The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
Let’s discuss the Pokémon series. What is your favorite game in the series? What do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Are there similar games you like or even prefer to the original series? Feel free to share anything that comes up and react to other comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
Previous entries: Like a Dragon / Yakuza, Assassin’s Creed, UFO 50, Platformers, Uplifting Games, Final Fantasy, Visual Novels, Hollow Knight, Nintendo DS, Monster Hunter, Persona, Monkey Island, 8 Bit Era, Animal Crossing, Age of Empires, Super Mario, Deus Ex, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Half-Life, Earthbound / Mother, Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire
I have never played a pokemon game (except Go). I don’t have nostalgia for pokemon, but I would like to play. I am down to start at any point (I can probably emulate for any platform I don’t own). Where would folks recommend I start?
X/Y we’re the games that brought me back into Pokémon after skipping a few generations, and the upcoming Legends A-Z takes place in the same region. Seems like a great place to start.
I have been a bit cheeky, as I have chosen my first Pokémon game as the thumbnail for this post: Pokémon Blue for the Game Boy.
Sadly, I was very young and English was not my mother tongue, so I had no idea how it worked. Skip to several years later, and I gave it another go (this time with some extremely rudimentary knowledge of English, but more importantly with some more experience in games in general). Playing Pokémon this way was a mix of an RPG and a translation based puzzle game, but I was absolutely hooked. Even though I never got past about halfway through the game before my attention faded, I must have done that first half about 10 times in those years.
Later I got Pokémon Emerald for the GBA after my previous GBA game was finished in only a few hours: I figured a Pokémon game would give me my money’s worth. Again, I played this numerous times and had a lot of fun, but never reached the ending.
A few years ago I was feeling nostalgic, and bought a second hand copy of Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu, knowing that it was a remake of my first Pokémon game of years ago. Reviews of this version are mixed because of the Pokémon Go like catching mini game, but nostalgia goggles made this an amazing experience for me. I especially remember one whole day where I was at home with a fever, laying on my couch and playing Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu while dipping in and out of the strangest Pokémon related dreams. Even with that bumpy ride, I was eventually able to reach the end of the story and beat the elite four! I know that there is stuff to do after that, but I was happy and sold my copy again.
I have recently bought a second hand New Nintendo 3DS and have been procuring a lot of games on it in a seafaring fashion. One of those that I’m giving a go is Yo-Kai Watch. I’m only a few hours in, and right now it looks absolutely gorgeous, but I’m unsure of the combat design and the actual design of the monsters. If any of you have some other 3DS tips, please let me now, I have a seemingly unlimited budget for 3DS games right now :).
Since you have a 3DS and love Pokémon I would suggest HeartGold/SoulSilver, I will always hold those games in high regard (even though it’s maybe partly nostalgia as Gen 2 was the peak of the Pokémon craze during my childhood). But I still think Gen 2 was great and still not yet filled with complete trash designs (figuratively and literally).
Though if you plan on procuring it the seafaring fashion you’d miss out on the Pokewalker!
I was never a big Pokemon person, mostly because I just didn’t have anything that could play it growing up.
Pokemon Go was my first real introduction to the series and it was just such a cool idea. It really was an experience!
After that, the newest Pokemon Snap came out and I loved it. I had never played the original and it felt like being on a safari. That is definitely my favourite Pokemon game.
I’ve played Pokemon on and off since it’s release in the 90s, but one of the best Pokemon experiences was that two week period in the summer of 2016 when Pokemon Go came out and everyone was playing it. It was the perfect thing at the right time, and something I don’t think can ever be replicated again.
I literally got a data plan on my phone in order to be able to play Pokemon Go. It was a great time.
Pokemon emerald is my favorite. I just recently realized emerald and leaf green somehow disappeared from my collection and had to repurchase them. That was not cheap…
Lol, I’m actually playing through Violet right now. I don’t even know why, since I finished Scarlet a few weeks ago and they’re basically the same. I think I just like Miraidon more than Koraidon.
But man, I started playing the series when it first came out. Red was my first, but I’ve had long periods (like almost a decade) in which I never even bothered with the series, then eventually came back to it and finished what I missed. It’s a series I just kind of bounce between.
Honestly, getting back into it after a long break last year with Shield surprised me. I get why some people don’t like it, but I really had fun with that game.
As for similar games, Cassette Beasts nearly ruined the entire series for me. Such a great game that did so much right and so very little (if anything) wrong (in my opinion, at least). Art, music, creature designs, battle system, and especially writing. All fantastic.
I’m eager to try out Beastie Ball when I get a chance as well. Looks fun.
I played the Beastieball demo, and it is a ton of fun. The combat is tactical volleyball, and is pretty satisfying to play.
I have a Pokemon tattoo from this game and it’s goofy.
