Pokemon What is Your Favorite Generation of Pokémon?

Tepig4321

The Very Best Like No One Ever Was
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Basically what the title says, i'm curious to what your guys opinion is

Ill make a list of my person favorite least to best

#6 :
Hoenn
This is just my opinion, but I feel like Hoenn was there partially to transition from the classic style to more modern, and this works for everything such as the anime where they were using better graphics and what annoys me the most, they changed the voice actors
LIKE COME ON MAN WE LIKED THEIR VOICES
I get different companies were changing the dubbing but still
and the games they didn't have team rocket anymore and they had lots of new pokemon
But somethings I did like about it, like some of the new pokemon like Latios and Blaziken

#5 :
Sinnoh
I do like Sinnoh for some reasons such as they finished a lot of pokemon who needed an evolution like sneasel or murkrow and they really focused more on just wrapping up the og 493 before switching to B&W where they just had unova pokemon
I didn't like how Team Galactic was so messed up and they didn't agree on a lot
Plus I didn't particularly like the gym leaders because they weren't super memorable
But I did like the champion she's pretty lit

#4 :
Kalos
Some things I did like about Kalos such as they made lots of graphics changes and Mega Evolution
but I did have 3 problems with this
1. The anime
I'm just gonna say it, I think the anime has become too lovey dovey and a little cringy to watch
Like I was watching the OG episodes and that stuff is awesome
Also Bonnie's voice is soooooooooo annoying
2. Ideas for pokemon
I understand they are trying to be creative but some pokemon I don't feel are right exactly like Klefki
3. Team Flare
They are psychopaths literally trying to destroy the world but YET they will kill themselves in the process (thankfully Calum and/or Serena stops them)
And a side note, I didn't like the rivals as much because again they were too lovey dovey and there were so many that they didn't get the spotlight they needed

#3 :
Kanto
I love Kanto it's where it all started and the gym leaders were memorable to me and that's where the anime was the best
But I did have a few problems
1. The games were way too buggy
obviously they fixed them in FireRed/LeafGreen but you know I get it, it was 20 years ago
2. The Pokemon
I felt the pokemon designs were too simple, again that's why they made mega evolutions and further evolutions in sinnoh

#2 :
Unova
I love unova, it's my first Pokemon game, and (kinda sad) the only game to date I got a level 100 Pokemon
the storyline is great and it was focused more on team plasma then then becoming a pokemon master
Plus there is so much after game content
But I did find 1 thing wrong with it
There was some weird pokemon like Ice cream cones and lots of monkeys but I did hear this one guy say Ice cream cones are like magnets (in weirdness)

#1 :
Johto
First of all in the games you go through 2 REGIONS
which is lit and then theres so much to such as battling a total of 37 (i think) gym leaders + elite 4 and the champion
Honestly I have nothing wrong with this game
 
I think overall I have to go with 3rd Generation. Ruby and Sapphire pulled me back into Pokémon after I originally snubbed the Johto games, plus we got the FRLG remakes of the Kanto games which were awesome, and the EX era of the TCG is probably my favourite overall, very good cards and artwork and those Delta Species designs. <3
 
Well, I may as well make a list. This topic intrigues me... Just gonna say, remakes don't count on this list.

Games:

#6
Sinnoh
The 4th generation bothered me to a huge extent, and one game in particular, the only game in Pokemon that I hate... Pokemon Platinum. I hated how the Elite 4 was nerfed, how the game only got SLOWER, and in both games, there were so many pointless towns, and don't even get me STARTED on the surfing! I felt the game was easy, but slow, and tedious. Generation 4 games (save the Johto remakes) are the games I replay the least.

#5
Kalos
The 6th generation tried to reintroduce the magic of Pokemon, by giving the series a soft reboot. Unfortunately, it didn't go so well. From all the loose ends this game gave, you never got the sense your journey was over, hence why so many of us expected Pokemon Z. The game was extremely easy, especially with the broken Exp. Share. Not to mention the lack of the post game, which ticked me off on so many levels.

#4
Kanto
While these were the very first games, I think that they just didn't age well, especially with all the glitches that were in the game. Besides this, it's a good game and I love playing through it. It just didn't age too well. Especially with FRLG, I see absolutely no reason to go back and play these originals.

