This is a list of my Top 5 Pokémon generations, from Red/Blue/Yellow to Black/White/Black2/White 2.
The reason I'm not including generations 6 and 7 is because I broke my 3DS's screen while getting into generation 6, so I never had to time to really let it sink in. I played Y prior to breaking my 3DS, as well as Alpha Sapphire with my friend's 3DS, but not enough to really make a judgement on them. I'm pretty sure I'll be grabbing a new 3DS and buying Sun/Moon pretty soon, though.
So, I will make a list based on the generations I've spent the most time with.
I'd like to make it known that I don't consider any of these five generations as downright bad, they all have their good sides and their bad sides. I just like some more than others.
Every generation in countdown includes the remakes - so, with Generation IV for example Heart Gold & Soul Silver are counted as being part of that generation.
#5 Generation V: Black & White and Black 2 & White 2
I went back and forth a lot on what to place as the lowest on the list.
I decided to go with Gen V mostly due to the fact that I got very little enjoyment out of Black & White. I did enjoy Black 2 & White 2, but it was a bit too little, too late. I wasn't a big fan of the Unova pokémon, to be honest. There were some very nice monsters like Excadrill, Liepard, Darmanitan, and I was one of the people who actually liked Serpior, but all in all I felt that the Unova Dex left a lot to be desired. To me, it seemed like a lot of the pokémon tried too hard to copy the Kanto Dex and lacked distinct personality as a result.
The uninspiring pokémon coupled with the fact that the graphical style was pretty bood during the battle screen. I appreciated the fact that pokémon moved now, instead of being static sprites, but the graphics themselves looked awkward and almost out of the Playstation 1 era - which I disliked a lot at the time, and preferred the cleaner, even if more simplistic, SNES era.
It was far from all bad, though, since the engine itself ran smooth, animations were quick and I don't remember running into glitches. I also had a blast with the Black 2, since it included more Pokémon pre-Elite 4, had a massive aftergame, and included the Pokémon World Tournament which is still very fun to play with. It offered some actual challenge even to a more experienced player like myself.
Generation V also made it very clear to me at the time that the games were clearly catering for kids. It was noticeable with Generation IV, but Generation V made it even more evident. There was a lot of handholding, and the difficulty level was clearly being lowered from the previous games.
Still, I enjoyed Black 2, and had some fun times with Black, but overall I'd say that Pokémon Black is the Pokémon game I've enjoyed the least. That's why Generation V is the lowest on the list.
I did like the more story-driven direction of Generation V, though, and N was a cool character.
#4: Generation I: Red, Blue & Yellow
Now, before you shoot me, hear me out.
I love Generation I as much as the next guy, but when compared to later games it becomes pretty evident that the mechanics weren't as fleshed out as they would become; the special stat was still one stat, there was no physical/special split at all, the psychic type was really overpowered, some of the types like bug and ghost were pretty useless in the grand scheme of things. The games were also full of glitches, some of which were game breaking.
In a way, of course, I'd like to place Generation I as number one on the list, because, in a way, it is. A huge chunk of my very favorite pokémon are from Generation I, like Blastoise, Charizard, Alakazam, Arcanine, Gengar, Jolteon, Snorlax, Scyther, Pinsir.. Also, I'd say that overall the Generation I designs were the best. I've been called a genwunner in the past, so come at me, I don't care. But I do think that the early pokémon were drawn differently and had more personality.
Also, having worked with Gen I a lot due to my Gen I rom hack I can forgive a lot of the glitches because I understand what an undertaking it was to even fit the entire game on a Gameboy cartridge - in the mid 90s. The assembly programming language is not easy at all.
I do enjoy the fact that in Gen I there was very little hand holding; you basically received your starter pokémon and Oak was like "Alright, good luck, now get out of here, I'm gonna bang your mom". Compared to the newer games which basically hold the player's hand at every possible turn. Gen I felt like a genuine adventure as a kid, and it hasn't really been duplicated since. Even the soundtrack felt adventurous - though every soundtrack on the list is really good.
The rival in Generation I is also the best, hands down. No other rival has even come close to BLUE.
However, having worked with my rom hack so much, I've realized that I'd rather not go back to playing vanilla Gen I, outside of the occasional nostalgic feels. The gameplay mechanics simply offer too little when compared to the later games.
So, number one in my heart, but number four on this countdown.
#3: Generation IV: Diamond, Pearl & Platinum and Heart Gold & Soul Silver
I really like Generation IV. I liked the new Pokémon, I loved the physical/special split which really rejuvenated the entire franchise and changed how a lot of the pokémon were used; Gyarados finally has a physical STAB move, Shadow Ball with Gengar finally makes sense!
If Generation I has the best rival, Generation IV has the best champion since Cynthia stands head and shoulders above the rest as the final boss of a Pokémon game. Great team, great music, and an overall feeling of "Oh, shit just got real".
Generation IV is also when the Pokémon metagame got interesting. Lots of Pokémon got new moves and strategies, and older pokémon that used to be useless were all of a sudden really good.
As a reagion, Sinnoh was just okay. It wasn't bad, it wasn't good. After the new and different Hoenn region of Generation 3, Sinnoh was a return to the generic Pokémon region. A bit of a disappointment, but not bad by any means.
Next to Generation I, Generation IV probably added the most of my favorite pokémon of all time, such as all three starters, Mismagius, Luxray, Gallade, Lucario and Floatzel.
In addition to the core games of Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, Generation IV also presented the fantastic remakes of the Generation II games in Heart Gold and Soul Silver. The Gen II remakes are some of my absolute favorite games in the series to play. They added a ton of stuff, Gen II was amazing to begin with, all the remakes of the original songs were awesome, the amount of content was seemingly neverending, the battle with Red was even more epic. And so on.
