Tier list the Pokémon main series games!

[starlightartist]

Here's my take on the series. Yes, I have scorching hot takes like putting RSE in D tier, and having not even played FRLG. Or putting S/M higher than USUM!

What are your takes? Here's the tiermaker link so you can do your own! Don't feel pressured into justifying any of your takes in any detail like I have - say as much or as little as you want! I'd just love to get a real look at how the games (particularly those more recent) rank among fans here.

D Tier

Spoiler:

Red, Blue : Okay, this is probably a very unpopular opinion but so much of my enjoyment of pokémon has become reliant on quality of life changes that make the game a much different experience. Red and blue, while being an incredibly commendable origin point are just eclipsed by the scale of what followed. I also am not a massive fan of everything in the original 151, though there are plenty of lines I enjoy. Important games but I don't revisit them.

Ruby, Sapphire : I just don't enjoy a lot about these games. Hoenn never really appealed to me (yes the water routes are definitely a part of that) and I strongly dislike the pool of new pokémon added. Nearly every pokémon in this generation I now really like is because of cross generational evos, with some exceptions like the legendaries, sceptile line, mythicals too. These games also rely heavily on backtracking and are the real origin point of HMs becoming a little more obnoxious.

Emerald : Pretty much as above, I am aware a lot of the praise of emerald is due to the post-game content and I totally understand that but I just don't enjoy playing through this game at all, mostly due to the same things true of ruby and sapphire above. So, I never even get to the post-game - I think I've given up 3 separate playthroughs of emerald because I wasn't having fun.

C Tier

Spoiler:

Yellow : I have a softer spot for yellow and I own a physical copy of it, the pikachu stuff and subtle changes were fun enough and laid the groundwork for certain gimmicks that would return later and honestly the whole affection system in general now has its roots in yellow. Ultimately though it's still a first gen game and I rarely revisit it. If I were to play a true gen 1 game though, I'd pick yellow.

Gold, Silver : Johto is more interesting to me than Kanto, and although it's dex is still a little inconsistent I feel like here there are more designs I actually begin to love rather than just like. Celebi is an awesome mythical with a great shiny! Speaking of, shinies become a thing and that is an important dimension of the series for me now. They have historical merit, perhaps more so than the gen 1 games but they are similarly eclipsed by improvements on the formula - even within their own generation.

B Tier

Spoiler:

Diamond, Pearl : Ah, the first appearance of gen IV, a gen I have very strong but very mixed feelings about. I adore the new pokémon selection - cross gen evos were a genius idea and I love basically every single one. Attention is being paid to giving interesting typings to things now too, giving us a steel/dragon legendary. Great dex, a lot of really fun designs in a really conceptually pretty and interesting region. The story is lukewarm at first but its final beats are fun. I have a lot of nostalgia for these games, but they are unfortunately murdered by their pacing. The absolute overload of HMs required and the slow health bars make progressing through kinda a chore. Which is a shame, because design wise there's so much to work with here. The final nail in the coffin is the terrible decision to lock most of the new evos to the post-game and not design any kind of type balanced dex at all. Great conceptually, a lot of strange execution mistakes. And where were the Mystery Gift events, you cowards!

Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon : I'll save most of my praise for these games for the section where I talk about the source games, but USUM are perhaps the most unnecessary second versions ever put out. It's not even that I don't like what was added - it's all fine enough and the new UBs are some of my all time favourite designs. It's simply that these games have to lose considerable points for barely justifying their existence, and then changing the story for the worse. Rainbow Rocket wasn't bad from a gameplay perspective, but the story was super contrived and fanservicey. These games are good, but only by virtue of being kinda inferior versions of some really good ones.

Let's Go Pikachu, Let's Go Eevee : I respect these games for trying something a little different - I for one enjoyed it. I don't normally like Kanto all too much as a region setting but this game was the one that made me like it. The game was very casual and relaxed, had a fun (and more or less free) shiny hunting method and stripped back combat to something more classic proving that the biggest detriment to the older games is definitely QOL stuff - the gameplay was solid enough. Props to them for including megas anyways though, that was nice. Games are fun, I'm not going to replay them but they were serviceable and visually appealing.

