Your least favorite part of each gen

[SushiBurrito]

Gen 1- The ugly ass back sprites from Japanese Red and Green that GameFreak continued to use throughout gen 1 even after updating the front sprites for Japanese Blue/International Red and Blue and then again for Yellow

Gen 2- Having the third version be represented by a legendary that is subservient to one of the other boxart legendaries always seemed like a bizarre decision to me.

Gen 3- Getting rid of the day and night cycle

Gen 4- Girls get fashion icon Dawn and guys get... a guy in a scarf and a beret?

Gen 5- Cheren

Gen 6- Tean Flare..just..why

Gen 7- First time I really didnt like any of the starters

Gen 8- I got bored part way through. First time that happened playing a Pokemon game

Gen 9-No comment yet

 

[Tood]

1. It's ugly. Kanto is also the least interesting out of all the regions for me.
2. Abysmal level curve. Also, why is Lugia so irrelevant in the lore compared to Ho-oh?
3. Too much water unironically, btw
4. The game speed is a bit slow.
5. A lot of the gen 5 Pokemon feel very overdesigned or redundant when compared to Pokemon of the earlier generations. I get that gen 5 was meant to be a soft reboot of the series, but the fact that I disliked a major chunk of the dex in BW really soured my feelings towards those games. A lot of the Pokemon also evolve waaaaaaaay too late, which gets awkward in later games where some of these Pokemon are found earlygame (like rufflet evolving at level 54, wtf?).
6. It's a bit too easy. Even for this series.
7. All the islands are essentially just circles. Once you go around one island, you're back exactly where you started. It makes the region feel a bit too small for my liking. It doesn't feel like I'm really exploring anything at all.
8. Leon the champion is so fantastic and he's bad at directions. Did we mention that the directionless yet so fabulous Champion Leon, is champion of the Galar Pokemon League and the greatest trainer in existence because he is the Champion???? Hop totally wants to be a Champion too just like his brother (who is Leon btw, aka the greatest Champion born since arceus itself). I'm still mad that he turned out to be exactly what they advertised, and did nothing interesting with him. Like, i don't necessarily want him to be evil, but adding something else to his character might have made him a bit more interesting? I don't like his design either, none of the colors of his design really go together.
9. 

 

[Pasio]

Edit: I decided to thrown in everything instead.

Gen 1: The item bag is so heavily restricted.

Gen 2: You can not run. Also the grinding sucks.

Gen 3: This was not a great gen to accomplish any of the most important things about Pokémon in general. By that I mean collecting Pokémon (the National Dex and shiny hunts), battling Pokémon (Gen 3 pvp would have sucked the to Wob + Wob and switchouts being determined by who entered the game first. The Battle Frontier is overrated and most of the facilities not good at all. The most appealing one, Battle Factory, doesn't even function right and these facilities are overwhelmingly more of a nuisance than actual fun. If you think the Battle Tree and Battle Maison are bad because the hax trainers give you can be insane, I'm here to tell you that the Battle Frontier is significantly worse in this aspect from experience, you can even check up on the sets on Smogon to understand why.), trading Pokémon (trading in RSE is locked behind postgame. Trading from FRLG to RSE is locked behind a Sevii Islands quest in postgame), while important to a lesser extent, teambuilding was at its hardest here as well thanks to every Gen 3 game having the most limited selection of great Pokémon out of the Natdex to choose from, the complicated system being EVs and IVs not being suitable here, and the Battle Frontier offering very little for competitive players at all. There is a video made by ima blisy that showcases trying to build a competitive Gen 3 team. All in all I am very nostalgic for Hoenn as it was my first generation but digging into a lot of things about the games made me realize these games were a large factor in why Pokémon took a steep dive in popularity starting with Gen 3.

