Things you liked from the past

[VisionofMilotic]

This thread is a thread for features from previous generations that you appreciated, and would enjoy if they ever came back.

I liked mega evolutions and dynamaxing. It was always exciting seeing pokemon become stronger versions of themselves, hitting harder, changing their appearance to look more fearsome, and even the typing and abilities altering with the megas. It was especially nice when older pokemon that had been forgotten about or were considered "weak" got the buff with a gmax form or mega.

I also liked those minigame competitions like the contests and Pokeathalon. It was a fun way to pass your time doing challenges with different pokemon that didn't involve battle, and a way to make every pokemon a winner.

People will probably think i'm crazy for missing this, but I liked the roaming pokemon mechanic. Since they could appear anywhere at any time, just running into a latios or suicune unexpectedly was an adrenaline rush for me similar to seeing a shiny. Yes, I remember being disappointed and frustrated if I couldn't keep the pokemon from running away, but it also challenged me to keep trying, and come up with better strategies to find that roamer and catch it next time. It also felt that much more satisfying when i finally got my target.

Something else that i miss is the system for trades and wifi battles on the 3ds. It was nice that if you didn't have someone in your area into pokemon you could still hookup with a partner globally at no extra cost.

What old stuff do you think back on with nostalgia?

 

[Rock_Salazar]

Pretty much everything from HG/SS and BW2. I really miss the Pokeathon and would spend hours on it as a kid. I remember getting gold in everything before restarting my save file and redoing several mini-games because they were just fun to mess around with. From BW2 I miss the tournaments. Being able to fight your past favorite gym leaders or seeing what their ideal teams would look like was a treat.

Mega Evolutions are also something I wish returned even if some megas break the game. Megas breathe life into mediocre and underwhelming bad pokemon like Lopunny and Mawile. I always wanted to see more gen 4 pokemon receive the Mega treatment like Luxray, Mismagius, Honchkrow, Electivire, Magmortar, Lickilicky, and Ambipom. Even other past gen mons like Jynx or Eevee would have been interesting to receive megas.

From gen 8 and onward I do not know if EV training from gen 6 returns but I would love that too. Made things much easier for online or competitive battles.

QU: On another note, I soft of miss the battle frontier but I have nothing but frustrating memories. Emerald's Frontier was too difficult, gen 4's frontier was much easier but also not something I completely miss. Perhaps I have gotten used to it not being included past gen 4.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

To be honest with you, the more I play the older games, the more I appreciate the future games. The Exp. Share, leveling up after catching Pokémon, lack of HMs, Pokémon appearing in the overworld, the ability to check boxes from the menu, not having to change boxes to catch Pokémon, and so on improve my Pokémon experience drastically. Yet, I did enjoy some facets of previous Pokémon games.

The main thing that I miss from past Pokémon games is a full Pokédex. Whenever I played Pokémon in the past, I always enjoyed having access to my favorite Pokémon in some form or fashion, regardless if such access required catching them in the wild, trading with other players, and/or transferring them from other games. Ever since Pokémon was introduced to the Nintendo Switch, every Pokémon ever created no longer exists in the game data, resulting in Game Freak leaving out several Pokémon. As a result, lacking the option to travel with several of my favorite Pokémon in a new generation game can be extremely disheartening. In addition, the lack of a full Pokédex worsens the competitive scene. With fewer Pokémon in the games, certain Pokémon in the game can become too powerful, and because of the limited availability of the Pokédex, such Pokémon can become difficult to counter. Leaving out several Pokémon also limits the overall strategies players can build, as Pokémon that can learn certain moves, use certain abilities, and so on wouldn't be available for play. Thus, I highly miss having a full Pokédex.

Furthermore, while this might not seem like much to the typical Pokémon player, I miss the real-time clock feature. One of the main things about Pokémon from previous eras that fascinated me was a real-time day and night cycle. I especially loved it in Generation II and their remakes, where certain events could occur on specific dates and times, and I always enjoyed how different Pokémon would come out depending on the time of day. The real-time clock added realism and more life to the games that I wish remained on the Nintendo Switch. Pokémon Sword and Shield had a real-time day and night cycle, but only after completing the main story, which was stupid. Therefore, Game Freak should bring back a full real-time clock system to Pokémon again, much like how Animal Crossing does it today.

