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Favorite and least favorite Pokémon game?
Comments
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This is one of my most agreed posts on the entire Forums.
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I’ve only played four games(so far) in Yellow, Gold, Scarlet and Z-A. If I remove my nostalgia glasses for a moment, I’d argue that Yellow is my favorite. Not that it’s the best… since Gold would probably win there if Vulpix wasn’t an exclusive on Silver… shakes fist, but that you get a mix of Anime + Generation 1. Instead of starting with a Kanto starter, you get Pikachu and get all three Kanto starters not far into the game(Bulbasaur can be obtained prior to Misty’s Gym, ditto Charmander if you do Nugget Bridge first while Squirtle requires Thunderbadge).
Least favorite would probably be Z-A. The game had no villain or antagonist to speak of, even though Corbeau or Jacinthe were tailor made for it(was kind of hoping it was Jacinthe too… would have made it so much sweeter to put her in her place and survive her psychopathic retaliation). Scarlet was an honorable mention on the least liked because the misunderstood streak that Z-A used is just not fulfilling for veteran players who can recall the likes of Giovanni, Cyrus, N, or Ghetsis. Even the rogue AI felt underwhelming.
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So you don’t like Za because there’s no villain, that’s one of the reasons I like it
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Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket, a criminal Enterprise that had corrupted the Kanto region by getting multiple Gym Leaders under their sway of influence. The games don’t portray this but if you read the manga, then the story becomes quite clear. This permitted them to operate in plain sight without the authorities interfering with their operations. Ultimately, their goal was complete control of the region and perhaps the world. Then you come into the picture because your objective is to enter the Pokémon League, become the number one Trainer and complete the Pokédex. Only you can’t do that because Team Rocket is trying to take over Saffron City and is blocking your way into the Gym(Sabrina being one of the Gym Leaders under their sway). So you must battle your way through a gauntlet to get to the main Boss(Giovanni) in order to stop them. Even your rival notes that Team Rocket was slowing you down and decided to see how you were coming along with a rival fight. The previous encounters was just you stumbling across their various operations(Mount Moon, Celadon City, Pokémon Tower). Then you run into Giovanni again because he’s also a Gym Leader and the strongest one at that for a final showdown to enter the League. Then you win the game by defeating the Elite 4 + rival.
It’s not the perfect story but it’s better than Z-A’s since there’s no antagonist character or face to attribute to it. Even though I’m not a fan of rogue AI or obsessive scientists that end up dying by their own hands, it at least had some sort of “boss” fight. Z-A didn’t really have that other than “Rogue” Pokémon with inflated stats(Mega Evolution on steroids) affected by a device that a 3k year old man had built and didn’t have the decency to die by it(dies in the end but I feel if you are truly repentant that you be willing to die for your sins/mistakes like the Scientist in SV). Also the game didn’t have abilities… that’s kind of a big turnoff when it’s been around since Generation III and would have made certain Pokémon fights truly difficult(Canari being a big one with her Ace unless you got a Mold Breaker Excadrill). If I had played Let’s GO Pikachu/Eevee, I’d have the same criticism for it along with them removing the one thing that made Gen 1 good: it’s rival(Trace is an abomination).
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Yeah them removing abilities in let’s go, LA and LZA are really dumb, Tynamo has weaknesses now 😭
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