Sword, Shield : Okay, yes. Sword and shield have a pretty uninteresting campaign with such a dull story and linear progression. They also don't have a particularly charming art style or much of any visual flair. Ordinarily these games would be much lower down. I did have fun with the Crown Tundra, I also don't particularly mind dexit as much as most people seem to. But these games are not that well made and they have lost a certain charm they should have. But on a conceptual level, there is a lot to like - this is similar to my thoughts on diamond and pearl. The crop of pokémon is one of my favourite ever and the region is well designed with fun character designs plus a huge amount of positive changes to competitive gameplay have been made with the addition of things like new moves and a removal of more anti-fun moves. The execution is pretty damn rocky but there's enough to like. If anything that's a little more painful - they had plenty more potential than they realised. Dynamaxing is definitely a good idea, and the gigantamax forms are enjoyable too - but they really just make me yearn for more megas.

A Tier

Spoiler:

X, Y : These games are pretty good. Stylish region, pretty fun crop of mons, and yes: I LOVE MEGA EVOLUTION :D While I admit I'm not entirely sure the gimmick-per-region thing is at all the best direction for pokémon as a whole, mega evolutions were a lot of fun and a cool way to spice up the battle formula with something new and fun. Sycamore is maybe my favourite professor ever, and the raw gameplay of X and Y carry it for me. The story is pretty lackluster and forgettable, and the postgame is laughably small - but there's enough to like in the start of generation 6 for me to put it up here.

Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire : When these games first came out, as I'm sure you can understand if you read my opinion on generation 3 above, I was not very interested. It was the first time since I got into the series I hadn't gotten a new pokémon release on launch, except my first (pearl). I eventually caved and bought omega ruby, thinking I'd give Hoenn another chance after all these years and man - I was disappointed. Although there were substantial quality of life improvements, I still couldn't get into the region nor the pokédex of the region enough to bother finishing the game. So why is it in A tier? Well, several years later after being bored and looking for a new pokémon experience during a release drought I finally caved and gave these games another shot (this time opting for alpha sapphire) and oh boy was my mind changed. I'm not exactly sure what it was, perhaps I just massively prefer the alpha sapphire exclusives, but this time around I was able to have a team I liked enough and push on through the game. Once I made it past the midpoints I previously got bored on I found a lot to like about these games. The delta episode was fun and interesting (plus I LOVE Zinnia!), the soaring mechanic was really unique too and charming, the art style is perhaps the best any remake has had yet, plus what's not to like about new megas! A lack of battle frontier firmly keeps these games away from the S tiers, but once I got into them I had a great experience. If I ever for some reason crave the Hoenn experience it will absolutely be these games I go to. They improve upon many of the simple yet frustrating issues the originals had enough to be fun, and they retain a unique identity moreso than any other set of remakes. They are one of the least faithful and for that reason they're a large improvement in my eyes.

Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl : Yep, it's cool right to hate on these games apparently but I think there's plenty to enjoy. Sinnoh is a hard region to screw up badly for me given how much I love the map and most of the dex as mentioned above but the original diamond and pearl had some glaring issues. Brilliant diamond and shining pearl do serve to address most of these issues, the grand underground supplementing the weak pool of pokémon and HMs being moved to a pokétch app definitely add a lot and I spent a huge amount of time mining in the underground much like in the original. As remakes they do well to focus on the elements of these games that were commendable while touching up the areas that needed it. Personally I enjoy the art style too in a kind of silly fun way, and am not done playing these games yet. However they haven't fixed every problem with diamond and pearl - for one, many of the cool cross generational evos are STILL locked to the post game (a huge error) and the postgame is a little weak. Fortunately for us, these are not the first project to address problems present in diamond and pearl, and although they have a good go, the obvious choice we've yet to talk about addresses more of the problems, and in better ways.

S Tier

Spoiler:

Crystal : Perhaps given what else I've had to say about the older generations of pokémon games you might expect me to be equally as unkind to this one. It certainly surprised me that I enjoyed it so much - but it shouldn't be too surprising. I actually really like Johto as a region! Yes, crystal is also marred by many of the technical problems I consider to be hugely detrimental but on sheer content alone it wins out. Simply having two regions in one game makes for an incredibly rewarding experience as is but the bonus content on top of that in crystal make one of the most complete feeling pokémon games yet. My playthrough of crystal was on the virtual console and it made me fall in love with what would ultimately become my favourite pokémon - Wobbuffet! Using this STUPID gimmicky blob I bought from the game corner I was able to use it to almost single handedly sweep Red with a team about 30 - 40 levels too low. Yes it was cheesy. Yes it wouldn't work as well in the modern games. Yes, I love it anyways. Crystal is by far and away the best game to exist before the physical/special split and many of the QOL changes in today's games that I love. It is my go-to for a more stripped back and classic pokémon experience.