Another aspect of past Pokémon games that I miss is the fact that evil teams are actually evil. It seems that ever since Team Skull became a thing, evil teams in Pokémon have gone soft. For example, Giovanni and Team Rocket were like a Pokémon mafia and did evil deeds such as killing Pokémon and selling them for profit. While Team Magma and Team Aqua were not truly "evil" per se, they engaged in activities that endangered the world through the use of Kyogre and Groudon's powers. Cyrus and Team Galactic attempted to destroy the world and were almost successful too. Team Plasma, namely Ghetsis, was pure evil that had no qualms about killing children and had a good plan to steal Pokémon and take over the world. Lysandre and Team Flare, regardless of how silly they were, destroyed an entire town with the Ultimate Weapon. Team Skull, on the other hand, were just a petty street gang that even regular people laughed at. Team Yell were just fans of Marnie and Piers. Team Star were students who were bullied in school. I miss those games where evil teams actually did things that resulted in you having to save people, Pokémon, and/or the world from harm. Thus, I hope Game Freak brings back more serious evil teams.

 

[Rock_Salazar]

the more I play the older games, the more I appreciate the future games.

I think many people agree with this statement. I never look forward to using HMs like the underwhelming cut and rock smash. Same goes for waterfall, whirlpool, and dive. I want to also say I despise roaming pokemon and pokemon that are able to outright flee. One of my favorite pokemon, Teddiursa, can flee from battle in gen 2. That's total BS, especially at the beginning of Crystal where you have a <5% chance of finding one in Dark Cave. Also gen 4 had too many roaming pokemon. One is too much in my book, but gen 4 had Entei & Raikou, and Mesprit + Cresellia + kanto birds in Platinum.

Another aspect of past Pokémon games that I miss is the fact that evil teams are actually evil.

This I agree with a lot more as I grow older. What happened to evil teams? I do remember people hating on Team Flare a lot in high school, with everyone call them the dumbest and least threatening team in pokemon history. Even after they showed their true colors I still found them quite lame. Sure they destroyed a town and you do kill their leader, but that doesn't mean anything if they're still non-threatening for a majority of the game. It is like making a child the main bad guy, and at the last minute you give him a switch to launch a nuke. The child is only threatening for the moment and not the whole experience. Taking on Team Rocket as this crime syndicate in FR/LG & HG/SS was the coolest thing ever because there was build up to their schemes. You're told they give the police trouble and they take over both Goldenrod City and Saffron City. You also see the impact of their actions in having to calm down the ghost of Marowak, tons of Gyrados' at the Lake of Rage, and beating up defenseless electrodes. Team Galactic also drained water from the three lakes and you just watch magikarps suffer. Team skull wasn't that bad as I viewed gen 7 as more of a more down-to-earth pokemon experience with captains, friendlier rivals, and no true champion. I am disappointed to find out that after gen 7 evil teams just disappear. Maybe it was best for me to stop with Ultra Moon if that was the case.

 

[Megan]

While I'm not huge on the HM system itself. I still appreciate the idea behind it: your Pokemon don't just help you in battle, but also while exploring. It's a cool idea having to keep in mind what tools you need to traverse or reach certain areas while building your party. Still unfortunate that especially in the later generations it became "I need an HM slave" instead. GF kinda gave it its own spin in SV with making the box art legendary basically just that throughout the main game, as well...

In general, the exploration aspect (dungeons like Seafoam Islands, Mt Mortar and some of the Victory Roads) kinda took a backseat, especially when they "fully" transitioned to 3D during ~gen 8. Like, SwSh had straight roads with some small dead ends occasionally and SV had towers (never seen those in other games before).

