HELP Which Pokemon game should I buy?

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Liviola

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May 9, 2011
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As a fan since the first one, and having played EVERY Pokemon after Blue/Red, I would actually HIGHLY recommend going to whichever is the latest version.

I think after all these years, GameFreak still knows exactly what they are doing, and they stick to the original formula pretty closely. With each generation, they add a little bit more, so over the years, Pokemon has gone a looooooong way in terms of user-friendly gameplay features.

As much as I love the previous versions, if I actually go back to them and try to play them, I start longing for the features I saw in following versions (like running! Gah. I seriously can't stand the only-walking in R/B before you get the bike).

In the case of B&W2, story-wise it's a bit of a deviation from the series because for the first time, you'll get 3D cutscenes and stuff and the story is a bit more of a traditional RPG story than previously. Also, you will see some of the original 150 Pokemon, so don't worry, you won't miss out on Zubats ;)
 

neonsword13-ops

~ Struck by a Smooth Criminal ~
Mar 28, 2011
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I can suggest every generation except for the 5th. It just felt uninspired, but that is to be expected when you decide to create a whole new set of Pokemon. Some Pokemon will be awesome and unique, while others will be fucking trash. Literally.

But Diamond/Pearl/Platinum were my favorites. They're the only ones I really bothered to 100%.

All of the gyms were pretty cool, Barry (your rival) always appears at the worst time, which is perfect. It forces you prepared all of the time.

Also, Cynthia is the best champion. Dat Garchomp...

If I were to pick a second favorite, it would be Ruby/Saphire/Emerald, mainly because they were my first Pokemon games. HeartGold and SoulSilver are really good remakes, too. And they even let you go to the first region like the originals, so they're essentially two games in one.
 

Ranorak

Tamer of the Coffee mug!
Feb 17, 2010
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I voted for Black&White because, I find that the best game in the series, gameplay wise.

However, if you enjoy the older pokemon more, Hearthgold&SoulSilver will get my vote.
 

Doom972

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Dec 25, 2008
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I recommend Pokemon Crystal. All generations after GSC have too many uninspired pokemon in my opinion, and Crystal is the best of the GSC generation.
 

Lizardon

Robot in Disguise
Mar 22, 2010
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If which species can be caught in the games is some things that's important, I'd recommend going to Serebii [http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml] For each game it lists what can and can't be found.

You're right that there are over 400in Platinum (493 to be exact), but you won't be able to get all of them. For some you will need to trade from the Gen 3 games or the 2nd Gen remakes.

If you really want the original 150, than I'd recommend either FireRed/LeafGreen or HeartGold/SoulSilver. If Blue's all you've played, I say get HeartGold/SoulSilver since you return to the region where the first games take place. For the ones you mentioned, Pikachu can be caught in the wild in HeartGold/SoulSilver and you get to choose one of the original starters from Oak once you get all the badges.

Hope that helps, now go catch 'em all.
 

elvor0

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Sep 8, 2008
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Lord RPGs said:
Black/White 2. Hear me out peopleses.

So, pokemon has grown a lot over the years, and it's gotten a LOT better since the days of R/B/G/Y. There's been so much growth and development of it, and even when people say "Oh, but it's the same game", it's now a far, far more refined and well made version of it. The different abilities that started in R/S/E, the Special/Attack divide that came with D/P, the reusable TM's of B/W... All of it adds up into a much, much more playable and fun game than the first ones. That's not saying the early games weren't good; They just don't hold up as well compared to the newest. Black and White 2 have the most variance in pokemon in it, with a nice mixture of pokes from the first 151 to the most recent, so there's a lot of fun you can have seeing old favourites and meeting new pokemon. There's also a lot of post-game content you can look at too, with the battle subways, the White Forest/Black City challenges, completing the pokedexes, and that's not even looking at the ridiculously deep competitive battling. Point being to all of this, I know I'm still gonna get a lot of flak for suggesting that the most recent games are the ones to play, but... They really are.


My vote isn't for Black or White, but Black/White 2. You can get a great mix of pokemon new and old, the gameplay's the best its ever been, and you don't need to have played the ones before them, trust me.
I think the problem stems from the fact that beyond the dedicated, most people don't actually understand or know how pokemon games work. Even "proper" gamers. People will say it's the same game because most people just see Pokemon as a rock, paper, scissors, they don't know about Natures, EV/IVs, strategy, breeding and whatnot it's just Grass Beats Water beats fire beats grass etc.

