I have Diamond (same generation) and I was not a huge fan. I had a lot of trouble with pacing issues leading to a mega-grind towards the end of the game. I beat the elite 4 and champion with a party 20 levels under the opposition.
0
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
What follows is mostly my opinion which for some versions will be incomplete as I have not played them.
Pearl/Diamond/Platinum Platinum is the third updated version that almost each generation has had (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald.) You should probably go with that one should you choose this set. First DS Pokemon versions. Touch screen aside from menu has a utility watch with handy little apps that can be added to it. Starting with this set, all Pokemon games had much better endgame content. has a mix of old and new pokemon for some good diversity. Well sorta. There's only only 4 new Fire types introduced and 7 total in these version. The starter, 1 legendary, and Ponyta are the only fire types in these versions. At least till the endgame is unlocked. Some interesting little features such as a dedicated way to find shinies, customizing your pokeballs, and the already mentioned utility watch. A good game overall if you're looking for a "new" pokemon experience.
Fun fact: Platinum is the only game so far to have a naturally found lvl 100 pokemon.
It's magikarp.
HeartGold/SoulSilver A remake of Gold and Silver with Crystal integrated into them both, with plenty of features unique to these two entries. Such as a new customizable Safari Zone, the Poke'lympics (minigames with helpful prizes such as evolution stones, rare candies, hold items, etc) extra endgame content relating to previous versions (other legendaries), and probably my personal fav, the ability to let your lead pokemon follow you out in the world. If you played the original Gold or Silver versions before, this may be a nostlagia bomb for you. Since it's part of the same generation as Pearl/Diamond/Platinum, it has some of the same new features as well such as the Ball Capsules.
Black/White Tons of new pokemon of varying levels of awesomeness, potentially from the coolest, to the failboat. Plenty of old pokemon return, but after the endgame is unlocked. Fully animated sprites. New Triple and Rotation battles. Probably one of the deepest (for a pokemon game) stories. The bottom screen feature is much more fleshed out. You can even send a pokemon to sleep ("the internetz") and play with it at the Pokemon Global Link website. Main attraction there is "befriending" pokemon there and bringing them back to your game to join your team. These "Dream" versions can have special abilities or moves and some can only be acquired from this method. To me these truly felt like the "newest" versions in the series.
Black2/White2 No idea, have not played either. I assume it's like Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, etc except it takes place 2 years or so after Black & White so maybe even more it's own game.
All these versions have great connectivity. You can trade and battle anyone in the world so long as you have a wireless connection in the latter versions. However this isn't the case for Pearl or Diamond.
Personally I enjoyed them all quite well. Black and HeartGold are at the top of my list though. HeartGold nostalgia and new features, and Black's overall "new" feeling the reasons being. Excluding HeartGold & SoulSilver, there were plenty of new pokemon that I loved and some I grew to like.
I don't know what you are looking for in particular in a Pokemon game so I can't really point one out to ya.
I'm not really looking for anything specific in a Pokemon game. I played the original on my GBP back in the day. Game Grumps have been doing a FireRed playthrough and it made me nostalgic. Thought I'd check out one of the newer games. I actually ended up befouling myself by going into a GameStop and picking up a used Pokemon Platinum edition on the way home from work.
If you don't like excessive grinding OR feeling like you're cheating, you might want to give Black and White some veeeery careful thought before you jump into them. B/W 1 and 2 started implementing an EXP scaling system, in which the higher level your pokemon is than the one you're fighting, the less XP you gain. Unfortunately, the wild pokemon are quite far under the levels of the trainers' pokemon, and there's no VS Seeker to save you, so you're either stuff with an unnecessarily long grind trying to level up a team, or Audino Farming (running around for a ton of steps until the tall grass starts rustling, then fighting a pokemon that pops out for ludicrous amounts of XP), which is highly unsatisfying. It honestly feels like you're just popping Rare Candies on your pokemon to level them up (which, technically, it IS actually the same concept pretty much).
