Name 5 Things You Like About Your Least Favorite Gen

[Arc Blader]

Gen IV: DPPt were easily the weakest in the series for me - too slow, weak creature design, suffered from Gen II's tendency to staple new things onto old things instead of tranforming them into a new, unique whole, only moreso.

That said:
1) It was more story-driven than any game in the series to that point - I forget this all the time, but having Professor Rowan call you into the Canalave library was sooooo coooool.
2) It also embraced the "Pokémon as mythical creatures" thing that Gens V and VI ran with. Plus, that led to things like the books in the Canalave library - very creepy, very cool.
3) HGSS! To be quite honest, HeartGold and SoulSilver represent a technical high for the series that it's never quite reclaimed. Having your Pokémon follow you was cool, the touchscreen was implemented better than it was in any game before or since, little things like the GB Player represented fanservice done right, and an overflow of great bonus content set the bar high for future remakes.
4) The Underground multiplayer - kind of underloved, imo. It allowed secret bases to exist in some capacity, and the mining was somewhat enjoyable, if for nothing else at least for the large amount of fossils, evolution stones, and shards you could accumulate.
5) Some of the new evolutions were good. Definitely not all, but some - Roserade, Togekiss, and the Eeveelutions stand out in particular.

 

[henrymidfields]

Gen 3 I guess. Complete break from the previous two regions + most unrealistic region.

- Abilities: It provided me with new strategies that I could use with movepools. I'm actually liking how it is less "Just use type advantages."
- Blaziken Line: I'm a huge fan of using my Kung Fu Chicken for the Battle Maison - Speed Boost for the win!
- Leaf: Finally, we've got a female protagonist for the very first set of games - or more accurately, the remakes.
- Orre: The first non-Poke-Japanese region ever.
- The very decision to continue the Pokemon franchise: Because apparently, the whole franchise was supposed to stop after GSC. Even if Gen 3 was not my favourite generation, I'm really thankful that GF decided to build up a franchise that well should rival Mario and Zelda. If not for this decision, then I will not be enjoying playing Pokemon XY or BW1+2, and I certainly wouldn't be watching the current XY anime either. For the simple reason that they would NOT exist...

 

[----]

Generation 1, sorry Gen 1 fans, but I have never been a huge fan because of how badly the game has aged, how unbalanced it can be at parts and how bad it can be in comparison to the newer games.

1. Gen 1 started the series

2. It created my favorite Pokemon, Vaporeon

3. The game has heart. It had passion and love put into it and it shows.

4. Most of the Pokemon designs were pretty good.

5. In my opinion, it had the best rival of the entire series.

 

[Osprey]

I guess my least favored one is Gen VI. Never played Gens I or II, so I can't really speak for them... So in no particular order...

1. 3D models and other graphical improvements. Holy heck, everytime I come back to Y after replaying any other generation, I'm always blown away by the crisp, clean quality of the game's graphics.

2. Scenery. These excellent graphics improvements allowed the Kalos region to look majestic.

3. Field music. While its battle themes are a bit lacking, I'd say Gen VI has the best field music in the franchise overall.

4. Team Flare and mass genocide. It reminded me of a story I read not long ago called Inferno. Super rich guy is trying to unleash something on everyone to control population for similar reasons (dwindling resources, war, etc). The irony and weird similarities made these orange Fashion Nazis more memorable.

5. Ease of EV training. (Super Training and hordes). I'd never even bothered myself with EV's or competitive battling since it was too tedious. Super Training made the whole concept of EV's so much more accessible, while hordes made EV training a breeze. I don't think I'd be playing competitive if it weren't for those two things.

 

[Team Gaara]

Gen II for me~

1. Region - Johto's a very beautiful region with the traditional Japanese theme going on that makes going around the region a nice treat for the eyes (more so on the Gen IV graphics).

2. Anime - I loved the Johto Journeys Opening.

3. Pokemon - A lot of both cute and creepy cool ones introduced here.

4. Music - While it isn't in my top favorites, the music here was pretty enjoyable for the most part. It introduced Lance theme, which is so far my favorite Champion's theme.

5. Dark and Steel-types introduced. These are cool types and dealt with the issue of OP Psychic types~

 

[Esserise]

While it is, in my opinion, technically the worst, I can't call Generation I my least-favorite (even though as a kid I found that it alternated solely between "boring" and "frustrating"). In the larger scheme of video game history, it was actually quite revolutionary in that era, and for its time, it was a pretty good game. Of course it doesn't hold up to today's standards; I don't think anybody should expect it to. But it made the franchise what it is today, and I give it a lot of credit for doing what it did.

So, with that being said, my least-favorite would have to be Generation III. In retrospect, it seems very middling, as if they didn't quite know what they wanted to do with the series. Generation II was planned early on, I think, and Generation IV is when they really got serious about things like the storyline, the mechanics, and player connectivity, which made for a much more qualitatively consistent experience. But, Generation III was not all bad. The five things about it that I liked the most were:

1. The Sevii Islands. My main reason for going back and playing FireRed every now and again is this. It was such a fun idea, traveling from island to island and dealing with issues on each one, and they had such interesting environments like the Berry Forest, Kindle Road, and Sevault Canyon. It was also really nice to see some of the Generation II Pokémon again, which had the added benefit of spicing up the diversity of the Islands. It was actually my hope that they would make a comeback in ORAS (in GLORIOUS 3D), but alas, it wasn't to be.

