First Pokémon Game?

[KraniX]

Hey all, I've never really played a Pokémon game besides Go during the craze a few years back, which I liked but was pretty basic and bloody annoying as you couldn't just sit around and play.

I'm not sure if it's for me, I grew up at the perfect time for it but as a kid it never clicked.

I've got a Switch, DS and 3DS so what game would you recommend to a newbie?

I'm thinking Sword or Shield as they look nice and I presume they have a decent amount of quality of life improvements...

 

[jrwagh333]

I've not got as much experience as I'm sure some other do here, but I've played:

Red/Blue
Yellow
Silver

White

Let's Go Eevee
Sword/Shield

For me, White was the best game I've played in the series by far. It was very complicated as I skipped loads and there appeared to be genders?! Any how. Gameplay wise it was one of my favourite

 

[Flibster]

I would say Uranium, it's a fan made PC game that's excellent. But it faced a takedown from Nintendo so I have no idea where to get it from....

 

[Ryan-3]

Pokemon X is what I'm currently playing on my 3DS. I've played pretty much all of them up to that game

I'm also playing Ultra Violet, which is a Fire Red modded version, which was an updated Red, which is also very good. Allows you to collect a huge number of species that aren't available in just one version.

 

[Randomface74]

There are only 151 pokemon. Don't collect imposters. Red/blue is the only pokemon game. Bit old to play now tho imo.

 

[Mickcas]

Played a few of the older ones but Pokemon Brown though a Game boy emulator on my phone was my favourite.

 

[Semple]

There are only 151 pokemon. Don't collect imposters. Red/blue is the only pokemon game. Bit old to play now tho imo.

I remembered playing red/yellow on the gameboy when i was a kid, those were amazing games.

 

[PiKe]

Let's go Pikachu is basically a remake of yellow anyway.

 

[Toothy1911]

Only one I played was Blue on my classic Gameboy. Also remember getting very excited you could play them on PC emulated.
Used to boot that up on library PCs with mates during lunch breaks. Along with Runescape!

 

[Yaayuh!]

Silver/Gold

I've played all generations but Silver/Gold for me is my favourite. Try and find SoulSilver or HeartGold for the DS.

If you prefer a more modern Pokémon game, then Sword/Shield is fun, albeit incredibly easy.

 

[Kreeeee]

The game boy games are the best (red, blue, gold, silver), but maybe play the updated versions of them.

The modern games are made to be very easy and are a significant step down from the early titles. They have also not progressed the series so they stagnated around a decade ago.

 

[Junglist]

If you can get your hands on Heart Gold or Soul Silver, you'll have a brilliant time. I remember having my mind blown that I could return to Kanto and slay some more 'mons.

You can buy the original Red/Blue/Yellow on the 3DS store but having completed yellow on my 3DS 'just because' I'd say avoid them and if you really want to play generation 1 play Leaf Green/ Fire Red as they're much better games and you don't have to suffer along with 1 bag for all of your items.

Out of the recent games I'd say give Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire a go. They were really fun.

Still haven't played the Switch Game yet, I've lost my Switch to my partner playing Animal Crossing

 

[Parky]

My personal favorites were Gold/Silver/Crystal, they were such an improvement over the originals (still great at the time). I don't think the series has had a leap like that since.

If you're new I'd be tempted to start with some of the older ones, say Fire Red/Leaf Green and work through from there. They lack a lot of the improvements of the recent games sure, but they're well designed and still retain a little bit of challenge, especially if you're new to the series going in. It's a good place to learn the basics and you won't be bombarded with a load of different mechanics or overblown list of monsters to catch all at once.

I think something like:

Fire Red/Leaf Green > Heart Gold/Soul Silver > Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire would be a nice path.

You would see good improvements game to game, you'd still have some sense of continuity in terms of the monsters (Gen 1>Gen 2>Gen 3+) and you would be set for any of the more modern games released in recent years. If you get hooked and love Fire Red/Leaf Green then I'd highly recommend simply playing one from each generation released. They've all been pretty good tbh and there's a lot of differing opinion on what the best & weakest games were.

 

[KraniX]

Thanks all for the advice, I decided to go for Shield as much as I like the DS/3DS the screens just aren't that nice to use nowadays as so low res.