Thankfully, they booted the EXP scaling system in X&Y and I don't think it'll be making a return, and none of the other games have it.
Just something to consider. I'm sure everyone else on here will probably disagree with me, but that's how I see it.
I personally recommend Platinum. Hands-down, the best DS pokemon game. I would advise against Diamond or Pearl except for collection reasons, though- there's a ton of battle menu lag in Diamond and Pearl that majorly slows battles down. They fixed it in Platinum, which is why the battles feel much more snappy.
I've put in around 14 hours to Pokemon Platinum since Friday o_O I haven't gotten this hooked by a game in quite a while. I'm starting to get a little annoyed with it at the moment though. I made it through to Eterna City without having to do much grinding at all... but I've been grinding for hours now trying to get a couple of Pokemon high enough to beat the damn Eterna City Gym leader. I've gotta be doing something wrong.
I've put in around 14 hours to Pokemon Platinum since Friday o_O I haven't gotten this hooked by a game in quite a while. I'm starting to get a little annoyed with it at the moment though. I made it through to Eterna City without having to do much grinding at all... but I've been grinding for hours now trying to get a couple of Pokemon high enough to beat the damn Eterna City Gym leader. I've gotta be doing something wrong.
You and me both. Also, could Nintendo have made the Pokemon Transporter a bigger pain in the ass to use? It takes four different pieces of software and four cartridge changes to move one box of Pokemon.
0
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
You and me both. Also, could Nintendo have made the Pokemon Transporter a bigger pain in the ass to use? It takes four different pieces of software and four cartridge changes to move one box of Pokemon.
If Gamefreak kept certain features or not made new ones then it would be easy to transfer them. However they wouldn't have been able to move forward as much. Then people would have just called it what they tend to call the CoD franchise now.
I finally beat that damn Eterna City Gym. I have to wonder why Nintendo would put a gym leader that uses L20-22 Pokemon in an area where all the Pokemon are L10-15. Just doesn't seem to make sense unless you're trying to frustrate your players.
I should probably stop threadjacking the Pokemon X/Y thread with Pokemon Platinum talk :/
A lot of the older games were super grindy as someone pointed out above, but the White/Black generation for me seemed to be the worse. I got to the Final Four in Pearl, but could never beat the champion and kind of gave up.
@drasnor said:
So I bought a copy of White 2 used at a local mom&pop game store. It is full of legendaries from prior games.
Follow-up: all but about 6 transferred successfully which makes me wonder about the others. The only one which didn't transfer which was unique is an Arcias which you're not supposed to be able to get anyway.
I just started playing pokemon X, the last game I played before that was Red... Man, they sure have come a long way, I'm looking forward to the remakes!
Also, my favorite pokemanz atm:
2
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
2 interesting points:
·Sometime in the past month, I'm not sure exactly when at the moment, over 100 Million Pokemon have been traded over the GTS.
·In honor of the former achievement, a special "Fancy Pattern" Vivillon will be available for a short time through the Mystery Gift feature. This pattern cannot be attained by normal means. As of now there are 19 different patterns Vivillon can have and 18 of these patterns are based on where in the real world the Vivillon was evolved/caught. For example a Vivillon from the Bahamas will have a pattern that resembles a sun setting/rising over an ocean.
0
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
"Let me give you two interesting points of information:"
·First, there is another rare pattern Vivillon that you can get over the Mystery Gift. This one has a pokeball design.
·Second. The next distribution event will start on August 13th and run to September 17th, and will be a lvl 50 Heracross or Pinsir depending on if you have X or Y, respectively. Then, for the US, you can go to a Gamestop for a code that will grant you the respective megastone for your new bug.
For Canada and Latin America:
have your Pokémon Trainer Club location listed as Canada/Latin America and have opted in to the official news letter, then in September, you will receive the Mega Stone serial codes through the Pokémon Trainer Club Newsletter.
