One of my favorite parts about X and Y was that you had the option to start the game with up to 3 starters if you include the gift Torchic. I feel like playing with multiple starters is one of those fun things players want to do but can't do unless they trade with a friend and restart. Personally I went with Chespin and Charmander, while my brother went with Froakie, Bulbasaur and Torchic, and looking back, I really appreciate it and kinda hope they can do it again. I guess they did that with DLC if you play from the start and then go to the isle of armor to get Bulbasaur or Squirtle, but it's a bit of a stretch because most players played the DLC after finishing the game.
I haven't played over 200 hours in game since xy and oras, but I've managed to log in at least 215 hours for Sword and I think the quality of life changes are a huge part of that. I remember spending hours trying to breed a perfect shiny, while also being slightly unhappy about wild shinies because the IV's would usually be far from perfect, but Gen 8 completely changed that. The fact I can turn any shiny pokemon into a perfect pokemon with ideal natures, perfect IV's, egg moves, and eventually hidden abilities is just really really cool imo. The Gen 8 games have been pretty controversial, but I think overall they were pretty cool and quality of life changes give me a bit more hope about future games.
The rest of this post is kind of a gen 3 and 4 appreciation post, so apologies in advance if it's too much.
Gens 3 and 4 hold a special place in my heart because I feel like they gave us everything we could ask for, and then more, all with astounding quality. The main series games were all difficult (for a non-competitive player at least), every starter was great, and they added the battle frontier. The anime did pretty well too. For Gen 3, the Battle Frontier provided some cool fights, like Charizard vs. Articuno, and then giving us another opportunity to see Ash's Bulbasaur and Squirtle in action again. As for Gen 4, I think it gave us one of the, if not the greatest battle in the entire anime in Ash vs. Paul. I still get goosebumps while
rewatching the last bits of Infernape vs. Electivire, and I know the battle with Tobias after was rather lame, but I still think that win for Infernape just felt satisfying as hell.
As for the "and then more with astounding quality," I'm mainly referring to the side series games. It wasn't just that we had a lot of new side games, but that those side games were all really really good. I'll list the more popular ones below:
- Pokemon Colosseum
- Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
- Pokemon Ranger
- Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
- Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red & Blue Rescue Team
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness & the Sky
The first 2 were the only Pokemon games available on the Gamecube, but they introduced a lot of new things, including 3D open world, a full double battle story, and shadow Pokemon. Pokemon Ranger was cool and I think it did a good job of
destroying my bottom screen making use of the stylus and the bottom touch screen for the Nintendo DS. Last but not least, the Mystery Dungeon games are big fan favorites that gave us a new way to play, and did so while providing pretty good story and some heartache that made us love some pokemon even more. These games not only gave us new ways to play pokemon, but they were really challenging too and I think as players, these games are a solid collection of what we want to see in a game. Unfortunately the side series games have taken a fall since Gen 5, but I'm still happy to have gotten the above games, and seeing as how the first mystery dungeon games received a remake, I'm curious to know what else might get one. It might be an empty expectation, but surprises are always nice, so I'll just accept whatever we're fortunate to get.
It's hard to believe it's coming close to its 25th anniversary, but I'm genuinely happy Pokemon exists and I love it with all my heart.