#3
Unova
Unova was a very story heavy game, and I loved that it was. I give Unova a lot of hate for the anime, (since besides Cilan and a few other good characters, it was a hot mess) but not these games, especially B2W2, which were my second favorite Pokemon games of all time. You just never ran out of stuff to do. The only reason this isn't as high on the list, is because I didn't appreciate BW as much as an average Pokemon game.

#2
Johto
These games were absolutely incredible. While it could be slightly boring at some points, the game was overall pretty good. With (in my opinion) well developed characters, and great storyline. Plus, being able to go back to Kanto was a sweet idea, though it wouldn't work now a days for obvious reasons.

#1
Hoenn
Oh please, you knew this was coming. Hoenn is (in my opinion) the most revolutionary and influential Generation there is. Why? They started the trend of breaking away from the story, which is what happened in Generations 1 and 2. Generation 3 branched off, and made room for a new start. Not to mention the lore around some of these games, which was incredible. Then... There was Pokemon Emerald, my favorite game of all time, not just Pokemon, but of all time. I've spent over 450 hours on that disc, and I loved every minute of it.

Anime:

#6
Unova
Well isn't this obvious, the Best Wishes saga was horrible. From poorly developed characters, to tons of dumb filler episodes, and catch phrases being spouted everywhere. It was just a hot mess...

#5
Johto
I actually, liked this saga, it just wasn't as good as the others. I felt Johto had long filler episodes, but at least they had soul to them. Johto was a good saga, it just didn't stand to the others.

#4
Kanto
(Prepares for death threats) Kanto was a good saga, but it wasn't my favorite. And for good reasons. One, the Orange Islands was A WHOLE SEASON OF FILLER! COME ON! And yes, I know why they did it, but that sets this back so far! Besides that, there was one season where everything mattered. The first one. Ash got all 8 badges, 5 of each he didn't even earn. Had his worst performance to date in a league (but it was his first, so whatever), and this all happened in one season.

#3
Sinnoh
It's so weird how the worse the games were, the better anime it got or vice versa. Anyways, Diamond and Pearl was an amazing saga, where at that point, Ash was developed to his fullest. Dawn was a bit of a step down from May (prepares for more death threats from Pearlshippers), but that may be for personal reasons. I felt that Dawn's Pokemon, rivals, and sometimes, even her development was handled really poorly. But overall, Diamond and Pearl was a great saga.

#2
Hoenn
Just because I'm an Advanceshipper, doesn't mean that I like this saga the best. But yeah, Ruby and Sapphire was next to flawless. Ash had lots of development, and his Pokemon were handled incredibly, and I felt like you could really sense he was getting stronger. Then, there was May. May is (and always will be) the best poke girl there is. But, that may be just because I'm an Advanceshipper. May's development is arguably is even higher than that of Serena's. Her personality, her opinions, and even to the extent of her rivals and THEIR views all changed over time, which made you feel like you were watching real people from time to time. Hoenn was incredible, and I love this saga, but there's just one that beats it out just barely...

#1
Kalos
The series XY is so close to flawless. Ash feels like he's at his best. But more importantly, this feels like a proper follow up to the DP saga, which is crucial to me. Ash is definetely at the top of his game, which he's proved by making it TO THE FINALS OF A LEAGUE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! The animation was flawless, especially at points like in Ash against Sawyer in the semi finals battle. The animation was incredible, and in my opinion, has earned itself the title "Best Pokemon Battle of all time". Now let's get into the one bad thing about this saga. Serena. I hate Serena more than any other poke girl there is. I think she's bland, and boring, and most of all... I hate Amourshipping. Though there are bits of her I can tolerate. When she's performing, I just think of May or Dawn in her place. But yeah, Serena's not totally bad, but her performances are really the only thing I can tolerate from her.

Conclusion:

Since there's really no wrong or right answer to this question, of course some of you will disagree. But this is simply what I think of both the games, and anime.
 
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For games it would be:

#1
Johto
It would have been Kanto but Johto had both original and second gen pokemon plus access to both areas and having to get 16 badges. Game had lots to offer.

