Best generation of Pokémon?

I still play pokémon now and get every new game they release. Gen 2 (Crystal) is my favourite gen and game, of course it's extra awesome that it includes gen 1 but 3 years as well with great changes and additions, the fact you can battle the old gym leaders and see what's different with my favourite pokémon being introduced here too. Gen 3 i hated and it nearly made me stop playing altogether, just didn't like it, gen 4 wasn't too bad though annoying at points, gen 5 was very different and i loved it, my second favourite gen definitely =] plus their new counterparts are great, i enjoy that it continues and you can explore the old places, was hoping they'd do that again!

151 or bust

Which one was silver is that gen 2? I picked gen 2, but the first is good also. After the first two the pokemon just got really weird.

I stopped watching the show, playing the games, and collecting the cards as soon as they announced gen 2. Gen 1 is like the original Star Wars trilogy or the first Matrix movie -- nothing that came after even exists in my mind.

One. Its not just nostalgia, I really think they nailed all the obvious animal archetypes in the first game. Thats what makes them more memorable. Its also the only generation I can remember the names of every Pokemon. I doubt I could name more than ten gen 2 Pokemon and I played the hell out of Gold.

I think your first gen will be your favorite. Mine is Gen 1.

First is the best, second I could learn to live with.

Star Wars is way better.

Gold/ Silver

You could go Back to the first region and get 8 MORE BADGES. FACT.

AWESOME.

Gen 2 has the best pokemon. You can actually make a team that doesn't involve Allakazahm or Mewtwo.

Gen 1 teams were so boring, and grinding was a god damn pain.

I'm nostalgic for Gen 1 of course but nostalgia doesn't make mechanics, that were improved vastly in another installment, not suck.

Hey, people who hold the original 151 on a pedestal:

Gen 1 had just as many awful/stupid designs as the later generations. There's too much blind nostalgia for the originals (and Gen 2, to a less extent) for any discussion like this to be at all worthwhile.

I've played at least one game from every generation. Red/Blue is still my favorite though. I really liked Piplup so which ever generation he is from is pretty cool too. They all just kind of blend together to me after the original though.

@Canteu said:

Gen 2 has the best pokemon. You can actually make a team that doesn't involve Allakazahm or Mewtwo.

Gen 1 teams were so boring, and grinding was a god damn pain.

I'm nostalgic for Gen 1 of course but nostalgia doesn't make mechanics, that were improved vastly in another installment, not suck.

Did you mean wrap? That was a pain in the backside -_-

@xCompanionxCubex: I mean a lot of things about gen 1 were shoddy at best. Including the fact psychic had no weaknesses until gen 2.

I'm guessing this varies for most people based upon which generation was their first, or which generation contained their favorite Pokemon (unless we're talking about the games themselves, because Gold or Heart Gold was my favorite)...so of course it would be the first generation for me, although the following generation...*puts on sunglasses* is a close second.

This is a really tough decision for me. But Gen 2 takes it for me. It set expectations of the series that have never been matched except for HG/SS. It gave us a second region and a new type which no other gen has done. It also gave us the Day/Night cycle which a lot of games after it still did not have. Also is gave us Totodile, the best pokemon.

Gen 5 ties with Gen 1 for second with me. Gen 5 has given the most improvements since Gen 2. It attempted to add some interesting story to the games, gave us infinite use TMs, sped up battle, and only having Gen 5 Pokemon until the end game of BW was brilliant. Gen 1 on the other has the best region, gym leaders, Elite Four, and overall Pokemon designs.

So my list is like this 2 > 1 = 5 > 4 > > 3. Gen 3 is pure garbage and anyone who says otherwise is bad person.

the original 151

Gen 1 easily. Gen 2 close second because Silver is the best pokemon game but Gen 1 is just so iconic now.

G1. Da real pocket monsters.

Generation 1, though 2 was great too.

Gen 1 is classic of course but Gen 2 and Gen 3 are my favorites. Especially Gen 3. I spent most of my time in that one. I think since then the quality of Pokémon has slowly been decreasing.

Whichever one had the transvestite mimes.

The first one you play.

@UitDeToekomst said:

whichever one it was that fought in WWII.

Goddamnit I was gonna make that joke. Well, I'm glad someone got it in there somewhere. Saves me from having to hastily MS paint some 101st airborne helmets onto pokemon.

Gen 2 was a great improvement over Gen 1 but the 151 is will forever be the best.

Generation 2, the last real generation of Pokemon.

Everything after was a bad sequel that only got worse the longer the series dragged out. Still played them and liked them, but it wasn't quite Pokemon.

Which generation has Koffing? That's your answer.

Gen 1, but not because the pokemon designs were better (they weren't)

Mainly because the whole "Catch 'em All" tagline was actually a reasonable goal. There was only one Pokemon you needed to get from an event, only two games you needed to keep track of. If you needed a break from training your team of superstars, you had something else to do instead. Even though later generations try to have rewards for completing the "national dex", it never really felt like the same goal since I knew there were still more dudes I had to catch.

