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What do you miss most about the older games?

To be honest, not so much that I miss. I'm loving XY and BW to the point that I just cannot imagine playing any of the older games anymore. Having said that, I wish it's wasn't just GSC/HGSS that had a entirely new region to explore post-game. On the other hand, I am especially happy that now we've got regions outside of Poke-Japan, and there are more cities that aren't gym cities to explore. And that everything is more beautifully detailed. As for XY, I'm quite happy that the meta game stuff has been far less frustrating.
 
when legendary pokemon were difficult to find, back in fire red and leaf green i didn't even discover you catch catch mewtwo in that cave until years after beating the game, i was walking though one day and i saw the cave and i was like that guys not there anymore. zapdos arituno and moltres were somewhat hard to find but i found em all before the eighth gym badge. and the most fun i ever had in emerald was finding the legendary pokemon with my friends. finding groudon and kyogre toke alitttle bit of work but the weather intitude made it to easy. rayquaza was found easy but i had a hard time reaching him. and imagine my surprise when my friend tells me about the regi trio i didn't even know they existed finding them was the biggest and most fun challenge of emerald that i still remember today. diamond and pearl being my next games i was sad that regigigas was so easily found i had a feeling all i needed to do was transfer the regi trio to get him. the lake trio were easy "lake trio" dialga and palkia were just handed to you same with girtina in platnum. but still gen 3 and gen 4 remain the most nostalgic to me because of the legendary pokemon. rayquaza remains my favorite ( dat cut scene)
 
I personally want contests to return. They were a whole new type of competition and I lowed getting medals. And also a little feature I really liked: customizing pokéballs. Small, little features like these need to make a return.
 
I miss apricorns from gen 2. It was neat being able to have special pokeballs made. Of course I was like eight at the time so I didn't realize most of Kurt's pokeballs were pretty awful but details. I also miss gen 3's contests and secret bases. I didn't like the changes they made the those in gen 4, and they're both gone now. Admittedly, my favorite thing bout the bases was stuffing them with all the pokedolls I had collected. Those were so cool...
 
I miss apricorns from gen 2. It was neat being able to have special pokeballs made. Of course I was like eight at the time so I didn't realize most of Kurt's pokeballs were pretty awful but details. I also miss gen 3's contests and secret bases. I didn't like the changes they made the those in gen 4, and they're both gone now. Admittedly, my favorite thing bout the bases was stuffing them with all the pokedolls I had collected. Those were so cool...

Agreed. And like Yazdog4 said, the Pokeball Seals were a fun little gimmick.
 
Rental battles. I know Gen5 just had one for the PWT, but none in Gen6? I want to try out some pokemons through rental battles, look at examples of move sets that I could possibly use, and held items I might find useful. Also, I usually pick pokemon I never used before so it's a great experience. I wish they brought back Battle Factory
 
I really miss having time to play a generation to its max before a new one is rushed in. I'd love for at least three years between games. (I know some people couldn't stand that, though).

5th gen was only short because it was in the awkward position of being on a dying handheld, unless we have that situation again, that probably won't be a problem.
 
I really miss having time to play a generation to its max before a new one is rushed in. I'd love for at least three years between games. (I know some people couldn't stand that, though).

Pokemon Black and White did come out 3 years before X and Y in Japan. If X and Y did not have an international release that would have been the case around the world too.

Sept. 18 2010- Oct. 12 2013
 
not having to buy a brand new system to play LOL (I don't have a member of the 3ds line yet) but seriously, I loved exploring Sapphire and Silver the first time. My brother and I didn't even find Red (the trainer) for a couple years. I loved Donphan, and being silly enough to give my Feraligatr and Swampert all HMs, and beating Blue with a Charizard in Firered. I play emerald now ( i still have sapphire) but I no longer have FR and ended up getting LG, but it's not the same. I got emerald by giving away Silver, my gold and crystal versions don't hold a save (hoping to get them fixed soon), and Soulsilver isn't the same. Also, I was stupid, and got an ARDS, so now the feeling of starting an adventure and training, feels cheap and hollow.
 
I really miss having time to play a generation to its max before a new one is rushed in. I'd love for at least three years between games. (I know some people couldn't stand that, though).

Pokemon Black and White did come out 3 years before X and Y in Japan. If X and Y did not have an international release that would have been the case around the world too.