#2
Kanto
Because original. Original pokemon are so great and memorable plus the first gym battles and the secrets of MEW. It's the one that started it all.

#3
Hoenn
Pretty much the last pokemon game I've played until the remakes of FR, LG, Heartgold and soulsilver came out. This is when I realized the creativity for making pokemon was going to down and just too many legendary pokemon appearing. Too many legendaries make them not so special. Still had a great time with the game though.

After that I don't care since I stopped playing but I might check out the ones that Introduced mega evolutions as those seem pretty cool. As for the show I also stopped watching during Hoenn when I realized they were going to make just make silly episodes instead of Ash doing what he was supposed to be doing which was CATCHING THEM ALL.

By the way what is this advanceshipping and armorshipping I keep hearing about?
 
For games it would be:

#1
Johto
It would have been Kanto but Johto had both original and second gen pokemon plus access to both areas and having to get 16 badges. Game had lots to offer.

#2
Kanto
Because original. Original pokemon are so great and memorable plus the first gym battles and the secrets of MEW. It's the one that started it all.

#3
Hoenn
Pretty much the last pokemon game I've played until the remakes of FR, LG, Heartgold and soulsilver came out. This is when I realized the creativity for making pokemon was going to down and just too many legendary pokemon appearing. Too many legendaries make them not so special. Still had a great time with the game though.

After that I don't care since I stopped playing but I might check out the ones that Introduced mega evolutions as those seem pretty cool. As for the show I also stopped watching during Hoenn when I realized they were going to make just make silly episodes instead of Ash doing what he was supposed to be doing which was CATCHING THEM ALL.

By the way what is this advanceshipping and armorshipping I keep hearing about?
Advanceshipping is a fanon relationship between Ash and Dawn, and Amourshipping (may it burn forever) is a fanon relationship between Ash and Serena.
 
Advanceshipping is a fanon relationship between Ash and Dawn, and Amourshipping (may it burn forever) is a fanon relationship between Ash and Serena.
Advanceshipping is the fanon relationship for Ash and May. Pearlshipping is Ash and Dawn.
 
My top 6 regions from worst to best (not really saying much, because I actually love all of them and am having a hard time actually ranking them):

The games:
#6: Gen 6. These games had some of the best new features of all time. From Pokemon Amie to the improved online system, these games had it all. Unfortunately, X and Y gave us a lot of loose ends and the story was extremely lackluster considering it was immediately following the epicness that was Gen 5. Also, it only gave us 70 or so new Pokemon. And unpopular opinion but...am I the only one who didn't really want a Hoenn remake? Don't get me wrong, OR/AS was great and all, but it along with X and Y were way too easy.

#5: Gen 1. The gen that started it all. Despite the glitches (which I have never run into myself), and the lack of innovative features compared to today, these games are still enjoyable to this day, especially for newer players who are up for a challenge!

#4: Gen 2. Gold and Silver were a fantastic followup to Gen 1, technically being the first sequel games in Pokemon's history. Being able to travel to 2 regions was amazing, and battling all the Johto and Kanto gym leaders was fantastic! The only flaw was the level curve. The levels were too low in Johto and it was difficult to level grind enough to be prepared for the Elite 4 and Kanto.

#3: Gen 3. If it weren't for Ruby and Sapphire, my interest in Pokemon would have faded completely. The first time I played Sapphire, I was blown away by how much of an improvement they were graphics-wise. Seriously, you should have seen 10 year old me being absolutely mind blown by being able to walk behind buildings! XD That and it gave me some of my all time favorite Pokemon in Swampert and Flygon, one of which was the first Pokemon I leveled up to 100.

#2: Gen 4. Ok, I know that the Gen 4 games had a lot of flaws, especially by how ungodly slow Diamond and Pearl were. Luckily, that was fixed by Platinum, which still remains one of my all time favorite Pokemon games. The music was awesome, the new features were awesome, and the new Pokemon were some of the best out there. Also the generation that I truly became a wild merch-collecting super Pokefanatic and actually fully understood the gameplay. Gen 4 is also nostalgic to me because I had a circle of friends I could actually play and enjoy Pokemon with for the very first time. We are still close friends today. :)

#1: Gen 5. These games were the absolute best Pokemon games, without a doubt. The story and the characters were fantastic, and we got sequel games that followed up on them 2 years later. Those same sequel games were also great at expanding the Unova region with diverse new locations and reintroducing older Pokemon. I also love how unique they were trying to be, with B/W having almost exclusively their own Pokemon. Speaking of that, I like to call this generation the "It's about time" generation because we finally got Pokemon I've wanted for years! (A zebra, chinchilla, an actual sea turtle and pigeon, bald eagle, etc.)

