What is Your Favourite Era?

[tm_rckt]

I've realized that Pokémon can be divided up into three reasonable categories.

Generations I and II are the Good Old Days. A time when the games were simple, without too many mechanics. Back when Pokémon Fever gripped the world tightly.

Generations III, IV and V are the Perfection of Pixels. Kanto and John got remade into definitive versions that matched up perfectly with their new counterparts (Kanto with Hoenn and Johto with Sinnoh). Plus the mythos and lore of the Pokémon universe was expanding by leaps and bounds, introducing literal GODS into the meta. Pixel art and 3D models were being perfectly blended together to make wonderful regions. And let's not forget Unova, a rich environment paired with the best plot of all.

Then there's the current place we're in. The alternate timeline I call the 3D Era. We lost decent plots for games, but in return we're able to personalize our characters and teams like no other! Changing our wardrobes (I can't imagine how long we had been asking for this!), Mega Evolution (still the best battle mechanic in my opinion), Z-Moves, and now Dynamax/Gigantamax! The competitive scene in Pokémon has never been more insane than it has been since 2013! Add Alolan formes and Galarian formes....my gosh! It's enough to make you sink into all of it!

So, now that I've mentioned these, which era is your favourite and please explain why.

 

[pacman000]

Voted for gen 1 & 2. Gen 1 is my favorite, because everything was new & exciting, but Gen 2 had a better story, & more to explore.

No one likes the 3D games?

 

[janejane6178]

I would vote for 3d era if we could seperate swsh from gen 6.

Xy and oras >>> swsh

 

[Morax]

The golden age ( Gen. IX, X, XI )

 

[ChampioN One]

Voted for gen III, IV and V. I think that was the time when it felt like Gamefreak really put some effort into making the games, as a result we got two best main series games imo and gen IV and V are still my favorite games.

The golden age ( Gen. IX, X, XI )

Stop dreaming lol.

 

[Morax]

Stop dreaming lol.

make me

 

[ChampioN One]

make me

Darkrai, use dream eater!

 

[Yveltal91057]

Gen 2 and Gen 3 were the best. Being able to play all of the Gen 2 games on the 3DS was amazing and I hope that the Pokémon Company decides to put all of the Gen 2 and Gen 3 games including Pokémon Ranger on the Switch Virtual Console at some point.

Why was the Hoenn region from RSE amazing? It introduced Pokémon with great designs, the Battle Frontier, two great evil teams and it felt like you were right in the middle of nature.

 

[Jeppo]

Gen I and II is where the magic happened. Gen I is awesome, obviously, and Gen II has some awesome looking Pokémon. The starters of Gen II are great looking too. Such a shame they weren't introduced in Sword/Shield.

 

[Storm the Lycanroc]

Personally I enjoy the DS era games the most. Specifically Gen 4 and 5 since that was when the series was at it's best in terms of story and gameplay. Platinum has great replayability and BW has the best story.

I believe the quality of the series started to go down after the transition to 3D. XY was lackluster in many areas, SM wasn't enjoyable, USUM was an improvement, and SWSH are average at best.

 

[Weavy]

Is it just me or does the selection choices sound rather bias? Gen 6+ is just "The 3D era", while the other two sound way more positive, being "Good old days" and "Pixel Perfection". It may not be bias, but it just looks that way to me.

I don't have a favourite era, but I picked 3D era solely for the reason that it's easier than ever to have perfect IV Pokemon.

No one likes the 3D games?

They're the cool thing to hate on at the moment, especially SwSh. Keep seeing people who say to others who like the 3D games have no taste because that's when everything started going downhill according to them. Don't like people like them.

 

[janejane6178]

Is it just me or does the selection choices sound rather bias? Gen 6+ is just "The 3D era", while the other two sound way more positive, being "Good old days" and "Pixel Perfection". It may not be bias, but just looks that way to me.

I don't have a favourite era, but I picked 3D era solely for the reason that it's easier than ever to have perfect IV Pokemon.



They're the cool thing to hate on at the moment., especially SwSh. Keep seeing people who say to others who like the 3D games have no taste because that's when everything started going downhill according to them. Don't like people like them.

I loved Xy and Oras.
I dont think its right to put all the 3d games in the same category.

 

[mehmeh1]

The golden age ( Gen. IX, X, XI )

Ayy, for a second i thought you were talking about FF (though I've never seen XI referred to as being in the golden age since it's an MMO, so nah).

Either way, III-V, partly due to nostalgia and partly because I think those were when GF were putting the most they could into the games, plus those gens have most of my favorite mons (though my 2 favs are from gen 2). I don't think the 3D games are bad, but they felt like they took away most focus on the main campaign and put it into PvP, which is something I also like to play, but not what I'm the most interested into when playing Pokemon. Hopefully LA has a lot of content, since it seems like it won't have multiplayer

Darkrai, use dream eater!

Who are you, Tobias?

 

[Chaos Emperor]

I’ll say the “good old days”, as fans didn’t seem to constantly be out for blood over the smallest things, though to be fair there wasn’t social media or sites like this back then so maybe fans in gen 1/2 did want to hate for no reason but didn’t have a megaphone to shout into the void.

