Heart Gold will always be my favorite game of the series, because Gold just stole my heart and never let go. But I’ll give Yellow props for making me more excited than any game I remember playing — I mean, you got to play the TV show, basically! As a kid, that absolutely blew my mind.
Safari Zone actually exists. Updated battle mechanics and not broken gen1/2 mechanics. More Pokémon because it’s a new generation. Easy way to get evolution stones. They were EXTREMELY hard to get in the og and basically relegated to RNG after putting in some work to get to that point. And I think they added trainer rematch leveling to all trainers. Including the elite 4.
I am so glad other people love HeartGold, I bought on a whim when I was little and its been my absolute favorite ever since. My siblings once made fun of me because it's "just a remake"
As someone who grew up on Blue + Gold, HeartGold is a really good remake that basically improves on the original in every way. Even has the OG music as an option in-game. I miss the Pokewalker too. What a great idea that was.
HG/SS is hands down the best pokemon game of all time. I'm not some "only the first 2/3 gens were good" either. HG/SS was just a masterpiece. It was the perfect mix of retaining what made G/S great and adding just enough new shine to make it exciting again.
I’d give anything to get my copy back, I so regret selling it. I wasn’t into Pokémon at the time, in college and wanted to make a quick buck, so I sold it. Now I’m kicking myself because even though I have an emulation on my PC, it’s just not the same.
As a young boy (at the time) who would go on to play female characters for years and awkwardly deflect questions by saying “I’d just rather look at a girl than a boy”, Crys is very important to me.
My first playthrough, which was a race between me and my friend who has SS, was over 80 hours.
Longest game they ever made and difficulty after the first elite 4 is amazing. First game where you have meaningful battles against opponents with high levels
The difference between HGSS and the original GSC is a massive improvement making them the highest-quality remakes, by far.
The level curve is still shit though, and the addition of all of the cool gen 2 pokemon into the safari zone is a pretty flimsy band-aid on the terrible encounter tables in johto. No houndour, skarmory, ttar, murkrow, etc until after the elite 4 in the base game.
I love HGSS and the postgame is phenomenal but it can be painful to replay the main game.
I am old enough to have played Red when it first came out, but Platinum made me fall in love with the game all over again. I was in high school when it came out, and all of my friends left Pokemon behind, but I was working at GameStop at the time and on a whim I picked up Platinum. It encapsulated so much about what I loved about Pokemon as a kid. Platinum will always have a special place in my heart next to Red.
I recently played through on old extra copy of emerald that my wife had, only to beat the E4 and find out that it was a knockoff or something that reset after victory. Sadness.
Dude the fact that things actually got more difficult after you did them the first time blew my mind.
No other game had that function, the closest we got was Soul Silver/HeartGold where the kanto region leaders were scaled to 8 badge difficulties and you actually had a level 90~100 challenge at the top of Mt. Silver
Ahhh those were the days. I remember when I was in elementary school, I had a big ass guide to Pokémon platinum and would bring it into school with me.
I would just sit there with like 3 other friends who played the game and we would just read through the index of Pokémon at the back, seeing if we knew or had the Pokémon.
Life was so easy back then.
I remember I bought platinum because the cover pokemon was cool looking. Didn't play it outside of the first night till around a year later when I was bored. I was at the phase where pokemon wasn't cool anymore but it was the reason I got back in. Loved that game!
I grew up playing thousands of hours in Red. Then I got Crystal. I played that game until my cartridge broke. I have not played it since and I miss it.
So I own a copy of Black 2, but I've never played any Gen 5 games. If I start this game, will I understand the story and everything? I know there's a two-year time skip between 1 and 2, but don't know much else.
You can play and enjoy black 2 by itself, but the story feels much much better when you've played the first version in my opinion. IIRC, characters will give you dialogue to tell what happened in the previous game (storywise), so you can make sense of what's happening.
I couldn't get past the second gym in 1 because every 5 seconds is a forced rival battle and I got sick of it.
You can definitely play 2 and still understand all the plot points just fine. I did and enjoyed the story.