Black, White : Generation 5 is absolutely, without question for me, the most consistent generation of pokémon to ever be released. Perhaps by virtue of only have 2 sets of games - but it absolutely owns them. Unova is the first time we see the region design move outside of Japan and the creative freedom unlocked by this is immediately used to wonderful potential. There are... a few obnoxiously bad designs in this generation but most of the new mons are great. It's also a swan song for many of the classic charming features that are sorely missed in the modern games - bring back mystery gift items that trigger events instead of just giving us the pokémon!! But the real beauty to be found in black and white is with the story - the most mature, most moving, most thematically cohesive storyline to ever be put forth in a pokémon game is executed across these games and their sequels and the sheer charm of how the pixel art looks in these games makes me yearn for a return to that look with modern sensibilities. Black and white have enough of a serviceable postgame but the thing they suffered from most is a closed off pokémon pool. It's not as bad as the problem is in Sinnoh - the new dex is designed from the ground up with balance - but it would have been nice to see some older more familiar faces around every now and then. Despite this, black and white are excellent entries and would likely be in the double s tier if not for game freak having somehow found a method of improving upon them anyways!

Sun, Moon : Building off of the freedom to go all around the world they developed from designing Unova, they finally picked the absolute BEST choice here. Hawaii as a basis for a region was genius and the deliciously cutesy idyllic atmosphere in these games is so much fun to be around. The region is just incredibly well designed - and not having a champion so we fight the professor instead!? Genius move. I also really enjoy the trials as an alternative to gyms. I don't think gyms should be gone for good of course, but I don't think we really expected them to be. The trials are a unique gimmick that fits Alola really well! Z-moves are... a little forced, and so far my least favourite regional gimmick but they're still not entirely devoid of function. New megas would definitely have been preferable but Z-moves were at least thematically fitting for the spectacle element of these games - speaking of, the story was fantastically executed in these games. Perhaps it was snobby of me, but I was genuinely caught off guard by pokémon being willing to write a twist villain. I didn't suspect the aether foundation at first because I really believed we were at a point with pokémon where even in the games with the deepest characters (BW/B2W2) the plot itself was still pretty simple for the player. It was a nice twist, very anime inspired and the involvement of UBs was greatly handled. It's a shame these games got their ending changed in the ultras, since I think that massively weakened one of the strongest elements to these games. For me, the crop of pokémon is a mixed bag with about half of them being some of my top designs ever, and half of them being some of my bottom designs ever. An inconsistent pool but it manages to provide enough highlights to have an enjoyable team. These games had the heart that was missing from sword and shield, and prove that 3D pokémon games are absolutely capable of being well put together.

SS Tier

Spoiler:

Platinum : Now we've reached the tier where there's little to say because everything in here shares something in common - they are games that took an existing fantastic conceptual base and improved upon it wildly making the best way to experience that particular region. My praise of Sinnoh is well documented above, and in diamond and pearl is only let down by a few major things. Platinum addresses all of them except HMs, AND adds a battle frontier just for shits and giggles. So here we have one of the best designed regions, with a now much improved dex, one of the best postgames to date, AND they gave us the mystery gift events. There is very little that could be done to improve on platinum's experience, and I am certain that is where much of the disappointment for BDSP originates from. On sheer gameplay alone, platinum trumps them by a good way. A great example of how to release an updated version in the same generation as the originals with purpose. I'm looking at you, ultras.

HeartGold, SoulSilver : Generation IV was such a fun time to be a pokémon fan. It's a pretty popular opinion to call these games the best in the franchise and I totally get it. They're ostensibly crystal remakes, which really sets them apart from the remake versions we've encountered since. Johto looks better than ever, and we address one of my only lingering issues with that region by having access to pokémon from four generations now. The pokéathlon is a plenty fun enough side gimmick - not that you need one when we have YET ANOTHER BATTLE FRONTIER! So much to do in these games, honestly an unbelievable level of content and they are so much fun to play. I am admittedly very nostalgic for these games, but they are endlessly replayable and from a single player campaign perspectives offer a definitive pokémon experience.

