3rd Gen Why is this gen so underrated?

[Azureth]

I'm 25 yet out of all my friends most have played gen I and II but very few have even tried gen III. Any idea why this is?

 

[FourCartridge]

My personal guess is because it was on the GBA and there was no backward compatibility between the previous 2 gens, so most people waited till the R/B/Y remakes to finally get a 3rd gen game with all the Pokemon they knew and love. Also, the big Pokemon fad of the 90's had died out by the time R/S was released, so most general interest in Pokemon had died off.

Though it's underrated, I would say that 3rd Gen is the low point in the series.

 

[AliceBlaze]

Some people don't like the gen 3 Pokemon because their designs look a lot different than ones from the previous generations. Although, Chuggaaconroy made a good point about the gen 3 Pokemon in his new Emerald lets play. He said that the gen 3 Pokemon are supposed to look more exotic than the ones in Kanto and Johto.

Personally, I don't like R/S because not many of my favourite Pokemon can be obtained without trading. Also, I don't like the Hoenn region because there's too many annoying surf routes.

 

[Seki]

Overated in my opinion. Many people like you are always complaining why is this gen underated. Its also the time when many people stopped playing Pokemon, so whenever you say the word "Pokemon", their thoughts would be R/S/E. I'm not saying that I hate Gen III, but I actually loved it, played it. But I really hate it when people are whining that this Gen is so underated.

No offence intended.

 

[psyanic]

Personally, this is my favorite generation. Loved most of the designs and had a lot of fun experimenting with natures and all. Berries/hold items were a nice touch to it as well.

Overated in my opinion. Many people like you are always complaining why is this gen underated. Its also the time when many people stopped playing Pokemon, so whenever you say the word "Pokemon", their thoughts would be R/S/E.

The OP said he was 25, so he and his friends would have played in the early eras, going way back to RBY/GSC. Their thoughts would be on those generations instead, not RSE since they didn't play it. In general, people were turned off by a lot of things. For one, they couldn't trade in their lv 100 Typhlosion from Crystal. Another would be that this region's Pokemon had very different designs versus the current generations (at the time). Less people played at the time. So the nostalgia-crazy fans pretty much abolished this generation for being so different, but gradually warmed up to it.

Nowadays, people are practically begging for a RSE remake, so it doesn't seem as underrated. I don't think it's underrated either. I kind of like to call this generation the real point where Pokemon fans began to realize that Pokemon as a franchise was changing. The designs are evident in it, and a slightly better storyline than the generations before it add up. But it's right in the middle generation.

FRLG is more underrated though, I'll give you that.

 

[TheRedeemed]

Right?
I don't know about what most others think about Gen 4, but I think their designs are WAY worse then in the 3rd. >.> (Waits to be stoned to death) Out of all of the character designs, I only like a couple of them: Lucario and Glameow. Other than that, they're not too desirable in my eyes...

I never really thought about it the way that Psyanic did, but he's right, many people were coming out of the Pokemon craze, and touted that it was for "little kids" (I really wish I never listened to those nay-sayers... :( )

 

[Clusterfudge]

I love this gen, I love GBA games in general, but the R/S/E Pokemon games were like a fresh start (not as much as B/W but you get the picture). Ironically, the fresh start was what turned a lot of people off of the 3rd Gen until Red and Blue were revived in FireRed and LeafGreen.

 

[miltankRancher]

I guess it is because really few points have been added to this gen. yes they have made a new story, pokemon and what not, but the features basically stayed the same. Nothing too revolutionary had been added, unlike Generation II and IV.

 

[Kano Shuuya]

They certainly weren't underrated when they released, what with people freaking out about their graphics, and shiny new-ness. Even now days plenty of people love Hoenn. Though, I think it's problem is that it's considered to be the first game of the 'OMG NEW' gens, because it's not classified as an 'original' like the first two are, but it's not new enough anymore to get much hype. So it's stuck in the awkward middle. .__.

 

[Tombo]

I think that at the time a lot of the fans were 'growing up' and playing the games less.

Also, people who were only into it 'casually' may not have been able to keep up with the new gen.

Also, people may have not had a GBA, only GBC so literally couldn't play the games.

 

[Nick]

Generation III, for me, for a long time was a game that didn't feel like a Pokémon game because the Pokémon designs were a lot more humanoid than they were, and when I think of a Pokémon, I don't think of a humanoid. They looked like they belonged in Digimon, that's all. I don't feel that way anymore, but I do feel that way about the overwhelmingly majority of the Pokémon in Gen V. I think most other people feel the same way, actually. "These things don't look like Pokémon!!!!" But it leads you to ask yourself, what is a Pokémon supposed to look like?