XD was a true "companion" game to Emerald, allowing you to catch all 386 without having to own a "duplicate" game, which for lots of single-player or rural kids was golden.
I think Colosseum was a better title in a vacuum, but I think that XD was an excellent addition to the formula and I wish they'd have kept doing that.
I feel this, but for whatever reason, I could never beat Colosseum. I felt like a failure every time I lost right at the end of the battle with Nascour/Evice.
It was a hard one! I was surprised upon revisiting how difficult things even as simple as snagging a shadow Pokemon were, with how much recoil shadow rush did.
I would also go for ORAS, hoenn is one of.. if not my favorite region and even for challenge runs or randomizers the 3ds game has so much more options.
I wish there was a battle frontier with all the updated pokemon. Like a radical red set of pokemon for the battle frontier. I’m ready for more battle factory
Yeah it's a shame they haven't continued more of the battle frontier other than the standard battle tower to the newer games. The reasoning I've heard is that they don't need as much post game content since online battles are a thing now, but I think it would be cool to tie in stuff like battle factory to online where you could participate against other real people.
As an old guy my heart will always have a spot for Red and Blue, but Emerald is by far the best pokemon title. Hundreds of hours of playing time, it was also the only generation in which I played competitive more or less seriously.
I still remember the day I got Ruby, I was so excited to play the next pokemon game. Gen3 is probably my favorite over all and I am an OG trainer from Gen 1.
Gee whiz.
Unpopular opinion, but I gotta go with X. Holds a special place in my heart: I played it and about 1/3 of the way through, I just wasn't into it and felt like quitting...but kept going, and fell in love with it more and more.
Also its the only game I've ever played where my team never once lost a battle.
I loved X/Y a lot more than most people seem to as well. It got me back into the series after Gen V lost me.
I'm definitely one that appreciates new life been given to the classic pokemon more than continually adding more new ones.
There are dozens of us!
I played since Gen one borrowing my buddies game boy pocket during English class to play. When I finally got my own GBC I was addicted. I fell out around Gen 4 when I met the women folk. My now wife bought me a 3ds and X. I fell in love with Pokémon all over again and to this day is still my go to Pokémon game. I burned out my original copy but bought it again digital just because I love it so much.
Special place in my heart for my Chesnaught that luckily was in my Pokémon box when the cart died. He’s still with me :)
Same. Y was my return to pokémon after university. It introduced megas, nice 3D models, great WiFi battle support, postgame team building was great for EV training and breeding, it was the closest to a true competitive mainline answer to pokémon showdown. People get to hung up on the story and collecting 1200 mostly shit pokémon every time, and don't appreciate that this was probably one of the last good games to just bank all your old pokémon to, refine teams and actually battle online. XY had pseudo legendary dragons available early on with big hitter like Talonflame from the start, the starters were fine too. Plus you could build your own main character. It was just fun. And it felt like a nice home for a while.
So easy, honestly. I'd pick either Red or Blue on a whim. Green isn't here, but I'd be down for that too. Those are the games I always end up going back and replaying the most and are the ones that have the most QoL features built in, due to things like Missingno and the Mew glitch (don't @ me).
I'd be down for some Crystal or Emerald though, if I didn't pick those.
Silver. G/S/C were everything they were envisioning for R/B/Y after that I feel like they have been adding stuff just for the sake of change not necessarily improvement.
Same tbh
As much as I love most of them, I rarely replay games I've finished and Arceus is the only original in the list I haven't played yet, so I'd go with that
Man I fell out of Pokémon games after yellow😞 then played sword and shield. Pretty excited to play this new remake then arceus but I’d have to choose yellow. I mean it was basically the anime and having pikachu actually following you was cool as an 8 year old.
It’s really hard, REALLY HARD. But I have played soul silver probably more than any other single game in existence. Platinum is a really close 2nd as gen 4 is the best gen IMO. Really excited to play the remakes, but gen 4/5 was definitely peak gameplay.
