Board 8 > What's the worst mainline Pokemon game?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Following on from the Zelda and Mario topics, here's Pokemon. I'm specifying 'game' rather than 'generation' to specifically talk about the major entries that introduced each gen, instead of the remakes or spinoffs etc. They've all had backlash (and backlash to that backlash) at this point. But which is the worst?

There were a few clunkers but sword/shield were arguably not even close to a complete game.

So bad i skipped the gen 4 remakes and didn't blink.

I'm trying to think if I enjoyed X/Y or Sword/Shield more

It's between those two for sure, I actually enjoyed Sun/Moon a good bit and Scarlet/Violet are legitimately good games even with the atrocious performance

Definitely Sinnoh

X/Y were so bland they killed my interest in the series for nearly a decade.

SwSh, easily

Sun/Moon

X/Y was by the numbers but it was so cool seeing Pokemon in 3D and stuff that I gave it a pass

Nothing like that for SwSh, which was a real shocker

Leafeon13N posted...

So bad i skipped the gen 4 remakes and didn't blink.

They sucked ass, so you missed nothing.

I would be willing to bet a lot of people forgot they even came out until you mentioned it here.

Feel like I want to vote Scarlet/Violet because it ran like shit and not much of it was very great.

Sword and Shield were so bland to the point where I felt like I was better off playing a fangame instead. That's my vote, though I haven't played Scarlet and Violet, which looks to be a contender.

SV is one of the BEST generations, despite technical issues.

Out of the first five gens (the ones I played), RSE were clearly the worst.

Inviso posted...

SV is one of the BEST generations, despite technical issues.

Yeah I really liked SV
It's a bit rough and the lack of dynamic levelling is an issue but it has a lot going for it. Big upgrade on SwSh too

yeah SV has technical issues but it's a very fun game with great characters and the only truly good battle system gimmick

I don't think you can just excuse the game shipping in and in some way still being in a completely unacceptable state regardless of the core quality of it.

It's basically Nintendo's 2077.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

It's basically Nintendo's 2077.

Wouldn't go that far. It's probably the most technically embarrassing game they've ever released, though.

I find it greatly confusing that some people encounter horrible glitches in SV while some seemingly don't. (I'm in the latter half). I'm not doubting the glitches happen, just that the inconsistency makes it even weirder.

Anyway, voted for X/Y. It's just so forgettable. At least my second pick (Sw/Sh) tried something a bit different with the dressing of the Pokemon league as organized sports, had memorable supporting cast, and had good memes prior to its launch (Scottish trainer).

I won't deny that SV is a buggy mess, but it was a fun buggy mess that I completed the pokedex in, which beats SwSh being just kinda boring. Oh, and the online is a vast improvement over Y-Com, which finally breaks the pattern of somehow making online play worse and worse after getting it right in Kalos.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I don't think you can just excuse the game shipping in and in some way still being in a completely unacceptable state regardless of the core quality of it.

of course you can

I've never had a truly terrible glitch in SV, so it has never bothered me, personally.

My vote was for GSC, since it gave a very weak crop of newbies (with some stand-outs), but my God is that game broken as hell. Awful level curve due to the whole "you can challenge 3-4 gyms in any order you want" thing, the phone system was an unbearably stupid way of handling swarms AND rematches, and when the game finally opened up to the Kanto half, there's nothing to do aside from some weirdly level-scaled gym leaders, and wild Pokemon that are SUPER fucking low level in comparison to the big bad end boss of Mt. Silver. Also, the game adds two new typings, but barely gives you access to those new typings until after you've cleared the Johto half of the game.

Raka_Putra posted...

I find it greatly confusing that some people encounter horrible glitches in SV while some seemingly don't. (I'm in the latter half). I'm not doubting the glitches happen, just that the inconsistency makes it even weirder.

Most of those viral glitch videos were from multiplayer.

I'm playing through SV and loving it but yeah the glitches and performance drops are super annoying

mnk posted...

Most of those viral glitch videos were from multiplayer.

worth it for infinite shiny sandwiches

My ranking is something like

SV > BW > RSE > SwSh > DPP > XY > SM > GSC >> RBY

Not gonna vote because I didnt give it a fair shake, but Scarlet/Violet could only keep my attention through two badges. I did not like the open world aspects at all.

Sun/Moon easily. the amount of hand holding, forced cutscenes, and horrid pacing is enough to scare me off of ever playing the again

i don't really remember anything from RSE

it's probably not the worst one, but S/M is what killed my interest in the series with how slow everything was I haven't even bothered with Sw/Sh or S/V

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

it's probably not the worst one, but S/M is what killed my interest in the series with how slow everything was I haven't even bothered with Sw/Sh or S/V

This but I did indeed vote S/M as the worst. X/Y was bad too but S/M twisted the dagger that X/Y had already placed there. Didn't even get the 8th badge in X/Y and got to the 2nd or maybe 3rd island in S/M before I was bored with both of them.

It's gotta be Sw/Sh. I remember so many people getting excited about the "first mainline Pokemon on a home console" who were daydreaming about the huge leap it would take only for it to actually be worse production-wise than the handheld games that preceded it.

SV is a technical disaster but they were obviously at least attempting something bold.

