Gen 2, Crystal. Was my favourite. I found the character selection and graphical upgrade was really nice. Gen 2 includes the previous game world. Collecting all the badges again was special.

But I played Gen 1, Blue the most. The missingno trick was a bunch of fun and it was my first gameboy game.

Edit: my friend said Soul Silver is peak and sun/moon is a close 2nd place.

My nostalgia goggles tinting things a bit here, but Gen 2 (GSC) felt like such a jump in quality compared to RBY; especially Crystal.

• Moved to full color
• Animated sprites
• Character selection
• RTC & the day-night cycle
• Both regions & 16 badges
• QOL mechanics (hold items, eggs/breeding, A to use HM, rematches, Mom bank, Move Deleter)
• Dark & Steel type additions

Johto gets a lot of flak for the level curve, but the game just felt so big at the time, seems like that should count for something. Also I just like its vibe.

I don’t think any other gens have felt like such a complete step up compared to previous ones for me. B&W came closest, probably, was bummed they didn’t keep seasons. Made the world feel more dynamic. The 3D stuff is fine, just feels more wooden. They lost a lot of the charm moving away from pixel art.

Gen 1 is the only gen. The rest are bullshit. Get off my lawn

The OG 150, with special shout out to the weed smoking cat from one of the newer gens.

Gen 4 or Gen 5. so much post-elite-4 content, and it’s not just “grind this arena endlessly” post-game content. Actual adventures in the case of the Gen 2 remakes and Gen 5.

Gen 3 holds a special place in my heart (Emerald was my first pokemon game) but the creature comforts of gameplay in 4 and 5 hold up a lot better

I enjoyed the gen4 remake for switch but it seriously lacked the amount of content in Platinum. They had a chance to greatly expand the distortion world and just… skipped it entirely instead.