Gen 4: Every single one of Gen 4 Sinnoh's plots are incredibly appalling even for Pokémon. I'm not exaggerating. When you factor in the lore Gen 4 was given, how the lore was executed in each of these plots was so atrociously mishandled that not having a story for its legendaries or mythicals at all is better than what DPPt and its movies pulled off. Literally Zygarde sitting in a cave with a written description of what it does was better treatment than what Gen 4 legendaries and Arceus were given during Gen 4. Gen 4 plots are the prime reason why many people don't take Pokémon lore seriously and I wholeheartedly don't think we'll ever get a plot worse than any of Gen 4 Sinnoh's. Aside from that, Gen 4 botched legendaries and mythicals so hard it was like a hit list. This was the same generation that gave us Phione, that slapped the legendary theme on Rotom in each of its Sinnoh games, the first that gave us a legendary that just exists out of thin air (Heatran), and they even put a permanent hinderance to Regigigas in its Slow Start ability. This generation even mishandled legendaries outside Gen 4 (controversial spritework) and mishandled so many other things in general, but I'll be here forever if I elaborate on all of it. Level curves are also bottom tier and the overreliance on HMs is at its worst. Playing through Platinum tends to feel more annoying than fun for me and the Gen 4 engine is too slow for me to find its Battle Frontier's clunky process appealing :/.

Gen 5: The artstyle, the sleep mechanics, and the Critical Health music. The critical health themes holds the quality of every match hostage to a point where it's depressing at times, and this was the generation that focused most on random battling in general. However not gonna lie I hold opinion that Gen 5 battles as a whole, no matter where, are quantity over quality, a direct contrast from Alola and the many sort of opportunities the Gen 6 games provide you with its features and mechanics. Lastly, Gen 5 is just lacking in extra features in comparison to other generations. It's essentially battles, battles, more battles, scripted battles, and simply just watching your Pokémon dance for a minute. There is nothing like Pokémon Contests, Pokémon Amie, Amie minigames, Pokémon Refresh, Poke Pelago, Super Training, Secret Bases, Underground, Pokéathalon, Game Corner, etc, any of that sort here. At least it has the Join Avenue I guess. Gen 5 content is overglorified because while it's big in one aspect, B2W2 lack more real diversity of content than plenty other games, at least from what is feasible. This generation focuses so much on battling yet notoriously doesn't hold up in quality of battles.

Gen 6: The only memorable story battles are closer to a free win than a challenge.

Gen 7: They didn't take enough from Gen 6. Also, while I cannot put heavy blame the games for this, I believe Gen 7 was the point where there were  too many great Pokémon, moves, items, and abilities. Especially with Gen 7 trying to outcompete what Gen 6 brought using features such as Sunsteel Strike/Moongeist Beam/Photon Geyser, Innards Out, Triage, Queenly Majesty/Dazzling, Spectral Thief, Prankster Dark-type immunity, Tapus and Toxapex, enhanced mega speed gimmicks, etc, etc, etc, bottom line is that I feel Gen 7 was when too much of everything was going on for competitive singles to where they provide less consistency of fun and comp battles than Gen 6, but also perhaps carry a slightly higher strength of fun when it is so. Idk. What I do know is, games became more matchup-based as there were always noticeably too many great threats for a single team to prepare for, so you often had to choose which Pokémon you were willing to straight up lose against.

Gen 8: Everything about Eternatus and its concept. Dynamax, Gigantamax, Eternamax, Darkest Day, all of that. I also absolutely detest how Neutralizing Gas is an existing ability. In addition, the disaster that befell on any promise Gamefreak made from E3 2019 regarding dexit. I liked the concept of dexit and supported it (as implied by the Gen 7 part of this post), but their execution of it was inexcusably awful and scummy.

Gen 9: Everything regarding Scarlet/Violet.

