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[Evil Monkey DTT]

I have never played a pokemon game untill now! Here's the deal, when pokemon was huge I was a big fan of the cartoon. I never had a gameboy because my family sucked. In fact my first handheld was the ds, and by that point I thought it was too late for me to get into the series. But with the rerelease of gen 1 on 3ds I went ahead and bought yellow.

What do I need to know, I have literally no idea what I'm doing. Should I play all the games in order, do these games have any story in them at all, should I catch em all or finish the game and just jump into the sequels?

And the most important question, will pikachu ever like me!

 

[Kinsei]

Since you're starting with gen 1 then I would recommend playing them in order to see how the series has evolved.

As for tips, I'd say catch a Mankey before the first gym. Brock will wreck your shit if you don;t.

Yes, you can get Pikachu's happiness stat high enough for it to like you.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

Play them in release order because it's going to be hard as fuck going back to the older titles without the proper modern conveniences.

 

[Heroman]

You shouldn't have started with gen 1.

 

[Caelus]

Yellow is an ok place to start but the later games have so many quality of life improvements replaying earlier gens just feels frustrating in comparison.

 

[PaulBizkit]

Play yellow and then gold or silver.

Use whatever pokemons you want, i'd personally recommend having one slot for the HM slave. If you don't know what that is, then it doesn't matter for now.

Just play the game, it's very cool.

 

[Rell]

Yellow is kind of a bizarre place for me to image starting, just because it was like, the Pikachu mod for the original titles.

Gold and Silver are still my favorite Pokemon titles, but I dropped out at Diamond/Pearl.

I remember my mind being blown at how expansive Gold and Silver was, and the daytime and day of the week events.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Try not to get mad about how slow as fuck it is. :3

 

[Hidden One]

Just play Yellow, Crystal, and Fire Red.

 

[Kinsei]

Just play Yellow, Crystal, and Fire Red.

Nah. Why only play two of the worst games in the series and a decent one?

 

[Reset]

If you want Pikachu to like you quicker then have him at full health and use a potion on him. The happiness will go up and the potion won't be used since Pikachu is at full health.


Just don't play the 5th generation games(Black and White), they're complete ass

 

[Kinsei]

If you want Pikachu to like you quicker then have him at full health and use a potion on him. The happiness will go up and the potion won't be used since Pikachu's at full health.


Just don't play the 5th generation games, they're complete ass

What? They're way better than Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 4, and X/Y.

 

[Xis]

Maybe start with Gen2? I played Silver first, and later tried playing Yellow, and it was super rough.

 

[Evil Monkey DTT]

For the record I do plan on playing/beating the other gens after this in order. I'll let em breathe a bit between games but my ultimate goal would be to have full understanding of the main series. I started with yellow mainly because, I got no pokemon friends! I didn't know if I should max out the games, but I have no one I could trade with locally. It always felt unfair of me to have pokemon have such an impact on me without me actually being a part of what it literally was. It's the least it deserves.

Edit: Except black and white 2..... or maybe black and white 2. That's the only one that isn't a remake I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing.

 

[HardRojo]

Starting with gen 2 might be your best option. Gen 2 is the best gen.

 

[Neoleo2143]

It's worth Skipping to Gen V and BW2 or you could just hop in to Sun/Moon since they're being weird and you can enjoy that with us.

 

[Dimmle]

If you enjoy Gen 1, consider tracking down a copy of HeartGold or SoulSilver for closure to that thread.

I returned to Gen 1 with Yellow as well recently and, well, it's not exactly pristine but it's still a fun time. If you enjoy it, keep going. That said, I'd recommend then hopping to a slightly newer gen (HG/SS are technically gen 4) due to the massive quality of life upgrades after Gen 2.

