Rank the Pokemon generations!

7. Generation II. With Pokémon like Stantler, Delibird, Unown, Dunsparce, Qwilfish, and many more, this generation really fell flat for me. The Johto region in itself is just a watered-down carbon copy of Kanto. (The only part of gen II that's I genuinely enjoy is the part that is not in Johto... how ironic)

6. Generation VII. I really wanted to like this generation more, but honestly after playing through Alola once, I really don't feel the need to go there again. USUM were the only games ever that I skipped just because I wasn't interested.

5. Generation I. No nostalgia here, Kanto is just a region like every other. And as a region... it has the least amount of variety out of any game, only occasionally breaking the endless grasslands with a cave or a water route. Some dope Pokémon though.

4. Generation VI. Kalos was a lot of fun to go through the first time, and I actually like a lot of the Pokémon that originated there, but like with Alola, it didn't really leave me wanting to go back.

3. Generation IV. Amazing Pokémon (Gallade, Yanmega, Froslass, Vespiquen, etc.), a region with roots in mythology, and quite some variation in its climate. Sinnoh has a lot going for it.

2. Generation III. Oh how I wish I could put this at #1. The origin of the Ralts line, Mawile, Absol, some goofy troopers like Tropius and Chimecho, they're all some of my favorite Pokémon ever. I love the Hoenn region, and with all the soloruns I can't help but feel a personal connection with FRLG.

1. Generation V. While I don't consider many Unova Pokémon to be my personal favorite, I have to admit the cast of new Pokémon is amazing. Volcarona, Chandelure, Zoroark, Golurk, Reshiram, Leavanny and many more, are all super cool additions to the Dex in my opinion. Team Plasma was great, N is my boy, and the sheer amount of things you can do (particularly in B2W2) that don't involve continuing the main storyline is unparalleled. The region looks good, the music is fantastic, and the technical updates like the infinite TMs make the games infinitely enjoyable to me.

 

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3- Good Pokémon
4- Good History
2- Good Culture
1- Good Story
6- Good Theme
5- Good Characters (except Ash)
7- Good Nothing

 

7- Gen 6 is the worst gen to date. Despite the introduction of the Fairy type, some pretty environments, good music, and some new favorite Pokémon, gen 6 fell short on just about everything else. Boring characters, easy gameplay, bad villains, and a lame story made this generation such a stark contrast to previous generations that I still find myself wondering what went wrong.

6- While certainly not terrible, and definitely worthy of respect as the OG Pokémon, gen 1 is kinda flat compared to the creativity you can find in future generations. I don't have much to say on this other than that I'm so proud of how the franchise has evolved since the good ol' days of buggy messes, loose storytelling, and some really weird looking pixel art.

5- OR/AS has removed many of the problems I had with gen 3, but I'd never go back to the original R/S/E. I loved Hoenn as a region and gen 3 had some of the best Pokémon to offer, and the secret bases were awesome. But the villains were kinda dumb and I hated Surfing/navigating the map. The constant Wingull armies were enough to put me off these games for good, so I'm glad OR/AS had significant improvements, especially regarding travel and the expansion of the Pokédex.

4- I loved gen 7. Alola is gorgeous, and I adore the tropical themed Pokédex and the interesting Pokémon. I enjoyed the new abilities, moves, and lore surrounding the region as a whole. The UBs are what really shined here--literally adding entirely new dimensions and establishing Pokémon as a true universe. This region felt alive and full of color, and delighted my inner child. However, it also inspired the horror-lover in me, as our first female villain was sufficiently vile and crazy. It was surprisingly mature, a welcome return to some of the storytelling of gen 5. The only things holding gen 7 back are the hand-holding sloggy tutorials you have to endure, the way they changed Lusamine's narrative in US/UM (I feel like she had more weight as a villain in S/M,) and the Festival Plaza. The Festival Plaza feels like a downgrade from the easy and simple PSS from gen 6. I was also disappointed by the removal of super training.

3- Gen 4 is one of my absolute favorite generations, from Sinnoh to HG/SS. Gen 4 is where I feel like Pokémon's storytelling and worldbuiling started becoming truly interesting. We got a glimpse of Pokémon as true deities, to the point of being worshiped for their godly power. We got Cyrus, a villain with a truly menacing goal and a powerful yet understated charisma thanks to his utter devotion to his ideals, and the mystery of how he even came to his extremist conclusions. We got some darker themes than the typical Pokémon story had, and some interesting questions raised by all the new details the story added to the world. This is where Pokémon really hit its stride as a franchise for me.

