As a dad looking to bring his kid into the game for the first time, I got more out of it, and far more playtime, than I've gotten since maybe Ruby? These games suffered from bad mechanics within their own games, overly linear design compared to the rest of the series, and perhaps the biggest examples of games that lacked beloved features their immediate predecessor had. So is it true that you guys have pages just to generate more ad revenue? The bias is real palpable. I really don't agree with this list. I would put Pokemon Go at the top of the list. There's so much to discover when you don't play every entry as soon as it's out, specially after 3 generations. Little did I know that the actual world would form the backdrop of that MMO and I’d be meeting those new friends in real life places exploring all sorts of parts of my local city. And I'd say XY and Sun/Moon as well. The one thing I don't get why Platinum and Emerald are so much above the originals, while Yellow, Crystal, and Ultra are lower than the ones they build upon.I understand if you rank all of them lower, because sure, they didn't bring as many new things to the table, and I understand if you rank them all higher, because they are all technically the best version of those games, but ranking some higher and some lower just doesn't make any sense to me. Blue/Red was just it for me as a kid. Diamond and Pearl are at the bottom, but Platinum, which is essentially the same game, is right near the top. haha! Sure, there used to be a divide between the second and third generations, but that was a technical issue, and doesn't even exist any more now that the first two generations are available on virtual console. Ruby and Sapphire aren't far behind too. XD, How was this list made is beyond me. UNlike some on here, I tend to find something good in every Pokémon mainline game (though I admit to not having played the Ultra games or even Pokémon Crystal). Well in any case, as much as IGN gets derided for that comment, that is a legitimate complaint of those games, as well as E and OR/AS. (gen 8 please surprise me hahaha) I also sincerely hope that they will make a gen IV remake, because I love the pokemon designs and my favorite starter, Piplup, is there! This isn't people arbitrarily bitching about swords in a certain fighting game. I agree with most of this list (other than a couple of personal revisions; plus I haven't played Ultra Sun/Moon yet), but putting D/P at the very bottom? I truly don’t know which is the best (because they’re all good), but if I had to choose it would be BW 1+2 due to it having the best story and very interesting characters (N is still the most memorable character in the past 3 gens... besides maybe Iris and Cilan). Hi,I have created this nice poll to get the thought of the world on this same question:https://pobll.com/poll/what-is-the-best-pokemon-game-ever-released-94/. "and both the visuals and audio weren't particularly well-received" By who ? And yes, Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! I wish these opinion ranking articles would just end already... all you guys ever pick as best are the old games bc you’re... old. Black and White should be near the top, imo. Yeah.... No. It's also likely that a few of the quality of life features will make it into future games too, like catch combos, being able to see the Pokémon you can catch, and perhaps some form of motion controls. Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon 5 Salamence Salamence, known in Japan as Bohmander, is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise.. People, people, I will admit that Salamence (non-mega) is not that great, but since ORAS, smogon rated it in their viability rankings as best mega Pokemon in ubers! I loved the pixel art style of B/W. To be clear, this is just the mainline entries – the games that introduced a new generation of Pokémon to the mix, their sequels, and the ultimate versions of those games. Effect Generation V. Fire Pledge inflicts damage.It has a regular power of 50.. I absolutely adore the art style, Mega Evolution, fairy type, really fricking cool legendaries and mythicals, and above all, Greninja.Also, Mega Charizard X. Never mind then. Maybe I will like it more if I play it again, when I get Y version, since I have X. Platinum fixed the pacing, game speed (specifically while surfing, but also sped up many battle animations), bad Pokedex (basically no fire or electric types among other issues), story, added the battle frontier and much more post-game content, the distortion world, the villa, added recording battles, rematching allies, gym leaders, your rival and several other trainers, the whole Looker/Charon storyline, added animation, updated every area in the game to look better, upgraded your menus to look unique based on areas and fixed the Poketch. @Blizzia same here. It got me into it, so it'll always have a place in my heart. Hail Lord Giratina. Pokemon Red,Blue,Yellow,Green, Fire red, Leaf Green I'm most drawn to the GBA games due to the visual style, but still being in full 2D. It has changing nests, large meet-ups and the friendliest player base of any video game. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are literally the worst. Pokemon Sun/Moon was the lowpoint of the series for me. If SwSh ends up near the bottom because of the god d~~m Pokédex cut, I swear! I can only list them in the order they are released but it is nice to see the reasoning of other people why they love some Pokemon games more than others. Now this list does have issues with ranking Ultra S/M and Yellow below their original versions, but there are legitimate reasons why those enhanced versions are ranked so much higher than their basic editions. @graysoncharles Admittedly, I pulled the LoZ comparation because it was the first thing that came to mind. I keep thinking the next game is gonna be "THE ONE" but than I'm always disappointed. If the best camera you have is the one that’s with you, then the best Pokemon game is the one you have with you at all times as well. You cannot seriously rank games that haven't even been released yet, or have yet to make their impact on the series. The big thing off the top that I disagree with is D/P being on the bottom, I never played Platinum, but Diamond was awesome. So far it all sounds pretty positive, so why does it sit at the bottom of this list? Sides, this is justifiable whining like the whole playing with friends debacle with Mario maker. Pokemon Black and White I started on Diamond. So, read on for where each of the mainline Pokémon games sit in our ranked order, from the less good to the very best of the best. I do like the addition of mega evolutions in Let's Go though, so some of the new things made it over, but indeed, many of them were lost. Pokémon XY comes in a close second, and Pokémon Crystal has the third place with Pokémon Red closely behind. inb4 they update this article with Sword/Shield in first place and generate a bucketload of controversy in the process. The Pokemon Ultra Shiny Gold Sigma by Zel and Alex is finally released and now includes lots of new features, some changes, bug fixes, and improvements from the previous version. Sure your character's involvement in the story is quite minimal compared to some of the other Pokemon games, but on top of having basically just as much story with the villains as most other games do, it also adds quite a lot to the overall lore and world building of the main series Pokemon games too. Heart Gold and Soul Silver at #1 is correct. The championship battle was epic. GBA Rom/CIA Rom: Download Pokemon Glowing Garnet v8.0r4 1/100 Shiny Rate Completed by ecnoid. Now that I'm older I realise that they definitely noticed, but let me do it for a bit because I didn't really cause any big trouble and if I played too long they would just ask if I was awake and that would make me turn off the gameboy immediately and go to sleep so that they "wouldn't notice" that I had played games after bedtime. Come on, of course Platinum is way better, but it doesn't explain why Diamond and Pearl are that low, all the complaints made about those are still valid about Platinum. Kinda. X and Y have a special place in my heart because it got me back to playing Pokémon after being in school for many years. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, Omega Ruby, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald I would wish there would come a pokemon game in which you could travel all the regions! Well, the general gameplay flow wasn't really changed all that much from its predecessors, and both the visuals and audio were a little disappointing at the time. Gold bottle caps and easier BP with surfing (usum) to make your pokemon's stats better. I see that you've forgotten how Gamefreak tanked performance of 3DS games because they have used futureproofed models instead of something actually designed for the system. I felt that FireRed/LeafGreen were much better remakes. I fully agree with the top two, though we are doomed if Pokemon Sword and Shield are worse than Sun and Moon. An original GBA, a pile of batteries and a worm light is a great team when the power is out. If Platinum was the biggest step up for an enhanced edition over its predecessors, then Emerald was the second best step up. The graphical improvements are numerous as well, along with all the improvements to Wi-Fi which are unfortunately inaccessible today (though connecting to an unofficial server is trivial, the game requires a low-security network). Which you apparently can't do any more in Sword and Shield. Theres no way Lets Go should be on this list. FireRed and Ruby are my favourites but that's just me I guess. There's nothing about G/S that's better than Crystal. I'll look back at old games with rose-colored glasses, sure, but I don't let that cloud my judgement. 10: XD: Gale of Darkness All the 3DS games looked like a beta version, it's like they never really completed them, only the Ultras where somehow a complete version of all the 3DS games.. @Krisi really? This list is absolute nonsense. Hosted by 44 Bytes. Platinum also improves the pacing of the game from a story standpoint, not just mechanically. Cystral is described as the ultimate version of Gold and Silver and yet is placed lower than those games. @BulbasaurusRex *4th water based TM. Pokemon Let's Go and Ultra Sun and Moon deserve to be at the absolute bottom. To make a long story short, mainline would imply they are new entries in the RPGs. Having the route 1 bug not be able to fully evolve until the end of the game is dumb. And Ultra games for me are at the very bottom. I heard that just throwing money at the problem wouldn't solve the issue, but I disagree, this is exactly the kind of issue that gets resolved with resources and timely management. This Pokemon is getting nothing in return for the compromises that were made, and the game is 60 bucks to boot. There was one part in the last island where a guy talks to his Pelliper and he is asking it questions and it's acting all nonchalant and pretending to ignore him. Crystal lost a lot of it's unique features to HG/SS. Restored Images Show Nintendo's Headquarters As They Exis... Konami's Next Yu-Gi-Oh! Why are we bringing this up again? New Pokemon that require leveling up at a certain location are also a thing (who liked this mechanic, ever?). (also have a ton of end game content so you can catch everything up to the X/Y generation). I'm actually pretty sure the only quote I read about this matter from Masuda is that they DO consider it core Pokémon games, but I still think they are separate. Wow I came