 

[DearEagleZ]

Gen 7: Unsure
Gen 8: Lack of togglable Exp Share, not being able to trade across the Internet without a NS Online membership (especially this one)

 

[Strawberry Cupcake]

In general I would say before automatic save became a thing it is a real hassle now when I go back and play old gen games I have to remember it does not save automatically. (That is my only gripe really. I live for nostalgia so anything else that is annoying I have rose colored glasses on for hehe)

 

[Aulos]

Gen I: The games are horribly dated, but I think I'll go with lack of choice to choose a female trainer.
Gen II: Really, the biggest issue with them for me is being dated. Crystal is an amazing game for its time and platform, though.
Gen III: No more day/night cycle. =(
Gen IV: The new Pokemon were generally pretty weak, and a number of the evolutions of Gen I Pokemon were atrocious.
Gen V: I've got nothing. Gen V is perfection. Well, I mean, I'm sure there's something... Perhaps the music, a lot of the music was forgettable. Gen IV was similar in that regard, though.
Gen VI: I don't really have anything for this either, other than beginning the Gen I favoritism.
Gen VII: Soooo many things to pick from, but Lets Go P/E just takes the cake.
Gen VIII: Making so many Pokemon unattainable. =(
Gen IX: IDK. I feel like there aren't many new Pokemon that I liked all of that much. OST was mostly forgettable again, too.

 

[Herbizarre]

Gen I: The lack of balance and how certain Pokémons were pretty much useless despite having the looks and the stats to do stuff (looking at you, poor Scyther and your Normal-type move list). I can excuse that since at the time, such thing was not a priority.
Gen II: No Safari Zone >:c
Gen III: Ruby & Sapphire had next to no post-game stuff. Fire Red/Leaf Green had Pokémons from Gen 1 unable to evolve into a Gen 2/3 Pokémon because you didn't have the National Pokédex (poor Golbat)
Gen IV: How slow the games felt. This mostly applies to the Diamond/Pearl versions.
Gen V: From what I remember, the wild encounter rate were very high and that became annoying.
Gen VI: For ORAS, the Mirage Islands were a good idea, but I feel like I always ended up with the same set of islands.
Gen VII: Sun & Moon : too many cutscenes. For the Let's Go games, I'd say farming money isn't as easy as in other games.
Gen VIII: The rendering distance in Legends Arceus can get problematic, especially when doing the Wisp collecting.
Gen IX: The targetting system to throw Poké Balls at wild Pokémon to start battle feels very clunky, a definite downgrade from Legends Arceus. Can't say much else since I'm still fairly early in the game.

 

[Braxtonbegaming]

Gen III: Ruby & Sapphire had next to no post-game stuff. Fire Red/Leaf Green had Pokémons from Gen 1 unable to evolve into a Gen 2/3 Pokémon because you didn't have the National Pokédex (poor Golbat)

You get the National Dex after completing the main storyline and you also open up 4 additional islands. It is a far cry from having decent access to Hoenn and Sinnoh region Pokémon though.

I remember my first shiny was a Zubat that I had evolved into Golbat. He went all the way with me to the Elite 4. As soon I got the National Dex he like instantly evolved into a shiny Crobat, was kinda sick.

 

[Herbizarre]

You get the National Dex after completing the main storyline and you also open up 4 additional islands.

That's exactly the problem. By the time you do get the National Dex, you'll likely have swapped Golbat for another Pokémon since you'll probably want something stronger for the Elite Four, like one of the Legendary Birds. At least it's not locked indefinitely like Eevee who can't evolve at all into Espeon/Umbreon due to the lack of a day/night cycle (which is another point I should have pointed out).

Cheers for that shiny Crobat though !

 

[Gengarzilla]

The one which stands out most is Team Rainbow Rocket in Gen 7. I personally, and quite vehemently, think this is the stupidest plotline they're ever come up with in over 20 years of Pokémon, so much so that I deliberately powerleveled my six Pokémon to 100 just to get this over with. Even Colress's admittedly cool moment couldn't carry this utter travesty of an "idea". Just thinking about it makes me sad that they chose to end the pure-handheld era this way.

