Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

This is a friendly debate topic about the various generations of the Pokemon games. And remember to note the word Friendly. That means no shitstorms.

Which was your favorite gen? Was it the very first games, with their nostalgic feel and memorable pokemon? Or maybe the sleek new DS games with many handy features and loads of extra shit to do (besides catch 'em all) are your forte. Whether its the former, the latter, or anywhere in between, let your opinion be heard!

Also, what did you dislike about certain gens? Think the pokemon were sub-par? Don't like all those gadgets you don't care to learn how to use? Was the region just plain uncreative? Please, share your thoughts and discuss! But remember to keep it civil. We're all friends here.

The first 150 pokemon where good. The 250 where okay. Then I stopt counting them and paying attention they ran pokemon into a brick wall. So how many of the little buggers are there now?

This post has been edited by bluefox: 06 October 2012 - 12:28 AM

My first gen was Gen 3, so i'm incredibly biased towards it, but I love love love love Pokemon Emerald. Not only is it the nostalgia factor but because it was the first Pokemon game I ever played so it holds so sentimental value. I played it so much I actually took the time to get to level 100 with most of my team, that's something I haven't done in years. Many people don't like Gen 3 because of it's downgrades from Gen 2, but honestly I much prefer the Pokenav system than whatever the fuck Gen 2 had. I want to be able to rematch trainers in order to level up, you know, the point of the game?

_{Implying you can have a debate on pokemon generations without it spiraling into the mother of all shitstorms}

I've played generations 1, 2 and 3, and I haven't kept up to date since gen 4. It may be because of that, but personally I enjoyed gen 3 the most, even if I lost the progress I had up to then. With gen 3 the world began feeling much more alive, and that was something I really enjoyed. Plus, having a sweet-ass secret base was awesome.

Gen. IV was the worst. Can't exactly say why, but I hated Sinnoh. HeartGold and SoulSilver were fantastic, though, and completely make up for that.
I also really like Unova (Gen. V), but it has by far my least favorite starters.
I'm not super qualified to talk about these things though. Lately, the only thing I've been using my games for is slowly breeding and training my perfect team for competitive use.

i don't really have a favorite generation. each generation had great things to offer. i'll just say that i really think that the adoration that gen1 receives is really ridiculous, sometimes, though.

The hoenn games were the best for me, and I stopped keeping track of pokemon after white and black. I feel old.

This post has been edited by falconboy99: 06 October 2012 - 02:28 AM

While I certainly liked the majority of Gen 1 Character designs best, this is mostly just because that is the generation I grew up with, and I thought all Gens had some incredibly stupid Pokemon designs (Fucking shuppet I'm looking at you, it's a damn purple sheet over a stick for God's sake. I agree that Gen 1 really doesn't warrant all the adoration and claims of "Best Gen evaaaaaaa!!!111" and it mostly is just because that was what people grew up with, I will say though that is the only Gen I have trouble deciding between all 3 starters.

Leaving_a_Comment, on 06 October 2012 - 03:08 AM, said:

that might just be because p much anyone who played gen 1 chooses their starter based on type

Good old charmander.

Pfft not petty me, I always choose the coolest/cutest looking one of the bunch so the choice between Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur was always super hard as where for Gen 2 the choice was always between Cyndaquil or Chikorita, Gen 3 Treecko or Mudkip, and then for the rest just kinda...not caring much for the starters. Chimchar was an okay starter, I just kinda got sick of always choosing the fire starters at that point but really had no interest in the other two so I went with it,I'm just not that into penguins I suppose.

And I mean seriously, 2 water type starters based after penguins and 2 grass types based off of lizards almost right after each other? That's just lazy. I mean don't get me wrong, they pretty much reuse like three different animals types each time they come up with the starters, but at least the fire and grass type starters between Gen IV and V look different! For Gen V it's like they were "Oh crap gotta come up with our new water starter by today? Well what were the previous ones based off of? A turtle, a crocodile, a weird...fish/frogish thing, and a penguin huh? PENGUIN IT IS".

I mean like I said, I know Pokemon has never been that super original with their designs, but these are the flipping starters! They are suppose to get us interested in and want to play the game! And I really do like some of the designs for other Gen V pokemon so why did they drop the ball here? Make it dog based, or fish or frog or anything besides another bird twice in a row.

