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[NipplesAndToes23]

First post is right. Well except the XY part.

Best generation as far as multiplayer goes. Shits on every generation that came after. Single player is alright but who gives a shit honestly.

Plenty of people play singleplayer. What kind of question is this?

That was a long ass post Bird. I haven't played this one yet and haven't bothered because I heard it wasn't good and I still feel like I haven't missed much. It's alright too many other games out there anyway and I'm way more interested in playing Sun. I just hope I can afford a 3DS plus the game by the time it comes out.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

Game Freak does care about balancing their game, they just don't care about 1v1 like Smogon does. Stealth Rock hasn't been touched because it's not a big deal in the 2v2 format they focus on.

Which is absolutely stupid of them to do. How can you focus only on Doubles and ignore the battle style that they focused their game around?

 

[gardfish]

Important games for what they introduced to the series, but they haven't held up well at all. Platinum's better in literally every conceivable way, but even then I struggled to maintain interest when I played it to give Sinnoh a second shot earlier this year. They also have my least favorite selection of new Pokemon in the series to date (and the ugliest cover legends, though Giratina's pretty cool). There were a few standouts, but it was mostly full of Pokemon that either failed to make any impact on me or that I outright disliked. This was particularly egregious when it came to the new evolutions for older Pokemon, which were often just uglier and fatter versions of their predecessors. Again, a few standouts, but stuff like Electivire and Magmortar left a sour taste in my mouth. (I am apparently one of the few Rhyperior fans, though.) Even the new Eeveelutions felt underwhelming.

Sinnoh was pretty nice, though, I'll give it that. It was both the last time Pokemon was nonlinear, and the last time the geography of the region actually made sense--the random-ass deserts sandwiched between two thriving cities in Unova and Kalos were pretty silly. I liked all the little optional side areas tucked away in the region--I remember discovering the ironworks area all on my own. Wasn't a fan of all the HM bloat, though.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Which is absolutely stupid of them to do. How can you focus only on Doubles and ignore the battle style that they focused their game around?

The same reason beloved features come and go: Game Freak

 

[TheAggroCraig]

I had just gotten my first DS flash cart when this came out, it was cool to play it in Japanese a few days before the release... and obviously months before the US release.

I'm pretty thankful now that these get a worldwide release, the time between them used to be so atrocious.

 

[metalmonstar]

The slow battles really hurts people's perception of this gen.

Hands down it was the best competitive gen.

I really liked the region. It also had some great pokemon designs. I really didn't like the look of pokemon in Gen 3.

Cynthia is one of the best Champions. Only Gary really gives her competition as the best

I eagerly await this Gen's remake.

 

[WrenchNinja]

I'd argue having less than capable Pokemon wastes more time than some extra battle animation. You say it's frustrating which seems to indicate it's something game breaking. I mean, I think the dialogue when you encounter and defeat a random trainer wastes my time but you don't hear me complaining about it.

Then why even play these games? Why not just stick with pokemon showdown? NPC dialogue is flavour text. Sometimes to enrich the world. Other times for humour. It's hardly equivalent to slow hp and exp bars.

There are plenty of capable pokemon before the pseudo legendaries. Hell Everything in the single player game is capable.

 

[Nottle]

As a kid I only really played Yellow. Then in the year or so leading up to X and Y I played Emerald and Platinum along with the Fire Red and Heart Gold. I liked Fire Red, Heart Gold, and white, but Emerald and Platinum are sort of a blur. I really dislike the villain teams of those games, hate the speed, and the insane amount of hm moves you need. Other than Lucario and Garchomp I'd have a hard time naming cool dudes from gen iv.


I'm just now starting Y for the first time, took me a while to get back into Pokémon again.

 

[Zubz]

I liked playing DPPt with friends in high school; that was an unforgettable experience for me. Plus, it laid the groundwork for HGSS, which are still my favorite Pokemon games.

That said, the main game was just okay. Everything it did for the battle system was fantastic, but the game itself ran so slow. Plus, the region was pretty boring, most of the new Pokemon were forgettable (It's almost like Finneon was designed to be the least-memorable Pokemon), and very little new was brought to the table (Granted, I never played Pt; that could've influenced my opinion).

I still had fun with the game, but DPPt were definitely the weakest Pokemon games in my opinion. I thought this was a popular opinion, but I'm still expecting people to be flipping out for the inevitable remake like they did for ORAS (Since I also recall RSE generally being unpopular until the wave of "Hoenn Confirmed" jokes started up).

 

[faint.]