 

[toastghost]

gen 1: trying to progress with the story is oddly difficult, i kept having to look up guides because i'd just get stuck randomly and i had no idea how to progress.
gen 2: the pokemon are very boring, besides a few highlights like wobbuffet and wooper, most of the dex is forgettable and a lot of them are just kinda ugly.
gen 3: the acro and mach bike mechanics not really working on the emulator i played. the mach bike doesn't turn fast enough to get over cracks in the floor, and the acro bike can't use the wheelie to cross those bridges. because of this i wasn't able to get a fossil pokemon or a heracross.
gen 4: platinum being much more interesting story-wise, it doesn't really feel like there's a point in playing diamond or pearl.
gen 5: while i am quite the unova pokemmon defender, just some of them feel like things we've already done before. do we really need sawk and throh? no.
gen 6: zygarde being a huge wasted oppurtunity.
gen 7: i feel like they could've done way more with ultra beasts as a concept. they straight up said that aliens literally exist and can travel to our world through wormholes and didn't elaborate.
gen 8: the story was just so boring. the twist villain was so obvious, hop and leon were basically wasted potential in human form, it just felt generic.
gen 9: similar to gen 2, the pokemon aren't very interesting and a lot of them are ugly. i do like some of them like greavard, tinkaton and maushold, but overall they just didn't stand out.

 

[Rockapheller]

Gen 1: The amount of bugs that do not work properly as they should, making the game mechanics more broken than they already are.
Gen 2: The lack of Gen II Pokémon in Johto and some good ones being locked to post-game.
Gen 3: The lack of Gen II Pokémon in general. Johto is done dirty.
Gen 4: The national Pokédex distribution and horrible balance of types.
Gen 5: The pixelated graphics. I thought it was because of recording that Youtube makes them look so pixelated, but when I played White 2 on my DS, that was it...
Gen 6: The lack of difficulty. Mega Evolution was such cool gimmick but it ruins the fun part of challenging games as the games are already too easy even without the Mega Evolution gimmick.
Gen 7: The lack of gyms and lazy run of trials. I mean, Mina does not even have one.
Gen 8: The lack of a memorable story.
Gen 9: The open world not actually working like an open world.

 

[DigitalGen6]

Gen 1: idk, never played it
Gen 2/3: not being able to connect with each other
Gen 4: idk, it was really difficult when I played Pearl (but when I played Shining Pearl, not that difficult oddly enough??), I still like HeartGold though
Gen 5: Team peta, nuff said
Gen 6: Team flare, the GTA, not being able to remove hat in XY, not being able to change the clothes in ORAS, no contests/showcases (I’m aware the games came out in 2013, before the showcases were introduced but like really GF? really?), no Pokémon Z (this makes me the most mad)
Gen 7: no gyms (I like the trials but come on like you don’t need to remove the gym!)
Gen 8: seems too hard
Gen 9: can’t buy actual clothing to wear that’s not a school uniform

 

[Chidamari Sketch]

Gen 1: It's inevitably the face of the franchise, but it never won't bug me when it feels like Kanto and Gen 1 really is the only thing that Pokemon is represented by first and foremost.
Gen 2: They really had to put some of the new Pokemon in areas where it feels too late. Whaddya mean Slugma and Murkrow can only be found in Kanto? Whaddya mean Misdreavus is literally exclusive to the fucking final area of the game???
Gen 3: Abolishing the day/night cycle was certainly an arbitrary move.
Gen 4: Diamond and Pearl are incredibly buggy and horrifically slow. Also, I can almost count on my hands how many Pokemon I'm fond of.
Gen 5: The critical HP sound being promoted into a full song is neat at first... and then it overrides the climactic music of important battles in the game. No.
Gen 6: Squandered potential, even when I first played it I felt like there should've been more. Also, Team Flare sucks.
Gen 7: Honestly, just the existence of Let's Go P/E and/or Zeraora. I'm very attached to this gen otherwise
Gen 8: Flawed story. Also, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Just those two.
Gen 9: I'm very defensive about this generation, but I can't say I can defend the fact that Nintendo crunched Game Freak really badly that this installment goes through bugs even post-release. Also, I'm rather peeved that there's literally no Fossils at all; it's just a personal thorn since I'd figured it'd be really fun to have a prehistoric Pokemon team with both Paradox Pokemon and Fossil Pokemon.