Sept. 18 2010- Oct. 12 2013

But there's Black and White 2 crammed in one year before X and Y. There wasn't nearly enough time for me to fully explore everything it had to offer (I haven't even used the join avenue or caught all the legendaries yet!) and I'd have loved for X and Y to have waited another year at least.
 
I really miss having time to play a generation to its max before a new one is rushed in. I'd love for at least three years between games. (I know some people couldn't stand that, though).

Pokemon Black and White did come out 3 years before X and Y in Japan. If X and Y did not have an international release that would have been the case around the world too.

Sept. 18 2010- Oct. 12 2013

But there's Black and White 2 crammed in one year before X and Y. There wasn't nearly enough time for me to fully explore everything it had to offer (I haven't even used the join avenue or caught all the legendaries yet!) and I'd have loved for X and Y to have waited another year at least.

That's not exactly a new generation but I felt the same way when Black and White were announced right before I completed the Pokedex in SoulSilver. I can relate.
 
That's not exactly a new generation but I felt the same way when Black and White were announced right before I completed the Pokedex in SoulSilver. I can relate.

Oh, that's another game where I felt the same! I'm with you on that!
 
the fact that you could get 16 badges in GSC. it showed that Gold (or Ethan. or Kris.) had a lot of stamina and trust in his/her team to go through 2 regions' Gyms. there was also the simpler gameplay and not ever (and still not) needing a strategy.
the contests are something i miss too. i'm currently playing Pokemon Ruby, and i have a contest ribbon. My Solrock won it in a Tough contest.
 
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The grinding you had to do to complete the games. In X and Y it's too easy to level up and raise Pokemon. You really had to put time and effort into it before, now not so much.

The occasional tough in-game opponent. Back in the first couple of generations there were a few NPCs that could be really tough and/or tricky to beat. Sabrina in Yellow and Whitney in GSC come to mind. Now it's close to impossible to lose against in-game opponents.

The fact that obtaining all the Pokemon took more effort. Besides leveling up Pokemon, obtaining certain Pokes through trading often took more effort. Most people I knew either had people they needed to trade with or traded with themselves. The latter was the case in my situation considering how brief Pokemon was as a phenomenon where I lived. Trading for them, obtaining them, and evolving them is much easier now thanks to the internet, but in older gens it seemed more difficult to catch them all.

Not having to worry about abilities, natures, etc. This is tough for me because I like competitive battling, and I enjoy doing it on cartridge much more than online battle simulators. But when playing through the in-game story, I often find myself worrying about these things even when I have no intention of using a Pokemon competitively. In generations 1 and 2, these aspects either didn't exist (abilities, natures, etc) or weren't relevant when playing on cartridge (IVs, EVs, etc). I enjoy the fact that Pokemon has become a complex competitive game, but there is also something good to be said about the simplistic, straightforward play style the first two generations had.

And while it's not really something I "miss" per say since the sprites are so much better now, I did enjoy the sprites in GSC on Gameboy Color. The generation 1 models were terrible for the most part, but the generation 2 sprites really nailed how I thought the games should look on that system. When generation 3 came along, I thought the sprites looked good, but were a bit too sleek for my tastes. Only when the generation 4 games came out did I think the sprites looked right again.
 
I think that training and getting Pokemon has become easier because the number of Pokemon has incresed. I actually find it easier to get all 151 or 251 Pokemon than to get all Pokemon we have now. Getting 251 is possible if you have Gold/Silver, but I don't know about getting today's Pokemon . . .

To say something about the topic, I guess I miss that you could actually get all Pokemon in the older generations.

About EV points. I've never been happy about it either, but they made it much easier in XY. I like that you can affect the stat growth of your Pokemon, to design them the way you want, but I think the points should be added manually at level up, as in Diablo and Seiken Densetsu.
 
I think it's the simplicity of them that I miss, to be completely honest. Pokemon games are becoming so complex, which is good for a change of pace, but I guess it's because I grew up with the "simpler" ones. Where the only goal in the game is to become a Pokemon Master and just explore the region. I would love to do that in real life with no worries.
 
Being totally clueless about what was coming next or what was possible. Being at a more carefree age and not having much else to worry about also made it easy to get sucked into the world of Pokemon which was cool. :)
 
The sprites. I just feel like the sprites have more character to them. I think that the 3D models are okay, but not the same. But XY was their first try and I'm sure they'll get better.
 
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