The games that allowed me to meet some of my best frienda.

 

[Smeags]

Gave us the greatest Pokémon in Weavile, so I'll always remember it fondly.

Plus it gave us the special/physical split and was my first foray into the competitive scene. So cheers to you Pokémon Diamond/Pearl.

Now bring on Sun and Moon!

 

[BahamutPT]

I have fond memories of DP, despite their flaws.
Loved the underground, mining, the snow areas (design wise - but I really liked the whole region), the nice post-game content (without needing a third version to fix that), the Pokétch, which was a cool addition, the dawn of online Pokémon trading/battling... Also Piplup is still my favorite starter.
Really hope they get a remake.

And of course, the Surf Glitch in the JP versions is still one of my favorites.

 

[Greninja96]

Woowww I was 10 years old when these two games came out. 2nd best gen after Gen 3

 

[Forkball]

I love Diamond and Pearl. I would consider the wombo combo of DPPt and HGSS to be the best overall generation of Pokemon games.

+A great array of starters. Not only were all their designs amazing, but they had really interesting type combinations as well. Yeah we got Fire/Fighting again, but surely this is for the last time!
+Brilliant overworld. It was very intricately designed and varied. This is where they really started to get ambitious with the different locals you travel to. Snowy peaks, dark caves, volcanoes, modern cities, sludgy swamps, rustic towns, flowery meadows... the game had it all! Not to mention the underground was a fun distraction with good rewards.
+Return of the day/night cycle. This was completely taken out in Gen III despite being one of my favorite features in Gen II. Instead of just having morning, day, and night lighting, there are many more options making each area look a bit new everytime you pop on the the game. Pokemon appearing at certain times of the day also returned, as did daily events. Don't forget to catch a Driftloon this Friday!

+The physical/special split is one of the most important aspects they added. It completely opened up what they could do with how Pokemon functioned in battle. It forced players to think far beyond type combinations and diversified roles of Pokemon.
+WI FI I CAN TRADE AND BATTLE POKEMON ONLINE MY GOD. We take it for granted now, but at one point trading Pokemon over the internet was a radical concept.
+ Tying in with the Wi Fi, catching them all was now a realistic process in solo play. The game also introduced so many different ways to catch and evolve Pokemon. One of my favorite aspects is grabbing as many monsters as possible, so this game really catered to that.
+Solid post game material. There were a lot of legendaries to capture (perhaps too many) and things like the Battle Frontier let you hone your team.

I do have to say that a lot of the new Pokemon aren't that great. Garchomp, Rotom, Dialga, and Spiritomb remain some of my overall favorites, but so many are just there. A lot of people complain about the new evolutions of old Pokemon, but I found many of them to be creative. A lot are kind of locked until later in the game though. Despite this, I think they diversified the Pokedex enough so it felt like you were always finding something interesting.

And personally, I never found the games slow. Perhaps if I was to play right now I would notice it, but at the time I didn't notice it.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

I got Pearl when the games came out. Although I liked it less than Emerald, I enjoyed my time with the game. It was surprisingly popular at the time if I remember.

+Brilliant overworld. It was very intricately designed and varied. This is where they really started to get ambitious with the different locals you travel to. Snowy peaks, dark caves, volcanoes, modern cities, sludgy swamps, rustic towns, flowery meadows... the game had it all! Not to mention the underground was a fun distraction with good rewards.
+Return of the day/night cycle. This was completely taken out in Gen III despite being one of my favorite features in Gen II. Instead of just having morning, day, and night lighting, there are many more options making each area look a bit new everytime you pop on the the game. Pokemon appearing at certain times of the day also returned, as did daily events. Don't forget to catch a Driftloon this Friday!

+The physical/special split is one of the most important aspects they added. It completely opened up what they could do with how Pokemon functioned in battle. It forced players to think far beyond type combinations and diversified roles of Pokemon.

+Solid post game material. There were a lot of legendaries to capture (perhaps too many) and things like the Battle Frontier let you hone your team.

These are probably my favorite things out of the game. Sinnoh really is one of the best designed Pokemon regions specifically with Mt. Coronet dominating the center. I loved the amount of legendaries present in the post-game as it's an exciting event in itself to find them. It might be why I enjoy HeartGold so much.

I also enjoyed the return of a challenging Elite 4 and Champion. Cynthia was way more difficult in comparison to Steven and Wallace.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

I would hope that Gen IV is when GF stops remaking the games. Platinum is absolutely a perfect way to experience the Gen, and I would hate to see current GF shit on Gen IV with their stupid design philosophy (nerf any semblance of challenge, promote handholding, cut postgame content).