Not only that, Pokemon was always intended to be a social/multiplayer experience, and while I'm loath to tell people how to play the game, if you're playing Pokemon for a great story, you're seriously DOING IT WRONG! Granted BW/2 had great set pieces and a more interesting story to them than the rest.

The single player experience is just a gate to slow you down from playing the game proper; the multiplayer and the battle frontiers (and if you try rock paper scissors there you will die horribly). Pokemon has always been about multiplayer,(especially these days with the Wi-fi)there was a reason Red AND Blue existed and not just the one game.

The current generation is excellent though, pretty much what this guy said.
 

lunavixen

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Jan 2, 2012
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Seeing as you've not played a pokemon game since the original days, i'd recommend either Heartgold/Soulsilver (which are basically remakes of the original gold and silver, seeing as there was a high rate of cartridge failure for those two) or i'd recommend platinum if you were wanting one of the newer generation games. with platnum you'll eventually come across familiar pokemon from the original games
 

SweetShark

Shark Girls are my Waifus
Jan 9, 2012
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You should buy the new Pokemon game 4chan is making right now:





And yes, I believe they will succeed, like they did others people in the past [Katawa Shoujo]
 

the_green_dragon

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Nov 18, 2009
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Auron225 said:
Normally I would recommend Black/White - of all the Pokemon games available, they have the better stories by miles. Defeating the league and becoming Champion actually takes a back seat compared to everything else going on. If that kind of thing appeals, then go for Black/White.

However, given that you have only played the original gen of Pokemon, I would recommend Heart Gold or Soul Silver. Until you beat the league at least, you will only find the first 2 generations of Pokemon so your mind won't be too boggled with the sheer number of Pokemon you run into. It also means you'll have a better chance of running into Pikachu somewhere - you can get Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur but only when you beat the strongest trainer in the game (not the Champion) so if you really want them, you'd be better starting a new file in Blue (if you have it) and trading them over when you get the chance. The graphics are lovely for it, your Pokemon following you around is great and when you do beat the League, you can go to Kanto (the world map of Red/Blue) to beat the gym leaders there (Brock, Misty, etc) which is awesome fun!

If though you like the idea of having a sh*t-ton of Pokemon to choose from, then you may prefer Platinum. I wouldn't suggest sticking with original Blue - if you really really want to play that gen again, then get Fire Red or Leaf Green (updated versions of the original versions). They are GBA games but they can play on the DS.


My suggestion for you is Heart Gold or Soul Silver.
Thank you very much for the information, this was heaps useful. :D
 

the_green_dragon

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Nov 18, 2009
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Thank you to everyone who posted. I was originally thinking platinum but now I'm leaning towards grabbing Soulsilver off ebay.

I think I'll play that and if I get really into it again I'll go grab a copy of B/W. Since I haven't played any since blue I won't be missing the 'running' feature or any of the other cool stuff.

I think if I get B/W I might not be able to play Soulsilver without raging. lol
 

TheEvilCheese

Cheesey.
Dec 16, 2008
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the_green_dragon said:
Hey everyone, I need your advice.

I haven't played a pokemon game since the original pokemon blue on my gameboy and lately with my DS I'm considering buying one of the newer pokemon games (but not Black/White 2).

I was a big fan of the original 150 pokemon and I read that the new black and white have replaced them all with new pokemon, does this mean that in Platinum the original 150 still exist? I also heard somewhere that platinum had over 400 pokemon! wow, cause that'd be pretty cool. I also heard that pokemon black and white's 3D style graphics can hurt the eyes.

So basically I would love to get a new pokemon game, I don't have the time to play more then one so I'd love to get the one people think is the best taking into consideration I really do love the original pokemon (charmander, squirtle, bulbasaur, pikachu) so if any of these newer titles has them let me know. :D

BLACK and WHITE
"These games feature 156 new Pokémon, more than any other generation before, They take the 3D attributes previously included in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver and take them to new levels by including things like fully 3D bridges and 3D cities."

I would honestly recommend playing black or white 2 if you haven't played in so long, get a clean break. All 649(!) pokémon are coded into the game but you can't get them within the game itself (outside of trading / importing from previous games).

If you are really hung up on the older 'mons HG/SS have all pokémon up to generation 4 (so 1-493, Bulbasaur to Arceus). You can get squirtle /charmander / bulbasaur in it, but only one of them and it's right at the end of the game, at the start you have to pick totodile, cyndaquil or chickorita.

These two are my favourite choices having played all of them. And if you do get HG/SS and want black or white later on you can send the pokémon across (not both ways though!). If you plan to play any more games in the near future and want to carry over your team get HG/SS.