Black 2, White 2 : I'm not entirely sure why it took so long for these games to get the recognition they deserve - they take games that pretty much only have one major flaw (pokémon pool, as if that's not a recurring theme) and address it. Finally, Gen 1-4 mons in Unova! But they're also second versions that are genuinely an entire different experience, and continue the brilliant story groundwork laid by black and white. I think the story isn't quite as good this time around, but it picks up on enough of the threads left in the first games and closes a lot of things up neatly. We get to really dig deep into Unova and particular characters that inhabit it. We may not get a frontier, but that doesn't mean we don't get a brilliantly enjoyable postgame in areas like the PWT - I'm a sucker for any postgame content that emphasises battling and so to roll nostalgia for EVERY region into the mix made this a surefire hit for me. On top of that, we get the treehollow / tower and that's even more of a fun challenge for battlers. As the final 2D games, they really utterly perfect that style and I only wish we could have games as good looking, well written, all round fun to play as this.

I got a little rambly as I went on, but there's my justifications for all my positioning! I encourage you to reply with your own tier lists. I had a lot to say as of late about how I rate the series as a whole, and how I think the modern era of pokémon gets so much MORE right than the older games while at the same time forgetting all of the things it used to get right. I adore this franchise and have been captivated for many many years since I was a child and I'll likely be stuck in it for years to come - here's hoping I get something I can put in one of the S tiers again sooner or later!

 

[Sheep]

Here's mine!

Honestly, I love the entirety of the Pokémon series - every game I've played has been really good at worst, and absolutely fantastic at best. But I absolutely cannot not put White at the top - its story was incredible, the new Pokémon introduced have grown to be some of my favorites, the music was excellent, the characters well-written, etc. I'm just such a huge fan. Likewise, I adored ORAS as a remake so much, and was also extremely attached to Crystal and Emerald because of how fun they continue to be to replay.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Based on the game versions I played:


I guess some of u already know the rage and hate I have for BDSP, so it's not here and I m not planning on playing it.

 

[TacoTach]

Here's mine:

As you can see, I still have a lot of catching up to do on recent games... :p

I couldn't put any game in F tier because I enjoyed playing all of them.

Tier D:

Spoiler:

-I had a great time playing X, but there are two main reasons why it's lower than other games: the difficulty and the dialogue/plot overload. These games are way too easy, and I'm not a fan of too much dialogue or too much plot at the expense of freedom of exploration. Other than that, the games were wonderfully designed and the Kalos region was very charming and had a lot of potential. I suspect a Z version that would've fixed some of the issues would've been much higher in my Tier List.

Tier C:

Spoiler:

- Red, Blue, and Yellow are the classics and to this day I still think they're tremendous games that layed out the foundations for everything else. Obviously, there's been a lot of improvements since then so these games couldn't be the highest, but there are still some elements of Kanto that I prefer over every other region, namely the open-world nature of the region, you could do most gyms in any order you wanted. And the legendaries were hidden (as they should be), not part of the main story. Kanto is the best in terms of freedom of exploration (along with maybe Johto).

Tier B:

Spoiler:

- My one and only criticism of the Johto games will always be their horrendous level curve, and that's it. The only reason Gold & Silver aren't higher is because Crystal and HG/SS have added many improvements. Johto games are still the only games to have 2 regions, which is something I would love to see again.

- Diamond & Pearl are great games as well, I spent countless hours playing Pearl as a child. Contrary to Johto, the level curve and difficulty level in the Sinnoh games is probably my favorite. The reason they're not higher is because of the few flaws later fixed in Platinum, like the slow place and the lack of Fire types in the Sinnoh pokédex.

Tier A:

Spoiler:

- Crystal is a bit higher than Gold & Silver because it introduced the Battle Tower, which was a pretty revolutionary feature for the time and laid the ground for the Battle Frontiers in later generations.

