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Most Important Generation Competitively

I'd have to say RSE. It introduced so many new things. I say one of the most important was Evs. Now pokemon like tyranitar could hit much harder if given the right Evs. It also introduced natures, abilities, and a bigger range of Ivs. Suddenly, pokemon could be different from each other besides just their base stats and move pool. It also introduced some key pokemon to standard play. Some of the more noteworthy ones being metagross, salamence, and swampert. In RSE one could also use more specified strategies, such as a sunny day team.

I'll admit, GSC was a pretty noteable addition to pokemon. It included items, introduced to SkarmBliss combo, and somes game breaking new pokemon, like curselax and marowak(when passed an agility anyway), and the steel and dark types. But for some strange reason, for me it just pales in comparison compared to RSE.
 
I'd have to say GSC. It brought us a whole different stat in the special defense stat, thus balancing out some pokes that were overpowered with the singular "special" stat in RBY. It also introudced the concept of hold items which are used today all the time. GSC is also the only generation to introduce new types into the mix, thus bringing us our first balanced metagame.

GSC also brought about some of the most important moves that are used today. Spikes, baton pass and the weather moves are all moves introudced in GSC that are still widely used today.

GSC also introduced some of the most impactful pokemon that are still used in the standard metagame today. Heavy-hitters such as Tyranitar, Suicune, Celebi, Blissey, Skarmory, Heracross and Forretress are all commonly seen today.
 
DPPt

- It's more of anyones game, with so many pokemon, and so many big time threats out and about, it turned this game from a "skilled game" to "anyones game."

- A few additions, Wi-Fi, Stealth Rocks, Toxic Spikes, coupled up with some important items, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf etc.

- New styles of play. It may only be me, but I'm pretty sure "Suicide Offense" is solely to DPPt with the addition of Stealth Rock carrying such an impact. It really brought the metagame into a complete 180, going from what was a Stall based metagame, into a rather unpredictable metagame. (One we still somewhat have.)
 
Well I didn't start playing until RSE so I don't know how it was when GSC came out. But I can say that LG/FR, which I supose they're considered in the RSE generation made a great improvement competitively: they made all Pokémon usable (not literally). I'm sure some people still remember RuSa 200 and how primitive it was with only like 20, 30 Pokémon usable.
 
GSC brought in IVs with a cap of 15 (hence the cross-gen gap between GSC and RSE, which allowed IVs up to 31). GSC did not introduce EVs, like some people believe. It introduced items.

RSE introduced natures and EVs, in addition to better items and badass legends.

DPP brought the physical/special split, better items, and powerhouses like Garchomp, while giving new Pokemon like Salamence newfound power.

It's probably DPP.
 
DPPt.
It introduced many new items: choice scarf/specs, life orb, type-resist berries, and damp rock/heat stone. Also, with the introduction of many new tutors and TMs, it expanded many the movesets of many pokemon who were deemed "uselss" before because of a small movepool. In addition, it brought about the most important move in the game-stealth rock. Most importantly though, it made the physical/special split. Pokemon like azumarill and gyarados, who were cursed with no physical STAB in generations 1-3, got a bunch of new toys to play with.
 
DPPT argueable ruined what was a pretty balanced game by shifting it rather heavily toward offense. Stuff like Mix Mence Draco Meteors doing 80%+ to gyrados just stuns old ADV players.
 
RSE/386 play, truly. Everything really established itself, The games balance came in, and we had given to us what was in my opinion the best metagame ever. You could play offensively, defensively, Baton Pass, PP Stall, Mixed sweepers, weather teams, and any mixtures of any of these ideas. Spikes and spinners, Magneton being a true anti-metagame pokemon, it was great!

Netbattle got into swing over the GS bots, and that was an amazing move that opened out competitive battling to the masses. Now my view is biased as, spending years playing 386 play, I havent bothered at all with the D/P/Plt metagame, it sounds funny but it was the physical/special split that got me, I've only just bothered to learn which moves are physical and which are special!

