Favourite primary paired versions?

[Puddle]

Following on from the "favourite enhanced version" and "favourite remake" threads, which pair of games do you think got its respective generation off to the best start?

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'll go with B/W. It had a really engaging storyline, the best set of rivals we had seen up to that point, Team Plasma was the most interesting evil team, N is one of my favorite characters in the franchise and the choice to keep the focus entirely on new Pokemon until the post storyline was a pretty bold choice. I remember fans not liking that at the time, but I think it worked in the sense that they allowed for both returning and new players to experience a journey in a different fashion. Granted, I don't think that the designs of the fifth generation stand out to me as much compared to the later ones, but there are still plenty of favorites from this batch of Pokemon and I think it was a good decision.

Admittedly, I think that these games, and the fifth generation as a whole, are put on a bit of a pedestal and that can be annoying, especially when it does often lead to more hate on post-fifth generation games, but B/W are still really good.

 

[Esserise]

Ruby & Sapphire get my vote, as they are the ones I'm most impressed by, because of how far they went in taking the solid foundation that the first two generations created, and expanding massively on what was possible with it. As a kid, the storyline was pretty memorable. Plus, I've always thought that Gen 3 has such a strong batch of vibrant, interesting Pokémon designs. Hoenn is a very lush and diverse setting, and I'm very fond of the structure and pace of those games as well. I think it's pretty astonishing how well they hold up even today.

But I mean, it's not hard to for me to find nice things to say about any of these games. I know I rag on DP a lot for their technical problems, but even they did a lot to move the series forward and are beloved for a reason. I think they all did a lot more good for the series than bad, and they all have such strong, stand-out identities. Not one pair feels the same as the next in terms of profile, theme, setting, music, aesthetics, Pokémon designs, features - you name it. And for a series that has gone on for 25 years, I think that's really impressive. Pokémon very much has enough monetary security and enough of an established playerbase to where they could just phone it in every time, but instead they always try something new, and it's in that that I really see Game Freak's artistic drive.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Gold and Silver. Retro graphics and the feel of the game.

Sword and Shield. Because of the region, Mons and characters.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

Sapphire and Ruby.
I wasn't going to buy any of the games (nor a GBA) but it ended up being my Christmas present and I loved Sapphire. I thought it was cool to have a white-haired protagonist (yes, I know it isn't!) explore a more jungle-like region full of islands and mysteries to find and solve. It were very exciting times.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

Black and White for me, as Gen 5 is my obsession. It was of course the generation introducing my mascot Pokemon, and the story was amazing to follow. I also loved the lore and design of Unova as a whole.

 

[a230]

I'm going with red and blue. Why? Well it's my childhood. I'm born in 1996 and red and blue where all over the place when I was a kid. I played thoses games like 1 Million times. I like the simplicity of those games. But also the difficutly in some battle at the time.
I have to admit that Diamond and pearl where really close to be my favorite one.

 

[prog rocker]

Black and White for me. Believe it or not, the "no old Pokémon" thing actually made me interested in the game, plus liking the rivals in the game (I'm including N here, even though he's more accurately an antagonist). Its sequels had one of the two battle facilities that I liked, too.

 

[FlashFire926]

Black and White is the strongest of the base games, I feel. The story + only new pokemon before the postgame really put it ahead of the others, in my opinion.

Gen 4 is my favourite gen, but D/P wasn't the hottest start.

 

[Daenerys]

Picked Diamond and Pearl, but Ruby and Sapphire are close to my heart too so it was hard choosing between those pairs.