With the upcoming releases of Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, the first pair of Pokemon RPGs for the Nintendo DS, I've decided to take a look at the generations of the franchise.
First off, something about myself. Pokemon is my favorite Nintendo franchise. Pokemon Red was the first Nintendo game I've ever seen. Pokemon Blue was the first Nintendo game I've ever owned, and the first game I've ever bought. The charm with Pokemon is, especially to a young four-year-old me, it is a complicated system of levels and experience all wrapped up with a simple, easy to understand, goal. Simple battle mechanics. Simple graphics. Simple moves. Simplicity at it's best.
The first generation of Pokemon, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue (Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green in Japan) for the Gameboy, was the start of Pokemon. I had Pokemon Blue. In all, this is my second favorite Pokemon game. It was unlike any other game I'd played before. It had an understandable storyline with an easy fight-and-catch system. I spent hours playing this game, then restarted it, then whittle away more hours exploring Kanto.
When Pokemon Stadium was released, a few months before Pokemon Gold and Silver, I thought there was a future for Pokemon games on consoles. Sure it was just a spin-off, but the possibilities were endless. Better graphics, bigger map, more items, were just some of the things that were possible for an actual Pokemon console game. Maybe there will be one someday.
The second generation of Pokemon, Pokemon Gold and Silver for the Gameboy Color, introduced 100 new Pokemon, a whole new region to explore,(Johto) new items, a new character, advanced graphics, day, morning, evening, and night phases,(each with different Pokemon) Pokemon eggs from the daycare, genders, rematches with trainers, and a second map that showed Kanto three years after Blue and Red. That really got me excited. And, for all reasons just mentioned, Pokemon Gold became my favorite Pokemon game so far.
In all fairness, I hardly ever mention Pokemon when I list my top few games. I should, but it always slips my mind. I always took Pokemon for granted. Well, if I were to place it right now, Pokemon Gold would knock Superstar Saga from my number two spot.
Third Generation: The Gameboy Advance. These two games, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, really were the most interesting games I've ever played. They strayed very far from their predecessors. There was no mention of the Kanto region,(well maybe an easter egg or two) or it's storyline. There was no change in time, it was always day. This was dissapointing, I thought it would be a mainstay for Pokemon games. They had loads of new Pokemon and most of the original ones. It did introduce some key new concepts, though. Reflections in water, weather, contests, two kinds of bikes, and a save-the-world storyline. I can rant on about this game being different from the rest, but I'll spare you the trouble or reading.
I never even looked twice at Pokemon Colosseum. My dreams of a classic Pokemon RPG on a home console were shattered. Sangging other trainer's Pokemon? No wild battles? Unbelievable. It went against what I thought Pokemon was.
But this is a suprise, many people consider Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed the second half of the Gameboy Advance generation. I always considered them their own generation, though. Oh well. These two are remakes of the original Blue and Red games. Once again, I need to mention that they still didn't bring back the night-and-day system. This pair of games, however, introduced a Help system, which I found might be very useful for showing new Pokefans the ropes. What's this? Why did I buy one of these games if they're just revamped Blues and Reds? Well, these two had ALL 386 POKEMON from previous games. Also, they had the Sevii Islands, seven new places for the protagonist to explore.
In between generations there are always Pokemon spin-offs, many of which I haven't mentioned. Pokemon Pinball, as an example, was for the Gameboy Color and featured two pinball fields where players tried to collect all 150 Pokemon. The most successful spin-off that I know of is Pokemon XD. Coming out a year after LeafGreen/FireRed, this game showed off a "shadow" theme: Shadow Pokemon, Shadow moves, a snazzy Shadow Lugia on the front. The thing I liked about this game that drew me to it? You could catch wild Pokemon. Snagging? It was still there. Oh well.
Now we've arrived at the fourth generation of Pokemon. With the upcoming release of Diamond and Pearl in North America, let's all hope these games measure up to their predecessors.
First off, something about myself. Pokemon is my favorite Nintendo franchise. Pokemon Red was the first Nintendo game I've ever seen. Pokemon Blue was the first Nintendo game I've ever owned, and the first game I've ever bought. The charm with Pokemon is, especially to a young four-year-old me, it is a complicated system of levels and experience all wrapped up with a simple, easy to understand, goal. Simple battle mechanics. Simple graphics. Simple moves. Simplicity at it's best.
The first generation of Pokemon, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue (Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green in Japan) for the Gameboy, was the start of Pokemon. I had Pokemon Blue. In all, this is my second favorite Pokemon game. It was unlike any other game I'd played before. It had an understandable storyline with an easy fight-and-catch system. I spent hours playing this game, then restarted it, then whittle away more hours exploring Kanto.
When Pokemon Stadium was released, a few months before Pokemon Gold and Silver, I thought there was a future for Pokemon games on consoles. Sure it was just a spin-off, but the possibilities were endless. Better graphics, bigger map, more items, were just some of the things that were possible for an actual Pokemon console game. Maybe there will be one someday.
The second generation of Pokemon, Pokemon Gold and Silver for the Gameboy Color, introduced 100 new Pokemon, a whole new region to explore,(Johto) new items, a new character, advanced graphics, day, morning, evening, and night phases,(each with different Pokemon) Pokemon eggs from the daycare, genders, rematches with trainers, and a second map that showed Kanto three years after Blue and Red. That really got me excited. And, for all reasons just mentioned, Pokemon Gold became my favorite Pokemon game so far.
In all fairness, I hardly ever mention Pokemon when I list my top few games. I should, but it always slips my mind. I always took Pokemon for granted. Well, if I were to place it right now, Pokemon Gold would knock Superstar Saga from my number two spot.
Third Generation: The Gameboy Advance. These two games, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, really were the most interesting games I've ever played. They strayed very far from their predecessors. There was no mention of the Kanto region,(well maybe an easter egg or two) or it's storyline. There was no change in time, it was always day. This was dissapointing, I thought it would be a mainstay for Pokemon games. They had loads of new Pokemon and most of the original ones. It did introduce some key new concepts, though. Reflections in water, weather, contests, two kinds of bikes, and a save-the-world storyline. I can rant on about this game being different from the rest, but I'll spare you the trouble or reading.
I never even looked twice at Pokemon Colosseum. My dreams of a classic Pokemon RPG on a home console were shattered. Sangging other trainer's Pokemon? No wild battles? Unbelievable. It went against what I thought Pokemon was.
But this is a suprise, many people consider Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed the second half of the Gameboy Advance generation. I always considered them their own generation, though. Oh well. These two are remakes of the original Blue and Red games. Once again, I need to mention that they still didn't bring back the night-and-day system. This pair of games, however, introduced a Help system, which I found might be very useful for showing new Pokefans the ropes. What's this? Why did I buy one of these games if they're just revamped Blues and Reds? Well, these two had ALL 386 POKEMON from previous games. Also, they had the Sevii Islands, seven new places for the protagonist to explore.
In between generations there are always Pokemon spin-offs, many of which I haven't mentioned. Pokemon Pinball, as an example, was for the Gameboy Color and featured two pinball fields where players tried to collect all 150 Pokemon. The most successful spin-off that I know of is Pokemon XD. Coming out a year after LeafGreen/FireRed, this game showed off a "shadow" theme: Shadow Pokemon, Shadow moves, a snazzy Shadow Lugia on the front. The thing I liked about this game that drew me to it? You could catch wild Pokemon. Snagging? It was still there. Oh well.
Now we've arrived at the fourth generation of Pokemon. With the upcoming release of Diamond and Pearl in North America, let's all hope these games measure up to their predecessors.