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How do you rank Sun & Moon?

My personal ranking:

1. Gen V (White is my all-time fave in the series. The sequels were bleh, but I loved White so much I consider this my favorite gen of all time)
2. Gen IV (Platinum is an awesome game! The Gen II remakes were also pretty good)
3. Gen I (I cannot dislike Gen I. It is, afterall, what started it all)
4. Gen VII (Great games! Loved Sun! But they didn't overtake what I have already liked, but still good)
5. Gen II (They were good games, but I don't know. I didn't like the pacing they had. One heap of praise I have is they let you revisit a region from a previous game)
6. Gen III (To be fair, these are good games (especially Emerald), but I can't help but harbor some resentment towards Ruby and Sapphire for making me think they were rebooting the series)
7. Gen VI (Kalos is not my favorite region. I don't hate X and Y. They were fun, but they overdid it with them trying to make it into Kanto 2.0. The music never really stuck with me and the characters weren't all that memorable. ORAS was great, but I'm not one to rank remakes higher than the originals or third version of a series)
 
Not going to go into each and every detail, in fact, all I really care about are the story and the new Pokemon, but here's my ranking. Sun and Moon rank number 2.

#1 Gen 4

This was my very first generation. I loved Pearl. I thought that the story was amazing, the characters were great and the Pokémon introduced here are some of my favorites. The story is really what gives gen four its spot here. I love Cyrus. In my opinion, his plan posed the biggest threat to the Pokémon world; wanting to wipe out all of humanity and create a new world with no emotions. Now that’s what I like in a villainous team leader. I also liked Lucas as a character, as well. I thought that Barry was a great rival. He always posed a challenge and I had a strong desire to beat him. I also found most of the gyms and elite four to be quite challenging here, though that might be because Pearl was my very first game, but I also had a bit a challenge in Platinum if I remember right. I'm also quite a huge fan of a lot of Pokemon introduced in Gen 4.

#2 Gen 7

Sun and Moon were probably the most fun I've had playing a Pokemon game since DPPT. The characters were so entertaining and actually felt like real people. I liked following Lillie in her growth to become stronger to save her mom. I liked watching Kukui build his Pokemon League. I liked watching how humorous Hau and Team Skull were. I LOVED having a major female villain for the first time. And overall, nearly everyone from the Trial Captains and Kahunas to the evil team members were just a joy to watch. The replacement of gyms by trails was such a welcome addition that in my opinion should have happened a long time ago. The Island Trial Challenge is so much more fun and entertaining that gyms in every single way and I truly hope we get to see some more gym variations in future games. A lot of the Pokemon introduced here were really nice as well.


#3 Gen 6

Honestly, I loved the game. I really liked the story here. Lysandre’s goal is almost the same as Cyrus’s, in which he plans to wipe out all of humanity to start a new world. Again, this is what I like in a villainous team leader, posing a major threat. Even when he’s defeated, Lysandre still tries to force eternal life/destroy everyone in the HQ . I really enjoyed Team Flare as a whole; their dialogue cracked me up. I also really liked all of the rival characters. Calem was awesome, Shauna was funny, and I felt that Trevor and Tierno were good, but I wished that they would have done more during the main plot. I really liked a lot of the Pokémon introduced in this gen as well. I also thought that the level distribution this time around was great, with Diantha’s Gardevoir being at level 68. There were also a lot of really cool Pokemon introduced here as well.


#4 Gen 3

I really enjoyed Pokémon Emerald. I thought that the plot was great. Even if it wasn’t planned, Archie and Maxie’s plans actually did end up posing a threat to Hoenn, so that boosts them up. I liked Brendan, but I wish that he would have challenged me more, along with fully evolving his starter. I also wish Wally’s story would have been fleshed out more. I really like a lot of Gen 3 Pokemon, and it's definitely my favorite dex and introduced the most of my favorites. A few gyms were pretty challenging this time around as well.


#5 Gen 1

Well, this gen was okay. Not that bad, but not the best either. The plot was okay, but I wouldn’t say it was great. It surely doesn't compare to some of its successors in my opinion. Blue was a great rival though and I did like a lot of the Pokémon introduced here.


#6 Gen 5

Okay, now we’re getting to the ones I really dislike. I enjoyed B1, but I really didn’t like a lot of the elements in the game. First of all, I really just didn't care much for the story. Ghetsis’s cover up plan of freeing Pokémon was really lame to me and his bigger plan of controlling Unova didn’t compare to Cyrus’s goal of wiping out humanity in my opinion. The W2 plan to freeze Unova and steal all the Pokémon wasn’t that much better either. I didn’t care at all for N or his story and I hated all of the rival characters. In fact, only Cheren felt like a real rival to me, but even still, he was so boring. I didn’t care for much of the Pokémon introduced in this gen either. In fact, this gen is probably full of my all-time least favorite Pokemon.