The anime:
Note: Johto is unlisted because I watched very little of it and barely remember it.

#5: Unova. It's unbelievable how we had such great games adapted into such a messy anime. Catchphrases and uncannily clean stock footage everywhere, cringeworthy dialogue, ditched plots, a 20 episode long filler arc that contributed nothing to the story and Ash was an idiot. Case in point, the Snivy incident and his battle with Elesa.

#4: Sinnoh. The DP arc was really good. Pokemon Hunter J and Team Galactic were great villains, Paul was a huge jerk but also a great rival and Dawn was a pretty good character as well, albeit a little too girly for me.

#3: Kalos. What an improvement from the BW saga! The detailed animation, the complex characters, Ash actually being competant! The only reason this isn't higher is because they changed the background music in the dub, and imo that was basically a deal breaker because the BGM in the Japanese version was flawless and used in the perfect situations! Stupid copyright laws...

#2: Hoenn. This saga feels very similar to Kanto, but with improved animation. The main reason I rank it so high is because of nostalgia purposes. AG was when I really got invested in the anime for the first time in several years, and followed it for years afterward.

#1: Kanto. I am not a genwunner by any means, but the original season of the anime was the best imo. It had the best emotional moments, the best music, the best character development, the funniest moments and the dialogue and voice acting was the most realistic and engaging.
 
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Let's see, least to best would be...

#6 - Kalos
Now before I get harped on for disliking Kalos over Unova, the two are veeeeery close in this ranking. The reason though that Kalos is dead bottom for me is the story and characters. I hated Lysandre and not in the good way we're supposed to hate villains like Ghetsis, Cyrus, Giovanni, etc. I hated his character, his motivations, his team's motivations, and his design. Diantha was also really bad. Her character was tacked on with a lot of "Mary Sue" qualities such as being a great movie star, environmentalist, and she probably saved a bunch of drowning Lillipup too. There was really no depth to her. The other Champions all had some depth to their characters outside of the Champion battle. Diantha didn't. I could keep going on about what's wrong with Kalos, but that's not the reason for this post.

#5 - Unova
Now to do a complete 180 here and say the reason I disliked Unova was the place and not the characters... with few exceptions (read: Hugh). I liked Unova's characters and Ghetsis was a well-written villain for me. The whole Team Plasma motivation was also something that really needed to be addressed in a game about capturing animals and making them fight each other. Unlike Team Flare which was Team Rocket meets rich people. Wait this is about Unova, I can rant about Kalos elsewhere. Anyway, the actual region of Unova was really boring. Some places were cool, yes, but the fact it was all so linear ruined it for me. There were no branching paths like the previous regions before it. Though the fact Unova's big Legendary battle was where it should be, at the end of the main game, it did that better than a lot of other places.

#4 - Sinnoh
Now before you think that my list is going in order, it's not. This was all a funny accident. But Sinnoh is here because... well I didn't enjoy it as much as other people did. Barring the in-game issues, the region itself was pretty interesting if not very random at times. And it was the first game that made me lose motivation to finishing after the big battle with the evil team. Kalos and Hoenn had this too, but to varying degrees. After fighting Cyrus, I got bored. Spear Pillar/Distortion World was such a hype event that once it ended I was left with a "Oh yeah, I'm not done yet". And because of that, I didn't give a single care about Volkner or the rest of the game. Similar to Kalos where I just actually quit my replay after Lysan- Oh my god, I cannot stop ranting about Kalos. Back to Sinnoh, Sinnoh was a good region, just not the best.