 

[Rock_Salazar]

I still appreciate the idea behind it: your Pokemon don't just help you in battle, but also while exploring. It's a cool idea having to keep in mind what tools you need to traverse or reach certain areas while building your party.

I think that is how I used to view HMs in pokemon as when I first played Diamond my Empoleon had nothing but HM moves. I will not lie, while I despised having to teach dive as the 3rd water HM, the experience of using dive was always my favorite because of the mysticism of finding something new at the ocean floor along with the music that accompanies it. However, my biggest grip with HMs comes with the fact you cannot remove them. Several HMs are either one use or very situational and it bothered me to no end. I appreciate rom hacks that allow you to get rid of HM moves after you do not need them or found an HM slave.

 

[ReKoil]

Pokemon Contests the way they were done in the Hoenn region. I never really liked the way they were done in Sinnoh.
Also, although you can glide on Koraidon/Miraidon, you can't fly on them without losing altitude like in Soaring in the Sky. I'd love to be able to fly around on Miraidon/Koraidon in a similar way =\

 

[Rock_Salazar]

Pokemon Contests the way they were done in the Hoenn region. I never really liked the way they were done in Sinnoh.

I am curious about your reasoning. Personally I didn't like contests in gen 3 because I thought they were too difficult and the AI just loves screwing you over. Hence why I preferred gen 4's contests. Also because I got to dress up my pokemon and do a dancing mini-game that was okay.

 

[Adamabbafan]

Contests need to return I love them in Gen 3, Gen 4, Gen 6 & Gen 8 they are such fun and really need to return in future generations I loved the Contest Spectaculars in ORAS and the Super Contest Shows in BDSP the original Super Contests in Diamond, Pearl & Platinum are also amazing and I much preferred the Contests in Emerald as they all took place in Lilycove City.

I have got all 40 Contests Ribbons (20 from Hoenn in Gen 3 and 20 from Sinnoh in Gen 4) with various Pokemon and seeing the Gold Contest Memory Ribbon in Gen 6 onwards is wonderful it makes you feel so proud to have all of the Contest Ribbons)

I really enjoyed the Musicals in Unova and I hope that they return in the Black & White remakes it was such a shame that the Musicals never awarded any Ribbons but I also think that Unova should have had regular Contests.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Contests indeed. I wanted a game with only contests lol.

Then poffin preparation and similar. Those little minigames were cool. Casinos too.

Lack of additional effects accordingly to friendship with Pokemon. I don't really stand it.

Lack of game mechanics. I feel like it becomes too centric and sometimes it even just brings the story to similar plots.

Exploration. Gen 4 games were top tier, but yeah I miss getting lost and I miss the paths were I could possibly get a little lost.

*coughs* Battle facilities*caughs*. One of the best features in the game series imo. Pretty hard that they were so fascinating.

 

[Devalue]

The old sprites. Misses some of the simplicity of movement and camera. Posed them better than some of the current models.

 

[VisionofMilotic]

Posting to add that I think everyone misses the national dex. Some games are more enjoyable to me than others, but no matter what region I'm in I remember the teammates who I traveled with, and feel something for them at least. I want to be able to take the loyal pokemon who served me well to the next game, and explore new places with not only new pokemon, but with my old battle comrades too. It's a great nostalgic feeling to reunite with a pokemon from an old file in another time and setting, and I feel bad when not all of my companions are allowed in a particular region, and my team is split up.

This is a more subtle thing from a previous generations, but added some nice texture to the overworld, and that was the seasons in the Unova games. It was lovely to have the same routes and cities look different depending on what season you traveled during, snowflakes could be falling from the sky in winter, or in spring you might see cherry trees covered in colorful foliage. It also made sense that different pokemon or areas might be accessible depending on the time of year. I liked how the Pokemon Sawsbuck had varying coats and tree branches for antlers depending on the time of year. Permanent seasons like our night and day mechanics could have been a beautiful way to make our regions continue to come alive, without probably being that much more work for developers.

