Tag: Pokemon

Ok, I know, you don’t have to say it. You’re not going to agree with this list, I imagine very few people will, but hear me out.

I’ve wanted to make this list for a while, but it’s taken some time for me to put it together, because when it comes to picking your favourite Pokemon generation, there’s so much you have to consider. Game Freak always create such intricately detailed worlds that it almost seems like pulling them apart would be a disservice to everything that went into it.

I’ve also been thinking about what I’d like to see when Generation 8 launches later this year (more on that in a few weeks), so I’ve been looking back on older generations to see what ideas I can come up with.

First off, what constitutes a generation?
The widely accepted way to measure it is that, whenever a main series game with a new region and new Pokemon are released, that’s the start of a new generation. The main distinction that needs to be made here, is that remakes count towards the generation they  were released in, not the games they were originally based off; for example Heartgold and Soulsilver are Generation 4, not Generation 2.

Secondly, how am I ranking them?
As I’ve said, there’s so much to break down when it comes to how much you like a particular generation, so I’ve distilled it down into the following elements:
– The new Pokemon
– The new Region
– The new Features
– The Remakes (if any were released)
– Nostalgia

That last one is the main reason you won’t agree with this list. Everyone has different experiences with Pokemon at different times in their lives, so we’ll look back on certain games very differently depending at what time in our lives we encountered them.

Now you know the rules, let’s waste no more time and get to ranking all 7 generations of Pokemon.

7 – Generation 3

I feel a tad bad saying that this is my least favourite, because there isn’t really anything about it I hate, I just think a lot of things about it are a tad forgettable.

The new Pokemon – A bit of a mixed bag for me here, on the one hand there are some really boring Pokemon like Spinda and Nosepass, while it is also home to some awesome Pokemon like Rayquaza and Sceptile, not to mention my all time favourite Pokemon, Absol. The vast majority of Generation 3’s roster are Pokemon that I simply look at and think “meh”. Sure, I don’t hate any of them, but most of them don’t really any sort of emotion out of me at all, which is arguably worse.

The new region – I’d love to just say “too much water” and leave it at that, but this list is going to make people mad enough as it is.

I actually quite like the design of the Hoenn region, you’re in a pretty contained loop for the first half of the game, before eventually new paths start to open up and you find yourself crisscrossing all about the place. While I know that re-treading old ground can sometimes be a bit boring, it’s done just enough to make certain locations feel very familiar to the player which I think can really enhance a Pokemon journey.

All that said, when I compare it to other regions that we’ve seen, I can’t help but feel like it ranks quite low down overall. While the vast ocean does help to add some variety to your adventure, I feel like a lot more could’ve been done with your time on land.

The new Features – This is one of the strongest points in this generation’s favour, because Generation 3 added so much that we take for granted when we battle today. Abilities, Natures and Weather were all introduced into Pokemon for the first time, and it completely overhauled how competitive battling worked in Pokemon. Even if you weren’t a competitive battler then it added a much deeper level of strategy to the single player, to really pull you into one of the biggest parts of the franchise.

Then of course we had the addition of Double battles, which have now become the most prominent form of battling in the competitive scene, adding yet another layer of strategy to a system that was becoming more and more complex by the year.

Remakes – Generation 3 was our first taste of remakes in the franchise, with Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green giving us the authentic Kanto experience for the first time since the franchise began. While it wouldn’t break the kind of ground that later remakes would, it must be noted for starting a trend that carried on for years to come.

Nostalgia – This one is an absolute zero here, I didn’t experience a Hoenn game until Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire were released in 2014, and I didn’t play the originals until much later. Unfortunately for me, Generation 3 is simply the most forgettable of all the generations which is why I’ve put it so low.

6 – Generation 5

It annoys me to no end that they changed which colour corresponded to which legendary, but that’s not important.

Generation 5 is perhaps the most polarizing of the generations, with the majority of Pokemon fans either ripping it to shreds or standing firm in its defence with no middle ground. This means that I get to upset both sides of the argument, when I say I do feel pretty in the middle on it.

The new Pokemon – This is definitely the weakest part of this generation, it was clear that the Pokemon Company were going for a soft reset on the franchise when Generation 5 was released. A whopping 156 Pokemon were added in this generation – the most ever added in a single generation – and I can’t really claim to be a fan of many of them.