Final note, HG/SS have all of the towns from red/blue as well as another region of a similar size. Feels like the biggest of the games and it will keep you busy for ever.


*EDIT* Didn't read last response before posting. My bad. As previous responder said, HG/SS is probably best bet for you, don't decide based on Ho-oh or Lugia, you can get both in both games, decide on the other exclusives in the version as shown here http://www.serebii.net/heartgoldsoulsilver/exclusives.shtml

SIDE NOTE: There's no way to transfer pokémon from the game boy or game boy colour games to the new ones, but you CAN send 'mons from the remakes (Firered / Leafgreen) to D/P/Pt/HG/SS and from there to B/W.

That's about all there is to say here... I think...
 

the_green_dragon

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Nov 18, 2009
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TheEvilCheese said:
I would honestly recommend playing black or white 2 if you haven't played in so long, get a clean break. All 649(!) pokémon are coded into the game but you can't get them within the game itself (outside of trading / importing from previous games).
Hey Evil Cheese, thank for the input, I'm definitely thinking Soulsilver after hearing all the comments(i like the box art over heartgold)

I don't have many friends who play pokemon anymore so this will prob be something I just play occasionally or on long trips so I prob won't be doing any trading. Soulsilver sounds like a really good one, I can catch almost all the original 150 pokemon plus there's a new (new to me anyway) 100.

One question tho, when Platnium says it has 495 pokemon, is that 495 i can get standalone or is that I have to trade with someone?
 

the_green_dragon

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Nov 18, 2009
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I'm just having a look at eBay and Soulsilver and White are both around the same price. $30 or so, with the pokewalker thing Soulsilver goes up to $60.

I'm like WTF, shouldn't SoulSilver it be like $15 or something?
 

TheEvilCheese

Cheesey.
Dec 16, 2008
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the_green_dragon said:
I'm just having a look at eBay and Soulsilver and White are both around the same price. $30 or so, with the pokewalker thing Soulsilver goes up to $60.

I'm like WTF, shouldn't SoulSilver it be like $15 or something?
Pokémon games hold value waaaay longer than most games. It's well worth the $30 in my opinion. The pokewalkers were limited, fragile and unimportant anyway, but did allow for some interesting things to be caught.

Both Platinum and SoulSilver have the first four generations of pokemon in them (1-493) but a lot of them require trading to get, platinum has 53(?) unobtainable pokemon and HG/SS have 41(?). There are lists of the unobtainable 'mons in platinum ( http://www.serebii.net/platinum/missing.shtml ) and HG/SS ( http://www.serebii.net/heartgoldsoulsilver/unobtainable.shtml ) But some of the ones you can get are only in HG some only in SS...

It's all a bit crazy and silly, to be honest you wont really notice as most of the missing pokemon are old legendaries and starters, which have no real importance.

Even now, 2 years after black and white came out it's impossible to finish that pokedex in the EU unless you trade an event pokemon from america or japan that we don't have. The numbers aren't something that will bother you and you can always trade for the odd 'mon you really want (the online trading system is flawed at best, I would suggest organising trades in the serebii wifi chat)

It's often worth buying a new copy of a pokemon game with the way they hold value- all depending on where you live and what deals you can get of course.
 

EHKOS

Madness to my Methods
Feb 28, 2010
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Blue then Gold(the original), then Emerald, then D/P/P, (whichever really), then Black or White. To appreciate it you have to go in order.
 

SpAc3man

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Jul 26, 2009
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Everyone knows that Yellow was the best. Get that one.
Emulators are good for the older games. I guess you could call them abandon-ware as they are no longer sold. Nintendo no longer has any financial interest in them.

I don't know all that much about the newer ones. You should definitely buy one if you are interested. Just because it is Pokemon.
 

Autumnflame

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Sep 18, 2008
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You could try Pokemon Conquest which is more of a battle field tactics and positioning game . similar to some of the FF and FE games. i tried it this week and i am enjoying the novelty
 

Terminate421

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Jul 21, 2010
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Platinum is Believe is the most perfect Pokemon game out there, it has all of what you need sealed in one great package. Though to be fair, Black and White 2 is the best/newest pokemon game out right now, so I'd pick that one. Heartgold and Soul Silver, while fucking awesome, brought back only one memory I remember I didn't like about the old games, they were really fucking easy. Seriously, it didn't matter what starter I chose, the enemies were all level 40 and below until kanto and when you got to kanto, you were still powerful enough to fend off anyone. I love them, tied as my favorite games with D/P/P series, but I still voted Platinum.

I voted on Platinum anyway, it should never be forgotten.

Also PICK POKEMON BLACK OR WHITE 2