S/V couldnt even bother to include level scaling in their open world which completely ruined the whole aspect of making your adventure unique. As badly as the rest of it ran I wouldnt be surprised if they had bugs with even that if they had included it

i can't remember anyone from X/Y except the red haired bad guy and the hobo

wait also the rollerblades girl but I have no idea what she was.... gym leader that gave you the Mega evolution bracelet I think?

... who was the champion for xy? *googles*... I recognize the design but I have no idea what role she had in the game

Grimlyn posted...

I have no idea what role she had in the game

Did she have a role? I thought she just showed up in a conversation with Lysandre that one time. Maybe she shows up one or two more times?

This is a really hard question because R/B/Y obviously is the most flawed but how much do you hold that against it compared to later games which are basically patch notes of earlier games

After Diamond/Pearl, I kinda just stopped playing the series for 4 generations

I think my hot take is that gen 4 wasn't really that great outside of introducing the physical/special split? Base Sun/Moon caused me to drop the series for a while but I played through UM last year and it was more or less fine so *shrug*. Sw/Sh was just kind of whatever and probably is worse relative to expectations. Also I think I like X/Y a lot more than other people (I think the concept of Megas just resonated with me).

the GOAT gens are 1, 2, 5, 9

KamikazePotato posted...

Out of the first five gens (the ones I played), RSE were clearly the worst.

Yeah this was my vote down to the ones played

Black & White, and it's not even a teeny tiny bit close and I will die on that hill. I will never ever understand the love that game gets.

Sun & Moon is trash

Kenri posted...

S&M were so bland they killed my interest in the series for nearly a decade.

FTFY

Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that long for me. I've been on a Pokemon high this year, and am just about to finish my Dex in Shining Pearl. Anyone wanna help me trade-evolve a few party members?

Also, Gen 4 was fine after DP. Only DP was bad, due to the game's sluggish engine, the lack of fire-types, and the general soullessness - all things addressed in Platinum and, to a lesser extent, the remakes.

Underleveled posted...

Black & White, and it's not even a teeny tiny bit close and I will die on that hill. I will never ever understand the love that game gets.

Because it has a darker, more mature tone?
Because of the character designs?
Because the gym leaders actually have personality?
Because the Unova region in the games is really good?
Because of the all-new Pokedex that made the games feel fresh again?
Because of an actually compelling story that isn't as straightforward as the other games?
Because of actually good villains?

I will never ever understand your hate for it, because you've never once been able to explain it. The only bad thing about Gen 5 was the anime.

I feel like I have to vote Sun and Moon here. That was around the time my interest in Pokemon was absolutely dying.

Didn't get Sword and Shield, so I don't feel right voting that.
Didn't finish Scarlet and Violet (Which says a lot), but kinda unfair to vote for it?

Finished Sun and Moon, wasn't impressed. First time I didn't get the 3rd version. Sun and Moon was blatantly rushed from start to finish.

D-O-G-A-R-S

Dogars!

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Because it has a darker, more mature tone?
Because of the character designs?
Because the gym leaders actually have personality?
Because the Unova region in the games is really good?
Because of the all-new Pokedex that made the games feel fresh again?
Because of an actually compelling story that isn't as straightforward as the other games?
Because of actually good villains?

I will never ever understand your hate for it, because you've never once been able to explain it. The only bad thing about Gen 5 was the anime.

obviously it's ptsd from that one hiker on the ferris wheel

hombad46 posted...

Did she have a role? I thought she just showed up in a conversation with Lysandre that one time. Maybe she shows up one or two more times?

Her role was that she was the Champion. She might as well not exist outside of the Champion's room with how irrelevant she was outside of it.

Grimlyn posted...

D-O-G-A-R-S

Dogars!

I will forever be disappointed that they went with "Pokemon" in the song for every language instead of having a different Koffing song for every language. We were this close to a Smogon theme song, and they blew it.

its hard to explain because its mostly just a vibes thing, but Gen 3 has always been my least favorite

One thing is pokemon games are all pretty similar, so a major differentiating factor in my enjoyment of a given gen is the new Pokmon that get introduced and gen 3 was not a strong batch. I cant quite put my finger on it, but theres something about the look of the entire gen that just felt off to me.

Theres definitely some that I really like, but none of them would be among my absolute favorites. Theres probably at least five Pokmon in each other game that Id rank over every Pokmon introduced in Ruby/Sapphire.

oh but the actual worst game is probably the Diamond/Pearl remakes on the basis of being a colossal let down.

Sword and Shield for sure.

RSE is just the game that "killed" Pokemon for me. After being huge on RBY/GSC, RSE is when I stopped caring. To be fair though - everybody stopped caring, Pokemon became somewhat of an uncool kids game and not the insane phenomenon everybody at school was addicted with that the previous generations were and people aren't trading and battling anymore.

It's not really a hit on the game itself, but the environment that I was in when it came out. I can still say that I never really liked its generation of new Pokemon, and that the east side of the map being made up entirely of water were big points of mockery for me, but I can't say how much my emotional perception of the game is actually based on that versus the social aspect of Pokemon.

DPP on the other hand came to in my internet communities age - Board 8 days. Then the game took full advantage of that shift with its own online features and oh boy was DPP an absolute hit here. The sentiment at the time truly felt like a revival for the series, not just from my own view but from most people here and it made the games exciting again as we all had each other to trade or battle with, even here coming up with the Board 8 Gym Challenge thing. I recognize a lot of flaws in the games themselves (Mt. Coronet), but in this case the social environment of the time really elevated it as a big comeback.