2. Abilities. These really reinvigorated the gameplay and added a whole new dimension to battling, which up until then was very basic.

3. Double Battles. These were the next logical step in terms of battling, and I always loved it when I would come across these in RS. It was really fun trying to decide which of the opponent's Pokémon I wanted to target, or just Earthquaking everything on the field.

4. Emerald Version. The best execution of the "Third Version" model thus far, in my opinion. Lost of modifications and new features that made the game worth getting, despite being essentially the same thing as RS.

5. The decision to do Generation I remakes. Bringing those games up to a (then-)modern standard was something that, in hindsight, I think was crucially important; both granting us access to many of the Pokémon that were absent from RS and yet also allowing us to relive those old games on a smoother engine, and it started the trend that eventually gave us HGSS and ORAS.

 

[XYZ Nexus]

Generation IV is my least favorite, but that said, I do enjoy some elements of it.

1. Region - The region design may suffer in too much mountains, it was decently diverse as a whole. Remake!Johto was also cool I guess.

2. Anime - I enjoyed the anime version of it.

3. Pokemon - Lots of cool ones like Lucario, Garchomp, and Infernape made their debut here.

4. Music - Cynthia's Champion music was awesome, the Gym Leader battle music was also great. Some route music were also fine if not a bit forgettable. HGSS's musics were largely forgettable to me bar for some battle themes, which will never include Red's awful battle theme.

5. Overall - This was also my first adventure with the series along with Gen III. So while I like Gen III over Gen IV, the latter did do some things nicely enough. Having Johto remakes did pave the way for ORAS so they weren't all bad either.

 

[Seppe]

Least favorite is definitely Gen VI.

5 things I liked about it?

Personalization: Character customization and Super Secret Bases are really nice touches to the series, and I hope we get more features like these in the future.

Soundtrack: Although the X/Y battle themes are mediocre, the vast majority of Gen VI's non-battle themes are stunningly good. When you compare these field themes to the ones from Gen III and before, you can tell Game Freak has really come a long way.

Breeding Mechanics: Updated mechanics in Pokémon collecting and breeding make raising your perfect 'mon much less frustrating, and allows the competitive battling scene to be more accessible for newcomers. I think it was a good call.

Cutscenes: Especially in OR/AS, these scenes succeed at immersing the player into the game. It's great how Game Freak is taking a more cinematic approach to the cutscenes as well.

Online Capabilities: Game Freak has been improving Wi-Fi play since Gen IV, and that doesn't change here.

Despite all this, I had more issues with Gen VI than any other generation so far.

 

[TEMMEC]

My least favorite gen is definitely gen 5. There's just so much wrong with it, including but not limited to: the Amurrcan-made Pokemon, the other horrible 154 Pokemon, and the fact that they tried so hard to make new Pokemon work when all we as consumers wanted was what they gave us with gen 6: a revamp of old and beloved Pokemon. I'll try.

1. A Few Awesome Pokemon: however horrible some of these little turds from gen 5 were, there were a very few diamonds in the rough such as Chandelure, Cofagrigus, and Galvantula. And for however few of these Pokemon there are, they make up for in pure greatness.

2. Great Story: However awful the Pokemon were, the story for this generation (I only played Black 1) is one of the better ones in Pokemon history. Sure, it was convoluted and extreme, but it was full of knights, ninjas, kings, treacherous advisers, and a plot to rule the world. Not even the later generations have accomplished much of that.

3. The attempt at 3Dish graphics: Not gonna lie. I hated the gen 5 graphics. It was so close yet so very far from true 3D graphics that would have made me happy. Gamefreak did successfully accomplish this in gen 6, but I just couldn't get over it in this gen. The good thing about it, is that they learned from their mistakes and worked to make a fantastic-looking game in gen 6. So if gen 5 is useful for anything, it was useful as a segue into something greater.

4. Seasons: this always bothered me in previous generations. They finally accomplished night and day cycles in gen 2, but they took sooo long to get the seasons going. I always ended up adjusting my DS' clock instead of actually waiting until the seasons appeared, but the mechanic was really nice. I also loved how there were certain Pokemon that adjusted as the seasons adjusted. I loved the location-based evolutions of Pokemon like Burmy in gen 4, so this made me quite happy also.

5. Animated Sprites: I had been asking for this since gen 2. When I saw my Cyndaquil move for the first time in Crystal, I was certain that fully animated sprites would be on the way in the next generation. It was, however, not to be. It took them two generations to bring minor animation back, and then another generation to get fully animated sprites. Granted, it looked pretty bad and horribly pixilated, but I was happy nonetheless. Thanks for listening to my rambling.

