Which pokemon game defines the series?

[The Catboy]

Bro male lopunny are you kidding me

Yeah, that’s definitely trap but one small problem

 

[rantex92]

UltraSun and UltraMoon have fully replaced the original games for me, they are what the first ones should have been to begin with. I really wish they got ported to the Switch. Feels like wasted potential on the 3DS.

yeah the best thing was the aftergame with the ultra wormhole

and i think gamefreak should have done more with the ultra beasts or with the Ultraworlds concept where poipole is a starter but those paradox pokemon in violet came pretty near

 

[DarkCoffe64]

Myself, I'd say the series peaked with Black/White. After that, it slowly went down, down, down, down, down...
I would suggest, if you want to play at least one game that goes over every Gen/region... FireRed/LeafGreen, HeartGold/SoulSilver, OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire, Platinum, both Black/White games, X/Y, and guess UltraSun/Moon.
While I haven't played the latter, 'cus I had enough of this series at normal Sun/Moon, figure the re-releases must be better compared to notultra sun-moon.
Anything after that... just utter garbage. I've heard some positives about Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee and Legend: Arceus, so guess maybe those might be worth checking out, but dunno for sure.

 

[Jayro]

Myself, I'd say the series peaked with Black/White. After that, it slowly went down, down, down, down, down...
I would suggest, if you want to play at least one game that goes over every Gen/region... FireRed/LeafGreen, HeartGold/SoulSilver, OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire, Platinum, both Black/White games, X/Y, and guess UltraSun/Moon.
While I haven't played the latter, 'cus I had enough of this series at normal Sun/Moon, figure the re-releases must be better compared to notultra sun-moon.
Anything after that... just utter garbage. I've heard some positives about Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee and Legend: Arceus, so guess maybe those might be worth checking out, but dunno for sure.

Legends Arceus brought over so many good quality of life things, and actually made the camping somewhat fun.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I had been meaning to try a new pokemon game for years. I played red and then yellow and I was disappointed to find out it was the same game. Then I played silver and I was disappointed that it was still pretty much the same game. I lived in Japan at the time so pokemon was swinging in full force and I still wasn't feeling it because of how heavily reused all of the game elements were game over game. So I stepped away from it ...

A couple years ago I played about 15 hours of pokemon X. Nice new coat of paint but still very familiar game. Anyway, a ton of games came out between when I left the series and when I dipped my toe back in, as well as a few new ones. Since I am already predisposed to thinking of this as playing the same game over and over (don't try to save me I'm already lost) I would like to know:

If you had to choose one pokemon game from the main series that was the best and most fun version of this formula, what would that be? Which of all of these games should I play if I am only going to play one?

Easily gen 2, that's when they perfected the formula.
I consider gen 3 as an incremental improvement, and everything after that was more or less the same thing.
Until Scarlet/Violet, which changed things up, so they might be worth looking at if you are willing to look past the jank (which I highly suggest you do as they are great games underneath that)
But it sounds like what you are more after is something different, in which the mainline series is probably not for you.
Give the GameCube games a try? Pokemon Colosseum/XD are among the lesser known, and I would argue more underrated Pokemon games.
Pokemon Legends Arceus is great as well, and quite a departure from the typical formula.
Both of these have battling and catching Pokemon in common with the mainline series but the mechanics are different and the story is way different. They have enough in common with the mainline games that they could fit in with them, but enough different to make them a completely new experience.
I also quite enjoyed the Pokemon Ranger games on DS. Those have pretty much nothing in common with the mainline games at all, but they are good fun.

 

[rantex92]

I had been meaning to try a new pokemon game for years. I played red and then yellow and I was disappointed to find out it was the same game. Then I played silver and I was disappointed that it was still pretty much the same game. I lived in Japan at the time so pokemon was swinging in full force and I still wasn't feeling it because of how heavily reused all of the game elements were game over game. So I stepped away from it ...

A couple years ago I played about 15 hours of pokemon X. Nice new coat of paint but still very familiar game. Anyway, a ton of games came out between when I left the series and when I dipped my toe back in, as well as a few new ones. Since I am already predisposed to thinking of this as playing the same game over and over (don't try to save me I'm already lost) I would like to know:

If you had to choose one pokemon game from the main series that was the best and most fun version of this formula, what would that be? Which of all of these games should I play if I am only going to play one?

i forgot you could also take a look on dragon quest monsters i know its not pokemon but the upcoming dqm game for the switch is very promising

for anyone who isnt familiar with the series its a monstertaming game like pokemon but more complex
instead of evolution you crossbreed your monsters

if i wasnt familiar with those games i would recommend to start with the english patched 3ds versions of the first two games or the native english versions of the gbc/gba games

im still wondering y? those 3ds remakes doesnt got released atleast in the us but yeah probably because the joker series didnt catch on

 

[Robru1]

If you had to choose one pokemon game from the main series that was the best and most fun version of this formula, what would that be? Which of all of these games should I play if I am only going to play one?

Guide: https://www.ign.com/wikis/pokemon-x-y/Walkthrough

 

[Dondonuts]

Pokemmo the fanmade pokemon mmo. It's the old games , you can switch regions at a certain point. They made the battles harder. They mmofied it so it can be grindy if you want to participate in rank ou pvp matches. I play it every now in again, there's an android client and there's a free random team pvp queue if you just want to have a taste of pokemon pvp.

 

[PokemonFriend]

UltraSun and UltraMoon have fully replaced the original games for me, they are what the first ones should have been to begin with. I really wish they got ported to the Switch. Feels like wasted potential on the 3DS.

True story

 

[Xdqwerty]

Black and White 1