Pokemon Black & White
Pokemon Black & White is where the difficulty of the Pokemon games ramps up quite a bit, as Unova brought an entirely new set of challenges that no player had ever faced before. No original Pokemon in the main story meant teams could look incredibly different from each other and forced you to create a diverse team to make your way through it.
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The main problem in this game is Team Plasma, which ends up being disappointingly easy to defeat in nearly every story segment. Few members use evolved Pokemon and their teams rarely consist of unusual partners, making your new foe N the only real threat from this major aspect of the game.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of Time And Explorers Of Darkness
“Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time” and “Explorers of Darkness” followed the first pair of “Pokemon Mystery Dungeon” games with a new pair of characters. Legend has it that time stops in a specific region if someone steals its Time Gear, a chronology-controlling artifact that enables the flow of time in its particular area. Strange time shenanigans imply your character might have more power than they realize.
Critics weren’t too impressed with these games, as they played mostly similar to the original pair of games, just with a few additions. For example, outside of the new wi-fi functionality, Eurogamer didn’t see much of a reason for playing these if you’d already played “Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team” or its counterpart. Those who rated the game higher, such as Nintendo Power , praised the story as a major strength that followed in the steps of the original.
It’s worth noting that the Metacritic user score for both “Pokemon Mystery Dungeon” titles are overwhelmingly positive in comparison to their critic scores. However, many seem to agree that didn’t have as many twists or emotional depth as the first games, which puts it at a lower tier.
- Release Date: April 20, 2008
- Available On: Nintendo DS
- Metacritic Score: 60 , 59
Pokemon Diamond Pearl And Platinum
The Pokemon Company
Taking the third spot on our list is the Sinnoh region, home to Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. Generation four features some of the best Pokemon from a main series Pokemon game. These were the games that introduced new evolution forms to a lot of generation one and two Pokemon. The final form of these already beloved Pokemon was the icing on the cake. We were greeted with amazing Pokemon such as Magnezone, Magmortar, Electivire, Togekiss, and many more.
The story of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum was also one that stood out among other Pokemon games. Team Galatic was heavily concerned with the powers of the legendary Pokemon in these games. If you don’t already know, Dialga and Palkia are the Pokemon that govern space and time. So, the story surrounding Pokemon Diamond and Pearl is one connected to these elements. We see the importance of Team Galatic throughout the game. Another beloved aspect of the story is your rival Barry — along with the gym leaders we see over the course of the Sinnoh region. Some of these gym battles will pose a threat. The games do an excellent job at showcasing the power of the Nintendo DS.
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Pokemon Black 2 & White 2
Pokemon Black 2 specifically wins in terms of difficulty thanks to a hard-to-unlock Hard Mode, which you could load to other games if you’d unlocked it. This is mostly irrelevant since you needed two games and DS consoles to do it, but both these Unova sequels gave a much greater set of challenges with their larger Pokedex.
This expanded Pokedex makes Team Plasma far more threatening, and new first and second Gyms make for much better Normal and Poison-type tests. This game’s challenges are also expressed in the World Tournament, an especially deep challenge that lets you fight against powerful versions of Gym Leaders from throughout Pokemon history.
‘pokmon Fire Red & Leaf Green’
Thanks to the upgrades available with Game Boy Advance, Fire Red and Leaf Green improved upon the original games and added the 100 Pokémon from the Johto Region to the Kanto Region. Having 251 Pokémon to catch, trade, and breed in one region is staggering. You also could explore the Sevii Islands, which have Pokémon specific to the region. Pokémon have different genders in this game and they can hold items. Compatible games for trading are Ruby, Sapphire, and Pokémon Colosseum. You can also choose between Male and Female when creating your character.
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Generation I: Pokmon Yellow
Generation I set the tone for every single game that would come after, establishing the gameplay basics and familiarizing players with the story’s structure. Red & Blue came out in 1998, and the main difference between them is the version-exclusive Pokémon available to the player.
However, Yellow is undoubtedly the best version. It includes all three starters, and Charizard could learn Fly. The game forced the player to choose Pikachu as a Starter, and the yellow mouse was incapable of evolving, similar to its anime counterpart. Still, this requirement was worth it to access more Pokémon and get better sprites.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Stormy Blazing And Light Adventure Squads
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Stormy, Blazing, and Light Adventure Squads are Japan-exclusive games. Yes, this game has three versions, but they only have minor differences.
These games are admittedly not amazing and certainly not as good as other Mystery Dungeon titles. However, it is better than the rest of the Pokemon games on Wii.
You can actually replace this with Pokemon Battle Revolution if you are okay with doing nothing but Pokemon battles.
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Serene Grace Can Be A Potent Weapon
Serene Grace doubles the chance of a move’s secondary effect occurring. Moves that have a chance to make the opponent flinch, for example, will have a 60% chance of doing so instead of 30%. This can be a way to effectively stun-lock the opponent.