#3 - Johto
Haha, I've broken the pattern. Now Johto as a region was very colorful, had great locations, and kept me interested story-wise the whole way through. You'll also find a trend with it and the #2 region that I'll explain here. The environment was stable. There was no random ice area or swampland or desert that just didn't fit (Ice Cave being an exception but it makes more sense in-game since Dragons). The regions I listed before all had this element of random environment that stuck out like a sore thumb. Especially Snowbelle City- Oh my god, I need to stop that. Anyway, Johto. It had a really fun way to play where you could just do the 5th, 6th, and 7th Gym in any order you wanted, which is really really great. I value this kind of gameplay over a lot of things personally. The locales were interesting enough too that I got lost in Whirl Islands and Mt Mortar constantly and loved that I was lost.

#2 - Kanto
Yes, nostalgia strikes again. Well, kinda. Kanto had what Johto had but better. Better stable environment with explainable reasons for any exception such as Seafoam Islands being ice-centered. It also wasn't linear, you could do the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th gym in any order you wanted. Now while I wish that the Gym Leaders' levels changed with that, it wasn't really possible with the technology at the time (hoping any remake of Kanto does). The characters were also interesting and appealed to me as a kid. Your rival is a bully. And when we were kids, we had bullies. And dealing with the bullies in real life was difficult. Whereas in Kanto, we could shut our bully up by beating his monsters with our monsters. It was our dreams come true. And then added to it by having the bully's family call him out on him being a bully, it was just amazing.

#1 - Hoenn
I'm pretty sure everyone knows why Hoenn is here, and since I spent more time ranting on Kalos, I'll keep this one short. *TRUMPET MUSIC INTENSIFIES*
 
I'm going to do something different and not order them; just like the pokemon, each region has strengths, weaknesses, and a particular context, and it wouldn't be possible to declare one the overall best; only in one specific category.

Gen 1 / Kanto
Kanto is a region apart; it started it all, but since all the games built on to it and improved, I don't think it's comparable to them; before the other generations, there was Kanto; before Kanto, there was nothing. It wouldn't be fair to hold it to the same standards the other games have.
The pokemon were all creative and interesting, and even if they had some mishaps, they were just starting in that whole "designing pokemon" business, so they get a pass for jynx, dewgong and electrode; the region was... nothing particularly special, but the music was really something else, as it became custom for the franchise.
So, overall, I can't qualify this one; I still play it sometimes, and even though I'm used to later mechanics that make it seem boring, it's a classic; classics are beyond critique.

Gen 2 / Johto
I loved johto; the generation gave me the early game I remember most fondly, with chikorita/cyndaquil, spinarak, mareep, hoppip, oddish, venonat, nidoran F... if anything, its fault was that it game me too many options too early, and added too little as the game advanced; the ruins of alph, with their many entrances, puzzles and cryptic unown stories were incredibly mystical and interesting, too.
Unfortunately, it gradually loses its shine; the rocket plot fell on its face, despite having good moments (the raiding of their radio station), the legendary plot was non-existent, the ruins of alph and the unown collecting ends in that; collecting unowns, suicune and eusine was... nothing, nothing whatsoever, there was no champion at the league, and the much beloved Kanto had basically nothing but non-stop battles and a fairly obscure mini-plot with a rocket grunt... just, bad.
Now, HGSS solved some of these issues, or at least, made them look so amazing that I could ignore the flaws (like adding the legendary plot as a part of the story), and it remains one of my favorite games because of how replayable it is to me, with so many early game pokemon, a better misdreavus (and catchable earlier), the safari zone, pokethlon, out-of-the-ball pokemon... they only fixed a few problems, but made the rest seem so much better.
So gen 2 has great pokemon, a poor story and depending on the version, a poor region and gameplay. Great music, though, for HGSS.

Gen 3 / Hoenn
I'm of mixed feelings here; the pokemon were... poor, really; it did give me gardevoir, masquerain, altaria and flygon, and luvdisc and the lati twins if I get generous, but the rest? not very interesting, to me, the legends least of all.
The plot was more ordered than ever before, certainly, and it built up greatly, though. The region itself felt awful; starting with the tropical setting, and going through the field of ash, the volcano, the "large" cities, the fact that you had to surf or fly to get to the other side of the region... the only parts that were interesting was the desert and the underwater exploration.
The graphics were amazing, however; gen 3 might be the earliest (and last) games that were truly awe-inspiring in what they were, since kanto and johto were in line with the rest of the games of their time, and later, the industry advanced more than gamefreak did.
Then, overall, a fairly haphazard and uninteresting region, a decent plot, lackluster pokemon roster and amazing graphics, but it introduced my favorite pokemon for more than a decade.