- Ruby & Sapphire introduced the Hoenn region, which is just epic in every regard. It's extremely vast, so lots of places to explore. The tropical climate was an important part that made the charm of the region. And the Regi's problem was by far the hardest and by far my favorite way of catching legendaries in any game I've played. The hours I spent as a kid going through the manual's Braille page were all worth it! :D

- FireRed & LeafGreen: God knows how many times I've played through FireRed! I'm absolutely in love with this game, for all the same reasons mentioned above about R/B/Y, as well as the Sevii Islands, which was one of my favorite post-games of any game. The only reason I didn't put FR/LG in S tier is because it doesn't have a Battle Frontier, or even just a Battle Tower (yes, there's the Trainer Tower in one of the Sevii Islands but it's still vastly inferior to the Battle Towers of Crystal and Ruby/Sapphire).

- Ruby Omega & Alpha Sapphire: Boy, these are complicated cases... On the one hand, they share many of the problems of X & Y in terms of difficulty, but on the other hand they're basically flawless games in almost every other regard! Flying over Hoenn with your Latios/Latios is just legendary. And how about the Delta Episode?! Yes, it includes a lot of annoying plot that I didn't pay any attention to, but you can fly to SPACE and catch Rayquaza AND Deoxys without even being allowed to save in-between! The Delta Episode is my favorite moment in Pokémon history. So these games had to be in A Tier, despite their flaws. They would've been S Tier and possibly my all-time favorite games with a Battle Frontier, a higher level of difficulty, and more diverse ways to catch the legendaries in the post-game (at some point, going through wormhole after wormhole gets boring...).

Tier S: Now we're talking!

Spoiler:

- Emerald: For having an epic Battle Frontier coupled with the amazing Hoenn region. It doesn't get any better than this.

- Platinum: Similar reasons to Emerald except with Sinnoh instead of Hoenn. Platinum also added a lot of improvements to Diamond & Pearl, like the more extended Sinnoh pokédex, better pace, and of course the wonderful Distortion World.

- HeartGold & Soul Silver: These games share the annoying level curve of the other Johto games, a real shame it wasn't fixed, but they still deserve the S Tier for having 2 regions and, as if that wasn't enough, a Battle Frontier! The better graphics of the Nintendo DS allowed to depict the charm of the Johto region in an even better way than in the originals, one notable example being the Bell Tower with all the autumn leaves on the ground. It's also worth mentioning that Kanto in these games is much better than in the original G/S/C, it's much more complete and closer to the Kanto of R/B/Y, including all the legendaries.

 

[ReKoil]

Wasn't really sure whether or not to rank crystal as the one I played was the VC for the 3DS... but anyway:

 

[TacoTach]

Wasn't really sure whether or not to rank crystal as the one I played was the VC for the 3DS...

I've played both and as far as I can tell it's the exact same game. The only difference is that in the 3DS version you can get the GS Ball and catch Celebi while in the original GBC version you couldn't (except in the Japanese version).

 

[Zeostar]

A few small comments.

Johto was my favorite region. I did not have fun with the remakes. The pace felt sluggish, and at the time I couldn't access trade evos which dampened the experience. I had more fun with Platinum and it's boss fights, despite the pacing being roughly the same.

Hoenn is my favorite region to play around in, so the difficulty drop in ORAS doesn't bother me much. Emerald had much better gym battles.

I played the original Gen 7 but I don't remember enough about them. However I think Ultra Sun/Moon are underappreciated and get thrown into a strong vocal echo chamber. I predict that it'll be akin to Gen 5. In many years to come these games will receive more appraisal for trying something different. Personally I loved the side quests and thought Alola was a great tropical region. The Pokemon variety is also very good.

FireRed/LeafGreen are outdated remakes. Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee are are good updates, although I don't have as much fun with the mechanics.

Sword/Shield and X/Y fall into the same category for me. Both the least interesting regions, but the games are fun because the pokemon variety is so good.

 

[Roni]

Always down for a tierlist. Here's mine.

Spoiler:

I started with Gen 4 so I definitely have a bias for the newer games and all the extra features and QoL they added. My heart belongs to DPPt, but objectively I cannot deny that Gen 5 games were much much better.

