What generation do you think had the best games?

[Sheep]

In your personal opinion, what generation had the best set of games and why?

 

[Percy]

for me, i think it'd be gen 5. i mean, the story was good, good features, good pokemon (don't @ me). and not to mention, it got a legit sequel, with a legit sequel story. can't have something better than that

 

[Raicheot]

Gen 2 hands down gold/silver/crystal had the ability to go back to kanto and get 16 badges no other gen allowed that and you got some great legendaries and the pokemon designs were still good also silver had an edge to him which no other rival has had since

 

[PageEmp]

DS generations as a whole. Both gens 5 and 4 delivered very well.

 

[Syntthetix]

I'm split between Gen 5 and Gen 6. Gen 5 was awesome because of the fact that there was a real story that actually continued with good flow in the sequels, plus Unova and the sountrack are both simply amazing. Having version exclusive 8th gyms was really cool, I remember loving that Join Avenue feature when there were enough people playing to actually pass them in the car or in busy areas, and I'm pretty sure I would sit in Nimbasa City just to hear the music. So on the story/region front, Gen 5 definitely wins for me.

But looking at it in a different way, Gen 6 was also a really great addition to the series. Since Gen 6 was the first set of games to be released on the 3DS, it made it so a bunch of new players could get into the Pokemon games. X/Y was fairly easy with a great region and a whole set of new features showing what the 3DS was capable of at that crisp 240p resolution. ORAS was able to expand upon that by adding even more new features and, of course, recreating the Hoenn region with better trumpets and graphics. That's probably a more personal reason honestly, I adore Gen 3 since it's where I started, but ORAS was still a great addition. To sum that all up, on the accessibility/features front, Gen 6 would probably win in my opinion.

 

[shayfee]

gen 4 games are my all time favorites! diamond/pearl/platinum take the spot(s) for my favorite game(s) in the entire franchise. i love all the new pokemon in them, i love team galactic (even as goofy as they look), and i love all the legendaries and mythical pokemon introduced in these games! (i might be a bit biased, since shaymin is also my favorite pokemon). i think the ost is also just fantastic! and cynthia is awesome. i will admit though, these games are extremely long and drag on quite a bit at parts, but i love them anyway.
hgss is also just such an incredible remake. game freak really knocked it out of the park with this one and i can only hope the dpp remakes will be this good. there were so many little amazing details, and the postgame in hgss is just amazing!!! i played way too much hgss for my own good lmao
as an honorable mention though, i will say i also really loved gen 5. the story in bw is amazing and i love team plasma, maybe even more than team galactic! the design of unova is also great in my opinion, and i know the pokemon introduced get a lot of flak but i actually really loved most of the designs!

 

[Phyrrhic]

If you include HGSS with gen 4, I'd say gen 4.

It was clear that GF still dreamed big, and filled the games with features, which added to their longevity longevity. There was the pokewalker, contests, pokeathalon, 16 gyms 1 game, Pokemon following, and most importantly, hugely interesting and fulfilling post games.

Without HGSS: Gen 5.

These games were similarly feature packed and clearly made with love, however i feel like BW were weaker when compared to B2W2, making it on average, a weaker gen than 4. They had the coolest evil teams, the deepest story, and the most unique level design of the entire series IMO.

That said, each gen up to gen 6 has its own special qualities, and I have great memories in each (aside from 1), but I honestly have little positive to say about gen 7, other than that I got back into the card game in the SM series. On the whole, Gen 7 was when I saw the most troubling signs from the series about its future quality. I hope that gen 8 is fixed for the best due to backlash, and that my opinion of the current state of the series turn around! :D

 

[Sydian]

gen V. bw and bw2 deliver on all fronts and are a cohesive generations. took a lot of risks and gave us a lot of new feature and functions that may not have always worked, but the effort was there. bw2 are solid sequels, it's nice to see n's return and how cheren and bianca turn out after the events of the first games. i'll cast a vote to gen II as well just bc i think they're very well crafted rpgs and i think for an older game, it's aged pretty well. much better than the originals.

can't give my vote to gen III unfortunately bc frlg exist and i'm not a fan.

 

[Brendino]

Even though D/P/Pt have arguably my second least favorite story in the main series games, my vote still goes to Gen IV. HG/SS blew my expectations for a remake out of the water, and Gen IV brought so many things to really push the Pokemon games into the future.

Gen III for how much time I poured into it, and Gen V will all of the risks they took are both high on my list too, and just behind Gen IV in terms of my favorites.

 

[Megan]

In what respect, though? I could probably make a case for gen 1 having the best games and get away with it.

best story-wise: gen 5
best exploration-wise: either gen 2 or 3
best graphics-wise: either gen 5 (2D graphics) or the newest (3D models)
best music-wise: idk, never focused to much on the OST of a Pokemon game, tbh.
best mechanics-wise: probably the newest, because newer games usually are more polished
...

