S/C. Still a great game overall
B/W: I have way too much nostalgia for these games but they're some of the best.
B2W2: Less nostalgia but objectively better than even B/W in multiple ways.
XY: Mediocre
OR/AS: Good remake on a great base.
S/M/US/UM: If you like playing Pokemon instead of watching cutscenes, don't play these games. Seriously, don't.
LGPE: Gimmicky games. FR/LG is better unless you really enjoy the Let's Go gimmicks.
SwSh: Mediocre I believe
BDSP: See D/P
PLA: I still need to get around to playing it, gah the backlog is too long
S/V: Actually really great games if you hate how linear other Pokemon games are like I do, and you can look past the performance issues
If you have any questions or comments please reply lol.

Rambling post incoming:
I love the series, but man am I frustrated by it.
I love when they try to tell a story. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow is simple, but effective.
The others just build on this, but the best team is still Team Rocket to me. Actual gangsters instead of maniacal, delusional gits who want to end the world... It's too much.
Team Skull are wonderful as well.
Black and white had a great story and I really, really like Bianca's journey in that game. She's not very good at what she does, but she's compassionate. A little sheltered too. Her dad is always asking her to come back home because he doesn't believe in her, and with failure after failure almost goes along with it and gives up. I love that she doesn't.
I also like the villain speech here that Pokémon don't like being used for fighting, but I really believe that it could've been better if they didn't undermine their own point by fighting with pokemon. I mean, I get that the main dude, Ghetsis was just bluffing, but everyone else believed it, so why didn't they choose non -violence?
After the series went 3D, I've disliked it. I liked X and Y, but I felt like it was a little too light on new stuff. Only 60ish new pokemon feels a bit low. There's a good game there somewhere, but... It's not where I want it to be.
Sun and moon was the same. Love the new ideas, but it's getting bogged down a smidge by performance and repetition.
Sword and Shield definitely has great things going for it with vibes, but lacks substance. No caves, no dungeons, just a led-by-the-hand tour.
The DLC was a smidge better, but even then a little lacking.
Scarlet/Violet barely holds together. It's ugly as sin, its level progression is whack and the open world does it NO FAVORS! All I want is for pokemon to seem like actual animals in the wild. I wanna see them interact with each other, but they NEVER DO.
Legends Arceus was also the same here, though I like the battle mechanics here. It feels unfinished and while pokemon in your party can interact, the world itself feels... Lacking.
My favorite game in the pokemon series (including spinoffs) would be pokemon mystery dungeon for the story, and Pokemon Snap for the interaction.
Core series would be either Black and White or Heart Gold/Soul Silver. Those games really spoiled us

I've only ever played Pokémon: Blue, but I enjoyed it. I used to like doing the MISSINGNO cheat to get infinite master balls and rare candy to capture the three legendary birds and roflstomp the rest of the game. Good times.

I've played Pokemon on and off since it's release in the 90s, but one of the best Pokemon experiences was that two week period in the summer of 2016 when Pokemon Go came out and everyone was playing it. It was the perfect thing at the right time, and something I don't think can ever be replicated again.
- I literally got a data plan on my phone in order to be able to play Pokemon Go. It was a great time.

They got too big and just feel like a vehicle to sell merch now

I've recently started playing Pokemon Unbound and... what they say about it is true. It spoils you so much that every other pokemon game starts to look bland. Possibly even the future ones.
- yep, story is so-so, but gameplay wise it is the best pokemon i've played.
  gyms, league and some story fights where actually tough and required bringing different pokemons without being unfair, the port of newer mechanics like raid dens and special evolutions are well done..
  i should try the pokemon randomizer mode :D

From the main games I have played Red/Blue/Yellow, Gold/Silver, and Emerald. I think they are all pretty close in terms of favourite, but I'll say Blue because it was my first and had a huge impact. I remember battling other people using a link cable at school.
I think those games all have the same problem. The battle system is too slow by today's standards. Random encounters can get annoying (thanks, ZUBAT!). It's not just exclusive to Pokemon. Other series of the time haven't aged as well for the same reasons. Back then it didn't matter though.
Pokemon Stadium deserves an honourable mention. Seeing the Pokemon animated in 3D was amazing at the time. The mini-games and the gameboy pack that connected to the N64 controller were great too.
Pokemon Snap - meh. It was the type of game you play at the demo booth while waiting for your parents to finish shopping.
Pokemon Trading Card Game - the gameboy game and the physical card game were both peak. I feel like the gameboy game was slept on by many, but I loved it.
- I went searching for Pokemon Red/Blue on the Nintendo Switch Online Gameboy app and all they had was the trading card version of the game. I played it for a few minutes but couldn't really get into it. Is it nostalgia or was there something Im missing?
  
