Recently Nintendo announced two new Pokémon games- Pokémon Sword and Shield- to be released later this year. There will be a whole new region, all new Pokémon, and probably some mediocre mini-game that they push as this generations hot new feature. But this will also be the 8

th

generation of Pokémon games. The first games came out all the way back in 1996 and after this many years, Pokémon (or at least Pikachu) has become a nearly universally recognizable cultural icon on par with SpongeBob or McDonalds. So, with the new games (and the Detective Pikachu movie!) on their way, I thought I’d take a little time to do a quick review of every generation of Pokémon game that has been released so far. I will not be covering every single game, but the generations broadly, and I will also be leaving out any of the spinoff games (sorry Ranger or Mystery Dungeon fans). Whether you’re a Pokémon veteran or new to the franchise, I hope you enjoy these reviews!

Rating: 7/10

Details: The games that started it all, Gen 1 has a lot going for it (not the least of which is its nostalgia factor) and included Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow and takes place in the Kanto region. This game introduced all the core elements that most Pokémon games have shared, along with all its now-iconic 151 Pokémon available for capture. The story is decent, with Team Rocket being a serious, if somewhat bland, threat. This is also probably the hardest of the Pokémon games, or at least tied with Gen 2. If you want to play Gen 1, I personally recommend playing the remakes for the GBA, Firered, and Leafgreen. Same gameplay,

much

better graphics and sound.

Rating: 10/10

Details: Yes, I just gave Gen 2 a perfect score. As far as I’m concerned, these games are the best all-around Pokémon games ever released. This Gen includes Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and these games were innovative. In terms of content added, Gen 2 made so many improvements and added a ton of new features that simply weren’t present in Gen 1. The new Pokémon added were all well-designed and the story was even a sequel to Gen 1’s Team Rocket storyline. Perhaps the best feature of this game though (and one most fans have still been waiting to see again) is the fact that after beating the main game in the Johto region, you can travel back to the Kanto region and battle all the gyms there too. This is more post-game content than any Pokémon game has had before or since, and it is a large part of why I rate this one so high. If you want to play Gen 2, I HIGHLY recommend the remakes, Heartgold and Soulsilver for the DS. Their graphics are better, yes, but the best part of the remakes is the fact that your Pokémon walk behind you outside of their Pokeball! Oh, and the remakes have the hardest Pokémon battle of any of the games, so there’s that too.

Tune in next time to get the reviews for Gens 3 and 4!

Written by: Preston Smith (aka DJ Eleos)