#7 Gen 2

Sorry, but gen 2 was really lame. The main reason for gen 2 being on the bottom of my list is because of the plot. I thought that the story could have been so much more. Team Rocket is back and all they’re trying to do is call Giovanni from the radio tower. The box legends and legendary dogs play no major role in any of the games and characters like Eusine with potential to play major roles did nothing. Also, the level distribution was awful. The elite four used Pokémon in the 40’s. Even with the Kanto post-game, I still thought that the levels could have been better. The Pokémon introduced were good, but I wouldn’t say that many of my all-time favorites were introduced here. In addition, Silver as a rival was a great, but that really isn’t enough to bring it any higher.
 
Disclaimer, this is going to be a long post.

Note that when I rank Generations III, IV, and VI, I am taking previous generation remakes into account as well. As such, there's no real point for me to rank Generations I and II at all, since their remakes had everything the originals did and more.

1.
Words cannot express how much I don't care for Diamond and Pearl as games. Their story is the same shit as Ruby/Sapphire, but worse because it's derivative of those games. However, Platinum did an amazing job of taking a crap story and turning it into something spectacular...for Pokemon standards. Platinum hit that sweet spot that few other games in the franchise have of being complicated enough to keep you engaged, yet simple enough not to get its head stuck up its own ass *cough*XY*cough* In terms of region, I loved the diversity of Sinnoh's ecosystem. I loved the desert area in the resort, the beaches, forests, cities, and even snowy paths and mountains. Sure, they were a pain to traverse, but absolutely stunning to behold.

When it comes to mythology, I think they handled Arceus and his children's mythology really well. Anything having to do with Arceus, Giratina/Dialga/Palkia, and the pixies (and Unown?) was excellent. The other legendaries though...ugh. What a slog to get through. Regigigas was a cool concept but under-explored. I'm still unsure of how Heatran qualifies as a Legendary, and the others sounded like half-baked concepts that weren't given time to develop (Shaymin, Manaphy, Cresselia/Darkrai.) Good ideas all, crap execution.

Fortunately, HeartGold and SoulSilver pick up the slack for all of Sinnoh's pitfalls. I will always hold the opinion that Generation II had the best set of legendary Pokemon. We learn enough about them to get a strong sense of who they are, but are still left mysterious enough for us to believe we don't have all the answers. They still feel like legends by the end of the game, as opposed to just super-powerful Pokemon. Johto's story was lackluster, sure, but I think there's something to be said for simplicity when it comes to Pokemon games. A lot of Pokemon Generations have the issue of trying to tell stories that are too big or too grandiose, and end up falling flat on their faces. Johto's story may not have been all that deep, but the shallowness of the plot made way for exploration of the region, which was appreciated. While Johto wasn't as diverse as later regions in terms of landscapes, it did have some of the most memorable locations in all of Pokemon. Ecruteak city, Goldenrod city, Mt. Silver, the Lake of Rage, Blackthorn city (which to me always felt like a hidden village of secret dragon trainers, which is awesome.) All excellent locales. Plus the Johto games are still the only games in which you can go back to a previously visited region in the post-game, and fight yourself and your rival from the past.

The characters are not quite as deep as some later generations, but they still have their standouts. It was great to see how Blue has matured in the three years since Gen I, and Silver in particular is downright excellent. With regards to Sinnoh, who doesn't love Cynthia? Barry had a simple yet satisfying character arc, and Looker was a fun inclusion.

Finally, the Pokemon. I feel that Johto actually had one of the strongest rosters in terms of design. They were simple enough that you could easily see what they were based on, but had enough flare that you didn't feel like you were traveling around with a mundane dog or something. Standouts include The Starters (all three,) the Legendaries (all six,) Houndour's line, Scizor, Heracross, Skarmory, and the new Eeveelutions. Sinnoh, by contrast, had one of the weakest rosters in terms of original Pokemon. Outside of the Torterra, Empoleon, Luxray, and Staraptor, I didn't care about any of them. No, not even Lucario or Garchomp. The evolutions for previous generation Mons are considerably better. My favorite is Roserade, but the Eeveelutions, Mismagius, Honchkrow, and Frosslass are also excellent.

In the end, Gen IV's games compliment each other well. Any issues the Sinnoh games have are addressed in the Johto games and vice versa, so the generation as a whole is a lot of fun to play. I will also award some nostalgia points here because Generation II was my first series of games, so I'm definitely biased.