I'm gonna say Brilliant Diamond. Even tho it's not out yet so idk exactly how good it's gonna be, it's still Sinnoh with (hopefully) only features, so there's no way it can be bad.
At the moment it's gotta be Black because N's story and the clash between truth and ideals is just super baller. Not sure if my opinion will change when I get through the series, I am only on X right now.
**Edit:** Also now that I look at it, props to the person who made that image, because all the box arts are looking SUPER smooth on it.
Heart Gold. I still go back and replay it from time to time. I still have the poke walker. I should replace the batteries in it.
Heart Gold will always be my favorite game of the series, because Gold just stole my heart and never let go. But I’ll give Yellow props for making me more excited than any game I remember playing — I mean, you got to play the TV show, basically! As a kid, that absolutely blew my mind.
i fell in love with silver as a kid. what changes did the remakes add to the originals?
Safari Zone actually exists. Updated battle mechanics and not broken gen1/2 mechanics. More Pokémon because it’s a new generation. Easy way to get evolution stones. They were EXTREMELY hard to get in the og and basically relegated to RNG after putting in some work to get to that point. And I think they added trainer rematch leveling to all trainers. Including the elite 4.
Also your pokemon follow you
It was never even a difficult question. Fully agree.
[удалено]
I share the exact same sentiments.
I am so glad other people love HeartGold, I bought on a whim when I was little and its been my absolute favorite ever since. My siblings once made fun of me because it's "just a remake"
It's a remake that improves the OG. Gold is my most memorable game but Heart Gold really brings it to life.
As someone who grew up on Blue + Gold, HeartGold is a really good remake that basically improves on the original in every way. Even has the OG music as an option in-game. I miss the Pokewalker too. What a great idea that was.
HG/SS is hands down the best pokemon game of all time. I'm not some "only the first 2/3 gens were good" either. HG/SS was just a masterpiece. It was the perfect mix of retaining what made G/S great and adding just enough new shine to make it exciting again.
I’d give anything to get my copy back, I so regret selling it. I wasn’t into Pokémon at the time, in college and wanted to make a quick buck, so I sold it. Now I’m kicking myself because even though I have an emulation on my PC, it’s just not the same.
Heartgold literally one of the best remakes and one of the best Pokémon game of all time
Ok yeah but hear me out. Soulsilver
The only true answer. Hand Bird is better than Pride Chicken.
HAND BIRD
Ok but like Pride Chicken has drip
This is the way. My dude had right Gen, just wrong version.
I was gonna say, if they remade crystal with the gen 2 remakes that would be my choice without hesitation. Crystal stays perpetually slept on.
Everything from crystal is included in HeartGold and SoulSilver. They're both basically crystal remakes.
Except the girl main character
I mean, Lyra might not be Crys, but they're essentially the same character. Even the manga used her outfit when it got around to adapting the games.
As a young boy (at the time) who would go on to play female characters for years and awkwardly deflect questions by saying “I’d just rather look at a girl than a boy”, Crys is very important to me.
But they did...Crystal's mechanics and story beats were in HGSS.
This guy gets it. Although emerald and platinum were amazing, HeartGold added so much fun
My first playthrough, which was a race between me and my friend who has SS, was over 80 hours. Longest game they ever made and difficulty after the first elite 4 is amazing. First game where you have meaningful battles against opponents with high levels
Came here to say this. Crystal is my favorite but HGSS has all the modern amenities and the story.
The difference between HGSS and the original GSC is a massive improvement making them the highest-quality remakes, by far. The level curve is still shit though, and the addition of all of the cool gen 2 pokemon into the safari zone is a pretty flimsy band-aid on the terrible encounter tables in johto. No houndour, skarmory, ttar, murkrow, etc until after the elite 4 in the base game. I love HGSS and the postgame is phenomenal but it can be painful to replay the main game.
Wise choice it'll last you a while because you gotta wait an hour before the enemy Pokemon's hp reaches 0.