I know it is not XY but figured this didn't need its own thread and I could not find a Red/Blue thread. Still somthin' cool to try for any of you that still play the older games.
1
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
Hmm, yes. Hmm, yes. Hmm ... exquisite.
0
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
This morning, the Pokemon Company announced they are working with Namco Bandai on a new game: Pokken Tournament (ala Tekken.) It will appear as an arcade game in Japan in 2015. It was implied that there may be a console release later on.
0
ChoochK-Pop authority™, Pho KingMadison Heights, MIIcrontian
Wish we knew for certain that it will be. But it does look sweet.
0
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
Next distribution events have been announced for the US.
Halloween Special (though it doesn't last till Halloween): Oct 13th - 26th. Shiny lvl 25 Gengar with Gengarite, and knows Sludge Wave. A shiny Gengar is white instead of purple and Sludge Wave is not normally learned by Gengar.
The next event will be Oct 27th - Nov 16th and will grant Diancie, 1 of the 3 "mythical" rarity pokemon for X & Y. This is the only "official" way to get Diancie.
For both of these events, you have to visit a participating Gamestop store during the event's run time. You'll receive a serial code to put in your game to unlock their respective pokemons.
0
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
I just found this out, if you've ever wanted a Celebi, you have until the 30th of September to get a lvl 10 Celebi from using Pokemon Bank with X or Y. Apparently this works with the trial version of the bank, but I didn't even know that existed. So you don't have to pay 5 bucks but it's still 5 bucks for 12 months. Not a bad subscription amount.
Comments
Pearl/Diamond/Platinum
Platinum is the third updated version that almost each generation has had (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald.) You should probably go with that one should you choose this set. First DS Pokemon versions. Touch screen aside from menu has a utility watch with handy little apps that can be added to it. Starting with this set, all Pokemon games had much better endgame content. has a mix of old and new pokemon for some good diversity. Well sorta. There's only only 4 new Fire types introduced and 7 total in these version. The starter, 1 legendary, and Ponyta are the only fire types in these versions. At least till the endgame is unlocked. Some interesting little features such as a dedicated way to find shinies, customizing your pokeballs, and the already mentioned utility watch. A good game overall if you're looking for a "new" pokemon experience.
Fun fact: Platinum is the only game so far to have a naturally found lvl 100 pokemon.
HeartGold/SoulSilver
A remake of Gold and Silver with Crystal integrated into them both, with plenty of features unique to these two entries. Such as a new customizable Safari Zone, the Poke'lympics (minigames with helpful prizes such as evolution stones, rare candies, hold items, etc) extra endgame content relating to previous versions (other legendaries), and probably my personal fav, the ability to let your lead pokemon follow you out in the world. If you played the original Gold or Silver versions before, this may be a nostlagia bomb for you. Since it's part of the same generation as Pearl/Diamond/Platinum, it has some of the same new features as well such as the Ball Capsules.
Black/White
Tons of new pokemon of varying levels of awesomeness, potentially from the coolest, to the failboat. Plenty of old pokemon return, but after the endgame is unlocked. Fully animated sprites. New Triple and Rotation battles. Probably one of the deepest (for a pokemon game) stories. The bottom screen feature is much more fleshed out. You can even send a pokemon to sleep ("the internetz") and play with it at the Pokemon Global Link website. Main attraction there is "befriending" pokemon there and bringing them back to your game to join your team. These "Dream" versions can have special abilities or moves and some can only be acquired from this method. To me these truly felt like the "newest" versions in the series.
Black2/White2
No idea, have not played either. I assume it's like Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, etc except it takes place 2 years or so after Black & White so maybe even more it's own game.
All these versions have great connectivity. You can trade and battle anyone in the world so long as you have a wireless connection in the latter versions. However this isn't the case for Pearl or Diamond.
Personally I enjoyed them all quite well. Black and HeartGold are at the top of my list though. HeartGold nostalgia and new features, and Black's overall "new" feeling the reasons being. Excluding HeartGold & SoulSilver, there were plenty of new pokemon that I loved and some I grew to like.