 

[BedBison]

Usually I'd recommend just not playing gen 1 and playing the remakes FireRed/Leafgreen but since you already bought Yellow you might as well play that. There's not really an overarching story so I'd just recommend you play them in relese order because it can be hard going back to older game's mechanics, so:

-Yellow
-Platinum
-Heartgold/Soulsilver (remakes of gen 2)
-black/white
-black2/white2
-X/Y
-OmegaRuby/AlphaSaphire (remakes of gen 3)

 

[Doominated]

For the record I do plan on playing/beating the other gens after this in order. I'll let em breathe a bit between games but my ultimate goal would be to have full understanding of the main series. I started with yellow mainly because, I got no pokemon friends! I didn't know if I should max out the games, but I have no one I could trade with locally. It always felt unfair of me to have pokemon have such an impact on me without me actually being a part of what it literally was. It's the least it deserves.

Edit: Except black and white 2..... or maybe black and white 2. That's the only one that isn't a remake I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing.

I doubt you're going to fill the pokedex on any of the games. You're talking 100s of hours per game plus finding people to trade with which isn't going to happen for older games lol.

Since you're already starting at yellow, I'd go;

Yellow
Crystal
Emerald
Platinum (DONT PLAY DIAMOND OR PEARL)
Black
Black 2
X or Y

Wouldn't bother with the remakes like fire red/leaf green, heart gold/soul silver, or omega ruby/alpha sapphire. Takes away from the experience of seeing how the games evolved from 1996-2016.

And I wouldn't look for advice within the thread for the future. Like, if you get stuck, sure, but the games are easy enough.

 

[PaulBizkit]

quick question if anyone is interested... I played all the pokemon games except the ones on Gen 4 and Gen 5, which game in those gens do you recommend me?

 

[Kinsei]

quick question if anyone is interested... I played all the pokemon games except the ones on Gen 4 and Gen 5, which game in those gens do you recommend me?

Platinum for Gen 4 and Black & Black 2 for Gen 5. If you're dead set on only playing one Gen 5 game then I'd recommend Black over Black 2.

 

[Storm Kyleis]

Story-wise, the only connections are between:

Red / Blue / Yellow (Gen 1) -> Gold / Silver / Crystal (Gen 2)
Black 1 / White 1 -> Black 2 / White 2 (Gen 5)

Everything else is self contained.

In terms of game mechanics, keep in mind that Red / Blue / Yellow are buggy and outdated. Gold / Silver / Crystal have much more content and are more polished. You may also want to play Sun / Moon to see how far the series has progressed. You don't really need to play each game in order, unless you want to see the evolution of the series step by step.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Platinum for Gen 4 and Black & Black 2 for Gen 5. If you're dead set on only playing one Gen 5 game then I'd recommend Black over Black 2.[/QUOTE
Nah, get Black 2.

 

[Hidden One]

Nah. Why only play two of the worst games in the series and a decent one?

 

[sgjackson]

-on a general level: pokemon's largely about catching new species of pokemon, so make sure you explore new areas. try to raise a varied team and use stuff you think is cool - you can min/max in-game to make it so you don't really have to grind, but they're not particularly hard.
-if you're really early catching a mankey (west of viridian city) and raising it a bit will improve your quality of life significantly.
-pikachu will like you more as you go along. you can brute force it but i don't remember if it does anything.
-if you like yellow, it's worth finishing because you'll be able to import those pokemon into sun/moon when those come out in november.
-there are some references and minor story beats between some games, but the overarching plot of pokemon isn't really worth worrying about.
-everyone on gaf is going to recommend you their favorite generation - they're all pretty good and i'd honestly say people are being hyperbolic if they say any are particularly bad or noteworthy. personally i'd just say finish yellow and wait for sun/moon to hit, and if you still want more after that figure out what you liked about those games and go from there.

 

[StoneFox]

I say don't bother with trying to fill the dex, you'll be way over your head once you realize that you can't do that in some of the game without real people to trade with or hacks, especially when it comes to Gen 4 and it's Spiritomb and legendaries BS.