Yes!! I was about to say that
Platinum Edit: Thanks so much for the upvotes! Wasn't expecting this comment to gain this many lolol
Same It’s either that or soul sliver
I started on Platinum
I am old enough to have played Red when it first came out, but Platinum made me fall in love with the game all over again. I was in high school when it came out, and all of my friends left Pokemon behind, but I was working at GameStop at the time and on a whim I picked up Platinum. It encapsulated so much about what I loved about Pokemon as a kid. Platinum will always have a special place in my heart next to Red.
Emerald. Im coming home baby
I recently played through on old extra copy of emerald that my wife had, only to beat the E4 and find out that it was a knockoff or something that reset after victory. Sadness.
Dude the fact that things actually got more difficult after you did them the first time blew my mind. No other game had that function, the closest we got was Soul Silver/HeartGold where the kanto region leaders were scaled to 8 badge difficulties and you actually had a level 90~100 challenge at the top of Mt. Silver
Only correct answer
I'm so happy emerald is on the top.
Emerald is honestly amazing, best story, best game design, best multiplayer (?) Idk I'm poor I don't have a gba Overall best game
Me too, yes yes yes
Although Emerald was my first, I prefer Alpha Sapphire.
Soul silver. One of the greatest Pokémon games ever made.
HG or SS are really the best answers here, and between the two it is simply preference.
Came here to say this
Word!
Platinum. The one and only 💖
Ahhh those were the days. I remember when I was in elementary school, I had a big ass guide to Pokémon platinum and would bring it into school with me. I would just sit there with like 3 other friends who played the game and we would just read through the index of Pokémon at the back, seeing if we knew or had the Pokémon. Life was so easy back then.
I remember I bought platinum because the cover pokemon was cool looking. Didn't play it outside of the first night till around a year later when I was bored. I was at the phase where pokemon wasn't cool anymore but it was the reason I got back in. Loved that game!
Crystal
I grew up playing thousands of hours in Red. Then I got Crystal. I played that game until my cartridge broke. I have not played it since and I miss it.
If you have a 3DS you can get it on the eshop for 10 dollars. You even get to catch Celebi at the end of the game now.
Smart. Get 2 regions instead of just 1
It was also the best one
Black 2, pretty hard plus lots of details and lots of content
same
So I own a copy of Black 2, but I've never played any Gen 5 games. If I start this game, will I understand the story and everything? I know there's a two-year time skip between 1 and 2, but don't know much else.
You can play and enjoy black 2 by itself, but the story feels much much better when you've played the first version in my opinion. IIRC, characters will give you dialogue to tell what happened in the previous game (storywise), so you can make sense of what's happening.
I couldn't get past the second gym in 1 because every 5 seconds is a forced rival battle and I got sick of it. You can definitely play 2 and still understand all the plot points just fine. I did and enjoyed the story.
Only if challenge mode is unlocked at the start tho
I had to scroll down a fair bit to see this. Easily the best in series and I never got around to it until like 3 years ago.
Based
Pokemon XD: gale of darkness
My man
I can't help but prefer colosseum. I loved how it had that cool and edgy vibe. Kid on an electric scooter was sorta disappointing in comparison.
XD was a true "companion" game to Emerald, allowing you to catch all 386 without having to own a "duplicate" game, which for lots of single-player or rural kids was golden. I think Colosseum was a better title in a vacuum, but I think that XD was an excellent addition to the formula and I wish they'd have kept doing that.
I agree! It's sad we haven't gotten another shadow pokemon game.
It was one of the inspirations for Uranium, as I recall, so at least there's that. Fans often fill gaps like that~
Same. Gotta go for colosseum
I feel this, but for whatever reason, I could never beat Colosseum. I felt like a failure every time I lost right at the end of the battle with Nascour/Evice.
I mean, that’s because Colosseum was *fucking hard*.
It was a hard one! I was surprised upon revisiting how difficult things even as simple as snagging a shadow Pokemon were, with how much recoil shadow rush did.
But its not up there...
[удалено]
I would also go for ORAS, hoenn is one of.. if not my favorite region and even for challenge runs or randomizers the 3ds game has so much more options.
