Pre-DS vs DS vs 3DS vs Switch

[Almonds]

With Gen 8 coming out soon, I believe this might be a good time to ask everyone's opinion about their favorite era of handhelds regarding Pokemon games.

Pre-DS: Gen 1, 2, and 3
DS: Gen 4 and 5
3DS: Gen 6 and 7
Switch: LGPE and Gen 8 onwards

 

[Esserise]

who is going to choose switch when all it has to its name is one simplified remake and a couple of trailers for a new mainline entry that no one here has played? it's not a fair comparison and it shouldn't really be included. i dont think anyone likes Let's go and the SwoShi trailers enough to pick them over the generations theyve actually spent years playing unless they literally hated all previous gens, so in practice all that the switch's inclusion in the poll does is encourage people who don't like let's go or the look of SwoShi to bag on it on the side

anyway, for what it's worth, 3ds. not only do i prefer the console itself over its predecessor, but the only DS games i even like are the gen 5 games (and platinum, sort of). anything before the DS deserves credit for breaking ground for the series, but in practical terms it's all too outdated for me to really enjoy (FRLG being the most tolerable, but then i could just be playing let's go). i find the 3ds games much pacier and more accessible, and a lot of the ideas from XY-onward have been very refreshing for the series, showing that for as much as it is labeled as formulaic, they're still willing to experiment with new things (USUM laziness aside).

 

[Boss1708]

The best era of Pokémon is the DS era.

The DS era gave us Platinum, HGSS and BW2: that means 3 out of the 4 best Pokémon games ever (the other one being Emerald, so Pre-DS era).

Now I do think, from a purely gameplay perspective, and for its sheer amount of content, Emerald is probably the best game of all. But every other pre-DS game was lacking in comparison. So Emerald is the only one that really stands out.

Whereas, in the DS era, we have 3 games (Platinum, HGSS and BW2) that are almost as good as Emerald (or just as good), but are also mechanically superior due to the physical special split, etc. HGSS is also the pinnacle of graphics and art style, imo.

Also, 3 great games > 1 great game. So DS era wins.

The 3DS era was one big disappointment, for me. The Switch era is shaping out to be an even bigger disappointment, unless Let's Go Johto comes out and somehow saves the day.

 

[Rocket Zigzagoon]

If I were to specify...

For GBA-era, Emerald had more-detailed storyline and some post-game areas to provide better challenges.

If you ask me about DS-era, then BW2 stands out for me, for rich, entertaining story, easier gameplay (the first BW was a hard run, while BW2 had reworked challenges as well as Key Systems) and more post-game stuff than before, especially ones that made sense in later-generations.

For 3DS-era, USUM had the better explanation on space exploration thing, although the plot isn't as deep as BW2 of DS era. It also had more-solid challenges and gameplay as well as rewritten characters to fit their intended personalities much closer.

I personally think BW2 is the best, although USUM is also close behind. Pokémon Bank is why I still have BW2.

 

[hanecco]

I love the GBA games, but I think the DS gens take the cake for me due to the more varied Pokemon roster and refined mechanics. Playing through Emerald is always a little annoying because it lacks those features.

 

[Poke Dragon]

DS-era all the way, it's when the games had so much to do even after you beat them and with Gen 5, you had access to daily and hourly battles, it's the definition of "if you want to have an easier time in the game, you gotta earn it.", that's so much better than the stupid "free experience points for everyone!" kind of deal beginning with X and Y.

 

[colours]

DS-era was definitely the most fun for me! Not really just because of Pokemon Platinum, but to sidetrack for a moment, Gen 4 was the time period that Pokemon Battle Revolution was a thing. For as much flack as it got for being a glorified battle frontier, that was essentially what made it so fun for me! It definitely carried its fair share of good memories tbh.

 

[Tactician Karina]

My favorite is the DS era (obviously). It had Platinum and HGSS, my favorite third version and remake respectively. It also had BW/2 and gen V is my second favorite gen, mainly for the story and N. Overall the DS era had more Pokémon I really like in Sinnoh and Unova, awesome PC designs (imo), awesome characters, and I just had the most fun out of the Pokémon games in this era.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

I voted for pre-DS and DS.

A lot of my gripes with the franchise now have a lot to do with Game Freak's uninspired approaches and poor executions. Things were fine up until the 3DS generation when things started to take a decline (though one can also argue it started with BW/2). I personally feel though that BW were the last truly great Pokemon games.

 

[Parissong]

I voted for DS (Gen 4 and 5 were my favourite gens and I love them), but I really enjoyed the handhelds from the other gens too. In particular, GBA for Emerald, 3DS for SM, and Switch for SWSH (hopefully lol)

 

[Boss1708]

I voted for pre-DS and DS.

A lot of my gripes with the franchise now have a lot to do with Game Freak's uninspired approaches and poor executions. Things were fine up until the 3DS generation when things started to take a decline (though one can also argue it started with BW/2). I personally feel though that BW2 were the last truly great Pokemon games.

Fixed that for you

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

Fixed that for you

It's all a matter of opinion. Some people would think that, and I also partly think so.

 

[Almonds]

For me, the average story quality and entertainment value have been amazing during the DS era. The extra content were also very well made with the game making use of almost everything in the overworld. From improving on character and pokemon interaction during Gen4 to making the flow of time show throughout the region during Gen5, you could really experience how close the game connected to each other while also drawing in the players.

The 3DS era, while lacking in many aspects in terms of content and story compared to the DS era, did bring one major improvement to the games: accessibility to the competitve environment. They made putting together a competitive team easier than the DS era, and offered different methods to hunt specific pokemon for training/collecting (Hordes, DexNav, SOS).

If the DS era focused on the adventure and exploration in pokemon games, the 3DS era brought out the battle aspect of pokemon. I feel this should be acknowledged because battling is one of the major features of pokemon even though pokemon has had balancing issues for so long.