Remakes vs originals

[Corveone]

-I prefer FR/LG if I had to choose one because I consider RBGY totally unplayable at this point. But, it's not like I'd play FR/LG either because I just can't stand playing a game with "Kanto's 151 Pokémon only" and not even P/S split anymore, it's just super boring and very restrictive to me, and it ruins many Pokémon. And I don't like the Pikachu/Eevee power fantasies from the Let's Go games either so the only way I'd go back to Kanto is through fan games or Rom-hacks with an expanded Pokédex and more updated features.

-Definitely HGSS all day. It's the same story/region but with P/S split and abilities making the game a lot more interesting, plus safari zone, at least a few Gen 4 evos available before E4, and expanded post-game. I also think Gen 4 graphics aged pretty well (better than Gen 5's), I still like them nowadays.

-ORAS because the P/S split, Fairy type, and the addition of Gen 4 evos to Gen 1-3 Pokémon. And the game of course looks way better. I'm torn about the Mega evolution addition though because while I think some of them really helped making certain Pokémon a viable choice, I don't like how most Megas went to Pokémon that didn't really need them. But considering how outdated R/S/E gameplay is, it's still an easy choice.

 

[AuroraVulpix]

My take on remakes vs originals:

Kanto: FRLG>LGPE>RBY
Johto: HGSS>GSC
Hoenn: ORAS=Emerald>RS
Sinnoh: Platinum>BDSP>DP
Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team: RTDX>RBRT

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Oh lol, so much to say.

- FRLF: good remakes, but nothing too special. If they added Battle Frontier it could have been way better, but Emerald came out later, so yeah. Compared to the originals they are indeed an upgrade.

- HGSS: really good remakes, they got the right spirit. Innovative and with good graphics, they added what it was needed to update it to gen 4. Compared to the originals, they're pretty good especially because they added the Pokemon Crystal part.

- ORAS: my fav remakes. They really came closer to my idea of remakes. When they came out I was pretty angry because I thought they would never replace the experience of pokemon Emerald, which was also more complete in the story arch. Instead, GF actually played a nice card: making these games something else. Hoenn was upgraded to gen 6 along with the pokemon and the story. Delta Episode, the coolest thing in a pokemon remake. That's what I am talking about. Where do you find all the things present in ORAS in the original games? You don't, because they changed the story even if they kept the original scheme of the narration. That's how remakes should be in my opinion. So, comparing it to the originals and Emerald, they are three different experiences. ORAS doesn't want to replace RSE, it's just another thing. Emerald tells a story, ORAS tells another one. It's really cool. When I think "why should I play gsc if I have hgss", I really can't find a good answer tbh, but when I think shall I play ORAS or Emerald, in my mind those games are two different things, like completely.

-BDSP: you all know what I think. I always try to keep myself composed when I try to write about those games. Compared to the originals, they loose. Gen 4 graphics in that age was a good graphics, now that chibi style can be nice, but I don't like it and I think that indeed it seems like a cheap update of the original game. Music, I prefer the original ones tbh. BDSP is also too easy and exp Share and affection killed the vibe of the game. The AI is better in BDSP obviously, but DP still offer a "different" level of difficulty. BDSP and Platinum, not comparable. Platinum was made also to complete DP lore and it almost makes 70% of it lol. Cutting Platinum story arch is disrespectful in comparison to the whole gen 4 lore. Worst remakes, no doubt.

 

[ReKoil]

FRLG were okay. Definitely way better than RBY at any rate. I really liked the Sevii Islands at the time, but no longer consider them that special tbh.

LGPE was... idk really. I played it, completed it, completed the Dex, and yet nothing about it in particular really stood out to me other than being Kanto with better graphics and an annoying Go like capture system. It did include the Alolan forms and let me play with Eevee as a starter so those are plusses I guess. Better then RBY, of course. Better than FRLG... ehhhh... if not for starting with an Eevee I think I'd say it's worse due to me not being a fan of the Go style catching mechanic.

As for HGSS. I never played gen 2 on the GBC, but I did play Crystal VC on the 3DS not that long ago. It was okay, but HGSS has it beat in every regard except for being unable to catch Celebi in it.

ORAS is the best remake imo and beats RSE by a wide margin. Having never cared for the Battle Frontier means I don't miss it at all.
The new content from the Delta Episode as well as the inclusion of what is probably one of my favorite mechanics to date: Soaring In the Sky, easily make this stand out from the others.
The updated mon roster was nice too.

BDSP are kind of on the level of FRLG for me. Improvements and thus better than DPPt in every regard, but they honestly did not particularly stand out compared to the other remakes.
The Grand Underground was nice and one of it's best features, allowing for mons not native to the region to be caught fairly early. That said I don't think I'll ever love Sinnoh as a region, it's just okay. So although clearly better than DPPt, they are not the best remakes to me.

Guess I like all of them better than their originals lol

 

[Amore]

So far I am really down on BDSP. I've not even made it to Hearthome yet but the mix between laying out everything on the grid like the originals yet having your more varied movement on the Switch means I keep crashing into things - something that previously has only been an issue on Emerald's Mach Bike, where it was more by design. In fact other than in-battle I find the UI to be worse, due to the fact that digging and to a lesser extent Pokétch were so much better on a touchscreen. Also with the new EXP mechanics the level curve is abysmal - my starter is at Lv. 30 I've done no grinding and also trained up an extra team to Lv. 20 just to keep things interesting.