A lot of people complained about Mt. Coronet back then, despite how easy it was to remember where to go next based on your journey thus far (plus it gave you a lot of exploration to do). If the generation is remade, expect GF to redesign Mt. Coronet as braindead hallway simulators leading from point A to B.

 

[Conor_Fool]

The best Pokemon experience of my life. Would fake sick entirely too much from school and the madre would take my DS because she knew what I was up to. Little did she know I always took the game out first, hid my brother's old and unsued DS in my room, and play that shit alllllll day. I traded for an Arceus during the main quest so it made finding the plates so fun.

Shit... it inspired me to sign up for my first video game forum ever, which is also how I figured out about Neogaf.

EDIT: Well, thinking back on G/S/C, I'm not so sure about the first sentence.

 

[jnWake]

Diamond and Pearl are kinda meh but Gen IV's Pokémon are awesome and Platinum is God tier.

Many people hate the new evolutions but many of my favourites were added that way in Gen IV: Roserade, Weavile, Mamoswine, Dusknoir, Froslass, Gallade, Magnezone and Mismagius come to mind quickly. From the Gen IV new Pokémon I also like lots like Infernape, Torterra, Lucario, Bronzong, Toxicroak, Drifblim, Rampardos and Darkrai. Finally, Cyrus is a great villain and the Platinum storyline is ace.

Also, Gen IV introduced the Physical/Special split for moves which was an awesome change. Overall, DPPt is an amazing generation IMO.

 

[Toxi]

-Cyrus. This character was so terrible even the head translator had to speak up to Game Freak about him, and is probably why Platinum was the last game he worked on. He is said to be emotionless but starts gleefully yelling about the end of the universe on top of a mountain. There is also no reason for anyone to be following him whatsoever, which was somewhat fixed in Platinum.

I do kinda like how the explanation given for Team Galactic following Cyrus is "They're fucking idiots".

 

[kirby_fox]

Only game I finished the dex in. Was great because I was in college, little money and needed a game that lasted awhile. Not only did it do that, but it brought a bunch of others back into Pokemon at the time too. They went from making fun of me to asking for help.

Was probably the last Pokemon generation I felt did a decent job even though I want a fan of the designs. The newer games really feel like there was a separation there and I'm even thinking the same with the new games.

 

[Toxi]

Meh, I'd take the Mega spam over the weather spam and genies spam. Don't really have a problem with Primals(never were OU) and Mega-Gengar/Kanga as they got banned pretty early on so eh. Plus 5th gen is worse just for introducing team preview.
I know Gamefreak doesn't care about balancing their own games as Stealth Rock has remained untouched since 4th gen, but I really enjoyed the 4th gen meta with no team preview, weather wasn't so prevalent, and with no broken DW abilities given to pokemons.

Entry hazards got a pretty blatant nerf in Gen 6 thanks to Defog being buffed to remove all entry hazards on the field.

 

[matrix-cat]

The most mediocre, forgettable generation for me. I didn't like any of the Pokemon, I only barely remember the region, and I can't remember anything about the story or premise. It's not my least favourite (that honour goes to Black & White, because I so disliked the changes they made to XP and that horrifically jacked up wild encounter rate), but I really don't have any fond memories of it. I like that physical/special split, though.

 

[Menitta]

Cynthia is the best character in Pokemon. No substitutions.

 

[Esque7]

So I just looked over a list of the gen 4 pokemon, holy crap why were there so many babies this gen!

 

[Smasher89]

Imported my japanese 1,0 pearl, put 500h+ into that, after the english release that japanese game was used to farm mythical(surf through E4 door) and japan exclusive wifi events(draco meteor jirachi ).
Too bad Shaymin and Darkrai can't be transfered through pokebank.

I hope the tree in BW2 is actually a reference to the E4 surf glitch, since you can swim into that too.

It was also the last generation i played the singles format with 6 pokemon, after those games, smogon started banning first Garchomp and later stuff like Biidoof and Magikarp :/ So I play the new VGC format every year, its usually fresh and interesting coming into a new format "blind" each year! The games in english felt slow too, platinum upped the game tempo but i think the japanese versions didnt have as big of a issue in that regard.