We had the overall worst set of starter Pokemon (not counting Snivy, who I adore) and pretty much all of the legendaries rank among my least favourite. The rest of the Unova dex had a lot of Pokemon that weren’t bad, but I certainly wouldn’t call any of them my favourites (again, except for Snivy).

The new Region – Say what you will about it being a circle, but I really love the Unova region. This was the first region to not be based on a region of Japan, and they really did a great job with it. They nailed the Urban vibe and, as someone who grew up in London, it felt very homely, in a strange way.

While I would’ve prefered a more interesting layout than a simple circle, the fact that the region doesn’t have to cross over itself at all means we were able to get a larger amount of variety in the feel and design of every route than a lot of other layouts have allowed for in the past.

What really made the region feel alive however, was all the characters that inhabited it. Although not every character was interesting (*cough*Cheren), I did actually feel like I was going around the Unova region and meeting as many different people I could, which is something that not enough Pokemon games have done, before or since.

The new Features – There isn’t a great deal to be proud of here.

We got the addition of Triple and Rotation battles, which are a feature that I personally loved, but nothing ever came of them for the franchise as a whole, to the point where they weren’t even programmed into the Generation 7 games at all. We also had the addition of seasons, which were a nice thought, but all it really meant was that we had to explore every route 4 times to see everything.

There were also a couple of minor changes, like TM’s having infinite uses and the battle sprites animating, and while those are nice to have, I’d hardly say they were groundbreaking.

Remakes – While there were no remakes, we instead got sequels, with Black 2 and White 2 marking the first time we’d had direct sequels in the Pokemon franchise since the release of Generation 2. Given that Generation 5 had (to my mind) the best story in the franchise, giving it a sequel was a great idea and something I’d love to see more of in the future.

Nostalgia – While not at zero, my nostalgia for this generation isn’t very high. I played Pokemon Black and White not long after they came out and actually had a lot of fun with them. However I stopped playing the series for a couple of years shortly after they came out, meaning I missed Black 2 and White 2 completely, not playing them until 2016. I do look back on my time in the originals fondly, I don’t have a great deal of nostalgia for the generation as a whole.

5 – Generation 1

I’m not even sorry.

Generation one gets a whole heap of bonus points here for simply being the one to start it all and I understand why so many people will rank it much higher than this in their personal lists. However, this is my list, and it’s my rules and to me, while nothing that came after it would be possible without these games, it’s hard to argue against the fact that later generations do a lot of stuff better.

The new Pokemon – I’ve got no complaints here really, while I don’t love every single Pokemon in the gen one dex, I most certainly don’t hate any of them either (except for the one YOU really like, which totally sucks). While I think other generations had better Pokemon than these, this was certainly the most consistent generation in terms of the quality of designs.

The new Region – Granted, this is down to the hardware limitations of 1996, but the Kanto region isn’t exactly the most interesting region we’ve ever seen. Game Freak did impress with their use of music and the Game Boy’s limited colour pallet to make it feel like each area was as unique as possible, but most of the routes in the game do feel very samey. In addition to this, I felt that the Pokemon weren’t themed to the routes as much as they were in later generations, with some quite random Pokemon popping up in places you wouldn’t really expect them to.

The new Features – Once again, it’s hard to complain about anything here, since everything was new, and while a lot of things weren’t quite at the quality we expect from the franchise today, it laid the groundwork for everything that came after it.

Remakes – It’s a bit hard to remake a game when there are no games to remake, so there’s nothing really to say here.

Nostalgia – While I wasn’t around at the time to experience these classics as they came out, over the years I’ve found myself looking back more and more fondly on the Pokemon that came from this generation. It feels as though everyone elses nostalgia for generation 1 has rubbed off on me a bit, so strangely, I do feel a little bit of nostalgia here, despite not being born when they were released.

4 – Generation 6

Many people seem to hate this generation, due to it being one of the biggest examples of the games becoming more “aimed at kids” (even though Pokemon’s always been aimed at kids, but let’s not go there). X and Y in particular are definitely the easiest Pokemon games in my estimation, but there’s a whole lot more to Pokemon than just its difficulty.