2.
Not gonna lie, the reason I rank XY so highly is purely aesthetics. Kalos was a gorgeous region. Perhaps the most beautiful one to date. Not the most diverse, to be sure, but the landscapes are all stunning. It's not the 3D either, since I still rank Kalos higher than both Hoenn and Alola in terms of visual appeal. The story of XY was...ummm....well it was bad. It was really bad. It tried to be deep like BW, but it just failed so hard. However, you could tell there were good ideas there (AZ, the war 3000 years ago, Mega Evolution's history, etc.) They just needed to present it in a more cohesive way. Basically the story got too big for its britches and ended up fitting its whole head inside of its ass. Picking up the slack for the main plot though is the post-game story with Emma and Looker, which is to date my favorite story ever told in the entire Pokemon franchise, bar none. This story made me fall deeply in love with Emma, gave me a new appreciation for Looker, and made me feel like Lumiose city was my home.

The region more than made up for the main plot though. It absolutely felt like a love letter to France and it came across loud and clear in the presentation. Parfum Palace, Laverre city, the Pokeball Factory, the Tower of Mastery, The Elite Four and Champion's rooms, and especially Lumiose city (currently my favorite city in the Pokemon world) are excellent locales.

The characters, barring Emma, were all just bad. Not bad enough to make me hate any of them, but bad enough to find each and everyone of them boring af. Like for real. But what the humans lacked in personality, the Pokemon made up for in spades. If I were to take each region's roster individually, I'd say Kalos is in the running for the best batch of mons in the franchise. Standouts include The Starters (again, all three,) Goodra, Florges, Aegislash, Talonflame, and Trevenant, but I'm actually hard-pressed to find a single Kalos native I actively dislike. The legendaries were admittedly shoehorned into the story in a cringe-tastic way and they could've done so much more with them. I think having them completely divorced from the main plot and making them available on their own a la HGSS might have been preferable. Maybe add a Lost Woods type of area where we could find Xerneas resting in its tree form and awakened her for a battle, and a Cave of Wonders type of location in the mountains for Yveltal.

And then came ORAS. Full disclosure, I absolutely hated the original Gen III games, for reasons I will talk about later, but ORAS came along and fixed literally every single problem I had with the original games and then some. If I had to name the one region that most deserved to be remastered into 3D, Hoenn would have definitely been the one. I am so glad I got to revisit this region in Gen VI. The improved graphics gave me a much better appreciation for the diverse landscapes of the region. Volcanoes, oceans, caves, forests, jungles, islands, ash-covered routes, etc. And that's not even counting the standout locales like Mt. Pyre, Mauville city, Fortree city, and Sootopolis city (one of the absolute best-looking cities in Pokemon.) I recently finished replaying OmegaRuby and it struck me how much fun I had in that region.

The Pokemon also look completely suited to the region. I can't think of one, off the top of my head, that doesn't look like it belongs in Hoenn. The Starters are a great example of showing off the tropical vibe of the region, but other standouts include the pseudo-legendaries, Manectric, Milotic, Swellow, Absol, and Flygon.

I didn't mention the legendaries because I wanted to talk about them separately. Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza (especially Rayquaza) all received a lot of much needed depth with ORAS. Primal reversion and Rayquaza's unique mega evolution provided opportunities for Game Freak to expand on the region's history (Zinnia and the Draconids,) the Pokemon's origins (Primal Reversion was actually their default form,) and the standard plot.

Speaking of, plot and characters. I absolutely despised the original plot of RS and its characters. I can't even describe how much I hated them. ORAS did the seemingly impossible and made me actively love both the plot and the characters (except Brendan. Fuck that guy.) I got a whole new appreciation for Maxie and Archie once their goals were given depth, and the admins were a lot of fun. Shelly being my personal favorite. Steven and Wally, both of who were bland to the point of ridicule in the originals, both stood out as excellent allies and opponents in this game. And then there's Zinnia. Everything about her is amazing. From her Mega Salamence to her goal to her origin as Lorekeeper of the Draconids, to her pain over the loss of Aster v.1. I loved her.

Ultimately, while I loved Gen VI as a whole, the reason it falls below Gen IV is because its flagship titles, X and Y, felt very much incomplete. And with a lack of third version or sequel to correct this, ORAS was tasked with picking up the slack. Still, these were two absolutely beautiful regions filled to the brim with excellent Pokemon and I always enjoy traversing through these games.

3.
In comes Alola. A region that I positively adored. It's weird, when they first started announcing things for this game, I really wasn't feeling it at all. Even considered skipping this generation. I'm glad I didn't.

