What is your favorite Gen and why?

[AtomicTofu]

I personally love Gen III just because it's nostalgic and the fact that the battle are much faster paced. I know this sounds weird but I appreciate the older graphics I think it just looks more like a pokemon game than Gen VI. I also like Gen IV (D,P,PT,HG,SS)

 

[SleepyTrainer]

Gen II for me.
There's just something about it that makes me like it a lot.
Gen III also introduced a lot of very nicely designed pokemon. Gen I also.
Every gen did...

The silver version is the one I like the most.

 

[adameastment]

My favourite gen is probably 3rd gen for nostalgia factor. But I think 6th Gen almost succeeded that because of ORAS.

 

[skyburial]

I can't believe I was late on the Gen IV train, because it was a monster of a generation. So many evolutionary lines completed, big, big storylines (though not as epic as Gen V), and some of the raddest legends the series has ever seen. Give it up for Cresselia, Heatran, Dialga, Giratina, and Arceus folks.

Also, the starter dynamic was completely flipped on its head, each mon having a type advantage to the type that would typically counter it.

 

[Mekkalynx]

Mine will always be Red, call it pure nostalgia or the quaintness of the Kanto Region but Red will always be the best in my opinion despite the fact that I absolutely love every generation so far.

 

[Wicked3DS]

Gen III is my favorite because of Emerald and FR/LG. Everyone considers FR/LG to be very weak in terms of remakes, but they are much better versions of the originals in terms of mechanics and balance, and in any case, FireRed is the game I've owned the longest as I've lost my Gen I and II games a long time ago :( Emerald is also my most favorite in terms of story. Very deep plot and great villains even if there is too much water.

Gen IV is a close second. HG/SS are fantastic and Platinum is pretty good as well.

 

[Pendraflare]

Generation V for me. Even if it took a while for me to really warm up to BW, the Pokémon were mostly ones I thought were pretty cool, and the plots were very well done. I've already talked 9000 times about what I love in B2W2, so I don't think I need to talk any more about that. B)

 

[professor plum]

Generation IV will always hold a special place in my heart. Platinum was so good (plus HGSS ;-;). Generation III (RSE + FRLG!!!) and VI (ORAS!!!) are probably a close second, though.

 

[Loriania]

Probably Gen IV. While I never played the original, I really liked Soul Silver. Then I liked Pearl a lot too.

Gen VI is a close second. Enjoyed AS/OR very much, and Kalos is fun to explore.

 

[Delirious Absol]

Gen V is definitely my favourite. It has the best story line and I really liked N as a character. I also loved how you didn't encounter any old Pokemon until post game, which meant you had to use something entirely new giving it a new game feel. The sequel idea was fantastic too, making the tie-in more worth playing as it offered a new story rather than a re-make with extras.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Gen 3! It was my first actual generation of games that I've owned (well, unless you count Pokemon Stadium 2 with Gen 2, but...eh), so they've been an important part of my childhood ever since. ^__^

Gen 3 is such a great one. Definitely my favorite of all time as well :) I just loved Hoenn and everything about it! The music was so beautiful, the region was amazing, the Pokemon selection was superb, and my favorite Pokemon came from this generation, Pokemon. Gen 6 is a close second but I don't think gen 3 will ever be topped for me :3

 

[Seth Rollins]

My favorite generation is Gen 4: It has the best Pokemon remake of all time (never played oras here) HG/SS was perfect, and pretty much everything from G/S/C was improved. And I absolutely loved how the Pokemon followed you. And Platinum was fine, imo it had the best evil Pokemon team and I just loved how for the first time the rival was heavily involved in the storyline.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Without a doubt, Gen II. Although I started with Gen I, Gen II is where it all really happened for me - so many good memories playing it. Around that time, Pokemon was popular in school, the anime was popular, I was young (yeah lots of nostalgia surrounding my favourite gen)... I also really like all the Pokemon introduced in Gen II and I think it introduced a lot of my favourite concepts. Johto as a region was super interesting and although it wasn't as beautiful as some of the newer regions, it was still a massive step up from Kanto. GenIIforlyf

 

[BettyNewbie]

Exactly. I honestly never got the "too much water" criticism that Hoenn had compared to like...regions like Johto/Kanto (not to insult those regions but js!!) that barely had any (at least in the HG/SS map, idk about the GSC one)? Idk, I personally really liked the experience of surfing and diving (especially diving and battling Pokemon underwater and things like that; it's something really unique that gives Hoenn that spark for me.