All in all, Generation IV is an excellent Generation, which I like a lot - and it could even be the very best.
If it wasn't for one very glaring flaw.
The engine.
Is the slowest.
Piece of crap.
You'll ever.
Experience.
Easily the worst engine of any Pokémon generation. The movement is sluggish, the battle animations take two months to finish and everything in the game just makes it seem like your stuck in quicksand. I don't play Gen IV nearly as much as I'd like to because the thought of playing Gen IV makes me balk at the idea of dealing with the engine. Diamond and Pearl are basically unplayable, Platinum fixed the engine somewhat, but it's still frustrating to play even Platinum and Heart Gold & Soul Silver.
In addition to the slow engine, the core games as well as the Generation II remakes are filled with these. constant. interruptions. all. the. damn. time.
I timed it once and it takes approximately two years to actually start your adventure in Heart Gold & Soul Silver, because at the beginning, EVERYBODY IS INTERRUPTING AND STOPPING YOU ALL THE TIME, either by bumping into to you or calling you or whatever. It makes me scream SHUT UP I JUST WANT TO PLAY PLEASE GOD LET ME ADVANCE IN THE GAME.
Also, if you're playing Diamond, Pearl or Platinum - but moreso Diamond and Pearl - and you're looking to add a fire type on your team, too bad.
With a better engine and without the annoying interruptions, Generation IV could be my favorite, but as it is, I simply can not place it higher on the list.
#2: Generation II: Gold, Silver & Crystal
After long and hard consideration, I decided to place Gold, Silver and Crystal as number two on the list.
The games are definitely dated by today's standards, just like Generation I, but the games were fixed enough from the first games to be infinitely more playable. Generation II introduced two new types, dark and steel, to balance the game against the overpowered psychic type, and is, to this day, the only Pokémon Generation to include two whole regions.
As a kid, it was so crazy that we could visit Kanto from the first game after we beat the Elite 4. It was even a surprise, I had no idea as a kid, I wasn't expecting it at all. Not only could we visit Kanto, we could battle the protagonist of the first game, too! When I first saw that level 81 Pikachu, I knew that it's on now, bitch. As a more experienced player, I actually consider Red to be pretty easy in both he originals as well as the remakes, if you know what you're doing, but as a kid, he was a great challenge.
The Generation IV remakes should be placed here instead, since they are superior games in every way - except for the engine, which is the deal breaker for me, like I said. I just have more fun playing the original Generation II games because I don't have to apply for elderly care while waiting for the battle animations to finish.
The selection of 251 Pokémon was really good, the game had a great variety of Gen I and II Pokémon, and the backwards compatibility of Gold, Silver and Crystal blew my mind back then: we could trade Pokémon to and from the original games. We all had that thunder/fire/ice punch Alakazam back then when all those moves were still considered special.
Generation II includes my two favorite Pokémon that are above all the rest: Lanturn and Heracross.
I also have no idea how they fit Gold, Silver and Crystal on the cartridges that they did. No idea. For those that don't know, according to the laws of physics, as well as the university of Harvard, the games can not physically fit on those cartridges - yet, somehow, they do.
It's magic.
I think Generation II is a great mixture of nostalgia and being a genuinely good game. It's just a bit less nostalgic than Gen I, but is a lot better game, so it's the best of both worlds, and gets the nod as #2 on this list.
#1: Generation III: Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald and Fire Red & Leaf Green
And the winner is Generation III.
After Generation I & II, Generation III was a breath of fresh air, and clearly trying something different - even if the basic formula was still the same. The Hoenn region was drastically different from Kanto and Johto of the previous games, the Pokémon designs were less urban and more tropic, and the soundtrack was also very unique.
Generation III introduced some of the series' future staples, such as abilities and running shoes. Abilities added a whole new layer of strategy into the gameplay and was very much welcomed. All of a sudden, a pokémon had a place in your party because he had the intimidate ability, and you were going to go up against a trainer with a physically oriented team. Next to Cynthia, Steven is my favorite champion and I found his team to be intriguing. Especially pokémon like Aggron and Metagross were awe inspiring due to being so different from what we had been used to in the pokémon games.
The fact that the evil team was either Team Aqua or Team Magma, depending on whether you were playing Ruby or Sapphire, was really fun, even if the teams themselves were a bit lame. And then Emerald had a mixture of the two.
Generation III stands out for being very different. The region is different, the music is different, the pokémon are different, even the protagonists looks unlike any other Pokémon protagonist with that weird hat.. thing. It was very daring in a lot of respects, and not everyone is a fan. In fact, Gen III could be the most controversial of the generations - at least a runner up for Generation V.
I liked it, though, and Generation III was responsible for rekindling my passion for Pokémon, after the boom had ended after Generation II.
Generation III also included the Generation I remakes, Fire Red and Leaf Green which fixed a lot of the issues that plagued the original games for the Gameboy. The only thing I'm not a big fan of about them is the watered down soundtrack. The Generation I soundtrack may be my favorite, so in theory a remade, remixed version would be awesome, but for whatever reason it just doesn't work that well for me. Like I said, it sounds very watered down.
If Generation III had the battle mechanics of Generation IV and onwards, I could consider it the perfect Pokémon generation. As it is, the lack of a physical/special split, as well as a more shallow move pool for pokémon does stand out, but the overall playability is still above Generation IV, so it earns its spot as my number one on this list.
I am aware that the Generation VI remakes for Ruby and Sapphire basically are Gen III with the post-Gen IV battle mechanics, but Generation VI also includes a lot more hand holding than Generation III did, and a more lackluster difficulty level, so I'd argue that it's not completely the same thing.
But Generation III is my favorite Pokémon Generation, and #1 on this list.
How about you? Let me know your Top 5.