In terms of region landscape and ecosystem, Alola is sadly the poor man's Hoenn. This isn't completely its fault though. It's hard to compete with Hoenn. However, Alola did somehow manage to exclude a lot of content that should have been present. Doors you can't open, paths you can't take, pointless roadblocks (looking at you Stoutland dude,) hotels with only the lobby available for exploration. Alola was a beautiful region, but it felt claustrophobic.

In terms of overall plot, it, like Kalos, also gets its head stuck in its own ass, but unlike Kalos the story is saved by compelling characters. Alola has the most nuanced characters in all of Pokemon, bar none. Lillie is the obvious MVP, but Gladion, Hau, Kukui, and Guzma are also very good. And Lusamine was awesome. It was high time we had a female big bad, and she didn't disappoint. She was evil in some ways we haven't actually seen very much in the Pokemon franchise. She was an abusive parent (a dynamic which worked better here than in Gen V simply due to exposure. We saw Lusamine abusing Lillie multiple times before the latter finally stood up for herself, whereas in Gen V it was mostly talked about instead of shown and only came into play at the very end of the game. Here, that abuse is front and center and very clearly the driving force of the story.) She didn't want to conquer, destroy, or rule the world. Her evil came from apathy, as she didn't care what happened to the world at all so long as she got what she wanted. In addition, there was something so much more tangible and tragic about her backstory than every other major villain in a Pokemon game before. Teams Rocket, Magma, Aqua, and Flare didn't really have detailed backstories for any of their admins. Cyrus had a somewhat interesting one but it was very vague, and I have issues with N/Ghetsis. Basically the human cast of Alola was superb and by far the best of any main series Pokemon game.

But what about the Pokemon? Well, there were certainly duds this generation. Orocorio, Togedemaru, Turtonator (who named this thing? A six-year old?) Drampa...they didn't really do much for me at all. And I hate Incineroar almost as much as I hate Charizard. Which is a lot. However, the Pokemon that stand out truly shine. Decidueye, Primarina, Toucannon, Lycanroc, Tsareena, Kommo-o, and Mimikyu are just some of the great designs in Alola. After having played through the game, I realized that I haven't felt as attached to my team since the days of Generation II. If a Pokemon game can make me truly care for a bunch of pixels, then I'd say it was a special experience. I have mixed feelings about Solgaleo/Lunaala though. While their use in the plot of the game was downright breathtaking, their designs are just...ugh. I hate them. Decidedly my least favorite pair of box legends ever.

Alolan culture was also beautifully depicted, which actually shone a light to the fact that (with the possible exception of Kalos,) people in the Pokemon world don't really have a clearly defined sense of culture. I can't really tell you anything about the customs of Hoenn, Johto, or Unova. But Alola? Alola felt alive in a way that no other region ever has. And tied to this is of course the Island Trials, which are not only a fun replacement for Pokemon gyms, but also they were so uniquely tied to the society and culture of Alola that they added an extra layer of depth to the region which it otherwise would've lacked.

So in conclusion, Alola stumbled a bit in terms of region design, plot structure, and Pokemon design. And yet what it did well, it did amazingly. I have fallen in love with so many native Alolan Pokemon, the characters are all my favorites of any Pokemon game (okay, tied with Cynthia, Silver, and Red/Blue,) and the culture breathed new life into the franchise.

4.
Now we're coming down to the games I straight up didn't like. Specifically RS. While I didn't care about DP, RS I actively loathed. Maxie and Archie were terrible replacements to Team Rocket simply because their goals were so. fucking. stupid. I cannot stress enough how stupid they were. Their admins are also wholly underdeveloped and boring. To the point where I didn't even notice Matt/Tabitha were supposed to look different than the grunts in my first playthrough. The other characters were just facepalm-inducingly bland. Wally was a shit 'rival,' Brendan didn't even fully evolve his starter before quitting, and Steven both lacks a personality and does nothing of note in the game. When I faced him in the Elite Four, I wasn't thinking 'wait? You're the Campion? Cool!' like I was with Blue/Lance. I was thinking 'this guy? Really?' The absolute lack of a post-game hurt the hell out of this game too.

Now comes the nostalgia part of it. Yes, as an adult I know why backwards compatibility was impossible between RS and GSC, but as a kid, I didn't know that and frankly didn't care. I wanted to transfer my Silver team over to Gen III and I couldn't. That really, really soured me on this whole generation. Empirically, I can understand the problems with that, but emotionally I'm still hurt. And it was because of that that I couldn't really appreciate the awesome region of Hoenn as a kid. Well, that combined with the graphical limitations of the time. If Hoenn back then looked like it does now, I don't think I would've complained as much. But the point is that when I first played through Hoenn, without my OG team and with what was at the time only a mild graphical improvement, along with the crap plot, I ended up with a bad first impression of the region that has stayed with me all the way until today.