 

[Lord_Byron28]

I have a mixed reaction to Gen 4. The real problem for me is that it started off really slow and it took awhile to get the ball rolling. I think the game was designed well but was very slow. Going through mountains/caves was torture given the pace and Pokemon encounters. Also after playing and loving Emerald/gen 3 for the contests and battle frontier; I was severely dissapointed when they didn't come back in Diamond and Pearl. I didn't like Super Contests and I had hoped GF would expand on the Contest formula from Gen 3. Gen 4 seemed like a reactionary gen to Gen 3's reception where alot of fans were mad about the lack of trading over pokemon from G/S as well as the artstyle change. Gen 4 seemed like it played it safer and tried to appeal back to Gen 1 and 2 fans. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed and played Diamond for a long time taking advantage of online trading for the first time. However, after Diamond I took a break from the franchise and didn't return until X/Y was anounced. I then went back and played B/W before X/Y released.

Overall, these were the memorable pokemon that I enjoyed from Sinnoh:
Luxray line
Buizel line
Skuntank line
Garchomp line
Lucario line
Toxicroak line
Abomasnow line

In regards to the the cross-gen evo pokemon introduced in Gen 4, I liked these ones:

Budew
Roserade
Mismagius
Honchkrow
Happiny
Bonsly
Mime Jr.
Munchlax
Mantyke
Weavile
Magnezone
Electivire
Togekiss
Yanmega
Gliscor
Mamoswine
Gallade
Froslass

I think a Gen 4 remake in Gen 7 would be amazing and probably resolve a number of the issues I had with Gen 4. It'd also be pretty cool to see Sinnoh forms for various pokemon. I will say I was not a fan of the amount of legendaries especially robot god transformers looking legendaries.

 

[Zalman]

Gen 4 was refreshing coming after the somewhat disappointing third gen. The region was bigger and more exciting, they brought back the day/night cycle, introduced the physical/special split... DPP reignited my interest in the series. It was also when I started getting really into the competitive aspect of the game. Having said that, I would probably put it in my second least favorite gen overall. I think both BW and XY were great improvements.

 

[Neoleo2143]

Fun Fact, the Underground and the Evolutions to previous gen pokemon was developed in part by Shigeru Ohmori, the now director of Pokemon Sun and Moon.

 

[BlueBadger]

10 years already. Fuck i feel old.

such a great addition to the series tho. I loved D/P/Pt

 

[Toxi]

Cynthia is the best character in Pokemon. No substitutions.

No, that's Looker.

Cynthia's the best champion though.

 

[JustSomeone]

This gen doesn't deserve its anniversary to be celebrated.
It was another step in the franchise's decline in quality, before it reached its peak in gen 5(just to start declining again)

 

[SuperBlank]

I feel oooooooooooold. D/P was when my grasp on Pokemon started to wane. Well at least my interest in memorizing the names of all those little buggers started to wane. Still played the two gens afterwards though, and will probably play Sun/Moon as well...

Though Gen IV is still my least favourite region wise, starter wise, and overall Pokemon wise. The online was nice though. Still dig Electivire too. And Weavile is cool, though Sneasel is still da bess. Wouldn't play the remakes, though I'm sure they'd captivate many.

 

[robotrock]

Gen 3 pulled me out but Gen 4 pulled me back in. Maybe I'm weird but I loved gen 4. Diamond was great, and Platinum is probably my favorite Pokemon game.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Barry was really fleshed out in Platinum as he went from an impatient kid to a mature kid understanding that there was no quick and easy way of becoming a strong trainer and he understood his limit which is why he bailed out after helping defeat Mars and Jupiter.

I just ignore the haters as every generation has them and it doesn't stop gen 4 from being my favorite.

Yeah, his character really mellowed throughout the course of the game, to the point where he proved he could actually do really well in battle, particularly when you teamed up with him in battle later on.

And thanks. I'd probably do the same thing. Generation 4 is one of my favorite Pokemon generations period, no matter what people may say about it.

 

[Kurita]

I honestly really liked the legendaries "overload". The region felt quite mysterious thanks to this.

 

[unknownstranger]

Loved gen 4 but I have it 3rd in my favorite Pokemon gens (behind gen 2 and gen 5). It easily has my favorite overall starters of any gen. I've always loved Torterra and Empolean and have slowly warmed up to Infernape over the years. Sinnoh has my favorite lore of any region but I wish more of it was included in the campaign and not saved for postgame. I love most of the new evolutions for older Pokemon but don't like a lot of the new pre-evolutions (especially ones that require happiness to evolve). However, I don't think the amount of new Pokemon gets criticized enough. About half of the early new Pokemon (Starly, Shinx, Buziel and Shellos) end up becoming strong enough to never needing to replace them. This ends up hurting the experience some though and looking back at it I'm disappointed I never got around to using other Pokemon from that gen (Skuntank, Toxicroak, Drapion, etc). As many people have mentioned, while Sinnoh's lore is great, the story is one of the weakest of any Pokemon gen and it has one of the worst rivals as well. Thankfully they made a massive improvement to these in gen 5.

