Pokemon: Best game to play if you only play one?

[Retro STrife]

Back when Pokemon first came out in the 90s, I bashed it pretty hard as a passing fad that would fizzle out in a year or two. Boy, I've never been more wrong about something, as it's now up there with Zelda and Mario among the biggest gaming franchises in the world. I've never played through a mainline Pokemon game (I'm a big fan of Pokemon Snap but that doesn't count here), but I've always felt like it was important that I try one out. I did play about 5 hours into Pokemon Blue years ago, and liked it, but my save got corrupted and I quit. So my question: if someone only ever plays one Pokemon game, which should it be? Time limitations being what they are, I'm not asking "where do I start?" because I know I'll probably never have time to play another one. I've thought about this on and off over the years, and googled it a few times, and feel like these are the main contenders:

A. Pokemon Blue/Red or Yellow, to experience where it started.

B. Pokemon Gold/Silver, since this is the best reviewed game in the series and a lot of people seem to say it's the best.

C. Pokemon Sun/Moon, as the latest version in the series.


I also mention these choices because I happen to already own each of them in my collection-- I have Pokemon Blue, Red, Gold, and Sun (along with a couple others... I buy too many games). Anyway.. any thoughts on the options or any other recommendations than the three here?

[CaptainCruch]

Learn with Pokemon Typing Adventure (Nintendo DS), it comes with a nifty little Bluetooth keyboard! Unfortunately, not released in the US. But since the DS is region-free, you can play it on an American DS too! (Yes, it's just a silly educational game. But enjoyed it more than I expected).

[pacman000]

Since you already have Blue, go with Blue.

1) Old Pokemon games are kinda expensive...
2) Gold/Silver's internal clock runs down the games' battery, used to save games. They might need a replacement, another expense.
3) I had Blue, & am nostalgic.
4) Played through Crystal a few years ago. While it was an improvement over Red/Blue, I'd say most of the improvements were minor. Some extra dialog boxes to tell you what items did; a slightly more developed story. There were also some added elements which I did not like. I did not like the time changes; only being able to catch certain monsters at certain times of day seemed limiting.

If you have a long car ride coming up, you can probably get through the 1st quarter of the game fairly easily. These games are great time sinks.

[Stalvern]

I missed this thread when it was fresh, but I have to put in a good word for Crystal Version. If you play one Pokémon game, you've played them all, but I put Crystal at the top for being the most developed game of the second generation. Unless you're dead-set on getting a Ninetales or an Ampharos, there's no reason to play Gold or Silver when Crystal is the same game with a lot more polish. (A particularly nice touch is how it tells you when you've entered a new area, which makes it much easier to keep track of where you are without looking at a map.) I also love the day/night cycle; it adds a bit of strategy and makes the world feel more real and alive, and you'll be going back and forth through the region enough that it's no trouble at all to visit the same places at different times of day.

But if I'm being honest, it's really my favorite because of the Pokémon. Like I said, the games are all basically the same, so it's really a question of which Pokémon you want to catch. With the GBA games, I thought that the designs went downhill; they started to get slicker and sleeker in a way that lost the charm of the previous ones, and the set was padded out with copies of existing designs (Butterfree and Venomoth really didn't need Beautifly and Dustox to keep them company, to say nothing of the four useless cocoon Pokémon between them all). I was still a kid when they came out, and even then, I knew that I didn't like them as much. When the DS games were released, I stopped paying attention completely.

[Retro STrife]

Interesting takes. Thanks guys. I've searched this question on and off over the years and, if I've learned one thing, it's that there's certainly no definitive answer when it comes to this series. Most gaming series seem to have a consensus best game... or at least one or two that most people argue over. With Pokemon, what Stalvern said is something I've heard a lot: paraphrasing, i.e., "if you've played one, you've played them all; so it's more about what you're looking for." For that reason, the most common answers seem to be Blue/Red (the reason being that you see the game in its simplest, original form where the phenomenon started) or Moon/Sun (the reason being that you see the game in its most complex and polished form). I figure games like Gold/Silver/Crystal strike a balance between the two eras, but gravitate more towards the early years. And really, that might be best for me.

[Rev]

I would probably go with HeartGold or SoulSilver. I think they strike the best balance between the old games and the new ones.

Some things in the newer games I wouldn't want to lose. Such as the Physical/Special split which made a lot more pokemon able to actually use moves that worked with their stats.

If you don't mind fan hacks of games, I would recommend Pokemon Crystal Clear. I got turned to it from this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQYBsZ78fdI&t=301s

The game is actually really good! The game is very open, you can go anywhere, anytime. You can catch all the Pokemon and has a lot of tweaks that make it a very re-playable game.

[Stalvern]

Moon/Sun (the reason being that you see the game in its most complex and polished form)

That might be true, but it's an awful introduction to the series. It adds "Alolan" versions of the first-generation Pokémon and has "Mega Evolutions" of what used to be Pokémon's final forms. Probably cool for people who have followed the series through the years, but an impenetrable muddle for someone getting a Pokédex for the first time.

[GTS]

Just be aware that there are a lot of counterfeit Pokemon GBA and DS games floating around. For the fake GBA ones, there can be issues with gave saves.