How do you decide which version of a game to buy?

[Sheep]

Is it based on the box legend, the exclusives, the opposite version to your partner/friend, or something else? o:

 

[Devalue]

Coordinates to have a different version than a sibling. Varies in reason beyond that. Hinges most on the box art legendary, probably. Wanted Sword for Sirfetch'd, however. (Knew about it from the trailers.)

 

[Rock_Salazar]

During gen 4 it was because of the box art legendary, like Dialga and Ho-oh looking the coolest for me. But over time it came down to which sounded cooler. Pokémon Black, Pokémon X, Pokémon Omega Ruby, and Pokémon Sun all sounded cooler than their counterparts. Now it comes down to the exclusives. Like how Violet has all the paradox Pokémon are machines, Ceruledge, and the misdreavus line.

 

[RadEmpoleon]

I guess I go off of vibes of the box legendary and pick the game with it, and hope that I like its version exclusives better than the other game's. When I was younger, I used to get the opposite of my siblings so we could trade version exclusives and such.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Most of the time it's been version exclusives - I picked Blue initially since Meowth was exclusive to it, then it went from there.
But my choice of Sapphire was purely because I wanted to fight Team Aqua instead of Team Magma.

But the reasoning for my choices for 5th gen were... interesting...

I made my choice based on her:

When 5th gen came out, I was in my Precure era, and since Cure White was my favorite girl from the series (and arguably, she still is), guess which games I chose? Yes, a magical girl from a completely unrelated anime series ultimately made that decision for me.

Up until 5th gen, my brother and I would talk and agree on which version of each game we'd buy so we'd always have both versions between the two of us. That ended for X/Y since he just started buying both games and I stuck with the ones with better exclusives.

 

[Corveone]

Based on whichever cast of version exclusives looks more interesting to me. Box legendaries allways go to the box, so that's not a factor. The only time that made any difference is in Paldea, because you have Koraidon/Miraidon as a mounts, but it's just aesthetic.

 

[EmeraldSky]

Whichever version has the cooler mascot and the exclusives I want.

 

[Lucas_Does_Things7]

Which version has more appealing exclusives to me (as was the case for sword and X) or just has a cooler legendary regardless of exclusive pokemon (Scarlet and Ultra sun)

 

[ribbits]

It generally comes down to version exclusives and box legendary however I can be a stickler for aesthetics so in the case of Scarlet/Violet the school uniform was also a deciding factor... Something that could be avoided by having player customisation that passes the pub test!

 

[LeadRain]

I go off whichever mascot is better.

 

[WddB03]

Is it based on the box legend, the exclusives, the opposite version to your partner/friend, or something else? o:

Which version exclusive features/pokemon do I like better? For example I'll play white over black for white forest/ older themes. Not huge fan of futuristic theme in black. Also Braviary is a top 5 favorite. Leaf green over fire red because I like Victrebell over Vileplume. Omega ruby because magma works better being evil and Archie's character fits better with being supportive of player. Sun over moon because solgaleo and I don't like the 12 hour behind thing that moon does. Just depends on the game but it's mostly which has better exclusives