Which generation do you think had the best non mainline game media?

[Lluc]

Whenever people are asked about their favorite generation, they usually answer the question as if they were being asked which is their favorite mainline game rather than accounting for everything released in the generation as a whole. I wanna ask the question again this time with emphasis on everything released within the generation besides the main games. This includes stuff like spin off games, anime, manga, events, social media presence, and so on.

For example, I love BW/BW2 and put a lot of hours into them but in terms of spin offs, I was pretty disappointed with gen 5's lineup as a fan of PMD, Rangers, and the 3D battle sims. I think if I included everything released in a generation, I'd have stronger love for gen 4 as they made lots of sequels to gen 3's interesting line up of spin offs and improved upon them. Colosseum and XD do help place gen 3 as a very close second though.

 

[Ignition]

Gen 4 easily. Rangers, Poke Park, and Battle Revolution (my personal favorite). Though Gen 5 has my other favorite spin off, Pokemon Conquest

 

[Leonhart]

I would say Gen III since the spin-off games such as Pokemon Ranger and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon introduced storylines that the core games had never attempted before, which made that generation feel more innovative than the ones before it. Gen III also had some of the best storylines of the Pokemon Special manga, so it was a great time to be a Pokemon fan.

 

[Aduro]

I'd say Gen III. Col and XD included so many things that I wanted from a console Pokemon Game. Including several presentational things that were missing from the main series.

Although Gen I had games that were solid for their time, and should have been built on in later generations. Obviously Snap. But Stadium only got one follow on, with Battle Revolution being something of a letdown in terms of minigames or different battle modes. And later generations simply not having games dedicated to battling without the RPG elements. And there was never a proper sequel to the first TCG game released in the West. While other card games got regular video game releases.

 

[Drake Pokétrainer]

Gen 3. Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness are still among my favorite pokemon games, including the main games. Genius Sonority did a great job with the models. Kinda makes me wish Gamefreak hired them to do the Sw/Sh models.
Also absolutely loved the first Ranger game.

 

[Prof. SALTY]

4 absolutely. Gen 4 was the absolute peak of pokemon merchandise, spinoff games, the anime and manga (although ReBurst is still the best and it's gen 5).

Games like Shadows of Almia, Guardian Signs and the Explorers PMD games, series started in gen 3 but PERFECTED in gen 4. Battle Revolution literally being revolutionary in it's trainer customization. Rumble... Existing. Pokepark also got it's start here and was a great little wii title.

The anime tried it's hand at a more serious tone in story and the movies had continuity between them.

There was experimentation in the manga scene with series like Phantom Thief 7.

Online shopping became more accessible and merchandise was more obtainable than ever. Plushies, figures, electronic toys and cards were all readily available on multiple sites. I still have my Diamond and Pearl soundtrack CDs that I bought while in Japan but saw them all over the internet at the time.

The lead up to gen 4 also had great fakes. So many creative ideas for how pokemon would look and what sort of starters there would be.

As for the other gens, in order of best to worst;
Gen 3: just as solid as gen 4 honestly. It was a close race.
Gen 1: the pokemon boom largely contributed to this high a ranking.
Gen 2: there was still a lot of good here. A lot of good memories. Great movies too.
Gen 5: honestly the only reason it's this high is because I lived in Japan at the time. There was a lot of promotion going on and Conquest and ReBurst was good but that's about it.
Gen 7: eh. Had some neat promo stuff.
Gen 8: it's placement is more because of it's recent release than a reflection of it's side content quality.
Gen 6: there are some serious issues when Ga-Olé is your saving grace...

 

[shoz999]

I'm gonna give it to Gen 2 for the awesome Adventures adaptation, the unique artwork for the TCG, Pokemon Stadium 2, the movies and while the anime adaptation was pretty boring, still loved seeing a bunch of Johto favorites making onto the small screen.

 

[TwilightBlade]

Gen 4 for the win. The Time, Darkness and Sky PMD games had the best story line out of all the Pokemon spin off games I've ever played and it rivaled the stories used in the main Sinnoh games.

 

[Leonhart]

I'm gonna give it to Gen 2 for the awesome Adventures adaptation, the unique artwork for the TCG, Pokemon Stadium 2, the movies and while the anime adaptation was pretty boring, still loved seeing a bunch of Johto favorites making onto the small screen.

I do give Gen II credit for having one of the best eras of TCG artwork at least [mostly the first two Neo sets]. I wasn't a fan of Pokemon Stadium 2 however since to me it was too much like the first Pokemon Stadium game, which I considered to be an over-glorified 3D version of the core games.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Easily Gen IV because it had the most spin off games released during the core games’ lifespan. You’ve got the Mystery Dungeon games, Battle Revolution, the Ranger series, and Trozei. Trozei is sort of in between Gens for most of the world but it was released after DP in Japan or at least close to it.

 

[RedBlastoise]

If we're judging based on the spin off game quality then I will go with Generation 4 because the variety of spin off games was vast and most of them were enjoyable and had memorable stories.

 

[carterfeygo]

Generation 4 had the Time, Darkness and Sky games which are some of the best spin off Pokemon games ever. That whole generation was stellar and changed the face of the series.