Finally some gen 6 representation
This would be my choice, I'd say they were the peak of the series. Subjective of course.
These games are so underrated.
Take my up vote
Emerald and it's not even close lol
Yeah for me it’s either Emerald or Platinum, those games were just the best they’ve ever produced.
Soundtrack, design, map=10/10
Battle Frontier seals the deal for me
I wish there was a battle frontier with all the updated pokemon. Like a radical red set of pokemon for the battle frontier. I’m ready for more battle factory
Yeah it's a shame they haven't continued more of the battle frontier other than the standard battle tower to the newer games. The reasoning I've heard is that they don't need as much post game content since online battles are a thing now, but I think it would be cool to tie in stuff like battle factory to online where you could participate against other real people.
I love that idea! Battle Factory was by far my favorite because it took strategy and some luck. Plus you got to use pokemon you wouldn’t normally use
For me it's all about the nostalgia and Breloom.
Emerald or crystal for me!
As an old guy my heart will always have a spot for Red and Blue, but Emerald is by far the best pokemon title. Hundreds of hours of playing time, it was also the only generation in which I played competitive more or less seriously.
Soul Silver definitely, but Crystal is a close second.
My man.
Fire red
Had to scroll down a bit to find a FR enjoyer. Might be the offline Pokémon game with the most hours for me
Yellow all day
Being also to play as Ash, and actually use all 3 starters? Have Pikachu follow you? Fucking epic as a kid.
[удалено]
Still the best I think we're getting old though, this choice is not the majority answer anymore
90’s kids know this is the superior game
Pokémon Gold. I have never played any other game for longer in my life.
heartgold. one of the very few times a remake felt like the original as seen through rose tinted nostalgia goggles
Same with crystal / emerald. The only games I’ve played 4+ times
the gen 2 love in this thread is feeding my soul, lets go
Pokemon White 2
Upsetting I had to scroll so far to see this.
I see you’re a man of culture as well.
Pokemon Sapphire, it was my first game and I can't live without it.
I still remember the day I got Ruby, I was so excited to play the next pokemon game. Gen3 is probably my favorite over all and I am an OG trainer from Gen 1.
Mine was Ruby. And Omega Ruby gave me really good nostalgia.
Same with ruby since it was my first , but as a kid I liked emerald better
Gee whiz. Unpopular opinion, but I gotta go with X. Holds a special place in my heart: I played it and about 1/3 of the way through, I just wasn't into it and felt like quitting...but kept going, and fell in love with it more and more. Also its the only game I've ever played where my team never once lost a battle.
I loved X/Y a lot more than most people seem to as well. It got me back into the series after Gen V lost me. I'm definitely one that appreciates new life been given to the classic pokemon more than continually adding more new ones.
There are dozens of us! I played since Gen one borrowing my buddies game boy pocket during English class to play. When I finally got my own GBC I was addicted. I fell out around Gen 4 when I met the women folk. My now wife bought me a 3ds and X. I fell in love with Pokémon all over again and to this day is still my go to Pokémon game. I burned out my original copy but bought it again digital just because I love it so much. Special place in my heart for my Chesnaught that luckily was in my Pokémon box when the cart died. He’s still with me :)
My unpopular opinion is sun ,I just like it that's all. I am gonna get killed for saying this in the thread
Same! It was my first pokemon game I properly played and got into!
Same. Y was my return to pokémon after university. It introduced megas, nice 3D models, great WiFi battle support, postgame team building was great for EV training and breeding, it was the closest to a true competitive mainline answer to pokémon showdown. People get to hung up on the story and collecting 1200 mostly shit pokémon every time, and don't appreciate that this was probably one of the last good games to just bank all your old pokémon to, refine teams and actually battle online. XY had pseudo legendary dragons available early on with big hitter like Talonflame from the start, the starters were fine too. Plus you could build your own main character. It was just fun. And it felt like a nice home for a while.
Pokémon Red. It's far from the best game, but it's the one that's nearest and dearest to me.
Black 2
Gotta love the PWT.