2- This is a sentimental choice for me, but I have my fondest memories of gen 2. Johto is my favorite region, and Ho-oh was my favorite legend before Giratina. The simple storytelling of the older generations really shined here--there was something touching about cleaning up the remnants of Team Rocket and encountering Red. It felt like the developers themselves acknowledging your first steps to becoming a Pokémon Master in gen 1. I can't help feeling warm and fuzzy, seeing the impact of your character's actions in Kanto play out in Johto. It was an immensely satisfying playthrough and a fitting conclusion to the story arc of 1 and 2. Not to mention gen 2 fully cemented my love of the franchise and ensured my continued loyalty for all these years to come, with some of my absolute favorites coming from this gen.

1- Shouldn't really be a surprise that gen 5 is my favorite, hands down. The writing was at its peak here, with the best characters, the best villain, and the best overall story. Team Plasma painting themselves as Pokémon liberators was an amazing approach to the questions of ethics in the Pokémon world, asking all the right questions and posing a legitimate conundrum up until Ghetsis' true intentions are revealed. The narrative is dark and mature, pulling no punches, and the sequel format of B2/W2 was an equally satisfying wrap-up. Unova is one of the best regions to date, packed full of nooks and crannies to discover and explore. This was one of my most satisfying experiences with Pokémon, and I played these games over, and over, and over again. This is as close to flawless as Pokémon's ever been, with my only complaints being petty nitpicks rather than genuine problems.

 

7- Gen 6. Games were forgettable, had a boring story, and had by far the worst evil team we've ever gotten. Pokémon were mostly garbage or incredibly bland (with the exception of a few gems like the Spritzee line, Chespin line, Litleo line, Meowstic F, etc). Anime also seemed to lack any sort of personality, from what I'd seen anyway.
Overall a boring generation.
6- Gen 2. Never played a Johto-based game, hence why this generation is so low on the list for me. Pokémon-wise it suffers from the same issues as Kalos, with a lot of the Pokémon of Johto being poorly designed or utterly forgettable (Qwilfish, Stantler, Sunflora being a few examples).
5- Gen 1. The hype behind this Gen gets on my nerves sometimes. It's not a bad generation or anything, but it's nothing amazing either. Pokémon are alright.
4- Gen 4. Games were a bit slow, but overall not bad. Loved the anime series, the movies in particular. Pokémon were pretty cool overall.
3- Gen 7. Loved Sun and Moon, but USUM were kinda crap tbh. That's being said I still really love this generation a lot. The Pokémon being one of the main reasons I love it as much as I do. I like 99% of the Alola Pokémon and it introduced some of my all time favourites (Incineroar, Salazzle, Kartana, Golisopod, Midnight Lycanroc, Lurantis, Turtonator, Brionne, all amazing <3 )
Love the animation style in the anime. Looks so alive compared to the stiff animation of Gen 6.
2- Gen 3. The generation I started off with. RSE will always have a close place to my heart.
I adore the Hoenn region and love the Pokémon designs a lot.
1- Gen 5. I'll just say this, Unova introduced the best Pokémon ever. Seriously, the only Pokémon from Gen 5 I actually hate are Emolga and the Frillish line. The rest range from neat to totally badass (yeah I even 'boring' ones like Basculin have a charm to them). A lot of my favourite Pokémon are from Gen 5 too.
The games were a blast to play and I spent hours upon hours playing them. The Unova region was so fun to explore and had a very unique feel to it. The storyline was great too.
Not to mention Gen 5 was the generation that introduced me back into the franchise after I lost interest for a few years, so that gave me another reason to love it more.
The only downfall to this Gen is the crappy anime, but overall the pros far outweigh the cons.
Gen 5 best Gen!

 

7. Gen 2. I never really liked the original Gold and Silver games to be honest. And it's definitely the region that has the least interesting Pokémon in my opinion.