Fortunately, Hoenn had a saving grace back then: Emerald. While the majority of the problems still persisted, Emerald at least made the story more engaging by pitting the two evil teams against both each other and you, which made for a more interesting story. As an issue of timing, Emerald also came about at a time where I had already come to terms with the fact that my GSC team wouldn't be coming with me. Plus it came after FRLG and Colosseum/XD, which provided me with all the Johto/Kanto Pokemon I wanted anyway. Plus Emerald also had something of a post-game with the Battle Frontier, so that helped.

Also helping Generation III's case was FireRed and LeafGreen. Kanto games that I play even today...on occasion. Problem is that FRLG don't do much to fix the issue of Kanto being a boring and bland region. I mean, it was fine in Gen I, but by the time Gen III had rolled around, we were used to more diverse landscapes, ecosystems, and mythologies for our regions. FRLG left all that completely untouched, which felt like a huge missed opportunity to add personality to Kanto. It did, however, let me use Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Vulpix, Dratini, and Scyther, among other Pokemon that I've been really fond of for many years, so I award Kanto a lot of praise simply for that. Gen I's Pokemon may have more hits than misses, but the hits are home runs for me (mostly Bulbasaur.)

Gen III also gets a few points for Colosseum/XD. I don't put too much stock in these games since they're not main series games, but they were terrific games in their own right. Colosseum in particular was a ton of fun. Incredibly atmospheric and the fact that you play as a Pokemon thief is both unique and exciting. It also helps that the Johto Starters were made available in this game. Since they're not main series games though, their canonicity is put into question.

Basically with Gen III, RS brought the whole thing down way too much, and it was only marginally patched up by Emerald, FRLG, and Colosseum. Emprically, I can acknowledge that this Gen wasn't so bad, but emotionally, I can't separate my disappointment about the lack of backwards compatibility from the rest of this Gen's experience.

5.
I am gonna get so much hate for this. I hate, hate, HATE Gen V. For many reasons.

First: New York as a Pokemon region was a stupid idea that forced them to shove deserts in between cities even if it didn't make sense.

You thought Alola was way too linear? Meet Unova. That ish was so linear it wasn't even funny. The landscapes themselves didn't feel fresh or new. They felt tacked on. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but Unova felt very much like it was given the minimum amount of effort. We need caves? Let's shove a cave here. Forests? Put one there, why not? A desert? Sure, right between Castelia and Nimbassa. Does it make sense? Who cares? As a region, it felt like the developers simply just went through the motions. I didn't get the sense of wonder and love that I got from Kalos or Alola. To the point where the only memorable location in all of Unova for me is Castelia city, which was outdone by Lumiose a Gen later anyway. All in all, Unova just felt very opaque. Bleak even, and not in the fun way. Just...too dark to get excited for.

So yeah, not a big fan of Unova as a region, but what about the culture and mythology? Well...it wasn't really there either, Sure, you had a vague story behind Reshiram/Zekrom/Kyurem, as well as the desert castle, but neither is explored beyond the bare minimum the plot required. They both felt more incomplete than XY, which is saying a lot. At least XY had a rich history for the country starring AZ and Mega Evolution to make up for the lack of depth Xerneas/Yveltal received. BW had none of that. Again, it felt very paint by the numbers, go through the motions. There was no love there. At least that 's what I felt like anyway. Unova was barren in a different way to Alola. While Alola was lacking for places to visit, Unova lacked content to truly make the region come to life.

But what about the Pokemon? A whole roster of new Pokemon. Not a single old one or a single one related to an old Pokemon. Were they good? The answer to that, for me personally, is....eh. That's basically how I felt about every single Pokemon this Gen. Eh. I didn't really hate any of them, but I didn't really love any of them either. Sometimes, a single Pokemon I love can make up for a whole region of mostly bad designs (example: Bulbasaur and Kanto.) Here, I just felt so dispassionate about everyone. The Starters were eh, the legends were eh, the regional bird was eh. Pretty much the only two Pokemon I can say somewhat stood out (and not even that much) are Hydreigon and Volcarona.