Playing the classic games is fine, but it's okay to skip some of the generations if they don't click with you, I personally dislike Gen 4. Pokemon is still fun at the end of the day no matter which game however, and eventually you'll get a team you love.

 

[Rowlet]

What? They're way better than Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 4, and X/Y.

Let's just ignore that Soul Silver is the best Pokemon game, shall we?

 

[Storm Kyleis]

Oh, about the Pokédex, each game contains 60-150 new Pokémon and all of the old ones, although the new ones appear more frequently during the main adventure. If I were you, I would try to complete only the most recent game (and maybe Yellow, since you will be able to transfer to Sun / Moon).

Completing the Pokédex is something not everyone does, but it's a lot of fun if you like collecting.

 

[gosox333]

Every successive new game is made with the mindset of having itself be the ideal entry point in the series for newcomers. Following that, starting off on the one of the oldest entries is the worst thing you could do.

Just play something gen 6. In all likelihood you'll enjoy yourself and then you can go back to whatever you want for perspective.

 

[Gorillaz]

Nah you don't have to play them all in order. Red/Blue/Yellow in terms of playstyle and QoL haven't aged too well but yea starting with Yellow is different weird since I would say Red/Blue gives you the accurate gen 1 feeling but Yellow ain't bad either. Just basically a mod of the originals.

I would agree with others that jumping straight to heartgold after yellow will be better because it pretty much catches you up faster in the series, has insane amount of content and is pretty much a updated verison of Gold/Silver/Gen 2, which pretty much is the definitive "sequel" to all of Gen 1.


HeartGold and SoulSilver are the top dogs of the series tho. Games are literally one of the hardest things out there to actually thing

 

[Kinsei]

Let's just ignore that Soul Silver is the best Pokemon game, shall we?

Nah. HG/SS are really good but they're still held back by the fact that they're remakes of Gen 2 games. Johto is easily the worst region.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Nah. HG/SS are really good but they're still held back by the fact that they're remakes of Gen 2 games. Johto is easily the worst region.

Hoenn.

 

[Kinsei]

Hoenn.

Hoenn is great. It's one of the bet regions in the series.

 

[Gorillaz]

Hoenn had way to much water it was just unbelievable. Johto had better locations but Hoenn had better mons

 

[psyfi]

You started with Gen 1, huh? I guess if you go into it knowing full well that it's a 1995 release for the Gameboy (meaning pretty bare bones and rough), then cool. But it's not the most beginner friendly. You'll probably enjoy it anyways. If you play Red/Blue you CANNOT skip Gold/Silver, hunt down an old cartridge if you have to. Then skip forward to Gen 5.

 

[Neiteio]

I always recommend people start with the most recent entries. These games aren't numbered sequels; you're not missing any important "story" by starting with later games. People can jump in at any time!

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Hoenn is great. It's one of the bet regions in the series.

No way. Too many water routes. Needing HMs like Waterfall and Dive just to get to towns/story related areas for the first time (Which means you either need a specific water HM slave or need to go back to your PC even more often than usual just to progress). Terrible pacing in the back half of the game. Terrible Pokémon distribution (At least in OR/AS). Whoever had the idea to still make Zubats the most frequent Pokemon in every cave in 2014 should have been fired.

You can even beat the game without exploring every route.

 

[Caelus]

I always recommend people start with the most recent entries. These games aren't numbered sequels; you're not missing any important "story" by starting with later games. People can jump in at any time!

Yeah, I think people sometimes just end up recommending the games they grew up with, but for people unaccustomed to the games the selection of Pokemon won't really matter, in the end they're all fascinating creatures to collect.

 

[Kinsei]

No way. Too many water routes. Needing HMs like Waterfall and Dive just to get to towns/story related areas for the first time (Which means you either need a specific water HM slave or need to go back to your PC multiple times even more often than usual just to progress). Terrible pacing in the back half of the game. Terrible Pokémon distribution (At least in OR/AS). Whoever had the idea to still make Zubats the most frequent Pokemon in every cave in 2014 should have been fired.