6. Gen 5. I just didn't like the story of these games, plus the changes they made to the anime at this point never appealed to me. Cilan and Iris are my two most hated characters in the entire series

5. Gen 1. The original games were amazing, but the story in them just doesn't stand up to what it becomes in the later generations. All it is is ten year old boy takes down the mafia. Not exactly impressive compared to the villains of the next few gens

4. Gen 3. The only reason, and I mean the ONLY reason this generation isn't higher on this list is because the villains were just way too idiotic. I mean, one team that wants to make the entire world land and another that wants to make it all water? WHY??? Neither of those plans make sense to me, and the fact that both teams have legions of followers for those goals makes even less sense!

3. Gen 7. I love the Sun and Moon games, and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were even better! Introducing Ultra Beasts, Z-Moves, and a new format for the games that's different from the usual beat all eight Gyms and become the champion thing? Amazing. But it still doesn't beat...

2. Gen 4. Now we're getting into the real meta of the Pokémon multiverse here! We find out the origin of the universe, then there's the Distortion World in Platinum that freaking rocked my brain when I first played it all those years ago, plus you've got amazing evolutions for other Pokémon like Gallade, Dusknoir, and most importantly my boy Yanmega! I love that killer dragonfly!

1. Gen 6. This gen seems like the peak of all the others with Mega Evolution and how amazing the story is, plus it's the first generation since gen 2 to introduce a new type! And Fairy types are awesome! You can't deny that!

 

Seriously? I agree, the plot of the games and the villain problem are serious issues. But the Pokémon designs are mostly really good EXCEPT Aromatisse and Quilladin. How could you call those evolution lines “gems” and not acknowledge Greninja, Aegislash, Sylveon, Goodra, Talonflame, and so many other amazing designs?!? And the anime had plenty of personality, made Ash competent in a way only Sinnoh could compete with, and gave a group dynamic of togetherness that Sun and Moon could only dream of. Sure Gen 6, isn’t the best, but it certainly has a significant list of positives that give it a higher rank than last.

Here is my order:

1: Gen 4
Good games, tons of great new Pokémon, and great anime. Balanced out the game with the Physical/Special split. These first three are incredibly close by the way.

2: Gen 5
Incredible games, mostly great Pokémon, and the worst anime yet to balance it out. Added Triple Battles. Just barely loses to Gen 4 due to the anime.

3: Gen 3
Good games, good anime, and awesome Pokémon. Everything is done well, but nothing is the best, so it comes just behind Gen 5. Also, Double battles.

4: Gen 7
Anime started bad, but got progressively better in the second half. Still not great, but now it is alright. USUM was not very good, but the original SM were incredible, and brings this Gen as high as it got almost singlehandedly. Great Pokémon with amazing starters and legends, with tons of fan favorites such as Decidueye, Mimikyu, Golisopod, and Tapu Koko. The characters, at least in the game, were all amazing, especially Lillie, Lusamine, Guzma, Gladion, and Kukui, in that order. SM Lillie is the single best developed character in any Pokémon game (N is second). The plot altogether was enjoyable, and I cannot wait for the eventual remake. If it ever happens. Also, Zmoves.

5. Gen 6
Awesome anime, great Pokémon, lackluster game plot. Rivals were garbage, but there was the Fairy type, so that is a plus. Also Mega Evolution.

6: Gen 1
Great plot for the games, good anime, and some awesome Pokémon, but this Gen is weighed down by the complete lack of balance in the games, and the Mons like Jynx and Mr. Mime who were downright creepy. Also the fact that in Yellow you can’t evolve Pikachu. But to be fair, it was the first and did a great job in establishing the lovable franchise we adore.

7: Gen 2
Lackluster plot in the games other than the rival, but the rival was good enough to forgive it. The mons were decent, but the starters were lackluster to me. Totodile is awesome, and Quilava and Feraligatr are nice, but the other 6 mons were bland at best (Cyndaquil) and forgettable at worst (Meganium). The anime is just a watered down version of Kanto, and wasn’t very good at all until just before the league. They did nerf the Special stat, and the Dark and Steel types were added, which were great additions. But I don’t think that was enough to get past the fact that half of these mons were forgettable, the anime was bland, and the region itself wasn’t very great. The best part of Gold/Silver was the part in Kanto. That has to be a problem.

Overall it was hard to pick a loser, and I genuinely enjoy all of the franchise. However, we cannot overlook the flaws each has, nor overlook anything done incredibly well.