Gen 2 I still really liked, just never caught 'em all. Gen 3 took the series in a new direction, but I was okay with it. Gen 4 I got into competitively for a while, but otherwise was kind of meh. Then for Gen 5... I really thought I'd enjoy it so I bought Black on day one, but idk. Just didn't really work for me and I'm not sure why.

The first was the best. the second was alright, everything else was just overkill. The cool thing about the original 151 was that collecting them all was a daunting but feasible task. 1,000 + (or whatever number they have now) is more then I care to collect. 
 
edit: holy shit the dude above me said the same thing with nicer words. great minds think alike!

Gen 2 is categorically better, because they also let you play through (most of) Gen 1, with some neat environmental changes that both played on your Gen 1 nostalgia and made you think "hey, that's neat."
 
I really like Gen 3 as well, because it also made some huge changes to the way the game played.
 
I haven't played enough Gen 4 or 5 to pass any judgement on them.

Gen 6 is the greatest. Gen 6 will explain that Ditto was not a failed experiment but that all Pokemon come from Ditto and when they die they liquefy into Ditto. And then Ditto solidifies into an egg turning into whatever Pokemon it feels like or whatever Ditto mated with when it transformed to or turns into new Pokemon resulting in a new generation. As my fellow Dr. Spruce and myself, Dr. Pine, have discussed in great lengths, this theory is known as the Dittonic Theory or the Prime Ditto Theory.

On a less crazy note, Gen 2 was the best and the greatest. I mean 2 out of the 3 starters were pretty bad ass looking, Cyndaquil and Totodile evolving into Typhlosion and Feraligatr. Besides the Gen 1 pokemon, featured some of the coolest pokemon designs, in my opinion of course. Also I dislike Gen 3 and the others after that, because Mudkip exists. Fuck Mudkip.

I think they all have their highs and lows. Generation 1 was really solid, but I think people kind of hold it on a pedestal, not all 151 are so great, just look at Jynx, Voltorb, Mr. Mime, Farfetch'd, and Goldeen, they're just as bad as any of the stuff they they came up with later. Generation 2 had a few cool ones but I think baby pokemon are fucking stupid so that's a major mark against it. 3 was awesome, there were a couple stinkers (twin pokemon like the plusle and volbeat things), but generally I really liked this generation. 4 sucked, there wasn't a whole lot of imagination going on there, and there was too much of a focus on legendaries, the only one from that generation I really liked was Toxicroak. 5 is better than people give it credit for, fuck everyone I think Garbodor is sweet! 1>3>2=5>4

So yeah it's still the original 151 for me, but not by as wide of a margin as everybody else.

There haven't been any major improvements since 3rd.

The only good thing added after that was infinite TMs.

@msavo said:

Generation 2. They made vast improvements on the core formula, they added Pokemon that were still somewhat clever and creative, you could choose gender, systems like eggs and berries were introduced along with multiple Pokeballs, you got to face 16 Gym leaders and face the main character from the first generation game!! That last fight is still epic in my eyes.

Yup. Two was such a step up from the first generation, and the biggest evolution of the game ever made until the latest generation.

Gen 1. It's what I grew up with. While I am playing through Pearl right now, I'll take Pickachu, Koffing and Sandshrew (motherfucking Sandshrew of all things) over Bidoof. The fucks a Bidoof?!

Well, I grew up with Gen 1 to 3, but recently I've gotten back into the games and I've got to say I really like a lot of what they've done with Gen 5. Moving to a setting outside of Japan makes it all feel fairly fresh again and the decision to not include Pokémon from previous generations in Black/White brought back the same sense of discovery I felt playing the originals.

Anyway, as you can probably guess from my avatar I've still got a soft spot for Gen 1, but the latest games are definitely some of my favourites.

Generation 2, the last real Pokemon generation.

Generation 1.

Why not Gen. III? Remember these guys?

1. BLAZIKEN

2. MILOTIC

First or Second generation for me, I've liked most of them but it is a downward spiral every time. I'm worried what kind of madness we will see in the new gen.

I'm not qualified to say anything in this debate other that Gen. 4 was so bad that I quit the franchise. My favorite is Gen. 2, but I think it may be a function of my age, as I was too young to really appreciate Gen 1. Other than Glitches, I get a really creepy Missingno with my name, and some jerk on the playground told me how to do it, so my main memory of that game is sheer terror.

Gen 2 no question

Gen 1, easily.

Gen 1.

@blu3v3nom07 said:

Generation 1.

I can only thank Giantbomb for making me think that looks like a demonic Ryan Davis.

Gen 1 and 2 are the best. Pokemon Silver was absolutely amazing and the original Pokemon are irreplaceable.

Nostalgia is making a lot of people forget that Gen 1 had some real dud Pokemon that people hated way back in the day. Honestly, Gen 1, 2 & 3 all have as many great pokemon as they do bad ones where 4 has slightly more bad than good and 5 is just a straight up pallet swap of the original 151.

Gen 3 is my favoutire overall. Blaziken, Flygon, Miltoic, Latios and Latias, Zangoose are just a few that immediately spring to mind as Pokemon that more than hold their own against the originals.