How do you pick which version to buy?

[Altairis]

Since Pokemon always releases 2 games that are extremely similar with very little to no differences overall, how do you choose which one you're going to buy? Do version differences matter that much to you? If you buy both but not at the same time, which one do you choose to buy first? If you buy both immediately this doesn't apply to you :p

Honestly? I kind of just pick whichever box legendary I like better, since unless I specifically need a certain Pokemon the rest doesn't matter that much. I literally only picked Pokemon X because I liked Xerneas better.

 

[Nah]

I'm kinda the same as you. The differences are so slight between the games that I just go with whichever mascot legendary I like better. Other version exclusives have never grabbed my interest enough to make pick one game over the other for that, especially since there's WiFi and GTS trading nowadays; you can just get the poke/item that way.

Though I'm not sure if I'll get Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire. I like both Kyogre and Groudon equally....

 

[BeachBoy]

Usually I do what I always do with split decisions: ask the nearest person to pick a number between 1 and 100. Even goes with this version. Odd goes with that version.

Though it gets trumped by the fact (at least lately), that I harbor heavy preferences in the latest version maschots. Easy to pick X, Black 2, White, and Sapphire as a result.

 

[Amore]

Generally I've gone by cover art (and therefore also the legendary I get) - did this for Diamond, SoulSilver and Black. I did later trade back SoulSilver for a copy of HeartGold as I wanted Arcanine and Donphan...not sure if I regret that or not to be honest. The only times cover art hasn't been the primary factor are when I was picking out both LeafGreen and Black 2.

LeafGreen was a matter of availability - I'd searched the whole of my county and the next and this was the only copy of either FrLg I could find.
Black 2 was done due to prior knowledge of version exclusives - that I can get Zekrom, and also because it made sense to get the sequel to my original Unova game. Availability did play a role as there were no copies of White 2 for if I had wanted it.

 

[Silver Soul of Johto]

color schemes usually. Blues, Silvers, Diamond (blue), Platinum, Whites, and X (blue)

 

[Lihtal]

Well when i was little my parents always chose for me... so for 1st gen i got yellow... and for 2nd gen crystal... on 3rd gen they only had a copy of pokemon ruby so i went with that... as for 4th gen i was going to do a challenge with a good friend of mine so he said he wanted diamond and oh well i went with pearl. Now from there i started to buy my own games so with heart gold Soul Silver i bought the two of them. (being silver my primary game) and have all the 5th gen games (being white 1 my primary) as for X and Y it was the only one i chose because of color i liked more Xerneas being all blue and stuff that i went with that one. (every pokemon gen game that comes out is a total mistery to me on what version im going to choose!)

 

[Khoshi]

Cover/mascot legendary and version exclusives, pretty much. As soon as I found out how much better Xerneas is than Yveltal in terms of both typing and battling, and as soon as I found out what Mega Evolutions and exclusive Pokemon I could get in X in comparison to Y, I got X.

I got Diamond over Pearl because Dialga looked oh so much better than Palkia to me when I got it fresh from the shelf. If I did my research, I would've still picked Diamond due to its version exclusives (I absolutely love Honchkrow, which is exclusive to Diamond).

It's due to the mascots that I'm getting AS over OR, I just love Water types.

 

[Hikamaru]

I often get both versions on most occasions, but I stick to playing one more often than the other due to various reasons. First, it's the version mascot - I often take the game that has my fave of the two, next it's the other exclusives to the game which I pick the game that has the Pokemon I like better, like how in 5th Gen the Black/Black 2 exclusives had more of my general faves than White/White 2, or X having better Megas than Y. And lastly, the one which has the color scheme I like better.

Most of the time the "main" version fitted all this criteria, except for Diamond/Pearl where my brother got Diamond meaning I got stuck with Pearl which had the exclusives I didn't like as much. Even though with Ruby/Sapphire my main was Ruby, I actually want to switch it up for OR/AS because over time I grew to love Sapphire's exclusives better and also because I love Water-types. Kyogre also had the better design of the Primal forms of the mascots.