I don't know what you are looking for in particular in a Pokemon game so I can't really point one out to ya.
Thankfully, they booted the EXP scaling system in X&Y and I don't think it'll be making a return, and none of the other games have it.
Just something to consider. I'm sure everyone else on here will probably disagree with me, but that's how I see it.
I personally recommend Platinum. Hands-down, the best DS pokemon game. I would advise against Diamond or Pearl except for collection reasons, though- there's a ton of battle menu lag in Diamond and Pearl that majorly slows battles down. They fixed it in Platinum, which is why the battles feel much more snappy.
I should probably stop threadjacking the Pokemon X/Y thread with Pokemon Platinum talk :/
Latios and Latias gettin some love as first mega legendaries!
Follow-up: all but about 6 transferred successfully which makes me wonder about the others. The only one which didn't transfer which was unique is an Arcias which you're not supposed to be able to get anyway.
SHARK
False there was a Mega-Mewtwo.
Okay, I'm finally taking the plunge back into the land of pokemanz. I was presented with this:
My last game I played in the series was Red (yes, the classic Game Boy 1st Generation Red), so I chose Y.
Fennekin, I choose you.
I don't know how you all felt about the 3rd generation but I liked it. So I am very excited about this
As expected, fanart abounds after the news:
by Sa-Dui
(My reaction)
by Dragonith
I just started playing pokemon X, the last game I played before that was Red... Man, they sure have come a long way, I'm looking forward to the remakes!
Also, my favorite pokemanz atm:
by Protocol00
Hype increases!
by kawacy
2 interesting points:
·Sometime in the past month, I'm not sure exactly when at the moment, over 100 Million Pokemon have been traded over the GTS.
·In honor of the former achievement, a special "Fancy Pattern" Vivillon will be available for a short time through the Mystery Gift feature. This pattern cannot be attained by normal means. As of now there are 19 different patterns Vivillon can have and 18 of these patterns are based on where in the real world the Vivillon was evolved/caught. For example a Vivillon from the Bahamas will have a pattern that resembles a sun setting/rising over an ocean.
"Let me give you two interesting points of information:"
·First, there is another rare pattern Vivillon that you can get over the Mystery Gift. This one has a pokeball design.
·Second. The next distribution event will start on August 13th and run to September 17th, and will be a lvl 50 Heracross or Pinsir depending on if you have X or Y, respectively. Then, for the US, you can go to a Gamestop for a code that will grant you the respective megastone for your new bug.
For Canada and Latin America:
I understand some of these words:
I know it is not XY but figured this didn't need its own thread and I could not find a Red/Blue thread. Still somthin' cool to try for any of you that still play the older games.
Hmm, yes. Hmm, yes. Hmm ... exquisite.
This morning, the Pokemon Company announced they are working with Namco Bandai on a new game: Pokken Tournament (ala Tekken.) It will appear as an arcade game in Japan in 2015. It was implied that there may be a console release later on.
Wish we knew for certain that it will be. But it does look sweet.
Next distribution events have been announced for the US.
Halloween Special (though it doesn't last till Halloween): Oct 13th - 26th. Shiny lvl 25 Gengar with Gengarite, and knows Sludge Wave. A shiny Gengar is white instead of purple and Sludge Wave is not normally learned by Gengar.
The next event will be Oct 27th - Nov 16th and will grant Diancie, 1 of the 3 "mythical" rarity pokemon for X & Y. This is the only "official" way to get Diancie.
For both of these events, you have to visit a participating Gamestop store during the event's run time. You'll receive a serial code to put in your game to unlock their respective pokemons.
I just found this out, if you've ever wanted a Celebi, you have until the 30th of September to get a lvl 10 Celebi from using Pokemon Bank with X or Y. Apparently this works with the trial version of the bank, but I didn't even know that existed. So you don't have to pay 5 bucks but it's still 5 bucks for 12 months. Not a bad subscription amount.