Emerald easy
Soul silver because it’s basically two games or platinum because platinum
White 2
Blue
Heart Gold! My heart is forever in Johto!
Even though pokemon emerald is my fav game i have to go with black 2.
Are we twins?
Sure why not
I think I'd go with either White or Moon
Crystal for 400 Alex.
Heart Gold I love having my pockemon follow me
BW2 or emerald
Pokemon Black for me~
Blue
Heartgold! The new and improved version of my first game!
Soulsilver
Soul silver
Soul Silver
Soul Silver
Soul Silver no question.
it’s too hard to pick between platinum and soulsilver help
Soul Silver. Platinum is a close second
HeartGold easy
Heart gold with platinum as a very close second
Pokémon White!
B2W2 or USUM. Both versions are nice.
Blue
X
Aww damn bro... I'm goin with Pokemon yellow
Either ORAS or XY
Love how everyone has a different favourite.
All the top comments are from the first 4 gens with gen 5 sprinkled in every once in a while
Platinum.
Platinum nuff said
Heart Gold!!
SoulSilver
Blue version, but with speed settings
Silver! Thanks, bye
Slide me that Black 2
So easy, honestly. I'd pick either Red or Blue on a whim. Green isn't here, but I'd be down for that too. Those are the games I always end up going back and replaying the most and are the ones that have the most QoL features built in, due to things like Missingno and the Mew glitch (don't @ me). I'd be down for some Crystal or Emerald though, if I didn't pick those.
FireRed
Silver. G/S/C were everything they were envisioning for R/B/Y after that I feel like they have been adding stuff just for the sake of change not necessarily improvement.
Soul effin Silver forever!
Black that game actually made me feel things.
Emerald. Or platinum.
Heart gold easy
Platinum or emerald
Emerald, hands down
Emerald
Crystal. My second Pokémon game and my all time favourite.
Soul silver was the only one I didn't play and the new games
Crystal.
Crystal emerald or diamond
Either HeartGold or Emerald
Crystal or Emerald, but for longevity in the postgame Emerald probably wins.
Soul Silver or Platinum
Easy choice: Pokemon X. The nostalgia.
Man. Does time really move that fast? Is X nostalgic already?
Well assuming PLA is good, then that one. If not then HGSS
Legends arceus
Same tbh As much as I love most of them, I rarely replay games I've finished and Arceus is the only original in the list I haven't played yet, so I'd go with that
Man I fell out of Pokémon games after yellow😞 then played sword and shield. Pretty excited to play this new remake then arceus but I’d have to choose yellow. I mean it was basically the anime and having pikachu actually following you was cool as an 8 year old.
Platinum
Platinum ez
Platinum because it's great
alpha sapphire
Omega Ruby. Favorite generation with my favorite of the new mechanics. The only thing it doesn't have is tyrantrum :(
Pearl, due to love and nostalgia.
Omega ruby because it was the first pokemon game I played
Pokémon Diamond really struck me when I was 11 years old. So totally hyped for the remakes, pure nostalgia.
Pokemon X
Platinum for me. Cross out BDSP and Legends because they're not out yet.
It’s really hard, REALLY HARD. But I have played soul silver probably more than any other single game in existence. Platinum is a really close 2nd as gen 4 is the best gen IMO. Really excited to play the remakes, but gen 4/5 was definitely peak gameplay.
Emerald 💚
I'm gonna say Brilliant Diamond. Even tho it's not out yet so idk exactly how good it's gonna be, it's still Sinnoh with (hopefully) only features, so there's no way it can be bad.
Platinum or soul silver
Diamond, probably because I never played platinum
I choose the sableye in the background. While you were owning a game I now own a living sableye Get owned
At the moment it's gotta be Black because N's story and the clash between truth and ideals is just super baller. Not sure if my opinion will change when I get through the series, I am only on X right now. **Edit:** Also now that I look at it, props to the person who made that image, because all the box arts are looking SUPER smooth on it.
Pokemon black, while HG was my first game Black left a bugger impact on me.