 

I was simply stating my opinion. You don't don't think Aromatisse and Quilladin are good Pokémon? Great, that's fine, but I personally love them and that's also fine. We all have our own opinions and if we all liked the exact same things the world would be a lot more boring.
Greninja and Sylveon, yeah, I can acknowledge they have pretty cool designs, but the others you listed just arn't my cup of tea personally. If you like them that's cool, but I find their designs unnapealing.

 

Pokémon design-wise

1. Hoenn. I'm a filthy Gen3-er, sue me :U
2. Alola. I'm actually a huge fan of the Ultra Beasts, and all the designs were pretty solid imo. Tapus were great as well.
3. Unova. FAR too much hate. The majority of Gen 5 mons were AMAZING.
4. Kalos. We got a T-Rex. WE GOT A T-REX. (Also Megas, Megas were cool X3)
5. Sinnoh. Solid all around, but apart from Garchomp/some of the legends, I have to say that nothing really stood out for me. It's good, but kinda mediocre.
6. Kanto. You have to start somewhere, but let's be real, the designs look a bit out-of-date nowadays.
7. Johto. Oh, boy, bracing myself for angry replies. I honestly thinkg Gen 2 had the weakest designs overall. The majority of them are just... bland and undetailed.

Story/Gameplay-wise

1. Johto. TWO regions and a solid plot overall? Yes please. So much to see! So much to do! It's amazing!
2. Unova. Probably the most mature and well-written plotline of any of the games. It only loses to Johto because it had less post-game stuff.
3. Hoenn. Again, I'm a filthy Gen3-er, sue me. Delta Episode was my dream come true.
4. Alola. I loved the extraterrestrial/futuristic plot mixed with island tradition. Overall very very fun, if a bit hand-holdy.
5. Kanto. Simple, but it works. I enjoyed it.
6. Kalos. Eeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhh. Mediocre with a capital M. Very forgettable.
7. Sinnoh. God I hated the gameplay here. I hated it. Infuriatingly slow-paced and grindy. Granted, I've never played Platinum, but Diamond and Pearl were the closest I ever got to just quitting a game out of frustrated boredom. I actually bough an Action Replay just to speed up the leveling process with unlimited Rare Candies.

 

1. Unova region: In every aspect a good region
2. Jotho region: Nice design and good shortcuts for backtracking
3. Sinnoh region: Good Region, but too many caves
4. Kalos region: Nothing good and Nothing bad
5. Hoeen region: Nice design, but the last part of the game had too much surfing parts
6. Alola: Nice Tropical region, but it has too less surfing parts for a region with 70% water area.
7. Kanto Region: Not bad, but pretty boring designed tbh.

 

1. Gen IV. As far as I'm concerned, Gen IV was the height of the franchise...and also the last time it was actually any good. The introduction of online features came at the perfect time for me, as I was just getting into forums, and as I was in College at the time nobody gave a damn what I liked or did. I LOVED Diamond. The Legendaries were all fantastic, the starters were amazing, the world had so many amazing features (day and night came back! Yay!) and felt so much bigger after Gen III, the updated visuals were spectacular for their time, the music was great, Cynthia was great, the physical/special split actually made me interested in competitive battling, and even though it recycled Gen III's plot it felt like a more complete experience as there was only one team to worry about.

Platinum was even better, and HeartGold and SoulSilver are, as far as I'm concerned, the ideal standard for remakes. I judge EVERYTHING based on these games now in terms of quality, because they were the ultimate experience - a snazzy little Pokewalker reminiscent of the Pikachu one I had when I was a kid, a GB sounds item that let you listen to the old music if you wanted, EVERYTHING following you around, some great in-game events (having level 1 Dialga/Palkia/Giratina was so fun!) and some absolutely stunning visuals - it felt like they'd taken what they had from DPPt and added so much more colour to it. HGSS had literally every feature I could have wanted in a Pokémon game and more. It's the only time I've ever felt like they haven't just taken things out for the sake of taking them out. I loved Gen IV and I still do.

Gen IV also had Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. Whilst I think Blue Rescue Team is the better game - the best Pokémon game ever made, in fact - I did love the Explorers games for their significantly expanded content...and absolutely brutal difficulty for some of the dungeons. The Chimecho Assembly was a cop-out, but you can't have everything I guess!

