The best Pokemon games, ranked

Gamers got their first taste for catching and battling pocket monsters back in 1996 when Pokemon Red and Green first released. Ever since, Pokemon fans – young and old, far and wide – haven’t been able to get enough of the series, with each game generally amassing more sales than the last, even when they’re riddled with issues. But that’s the thing, Pokemon’s gameplay is just so satisfying, so addictive, that when issues arise, they barely matter as long as there’s new ‘mons and Gym Leaders involved.

That’s not to say that these shouldn’t be addressed, which as you’ll learn while reading this list, is something that Game Freak and The Pokemon Company has seemingly tried to do to the best of its ability with each iteration and remake. Over the years, we’ve seen the games largely possess the same core mechanics and plot, but with grand innovations – the leap to 3D graphics, open-world environments, pivotal changes to combat – that have understandably seen Pokemon become one of the highest-grossing franchises out there. That, and the fact that Pokemon cards exist.

To make this list as easy to navigate as possible, given that there are a lot of Pokemon titles, we’ve decided to split this page into two ranked lists; mainline Pokemon games, and remakes. They’re also ranked from best to worst, so be sure to let us know how wrong (or right) we are, as well as what your favourites are, too!

Best mainline Pokemon games, ranked

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

• Platform: Game Boy Advance
• Starters: Torchic, Treecko, Mudkip

James Billcliffe: Generation 3 was Pokemon hitting its stride on the Gameboy Advance, gradually expanding the scale and complexity of 2D Pokemon until it reached the limits of the technology available to its handheld console.

So while Pokemon battles still had room to grow thanks to the physical/special split in Generation 4, Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald are the peak of the series in their original form.

The gameplay was quick and light, the exploration felt epic, and the roster of new Pokemon was full of fan-favourites like Flygon, Metagross and, who could forget, the all-powerful Ludicolo.

Generation 3 was also the first Pokemon story to raise the stakes of your mission to world-altering proportions, with a higher fantasy scope that the series would continue to lean on going forward. In the first two games you bust up a crime ring trying to make money stealing prototype tech, while in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, you break up a fight between the gods of the land, sea and skies so the ocean doesn’t evaporate and cities aren’t drowned underwater. Not bad for a 10-year-old.

Pokemon Emerald in particular also had an incredible post-game, which, even though it didn’t have the magic of revisting Kanto in Gold and Silver, had enough challenge and variety to stand out as another series high-point from a gameplay perspective.

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

• Platform: Nintendo DS
• Starters: Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup

Kelsey Raynor: Pokemon Diamond and Pearl was one of the first Pokemon games I vividly remember playing on my DS. Inviting us to the varied region of Sinnoh with some of the best starters – Piplup being my personal favorite, sorry Turtwig – it’s one of a few games I struggled to put down, and still feel very fondly about. Let’s not forget the mythological legendaries either, with Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina still up there as some of the best Pokemon.

Generation 4 was a pretty big deal for multiple reasons too, with some new features introduced that would shape the future of the Pokemon series. There’s the most blatant new feature was the ability to trade Pokemon and battle other Trainers online, making completing the ever-growing Pokedex much less of a slog. We also saw the introduction of the physical/special split too, which allowed ‘mons to use a much wider variety of moves. And, well, this made some otherwise middling ‘mons actually worth using, which is great.

Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal

• Platform: Game Boy Color
• Starters: Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile

JB: Generation 2 is probably the hardest to rank of any, since I simultaneously hold the opinion that it’s the greatest sequel of all time and that it contains a slew of head-scratching and poor design decisions.

The achievement of making a game as beloved as the first generation of Pokemon, going away for a year, then coming back and bettering it cannot be overstated. As we see in modern gaming, it’s not a given.

Gold and Silver are home to so many great Pokemon (Scizor, Miltank, Donphan, Tyranitar, Octillery, just to name a few personal favs), and locations like the iconic Bug Catching Contest, mysterious Burned Tower with its three legendary dogs and puzzling Ice Path are all fantastic.

But then you have the piece de resistance: once you complete your journey through the Johto region you can ride a boat over to the original Kanto region and take on another gym challenge of 8 Gym Leaders, revisiting your old heroes and rivals before taking on Red and Blue’s protagonist in the ultimate battle.

It’s hard to communicate how mind-blowing this was at the time. It reinvigorated the world of Pokemon with a new sense of scale, only strengthening the idea that you really could live in this land of endless possibility, and crucially, left you wondering what else was out there.

But if Gold and Silver are so great, why aren’t they top of the list? Well, there are a few common criticisms floating around, and once you hear them, you can’t unhear them. The one that I agree with the most is that Gold and Silver’s loose mid-game, where you can access as far as the Lake of Rage (where you face the 7th Gym) as early as after the 4th Gym, undermines the game’s progression and ruins the level-curve, leaving you facing massively underleveled opponents for a large chunk of your adventure.

It wasn’t so much of a problem when you smashed through everything with just your starter as a kid, but it does make trying to play with any nuance a bit of a slog.