Pokemon?

[FFNut]

hey everyone, I have never played a Pokemon game in my life but I see how much you guys like the games and think maybe I'm missing out on a great series. So I have a chance to get some for free to play, and I was wondering which one should I start with? Here are my options:

Emerald
Saphire
Leaf Green
Yellow
Ruby
Silver

Remember I am brand new to the series, so like I said which one should I start with?

[Fynn]

I think Lea Green is a good place to start. It's a remake of a first generation game, so for a first time player who is not til familiar with Pokemon, it's a nice introduction to the mechanics of the game, what with most of it being limited to only the first 151 Pokemon.


After that, go for second gen - that's Gold, Silver and Crystal. Those have remakes too, but they're for the DS, so I don't know if you'll get access to them.

In general it's important to remember that each generation has two game with a later added third. The first two are practically identical, with only the Pokemon you can catch being different, while the third adds some new features. Each generation adds new Pokemon. So here's the gens:

1 - Red and Blue, and later Yellow (Fire Red and Leaf Green are remakes and count as 3rd gen games)
2 - Gold and Silver, and later Crystal (Heart Gold and Soul Silver are remakes in the 4th gen)
3 - Ruby and Sapphire, and later Emerald (most currently remade into Onega Ruby and Alpha Saplhire for gen 6)
4 - Diamond and Pearl, and later Platinum
5 - Black and White which have no third version, but direct sequels instead - Black 2 and White 2
6 - X and Y. No news on the third game so far.

My personal favorite is gen 5

[Ayen]

Fynn pretty much covered it. I love Red and Blue, but gameplay wise they're pretty outdated and are prone to annoying glitches. Fire Red and Leaf Green are as close to the originals as you can get without it scaring a newcomer off. I'd still recommend Yellow though if you like the anime at all since it follows it pretty closely with Pikachu and stuff.

Gold/Silver set the tone for the rest of the series and Crystal was the first game to introduce playing as a woman, so they're pretty neat.

We all know the third game is going to be called Pokemon Z, Fynn.

[Pike]

Leaf Green is the way to go and it's the only way most people play the originals anymore. I'd start with that!

[Fynn]

I don't think it's that certain that Z is coming. Everyone was sure we'd get a Pokemon Gray after Black/White, and what happened? Game Freak might throw us another curveball.

[FFNut]

Just downloaded Leaf Green to my phone. I'm enjoying it so far! Got squirtle at the moment looking for a place to catch more!

[Del Murder]

Leaf Green is fine to start out with since the original game is so nostalgic, but skipping right to the current gen is probably for the best since the games only improved each time out and you see most of the pokemon from the older games in the current gen.