 

[DigitalGen6]

I agree with literally a lot of these.

Gen 1: It's inevitably the face of the franchise, but it never won't bug me when it feels like Kanto and Gen 1 really is the only thing that Pokemon is represented by first and foremost.
Gen 2: They really had to put some of the new Pokemon in areas where it feels too late. Whaddya mean Slugma and Murkrow can only be found in Kanto? Whaddya mean Misdreavus is literally exclusive to the fucking final area of the game???
Gen 3: Abolishing the day/night cycle was certainly an arbitrary move.
Gen 4: Diamond and Pearl are unironically buggy and horrifically slow. Also, I can almost count on my hands how many Pokemon I'm fond of.
Gen 5: The critical HP sound being promoted into a full song is neat at first... and then it overrides the climactic music of important battles in the game. No.
Gen 6: Squandered potential, even when I first played it I felt like there should've been more.
Gen 7: Honestly, just the existence of Let's Go P/E and/or Zeraora. I'm very attached to this gen otherwise
Gen 8: Flawed story. Also, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Just those two.
Gen 9: I'm very defensive about this generation, but I can't say I can defend the fact that Nintendo crunched Game Freak really badly that this installment goes through bugs even post-release. Also, I'm rather peeved that there's literally no Fossils at all; it's just a personal thorn since I'd figured it'd be really fun to have a prehistoric Pokemon team with both Paradox Pokemon and Fossil Pokemon.

Gen 1: What do you expect? It’s the very first generation of Pokémon, but yeah I agree. And I don’t like how they didn’t even let you play as a girl in that game (you had to wait until Crystal to play as a girl, and one reason I like Crystal is the ability to play as either a boy or girl)
Gen 2: Wait, what? You mean to tell me I can’t find a Misdreavus until I’m near the final area? (I play Pokémon Crystal, and I don’t know if that also applies to it, I need a Misdreavus on my team and I’ll go into all that later)
Gen 3: Oh, Game Freak, why have you forsaken us? No more day and night cycle
Gen 4: Big time
Gen 5: Yeah, you got that right, the low HP song was cool at first but then it got pretty annoying and I said OH HECK NAW and now it’s just… I can’t
Gen 6: Mhm
Gen 7: Yeah. IMHO, LGPE was okayish, I just like the Alola games better (they really should have waited to start making Pokémon main series games for the switch until Gen 8, LGPE seems like it would’ve been better on a 3DS)
Gen 8: Yep and the only good game is Legends Arceus (I don’t mind SwSh, I just like Legends Arceus better and besides, it does better when it comes to open world); I may not look it, but I am not a huge fan of BDSP
Gen 9: That’s too bad. Maybe you can try and transfer Fossil Pokémon into the game?

 

[Anomolicaris]

1 : Hideous back sprites and no post game
2 : No running
3 : Too much water
4 : Too many HMs required, nearly all of my team members end up knowing at least 1 HM
5 : Only Unova mons are available
6 : Boring post game and walking around in Lumiose city is a nightmare
7 : Comically slow
8 : Way too easy and wild area sucks
Haven't played gen 9 yet

 

[Emelie]

Gen 1: Probably very boring without Stadium. Some moves don't work as intended or are just plain stupid like Wrap. No female protagonist even though there is one in the Capsule Monster concept art.

Gen 2: Not enough focus on Johto Pokémon. (A good solution to this problem is to trade over and breed Pokemon, I always did that as a kid.)

Gen 3: The removal of the day/night cycle, can't connect to Gen 1-2 which means losing old favorite Pokémon, RSE!Brendan is sexist for no reason lol. No female protagonist in the Gamecube games.

Gen 4: Needs more Cynthia screen time because BDSP made me realize how little she does, slow gameplay, too many HMs, Platinum!Cyrus mysteriously disappears without any conclusion. Why did they remove both Kris and Leaf from HGSS?

