Pokemon | Scarlet & Violet (2022) + Legends Arceus is king

[NoWay]

I’d also highly recommend Let’s Go Pikachu/Evoli as a starting point because of the simplified gameplay mechanics. The Let’s Go games are perfect for somebody who isn’t familiar with modern Pokémon games.

The first Pokémon game of my girlfriend was also Let’s Go and it introduced her on an adequate way into the franchise.

 

[Soldier]

Aaah, you guys are amazing! Thank you so much @MATGSY & @Soldier! You guys are basically parroting my co-worker on the titles you've chosen. Arceus sounds particularly wild (and cool). But for some reason, the lists I've come across were all over the place, in terms of those specific recommendations.

I forgot that it was a neighbor's (original Gameboy) version of Red or Blue that was my first brush with the games. But I think I was exposed to the show / cards before that. I feel like grandma over here. Time flies!



Funny enough, I'm familiar with Donphan, because HE WAS IN THAT FIRST MOVIE! (And also in the tie-in prequel manga Toshihiro did that was only ever published in Japan's CoroCoro magazine which I just spent way too much munny on, on account of said Cinderace rabbithole!) (And maybe I'll become familiar with that Pokémon later.)



I love these stories <3

Sun & Moon are oddly nostalgic to me, despite not having played it, because that game just released the year I went to Japan. Me and my partner stopped at the Pokémon store there. Very cute, but I was thrown by an epic black Charizard statue (super cool looking). Anyways, he proposed in Japan, and so it's associated with my magical memories. I feel like I must play it someday! I still want a Popplio.

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Also, to either of you, since we've recommended games that AREN'T Violet / Scarlet, I heard there's a possibility of Nintendo doing something similar to PlayStation with its back catalog if you subscribe to it? So, that would mean a wealth of Poké games would be at our disposal on one machine, yes?

You're very welcome. The black charizard is actually it's shiny coloration. Every mon released has a shiny form that you have a 1/4,096 chance of encountering, and while that number is huge, various methods can make it easier to obtain them. Not every shiny is great because it isn't designed by an actual person, rather an algorithm, but said algorithm actually makes some pretty impressive colors.

Donphan actually is one of my favorite mons (I'm partial to anything elephant related after all). Pretty solid in both attack and defense, with a variety of moves that hit hard and support the team like rapid spin. Plus, in modern games like SV it curls into a tire form and rolls around, such a nice attention to detail. Popplio is a great water starter, pretty solid in stats and has a lot of special defense to tank hits in it's final form. It's also capable of forcing ghosts to sleep with it's ability liquid voice which converts any sound based moves (like sing) into water type moves.

And as for the back catalog, that's something that is still up in the air. Nintendo has released switch online which is a subscription based service that gives you access to a lot of classic nintendo games (like Legend of Zelda, majora's mask or Banjo Kazooie) and it functions similar to virtual console games. On the 3DS they did release Pokemon Red Blue and Yellow and Gold Crystal and Silver via virtual console which has sadly shut down, but it was one of the first steps towards preserving them. I dunno, it's kind of tough to do most of the DS titles simply because of the split screen mechanic, but I still hold out hope to play Heartgold again on modern hardware. But The Pokemon Company itself is a rather fickle machine, and it usually takes a lot to move them into action.

 

[2 quid is good]

Having not purchased a pokemon game since gen 5 (my younger cousin had the 3ds titles and I didn't feel they were particularly great at the time), I'm honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed Scarlet and Violet.

I second everything everyone else said, and I haven't played Legends Arceus, but if it's better than SV, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

Don't get me wrong, the glitches and bugs, and generally technical issues of SV are terrible, but the story, gameplay loop and side quests were super fun for me. If you can see past that then I would go for it, but I probably wouldn't propose purchasing a switch *just* for one game. (Even though that's basically what I did)