here so sure that HGSS wasn't in its rightful place at the very top, but look at that! It should also be dead last by a mile. It's still very fun! Would've hoped for a bit more depth to this article. Should be much higher. These lists are subjective. @NintendoKnight I totally agree. At least HG/SS get their due respect, but I would personally put gen 5 at the top. The game loosely follows the adventures of Ash Ketchum throughout his journey in the anime, all in the style of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Versions. Also has the least content of any Pokemon game, not its fault but true. But that might just be nostalgia talking for the original games. But many of them are optional and can be dabbled in at your leisure. the only one i haven't finished for a while done Y,Moon and Sapphire 3ds ones. @HollowGrapeJ I think the XY legendaries are my favourites! Mainly because of how good the previous games were. I too wonder whether or not these games will share any connectivity with future games or what the status of the 3DS games and Pokémon Bank means for this series' jump to the Switch. Ultra Sun is much harder than Sun/Moon near the end it is really hard Shout out to Pokemon Snap. 2nd is Alpha Sapphire, then Red and/or Yellow. and Trading Card Game. Another Saturday, another ranking list. I guess I’ll be seeing y’all here again when gen 8 comes out and the inevitable 4 remakes... End rant. Really hard for me to rank all the Pokemon games because I like them all, and there's so many things I like here and there about each. If let's go is on the list then go, xd, collusem and the ranger games should also be on the list as go and let's go are part of the go series and xd, collusem and the ranger games are also connected to the main series in the same right that tourchwood is connected to doctor who or how ncis is connected to jag. SSHG and platinum tie for me but platinum is slightly better imo. Mistake corrected, for accuracy's sake... putting 5th gen games above 3rd gen games. Not mentioning the Battle Frontier in Emerald's description is an abomination! The Battle Agency and secretly locking certain Battle Tree characters to certain versions are probably what annoy me most about Gen 7. Personally I’d have a tough decision on which would be first, between Black/White and HeartGold/SoulSilver. I cant see how its left off if lets go is here. You never did at all actually. Satoru Iwata knows how to work the gaming magic and these two games are proof of that. Its judging criteria isn't expansive enough and is in need of a rewrite to better facilitate how big this series si. The rival did suck, as much as they tried to make him likeable. I’d put Let’s Go! At least other soul less big Buster's in the industry like call of duty make an effort to look pretty, game freak can't even be bothered to do that much. At least Platinum is high enough. My very first own Pokemon game was Leaf Green, the Nintendo DS Lite had just been released and I was just 10 dollars short of buying the DS as my first console so I ended up buying a pink GBA SP AGS 101 along with Catz. I heard the rumor that the reason that they are having trouble with the models is because of the...gainaxing/giga something, if this is true, then they really are just incompetent, imagine compromising the core selling point of your franchise for a meaningless gimmick that no one even likes. B/W are the best games in the series I've played by a long shot, between the fresh, almost full on rebooted vibe of the game, surprisingly realistic characters, and the more involved, JRPG-esque way the story unfolds. The Pokémon series lost me when entering the DS/3DS era, though I played most of the ones released on those platforms. Sides, they were the ones that made em lazy in the first place. It along with Emerald and Black/White 2 are the "improved versions" that made the most of those improvements. @StephanDLW @Aloy I think they ranked it a lot around what these games added to the series or rather what unique features they still have after 20 years. @Darthroseman No HMs was the ONLY major improvement made in Sun/Moon. I'd rank it higher than it is here, largely because I'm reviewing it from the perspective of the demographic these games are made for. @ThanosReXXX We live in the age of smartphones, with autocorrects and stuff: mistakes happen! Where does Pokémon Sword and Shield rank? Because TONS of the mechanics from Gens 1 and 2 (originals, not counting remakes) are deeply flawed and just break the game so many years later, not to mention that SPECIAL was still not divided properly into both, Atk and Def, which made special based pokemon like Mewtwo and Alakazam virtually unstoppable.Nostalgia glasses are a wonderful thing to have, but nostalgia aside, gens 4 and 5 were the best of the best. Crystal IF I were to really breakdown all the games and rank them, Diamond would be near the top. I can use your exact words for wrestling as well. I bought a GameBoy Color just so I could get Pokémon. While i agree with your choice for number 1 SS and HG are amazing. Not only did they innovate even further what we had experienced before, but they perfected what came before, hands Effing down.Best will always be: HG and SS, Platinum and Black/White 2. Having every single region is pretty much impossible though, sadly. I agree with Platinum being ranked higher, but D/P deserves to at least be ranked over X/Y and the original Ruby/Sapphire in my book. All I got to say is Gen 4 is and always will be my favorite. Also, each game on this list only has about two sentences that just state the game's features and don't at all defend its ranking. @Kirby_Girl this is me exactly. The music was fantastic and the story was great. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were the first entries in the franchise to grace the Game Boy Advance, and introduced double battles, allowing each trainer in a battle to fight with two Pokémon, and multi battles, which saw two teams of two trainers battle each other. Prepare for an ultra Pokemon Game Boy Advance gaming experience, introducing an improved version of Pokemon Shiny Gold Sigma. I ain't the best, but it's absolutely not the worst. While Let's Go is a remake of a game I played through a zillion times, some of that handholding I think the newer games has a bit much of (Can we please just have a veteran mode to select at the start? Platinum near the top of the list while Diamond and Pearl are at the bottom, despite being basically the same game? Heck, there are even some non-mainline games that are compatible with the core series, like Colosseum and XD, where you can trade and battle between them. Added many great new things. Im not saying im not enyoying it but its just not a main series pokemon game. I really don't get what the big deal about it is but almost everyone seems to think of it as a gamechanger when it's really not. Would you really go back and play SUMO over USUM? It's not that the series has problems staying fresh, It's simply hard to find balance between innovation and keeping intact what people like. When two allies attempt to use Fire Pledge and either Water Pledge or Grass Pledge on the same turn, the ally moving first will not itself use a move, but instead the ally moving second will use a combined attack with a power of 150 and an additional effect immediately after it: 11. Ruby and Sapphire should be closer to Emerald. Still have the save file too, though most of the Pokemon have long since been transferred to newer games. @UmbreonsPapa They completely changed (some would say dumbed down) how the interaction with wild Pokémon works, removed core features that were present in every main series game since their introduction without giving anything instead of them (like abilities or breeding), and also removed every single Pokémon from the game that are not from generation 1 (every single mainline Pokémon game since the very beginning had every Pokémon in it that has existed up to that point, even if you had no way to catch them in the game, because you would still be able to use them if you got them in a trade). I grew up with Pokemon, Gen I came out when I was in 4th grade and I was hooked. Well, Pokemon Omega Ruby /Alpha Sapphire and Pokemon Emerald are combined into this game. Ruby and Sapphire being marked so far from Emerald? I destroyed the whole league of ORAS. back when I was a kid. The problem I can see from many of these so called BEST POKEMON GAMES is that the reviewers let nostalgia and personal feelings get in the way if actually placing the titles where they actually belong. I am serious. What the list is missing is guages on each facet of the game. Gavin loves a bit of couch co-op, especially when he gets to delegate roles, bark instructions and give much-appreciated performance feedback at the end. Diamond and Pearl being at the bottom with Platinum near the top? I only ever liked the first game, Red/Blue. Diamond and Pearl has terrible Pokemon distribution (infamously leading to there being only one Fire type in the game other than the starter, and yet they still had an Elite Four member of that type which has Lopunny, Steelix and Drifblim), has a second long pause whenever you do anything in a battle, has the HP decrease extremely slowly, is even slower when surfing, is extremely anticlimactic on Spear Pillar if you’ve played Platinum, has some really bad gym puzzles (like Eterna and especially Hearthome Gyms, there is no way you can defend Hearthome Gym), has the third city with a gym have the fifth gym for no reason, has most of the new Pokemon introduced be cross gen evolutions that you can’t get until you’ve beaten the game and legendaries and a lot of the others being crap designs (Sinnoh has some great Pokemon, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of them cannot be used in DP’s main story) to lead to almost Johto-level distribution problems, the HMs are in completely random places which anyone who’s played Platinum has forgotten (tell me off the top of your head where you get Defog and Strength in DP, here’s a hint, you’re probably wrong) I absolutely hate Gold and Silver. Lots of arbitrary decisions and nostalgia seems to have gone into this list! The Battle Frontier also brought many hours of new content. THIS IS THE WORST POKEMON GAMES LIST I HAVE EVER SEEN. FireRed/LeafGreen I know I will sound stupid but for me I get the same joy with EVERY Pokemon game from the mainline. However I was part of a chunk of players that fell off after the first generation. And emerald is better than gen 2 so why that's below gsc and FR/LG I won't know. Z-moves are fun (although not necessarily an "improvement"), and there are a few other minor improvements here and there as well (such as type effectiveness being listed in battle and having the option to shuffle your party upon the capture of a new Pokémon), but that's it. 5. I'm playing Let's Go now and for me it's really the game I was playing in my head when I was playing the original Pokemon Yellow a long time ago in a galaxy far far away ☺️. Even though we got trainer customization, full 3D pokemon experience forthe first time, Mega Evolutions (I hate them but they still count), the PSS, the Fairy typing that balanced things out and "friends" to travel with that make you feel like you're on an actual journey? I can never take a list like this seriously if it has Red, Blue, and Yellow nowhere near the bottom of the list. It’s was an amazing refreshing installment of the series and unlike Sun and Moon, it did not add the lameness, just fresh mecanics and mega evolutions, and is a very good overall game.