I find it hard to compare the games. Even though they all work on the same formula, they still have something going for them that I find missing in the others. There isn't really one that sticks out to me the most to make a proper decision.

 

[Fairy]

Gen 2 with Gen 6 as a close second for me. Really can't beat how many innovations these gens brought to the Pokemon main series games as a whole.

 

[lilaë21]

Gen 4 overall, especially when including HGSS. Diamond/Pearl had a few technical issues but they still kickstarted that gen perfectly, great postgame, good story, my favourite region, and nearly every non-starter and non-legendary/mythical Pokémon available. Then Platinum came and fixed practically all of their flaws, and HGSS are the best example of a remake we got, with nearly everything both from the source games and their current generation being included. There was so much quality in those titles that gen 4 is still the peak Pokémon experience for me: I can't think of many negative things to say about them, especially because latter gens came to lack things that those games (and in some cases also DP) had. (Can't really blame them much for lacking later much-needed innovations like the Fairy type)

Gen 5 isn't really much behind; BW had the great starting point of Platinum/HGSS but while technically superior and having brought a good story (though not my favourite) and a huge number of Pokémon, some really great, I don't like them as much as gen 4; while a good chunk of the new Pokémon had great designs (I'm one of those who love the Vanilluxe line btw), a not-so-small number of them felt kinda unneeded or too similar to earlier ones, so the big number of Pokémon is a double-edged sword. Also, the no-earlier Pokémon was great for novelty but bad for type distribution - it kinda felt like the DP mistake again. BW Unova was especially bad to me, too linear and that made it feel little, especially coming after Sinnoh, and I felt like some of the areas were made just to push the DS without caring for gameplay (Castelia City is kinda a miniature Unova: yet more linear paths... I appreciate the effort in making that on a DS but I'd still have preferred a more regular city). Plus, I felt that they pushed for making each city graphically unique - which is not a bad thing per se - but in doing so they imho made Unova feel less consistent than other regions, which imho already had unique-feeling cities (again something that imho Sinnoh did better).
As for B2W2, they were an improvement over BW in lots of aspects (but not, imho, in the story), but because of Unova's flaws and certain other things that weren't fixed (like no VS Seeker) I still put it behind Platinum/HGSS. Though as a whole I'd put gen 5 ahead of any other non-gen 4 main series game other than Emerald.

 

[Phyrrhic]

a not-so-small number of them felt kinda unneeded or too similar to earlier ones, so the big number of Pokémon is a double-edged sword. Also, the no-earlier Pokémon was great for novelty but bad for type distribution.

This was a largely overlooked factor for the initial "outrage" regarding new Pokémon in gen 5. In addition to design shifting to a far more detailed style, type distribution made it feel "off" and many of the far more usable and interesting 'mons were only revealed nearer to the endgame.

BW Unova was especially bad to me, too linear and that made it feel little, especially coming after Sinnoh.

I think this, in addition to the weaker endgame brought it down for me compared to B2W2. the second games were the perfect example of iterative design, and seemed to be the most passionate and polished GF product to date.

Every area had a purpose, and felt genuine. The evil team was cool as hell, and the endgame and little features gave the game nearly endless depth.

 

[Sheep]

III or IV for me, I think. As much as I loved Unova as a region, I was most captivated with RSE/FRLG and DPPt/HGSS than any other games. Played them for so long, and made a lot of new save files (particularly for RSE and DPPt). Perhaps it's not because they were the best games to me per se, but because I was young and impressionable and my Pokémon obsession was at its peak during those times.

 

[colours]

III and IV not really just because of Emerald and Platinum/HGSS, but also because, if we're including spinoffs, then PMD: EoS was around during that time, as well as Pokemon Colosseum and XD.

It was a good time to be a Gen III and IV fan around then, at least for me. =P

 

[Sorvete]

V, because I'm a sucker for the BW games. It was also the generation they made TM's for infinite use, and the music was great!

 

[[email protected]]

Third: RSE, Red / Blue Rescue Team
Fourth: Explorers Of Sky

 

[Qu4ntumSh3rd]

Gen 5 by far had the best story, great characters, and the N's Castle Theme, N's final theme, Ghetsis and the Credits song were amazing. Not all the Pokemon were great, but they wern't horrible.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Crystal is my favorite game of all time but I am hesitant to say that generation is the best with all of it's flaws and the fact it was only one series of games and no remakes. Generation 3 is probably what I'd say here considering I loved Emerald a lot(and this gen gave me Castform!) but also that we got our first set of remakes in FRLG and some pretty cool spinoff titles in Colosseum and XD.

 

[skyluigi2]

Has to be Gen 4 for me I think, DPPt are my favourite games and HGSS are probably the best remakes in the series. Closely followed by Gens 3 and 5!