TEMMEC

 

[Silverwynde]

I guess my least favorite Gen would have to be Gen III. It's not that I don't like Hoenn but I can't really call it my favorite Region. So with that in mind, here we go.

1. Some of the Pokemon. Hoenn gave us some really cool Pokemon like Blaziken, Skitty, Roselia and Metagross.

2. Stephen Stone. 'Nuff said.

3. Contests. Finally, I can do something with my Pokemon other than battle. And they can earn some cute Ribbons to boot!

4. The introduction of Dive. That was a really cool feature which I did enjoy.

5. The introduction of Orre. Orre became one of my favorite Regions, next to Unova. Adding to the mix was the idea of Shadow Pokemon; for once, I wasn't battling and earning Badges for my own ego. I was out and about rescuing abused Pokemon and helping them. The idea of acting as a rescuer really appeals to me, which makes the Orre games among my absolute favorites in the Pokemon franchise.

 

[Almonds]

Gen2

1. 16 gyms to collect badges from

2. Good old faces that aged from Gen1, particularly Kanto gyms

3. Battling Red

4. Dark and Steel types introduced

5. Eusine

2. Stephen Stone. 'Nuff said.

It's Steven, but I agree he's very precious. A rich champion who goes around handing out rare gifts like candy AND uses a super-computer based robotic pokemon as his ace? It's hard to dislike him :3

 

[BinkVallen]

My least favorite was probably Gen V. I didn't make it very far in my game so I don't have much to say about it, but I'll try to think of enough things:

1. SCOLIPEDE

2. Scolipede gets its own line because it's my favorite pokemon ever, but there were a lot of other cool pokemon introduced. Zebstrika, Zoroark, Galvantula and Volcarona were great.

3. Some attempts at more creative maps. All the camera angles on Skyarrow Bridge were pretty cool.

4. Team Plasma. Of all the evil teams with a big goal, theirs is the most realistic.

5. Even if I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the new pokemon this gen introduced, I don't hate them either, and I appreciate that its pokedex is almost entirely new pokemon. As a fic writer, I enjoy having more pokemon to choose from.

 

[Steel_Justice]

I don't dislike it but I'll say my least favorite gen was gen 4 since I like the other gens better for one reason or another.

1. Lucario. My fav pokemon was introduced in this gen. Too bad it has to join at such a low level so late in DPPt.

2. Cynthia. Nuff said.

3. Remakes for Gold and Silver happened in this gen. That's gotta account for something.

4. Physical and Special split happened which made many pokemon better as a result. Though a few did get worse as a result poor Alakazam.

5. Poketch app. Very useful from the get go I especially like the day care , counter, berry searcher and dowsing machine apps. Hoping it gets even better if Sinnoh gets remade.

 

[Camille]

My least favorite generation happens to be Generation II,so here's my list:
-A ton of gameplay changes that have since become staples,such as breeding,time,the ability to hold items,two new types in Dark and Steel
-Some of the new Pokemon,such as Skarmory,Houndoom,Azumarill,Kingdra,Tyranitar,Heracross and Scizor
-Johto is my second favorite region,shame it's too small
-Clair
-Silver is the first rival to have any character development

 

[Lyrebird]

Gen IV

1. Snow, I like snow
2. Sinnoh was easy to get around.
3. VS Seeker. I miss that object.
4. Poketch App
5. Underground.

 

[Karpi]

Gen IV is my least favorite because it's slow-paced and uninspired, mostly referring to the Sinnoh games.

What do I like about it, though?

1. Some of the pokemon, especially Bronzong, Bronzong, Giratina, Shaymin, and many of the new evolutions like Tangrowth.

2. The anime was pretty good during the Sinnoh seasons.

3. Steel_Justice mentioned the physical-special split. This along with a lot of new moves introduced made the series much better imo.

4. HG/SS are pretty excellent overall, but still suffer from being slow.

5. Pokemon Battle Revolution existed. It wasn't great, especially compared to Colosseum, but... at least it existed. We haven't had a console game since then.

 

[Lylian]

Didn't really like Gen V all that much. It's also been a while since I played...

1. The Water Starter. That is the type I usually go with anyway, but I liked Oshawott a lot.
2. N was an interesting character.
3. The story/ plot, Team Plasma.
4. Changing seasons.
5. Habitat list.

 

[PaulTheProtist]

Gen VI simply felt rough and incomplete to me.

1. Even if it was a bit rough, we made the jump to 3D.
2. Largest regional Pokédex.
3. EV training is less tedious.
4. Pokémon-amie was pretty fun.
5. The GTS was sporatically improved.

 

[jackatlasred]

Gen 1 feels the worst for me.

1. It started pokemon so...

2. I liked team rocket.

3. Mewtwo and mew.

4. Blaine

5. Koga.

 

[GhostFingers]

I don't dislike it but I'll say my least favorite gen was gen 4 since I like the other gens better for one reason or another.
4. Physical and Special split happened which made many pokemon better as a result. Though a few did get worse as a result poor Alakazam.

How did Al suffer? Pre split it couldn't utilize its high Sp.at. for moves like Shadow ball and Signal beam.