And then we come to the story and characters. The much praised story and characters. And in this regard I feel that Unova was....meh. I get what they were trying to go for. I like the ideas behind the plot (though I don't really think they were necessarily needed.) I could've gotten behind them, but the dialogue was so cringy and the execution was such crap, in my opinion, that the message got lost along the way. It didn't really help that Team Plasma really did have a point, so the game made them the bad guys anyway by revealing Ghetsis as a power hungry maniac, which of course was meant as a way to tell us, the players, we should dismiss all his rhetoric. They wrote themselves (poorly) into a corner and then relied on a cheap trick to get out. I was not a fan. Head, meet your own ass. N was an okay concept, but again, they botched him. Few of his characteristics are consistent with his backstory. Mostly they just gave him random attributes (he speaks really fast guys! And he can talk to Pokemon...because reasons. It's convenient for the plot so fuck it, we're not even going to bother explaining it.) It's almost like they threw stuff at the wall to see what stuck. I just ended up not caring about any character in this game, with the sole exception of Bianca. But even then, I didn't care about her half as much as I cared about, say, Silver.

I used a word above that I think fully encapsulates all my problems with this generation: dispassionate. It wasn't a bad generation per se, it was just the one generation I felt nobody in Game Freak really cared about. This, to me, felt like a mere cash grab instead of a labor of love...that is also a cash grab.

This is all my opinion and I get that it's unpopular, but it's just how I feel. Sorry bout it.
 
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1. Gen IV -
Still the best generation for me. The story was great and the villainous team actual presented itself as a threat to humanity and almost succeeded at their goal. Cyrus was incredibly threatening and is probably the greatest Team Leader we have; truly a maniac and one who may still be out there somewhere in the Distortion World. Speaking of greatests, Cynthia has yet to be topped in terms of Champions for me. She is a great Champion, highly involved in the plot and has an aura and presence about her that you just respect. Barry is entertaining as a rival and is also involved in the plot with the evil team and not just running around clueless (XY "rivals" much). The game was also highly challenging and enjoyable. Now HGSS still manage to not to much to make Johto enjoyable for me, but they do gain brownie points for incorporating HO-OH and Lugia into the story.

1. Gen VII -
Tied with Gen IV for me. Amazing plot, fantastic character development, great Pokemon; it's amazing. Lillie is probably one of THE best developed characters in Pokemon history and managed to not be a pathetic, weak, and useless female character (like Bianca, for example). Lusamine also reaches Cyrus level of mental instability and her lack of basic human compassion just makes her so interesting and a great first female villain in the series. Hiding behind the Aether Foundation while making Team Skull direct attention away from her only proves her craftiness even more. Gladion and Guzma are also great characters and it's nice to see them develop, as well. Hau is also a decent rival. Not very serious in personality, but he clearly desires to get stronger and does have a lot of involvement in the story. Also, Lillie and Nebby's relationship, as well as hers with the player just really tug at your heartstrings and feel for her as a whole. Gameplay-wise, we finally get a real challenge in the games again, as these games are far from being easy, which I highly appreciate. Overall, amazing story and games.

2. Gen I -
The first gen may not be graphically good, but it holds well as a generation. Clean and to the point, Team Rocket are thugs and you have to stop their antics throughout the region. Not deep, but good for the first games. Levels are high and challenging, Blue remains an iconic rival, and Giovanni for villains, and doesn't make itself out to be more than it is. Overall, good region and fun to go back to.

3. Gen VI -
With the inclusion of ORAS, Gen VI gets a bit of a boost. On their own, XY are a bit disappointing, looking back at them. It seemed like nothing ever amounted to anything as a whole. Your rivals are more like friends, aside from Calem and Serena, and battle you twice in the whole game, making their presence reduced to nothing more than comic relief characters who never develop and are just disappointing. The main two are better, but damn near robotic and just aren't interesting as characters. :/ Lysandre was alright, but seemed like they were trying too hard to make another Cyrus and the story seems like it just gets to its peak insanely quickly and then dies down way too fast before you're back on your regular badge quest. They try too hard to be comedic and it just makes everything never seem as serious as it should. Xerneas and Yveltal had so much potential and I'm forever bitter at how GF wasted them and Zygarde (to this day, they've still done nothing with him -_- ) The Gym Leaders are also very unmemorable, honestly, and the difficulty is just as low as Gen V with leaders and E4 capping at 3 and 4, respectively. ORAS is much better~ Introduced a new twist on the original story that made it much more interesting. May and Brendan got some much appreciated character development. And the difficulty from RSE was maintained. The Delta Story in itself was incredibly amazing. Overall, vast improvement over Gen III~

4. Gen III -
Good. RSE were fun and the dual evil team idea was really unique and interesting. On that note, the version differences actually being pretty drastic this time around made it really worthwhile to actually want to play both games. The inclusion of the box legends into the plot for the first time was great for the story. Steven and Wallace also remain two of the most iconic Champions. FRLG as remakes were good, but didn't add much to RBG. Not a bad thing, though. Still fun to play~ I'm not saying much about them, but these are some enjoyable games for me, Emerald being one of my faves.