Was going to go digital but I was able to get the physical cart for £35 so if I don't get on with it then can sell it on at least.

Hopefully will be here in the next few day, any advice for starting out?

 

[Mark1989]

Personally don't start with sword and shield, very lackluster entries in the franchise.

Let's Go Pikachu on switch is great. DS wise there all pretty decent imo

Never mind just seen you opted for Shield, I suppose if this is your first time playing what most others found very disappointing with it you may not.

 

[KraniX]

Played about 5 hours of Shield, enjoying it so far, feels like it's moving at a decent rate and not too grindy yet.

The wild area is cool but exploration feels quite limited, it has a BotW feel but without the ability to go everywhere obviously.

Listening to some podcasts and watching YouTube videos from around the release and surprised by the amount of negativity it seems to have around it.

I guess the reduced Pokédex doesn't impact me since I don't have a fav that was potentially cut.

I've never been a fan of random encounters in any game, so am very glad they are optional here.

 

[KraniX]

Dupe post.

 

[Mark1989]

Played about 5 hours of Shield, enjoying it so far, feels like it's moving at a decent rate and not too grindy yet.

The wild area is cool but exploration feels quite limited, it has a BotW feel but without the ability to go everywhere obviously.

Listening to some podcasts and watching YouTube videos from around the release and surprised by the amount of negativity it seems to have around it.

I guess the reduced Pokédex doesn't impact me since I don't have a fav that was potentially cut.

I've never been a fan of random encounters in any game, so am very glad they are optional here.

I think if you played earlier ones or let's go Pikachu/evee you may feel different if had a comparison

That being said glad your enjoying it

 

[KraniX]

I think if you played earlier ones or let's go Pikachu/evee you may feel different if had a comparison

That being said glad your enjoying it

You're probably right, you don't sound like a big fan of Sword/Shield, can I ask what your issues are?

As an outsider I think the lack of voice acting is weird. I don't mind text boxes for stuff out in the world but when you have cut scenes in the stadium for example they should have some spoken dialogue, kinda like BotW.

Graphically it's okay, the art style is nice but the textures are a bit muddy, the draw distance isn't very far and you can see shadows sharpening a few paces ahead as you run etc.

Considering the amount of money the franchise makes I'm surprised it's not a bit more polished but then I don't think your average Pokémon player cares about frame rates and graphical fidelity.

 

[Mark1989]

You're probably right, you don't sound like a big fan of Sword/Shield, can I ask what your issues are?

As an outsider I think the lack of voice acting is weird. I don't mind text boxes for stuff out in the world but when you have cut scenes in the stadium for example they should have some spoken dialogue, kinda like BotW.

Graphically it's okay, the art style is nice but the textures are a bit muddy, the draw distance isn't very far and you can see shadows sharpening a few paces ahead as you run etc.

Considering the amount of money the franchise makes I'm surprised it's not a bit more polished but then I don't think your average Pokémon player cares about frame rates and graphical fidelity.

I finished it and sold it following day.

Lack of polish, lack of dungeon I use dungeon loosely as other games didn't have them in that sense of the word but had boss hide outs which would take time to do.

Team rocket in the others had a side plan granted always similar but broke it up not the team yell ********.

I accepted lack of Pokédex on basis everything else improved but it isn't, oh and the rival in sword just so dam annoying.

Rivals are in all of them but nothing like this one, lack of elite four, sword was also least imo much shorter game.

Honestly if you can grab the older ones I think you'll get more of what I mean.

It just felt over all like they made a Pokémon game half arsed with half the quality of even the handheld ones and threw it out there

 

[Mark1989]

Double post, just noticed! My bad

 

[Kreeeee]

Played about 5 hours of Shield, enjoying it so far, feels like it's moving at a decent rate and not too grindy yet.

The wild area is cool but exploration feels quite limited, it has a BotW feel but without the ability to go everywhere obviously.

Listening to some podcasts and watching YouTube videos from around the release and surprised by the amount of negativity it seems to have around it.

I guess the reduced Pokédex doesn't impact me since I don't have a fav that was potentially cut.

I've never been a fan of random encounters in any game, so am very glad they are optional here.

The good thing is that you are starting with arguably the weakest game in the series, so if you enjoy it then you will enjoy the rest even more.