Lists are fun. Thinking and comparing things is fun. Let's go.
These lists will reflect the games I have played. They'll be listed by release set.
12. Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (DS)
The introduction of Cynthia was neat, and the digging minigame was fun, but man, this one felt boring as hell. Adding the Physical/Special split for moves i probably the best thing it did though. Prior to these games, moves used either Attack or Special Attack depending on their type. For example, all Ghost type moves used your Attack state in generations 1-3, while all Fire attacks used your Special Attack (RIP Flareon, with your higher Attack than Special). This split made the stat used move-dependant.
11. Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (3DS)
This has played out identical to Sun and Moon for the most part, barring the introduction of space cops, but after a few islands I'm not seeing enough to differentiate it from the previous entry in the series. Maybe it changes towards the end. We'll see.
10. Pokemon Go (Mobile)
Might be cheating to add this to the list, but don't care. Pokemon Go is ok, but I don't like doing the raid shit and battles that the game needs me to do to progress.
9. Sun/Moon (3DS)
This is probably the easiest game in the series. I'm not hating on that fact. Pokemon games are designed for children, and I've been playing these things for over 20 years. I know what's up. I like the aesthetics of the tropical islands, and the removal of HMs was an interesting choice. ust having a Pokemon that you can call on to push boulders, or to surf on, or to fly you wherever is nice, and doesn't require the use of a team slot. Team Skull is outstanding and useless, as a gang of misfit kids would be. Them being a decoy antagonist team is outstanding.
8. Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (GBA)
We're getting to the point where I'm starting to split hairs, since I like a lot of the Pokemon games. I wish there was more to the Contests than there was, and I didn't quite care for Team Aqua and Team Magma as much as villians. Kyogre Groudon and Rayquaza are neat though.
7. Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
This was a toss up between this, and the next on on the list. While it's more of the same, it also adds a really cool epilogue chapter focused on Rayquaza,and found a way to add more of the previous legendaries through Wormholes. Plus, you get to fly around on a Latios or Latias, and that's cool. Seeing a rendered Hoein below you as you fly is super cool.
6. Fire Red/Leaf Green (GBA)
This one wins out over ORAS just because of Gen 1 nostalgia. Sorry. It was close.
5. Red/Blue/Yellow (GBA)
These games are a charming mess. This is the Pokemon game that I've spent the most time with. Part of the endearment to it comes from when I speedran the game, a few years ago. Well, learned half of the speedrun. The game feels like a little engine that could, at times, barely chugging along as some dumb glitch is waiting to pop up. From Badge Boosting, to Crits ignoring all stat changes (including your Attack up buffs), to Ditto's transform locking you out of Struggle, Trainer Fly, and of course, MissingNo, these glitches paint a messy picture of this game. Normally, I rail on glitches, and games getting love despite of them, so this may seem hypocritical, given my thoughts on everything Bethesda develops, but a few things set this apart for me. It was a new franchise, it was on old handheld technology, and this was back in the mid 1990s. Fixing a game wasn't as easy.
It's hard to ignore the nostalgia of the game and what it represents to this entire franchise. It's hard to separate the fondness I have for Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle from my childhood and nostalgia, but I think this is right for the game. I have immense fondness for it's jankiness and what it's done, but other games did it better.
4. Silver/Gold/Crystal (GBC/3DS)
Let the Hate Flow Through You. Don't get me wrong, I love these games. They're some of my favorite. I just think the remaining 3 are better. The introduction of the roaming legendaries was neat. The addition of Dark and Steel were also great, to check some of the issues with the first game. Totodile is my boy. Top 4 is pretty good! It had a lot of neat things, like introducing the day/night cycle, rematching trainers, and fixing a lot of the issues that plagued generation 1.
For the record, if you want to play Gen 2 again, but want to play it a bit differently, I recommend looking up "Pokemon Crystal Clear". It's an open world hack for Pokemon Crystal that gives you like, 25 starter options, you can start in either Kanto or Johto, and the game has a scaling difficulty, so you can do the gyms in any order you'd like. The downside is that it takes away the plot, but if your goal is the whole "To be a master" type thing, this may work well for you.
3. HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS)
So is top 3! Walking Pokemon! They're so cute. Walkin' around with you as you travel. Also, using the Physical/Special split that was introduced in DPP, it makes a good game better.
2. Black/White (DS)
The difference between 1 and 2 are close.
Black/White have villians I actually enjoyed fighting, because they were pretty shitheads. Their entire process was running rallies convincing people that they were enslaving Pokemon, and that they should be released... So THEY would be the only ones with Pokemon. It's so silly, I love it.
These games also did something I absolutely adored. Before you beat the Elite 4, you can ONLY see new Pokemon in the wild. You may get some people from other countries carrying like, a Pikachu, but you will not be able to capture one in the wild. You only see Unova native Pokemon until you beat the Elite 4. After that, other species start to fill the world. Sure, it's gamey, but it's Pokemon. The game also uses seasons that change on a monthly basis. The terrain of the world changes through the year slightly, so you may be able to access a certain optional location in Winter in the mountain that you couldn't access in other season. To help with this theme, they introduced a Pokemon whose appearance is determined based on the season you find it in.
Also, unlimited use TMs is a godsend, and carried over to every game after.
1. X/Y (3DS)
I wish the quality of life changes in this game were kept across later generations. The ease in which you could access Super Training, a way to raise your Pokemon's EV stats through a Minigame, rather than hunting out 200 Mankey to raise your Attack EVs or whatever, was fun. It made getting a Pokemon with the stats you wanted easier. Having three different, yet easily accessible, movement speeds was nice, between walking, rollerblades, and the traditional bike. The addition of Fairy type added some new wrinkles to the metagame, and brought Dragon types down a peg. Previously, Dragons were only weak to Dragon Type and Ice Type moves. Now they're weak to Fairy types, and Fairy types are immune to Dragon moves. THis also affected Poison and Steel types, as Fairy types are weak to those types of moves.
The France-inspired Kalos was pretty to walk around, had some interesting architecture, and was an overall treat to explore. Some of the new Pokemon are absolutely some of my favorites, with the Honedge line, the cursed goddamned sword, being tops. Mega Evolutions added another interesting gameplay mechanic and made some older Pokemon really interesting. Shout out to Mega Kangaskhan, and Johnny Six-Spoons (Mega Alakazam).
Team Flare, the villain organization of the game, is the campiest, most ridiculous, over the top villains in the series. They were flaming red-orange suits with bright orange like... half-pompadour. It's great.
More lists will happen when the mood strikes. I'll probably do a Final Fantasy one at some point and I don't know what else. Maybe Doom if I get around to Doom 2016 at some point.
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