5. Gen V -
One of the most overrated generations, IMO~ Hardly as "deep" and thought provoking as people make it out to be~ There's never a real question as to whether it's right or wrong to battle with Pokemon because no one ends up caring anyway. N's character is so often misinterpreted by the fandom, it often makes him more infuriating in the actual game, but I won't blame this aspect on him, as it's not his fault. He is an overrated character, though, simply because teenage girls like him ( and Ferriswheelshipping) for his looks and his actual in-game character is nothing much more than a hypocritical man-child who only redeems himself by saving the player in BW2. Every "rival" in this generation is pathetic Bianca never improves over the course of two years, Cheren in BW is a cocky asshole, and Hugh literally does not give AF about anyone but his sister's Purrloin and is just using the player to get it back~ Like he literally tells you rescuing HIS cat is more important that MY Gym Challenge when that's all just a personal problem he dragged me into because he's not strong enough himself. Good thing was BW preventing you from using non Gen 5 Pokemon~ I thought that was cool, but everything else is highly underwhelming compared to other generations. Oh, and way too easy. Leaders only have 3 Pokemon max and the E4 having 4 is incredibly easy and makes major battles a cakewalk.

6. Gen II -
I've ranted about this gen before and my sentiments remain the same. Worst get we have, sorry Jhotoddlers~ No real plot (Team Rocket wants to call Giovanni on the radio to get him to re-join Team Rocket. God forbid he be out of his cave when the announcement is made, should they succeed, you know~ -_- ), no real challenge (level 39 at the final gym, really?) and no real new experience~ Honestly, Gen II is just a lamer version of Gen I~ The evil team is the same, just worse. The new Pokemon can barely even been found until Kanto, ironically. The box legends themselves don't even have anything to do with the plot (Crystal comes though, in this regard, however)~ WTF are they featured on the box for, then? You have legendaries, make use of them (HGSS salvages this slightly, so I will give some credit)The only really good thing about Johto was Silver and the inclusion of Red (not for the edgy overrated typical reasons, either) and that's about it.
 
Disclaimer: I'm excluding remakes in this list. (Okay, maybe one exception)
Gameplay and story

1. Gen V
2. Gen IV - honorable mention for Gen VI's ORAS. (yep, there is the exception)
3. Gen II / Gen VII - gameplay-part.
4. Gen III
5. Gen VII - story-part.
6. Gen VI
7. Gen I - within the context of the series of course, not it's time.

Pokémon

1. Gen I - (not a Genwunner lol, just love some of the classics)
2. Gen IV
3. Gen VI
4. Gen V
5. Gen II
6. Gen III



7. By a landslide: Gen VII

Region | just gonna use the regular name here, using a gen number just doesn't feel good you know.

1. Sinnoh
2. Alola - although it doesn't top Sinnoh's size and diversity, it was the most detailed and immersive world we have seen thus far.
3. Hoenn, again, considering it's remade version.
4. Unova
5. Kalos
6. Johto
7. Kanto
 
It's a little hard for me to rank every Generation, because there's so much that I could talk about...But SM is definitely lower on my list. As a game that was supposed to celebrate 20 years of Pokemon, it was awfully disappointing that so much of what made older games fun or functional in different ways was either removed outright (in some cases removed again), or replaced with some 'New!' and lesser alternative. From the Plaza failing to replicate the success of the PSS or the Join Avenue effectively, to Rotom wasting the 2nd screen space after other apps like the Poketch and PokeNav+ made more practical use of it. And unlike, say, XY or RSE with their huge innovations and overhauls, SM doesn't really do enough with its new ideas for me to overlook all of the things that it undid. The story and world building were something that I enjoyed perhaps more than any other game, but that all lasts for about a week and I [personally] don't play Pokemon for how its written. Unless it's BW1. Gameplay matters more to me, and for the most part I'd rather play older entries than this one.
 
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I enjoyed it very much, although I think BW2 were a better game. For me, the second best main series game. (PMD2 is #1 of all Pokemon games ever)
 
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I play Pokemon for the main story, so SM were very satisfying. My ranking for initial versions is as follows: II > I > VII > V > III > IV > VI

I enjoyed it very much, although I think BW2 were a better game. For me, the second best main series game. (PMD2 is #1)
PMD is certainly not the main series.
 
lol, if we're going to count PMD2, then what you'll see happening with my story rankings is every non-Gen 5 game quietly forfeiting to even be considered, and Gen 5 graciously accepting second place.
 