  There is definitely a nostalgia factor, and I was into playing the TCG with the actual cards too, so that helps. It's been a long time so I'm not sure if it would still hold up.

Me and my son have a history with Pokemon. It's a franchise close to our hearts, but we're both disappointed with everything that happened on the switch. I'll always remember taking him to the anime convention to battle with the local gym champions. Just watched the Z-A trailer and it's depressing really. The last entries' artistic direction is utterly lifeless and the gameplay feels stale, despite the revolving door of gimmicks from gen to gen. I'm still hoping, one day, we get a fucking good Pokemon game though.
- I mean, the Z-A previews definitely showed a similar art style, but the battling gameplay is completely new. Dodging out of rollout looks great.
  If it's in Lumiose, I really hope the "you're not the one" hex maniac girl is back and they actually resolve that plot thread. I doubt it, but who knows.

I have been a bit cheeky, as I have chosen my first Pokémon game as the thumbnail for this post: Pokémon Blue for the Game Boy.
Sadly, I was very young and English was not my mother tongue, so I had no idea how it worked. Skip to several years later, and I gave it another go (this time with some extremely rudimentary knowledge of English, but more importantly with some more experience in games in general). Playing Pokémon this way was a mix of an RPG and a translation based puzzle game, but I was absolutely hooked. Even though I never got past about halfway through the game before my attention faded, I must have done that first half about 10 times in those years.
Later I got Pokémon Emerald for the GBA after my previous GBA game was finished in only a few hours: I figured a Pokémon game would give me my money's worth. Again, I played this numerous times and had a lot of fun, but never reached the ending.
A few years ago I was feeling nostalgic, and bought a second hand copy of Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu, knowing that it was a remake of my first Pokémon game of years ago. Reviews of this version are mixed because of the Pokémon Go like catching mini game, but nostalgia goggles made this an amazing experience for me. I especially remember one whole day where I was at home with a fever, laying on my couch and playing Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu while dipping in and out of the strangest Pokémon related dreams. Even with that bumpy ride, I was eventually able to reach the end of the story and beat the elite four! I know that there is stuff to do after that, but I was happy and sold my copy again.
I have recently bought a second hand New Nintendo 3DS and have been procuring a lot of games on it in a seafaring fashion. One of those that I'm giving a go is Yo-Kai Watch. I'm only a few hours in, and right now it looks absolutely gorgeous, but I'm unsure of the combat design and the actual design of the monsters. If any of you have some other 3DS tips, please let me now, I have a seemingly unlimited budget for 3DS games right now :).
- Since you have a 3DS and love Pokémon I would suggest HeartGold/SoulSilver, I will always hold those games in high regard (even though it's maybe partly nostalgia as Gen 2 was the peak of the Pokémon craze during my childhood). But I still think Gen 2 was great and still not yet filled with complete trash designs (figuratively and literally).
  Though if you plan on procuring it the seafaring fashion you'd miss out on the Pokewalker!

I have never played a pokemon game (except Go). I don't have nostalgia for pokemon, but I would like to play. I am down to start at any point (I can probably emulate for any platform I don't own). Where would folks recommend I start?
- I'd say HeartGold/SoulSilver were the absolute peak, and the best entry point. Faithful to the spirit of the originals while feeling sufficiently modernized, and they went above and beyond with how much bonus content they packed into it.
  