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Overrated IMO. Just look at the number of members who are clamoring for a R/S remake despite the region's obvious design flaws. Tree houses do not make a city. Rapid currents that force you to retake the same water route multiple times are clearly put in there for annoyance. And none of the characters are memorable.

IMO the highlight of 3rd gen was the introduction of my fave girl character, and that was only accomplished in the 1st gen remake games. To this day, Leaf Green is the only 3rd gen game (aside from the Colo/XD spinoffs) that I still play.

I will concede that Metagorss, Flygon, and Walrein were pretty awesome Pokemon, but the rest of the 3rd gen Pokemon were also fairly forgettable.

 

[Blizz]

I don't think Advance Generation is underrated, it's overrated like many others said. Everyone waits R/S remakes and they are going to be huge success like Black and White were. Hoenn is beautiful and it is many user's favourite map like Hoenn's Pokémon. These are opinions but this generation isn't underrated, believe me.

 

[kelario27]

Presumably they've seen some of the designs for the pokes and think they're garbage (cuz they are). Otherwise, I agree with you, Gen III was good.

 

[arbok]

well for me it came out when I was about 9-10 years old and still very openly poke-crazed. I remember how my friend brought in a book with all the new pokemon in it before the games release and we all sat around a table drolling over it. I loved how R/S was so exotic compared to the very urban looking kanto and johto. It was mentioned above how a town in the trees is not a real town. But that was one of my most memrable moments in the game. The sheer suprise of finding a town....in the trees was amazing for me. Granted I wouldn't feel the same about something like that being introduced now but it was still something fresh, and the diving was fun.
I really don't remember any problems with the designs aside from some dodgy new ones you'll find in every gen. Saying all this I still like fire red/leaf green more yet unless I'm mistaken that still counts as third gen?

 

[emeraldJmac]

the Advance gen is still my favorite, I still play FR and Emerald. Although Black/White and whatnot were cool(Platinum is my favorite of the DS gen) the advance gen was the gen that me and my friends played. Although there might be newer gens coming out and the GBA gen is outdated, I still think this gen is the best. (Personal opinion, Nintendo needs to ditch the sprite constantly moving in battle, it tends to get annoying, especially running B/W on a PC. runs waaay slower than platinum on DesMuMe)

 

[Jellicent♀]

The third generation has to be one of m favorites, if not the top one. It introduced so many new battle mechanics everyone is in love with, brought more detailed mechanics when it comes to EV/IVs, Double Battles, Contests, DIVE, and were simple, yet fun, games. Emerald even went so far as to introduce the Battle Frontier, which is on of the most popular spots in the fourth generation games. I just think these games are quite amazing, Emerald being my favorite game of all time. Why people take it for granted, I will never know.

 

[DowntownDumpling]

It might just be my favorite generation (either this or 2nd).

However, I have a few guesses as to why people dislike it:
-Very different music from previous gens
-Proportionally too many Water- and Grass-type Pokemon
-Too much of the region is covered by water
-The font in Ruby and Sapphire is weird
-You can't trade between 3rd-gen and the older gens
-Too many legendaries (though 4th-gen was worse)
-The Pokedex feels incomplete due to featuring some older Pokemon but not others

 

[Kenshin5]

I guess it is because really few points have been added to this gen. yes they have made a new story, pokemon and what not, but the features basically stayed the same. Nothing too revolutionary had been added, unlike Generation II and IV.

Jellicent points in his post seem to say otherwise. So Contests, Battle Frontier, Double Battles, Weather, EVs/IVs, Two Teams, and Two Champs(in different games of course).

Seems like there is plenty that forwarded the franchise at this point so I don't see how all that combined couldn't be seen as anything but revolutionary.

As for the debate is it underrated or any sort of rated no Generation is over or under. They all have their unique qualities you can point to that set them apart from prior ones and add to the game even more. This was probably my favorite generation, the region of Hoenn though seemed a bit lack luster, but hopefully some sprucing up can fix that.

 

[ChibiVamp]

The third gen was the first one that I ever got to play so everything seemed good to me at the time. The music in some places was really great the my personal fav being the outside of mt pyre. I just don't like so many routes to have to surf and having 2 bikes was also a bit of a waste of time.... I think that as the pokemon universe expandes and new generations created, some older fans will take longer to get used to the ever crazier character designs.