Gen 5: The plot of BW2 is lame, I don't care about Hugh and his angst. Some Pokémon are overdesigned. The so-called good guys rarely have good arguments against N's ideas. N's backstory is also kind of messed up (even though I still like it).

Gen 6: The rivals are terrible, Team Flare sucks, very easy games. Not enough Emma because she was the best character (even if she is a little bit of a Mary Sue). No Battle Frontier in ORAS.

Gen 7: Still very easy except for the Totem battles. USUM ruined Lillie and Lusamine. Has some problem with how they portray female characters since Lillie seems very passive at times.

Gen 8: Story and characters are bad except for Bede who just kind of becomes irrelevant in the middle. The wild area isn't too impressive and the games are very easy. Dexit was also a disappointment. PLA has a little too much Japanese imperialism for my comfort. BDSP are the worst remakes so far.

Gen 9: Badly made games in so many aspects, repetitive cutscenes with Penny and Koraidon drives me crazy, limited dex again even though they have no excuse this time, no PLA catching mechanics. The plot with Sada is dangerously close to being a Women in Refrigerators plot (even though I still like it). Trainer customization is terrible.

 

[DigitalGen6]

Gen 1: Probably very boring without Stadium. Some moves don't work as intended or are just plain stupid like Wrap. No female protagonist even though there is one in the Capsule Monster concept art.

Gen 2: Not enough focus on Johto Pokémon. (A good solution to this problem is to trade over and breed Pokemon, I always did that as a kid.)

Gen 3: The removal of the day/night cycle, can't connect to Gen 1-2 which means losing old favorite Pokémon, RSE!Brendan is sexist for no reason lol. No female protagonist in the Gamecube games.

Gen 4: Needs more Cynthia screen time because BDSP made me realize how little she does, slow gameplay, too many HMs, Platinum!Cyrus mysteriously disappears without any conclusion. Why did they remove both Kris and Leaf from HGSS?

Gen 5: The plot of BW2 is lame, I don't care about Hugh and his angst. Some Pokémon are overdesigned. The so-called good guys rarely have good arguments against N's ideas. N's backstory is also kind of messed up (even though I still like it).

Gen 6: The rivals are terrible, Team Flare sucks, very easy games. Not enough Emma because she was the best character (even if she is a little bit of a Mary Sue). No Battle Frontier in ORAS.

Gen 7: Still very easy except for the Totem battles. USUM ruined Lillie and Lusamine. Has some problem with how they portray female characters since Lillie seems very passive at times.

Gen 8: Story and characters are bad except for Bede who just kind of becomes irrelevant in the middle. The wild area isn't too impressive and the games are very easy. Dexit was also a disappointment. PLA has a little too much Japanese imperialism for my comfort. BDSP are the worst remakes so far.

Gen 9: Badly made games in so many aspects, repetitive cutscenes with Penny and Koraidon drives me crazy, limited dex again even though they have no excuse this time, no PLA catching mechanics. The plot with Sada is dangerously close to being a Women in Refrigerators plot (even though I still like it). Trainer customization is terrible.

I agree with all of this, big time. But how is Brendan being sexist in RSE? And yes, Team Flare sucks and I hate their plan. BW’s plot is better than the plot of BW2 and we DID need a female protag in XD/Colosseum. I’m sure there’s a reason why they didn’t put a female protag in Gen 1.

 

[c la fet]

I agree with all of this, big time. But how is Brendan being sexist in RSE? And yes, Team Flare sucks and I hate their plan. BW’s plot is better than the plot of BW2 and we DID need a female protag in XD/Colosseum. I’m sure there’s a reason why they didn’t put a female protag in Gen 1.

Brendan is an arse who constantly belittles May because she is a girl.

 

[DigitalGen6]

Brendan is an arse who constantly belittles May because she is a girl.

Oh. I guess I’ll have to read his quotes on Bulbapedia then.