A Pokémon with moves that cause flinching or lower their opponent’s stats will benefit hugely from Serene Grace. Plenty of popular moves have secondary effects, making this a very useful Ability that Blissey, Togekiss, and Jirachi can all take advantage of.
Pokmon: The Best Game In Each Generation
Over eight generations of video games, Pokémon fans have been able to play a number of terrific titles, but which were the best from each generation?
The Pokémon franchise is currently on its eighth generation. And, after 898 Pokémon and thirty-two main series games – not counting the upcoming Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl or Pokémon Legends: Arceus – the franchise isn’t showing signs of slowing down, with many fans eagerly awaiting the announcement of the inevitable Generation IX.
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Nintendo and Game Freak usually release a minimum of two games with every new generation. Remakes are also a crucial part of the franchise, as evidenced by the upcoming Sinnoh games. With so many options to choose from, it may seem impossible to pick the best game in every generation, but players can arrive at a definitive answer when taking a closer look at each title.
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Can You Play Pokmon Fan Games On Android
It depends on what fan games you want to play. Many fan games are made with PC players in mind, and those wont be accessible to Android users. However, there are also plenty of ROM hacks that rely on GBA emulators to work.There are lots of GBA emulators available for Android. All you need to do is download the emulator, find a ROM hack of your choice, and start playing.
Pokmon: Let’s Go Pikachu And Let’s Go Eevee
The latest Pokémon entries are the first on our list. We’re not saying thatPokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee are bad games, but that they’re a bit lacking when compared to the other core games.
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For starters, there is little to no end game content, aside from catching the Legendary Pokémon and beating the Master Trainers. They had great mechanics, but they were lacking in overall content. Keep in mind that they each retail for around $60.
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Pokemon Gold And Silver
Developer: Game FreakPlatforms: Game Boy, Nintendo 3DS
After Pokemon Red and Blue put the world into a Pokemon frenzy, the sequel had some big shoes to fill. Fans everywhere for eager for more, and thankfully Silver and Gold delivered just that in the best way possible. Bigger and better than before, the second generation introduced 100 excellent and memorable additions to the Pokemon library, along with two new Pokemon types, and a whole host of new moves. It brought in some interesting new features that changed up the game in fun new ways.
Introducing a day and night cycle added time-specific challenges, and brought in some Pokemon that could only be caught at certain times of day. Silver and Gold still had all the hallmarks that made the first games so enjoyable, but it expanded the experience to cement itself as the superior Pokemon game. And better yet, when you reach the end of the game, you get to unlock the Kanto region from Red and Blue which allows you to revisit all of the gyms and trainers. Silver and Gold was a giant leap forward for the franchise, and nothing has quite compared to it since.
Pokemon Crystal then came swooping in as a shiny enhanced remake of Silver and Gold, and it’s especially notable since it was the first ever Pokemon title that let you decide whether you want to play as a boy or a girl. Thankfully this became a mainstay feature in every game that followed.
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Pokmon Heartgold And Soulsilver
Simply put, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver are as good as it gets. After all, the original Pokémon Gold and Silver were near perfect sequels. They expanded on the first generations Pokédex, added two new types that significantly balanced out the weakness/resistance chart, and famously included the entire Kanto region as a bonus to players who beat Johtos Elite Four. Later, Crystal took those games, added an option to play as a male or female trainer, animated Pokémon sprites, and enhanced the story with a focus on Suicune.
Then, somehow Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver took those original games and made them even better in virtually every way possible, updating the graphics, including several core and quality of life changes from the Gen 4 games, and created an experience that we can definitively say is the best Pokémon has ever been. Nothing in Pokémonand we mean nothing has been as thrilling, challenging, or downright rewarding as fighting Red and putting everything youve got into being the very best, like no one ever was.
And that is our list of the Top 10 best Pokemon games of all time. Thanks for watching! Now that were done, head to the comments and let us know your thoughts and hot takes on the list. We know youve got em. And let us know YOUR favorite games in the Pokemon franchise or take a look at the best Pokemon movies. See you next time, on IGN!
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Why Firered & Leafgreen Are The Best Pokmon Games To Start With
While the Pokémon games don’t need to be played in any order for story reasons, those wanting to experience more than just the most recent games should consider starting with the older titles. With every new game released, those before it become increasingly archaic. Modern generations have done away with some of the more tedious elements that held the older titles back. Players could easily start with Pokémon Sword or Shield, but returning to the old games after getting comfortable with recent quality-of-life changes will make those retro experiences a comparatively bumpy ride. The Game Boy Advance’s FireRed and LeafGreen are a great balance players will find much more streamlined mechanics in later entries, but FireRed and LeafGreen convey the charm of the original 151 monsters and are still much smoother to play than the original Red and Blue.