You can even beat the game without exploring every route.

Water routes are great. Just use repels if the battles annoy you. Water types only need two moves in game (Surf and Ice Beam) so there's no need for a water HM slave since you can fill the other two slots with dive and waterfall. It's still much better than the pacing in Gen 2 due to the horrendous levels of wild Pokemon forcing you to grind if you want a full team. The Pokemon distribution in Johto was way worse. Why the hell can't you get stuff like Houndour until after the E4?

 

[-sdp]

Gen I will forever be the best for me and not only because of Nostalgia but because of the hardware limitations. The "slowness" of the game makes your journey feel a bit more epic, sure it's more convenient now especially since I don't have the time to use running shoes or skates but the locations of the game feel smaller because of it (so actually getting Yellow might not have been the best idea since it adds color). The bad art and small sprites meant we had to use our imagination a bit more on the characters and map which is gone since now everything can be represented graphically. All gens have great and terrible Pokemon but nostalgia aside I think Gen I has the most original/iconic Pokemon. The other things that make Gen I amazing are lost to time however and that's the sense of exploring the world for the first time, trading with friends at school, searching for fake rumors, making up said rumors on chatrooms and whatnot. Take the run-on sentence full of nostalgia and you still have what's likely the most innovative and fresh game in the series even if all future games not only fixed the problems but improved on what was built on Gen I.

 

[Rowlet]

Nah. HG/SS are really good but they're still held back by the fact that they're remakes of Gen 2 games. Johto is easily the worst region.

Not even close.

Hoenn is great. It's one of the bet regions in the series.

Not even the terrific remakes of ruby and sapphire could save hoenn from its dullness. Worst region by a mile.

 

[Laieon]

Nah. HG/SS are really good but they're still held back by the fact that they're remakes of Gen 2 games. Johto is easily the worst region.

Johto is amazing. Hoenn on the other hand...

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Water routes are great. Just use repels if the battles annoy you. Water types only need two moves in game (Surf and Ice Beam) so there's no need for a water HM slave since you can fill the other two slots with dive and waterfall. It's still much better than the pacing in Gen 2 due to the horrendous levels of wild Pokemon forcing you to grind if you want a full team. The Pokemon distribution in Johto was way worse. Why the hell can't you get stuff like Houndour until after the E4?

For the bolded, what if you actually WANT a good water type on your team that doesn't have two wasted slots?

"Use repels" which essentially equates to purposefully avoiding parts of the game because they're so repetitive, uninteresting and unvaried, isn't a very good defense for the best region.

I'd rather grind and have a bit of a challenge than be able to breeze through every route. Or I would if I didn't encounter the same three Pokémon on almost every water route which makes going through them tedious.

And Hoenn has the same exact problem in OR/AS except it's after you beat Groudon/Kyogre, which if I remember correctly happens between the seventh and eighth badge anyway. This is an issue in every Pokemon game with a National Dex though. It's beyond dumb to hold the National Dex from you until you're almost done/beat the base game. Hopefully in Sun/Moon you get the National Dex right off the bat.

 

[Vex_]

I dont recommend playing them in order. Going through every gen will probably burn the OP out. Underneath all of those new "features" is the same base game, especially in the early gens.


Dont do it. Go straight from gen 1 to ORAS or XY or SOMETHING. I repeat, do not do this to yourself. By the time you reach xy, you won't want to play sun/moon. Youll be sick of these games. Youll be vomiting magikarps by gen 4.

Good choice starting with gen 1 tho. You will see major differences if you jump ahead a few gens which I think is better. Since the changes between gen 1 and 2 or gen 2 and 3 are so miniscule in comparison to gen 1 and 6

 

[MegaManTrigger]

If you want Pikachu to like you quicker then have him at full health and use a potion on him. The happiness will go up and the potion won't be used since Pikachu is at full health.