 

[colours]

tiiiiiiiiiimeeeee for angie's hot takes!! gonna get absolutely eviscerated by gen 5 fans

Spoiler:

an explanation:

s - the best main series pokemon games to exist, period, with how much enjoyment they've given me. is it nostalgia? yes. do i care? no. battle frontier's fun gimmicks kept me coming back time and time again and that's what i treasure in pokemon games. i like to have a reason to play after the elite four. i also like battling, so there's that.

a - these games are pretty enjoyable in their own right. they may have a few flaws here and there which keep from being truly s tier, but respectable games nonetheless. yes, i accidentally put ruby and alpha sapphire next to each other. oh well. point being, all of the games in this tier are great games that i wouldn't mind either playing repeatedly or playing long after i've beaten them, which says a lot considering i don't typically replay pokemon games for the most part.

b - these are still pretty decent games, i think! what this tier means to me is that i've enjoyed these games during their heydays, but i wouldn't replay most of them. b2w2 maybe being an exception, but i burned out on replaying that, so i'd have to have some serious motivation to come back once more to these sort of games.

c - ok at best. these games are mostly forgettable to me. i wouldn't say they're bad, but they're definitely not standout in any sort of way in my eyes. a point in usum's favour is maintine surfing, can't forget cute little minigames like that!

d - ah, yes. the Controversial Take. now now, don't raise the pitchforks, this is all opinions, after all! but i just did not enjoy bw like... at all. coming after the highs of gen 4, i've went into bw's postgame expecting so much and was let down significantly. the fact that battle subway was replaced by the more enjoyable pokemon world tournament (which is a large part of why b2w2 is where it is), shows even Game Freak realises that they could've done better, here. you can wave the story in my face all you want, i don't rly play pokemon for story much and having a good story is mostly a bonus to me. i won't ever deny that gen 5's story was definitely strong, but the gameplay is far more important to me than story and the fact that this is Just Another Pokemon Game except with a good story and uninteresting postgame (again, my opinion), makes it pretty much meh in my eyes.

f - i apologise to those who like these games but they're not my cup of tea. i grow incredibly bored of the near-mandatory (as far as i can recall, or at the very least, heavily encouraged) push to catch as many pokemon as one possibly can, and i believe the post-game is locked to like... catching 60 pokemon or something? i get that one of pokemon's premises and pillars is to Catch 'Em All, but having it forced killed my enjoyment of fr/lg. it's not even me not giving these games a fair chance as they were a pretty big part of my childhood and despite good memories for the most part, i still consider these games an absolute slog to go through.

 

[Janp]

Okay, I haven't done one of these in ages, so let's see how my view on Pokémon games changed...

F

Spoiler:

All of these have one problem in common - there are so much better versions of these very same games available, so there is no reason to play them now, aside from the nostalgia reasons. And they all aren't that good of a games to begin with.

D

Spoiler:

Gold, Silver - Much like games in F tier, but there are better versions of these two games that solves vast majority of these games' problems, but unlike F tier games, these are still fun on their own a worth the return once every few years. I also love their graphics. While I love Johto dex, it feels like majority of it are just Pokémon (pre)evolutions of Kanto Pokémon. And rest are not that interesting. I mean Cyndaquil line is just Charmander line, but with different design. Everything else about them is same. It also has really bad level curve and no interesting story. I always found the Rocket section annoying and completely useless, since they use underleveled Pokémon.

Yellow - it's still RBG Kanto, but now with ties to the anime. And following Pikachu is fun mechanic. Again, I like returning to this one from time to time.

Starting from C tier, these are the games I use for challenges.

C

Spoiler:

Crystal - better version of Gold and Silver. I like new story bits and redistribution of some Johto Pokémon. But most GS problems are still in there.

Fire Red, Leaf Green - my goto Kanto games. I think I would put them even higher if I wasn't burned out of Kanto and if they included physical/special split. I also don't like how they handeled National dex evolutions. Was it really necessary to trigger Golbat's evolution each level up only to stop it midway through?

B

Spoiler:

Black 2, White 2 - I think these abandon most things that made original Black and White awesome and instead made generic Pokémon game. I like new areas and seeing Cheren and Bianca was also nice.

Sun, Moon - I love the atmosphere and new Pokémon and region design. The cutscenes and dialogues were annoying, since they weren't that good to begin with and repeated themselves a lot. Like almost all Hau's dialogues are about malasada or about how he has to get stronger like Hala. The level curve was also a little bit weird, sometimes jumping randomly up or down. Plus, there are better versions available.

Sapphire, Ruby - I think these were pretty cool. Don't really have much to say about them. They are standard Pokémon adventures.