 

[Rutger]

Which is absolutely stupid of them to do. How can you focus only on Doubles and ignore the battle style that they focused their game around?

There's nothing strange about the competitive side playing a ruleset that isn't what the single player content uses. Smash has been playing without items for years, and hell, Smogon loves to tell people to do things differently from how the main game works. It's not like the battle style in the story is the same as 1v1 against other people either, the story lets us have unlimited item use, and defaults to allowing the player to switch Pokemon when the opponent does. Meanwhile in the post-game, when the game opens up and finally lets the player build a team worth using competitively, the things like the Battle Tower don't focus on any battle format anymore.

Story and multiplayer are separate things, I don't see anything wrong with Game Freak choosing a different format for the competitive side if they feel it works better. They noticed there's no need for silly bans like the sleep clause for doubles to work competitively and decided to run with it.

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

I liked so little of Sinnoh. Just the champ, voice chat, certain pokemon, about 3 pokétch modes, and the new version of day/night. Hoenn was just too hard of an act to follow.

 

[JoeM86]

Gen. IV will always hold a place for me. It's when I truly started taking my running of Serebii seriously and it reignited my love of the series after the slow and long Generation 3.

Fun fact: Diamond & Pearl was the last time we didn't have all the new Pokémon leaked before launch. I remember playing through the game for the site and finding Pokémon that hadn't leaked out like Cherubi and Shellos. Though some Mega Evolutions didn't with X & Y, I have been told they don't count as new Pokémon

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

So I just looked over a list of the gen 4 pokemon, holy crap why were there so many babies this gen!

At least this was the first gen you could find baby Pokemon in the wild on a regular basis.

 

[entremet]

No, that's Looker.

Cynthia's the best champion though.

Always was a Blue fan since he was so cocky. Cynthia is a bad ass, tho.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

The GOAT winter music! Route 216

Overflowing with nostalgia.

This, seriously. Not my favourite Gen by any means, but I LOVED the Route 216 music.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Man, I put 75 hours into Diamond and still thought that game stunk.

Then again, people praise Black/White and when I played White I thought it was only marginally better. In fact, it's the game that was the final nail in the coffin for me. So let's call Diamond the beginning of the end and White the kicker.

The changes in Sun/Moon should've happened in Gen IV. Might've saved the franchise for me.

 

[Menitta]

No, that's Looker.

Cynthia's the best champion though.

Mmm...yeah, I can accept that.

 

[Cruxist]

Lots to remember about this gen. Electivire is still one of my favorite designs, and I love the concept of Garchomp. He's a little too powerful, but the land shark thing is so cool. I barely remember the story, but I really liked the desert area with cacturne (that was this gen, right?)

Oh, and the slow ass saving. That was the worst part.

 

[Wiseblade]

Generation IV is when I started getting into battling and for that alone DPPt have a fond place in my heart. The Physical/Special split felt like how things should have been from the beginning and many of the new Pokémon were monsters in battling.

As for the games themselves, I enjoyed them well enough. The Gym challenge progression is super tedious with all the backtracking, HM usage and the slow pace of battles, but I put up with it all because the monster designs were so strong and the actual mechanics of the game had taken a giant leap forward.

 

[SgtCobra]

My second favorite generation, cool legendaries, great OST, fun region and then there's the ability of transfering my Emerald Pokémon to Diamond and Pearl, my mind was blown.
Did not enjoy Black and White nearly as much.

 

[Regiruler]

Also gave us one of the best songs to fall asleep to.

 

[BassForever]

Least favorite gen from a single player perspective (best competitive scene though) but oh my god has it really been 10 years?

 

[Reset]

Entry hazards got a pretty blatant nerf in Gen 6 thanks to Defog being buffed to remove all entry hazards on the field.

Rocks haven't been touched. When a move can do up to 50% damage upon entry with only one layer that is completely ridiculous. Sure they added another way to get rid of hazards, but the amount of damage SR does is still broken and is one of the reasons why it's one of the most broken moves in the game. At least Spikes is balanced, you need three layers and even then it can only do up to 25% damage and some pokemon are immune to it. Defog was a bigger nerf to Spikes than SR since you only need one layer of Rocks.