Also the Ranger games weren't TERRIBLE either, at least not after the first one. Spinoffs in Gen IV were generally pretty good.

2. Gen II. These games were so EXCITING. I'm actually a huge fan of Gen II design-wise, as Dark and Steel types seemed to add so much more variety to the designs...unlike Fairy, which was applied retroactively and was basically a Dragon-counter and nothing more, but I'll get to that later. Gen II felt huge at the time, considering it let you explore Kanto as well after the fact, and for a young me who rarely got video games due to financial concerns, that meant a lot. Pokémon was still hugely popular at the time as well, and that definitely helped.

3. Gen I. I'm hesitant to put this in third place as the games have NOT aged well at all - playing Yellow now is physically painful - but I have to admit I'm coloured by nostalgia with these, because Gen I was the best time to be a Pokémon fan. The movies were still good back then, the cards were a lot of fun (although they led to a lot of fights), the anime was still on TV - and I love the original dub anime, they get away with so much that they'd never do now - and it was all so fresh and exciting back then. Yellow was pure fanservice at the time because you could basically play as Ash...sure, Brock and Misty didn't follow you, but it was important to me at the time I got to play a game of a show I loved so much.

4. Gen VI. After Gen V I was quite hopeful that Gen VI was going to improve on things, and it did to a point...the online functionality was improved, character customisation was limited but nice, I actually prefer the character models in these games to the ones in Gen VII, and the experience was generally smoother. But the polygonal models were ugly as hell, the new Pokémon were pretty rubbish and there weren't enough of them, and it was pretty dull all around. I don't have the "too easy" complaint - I did appreciate the more relaxed experience, actually - but there was nothing in these games that made them especially good...or especially bad either. Putting them in the middle of the list makes sense to me, because they're just OK. The positives balance the negatives out to make an experience that I won't really remember for any reason. I wasn't thrilled, but I wasn't disgusted either...at least with X and Y. ORAS are another story. Those repeated the mistakes of Ruby and Sapphire by being two halves of the same game - making them inferior to Emerald in my eyes - and the only reason I don't hate them is because you can get practically every Pokémon in them, and they FINALLY let me catch Deoxys legitimately.

5. Gen III. These games came at kind of a bad point in the franchise for me - I was in Secondary School so it wasn't "cool" to like Pokémon anymore, the anime wasn't on TV I could watch, and I didn't have a GBA for quite a while. But with Ruby and Sapphire it felt like I was getting half a game, as whichever one I chose the other team was utterly omitted and it was frustrating. Emerald fixed that by including both, but honestly I was never really captured by Gen III's world. After exploring two regions in GSC it felt small and pretty dull, and even though the phrase "too much water" is used as a meme I think there is more truth to it than some people would care to admit. As far as Gen III's Pokémon go, they're not my favourites either....Torchic was cute, but that was about it.

...and that godawful bloody soundfont! My ears have only ever been in more pain from a soundtrack from Persona 4. Seriously, those trumpets are AWFUL. Awful, awful, awful. If it were on the basis of music alone Gen III would be at the bottom of my list. I'd sooner listen to rap than this.

6. Gen V. I think if Gen V had come a little earlier in the franchise, I might be more forgiving of it, but BW were in every way a step backwards from DPPt. The animated sprites were awful. The setting was drab and uninspired. And the narrative-focused approach...that is the worst thing to have ever happened to the core Pokémon titles. I don't play Pokémon for story, and there is a very good reason for this: it's threadbare. Pokémon is not a story-based series. So having these mediocre, under-developed NPCs shoved in my face repeatedly every five minutes? Yeah, it's not going to work. For all its grandstanding and claims to be a different, darker kind of story, Gen V was basically Gen IV's plot again, which was Gen III's plot again. There was nothing innovative or unique about the narrative in these games. I could forgive Gen IV because the Legendaries were better and because the NPCs weren't such a huge focus; it was a distraction, not the focal point. Gen V just wouldn't stop shoving them in my face. It pushed itself as a story-based game, and the story was disgracefully bad.