My personal favorite was Gen II, with Gen I close behind. Things started to go downhill around Gen III. I had played through the first two generations of games so many times that I was honestly getting sick of doing the same thing over and over again. I didn't find them as fun, as creative, and it felt like that was when the game started to move in this irritating direction where everything looked sleek and 'modern' -- in other words, ugly as shit. If I ever want to play Pokemon, I normally play either Gen I, Gen II, or the Gen II remakes (I haven't played the Gen I remakes, but I should!).

But yeah, I got about halfway through Gen III and stopped. I just didn't find it that interesting. I feel bad for the people who didn't get to start on the first Pokemon games. It is something they'll never be able to truly experience, even if they go back and play them.

I have blue,red and yellow original copys. Got them and two game boy colores and the brick from my grandmas.

just me here saying that gen5 is still worth a look and is the better out of gen3 onwards.

So much disinformation in this thread.

151 bluefox. Mew was the first trademarked name in the series.


And Oshawott is an otter. Not sure how you got penguin out of that, Leaving_a_Comment.


Your first game is more magical than any other due to a 'childhood' imagination. One where you could believe these monsters are working for you, striving to succeed. Any of those times where it seemed like hope was lost, but you won on account of a critical hit from some lame move, or you outsurvived a hyper beam with a Magikarp, you get this deep connection to it. After that, the other games don't really resonate as such as magical experience, but more of a game to enjoy.

~~
I prefer the Generation 1. There was such a cult following of everyone at the time and even though the game basically was single player, it made feel like this miniscule world was brought to life in the masses of the people around you. Just a huge culture thing, from Pikablu, becoming a breeder with some chintzy level up thing. I have the most memories not from the game, but from playing and discussing it with friends. So that is why it is my favorite. That and running the elite four solo with Mewtwo after finally catching his ass! I'd like to see any 10 year old complete Cerulean cave without a guide. :|

THAT'S suppose to be an otter? So not only did they forget what animal they were aiming for but they still managed to make it look just like the previous Gen when it's suppose to be a completely different animal? Some how that is even more frustrating than it just being another penguin.

In all seriousness though it does look too much like Piplup for my tastes.

HOW THE FUCK DO YOU SEE THIS FUCKER


AND THINK "OH. THAT'S TOTALLY ONE OF THESE GUYS"


"DOESN'T LOOK AT ALL LIKE THESE FUCKERS. NOPE."

bluefox, on 06 October 2012 - 04:02 AM, said:

Kaxbe, on 07 October 2012 - 01:34 AM, said:

EXACTLY.
650 pokémon. F**KING 650 POKÉMON. That requires a little bit of creativity, I guess
...but those gen V starters are just so... weird

I only bought this game once in 1998. I caught 152, including Mew and Missing No, while ignoring the faggots who debate whether they count or not. The additions they've made over the past fifteen years have been a joke. Who just thinks they're making a new game by leaving the gameplay the same and adding more Pokemon? That's ridiculous. I understand the whole concept by the breeding program, but it still seems like a useless thing to introduce since it's only a means for you to waste more time trying to complete whatever quota they set for you in the new game. If you beat one, you've pretty much beat everything and everything else is just there to sate your OCD. The photography based game was good, but otherwise the best innovation they've made to a Pokemon since the creation of the series was allowing a few in Super Smash Brothers. Otherwise, the entire franchise is stale and I'll never have any desire to play it ever again.

Jerk, on 07 October 2012 - 02:24 AM, said:

You're forgetting Pokemon Stadium. It was fantastic.

Gen I lays the basic foundations of what is to become a vastly popular RPG series. For what it was worth, it was really good--there were a few flaws, sometimes caused by glitches (like ghost type not being effective against psychic type). A lot of the pokemon were good--so it's kind of sad that most current pokemon are better (as far as I know) in terms of stats and movesets.

Gen II was my favorite generation. I will admit I hold slight bias because my first video game (ever!) was Pokemon Silver. But, the starters were all so fun to use (Cyndaquil <33). The routes were so fun, and, somehow in this game I felt the most... immersed. I don't know, something about the way the game was, the graphics of the time, etc., gave me a real feeling of immersion and adventure. Most of the new pokemon were really cool, and they utilized a tried and tested method of marketing: nostalgia. But they weren't just like "hey, here's Kanto, have fun!" They put some thought into it, and the ultimate showdown with Red made me feel epic. Also, the music... The champion fight music was so awesome, and the music that played for the Lake of Rage... I don't know, it just makes me really happy and nostalgic thinking about it. I personally don't take to the objection that the story was nothing special--pretty much every pokemon story was pretty bare bones, because it was always mostly about becoming a pokemon master and such. That worked just fine.