After R/S/E, it would have to be G/S/C. Why? Because of the tutoring program on Pokemon Stadium 2, which introduced the masses to actually thinking about battles in a new way other than hit strong moves and play rock paper scissors. Those tutorial battles were THE don.

Amen.
 
i am tired of people claiming that rby was "psychic dominant". i don't know where you guys have been, but chansey, snorlax, and tauros were 3 of the top 5 or so pokemon in the entire generation.

that said, i felt that adv was the most important with the customization of ev spreads and natures.
 
Roy said:
i am tired of people claiming that rby was "psychic dominant". i don't know where you guys have been, but chansey, snorlax, and tauros were 3 of the top 5 or so pokemon in the entire generation.
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True, but Alakazam, Hypno, and were so damn difficult to counter. Only Bug was SE against Psychic in RBY, and there was NO good Bug move, so Zam and Hyp essentially had no weaknesses. Combine that with their ridiculous Special, and you had some seriously tough Pokemon.
 
Hmmm,
I'd have to say RSE for natures, EVs, higher IVs, abilities, etc.
OR
DPPt, for introducing Sp.Atk./Atk. split, good new items (new choice items, resist berries, etc.) and concentrating more on the offense.
Hmmm...
 
Roy said:
i am tired of people claiming that rby was "psychic dominant". i don't know where you guys have been, but chansey, snorlax, and tauros were 3 of the top 5 or so pokemon in the entire generation.

that said, i felt that adv was the most important with the customization of ev spreads and natures.
Click to expand...

Let's look at some facts about Psychic in RBY:

1) Most Psychics had an outstandingly high Special Stat. Because there was no Special Attack/Defense split, this meant that they both took and dished special attacks very very well.
2) Psychic had only one weakness in RBY (due to Ghost being bugged to have Psychic immune to it rather than weak), which was Bug. No bug move was good enough to be worth using. Effectively, Psychic had no weakness.
3) Psychic was only resisted by other Psychic types in RBY. This meant that Psychic not only had the best Neutral coverage in the game (a la modern Dragon), but it also had the best resistance in the game.
4) Amnesia. Really only relevant to Slowbro and Mewtwo, but due to the lack of a split on Special, Amnesia functioned as a double Calm Mind, making it insanely broken.
5) The move Psychic had a 30% chance to lower Special, which again lowers both Special Attack and Special Defense.

Looking at the RBY OU list, we see that 5 out of the top 11 Pokemon in the game are Psychic type, including Alakazam and Starmie, arguably the two best sweepers of the generation. Normal comes in a close second with 4 out of 11 Pokemon, due to some other oversights in the generation (Hyper Beam not having a recharge turn if used to KO, Slash having a 100% critical hit rate, Snorlax getting Amnesia, there not being any usable fighting type moves)
 
I do not know what anyone else thinks, but besides Held Items, Berries and Abilities, the third gen did not really add much. Natures and EVs don't really add much importance to the game. IMO< i preferred the RBYGSC way of maxed stats, where they were all one point less than the maxed neutral number of today. The natures/EVs are good for strategy, but to me they make the game more difficult.
 
Ancax said:
I do not know what anyone else thinks, but besides Held Items, Berries and Abilities, the third gen did not really add much. Natures and EVs don't really add much importance to the game. IMO< i preferred the RBYGSC way of maxed stats, where they were all one point less than the maxed neutral number of today. The natures/EVs are good for strategy, but to me they make the game more difficult.
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This is a ridiculous claim. Natures and EVs allow pokemon to diversify in stats, making them less prone to physical or special attacks, depending on how you EV them. It is also huge when talking about choice items, or any item that multiplies a stat, since with EVs and nature accounted for, a Choice Band Tyranitar from today's metagame would have 604 Attack, while if CB were existant back in GSC, it would have 549.

I still think DPP is the most important though, with the introduction of powerful attacks for nearly every type, specifically Draco Meteor and the upgraded(and now useable) Outrage. Combine that with gamebreaking items(choice scarf, notably) and it is easily the most important.
 