Gen 4 / Sinnoh
Sinnoh (in platinum, mostly) has snow. That's enough for me.
The overall feel of the region is colder and more subdued than hoenn's mishmash of weird environments and bold color palette; it has defining features, like the three lakes and mt. coronet, it has fog and hail, the 3d environments help it greatly; it's incredible, really. I'd like to play it again, but I'm retired from videogames and far too busy now.
The pokemon and the mythology were interesting, and the evolutions of old pokemon gave a great boost to them, mismagius and glaceon in particular; even though I don't like any additional pokemon from the generation, they're more interesting than hoenn's. Such a shame the lack of fire types, though; it's a big oversight to make, but it happened, and I don't care about fire-types anyway.
The plot was a sum of great moments; the meeting with rowan in canalave and the lakes' crisis, the occasional partner sections, scaling mt. coronet... all great, memorable moments. Not to mention the excellent post-game with the resort and heatran and all that. And cynthia. Cynthia is the best.
So yes, it was a good generation, very well rounded; interesting pokemon, a fantastic region, snow, and a good plot.

Gen 5 / Unova
Unova was just great; a new, exclusive generation with great pokemon (save for those damned monkeys), very memorable locales (even though I still think it was impressively stupid of them to place the desert right in the middle of the map, outside of the main city), seasons, seasons, seasons... did I mention the seasons? because it had seasons.
The legendaries were extremely uninteresting, but the plot made it so they had exactly as much importance as they deserved, that is, none; the whole game was about ghetsis and that creepy kid N, and had a interesting, philosophically navel-gazing, reading.
Reshiram and zekrom (and kyurem) are bland and awful; just big powerful dragons who have nothing going on for them; you don't even delve into their backstory, but the story and the events had a sense of rising stakes that hasn't been rivaled yet; just the scene of the gym leaders getting off their butts and actually helping you save the world for once is enough.
Overall, it has a great generation of pokemon, varied and with enough importance given to it instead of the old ones, a good region, when taken in parts rather than as a consistent whole (seriously, desert in the middle of the map), a great story for pokemon standards, and what might be the best music of all the games.

Gen 6 / Kalos
I know its fashionable to hate kalos lately, so let's get that out of the way. kalos' story is awful. I don't think I should even dignify it with an analysis; you get three friends/rivals and together, they don't have half the personality bianca had; team flare is a shame, lysandre is cyrus without his creepiness, which is worse because he's actually introduced to you by sycamore under the guise that he's a good guy; the team has a lot of admins, and they might as well fire them all, because they don't do anything; even shelly, tabitha and the others had more of a personality, and they had the personality of a clam. The legendaries... I can't even say what the hell they have to do with the narrative; there's no backstory, no legend, nothing that makes you think "they're going after this", no, you just enter their creepy lab and run headfirst into a cocoon or a tree.
Its only redeeming part is looker's noir postgame quest. And diantha; I mean, I know champions are usually very unfounded, but how ever could I be mad at an audrey hepburn inspired champion who has three of my favorite pokemon on her team (although, why would she have hawlucha, gourgeist and goodra, for goodness sakes? ew), and mega gardevoir, to not mention her absolutely fabulous battle theme?
So the story is bad. The rest? fantastic, absolutely fantastic; they had given an inkling of actual urbanism in unova, but kalos takes it to a wonderful new level; the detail, the feel of the region, the landscaping... just lovely. It even does better in the cohesiveness department than unova does, even though it still has the desert in the middle of the map.
The new pokemon are all fairly good, if few, but it's compensated by offering you an enormous variety of old pokemon from early on, plus wonder trade, which makes it the game to own if you're sick of always missing this or that pokemon.
And of course, Amie is adorable, super training is tedious but useful, and mega evolution... blah.
So in summation, don't go to kalos for the story, but stay for the region and the pokemon.
 
