Why Are The Generation 1 Fans the Biggest Complainers About Each New Pokemon Generation?

[Kaxbe]

A Pokemon is literally garbage. My problem with the latest gens is that I've seen hundreds of better looking Pokemon people have done themselves on deviantART. I just don't like the designs, my personal favorite is gen 3 but after that they've sort of been going downhill till I stopped playing.

Got tired of the grind mostly. My time became more precious and the lackluster designs of the latest batch do not incentive's me to get back into the series.

I actually really like the "literal garbage" pokemon! Considering that this was the first time a generation didn't include previous gen pokemon right out the bat was very interesting to me. I found those two pokemon one of the nice parallels to the first gen of pokemon. After all, first gen had pokemon that were literally toxic sludge.

I saw a comic taking the piss out of the latest batch and it showed that one and I thought it was something the comic creator did to take the piss, I started laughing/crying when I realized it was official.

But as I said, Gen 3 is my personal favorite, followed by Gen 2. Gen 1 is somewhere near the bottom I wasn't a huge fan, but it was great because there wasn't anything to compare it to.

Gen 5 isn't my favorite, but I do see the good qualities and some of the genius behind it. As I said in a previous post, each generation is made to specifically be different, but not too different, from the generation before it.

Gen 2 is my favorite namely because of the introduction of Steel and Dark types which really helped balance out the type system a little bit more and reduced the sheer amount of power that psychic types had.

 

[Dragonbums]

I think there may be a bit of a defensive going on here. I started on the 1st gen, and I have to admit up until about the 4th I was good, but then the original 150 started getting... pushed aside. Now Don't get me wrong, progress and change and what not, but there is a different balance now and the originals and even 2nd gen are falling behind due to being almost a different game, perhaps a revamp of stats is in order(no evolving doesn't count)

As to the hate. Nostalgia plays a part, but there is a weird effect that the newer gens have, it like they.. don't quite fit, and I'm not sure why, they look really cool, Samurott, Carracosta, Chandelure, Braviery, Luxray, Gallade, Lucario... They all look good, but they still aren't quite right.

The dreamworld in Generation 5 made the first 3 generations relevant again.
I can assure you that I never hated battling Politoad and Ninetails ever in my entire life.

Not really. Some abilitys for a small few, look at the stat comparison, just on average the first gen Pokemon have lower stats than say 4-5 gen and with another gen looming, hey are likely to be even more obselete, with the liklyhood of new pokemon with similar abilitys.

I think Generation 5 went a tad bit too far with adding powerhouse Pokemon. With Darmanitan pushing it to new levels(Like 170 base attack? Geez! To make it wose it had decent speed too!). I honestly hope that that is the power cap, and no new Pokemon next gen goes beyond that. I think Gen 5 was trying to bring new competitive Pokemon to the field aside from people using the obvious [insert dragon type here], Metagross, Tyranitor,and Milotic(That was then the most useful defense wall at the time)
I don't want the Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon to be irrelevant. However if they keep this up they are either going to have to give them some broken move like Zapdos having access to heatwave or they are going to have to up their base stats to accommodate for the new base stat standard they have started to set in Generation 5

Yes this, but we all know well and good that gen 6 is going to up the stakes stat wise at least(I'm all for the rumored new types) but gens 1 and maybe 2 need a stat revamp, they are constantly adding moves(they could allways ad more cough *Flareon*)but the stats have fallen behind. an extra 10 attack here or 15 speed there, and you bring back the originals plus you throw a wrench into the competitive scene(which is a bad joke) and watch them squirm!

We can only really know as the game comes closer to release and they start to reveal the stats of certain Pokemon. Pokemon is known for fixing the balance when they have gone too far. What I worry about in the stat upgrade for generations 1-3 is that will it still allow players to transfer those Pokemon? Will those Pokemon have skewed stats? Or will the internal mathematics recalculate their current stats including EV, IV, Nature, and Personality, and then based on the new stat upgrade correct them accordingly?
This of course, once again depends on if they are going to further raise the power cap.
I highly doubt this would be answered in the Q and A session, but it would be nice if someone were to bring this up.

 

[Something Amyss]

I actually really like the "literal garbage" pokemon! Considering that this was the first time a generation didn't include previous gen pokemon right out the bat was very interesting to me. I found those two pokemon one of the nice parallels to the first gen of pokemon. After all, first gen had pokemon that were literally toxic sludge.