The new Pokemon – This generation added the fewest new Pokemon to the franchise so far, with just 72 being added (not counting Mega Evolutions). Few in number they may be, but I like pretty much all of them at least a little bit. Pokemon like Slurpuff and Aromtise aren’t exactly the height of Pokemon design, but Pokemon like Aegislash, Malamar and the always beautiful Talonflame being some extremely good additions to the roster. I also want to make special mention of the two cover legendaries in this generation, while they’re not my favourites they’re certainly among the top of the crop, which is quite difficult considering just how many legendary Pokemon there are now.

The new Region – When it comes to region design, I think the Kalos region is far and away my favourite. It may have something to do with it being the first time the franchise had entered the land of three dimensions, but it seems the whole region was designed to be full of grand sites that would blow you away when you witnessed them for the first time. Having Lumiose City as a central hub for the entire region that you would keep coming back to really made it feel like a proper capital city for the region, and having certain bit of the region locked off for the first portion of the game, meant you kept discovering new things, even when you came back to old places.

The new Features – I’ve already mentioned the leap to 3D graphics, which were very impressive for what could run on the 3DS at the time, but we also got a couple of other major additions to the franchise. First of all we got the brand new Fairy Type, which was the first time a new type had been added since generation 2, adding a much-needed counter to the extremely powerful Dragon type. Then of course we have perhaps my favourite feature to ever be added in a new generation, Mega Evolution. While it sucks that we’ll likely never get any new ones, what we did get was really great to see giving some Pokemon brilliant new designs and a huge boost in power.

Remakes – Generation 6 gave us the wonderful remakes for Generation 3 in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. While I have my grievances with generation 3, the newer mechanics in place here, along with some brand new ideas like the Dex Nav meant that these remakes were a much more enjoyable experience.

Nostalgia – While it’s not overly high, since these games were only about 5 years ago, generation 6 was responsible for getting me back into Pokemon after I stopped playing it for a few years, so it holds a special place for me in that regards.

3 – Generation 2

Generation 1 may be what started it all, but generation 2 is when the franchise really started to look like what it does today. To me these are the games that truly showed that the Pokmon franchise wasn’t just a fluke success and had the power to become the juggernaut it is today.

The new Pokemon – I’m not going to be very popular for this, but the Pokemon of generation 2 are probably my least favourite part of the generation. There aren’t really any that I flat-out dislike, but generally across the whole generation I found the colour pallet for the Pokemon to be rather dull and there wasn’t a huge amount of variety. Granted that is in part to the introduction of Dark and Steel types, so there were a large amount of grey Pokemon that needed to be added, I just feel that some of the Pokemon could’ve been made to look a lot brighter and more interesting visually.

The new Region – While Johto does suffer from some of the same problems that the Kanto region did, I find Johto having a kind of warmth to it that Kanto didn’t. The music and route design make it feel like the entire region is perpetually in early autumn, when it’s still warm but the nights are getting longer and it’s starting to rain more often. I just love the feeling as you wander through places like the Ilex Forest and Violet City.

The new Features – As you can imagine from the first sequels in the Pokemon franchise, there was a lot added in these games. As I mentioned above, we had the introduction of the Dark and Steel types to balance out some of generation 1’s more overpowered types. In addition to this was so many other features we take for granted today, like Shiny Pokemon, friendship as a stat for all Pokemon – not just Pikachu – and breeding, which would become a feature integral to competitive Pokemon very quickly. Finally, the addition of a female player character in Crystal really was sending out the message that Pokemon is for everyone and it’s here to stay. Which is impressive for games that were originally planned to be the last in the franchise.

Remakes – Just a tad early for that, don’t you think?

Nostalgia – I’ve got a fairly middling level of nostalgia for these games, while I didn’t play them as a kid, the remakes in generation 4 and 3DS re-releases meant I’ve spent a fairly large amount of time in Johto and I think back on those times rather fondly.

2 – Generation 7

This generation is another one that tends to split the fanbase pretty heavily, and while I try my best not to get involved in fanbase civil wars, I loved the generation 7 games. Nintendo once again pushed their hardware to its limits with the Alola region and once again tried their hand at a fairly complex story (and succeeded if you ask me).

The new Pokemon – While I don’t love all of the Pokemon in Alola, for the first time ever in the Pokemon franchise I really feel like all of the Pokemon generation 7 added actually are properly themed to the Alola region. Sure, plenty of other generations have a handful of themed Pokemon, but every single Pokemon that was added in generation 7 just screams “Alola” to me. Along with that, there were plenty of solid designs, with some of my favourite starter and legendary Pokemon come from this generation and there were plenty of other designs to be happy with as well.

