Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 7 Hours Ago
39,253 posts
16.6 Years
Everyone's experiences tend to be different, but with a regular playthrough, which main series game do you feel is the easiest? Try to judge equally too, as if you played them all right now - your 6 year old self may have found Gold super hard, but maybe for your adult self it'd be one of the easiest.

Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 7 Hours Ago
39,253 posts
16.6 Years
I think GSC were easiest for me, levels-wise. Gym leaders were mostly all easy and the E4 were typically not bad at all. Only chore was the grind lol, and then Kanto afterwards was even easier than the main game.

XY are also very easy typically and I didn’t struggle at all playing them. The E4 were probably the easiest/most forgettable.

Figure

Age 28
Male
Moscow, Idaho
Seen 4 Days Ago
Posted 4 Days Ago
1,439 posts
10.8 Years
X/Y were super cake but I think HG/SS are incredibly easy as well. That being said, I don't think any Pokemon game (Rom hacks excluded) is even slightly difficult without self imposed rules. Even Plat is a piece of cake becasue you can catch a Gible super easy and EV train it to one shot the game. 😴

Megan

She/Her, It/Its
Online now
Posted 1 Hour Ago
17,752 posts
10.3 Years
The first generation is the easiest. As long as you keep your team diverse and make use of the plenthora of TMs, HMs and places to explore you'll never run into any issue. My last playthrough went by without the need of grinding and I beat the game quite easily. I didn't even need to explore the entire map and beat all the trainers but it was till enough to easily get through.
Moderator of Previous Generations, Forum Games and VPP
You got a thing!
They're all equally easy. At its core, Pokemon hasn't changed at all since the first generation: know the type chart, level sufficiently, and you win. They've piled on mechanics to make it look more complicated and to provide some variety, but this only really affects the competitive battle side of things where it actually matters. For the single-player, main game experience, as long as you know the type chart and are a high enough level, you'll win easily, and it's been like that since Gen I. Even the more infamous curveballs the games throw at you just require a little more grinding than what is normal. The grind definitely varies between the games - being practically non-existent in Gen VI, and Gen VIII if you use EXP candies - but time consuming =/= difficult. It certainly *feels* easier if you spend 30 minutes levelling vs. 3 hours levelling, but as you're achieving exactly the same thing regardless of time spent, it's not any easier or harder.

Pendraflare

Age 32
Male
Pennsylvania
Seen July 30th, 2021
Posted March 29th, 2021
6,263 posts
9.8 Years
Exactly. While the later generations may have opponents that appear stronger on the surface, the newer games give you so many more items and other benefits to use against them. For example, while the original Sun/Moon has Totems not as strong as Ultra's, Ultra has more Pokemon and the Move Tutors, and you can even use Mantine Surf to grind for certain items, to better prepare for them, and the big climax fight of the original is one where each foe gets a small boost while that of Ultra is a megalomaniac that requires you to get very specific with your strategy.
Azurilland | Twitter | Nuzlocke Forums
May someday resurface in full. We'll see what happens down the road!

Fritz

girl power ftw

Age 23
Any
Cyrodiil
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted March 10th, 2023
2,152 posts
6.7 Years
ORAS were the easiest games for me. I've never really struggled to beat these games before, even when I haven't been using the Exp Share. Gen 6 games in general are probably the easiest Pokémon games to date.

PageEmp

I can’t do money puns. It just doesn’t make any cents.

Male
with an axe
Seen 1 Day Ago
Posted 4 Weeks Ago
12,445 posts
7.8 Years
The original SM, EASILY. But actually, it’s more of a tie between XY and SM, but SM’s easiness seems to resonate with me more.

I can only think of two hard parts: a level spike near the end of the game and the final rival battle. ONLY those two I found hard in the original SM, everytging was insanely easy.
I… might put something interesting here eventually.

colours

she/her
gracidea fields
Seen December 30th, 2022
Posted December 29th, 2022
8,974 posts
18.1 Years
i'd say (insert any gen 6 game here) was probably the easiest, for me. i don't really feel like any of the battles in either XY or ORAS were really that challenging, nor that memorable for that matter (sadly, it kinda felt like most battles kinda blurred together in my eyes).

Sydian

fake your death.

Age 30
they/them
Georgia
Seen May 22nd, 2022
Posted November 29th, 2021
33,354 posts
15.2 Years
xy are the easiest imo. could toss in oras too. i like the new exp share introduced in gen 6, but i think it wasn't implemented well. i think they got it right in gen 8, it's more balanced there imo, but not so much to xy which can lead to quick overlevelling. they're fun games regardless, but unless you're limiting yourself in some kind of capacity, they're a breeze.

edit: i do agree with dawn, too. generally if you know the type chart and what you're about to face, you'll be fine. there can be some wrenches thrown in, but usually grinding out more levels can solve that issue. and because of the implementation of the new exp share in gen 6 and onward, i think players tend to view them as easier (like i just mentioned) because you're having to grind less bc the whole team is getting experience altogether. which means you're spending less time to prepare for a gym or boss battle which, to us, results in thinking 'oh this is easier bc i didn't have to do that much here'. i know some people still turn the thing off and say they're easy though, but i think another thing about that is that a lot of the people that say this are older fans...and we have a good grasp of the game mechanics by now so we can squeak by with this. the gyms i thought were hard as a kid in rse are not hard as an adult, for example.
BURY ME SIX FEET DEEP COVER ME IN CONCRETE
twitter | twitch | youtube

ZeoStar

Seen 23 Minutes Ago
Posted 19 Hours Ago
11,403 posts
5.6 Years
ORAS.