I really did like the way you only had new Pokés at first in Gen 5. It forced me to try things I probably otherwise wouldn't. on the other hand, I WANT MY DAMN FAVOURITES.

I've never really disliked a generation of Pokémon, though Gen 2 seemed lackluster to me. I didn't play it for very long, though.

 

[1066]

As someone who went away from the franchise after Red and Blue, and about the second movie, I'll give my two cents.

I can't speak for later generations, but I saw two things happen. The first was that the original series and games said repeatedly that there were only 150 Pokémon in the world; which is a lot, really. It was part of what made Mew and Mewtwo such a big deal. They were alien and unique. They broke the rules of the world and pushed it. As silly as it sounds, considering the subject matter, there was something epic there.

After that, they 'remembered' that there were all the other pokemon who'd been there the whole time. No, really, we forgot them under the couch. It kind of cheapened the whole thing. The established lore no longer applied and it was a free pass to pull anything they wanted out of their butts.

Of course, the other side of this is that, no matter how silly they were, Pokémon in the first gen had a theme and an identity. They fit into the world where they were, usually mostly organically. There were seams, but they fit. The second generation, at least, just seemed to be filled with fairly random things. Not because there was a gap to be filled, but to meet a new quota.

For the series, Ash fell into the trap of the 'starting over' trope, to the point that I'm told they did that explicitly. Each season or two had him ditch his old Pokémon for a new set, new companions, new league, etc. There have been quite a few shows that do this and, after a while, you can tune into it without watching for a year and be fairly sure you've seen this episode before simply because you recognize what part of the familiar arc you're in.

 

[Dragonbums]

A while back it used to be "Ever since Gold and Silver its all went to hell!" Now its all "Ruby and Sapphire were the last great Pokemon games!" Give it some time. While I found gen IV to be quite un-noteworthy, I can guarantee in a few years that at least gen V will be regarded as the high point, while gens VIII and IX are bemoaned.

It will be interesting to see. Right now generation 3, 4, and 5 will be the ones kids will have a nostalgia factor over. 5 being the most seeing as how they did a parallel to the Pokemon in generation 1. (and I know Nintendo was highly aware of this factor.) So what's nostalgic for us now, Generation 5 will be nostalgic for this coming generation of fans.
Right now Garchomp and Haxorus are the Charizards and Gyardos's- the cool Pokemon so to speak. While the likes of Axew and Emolga are in the "Jigglypuff" category.


CAPTCHA: propane accessories

How did it know that I want to watch King of the Hill right now?

 

[MrHide-Patten]

A Pokemon is literally garbage. My problem with the latest gens is that I've seen hundreds of better looking Pokemon people have done themselves on deviantART. I just don't like the designs, my personal favorite is gen 3 but after that they've sort of been going downhill till I stopped playing.

Got tired of the grind mostly. My time became more precious and the lackluster designs of the latest batch do not incentive's me to get back into the series.

I actually really like the "literal garbage" pokemon! Considering that this was the first time a generation didn't include previous gen pokemon right out the bat was very interesting to me. I found those two pokemon one of the nice parallels to the first gen of pokemon. After all, first gen had pokemon that were literally toxic sludge.

I saw a comic taking the piss out of the latest batch and it showed that one and I thought it was something the comic creator did to take the piss, I started laughing/crying when I realized it was official.

But as I said, Gen 3 is my personal favorite, followed by Gen 2. Gen 1 is somewhere near the bottom I wasn't a huge fan, but it was great because there wasn't anything to compare it to.

Gen 5 isn't my favorite, but I do see the good qualities and some of the genius behind it. As I said in a previous post, each generation is made to specifically be different, but not too different, from the generation before it.

Gen 2 is my favorite namely because of the introduction of Steel and Dark types which really helped balance out the type system a little bit more and reduced the sheer amount of power that psychic types had.

The hardest decision of my teen years; Steelix or Scissor.

 

[Headsprouter]

This is SUCH an old debate...all the gens have their good and bad points, but whether or not this is true is highly subjective, i.e. nobody can be right or wrong, if you hate Scrafty, that doesn't make it the worst because I LOVE SCRAFTY!! Many people do, whether or not the design is bad is your opinion. I don't like how Dota 2 and LOL design their characters, which completely puts me off wanting to play the game because there is no character I like enough to learn, not to mention how unforgiving MOBA games are to noobs. But I won't say the game sucks for that reason.