The new Region – The Alola region is absolutely gorgeous, how they got that game to run on a 3DS I will never know. The whole region feels like everything flows together so well, instead of other regions which just have “the sandstorm area” and “the snowy area”, all of the different climates that are around the place make sense in terms of the region design.

Having the game spread across 4 different islands was also a really good idea, as it made sure the designers weren’t hampered by having a single landmass to work with. Each island felt like it had its own theme and vibe to it, and it meant things were always feeling different throughout my journey.

The new Features – This is perhaps where this generation has its weakness since, while there were a lot of features, a lot of them felt experimental and I doubt we’ll see many of them in future games. Things like the Rotom Dex and Z-moves, though cool, are the height of gimmicks for the sake of gimmicks to me. I can’t see either of those – along with things like Battle Royales and Alolan Forms – making a major return to the franchise anytime soon.

The trials were a neat replacement for the standard gyms, and while I did enjoy them, I still think I prefer having Gyms to face instead of Totem Pokemon. SOS Chaining was also a very cool feature, but it only really matters if you’re an avid shiny hunter such as myself. We did see the death of HMs though, so that’s pretty cool.

Remakes – Nope, sorry Sinnoh fanboys.

Nostalgia – Since this is the latest generation, there hasn’t really been any time for me to form nostalgia for this generation, however I do think in the future I’ll look back with a great deal of nostalgia for the land of Alola.

1 – Generation 4

Speaking of Sinnoh fanboys…..

I don’t think anyone would be surprised when I say that my favourite generation of Pokemon, is the one that introduced be to the franchise.

The new Pokemon – Admittedly, this generation did  add a handful of stinker Pokemon, I’m not really a fan of any of the “baby” Pokemon that were added, and a lot of the additional evolutions to existing Pokemon like Magmortar, Rhyperior and Tangrowth weren’t all that hot either. However, this generation makes up for it because the Pokemon that were good in this generation, were REALLY good.

While I can take or leave Torterra, both Infernape and Empoleon are brilliantly designed starter Pokemon. We got another winner of a regional bird in Staraptor, and in my opinion the best early route Pokemon in Luxray. Then you take a look at some of the mid-game Pokemon and it’s great all across the board; Garchomp, Lucario, Spiritomb, Electavire; I could go on.

Then you’ve got the legendaries and just wow…. This generation’s legendaries were themed around the creation of the universe and I really can’t think of any Pokemon better at visually representing those concepts than the Creation Trio as pictured above. I mean, just look at Giratina, that thing is terrifying, and absolutely fits it’s role as the ruler of what is essentially Pokemon’s version of the underworld.

The new Region – Sinnoh is a bit of a mixed reason for me. There are plenty of cities that seem so unique and full of life, such as Jubilife, Canalave or Eterna; then on the flip side you have some of the most generic cities in the franchise like Pastoria and Veilstone. That said, the routes have a nice variety and having Mount Coronette as the center piece of everything gives the region a nice layout that works well with how the story plays out in Sinnoh.

The new Features – While generation 4 was a little light on big features, since a lot of them were just gimmicks to take advantage of the DS’s two screens. Though we did get the extremely highly praise Physical/Special split, allowing Pokemon that didn’t have a great deal of use competitively in the past rework their move sets in order to play to their strengths much easier.

A big feature that perhaps gets taken for granted now however is the addition of wi-fi to the franchise, which took battling and trading from something you did in the playground to something you could now do with people all across the world whenever you wanted. It’s something that properly formed the idea of community and bonding that Nintendo have tried to push so hard with Pokemon in recent years.

Remakes – Generation 4 gave us our second round of remakes with Heart Gold and Soul Silver releasing in late 2009/early 2010 depending on where you live. These games really showed what Game Freak can do with these remakes and a large portion of the fanbase hold these up high as the best entries ever in the franchise.

Nostalgia – Naturally, the nostalgia is very high for this generation since it was my introduction to the franchise. I’d tried my best to review these generations with critical eyes, but I’d be lying if the nostalgia didn’t factor into my love of it. This is the generation I have to thank for hooking me into my favourite gaming franchise after all.