Gen III is where I felt like pokemon had a slight... genre shift. It became less of a feel of just an adventure and more of a... party feel to it. I guess that was slightly owed to the more... balloon-y graphics and the fanfare music. Oh, but that's another thing: Gen III probably had my favorite overall collection of music, even if it contributed to what I believe to be the genre shift. Another noteworthy thing about Gen III is that I indulged in many of its spinoffs: Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Ranger, and Pokemon Colloseum. Each of them wasn't quite like the core games, but I enjoyed them for what they were. Especially Colloseum--my God it was so interesting playing with such a usually light concept (like Pokemon) in such a dark setting (like Orre).

Gen IV... I didn't hate it, but I wasn't particularly impressed either. It had some good pokemon and... that's about it. It had nothing special and the battle system was REALLY, REALLY SLOW. The one redeeming quality it had was HG and SS, but I basically considered that Gen II rising from the grave, so points mostly go to Gen II for being reminded of how great those games were.

Gen V was really interesting. I don't know, once again I felt something different emanating from it. I like it for what it's worth, but strangely enough Gen V had a very compelling story--far different to its predecessors. I really like this Gen, for what it's worth.

I guess in the end my preference goes like this:

II > I > V > III > IV

This post has been edited by Lux Aeterna: 07 October 2012 - 02:41 AM

I never played Stadium but the dynamics never appealed to me. Honestly, I think were're at the point where the things they implemented in stadium should be basic to all Pokemon games. At least it would show that it's progressing with the times instead of generally repeating the same game over and over.

Gen II actually changed a lot of the gameplay mechanics, Jerk. There were tons of balancing problems in Gen I that resulted in psychic-types being incredibly overpowered. The introduction of steel and dark types added another level of strategy while keeping the basic concept. Also breeding was added.

Pretty much most changes introduced after Gen II were either light fluff (Pokémon contests) or completely inconsequential unless you were a boring nerd with nothing more interesting going on in your life (changes made in the Effort Value system)

I don't know, I think the new battle types they added (Double, Triple, Rotation) are kind of cool. Single battles are still the best, but the dynamics of teamwork that each battle allow are pretty interesting to me. But that's just a matter of opinion, I suppose.

Kaxbe, on 07 October 2012 - 09:06 PM, said:

I was once one of those boring nerds with nothing more interesting going on in my life. ;__; The grinding for EVs is something I will /always/ see in my nightmares... The sheer rote nature of it all... /shivers

to be honest, I completely forgot about double battles because they rarely happened.

Gen 2. I never even got to finish that one because as a small child I couldn't figure out how to get through the spirit tower they have in every version. And then it died. R.I.P. crystal version. It will always be my favorite even though its the one I had the least amount of time with.

Tried gen. ... I guess 3.5 next? The fire red and grass green? Too easy, too much leveling up.

gen. 3, fun but some points in the game I got stuck for months because I was used to the easyness of gen. 3.5 and tried to play it the way I played gen. 3.5 to make it more challenging- one of each pokemon, keep them all the exact same level so you are constantly switching out pokemon. Once I got past that it was pretty fun, not as fun as gen. 2 though.

Gen. 4, I play it right now but..... its weird. Graphics got 3d crap and all these extra options.... wtf. Plus I never liked the whole popularity contest ribbon crap, so skipped it gen. 2, but gen. 4 they force you into it with the psychic chick who won't fight you until you win a certain level of contests.

Gen. 5.... I didn't even bother once I saw the pokemon names. I mean.... really? Just..... no. Just no. Give me back my Typhlosion please. They didn't even try with the names and the pokemon look like all the previous generations got together, had an orgy, and shat these guys out.

This post has been edited by crystalgardian: 08 October 2012 - 12:23 AM

because "diglett" is such a wonderful and creative name.

Better than Liepard, Tranquill, Unfezant, Zebstrika, Boldore, Cottonee, Krookodile, Maractus, Trubbish, Gothita, Ducklett, Swanna, Vanillite, Deerling, Foongus (and amoonguss.),Klink, Eelektrik, Chandelure, Beartic, Bisharp, Heatmor and durant.

But you know what, some of the older ones are that way too I guess, but that doesn't make the other things less true.

So, heat mor.

This is probably my favorite topic of the forum thus far, cause i am the biggest pokemon noob i know.