The open game of Black was a slog. I was NOT going to use that garbage elemental monkey the game tried to force on me, and I don't like either Patrat or Lillipup. I was stuck with my starter for what felt like a very long time, and I didn't even like my starter either. I didn't mind being thrown into the game with a whole new Pokédex, but the fact that none of the appealing designs were available until after the second Gym really killed it for me. Add to that the diminished returns EXP, and...yeah. It was a long, boring, horrendous solo starter run for the first part of the games, and it really put me off the games.

I will give Black 2 credit where it is due, though. The Pokémon selection was better, the Dream Radar was nice to have, and the PWT was spectacular. Challenge Mode had the stupidest unlock requirements I think I've ever seen in a video game, but it was the thought that counted and I had an Action Replay anyway so it didn't affect me too much. Also, Roxie's Gym has the best music ever. But it tried to build upon a story that was already a complete waste of time and space and didn't really add much to my hopes for the future of the franchise there.

The online features were utterly backwards, though. I never really got the C-Gear or the multiplayer hub thing. Triple and Rotation battles were also horribly under-utilised and didn't really work anyway.

7. Gen VII. I didn't think anything would be worse than Gen V's horrible narrative-based approach and bland, lifeless world, which is partly why I kept going with Pokémon after it even though Gen VI left a lot to be desired...then I played Sun. The only Pokémon game I have ever stopped playing because I literally couldn't stomach it. Gen VII has a narrative even worse than Gen V's - at least Gen V's NPCs leave you alone; escaping Lillie was practically impossible, and she had no personality to speak of to justify her constant presence - and it's island-based approach...it was practically stage-based. The new Pokémon were painfully mediocre design-wise, they seemed to suffer from a painful identity crisis given the obscene number of Kanto Pokémon floating around, the lack of National Pokédex was downright criminal, and the gameplay...ugh, my god. Trials were basically Gyms. There was no shakeup here. And that godawful diminishing returns EXP system from Gen V made an unwelcome comeback, making training a miserable slog.

I will give Ultra Moon props for improving upon the variety of Pokémon available, as well as having a fairly challenging final boss of sorts in Ultra Necrozma...that one took me by surprise. But the "re-imagining" of the previous games - I don't know what else to call it, honestly - still didn't really hold my attention. These are the games that have put me off the franchise and are making me seriously consider whether I want to buy into Gen VIII, if this is the future. If Gen V killed Pokémon for me, Gen VII defiled the ashes.

...and what the hell was up with Festival Plaza? Gen VI's online interface was so wonderfully, beautifully simple, and easy to navigate. It used the touch screen to the best possible effect. Gen VII was a chaotic mess that had you pressing buttons to press buttons to open menus to confirm that was the menu to press the button to open the next menu and so on and so forth. Running around pointlessly to find a trade partner who may or may not spawn int he area and then press more buttons. It was such a colossal waste of time!

 

Going from my least favorite to most.