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lol, if we're going to count PMD2, then what you'll see happening with my story rankings is every non-Gen 5 game quietly forfeiting to even be counted, and Gen 5 graciously accepting second place.

I haven't played PMD2, and I really didn't like the story of Gen V. Like, at all. I think it has the worst story of the main series, bar none.

So if we're counting non-main series games, my #1 for story would be Colosseum.
 
Somewhere in the lower middle. The game was fun while it lasts (story and gameplay wise, that fun peaked at Island 2) and whether you liked them or not, the cast was pretty damn memorable but the game suffered too many frustrating design decisions and while it was still more classy than XY about it (you know by actually giving their starters something special) I could really live without this constant Kanto riding.

XY still managed to not feel like a barren land when everything was said and done and delivered where it truly counted however so it had that going for it.

Most of the truly fun points about the game came in the form of the Pelago which is ultimately (after you finished upgrading it all) passive.

EDIT: BUUUUT If we WERE counting non main games in an overall then:
- PMD2 (base versions)
- Ranger 2 (comedy gold)
- Emerald (replay value, gameplay and exploration ftw. Also the most battle-centric Pokemon games and this is even without the removed e-reader cards which neutered Trainer Hill)
- BW (proving GF can make damn good stories if assed to do so. The adventure in itself was great too. Also gave us the two best designed protags in the series) and
- Colosseum (we all wanted that edge at some point in Pokemon right? And to be fair, they did the man behind the man story first and... did it right)

In that order
 
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Somewhere in the lower middle. The game was fun while it lasts (story and gameplay wise, that fun peaked at Island 2) and whether you liked them or not, the cast was pretty damn memorable but the game suffered too many frustrating design decisions and while it was still more classy than XY about it (you know by actually giving their starters something special) I could really live without this constant Kanto riding.

I agree with you one very important thing: The game was fun while it lasts. The journey was great, but after the main game. You put the game away and forget about it.
I agree with you on the second island being the peak of the game, the other islands felt short. The pacing is off in the game.

But in total I think Sun/Moon are the best games to date. Mainly because I love how they keep improving the concept and it works. They make mistakes, I know, but each gen is better than the previous.
The thing that makes me want to rank the gens are my emotions. Because even though I think gen 7 is the best gen, I had the most fun with Gen 4 and 5. HeartGold was my favorite followed by BW and BW2. The story in BW&BW2 was all I ever wanted from a pokemon game. While HeartGold won because of nostalgia.

So from a gameplay point of view, I think gen 7 is best. My feelings say Gen4&5. :)
 
This is one of my least favorite Gens, any way I see it.

Gameplay and features 5 > 6 > 4 >3 >7 > 2 >1
I don't care about the lags, but many of the mechanics just irk me. I loathe the SOS battles. They took away hordes and Dexnav for this? No rematches, no PSS (I hate you Festival Plaza) I don't care for pokepelago, no National Dex, I didn't like the customization options, no post-game content... I could go for hours. The only good thing they did was getting rid of HMs

Region 6 > 4 > 5 > 3 > 2 > 1 > 7
For me this is the worst region out of the 7, even worse than barebones, empty Kanto. It's way too linear, very few explorable areas, it feels ridiculously small. I hate it.

New Pokémon 6 > 5 > 4 > 2 >3 >7 > 1
I hate the UBs, Tapus and especially the Starters. I'm not a fan of the cosmog line either, but I sort of like some of the other lines and standalone pokemon. But overall there's more pokemon I dislike.

Storyline 5 > 4 = 3 = 7 = 6 > 2 > 1
Nothing will ever compare to the masterpiece that was BW, I've accepted that at this point. Whether it was a one-time miracle, I will never know but SM are there with the other gens.

As a whole, I rate this generation as 5 > 4 > 6 > 2 > 3 > 7 >1
BW was a jewel, storyline wise. BW2 the most complete games, with HGSS not far behind. The others are just out there. But I just couldn't get into SM. I strongly dislike it. I had never lost interest in a pokemon game so fast. I always play for hundreds of hours, I have 600 hours in Y, 500-something in BW2, 400-something in HGSS, Platinum but only like 70 in SM. I became Champion and was done and haven't touched it since.
 
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When it comes to starters:

Best

VII
IV
VI
III
I
V
II

Last

When it comes to all pokemon

Best


IV
VI
VII
III
V
I
II

Last

when it comes to game play

VII
VI
IV
V
III
II
I
 
Sun and Moon are right in the middle. I love the more in depth story (second only to Unova for me), but the postgame is so.........

really dull.

I'm over looker missions in the postgame. Time for something new GF, and i'm not a competitive battler so the battle tree like buildings or internet battling with other players aren't my cup of tea.
 
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