Personally I prefer the third generation the best. The first is most certainly the most nostalgic whilst the latest is.... a piece of shit to say the best. Hoenn brought together both the johto and kanto regions perfectly while even adding in some newer pokemon into the mix. Granted the gym leaders didnt have as much character as those of the Kanto region, but the storyline was indeed much better. Instead of being "Ash"(also named Red), you were simply a boy or girl from an unnamed town with a chance to explore the world.

So to me third wins in story and the coming together of generations, but it does not win when it comes to the best new pokemon.
The generation to get that award would most likely be the second, even though almost none of my own favorites are from there.
Second gen was more of an add-on to the series, yet its design of pokemon was the best because of that. They were simply evolutions of the previous gen, and that was perfectly fine by me.

And Zubat is the best pokemon ever. period the-end.

This post has been edited by typicalFeline: 08 October 2012 - 01:21 AM

typicalFeline, on 08 October 2012 - 01:20 AM, said:

your title is very fitting

The first 151 just seemed more believable. Then they strted to mutate instead of evolve. Wen I played gen 2 I still used mostly first gen. Arcanine is top dog.

I've never had a working 1st gen. I had yellow once but it didn't save anything so I just got pikachu over and over.

Gen II is my favourite. I have a toy Lugia from my childhood in my room back at home. Man, do I miss that guy. There was just something in the second generation that WORKED. Bugs were ironed out, thought was put into it. And Totodile is one my favourite pokemon of all time. EVER. Just look at him

He's cute, in a imma-bite-chur-face-off kind of way.


That being said, I've played Gen 5 in passing (I train my host brother's party sometimes) and I have to say, it's pretty sweet. I don't like the POKEMON so much as the gameplay itself. It's fun. And the graphics are lovely, I love what they did with the cities. I'm not sure what the story line exactly is, but I've heard they've dug into some deeper concepts (Team Plasma or whatever not just being evil) and I can always appreciate that.

Gen III was iffy, and I can't say I've ever completely defeated it. I became seriously bored on Victory Road. It was a necessary transition, but a rough one.

And I have nothing to say about Gen IV, because the only thing I actually know about it is Bidoof. A pokemon I strangely adore. I never became interested in the game because the legendaries looked awful (same for Black and White)

Anyone remember this? It was my first Pokemon game.



...till it disappeared and I've never found it.

This post has been edited by Flyboy1945: 22 October 2012 - 06:03 AM

who else is looking forward to sixth gen?

That frog starter is the best one so far.

i like fennekin tho

i want to fuck it

Froakie and Fennekin look pretty awesome.

I keep on looking at Chespin as a Oshawott rehash though.

So what animal is Chespin based off of? The other two are pretty obvious.

And as for the games, I enjoyed Sapphire, Crystal, and Leaf Green. I feel like in gen 3 things started to get a little weird in terms of pokemon design but it wasn't too bad... Gen 4 just went off the deep end for me.

I'll have to see the evolutions of Chespin. Despite having odd starters, the grass types usually pull through in their finals forms.

I hope.

Flyboy1945, on 22 October 2012 - 06:01 AM, said:

Same here. Was my first pokemon game. I got to the hallowed tower, and it disappeared while my small five year old mind was figuring out how to get through it. Or around that age.

Ellie, on 09 January 2013 - 12:16 AM, said:

the design team for Pokemon has always wanted each generation to look different-but-not-too-different from the generation directly before it. each time they have to work for a new generation, they tweak their style only slightly. that's why things started looking a bit... weird to long-time fans of Pokemon around the third or firth generation. and there were quite a few designs and concepts that they wanted to use in earlier generations that they weren't able to because they didn't quite fit with the generation they were working on, like Shellos and Gastrodon, which were originally intended to be a third-gen pokemon.

also, it's nice to keep in mind that a lot of the designs for pokemon in the first gen came about with the technology available in mind. you try rendering something like Kyogre or Palkia for the Game Boy Pocket.

Kaxbe, on 09 January 2013 - 02:42 AM, said:

Huh, I didn't know that! It makes more sense now that I think about it.