I love Gen 5, Gen 4's originals are my least favourite (however, some of the avolutions of older Pokemon are really nice, like Yanmega, but Lickilicky is poopy) and my favourite gen is the third because it simply has a whole bunch of cool and likable pokemon like Flygon, Breloom, Aggron, Whiscash, Ninjask, Camerupt, Gardevoir, Wailord, Cradily, Metagross, Slaking and Altaria. I may have missed a few, and of course, this is my opinion. I'll even admit, looking at the mascot for Ruby and Sapphire, respectively, and comparing them to any pokemon of the gens preceding it, not knowing that this was officially the third gen, if asked, you'd probably say "bootleg". But because that ain't so, doesn't mean I'll hate 'em anyway!

I welcome the new design that came with the third gen, pokemon started to take on a different form, and it pisses me off when people claim that when the third gen came "it just wasn't pokemon anymore..." that is sentiment and it does not come into play in a serious debate!

Pokemon. SRS BZNS.

I really like all sorts of Pokemon..I think that's epitomised in that my favourite type is bug, statistically the overall worst. I don't care how they play, as long as they're good on my eye I will find a way!

A favourite pokemon from each gen? Don't mind if I do: Slowbro (Maybe Pinsir, too...), Feraligatr, Flygon(especially Trapinch), Yanmega and Scrafty. Conkeldurr is close second, 5th gen is one I have real trouble deciding with, so many cool pokemon, in that one. Scolipede, too.

 

[vid87]

I've been fine with the series for the most part - I had Blue, Silver, and am scrathcing my current Poke'-itch with Sapphire (the latter someone actually dropped in my driveway when I was holding a yard sale).

I really do want to keep up with the series and enjoyed the few times I could trade and battle friends, but 4 things have been constant problems:

1) I don't own a 3DS so X + Y won't be happening

2) The new games come out so fast I'm not even sure what's relevent to play anymore

3) I put off playing B+W because I was really, really unimpressed by the new entries (Ice Cream! Garbage Bag! Guy Holding Masonry!) I know they're all supposed to be ridiculous, but I just can't help feeling they're really scrapping barrel's bottom.

4) An article from this very site put it best - catching them all has become utterly impossible. I'm a completionist and Nintendo wanting me to bend over backwards to fill out the Pokedex pisses me off (doing it through Action Replay - if that's even still around - wouldn't feel right).

 

[Bellvedere]

I've been playing on and off since gen 1. I went through a too cool for pokemon phase and skipped the GBA games, but have played everything else.

I have no problem with any of the new pokemon and there's generally a few I like from each gen.

I do feel differently about pokemon now though. When I originally played, I was also a massive fan of the TV series, grew emotionally attached to certain pokemon (for reasons outside their battle potential), and I knew everyone of them by name and number.

While I still enjoy playing, I'm not nearly as immersed in it now as I was then and as a result have certain fond memories of gen 1 that I don't have with the later gens.

There's also a level of frustration with the later pokedexes being a pain to fill. With gen 1 all you needed was a mate with the opposite cartridge and you've got all 150. You could even get mew if you knew the cheat. Now not only do you have to trade from other generations there's also all these event only pokemon and it just feels a whole lot more complicated.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

They're not becoming simpler, like some people claim, but they're becoming far removed from Generation 1's more innocent interpretation of everyday wildlife.

I'm not sure tapirs, horseshoe crabs, blobs of industrial waste, cicadas taken over by parasitic cordyceps fungus, ducks based on Japanese expressions, and short mimes are innocent interpretations of everyday wildlife.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

And I'm sure you could make a case that there's nothing more innocent than Vanilish

The newer pokemon still feel a lot more commercial than the older ones.

More commercial? I don't think you can single out any Pokemon generation for being more commercial when the entire franchise has just been a cash-cow for toys, cards, tv shows, and games since day one.

 

[Uratoh]

My thoughts on pokemon is that it's far too complex for its own good, and doesn't TELL you how complex it is. A person cannot simply pick up and play it, catching the pokemon they like and taking them on a magical pokemon journey, because those pokemon will likely not be optimized, and their EVs will be all over the place. They will play someone who has the same level pokemon as them, but knows all the hidden numbers and has played the numbers game (or hacked to maximize with no effort) and will be completely torn apart. The only in game references to these things are vague allusions and 'oh, this pokemon has superior potential...and its HP is exceptionally good.'. It's got an adult-maddening level of depth and complexity...hidden behind pretty much the game devs waving their hands and going 'oooh spookey'. The game is just full of invisible hoops you must jump through before you even have the remotest chance of competing...and don't get me started on Smogen. I honestly think they're bad for the game...people were in a PANIC on elseforums when the place got DDOS'd for a few days because the math masters with their 'fairness enforcement' rules weren't around to tell them the best way to raise their pokemon.