Perhaps I'll change my mind when I finish it. These are the only ones where I've played both original and remake, but I guess also come Gen IV the series' biggest issues were worked out so there was less to obviously improve so they were always going to seem lacklustre. At least they brought back following Pokémon! ORAS look promising (finally get a Deoxys, the coolest mythical!) but I was crushed that wasn't included.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Yes, I pretty much enjoyed the vast majority of the remakes more than the originals. The only remake that I strongly disliked was Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, if that counts. The issue isn't even really the game itself, but the many things that ruined the experience, such as making the catching system like Pokémon GO's system, the use of only one joypad when connected to the dock, the extremely simple gameplay, and several other things that quickly made me regret buying the game. Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were much better than Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen were leagues better than Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, which were horrible games by today's standards. Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were much better than Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald and, in my opinion, are the best remakes in the series. I've spent so many hours playing them and had so many play-throughs because those games are amazing. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl are much more brilliant and shine brighter than Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum easily. My only issue with it, however, is that I never really cared for Sinnoh regardless. Now, if they had remade the Unova games and provided them with the same features as, say, Pokémon Sword and Shield, I probably wouldn't be able to contain myself.

 

[Drayton]

Firered / Leafgreen
It's their first remake of this game and nothing much after catching mewtwo, you are just barebone dead due to lack of postgame contents. We still stuck at Gameboy era

Heartgold/ SoulSliver
It was quite alright content just like how original, adding legendary and roaming legendary makes like bit better than Gen 1 remake. Touchscreen is nice oh and lovely walking pokemon

OmegaRuby/ AlphaSapphire
I enjoy much postgame content they offered, it' s very promising remake and visuals are appealing

Brillaint Diamond/ Shining Pearl
I don't say much, the content per say is just like your typical game, chibi is cute though

 

[cherrygrovecity]

OGs or Remakes?

do you guys tend to favor the original versions of the games or do you lean more towards their remakes? think like red vs. firered, gold vs. heartgold, sapphire vs. alpha sapphire, etc. what specific mechanics are you fond of in one game that the other might not have? are there things exclusive to the og games that you miss in the remakes (or anything available in the remakes that you would've loved to see in the og games?) were there particular changes in the plot or the characters that differed between the two that have you leaning one way or another? i'm curious!

personally, i've always been more of an og fan. i'm aware of how glitchy gen 1 is as a whole (i've played through it so many times) but there's just something about it that has me picking it up again and again in a way that i never would with firered/leafgreen. same with gold/silver/crystal—i think i'm definitely in the minority when i say that i actually didn't like heartgold/soulsilver very much and i'd play any of the gsc games over hgss any day. sometimes the remakes improve on the soundtrack, which i do like, but remakes are also equally likely to mess up a particular song that i loved in the og games. i also think the character designs in the ogs were just better overall!

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I am definitely a fan of the remakes more so than the original games. Regarding Kanto, I prefer FireRed and LeafGreen more than Red, Blue, and Yellow because of less glitches, more Pokémon added to the Pokédex, the introduction of abilities, and held items. Regarding Johto, I prefer HeartGold and SoulSilver because of the better graphics, new added features, the special/physical move split, bigger Pokédex, and so forth. Regarding Hoenn, I prefer Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire over Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald for the same reasons that I prefer HeartGold and SoulSilver. The same exact thing applies to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as well. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the original games, but I also enjoy seeing Pokémon progress and improve in many ways as well. To me, the remakes always highlight such improvement and progression of the series.

 

[Mimicking Mimikyu]

I like the remakes for their mechanics and QOL updates but the originals for the music and visuals.

 

[colours]

ehhhhhhh

• i think fr/lg remain my least favourite games, nevermind remakes.
• hg/ss is more of an exception because i had a lot of fun trying out pokeathlon and it still had battle frontier
• or/as was meh, i think soaring mostly saved it for me + the fact that it had lots of older legendaries, still. other than that, it wasn't anything special to me.
• bd/sp was sort of fun and i think i'd rank it above or/as and fr/lg, but below hg/ss. still, og games beat this one handily, especially if we're counting platinum

that's about where i lean. i've had lots more fun with the original games because they were new, and while it's normal to expect mostly the same adventure with remakes, most didn't fill me with the sense of fun that i had when playing the original games. not because i already knew what to expect, but because there wasn't much of anything new. i keep expecting new toys when it was 95% the same thing.

 

[ReKoil]

The remakes for me:
-FRLG was just Kanto, but without the buggy mess and now in color, and with a new area in the Sevii Islands.
-I only played Crystal on the VC, but HGSS definitely had way more appeal to me back when I played those.
-ORAS was great; Soaring in the sky was amazing and the climax of the Delta Episode where you fight Deoxys in space on the back of Rayquaza is easily the most epic moment in any Pokemon game. They also kept the secret bases as they were and even made new decorations for them, something I wish they'd done for BDSP.
-BDSP is just better DPPt. They could've done more, but the Grand Underground was really nice imo. The artificial difficulty inflation at the League was silly though.

 

[Devalue]

Merged the "Remakes vs Originals" thread and the "OGs or Remakes", for anyone confused. Covers the same topic.

 

[akbarjan22]

My first pokemon game was gba version saphire from this thread now i know there are remake version because last time i played on my Nintendo ds but now i think i need to buy nintendo switch only for these remakes and other new titles

 

[Gardevoir1]

FR and LG were definitely a huge upgrade as it got rid of the buggy mess of gen 1 while still letting me play the game mostly unchanged.
HGSS also felt like an upgrade and felt much less of a grind than when I played crystal.
ORAS, though, felt like they didn't live up to the hype I had for them. Sure there were small upgrades here and there like the lati@s flying and the tiny islands everywhere but emerald feels a lot more my vibe personally.

Didn't play of the remakes after this one