  Oh nice. Someone else suggested X/Y. Do you think HeartGold/SoulSilver are a better starting spot or about the same? I only ask since it X/Y is a little newer, so might have QoL improvements
- I'm not sure I'd recommend X/Y to start as others have. I definitely enjoyed it but it was noticeably dumbed-down compared to older games. It's not as bad as S/M (which was so trivially challenge-free I got bored), but I'm concerned that you might just not be interested. They say that game freak keep releasing games for small children despite the players growing up, so bare that in mind if you find the newer games too easy.
  I'm not sure I can recommend R/B/Y to a newbie either, as without any nostalgia they will probably seem incredibly dated. Maybe FR/LG is a good place to start, I hardly played it but it seems like you get the original experience with a bit of polish. I feel it's better to start with an older game as then if you like it you can continue through them in order rather than going back to something with less features. That said if you think it's too old and you're not enjoying it then just skip to something newer!
  
  I'm not too concerned with that. If I don't like the best in the series, then I probably won't like any of them, but I am OK with that. A lot of folks are saying HeartGold/SoulSilver as better starting points, so I went with that. Got it emulated, so no real loss for me if I don't like it.
- X/Y we're the games that brought me back into Pokémon after skipping a few generations, and the upcoming Legends A-Z takes place in the same region. Seems like a great place to start.
  
  Excellent. Sounds like a great place to start. Thanks!

I was never a big Pokemon person, mostly because I just didn't have anything that could play it growing up.
Pokemon Go was my first real introduction to the series and it was just such a cool idea. It really was an experience!
After that, the newest Pokemon Snap came out and I loved it. I had never played the original and it felt like being on a safari. That is definitely my favourite Pokemon game.

I've played almost every game between gen 3 and gen 7, but that's about where I started falling out of love with it. Idk something about the new games just doesn't jive with me. Rom hacks are pretty cool, although I felt they were stagnant for a while. Been a while since i checked though so time to see if people have cooked up anything good in the last year or two

Pokemon emerald is my favorite. I just recently realized emerald and leaf green somehow disappeared from my collection and had to repurchase them. That was not cheap...
- I recently did the opposite, I sold my Emerald and Blue for a decent price, which helped fund my second hand new 3DS. I don't really care for the cartridges as long as I can play the games, and I feel no guilt for playing roms for games that are no longer being produced :).
  I do like seeing large collections of other people, but I don't have the same satisfaction from that compared to what it would cost. (I say quite hypocritically, as I have a larger than rational LEGO collection including tonnes of Bionicle sets that I will never let go for any price)
  
  Haha! Hope you got at least 100 usd for the emerald.
  It’s odd what we find materially important. It was such a part of my childhood I just had to have it. How stupid we were to give up each console for the next one without thinking we might want to go back one day.
- If you ever want Emerald with some quality of life improvements (e.g. HMs not being necessary to actually teach; you can use them in the overworld as long as anyone in your party can learn whichever move), I'd highly suggest the Emerald Seaglass ROM hack.
  I'm mainly bringing it up because the art is absolutely gorgeous. So if you ever want to dive into Emerald again, give it a shot.
  You can play it on a variety of GBA emulators, so it's pretty simple to get running. A few good Android ones, I believe there's one called Delta on iOS, and there are several for most desktop OSes (included Linux).
  
  Oooh, this sounds neat! I'm not who you were replying to, but I wanted to thank you for mentioning the Emerald Sea glass ROM hack! I hadn't yet heard of it and I'm looking forward to checking it out.

I have a Pokemon tattoo from this game and it's goofy.

Lol, I'm actually playing through Violet right now. I don't even know why, since I finished Scarlet a few weeks ago and they're basically the same. I think I just like Miraidon more than Koraidon.
But man, I started playing the series when it first came out. Red was my first, but I've had long periods (like almost a decade) in which I never even bothered with the series, then eventually came back to it and finished what I missed. It's a series I just kind of bounce between.
Honestly, getting back into it after a long break last year with Shield surprised me. I get why some people don't like it, but I really had fun with that game.
As for similar games, Cassette Beasts nearly ruined the entire series for me. Such a great game that did so much right and so very little (if anything) wrong (in my opinion, at least). Art, music, creature designs, battle system, and especially writing. All fantastic.
I'm eager to try out Beastieball when I get a chance as well. Looks fun.
- I played the Beastieball demo, and it is a ton of fun. The combat is tactical volleyball, and is pretty satisfying to play.

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