2 > 1 > 5 > 6 > 3 > 4

A lot of people love gen 3 and I just don't see it. It's packed full of the most boring activity Pokémon has ever devised (traversing water whether it be surf or dive) and the Pokémon introduced were right on the average line in terms of appeal.

The reason 4 scores even worse for me is because the legendaries introduced in gen 4 were the absolute worst abominations ever made. If you gave me Dialga or Palkia in the video game, I'd waste no time releasing them. I hate them. Giratina is tolerable but still bad, and I guess the lake trio carries the gen since they're alright, but since they only have a secondary plot function it doesn't save IV from condemnation.

Gen 5 is vastly underrated, introduced Volcarona and Galvantula, and had THE most interesting region to explore.

Gen 2 is my favourite because it had the happy "above average" of everything. It wins by sheer accumulated good traits.
 
2 > 1 > 5 > 6 > 3 > 4

A lot of people love gen 3 and I just don't see it. It's packed full of the most boring activity Pokémon has ever devised (traversing water whether it be surf or dive) and the Pokémon introduced were right on the average line in terms of appeal.

The reason 4 scores even worse for me is because the legendaries introduced in gen 4 were the absolute worst abominations ever made. If you gave me Dialga or Palkia in the video game, I'd waste no time releasing them. I hate them. Giratina is tolerable but still bad, and I guess the lake trio carries the gen since they're alright, but since they only have a secondary plot function it doesn't save IV from condemnation.

Gen 5 is vastly underrated, introduced Volcarona and Galvantula, and had THE most interesting region to explore.

Gen 2 is my favourite because it had the happy "above average" of everything. It wins by sheer accumulated good traits.
I'll agree with the Pokemon being pretty sub par in Hoenn. But as long as I like the starters and 5 other final forms, I'm okay. But in no way would I call Hoenn boring. Sure, surfing could get a bit dry, but there was the safari zone, game corner, and the big one, the Battle Frontier. The best in game facility ever made in my opinion. 7 difficult facilites where you battle challenging opponents, and face off against an incredibly difficult frontier brain.

I've spent hundreds of hours on Pokemon Emerald. By far the best game, no not just Pokemon, but game of all time. The story, the activities, the region, even a fair amount of the Pokemon. I loved it. I loved it all. Hoenn on the other hand was the very first game I played in Pokemon.

I'm not a person who gets blinded by nostalgia, but I simply think that Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald (even FRLG, which were a major step up from the originals imho) were so awe inspiring for what they were at the time, and were so different from the view of a standard-ish story we'd had up until that point. Generation 3 changed how Pokemon is today. I will never forget that.

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I agree with you on the other things though. Generation 4, especially after riding off of everything in generation 3, was a major disappointment. Pokemon Platinum is probably the only Pokemon game I can say I hate. Sure, there have been some poor games, like Diamond and Pearl, and even XY to a certain extent, but Platinum is the only Pokemon game I truly despise.

Generation 5 isn't incredibly underrated. And after reading all of these comments, by no means is it universally underrated. In fact, most of liked it a lot. Even though it's only my third favorite, it's still a great game and definitely has the best story. Black 2 and White 2 are my second favorite Pokemon games of all time, in fact, so by no means is this game underrated by anyone who at least knows what the hell they're talking about.

Generation 2 was awesome, no doubt about it. The fact we could go through 2 regions was a cool idea, just executed poorly back then. GSC were great, but HGSS were phenomenal. Like B2W2 there was so much to do! Kanto had a lot of unique stuff there. The only problem was how forced it was, but I can ignore that. The fact I got my Sceptile in HGSS was great. The story was decently executed, and was a great game to pick up and play. Hell I even enjoyed battling Whitney! That girl provided a challenge, a lot of the game did. Some of the Kanto leaders I had trouble with, Koga and Karen tripped me up a lot, Red was an absolute monster, but I beat him on my last one. Though some battles like Erika, Blaine, and Lance were totally underwhelming and unsurprisingly easy. Though they were still incredible games, don't get me wrong.

I still believe we may go to parts of Kalos, but hopefully after how badly XY bombed, they'll include a lot more closure and touch ups to pieces left unfinished, which there were a lot of. Z Moves, Zygarde forms first being introduced in Alola, etc. leads me to think the way I do.
 