A

Spoiler:

Heart Gold, Soul Silver - modern versions of Gold and Silver. If only they solved level curve and Johto Pokémon usability.

Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, Emerald - Not sure how unpopular this is, but I like both ORAS and Emerald. Emerald is imho definitive oldschool Pokémon game, while ORAS are definitive modern games. Crazy that they are still basically the same game. Hoenn is just that great.

Platinum - I can't possible describe how this game improves over Diamond and Pearl. Sinnoh is fun region, but have awful Pokémon designs. Just like Johto dex, it feels like there are just Kanto Pokémon (pre)evolutions.

S

Spoiler:

X, Y - I love almost everything about these games. The region, Pokémon, atmosphere... It's perfect. But it has one of the worst stories and characters in the game. And there is barely anything to do. It felt like a technical demo. On top of that, the difficulty was awful. There were random trainers stronger than Gym Leaders. And the level curve wasn't really optimized for EXP. Share.

Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon - Everything I said about Sun and Moon, but they solve some pacing and level curve issues. Also my favourite to do Nuzlocke runs, because of some trainers like Ilma.

Black, White - I enjoyed the direction these games went. They focused on more linear adventure and it was fun. I also much more prefer the limited selection of Pokémon.

S+

Spoiler:

After playing more monster catching games, I don't think any Pokémon game is good enough for this tier.

 

[Sheep]

tiiiiiiiiiimeeeee for angie's hot takes!! gonna get absolutely eviscerated by gen 5 fans

Spoiler:

omg, when you said it was a hot take you meant it! BW in D tier is a big surprise and I very rarely see people put FRLG so far at the bottom too. Meanwhile I absolutely adore them because of the VS Seeker, sprites looking good, and liking the Sevii Islands a lot overall. Interesting to see other viewpoints. :O

I think Sinnoh games are the only ones where my views on them actually went down over time. RBY, despite how glitchy they may be, remain incredibly fun games that I consistently enjoy replaying. Meanwhile over time Sinnoh as a region has become a little less interesting to me design/layout-wise, and I don't like as many new Pokémon introduced there either. So I think DPPt are further down my list now than they would've been, say, 10 years ago. Looking at my tier list again I actually feel I should've put DP and BDSP in C rather than B, but heck, I love this series too much lol.

 

[Fairy]

Whoops, Ultra Moon should be a tier lower.

 

[TacoTach]

Whoops, Ultra Moon should be a tier lower.

Interesting list. Why do you rate R/B/Y and G/S/C higher than their remakes?

 

[Fairy]

Interesting list. Why do you rate R/B/Y and G/S/C higher than their remakes?

Because I'm old and in most cases prefer the originals. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Nah]

I guess mine would be this:

Spoiler:

Emerald and LGPE are not on there since I've never played those, I didn't bother with putting both of a pair on the thing since that's unnecessary, and the version I clicked on didn't have icons for BDSP, but since BDSP is just a remaster of Diamond/Pearl anyway you can view the placing as the same for them

 

[Palamon]

S+: Honestly, Emerald is my favorite Pokemon game, and White was the game I enjoyed the most besides Emerald. I will never delete my original save file on White because I got the whole Pokedex seen on that game.

S: HeartGold/SoulSilver are probably the best remakes in the franchise, and I think they have extremely high replay value. HeartGold is also the only Pokemon game I got the 4* trainer card achievement in, so I hold it in higher regard, and Platinum is just really good.

A: Pokemon Black, Black2/White2, in my opinion have really good replay value, and I've revisited them many times in my Pokemon life. OR/AS improved upon the R/S experience immensely from the original R/S, but will never top Emerald for me. I'm one of the very few people on Earth who actually enjoyed US/UM. I do think these games are harder than S/M, so I liked them a lot more than I did the originals. And SW/Sh, despite the major backlash weren't that bad of games for me. I definitely know they have their faults, but I enjoyed the story, in some places, and like how they're willing to do something different in giving us DLC instead of third versions. I know there being Pokemon you can't use is something a lot of people hated, but I'm alright with it at this point.

B: For B, these are games I do like, but am iffy on replaying again. I've only played Ruby once, and don't own it. But, tbh, when I do own a real copy, I probably would only play it until I beat it and never again. I prefer Sapphire over Ruby, always have. For Diamond/Pearl, they're okay, but they're slow, making their replay value a lot lesser for me, personally. I would rather replay Platinum than either of these. And Sun/Moon aren't that bad, but I can never forsee myself replaying them, tbh.