• Gen II - Johto: I was never really much of a fan of Johto. To me it was a watered down version of Kanto and I understand the abundance of Kanto Pokémon due to the close location of the two. But there were a lot of times where the Kanto species overshadowed the Johto. A lot of the new Pokémon weren't viable options later in the game and a majority of them were baby or evolution stages of preexisting Pokémon in Gen I. Gen II really should have been Gen 1.5. Johto seemed kind of hard for me to navigate, even when cleared up in HGSS. The positives were of a lot more lore dedicated to the worldbuilding and legendary Pokémon...something Kanto did nothing of. I do also have fond memories though of checking the Nav tool to find Raikou and Entei's location when chasing them...as frustrating as it was.
• Gen I - Kanto: I have to give it credit for its simplicity. It started the franchise with all these wonderful creatures and an RPG of "create your own team" adventure. While there wasn't much in terms of side quests other than just leveling up, beating the gyms and taking on the league, it made the formula. However the vanilla aspect is also the reason I'm not much of a fan. There was little story to it and virtually nothing to do once you beat your rival as the final battle. I also find Gen I had wayyy to many poison type Pokémon. Having a psychic type was almost crucial to finishing the game and they were OP before dark was introduced.
• Gen VI - Kalos: Gen VI didn't introduce many Pokémon, 71...the least of any generation. However I find that a lot of them sparked great creativity such as Chesnaught, Greninja, Aegislash, Barbarnacle, Pyroar, Tyrantrum and such. Mega Evolution is pretty awesome in giving an extra power boost to some already powerful Pokémon or those that can use an extra oomph in battle. Fairy was an interesting addition to the type pool to keep dragons in check. With the lore of Kalos being even farther away from the other regions gave us an even bigger idea of how diverse the Pokémon world was. But the story was lackluster after that amazing plot from Gen V. Stuff just didn't exactly flow and all the traveling companions felt more like seldom recurring characters in a TV series that appear at the start then again at the midway point of the season and disappear all the way until the season finale. The only one who had somewhat of a dynamic was the rival player character and even he/she seemed shallow at times.
• Gen IV - Sinnoh: Sinnoh was pretty cool. It wasn't my favorite region, but not my least favorite either. I do love the changes with the physical/special split and a huge introduction of cool new moves and Pokémon. I do feel that Sinnoh suffers from a lack of new species like Johto did since a vast majority of the Pokémon available in the games were from prior generations. A lot of them were also extensions of preexisting Pokémon families while improving those specifically, lacked diversity overall. Galactic was a great villain and I found this Pokémon League to be especially challenging. The pace of the game and the grind was agonizingly slow.
• Gen III - Hoenn: I'll be honest. I loved the Hoenn region. New mechanics such as the weather made things more dynamic and the Pokémon introduced here seemed the most earthy and natural out of all the generations thus far. I loved the variations in between Ruby and Sapphire with Emerald being a combination of the two. Lots of great legendaries.
• Gen VII - Alola: Alola's actual counterpart of Hawaii is the only one I've actually been to in real life. I used to go to the islands almost every summer on vacation and agree that they've raised the bar on the cultural aspect of Pokémon. I see a lot of similarities between the games and how Hawaii actually is. The characters of Hau, Lillie, Kukui, Gladion, Guzma and more are all so well developed that I can't help praising it enough. Alola's native Pokémon are still creatively designed with some being similar to Kanto. And the Alola forms are a nice touch throwback to the older generations for nostalgia.
• Gen V - Unova: Alola was a home run. Unova was a grand slam. Seriously. The story for both Black, White and their sequel is hands down the best they've ever made. It has the same formula of the games, but the dialogue and characters, especially N seemed to resonate to me and actually question myself as a trainer. Team Plasma continues to be one of my favorite villains of all time and the Pokémon introduced here really brought out the creativity. I know this one gets a lot of flame and hate because of the ridiculousness of the designs, but I like it. It's nature and nature is going to have those strange looking animals. Lots of memorable Pokémon in this one.

 

7. Gen 1
I'm really not a big fan of the first Generation. I didn't grow up with it, so I don't have any special bond to it, like many may have.

6. Gen 6
The sixth Generation did bring in some interesting Pokémon, but not that many. There wasn't really much happening. The games were okay at best, imo.

5. Gen 3
Many people say that the third Generation is the best ever, but I agree to disagree.

4. Gen 2
I just love HGSS, they're my favorite remakes. I also have Gold flying around somewhere... I should play it...

3. Gen 7
Amazing games and some great Pokémon came with the seventh Generation. Definitely deserves to be in my Top 3.

2. Gen 5
The fifth Generation is just wonderfully great. The games are really good and so are the Pokémon! Love it!

1. Gen 4
Ah, dear nostalgia. I grew to really love the Sinnoh region and its many great Pokémon, maybe because it was my first ever contact with the Pokémon world. I really need to replay Platinum...

 

7. Gen II
Gen II is the generation that I’ve played the least. Actually I’ve barely played it. I’m not a very big fan of most of the Pokémon they introduced (besides Ampharos, Heracross, and maybe Chikorita).

6. Gen I
I feel just meh about gen I. I think the constant Kanto remakes ruin Gen I for many people, me included. Aside from Snorlax, Clefable, and the starters, most of the Pokémon introduced here are on average just meh. Also Pokémon Go ruined it for me in 2016.

These next three I feel about the same:

5. Gen VI
Gen VI introduced Fairy types, Megas, and character customization, all things I like, but not much else. There weren’t many Pokémon released (an all time low at 72) and as mentioned in everyone’s complaints about Kalos, they were too easy. I never saw this as a kid, but now as I look back it’s glaringly obvious. Also I didn’t find many songs I liked, until much later after playing the games. Special mention to AZ and Floette, this part of the story is my favorite, and every time I watch his episode of Pokémon Generations, or listen to the music associated with him, I always cry.