Just don't play the 5th generation games(Black and White), they're complete ass

What? They're some of the best games in the series.

Now DP and XY are the true garbage of the series.

 

[Forkball]

Nah. HG/SS are really good but they're still held back by the fact that they're remakes of Gen 2 games. Johto is easily the worst region.

Hoenn is great. It's one of the bet regions in the series.

I've delved into the Opposite World again.

I replayed through Yellow earlier this year. It is definitely dated in many respects, but I don't think it's a bad place to start with the series. It still holds up well in terms of mechanics and it even excels in ways the other games don't. Kanto is an excellently designed region. There are many optional areas and secrets to find. The next step is not always so obvious, but the game is open enough to let you explore freely and find where you should go, so you never feel like you've reached a dead end. The game is very well-paced overall and Yellow in particular can be quite challenging at times.

After you finish up Yellow, if you really enjoyed it, I recommend just waiting for Sun and Moon this November. It looks amazing and they have made conscious steps to mix up the formula and have added some really fascinating features.

 

[Kinsei]

For the bolded, what if you actually WANT a good water type on your team that doesn't have two wasted slots?

"Use repels" which essentially equates to purposefully avoiding parts of the game because they're so repetitive, uninteresting and unvaried, isn't a very good defense for the best region.

I'd rather grind and have a bit of a challenge than be able to breeze through every route. Or I would if I didn't encounter the same three Pokémon on almost every water route which makes going through them tedious.

And Hoenn has the same exact problem in OR/AS execpt it's after you beat Groudon/Kyogre, which if I remember correctly happens between the seventh and eighth badge anyway. This is an issue in every Pokemon game with a National Dex though. It's beyond dumb to hold the National Dex from you until you're almost done/beat the base game. Hopefully in Sun/Moon you get the National Dex right off the bat.

Surf + Ice Beam is all it takes to be a good water type so it's not like the other two slots are wasted. I suppose you might want Crunch if you're using Sharpedo.

I mean the exact same thing goes for every cave in the series. If you don't want to fight wild Pokemon then just use repels. There's plenty of variety in fights once you factor in trainer battles.

There's no extra challenge, it just makes everything take longer if you want to use a team instead of only using your starter.

No it doesn't have that problem. We're not talking about a Pokemon from another region being locked away until you're deep into the game, we're talking about a Gen 2 Pokemon not being available until after you beat the Champion. It's not even some super powerful Pokemom like a pseudo or something. In comparison you can get one of Gen 3's Pseudos as soon as you learn surf.

 

[dreamlongdead]

You'll have a good time with Yellow as your first game. After you finish Yellow, play HeartGold/SoulSilver (or Crystal if you can't fork up the money).

Pokemon Sun and Moon will probably be out by the time you've played the first two gens, so just jump straight to that.

You don't really need to spend your time with the mainline titles from Gen 3 through 6.

 

[-Mutsukki-]

Yellow is a good starting point OP! I think you should try to play all generations, at least the third version of the gens (Crystal, Emerald, Platinum). Black 2 isn't really a third version, it's more like a sequel and very worth it. I also agree that you should avoid the remakes. I mean, they're great! But they'll be kinda redundant for you that's only starting now, and some like Heart Gold/Soul Silver run on the really slow Gen 4 engine and that ends up being kind of a downgrade from the original.

You'll have a good time with Yellow as your first game. After you finish Yellow, play HeartGold/SoulSilver (or Crystal if you can't fork up the money).

Pokemon Sun and Moon will probably be out by the time you've played the first two gens, so just jump straight to that.

You don't really need to spend your time with the mainline titles from Gen 3 through 6.

Lmao don't listen to this, 100% garbage advice.

 

[Phu]

If you can get a hold of one of the many DS games, I'd recommend that. Otherwise, maybe just wait and catch the Sun/Moon wave.