 

[Kaxbe]

My thoughts on pokemon is that it's far too complex for its own good, and doesn't TELL you how complex it is. A person cannot simply pick up and play it, catching the pokemon they like and taking them on a magical pokemon journey, because those pokemon will likely not be optimized, and their EVs will be all over the place. They will play someone who has the same level pokemon as them, but knows all the hidden numbers and has played the numbers game (or hacked to maximize with no effort) and will be completely torn apart. The only in game references to these things are vague allusions and 'oh, this pokemon has superior potential...and its HP is exceptionally good.'. It's got an adult-maddening level of depth and complexity...hidden behind pretty much the game devs waving their hands and going 'oooh spookey'. The game is just full of invisible hoops you must jump through before you even have the remotest chance of competing...and don't get me started on Smogen. I honestly think they're bad for the game...people were in a PANIC on elseforums when the place got DDOS'd for a few days because the math masters with their 'fairness enforcement' rules weren't around to tell them the best way to raise their pokemon.

I actually think that's a great thing! It allows people to play pokemon their own way as they progress through each region. Sure, there may be imbalance in pvp battles, but there's not as many people as you'd think who do play that way. It allows several different kinds of people enjoy the game and keep playing it. It's part of the reason why Pokemon still has a strong adult fanbase despite how "kiddy" it is, and the best part of this is, is that not all of these adult players are people who have stuck with it because of nostalgia.

 

[llubtoille]

simpler games for simpler times perhaps,
A part of me would very much like to still be playing pokemon (and have tried on several occasions on friends games) but I've found all the new things they've added to add a level of complication i find offputting,
i like the original pokemon a lot and would still be inclined to play it, however multiple (dozen) replays have left it tasting rather stale.

possibly just rose tinted glasses of a game that held me in thrall during my youth.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

And I'm sure you could make a case that there's nothing more innocent than Vanilish

The newer pokemon still feel a lot more commercial than the older ones.

More commercial? I don't think you can single out any Pokemon generation for being more commercial when the entire franchise has just been a cash-cow for toys, cards, tv shows, and games since day one.

Sure I can, and I am specifically talking about designs, not the franchise as a whole.

Latter generations mark a stark departure from more biologically themed pokemon, weaker ties to mythology and a very heavy focus on evolution. As in, they are just adding stages of evolution (baby or a step up) to pre-existing pokemon.

The first generation gave us the Magnemite line, the Voltorb line, the Grimer line, the Koffing line, the Geodude line, the Diglett line (Diglett is based on a Whack-a-Mole game), and the Ghastly line. Pokemon like Vanilish are nothing new.

Newer generations have, if anything, increased the focus on mythology. Mewtwo was a genetic experiment, Ho-Oh and Lugia are symbols of the moon and sun, the weather trio are based on the biblical behemoth, leviathan, and zsiz, and the genie trio are based both on the Momotaro story and on specific deities.

As for a heavy focus on evolution, I see it as a good thing that old pokemon lines get new evolutions. It helps give worse pokemon like Lickitung a much needed upgrade (And while some of the evos like Magburn are rather ugly, others like Scizor and Magnezone are pretty swell). The problem is pre-evos, which I personally dislike for being pretty pointless.

I really don't see how pokemon has gotten more commercial; it's always been a commercially-driven franchise. Gotta catch 'em all and all that.

 

[suntt123]

I don't get the Vanilluxe hate. His entire line friggen adorable!!
Also, why hate a pokemon for being based on food? Exeggcute was a half-dozen eggs pokemon and nobody seemed to care...

A lot of Gen I Pokes also had extremely lame evolutions.
Diglett evolves into 3 Digletts with angry faces?
Magnemite into 3 Magnemites hot glued together?
Pile of goo into slightly larger pile of goo?

Personally, my favorite gen was gen IV. Gave a lot of obsolete pokemon some much needed (and awesome!) evolutions like Gliscor and Electivire and Magnezone, had the most bad ass starter final stages (IMO) and introduced a mechanic that made finding wild shinies easier (Though still incredibly difficult).
Also also, it's 'Magmortar' ^

EDIT: Typos