Best Third Version Game

[VisionofMilotic]

If you have been playing the core series pokemon games over the years then you know this tactic by Game Freak. A Pokemon generation will debut with two sister games. This pair is really the same game i.e Pokemon Gold and Silver, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl etc. There will be a different pokemon on the box cover, and a small handful of differing version exclusive pokemon i.e Growlithe only being found in the wild in Red, whereas Blue has Vulpix instead, but essentially the games are the mirror image of eachother.

Then a year or two down the road a third "new and improved" version of the game may be developed and released I.e Pokemon Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum. These special edition games always have way more stuff than the prototypes that introduce the region. They will feature crisp, new sprite designs for the Pokemon and trainers, introduce new characters and plots that built on top of the existing content, never before seen areas to explore, upgraded features, special events, a more comprehensive Pokédex with pokemon not obtainable in the prior games, possibly even new forms, evolutions and more.

From 5th Gen onward this formula has not been strictly followed, in it's place we've seen sequels like Black 2 and White 2, an expansion pass to upgrade the Sword and Shield base game with dlc as an alternative to a third version, and sometimes only the two sister games without any follow game for the region, as was the case with XY.

Sun and Moon did make essentially third game content with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, but with some variation on the formula because the follow up game was made into two version exclusive games. Ultimately, I would still count it as a third version.

Of all the many third version games in the core series, which is your favorite?

For me that game is easily Emerald. In my eyes the main story of Emerald is even more awesome than the remakes Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire because both Team Aqua and Magma serve as antagonists, and you have two evil teams and two formidable legendaries to contend with at once, and a nice quest to find Rayquaza. It also introduced the Battle Frontier to the main series. With the post game facilities, the final boss fight with Steven and being able to rematch trainers and gym leaders like in GSC I think it offers one of the busiest post games you can undertake.

What about you guys? What's your third version of choice?

 

[Lysander]

I played through Emerald recently and would consider it to be my favourite on this list. Being able to fight two different villainous teams was pretty fun, and it was nice to be able to catch Groudon and Kyogre. Only real disappointments for me were Wallace replacing Steven as a Champion (resulting in the 8th Gym Leader and Champion both specialising in Water-types), and not being able to catch a Level 47 Rayquaza, with it instead being Level 70 and ultimately rather difficult to catch without a Master Ball before taking on the Elite 4 as it will likely be much stronger than your whole team and OHKO them with Outrage.

 

[Nah]

Probably Crystal or Platinum for me, though I've never played Emerald

 

[Zeostar]

Platinum was such an upgrade that I can't bring myself to go back to Diamond/Pearl.

Unlike the others, where even after playing the third version it's not much of an issue going back.

 

[tokyodrift]

Kind of hard to choose, since I think Platinum, Emerald, and Crystal we're amazing third version games. If I had to choose though, it'd probably be Platinum. It fixed so many issues Diamond/Pearl had, as well as a backstory, albeit somewhat short, on Giratina. There's just so much they put into that game that makes it have so much replay value.

 

[Lunar]

Because I spent so much of my childhood in Hoenn on Pokemon Emerald, it gets my vote. I loved the story (how we had two rival teams), Rayquaza quest, battle frontier and everything the post-game had to offer, I seriously spent so many hours on that game and its my favourite of all time, in any series! That being said, I think Platinum actually did the most to fix the issues of its previous games, it was a seriously good game, plus Crystal was an amazing, complete experience of Johto as well, so I think overall, Game Freak's best work came in their third versions.

 

[Percy]

I'll join the Emerald squad :3
grew up playing it, still playing it yearly actually. never gets old for me!

 

[Qu4ntumSh3rd]

Platinum. Gen V may be my favorite but the distortion world blew me away.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Have to go with Pokemon Emerald. I was extremely disappointed with how they didn't use it as a base in ORAS. I remember battling both teams and then the hug battle at the end between the three legends.


I have Platinum, but I never played it until recently and I still have made it beyond the 4th Gym.

 

[budube]

Gotta go with Emerald here, though Platinum is a close second and possibly a first if I ever get to finish it lmao. I'm still at the third gym and it's v good.

 

[Figment]

Call me an uncultured swine all you want, but, I've never played Platinum or Emerald, I now must resign my role as a Pokemon fan. Jokes aside, I'm going to have to go with USUM as it's the only one i've played.

 

[Palamon]

Emerald, always Emerald. I felt it expanded the game enough to be considered the definitive best third version. Platinum was pretty good, too, though. Platinum fixed a lot that was broken within D/P, so I'll give credit where credit is due on that one. lmfao, though, I'm bias towards Emerald since it was my first Pokemon game ever. <_<

 

[Caite-chan]

Platinum was the only one I didn't play along with that whole Gen. So out of the rest of those I would say Emerald was one of my favorites though I think I could play Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon again.

 

[ZoeScott]

i've never tried platinum, sooo.. waiting for the rotten tomatoes here)

 

[TacoTach]

I'd say it's a close tie between Emerald and Platinum. But I gotta go with Emerald because I spent much more time on it as a child. It also had the best Battle Frontier in my view.

Yellow was nice, not just for the Pikachu following you, but also because you could have the 3 starters. But otherwise it didn't add anything, it's basically the exact same game as Red & Blue.

Haven't played Crystal in many, many years but the only notable changes I can remember were the Suicune story and the Battle Tower.

Never played US/UM.

 

[VisionofMilotic]

I'd say it's a close tie between Emerald and Platinum. But I gotta go with Emerald because I spent much more time on it as a child. It also had the best Battle Frontier in my view.

Yellow was nice, not just for the Pikachu following you, but also because you could have the 3 starters. But otherwise it didn't add anything, it's basically the exact same game as Red & Blue.

Haven't played Crystal in many, many years but the only notable changes I can remember were the Suicune story and the Battle Tower.

Never played US/UM.

Don't forget Crystal introduced playing as a female character to the mechanics. The extreme speed dratini side quest was also a pretty cool bonus. And in the Japanese version and now the virtual console there was the Celebi/Gs ball event to unlock :)

 

[Princess Diana]

Yellow and Platinum make their respective generation games difficult to play.

Ultra Sun made Sun tolerable.

Haven't played Crystal or Emerald so can't comment on that.

 

[BestSpeedArtistEver]

I'd go for Emerald, it has my fave pokemon Swampert.

 

[Ferali]

Emerald. Name a more iconic 3rd version. I'll wait.

 

[Sirius Black]

My favorite is honestly going to be Emerald; It was the definitive version that made all of the right changes to a generation third version entry. It added Gym Rematches, the first (and best) battle frontier release, an amazing plot involving team aqua AND magma, and honestly outside of the one change they made with wallace being the champion and Juan (who I honestly feel was just a re-made wallace as a last minute change by game freak to be honest...) who literally nobody wants to remember - it was an excellent release that really should have defined what Pokemon games SHOULD be.

Probably Crystal or Platinum for me, though I've never played Emerald

out of sheer curiousity - why haven't you played Emerald?