I have to jump in to defend Hoenn as well. It hit a nice level of quality and quantity with the Pokemon it introduced. I have really fond feelings for the lines of Zigzagoon, Wingull, Surskit, Shroomish, Nincada, Aron, Wailmer, Trapinch, Cacnea, Lileep, Duskull, Snorunt... basically every multi-stage family introduced that gen. They're all pretty simple and memorable and identifiably Gen 3. I liked Gen 2 as well, but it was very much an extension of Gen 1, whereas in Hoenn it felt like GF hit that stride of "we can do this. We can make a lot more of these things and have them be good." I'd rank it, in terms of Pokemon introduced, somewhere up there with Gens 1 and 5. (5 might be the most underrated gen of new pokemon and I'll defend it against anything, but then again, it also has all my least favourite legendaries, and I frequently forget a few of its pokemon, like Tympole, exist.)

I can see where people might dislike the Hoenn legendaries, and for sure, 3 regis, 2 roaming flyers, a 3rd box legendary, another mew clone, and Deoxys were all a bit much. But legendary creep got WAY worse in Gens 4 and 5. And at least Gen 3's main trio were colourful and distinct from each other. Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza were all great, as fatigued as we are of them from the ORAS metagame.

As a region, Hoenn was such a breath of fresh air after the Gameboy era. It had its own concept, it was huge and varied, it introduced deserts and marshes and diving, Route 113 was breathtaking, there were cities built in trees and on rafts and in the walls of a caldera, and the surfing and trumpets all worked for me. Its tropical/seafaring vibe aligned it with that pleasant Gamecube era of Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker. I didn't play RSE until years after they were out, but it took me from thinking about Pokemon nostalgically and turned me into a lifer. I wish it had kept the day/night cycle though. Alola kind of looks like it delivers on the promise of what Hoenn could have been in 3D, if ORAS hadn't just taken a GBA grid map and transposed it into the XY engine.

Anyway my overall ranking is probably: 2 > 3 > 5 > 4 > 1 > 6. Someday I'll do a writeup of all the categories I factor into this ranking, such as Mechanics Introduced, Gym Leaders, Immersion, Battle Scene Design, Presence of Pokéathlon, etc. Gen 6 is also probably getting underrated at this point, because it made a lot of great progress, but I just can't get past how poorly balanced it was, and I think the new Experience Share basically destroys Pokemon as a game.
 
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(Note: I have not played any Gen 1-4 game, nor BW2. As for the anime, I've only seen Kanto, Unova, and Kalos. I'll only rank what I've played and watched.)
Anime:
3. Kanto: Kanto was alright, I guess. I loved Tracey, but Misty was obnoxious, and Brock was decent. Come at me, Genwunners.
2. Unova: I don't hate Unova as much as Kanto anime-wise. But everything else besides Ciley, er, Cilan and Iris were really bland.
1. Kalos: XY and XYZ were really awesome. Especially Clemont's adorableness factor. XD My one complaint is Serena. I HATE HER SO MUCH AND I WISH SHE WOULD DIE.

Games:
3. X and Y: Eh. It was decent. I liked the mechanics, which greatly improved on BW, but story-wise, X and Y were lacking. The characters had little to no development, and it felt rushed. The only good part of the story was the Looker Quest, but that was post-game.
2. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: ORAS did pretty good for a remake. More character development than X and Y, and Team Aqua and Magma were far better than Team Flare. Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza also had good stories behind them. Overall, ORAS were really fun to play.
1. Black and White: Words cannot describe how much I love these games. From the Gym Leaders, Team Plasma, the Elite Four actually being challenging (I haven't even beaten them with the rematch yet), Cheren (obviously), and real character development, Black and White are by far the most amazing games ever! Okay, maybe not that much, but I love them a lot! The only thing I don't like about them are the mechanics.
 
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I'm probably biased when I say this, but I really enjoyed Gen 5. It was the generation that got me into Pokemon in the first place, and the story and characters seriously hooked me with the rest of the series. Sure, I never got to toy with the other generation Pokemon, but it was way more exciting discovering the older Pokemon in the postgame of Black. The Pokemon in general were really...well, nice, to put it simply. Again, I miiight be biased since it was my first, but I loved it so.
 
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