 

[bunny24680]

I pick the versions based on the pokemon I can catch!!!

 

[Kikaito plush]

I pick the version on which legend I like more.

 

[LusoTrainer]

I pick according to each version's exclusives.

 

[Neil Peart]

For me, it's gone down like this:

Red
Gold
Ruby
Diamond
Black
X

I always go for the darker colors, red and black being my favorite colors. I always knew, even back when link-cables were the thing, that I could just trade for the exclusives.

 

[Pendraflare]

When it comes to the newer games, it's mostly boiled down to which version exclusive legendary I prefer more. I picked Pearl, Heart Gold, and White as my main games for the first few DS era games. When Black 2 and White 2 were announced, I was initially going to get Black 2 as my main game, but then something came up (I know Marriland suggested it's best to go White+White 2 and Black+Black 2) and I ended up making White 2 my main one. As for X, I like Xerneas more than Yveltal so I chose that. Sometimes the version exclusives do end up being part of the deciding factor (X has some of my favorite Pokémon as exclusives), but that's not as much of a part on mine.

 

[Apollo]

My games were: Ruby, LeafGreen, Diamond, SoulSilver, White, White 2 and X. Most of the time, my preferred versions lie in the legendary mascots. Sometimes, it's because of their color or the version exclusives. The first two, Ruby and LeafGreen, were chosen by my parents - so I didn't have a choice. I picked Diamond because I found Dialga to be better looking, and I liked diamonds better. The same goes with SoulSilver, wherein I preferred Lugia. :P White and White 2 were chosen mostly because of their version exclusives rather than their mascot or color. I liked Reuniclus, so I got White and its sequel since it's only available there. In the case of X, it was because I found the mega forms of Mewtwo and Charizard in those versions better, and I liked Xerneas more than Yveltal.

 

[alisaie]

For me it's Mascot and maybe version exclusive is there is one that I really want on my team or something. Though before fifth generation it was whatever game that I happened to get from someone for christmas or something haha. And in the case of Black 2 I was silly and went with that instead of White 2 because I had White (even though it would have made more sense to have gotten White 2 for story purposes oh well).

 

[Reyzadren]

I always look at the version exclusives first. If that's not an issue with a pokemon team that I have in mind, then I look for features that do have a difference between the games.

 

[pippitha]

I picked the one with the version exclusives I like better, I assume that's what everyone does. I usually buy both games though.

 

[Pepperton]

The version exclusives and legendary mascot, basically. Past few generations have lined up quite nicely for me - Yveltal and Spritzee, Reshiram and Gothita, and Dialga and Stunky.

 

[Hiatus]

First thing I always wind up doing is researching a bit on version-exclusives. If one game's got certain Pokémon that I prefer over others, then chances of me picking it would be more likely. Last time I've had to make such a decision, which was when choosing between either Pokémon X or Pokémon Y, I went with latter. Why? Because we've had early access to Yveltal in it, which I like. Xerneas is okay, but design-wise, I'm just not too fond. Competitively, I suppose I can't go with either one, since they're both banned to ubers, sadly. Though, I did use Yveltal in-game a couple of times, and it was quite enjoyable.

Another thing is that, in this version, we were able to get a hold of Mega-Charizard Y. X is fantastic, but only thing that I dislike is its appearance; to me, it looks very unnatural. Charmander line were all a combination of orange and khaki in terms of color-scheme, and seeing that change randomly just doesn't feel right. If it still kept the same colors, then I would've liked it a lot better. Aside from that, Y looks more fierce to me. It doesn't have as much weight, generally, and its facial expression makes it seem very confident.

 

[Bellsprout]

I pick depending on what version exclusive Pokemon are in the game. I don't care about the box legendary because I never use legendaries so I never pick according to that. For example I picked Y over X because I preferred the Spritzee and Skrelp line over the Swirlix and Clauncher line. (I tend to pick based on the new Pokemon of said generation unless it's a remake) Also I always end up buying the other version sometime later.