 

[Rock_Salazar]

Season effects were definitely a spectacle to behold in gen 5, but I remember being annoyed by certain areas not being accessible unless the correct season was taking effect. If seasons were to come back then maybe certain pokemon are more likely to be found depending on the season, and maybe as a post game reward you can control the seasons using a device making it easier to complete the pokedex or explore more.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Season effects were definitely a spectacle to behold in gen 5, but I remember being annoyed by certain areas not being accessible unless the correct season was taking effect. If seasons were to come back then maybe certain pokemon are more likely to be found depending on the season, and maybe as a post game reward you can control the seasons using a device making it easier to complete the pokedex or explore more.

You can change the time on your device to manipulate the seasons. That's what I always did.

 

[Corveone]

I miss Poké Pelago and Mantine Surf from USUM. They're probably the only two mini-games that I'll ever miss in the whole franchise.

Also the lack of day-night cycle in Gen 1 and 3. As someone who can frequently only play at night I find it annoying to sometimes miss Pokémon in certain areas because it wasn't daytime when I went through them. And omg Gen 5 Seasons... I hope that feature never returns.

And I believe I'm going to miss the Terastal mechanic, as the first regional gimmick I really like. I mean, I do miss a few Mega evolutions too, but I'm totally fine with most of them being a thing of the past.

 

[Sheep]

Pokeathlon, RSE-style Contests, PSS, and, by far the biggest, seasons. I miss the game looking different each season so very much - added a lot of character and charm. Part of why BW were just so good.

 

[Amore]

Also the lack of day-night cycle in Gen 1 and 3. As someone who can frequently only play at night I find it annoying to sometimes miss Pokémon in certain areas because it wasn't daytime when I went through them. And omg Gen 5 Seasons... I hope that feature never returns..

This never bothered me until Gen 8 actually, because the oppressive pink ruins SwSh at the exact time I'm most likely to be playing. When I finally play Gen 7 I'll be playing (Ultra) Moon because of the reversed daylight settings.

Where it really bothered me was in DPPt's resistance to any form of clock manipulation. Like in HGSS if I want a million Apriballs all I have to do is set the clock to 23:59, open up the game inside the next minute, and watch the Apricorns spawn before my very eyes. Yet in DP if I want to migrate more than 6 Pokémon every day, or I adjust the clock due to Daylight Savings, suddenly everything's broken for 24 hours. HGSS through BDSP I was fine with it, its just SwSh. Isle of Armor in particular looks horrible because of the sea reflecting the pink sky.

Pokeathlon, RSE-style Contests, PSS, and, by far the biggest, seasons. I miss the game looking different each season so very much - added a lot of character and charm. Part of why BW were just so good.

Seasons not returning sucks. Now they've changed the day/night cycle to 90 minutes, I'm really hoping they put seasons to every 48 hours or something (irl, not in-game). It would make no sense, but neither does 90 minute days or being able to ride your living dragon-bike/sandwich-disposal-unit the length of the Iberian peninsula in 15 minutes.
I especially enjoyed the exaggerated changing sound effects on Route 1 in Unova. Pokéathlon and simpler contests were amazing too, especially the former - despite generally sucking at video games due to abysmal reflexes, I managed to conquer the entire thing with Entei, Raikou, and Suicune last time I played through. I vastly preferred Pokéblok to Poffins, I just wished there was a way to make decent ones on your own rather than waiting until post-game when Blend Master turned up (basically locking Milotic in post-game).

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I like the day/night cycle of games like Gen 2, but I agree that it really should just be cosmetic cuz it's a pain to catch a Phanpy or (I think) Skarmory without resetting the clock, so it's morning.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

Getting phone numbers in gen 2 for rematches and items was cool

I also liked the whole base making in gen 3 and 4

Gen 5 part 2 had an entire area you could name(join avenue)

 

[Yoshi808]

One thing really sticks out about past generations, actually one earlier generation, and that was the music you would hear upon encountering a person who wants to battle you on the side of the road. There was a snake enchanter type version that I would love listening to, until I ran out of battles to do. Lol. I tried looking through YouTube, and happily listened to a lot of past music, but couldn't find it.