 

[Leonhart]

Gen I and II, in particular the period between the two generations since there was a lot of excitement over what the new Pokemon would look like. I remember really enjoying summer 2000 because the second movie was released in theaters in the US, and it gave us a preview of some of the new Pokemon. This was before most homes had internet access, so getting a glimpse of new Pokemon wasn't as easy as it is now.

 

[octoboy]

I would vote for 3d era if we could seperate swsh from gen 6.

I think that's definitely a point - I'd want to consider gen 8 in a different era from gen 6 as well, and it opens questions as to how these eras can be defined.

It seems to somewhat make sense to separate gen 8 from those before it similar to how it seems natural to separate gen 2 from gen 3 - it's possible to send any pokémon from a gen 1 game to a gen 2 game, but not to a gen 3 game, making the break seem natural. It's possible to send any pokémon from gen 3 all the way to gen 7, but the same can't be said for gen 8, making the break between it and its previous gens also seem natural. On the other hand, it seems strange to separate gen 7 from gen 8, their both sharing regional variants. And mega evolving in gen 6 seems like a counterpart to dynamaxing or gigantamaxing in gen 8, and possibly also Z moves in gen 7, so in some ways it does seem natural to group these three together - they all come from a period where there was a paradigm of a new gimmick each gen. I suppose there always were new game mechanics being introduced, from items to abilities to new classifications of special and physical attacks, but these certainly got flashier since gen 6 came out.

However, while it makes sense to group these 3 gens together, I think the atmosphere has really changed between the current gen and the last - by gen 8, the company's decisions began to seriously reek of corporate cynicism to many people in a way it hasn't been in any of the other gens, so I can definitely see lots of people saying they did like the past 2 "3d-era gens" excluding gen 8, making grouping all three together to have problems.

As for my own choice, I voted the "Advanced" era, especially gen 3, which was the last game of the series I truly enjoyed a full playthrough of and the era I joined the Pokémon fandom in. I wasn't really around for the earlier era, though my first gaming experience was actually Red version, and the franchise was starting to show signs of jumping the shark around gen 6 (I moved past my skepticism towards the fairy type, ultra beasts and mega forms eventually for the most part, though I'll always think that charizard's extra mega form was pretty painfully fanservice-y). Also, I definitely find that this period made the best use of the duality of two different versions to a degree that hasn't really been seen in any other era. The version-exclusives really felt like counterparts in these games - zangoose and seviper seem so much more two sides of a coin than sandslash and ekans ever did. Plus, compare the swift-swimming ludicolo and chlorophyll-bearing shiftry, both speeding up in their respective box-art-legend's weather, or White version's valiant braviary and Black version's shady mandibuzz, to stonjourner and eiscue which are version counterparts because... reasons. Granted, gen 4 was kind of the dud which didn't really have this (I can't see how glameow and skuntank really tie into their respective versions), but I do appreciate the gens where version-exclusivity was more than just an excuse to make completists buy two games.

 

[tm_rckt]

Like I said, I don't diss Gen VI-VIII. I mean, yeah. The stories haven't been that great. But Mega-Evolution, Z-Moves, Dynamax.....the battling aspect is insane!!! I get so freaking hyped every time I'm battling someone now!

 

[Rodpaco]

For me it's gen III, with gen I being a close second.

Gen III is when I started playing pokemon (around 2004-2005, with Fire Red & Sapphire) and, even after playing all generations up to gen VI, I still consider the gen III games to be the best ones. Fire Red & Emerald are probably the two games I spent the most time on. And I love everything about Hoenn. The grandiose atmosphere, the epic music, the pokemon, the mythology, the Battle Frontier, and yes the water too. Even though I'm also a fan of gen II, the improvements between gen II and gen III were massive.

I also have a deep emotional attachment to gen I because of how iconic it was, season 1 was my favorite season of the anime, and of course there's Fire Red (which is kinda both gen I and III). I've also played countless times over all 3 gen I games (Red, Blue, Yellow) and it's always a treat.

Still catching up when it comes to the 3D games... xD The most recent games I've played are X and Alpha Sapphire and I loved both of them, even though they were clearly a bit too easy compared to the previous generations.

 

[janejane6178]

For me it's gen III, with gen I being a close second.

Gen III is when I started playing pokemon (around 2004-2005, with Fire Red & Sapphire) and, even after playing all generations up to gen VI, I still consider the gen III games to be the best ones. Fire Red & Emerald are probably the two games I spent the most time on. And I love everything about Hoenn. The grandiose atmosphere, the epic music, the pokemon, the mythology, the Battle Frontier, and yes the water too. Even though I'm also a fan of gen II, the improvements between gen II and gen III were massive.

I also have a deep emotional attachment to gen I because of how iconic it was, season 1 was my favorite season of the anime, and of course there's Fire Red (which is kinda both gen I and III). I've also played countless times over all 3 gen I games (Red, Blue, Yellow) and it's always a treat.

Still catching up when it comes to the 3D games... xD The most recent games I've played are X and Alpha Sapphire and I loved both of them, even though they were clearly a bit too easy compared to the previous generations.

Hoenn is my fav region, no doubt. Nothing beats it for me

 

[Bolt the Cat]

3rd and 4th, plus BW2. That was when the games were high quality, well rounded games full of content.