4. Gen III
Ah, the land of trumpets. I think the games and the music are good. I like a decent amount of the Pokémon released here, like Gardevoir, Absol, and Mawile (both them and their Megas). My biggest complaint is the amount I’ve had to restart these games because of the ROMs resetting my data. I’ve had to restart twice on my computer, and three times on my ipad. I haven’t been able to finish the game yet and it’s frustrating to start from the very beginning over and over.

3. Gen VII
The meme-y ist of all Pokémon games. I like how they deviated from the typical standards, with the islands and trials, and having the player as the Champion. I also liked Lillie and Gladion’s part in the story. The character sprites are also greatly improved from Gen VI, now the main character doesn’t look like a midget. The music is great too, except for the route music. This Gen also produced a small amount of Pokémon, but I am fine with most of them, aside from Pyukumuku, Turtonator, and the USUM UBs. Complaints- no national dex (even if it means getting the shiny charm is much easier), festival plaza (a clunky version of Join Avenue), and the fact that you have no “rivals” post game (at least in SM). And that you can’t go to Kanto (as much as I don’t like a Kanto rehash, it would’ve worked so well in the story.)

2. Gen V
The most controversial Gen. I think it’s overshadowed by, and underappreciated because of, all the hate it gets. It’s actually really good. It has an amazing story, and beautiful music. And not to mention that it has the only sequel games- Black and White 2. The games are much more mature than what I took them to be as a kid. I actually used to think these games were bad because I didn’t think they were nearly as good as my first game, Diamond. Over the years, however, I’ve grown to appreciate Gen V more and more. I guess my complaint is the Pokémon- there are so many introduced, which isn’t a problem unless many were bad. I’d say a good 3/4 of them I like, some of my favorites including Volcarona, Garbodor, Vanilluxe, Chandelure, and Cobalion.

And my #1 favorite generation- Gen IV
This is probably no surprise, judging by my username. What can I say? I love Sinnoh. I started off in Sinnoh, as mentioned above. This game is why I love Pokémon now. The music is absolutely fantastic. I like almost every track in the game. My favorite always has been, and always will be, Cynthia’s battle theme. I loved it ever since I first heard it. The story is great as well, and this game is why I can accept mythology. Of course, the common complaint is that the games went too slow, and that there aren’t many Pokémon in the regional dex. Platinum fixed these problems as best as they could, but I will always prefer DP. Is it just pure nostalgia? Probably. But I can accept the flaws of DP and still love it. Obviously I love many Pokémon in gen IV, including Arceus, Porygon-Z, Dialga, Roserade, and of course, my username’s namesake, Empoleon.

 

7. Generation 7, Alola. Based on the Hawaiian Islands, this was a fun region, but not my favorite. Without the gyms, and the remakes coming back out so early, I really can't say it's all that good in my eyes. Sure, it was creative, but not my style.

6. Generation 4, Sinnoh. Though it has my favorite mythical Pokémon, as well as some of my favorite Pokémon, the Sinnoh games weren't the best in the world. And without a remake, I can't say all that much. The remakes would raise its ranking for sure.

5. Generation 6, Kalos. Fairies... Those terrifying fairy Pokémon made this region fun, but the new type was just a bit weird for me. And I wasn't really a fairy-tale kid, so this just didn't hit home for me at all.

4. Generation 3, Hoenn. The remakes were fine. The original games were fine. It isn't higher only because it didn't really have any memorable Pokémon for me. But it isn't lower because of the story and characters. Shocking since my pfp is an Absol, right?

3. Generation 1. Nostalgia in a nutshell. First Pokémon game brought out, first Pokémon game in general. It's quite the interesting game story for sure, especially with Let's Go.

2. Generation 5, Unova. When this came out, I thought it wasn't much, but the remakes actually brought me in. Great story, great characters, and quite the game from my standpoint. It also has my favorite starter and legendary, Snivy and Reshiram, respectively.

1. Generation 2, Johto. Why is this number one? Because it was my first ever Pokémon series and I just adore most of its newly-introduced Pokémon and mechanics. It just caught my heart, and that is why it is up here.