I have a strange history. I was a massive fan since Day 1 Episode 1 of the anime, which got me into the franchise, loved everything about it, from the characters to the humor and especially the original 150, which I took so much time learning about every single detail about....but for some reason it never occurred to little me that "Hey, this is my favorite show, maybe I should try out the games too!" I think for the most part, I never knew what the concept of the games were which is why I never tried them until one day, my friend was talking about Sapphire and the way he described it blew my mind.
"Wait, YOU CAN ACTUALLY CATCH AND TRAIN THE POKEMON YOURSELF, AND TRAVEL TO THE CITIES IN THE SHOW!!!??? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS!"
That Christmas, I went and got Sapphire and was positively hooked, was everything I ever dreamed about, and stayed with the franchise to this day.
Tl;DR I was a genwunner that started with Gen 3