C: For C, these are games I found to be...just okay. Crystal was good, and I liked how it let you play as either male or female, and loved in game animations, but I never plan to revisit them. I would much rather play the Crystal Clear Romhack over it. As for LeafGreen, it was my second Pokemon game, ever, but, after playing R/B/Y, I probably won't touch it again. Kanto is just... boring, lmfao. Had enough of it at this point. But, I did like the game as a kid, but I've grown less fond of it over the years.

D: These are games I did not have as much fun with. Blue, Yellow and Red are self explanatory, but it was such a chore to get through. I found the games challenging, and not "challenging, but fun!" kind of way. A lot of the Pokemon that were in Gen I just... weren't good, or fun to use, and I just powered through with my starter. That's not my idea of fun. As for Gold and Silver, I also found these games a complete chore to get through. I will never touch them again. Now, I didn't hate these games, generation I is why Pokemon existed, but I definitely do not love them. I'm just a spoiled modern Pokemon fan, I guess? For Gold/Silver, the level curve is just awful, making grinding annoyingly too difficult. I would rather play HG/SS over G/S any day.

F: For F, I hate these games, lmfao. X and Y were just....terrible. Absolutely awful games I wish to never revisit. Too many rivals, the story was mediocre, and Mega Evolution was a mistake I'm glad is gone. When Pokemon first jumped to 3D, as well, some Pokemon just looked downright lifeless. I don't know, I just am not and have never been fond of X/Y and are the only games in the main series I just don't like whatsoever.

Never played: Well, I've never played Pokemon Green except on an emulator, which I obviously don't count. Never bought/bothered with LG/PE except the demos, I admit to have never owned FireRed, but would like to someday. I still haven't bought BD/SP and obviously, Legend Arceus is out yet, so I can't rank them.

 

[Duck]

Ok, so, I personally don't think any Pokémon game is bad, at worst they're bland little past times but still solidly decent and have some level of care put into them. At the same time, I also don't think any Pokémon game is a masterpiece or technical wonder that deserves an S+ rank.

So here we go:

N/A: Haven't played so I can't accurately judge. Nothing to say much here, I probably could interpolate like half of those based on similar games but it's best to just flat out admit I haven't messed with them.

C: or sloooooow: As a disclaimer, I only played BDSP until after Roark.

Basically, these games feel slow but aren't cute or immersive enough for me, and that's the one thing that kills Pokémon for me. I've started with Emulation and while I do have a number of physical copies nowadays, I still mostly do emulation because I like a turbo.

And here's the thing, all of those games, even with turbo for as much as my machine can handle, feel slow. I don't know why but they feel slow and a bit of a drag and I just can't get into the headspace.

B or sure, why not: These are all solid enough games to crank a playthrough and forget about it soon enough.

A or gr8/gr8: Those were fun games, fast paced enough for me and they have a cute feel to it. In the case of Sword and Shield, for all that I gripe about some artistic decisions, I do appreciate that it was the best mainline game so far in terms of variety and the only game in the franchise that truly made me want to catch'em all and get invested in things like breeding (a bit ironic but that's life).

It definitely could be more polished but they are fun enough games that I wouldn't mind recommending them for new players.

S or The créme de la créme: Those are peak Pokémon aesthetics for me. ORAS completely reimagined Hoenn in an art style that I think is cute enough and even if some tiles aren't great the character work and attention to detail in the major areas are stunning.

Sun and Moon were the first Pokemon that felt alive to me - Alola is an island with people living and playing and interacting and it has culture and ways of living and all of that. It was also the only retail Pokemon game so far where the game was actually difficult during a playthrough. I haven't finished it yet, but I have no doubt that Sun and Moon will continue to pay dividends.

S+ or Tier Not Appearing in This Post: What would make a game S+ to me? Well, basically ORAS art style with SM difficulty and setting, but with Gen VIII convenience of Max Raids and the Wild Area for leveling and more diversity. I genuinely do think that Pokemon should return to chibi-er art styles instead of the anime realism they're going for with the SwSh / Legends Arceus but oh well, at least they're trying with world design in Legends Arceus.

And I hope that future Switch games aren't as bare bones as Sword and Shield were.