A lot of people hate being attacked by Tentacool and Wingull every few steps, and constantly having to buy and spray Repels could be a pain in the era before Gen 5 and the automatic "spray another Repel" prompt. It was very easy to get lost on many of those water routes, too.

 

[BettyNewbie]

As far as getting attacked by tentacool and wingull goes, that's basically no different than traversing your typical forest and constantly attacked by Kakuna/weedle/insert forest bug type, or [insert route which has a ton of grass here], or [insert cave here]. I mean, you can make the argument that traversing the water routes are more tedious, but that's debatable (then again, we are debating opinions, so eh). I don't mind them as much, really. Buying and spraying repels are honestly a non-issue because that's the entire purpose of them existing in the first place (i.e going in an area with a lot of wild Pokemon that you dont want to deal with).

The difference is that forest areas usually aren't as large as water areas, especially if we're talking about Hoenn. There's also usually only one or two, at the most, per game, and many of them only swarm you with wild Pokémon in patches of grassy areas. (Like in Hoenn's own Petalburg Woods.)

Now, I could see that argument in regards to caves, especially since they often require you to use a million HMs, but on the other hand, caves usually, at least, have a slightly better diversity of wild Pokémon.

 

[Sonikkts]

The difference is that forest areas usually aren't as large as water areas, especially if we're talking about Hoenn. There's also usually only one or two, at the most, per game, and many of them only swarm you with wild Pokémon in patches of grassy areas. (Like in Hoenn's own Petalburg Woods.)

Now, I could see that argument in regards to caves, especially since they often require you to use a million HMs, but on the other hand, caves usually, at least, have a slightly better diversity of wild Pokémon.

The encounter rate for Gen III games was the lowest it's ever been. Every step there is a 10% of an encounter. In normal grass it's 15%. Compared that to Sinnoh with 15% and Unova 20%, it's not really a solid argument in my opinion.

As for there being too much well, Hoenn is a tropical region. It's unsurprising to see a large amount of water. Pokémon games are meant to explored anyway, and there are some items you can get whilst traversing those waters.

One argument I will make however is Pokémon diversity. Just Tentacool and Wingull with the 1% chance of finding Wailord is rather tedious.

 

[Cerberus87]

Now, I could see that argument in regards to caves, especially since they often require you to use a million HMs, but on the other hand, caves usually, at least, have a slightly better diversity of wild Pokémon.

That's actually an interesting point. Even the "original" cave (Mt. Moon) had four wild Pokémon. Most of them were Zubat, but there were also Geodude, Paras and the rare Clefairy.

The problem is that in Pokémon the Water-types are split between fishing and surfing, and fishing gets way more variety most of the time.

 

[BettyNewbie]

That's actually an interesting point. Even the "original" cave (Mt. Moon) had four wild Pokémon. Most of them were Zubat, but there were also Geodude, Paras and the rare Clefairy.

The problem is that in Pokémon the Water-types are split between fishing and surfing, and fishing gets way more variety most of the time.

Yeah, pretty much. Even the most Zubat/Geodude-infested caves usually have other Pokémon in them. Surfing, on the other hand, is almost always 100% jellyfish (and seagulls if you're in Hoenn), and if there's anything else, it's usually everybody's favorite orange flopping fish.

I know there's those routes in Johto that also let you get Mantine while surfing, but it's a very rare encounter, and it's only in Gold/Crystal/HeartGold. (So, those stuck with Silver/SoulSilver get 100% jellyfish.)

 

[Entermaid]

Pokemon Designs/Selection Variation: III > V > VI > I > IV > II

Spoiler:

Gen III had so many quirky and interesting pokemon designs that make it feel like it's own distinct environment...I don't think the other gens had quite accomplished this regional unity.

Gen V is a bit polarizing despite it's greatness. Most of my favorites are from gen V, but it did have some misses, it's a numbers game, but generally, I look forward to gen V most because I love so many pokemon it allows for me to enjoy each run through without reusing the same pokemon. Example: Picking Lilligant, Serperior, Sawsbuck, Leavanny, or Whimsicott as my grass type is painstaking!

Gen VI is also polarizing. There are fewer unique pokemon, but of the few new introduced, there is high quality! I do love variation over anything else though, so no matter how much I love these designs there is a limitation. Nonetheless, even restricting myself to get 6 pokemon, I still have trouble choosing pokemon.

Gen I is awesome! Simplest of all the designs, but they are super-effective. The drawback? Well, the simplicity? I do have less options choosing teams due to being less enthused to use pokemon I am not particularly fond of. For instance, grass is my favorite type, and I only "like" Venusaur and Vileplume. I feel like with so many pokemon, there should be more favorites. Overall, there is cohesion and lack of ugly overcomplicated designs.