As remakes of those two first games, starting with Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green will also make later games’ references to them more effective. Fans of the Gen 2 titles can testify how memorable the final superboss of Gold and Silver is, but his appearance won’t make much of an impact on those who haven’t played through FireRed and LeafGreen’s Kanto. In other games, including Sun and Moon and Black 2 and White 2, players also encounter characters from the originals in postgame content.
Playing Pokmon Games Using An Emulator
Many Pokémon fan games require you to have an emulator installed on your PC. Simply put, an emulator is a computer program that acts as a device, like a Game Boy Advance or PS2, on your computer. This allows you to play old console games on your PC.
Once youve set up an emulator, you need a ROM of the game you want to play. A ROM is usually an image that the emulator reads and interprets by the emulator. Depending on the Pokémon ROM you want to play, youll need to find the appropriate emulator.
Most of the games in this article require a good GBA emulator. Luckily, there are tons of emulator options for PCs and mobile devices, so you can play wherever and whenever you want.
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‘pokmon Sword & Shield’
Pokémon Sword and Shield mark the very first time a brand new mainline game in the long-running series launched on the Nintendo Switch. The game’s locales exist within the Galar region, which is modeled after the recognizable settings UK denizens will instantly be familiar with. On a graphical level, Pokémon Sword and Shield look great and help push the series forward on Nintendo’s hybrid console. 81 new Pokémon marked their debut here, plus 13 regional forms of past Pocket Monsters. This game introduced fans to the following new mechanics that added an extra wrinkle to the series’ ongoing formula: “Dynamaxing,” “Gigantamaxing,” and the “Wild Area.” Pokémon Sword and Shield‘s difficulty level might not be high enough, but their fun factor certainly is.
Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire
Despite being remakes of Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire, which will appear much later on this list, Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire are almost a joke in their challenge level. Many foes give ludicrous amounts of experience, and from your starter’s Mega Evolution to a free Latios or Latias, it’s extremely difficult to fail in this adventure.
That’s not to say it isn’t fun, and it had a wonderful competitive scene thanks to its many new Mega Evolutions and access to various legendaries. That said, you’ll absolutely need a personal restriction like a Nuzlocke challenge if you want a little more bite with this game.
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Which Pokemon Game Takes The Longest
The longest Pokemon game per main story length is Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, which clocks in at around 41 hours! This is subjective to your playstyle, though. The more XP you grind and the more Pokemon you catch, the longer you play the game.
So, what do you think of our best Pokemon games ranked list?
What rankings, if any, would you change?
Let us know in the comments section below!
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Generation Viii: Pokmon Sword
The latest generation of games divided the community. Some appreciated the innovations such as the Wild Area and the changes to the familiar Gym system. Dynamax and Gigantamax were more controversial, as were the game’s graphics and plot.
Of the two Galar games, Sword comes out on top thanks to its brilliant mascot. Zacian’s Fairy/Steel combination is ridiculously overpowered, especially against Zamazenta’s Fighting/Steel combo. Another thing working against Zamazenta is that it doesn’t learn any Fighting moves via leveling up except for Close Combat at the obnoxiously high level of 77.
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Pokemon Ruby And Sapphire
Developer: Game FreakPlatforms: Game Boy, Nintendo DS
While a lot of formula remained unchanged, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire took the series into a vibrant world of colour on the GameBoy Advance. The Pokemon sprites popped from screen like never before, and the magical start up screen is hard to forget. It was also the first Pokemon game to introduce a lot of elements and features that continued throughout the series. 2v2 double battles popped up for the first time, and Pokemon were also attributed with different Natures which affected their overall stats.
An extensive list of new abilities were also first introduced in this entry, which were specific to different types – this really added more depth to the battles compared to the games that came before. Contests were also brought in to add new challenges to the gameplay. The Hoenn region was a great setting, and the Legendary Pokemon Groudon and Kyogre – who could summon a specific weather element into battle – were very memorable. Since Ruby and Sapphire built upon what Silver and Gold established without veering off into any drastic new direction, it didnt feel quite as special.
Several years after its release in 2003, an updated edition followed in the shape of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
Pokemon Firered & Leafgreen
These balance problems were somewhat solved in the remakes of Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen, where many Pokemon were given new moves, abilities, and buffs to make them more relevant. Charmander getting Metal Claw is a prime example, as this new Steel-type move meant that those who chose this Fire-type starter weren’t at such a steep disadvantage.
That said, it’s not that much different from the original game in terms of difficulty, with some overpowered Pokemon still being as strong as ever. That said, it’s still frustrating to see some overpowered Pokemon still as strong as ever, especially the fast and easy-to-catch Starmie.
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