I felt like the games went through phases of highs and lows in order. Gen 1 was great, of course. gen 2 had a very boring storyline, hardly different from gen 1 at all. Gen 3 was the one I played the most (emerald at least, ruby and sapphire were less good) and really enjoyed it. It had a new story, different characters, and didn't trail off into "and now beat all these easy ass gym leaders and trainers in this other region". Gen 4 I hardly played, never finished. I didn't like the designs much, nor the beginning of the story. Gen 5 I played as a translated hack of the japanese version before the english version came out. I must say the names were much cooler then (Zeburaika >> Zebstrika). Black / white also had a very new storyline.

On top of that I liked the new pokemon created in gens 1, 3 and 5 a lot more. At least the common ones (the legendaries of gen 3 were just horrible... but then again almost all legendaries after gen 1 were bad). They just looked more original and charismatic to me, I'm not sure why. I found the gen 2 new pokemon very boring. They all seemed like remakes of gen 1 pokemon one way or another, and looked very weird and less like animals. On top of that, it was the generation that introduced the fewest new pokemon. Most of your party would've been the same of gen 1.

Overall I really disliked the tendency of making the pokemon less animal-like and having more and more human characteristics as the series goes on. This is one thing I really liked Gen 1 for.

6th gen: Froakie, obviously the coolest.

fennekin looks absolutely gay

Humanoid pokemon like these, right?
Where does it get the clothing?

I think I liked the Gold/Silver/Crystal generation the most. It felt refreshing with all the new features like day and night, breeding, new pokemon types (steel was a lot of fun to toy with and dark was a god-send for those damn OP psychic types like Mewtwo) and I didn't mind chasing down the legendary pokemon that would still flee after using Scary Face and/or Sleep Powder. The only thing I really didn't like was the "evolve by happiness" thing, I friggin' hated taking them to salons or any other similar BS. I can understand training them well and not letting them faint attributing to happiness, but why make it the only way for some to evolve? Why not have that for all pokemon as some kind of bonus for being a good trainer instead? "Your Pupitar was so gosh darn happy that it's evolving into a Tyranitar at level 53 instead of 55!"

That's not to say that I didn't like the other generations, I played them with equal enjoyment, it's just that they seemed to pack on more of that stupid "happiness" gimmick with each passing generation. "No thank you, I do not want to participate in a beauty pageant." or "Fuck your salon! Fuck your walk through the park! We're going to go beat up weaker creatures."

One gripe I had about earlier generations was that (in my opinion) it was pretty pointless to pick anything other than the grass-type as your starter. Whatever wild fire pokemon there were, as few as there were to pick from, chances are you'd find one you'd really like (for me that was Magmar and Torkoal... etc?) and there was a metric shit-ton of water-types to pick from (and to kick their asses with a grass-type starter and level up that sucker fast). However, I found the choices for grass-types pitiful, so the grass starter was no brainer (besides, you can kick a lot of ass with a grass-type against the early gym leaders). Though I do wish I had given some of the fire-type starters a shot since they become part fighting-type along the way.

I have not played all that much of the latest generation. Last I remember I was trying to catch that little fire/psychic bastard in Black.

Do they still do that thing where pokemon can learn moves that don't make any sense? I particularly enjoyed the looks on my friends' faces when my Rhydon would use Surf.

My favourite party was one of the most unbalanced because over half my party could get fucked up pretty easily by the right pokemon. I have fond memories and liked them most because of the stuff I taught them with HMs and TMs. It was in Pokemon Yellow:
Pikachu (no shit, right?)
Nidoking (Earthquake)
Nidoqueen (Thunderbolt and Surf)
Arcticuno
Rhydon (Surf and Rock Slide)
Mewtwo

This post has been edited by ChewySmokey: 09 January 2013 - 07:12 AM

yeah i will fight you over Gen II being superior. Mainly because of the super awesome connections to Gen I, like seeing the trainers and how they're doing years later and NGGHGHG FIGHTING RED and the music oh my god the music. I loved that story-based link and none of the other generations followed the same thing, unless Black/White is different but I never played Black/White :U



i MAINLY LOVE IT FOR VIOLET/OLIVINE CITY THIS IS MY NOSTALGIA MUSIC

also anyone who picks the fox is a big fat furry SORRY

(i will wait until the evolutions to make my pick, because apparently the grass is a hedgehog????? IF IT BECOMES MORE OF A HEDGEHOG I WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BETRAY MY WATER-BASED UPBRINGING)

I'm hoping that Froakies weird nose thing becomes a bitchin' stache.

I hope that they're keeping rotation battles in X and Y too. Those were really, really, REALLY fun. You could do some real interesting shit with them.

I haven't felt this excited for a pokemon game since I was 9.