Gen IV has great original pokemon and many poor legendaries + new evolutions of previous lines. I love Roserade and Froslass, but tangrowth, lickilicklycilk, magmortar, electrivire, Magnezone, Probopass, and even Mamoswine a bit tend to be bulky/bloated and non-innovative let downs. It just cannot be ignored in a gen with so few non legendary pokemon. These are the worst legendary mascots, regigas, heatran, and the lake trio rank at the bottom of all legendary designs. However, the starters, vespiquen, luxray, roserade, froslass, lopunny, mismagius, garchomp, gastrodon, drifblim, among other (mostly new lines) of pokemon make up for some of the less attractive choices.

Gen II had great addition to gen I lines like blissey, scizor, crobat, kingdra ect...however, the new pokemon introduced were few and often not interesting, with the exception of Houndoom, Ampharos, Meganium, Piloswine, and Lanturn. It's very limiting making a team of pokemon unique to this region. But there are at least a few new pokemon lines that I enjoy..,this does feel like an extention pokedex from Kanto.

Graphics and Overworld Design: II > V > VI > III > IV> I

Spoiler:

Gen 2 has the most colorful, saturated, and vibrant of battle sprites! I love them 10000x more than any other set of sprites. They are cute, rounded, and colorful which makes the process of choosing a team really fun when each of its members is a distinct bright color. The other thing is that these sprites are BY FAR more expressive, this includes trainer sprites. The overworld is meh, but at least this time around had color.

Gen V had the coolest gym and trainer designs. Not to mention the animated sprites were amazing and blew it's gen 4 DS counter part out of the water. The overworld is my favorite across all gens given the most diverse landscapes. Gen 5 brought back the missing color and vibrancy of gen III and especially gen IV and created a whimsical environment. I do have to say that gen V despite having the best towns and route designs could have stepped up in regard to battle scenery...the ethereal blur thing is drab. Also, the caves in this game are a bit dull.

Gen VI is 3D, no fair! But there is a reason why it doesn't beat gen II and V, it's a bit drab, but none the less more realistic and polished as it tries to present a refined environment. It does take more whimsical detours with the rocky cliff beach towns, gem and mirror lit caves, haunted bogs, fairy like autumn town, and other really interesting landscapes. I was let down by the vs trainer portraits and the lackluster 3D models which seem hallow. Though it's also worth noting GF created over 700 models. Also, the battle setting made up for this in part with actually scenery used rather than this conceptual blur thing.

Gen III brought forth a new style on the GBA. I wish there was a bit more variety to the island environment though there is definitely some. I do like that there was a unique style to the sprites as well. For instance the milotic sprite is so cute! Also flygon! Over the years the sprites have adjusted from being representative artwork to more realistic to anime designs, but I prefer this unique coloring and expression that have uniqueness to them. This is a close one behind gen VI, only because the overworld and some of the cities and caves could have been more interesting especially given the unique coastal environment.

Gen IV is full of boring caves, and similar forest and tree routes, with little diversity up through the first 6 gyms. It's a bit on the claustrophobic side. Additionally, the sprites were kind of boring this generation, with eyes and face that were less defined, and no real inspiration in spriting style. The towns and cities were a bit blah, and generally the artwork that was well executed was hard to appreciate with the less imaginative design work.

Gen I...Pokemon Yellow was a nice step up...but Red and Blue had terrible sprites and they cannot be blamed on the available hardware. Gen II at least had great shapes and linework...gen I looks rushed and a bit unpolished. Though, in part, the limitations of color do play a role in the poor graphics and environment of this game. towns and cities are boring and indistinguishable. Nostalgia can't save the game in this respect.

Battle Mechanics...meh, I don't care too much.
Storyline...they are all pretty much underdeveloped.

Basically I will judge based on pokemon designs/variation and graphics/environment.

Overall: V > III > VI > II > I > IV

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm one of the few who loves the generation that many label as the "most hated" of all the generations, and that is the 5th Generation. There is so much I love about Unova, from its different environments to the very awesome-looking Pokemon and having tons of memorable NPCs, a very dark and epic story (especially in B/W), plus the introduction of hidden abilities was icing on the cake on what most people fail to recognize as a great generation.

The fact B/W makes you only use new Pokemon gives the adventure a feel of being like the old days of 1st Gen where everything is new and you have to learn all the new Pokemon. B2/W2 were also great sequels that tied the loose ends and expanded Unova itself, along with having a balanced selection of Pokemon.