I played with EXP share off and on set, it was still a breeze until Steven who put up more of a fight.
Seen 3 Weeks Ago
Posted March 9th, 2023
852 posts
2.4 Years
of the ones i've played I'd say sun & moon, that said I don't consider let's go part of the main line.

but I could be remembering wrong, I'm not sure if it was easy or boring, I didn't even bother challenging the elite four, I quit after I got solgaleo.

It was fun at first, and there were definitely good points, but it just became a slog around the latter half.
The A-non Team




Trevenant
Lv. 100 @ 306
Points: 70
Challenge: Souls of the Damned
Legendary: TBA

Chandelure
Lv. 100 @ 213
Points: 100
Challenge: N/A
Legendary: Entei

Rapidash
Lv. 100 @ 497
Points: 70
Challenge: N/A
Legendary: Entei

Flareon
Lv. 100 @ 708
Points: 70
Challenge: TBA
Legendary: TBA

Roselia
Lv. 100 @ 794
Points: 100
Challenge: TBA
Legendary: TBA

Entei
Hatch @ 793
Level 100 @ 1,018
Shiny: No
Points: 100

Janp

Age 26
They/Them
Czech Republic
Seen 1 Day Ago
Posted 2 Days Ago
5,328 posts
10.1 Years
I think all of them are easy mindless A button masher, unless you try to make them into something better yourself.

But XY and HGSS are in my opinion one of the easiest. XY has broken level curve because of Exp. Share and one of the worst movesets in major battles - Korrina is probably the biggiest offender here. Her Hawlucha has worse moveset than random trainer's Hawlucha in Reflection Cave, literally right before you get to Shalour City. While more recent games have even worse movesets, they at least somewhat fixed the level curve.

HGSS also have a problem with levels and it's just silly that you barely got past level 40 by the final Gym. It's probably even more annoying in HGSS, since you don't really have a good way to level up your Pokémon anywhere in the whole region.
God of Conquest
He/him/his
Brazil
Seen March 1st, 2022
Posted April 1st, 2021
269 posts
2.3 Years
XY. This game is laughable.

Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 7 Hours Ago
39,253 posts
16.6 Years
I figured a lot would say XY and definitely agree with them being very easy (posted saying so before too), but it was pretty crazy how difficult they were for me when I did a fully unevolved run. Think I started having massive struggles by the second gym with my team of Espurr, Pancham, and Fennekin, which is really early lol. Furfrou was a thing of nightmares in that run. :x
Male
Canada
Seen January 7th, 2023
Posted January 7th, 2023
379 posts
2.9 Years
LGPE was baby food. No challenge.
Seen April 13th, 2021
Posted April 13th, 2021
7 posts
2.1 Years
I bought Y but only played through about 20/25% of the game before i got bored. I recently finished Sword though, that wasn't even slightly hard. In the older games i remember arriving at a new town and thinking, okay cool i better level up a few levels before the gym. I did the same in Sword and ended up pretty much oneshotting the gym trainers and leader. I feel they could have bumped each gym up by 5-10 levels for it to have been more of a challenge. I also expected the Leon fight to be a lot harder than it was, it was mildly harder than what i'd fought before but i still took him down with only 2 pokemon fainting. So yeah. Pokemon Sword for me is the easiest, but i also didn't play any of the games to the end after Emerald until i picked up Sword.
Age 20
Female
kalos
Seen June 19th, 2021
Posted May 29th, 2021
828 posts
2.1 Years
probably LGPE. the only reason why it was hard for me is because i didn’t know type matchups.

Meganium

memento mori

she/her
Houston, TX
Seen February 1st, 2023
Posted February 1st, 2023
When EXP share became a Key Item beginning in XY, suddenly all of the games beyond that became super easy for me. All of my Pokemon were crazy leveled during gym battles and such. Grinding was easier.

No matter what, LGPE was piece of cake.

Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 7 Hours Ago
39,253 posts
16.6 Years
Never played it, but LGPE seems extremely easy from an outsiders perspective. From what I have played XY was the easiest.
Yeah, it's definitely very easy, especially since your partner Eevee/Pikachu have boosted stats and can learn various different types of unique moves for coverage. Plus the candies let you get exp much more easily, less grinding needed.

Agreed that they were easy but I still wouldn't mind another game like it aha. More so for the immersion/graphics than difficulty, which Pokémon's never really been about to me.

Bahamut

Pillar of Fortitude

She/they
Norway
Seen April 3rd, 2023
Posted December 16th, 2022
378 posts
5 Years
Almost all of Pokemon games are easy to me. The only game that was challenging for me was Platinum because of the E4 and Cynthia. B2W2 is challenging at times too, but you can grind very easily in that game at least.

Palamon

Silence is Purple.

Age 26
he/him
Snezhnaya, Teyvat.
Seen 3 Hours Ago
Posted 1 Day Ago
7,784 posts
14.3 Years
X/Y and G/S/C. X/Y had Gym Leaders by the end who didn't even have FOUR MOVES on their Pokemon, that's freaking ridiculous, and you know it. And G/S/C had gym leaders like Pryce have Pokemon that were LESS THAN LEVEL 30 and it's the seventh gym. THE SEVENTH GYM. But that's the fault of awful level curve, if anything.