Ancax said:
I do not know what anyone else thinks, but besides Held Items, Berries and Abilities, the third gen did not really add much. Natures and EVs don't really add much importance to the game. IMO< i preferred the RBYGSC way of maxed stats, where they were all one point less than the maxed neutral number of today. The natures/EVs are good for strategy, but to me they make the game more difficult.
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You see to me, difficulty is what it requires in the competitive sense. In game, obtaining perfect Pokemon and EV training is fun for a little while but soon gets grating. If we ignore the in-game stuff, and just look at competitive battling, perhaps it still requires a couple more layers of juicy strategy IMO. I love the way people play mind games pre match with stats, I.E. does one sacrifice a point of Atk. to raise speed by 1 to outspeed a similarly built pokemon?
 
Well, a lot of people talked about massive changes via new mechanics and the like, but I think that the generation that provided the most change on the competitive side was DPPl:

-Introducing new moves and TMs that gave many stale pokemon some great tools that, without them, they would be completly walled by some types of pokemon (like Alakazam and others gaining Focus Blast to deal with Tyranitar).

-Introducing a handfull of new Items that changed a lot in competitive battling (like the threat of a surprise Scarfed pokemon, or a Type Resist berry saving a pokemon, or even a Focus Sash).

-The Physical/Special split, giving many pokemon the desired STAB they were lacking and realizing their true potential (like Gyarados, Azumarill, Weavile and more...). The split also gave a lot of walls that had '0 weaknesses' (like Skarmory) something to fear.

Tell me if I'm missing something important. The new generation made a lot of changes in the style of play, and really changed the battlefeild like never before. Again, I talked about the generation that impacted competitive play the most.
 
3rd gen was when many players (including myself) began to play competitively, so I'd have to go with that. There were tank teams, CB teams, TSS teams, Baton Pass teams, weather teams and just team teams.

Regardless of what people think, I still don't think the physical/special split did much besides making the game hyper offensive (along with Choice Specs/Scarf/Life Orb/Nasty Plot). I'd put DPPt after 386.

DPPt is really about having a plan and executing it, or being able to adapt and counter what your opponent is doing. With so many Pokemon/moves, a "perfect team" is a mere illusion.
 
RSE: Intro to EV training, IV's, RNG abuse...

I would say GSC too, but ehh, I think the mechanics changed a lot more in RSE because people battled competitively.
 
Second generation wins it. Special Attack and Special Defense is something most battlers take for granted. You cannot wall Ice Beam with an Alakazamany more.
and the pay day hoppip and leftovers too
 
This question is a very stupid one in my opinion. The answer is obvious that 4th gen had the biggest impact on the metagame because we play the 4th gen metagame. This includes all the new moves, new items and new pokemon and abilities. Similarly, 1st gen had the biggest impact on the 1st gen metagame, 2nd gen on the 2nd gen metagame and 3rd gen on the 3rd gen metagame. Come on, you are better than this!!!
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the rise of priority moves in Gen IV.

Before the 4th gen, there was no Choice Scarf and very few priority moves and viable users of them.

In the 3rd gen risky strategies like Salac + Reversal were viable because they could lead to a full sweep.

With the rise of priority moves Reversal, Flail, and some other strategies are no longer viable because revenge killing has become easier than ever.
 
DPPt is obviously the most important.

The introduction of Wi-Fi battling has shown that there is now a heavier focus on competitive battling. Introduction of Choice Items and more importantly the Life Orb have opened up new opportunities in competitive play. Life Orb has increased the potency of Mix Sweepers. Made them useful almost on its own, a good item choice for pokemon who need the extra power boost more then leftovers recovery.

This is before even the mention of the physical special split and Stealth rock.

Although the introduction of the steel types that run our metagame occurred in GSC the only real threats of note are Scizor and to a lesser extent Skarmory. The introduction of Heatran, Magnezone and Lucario in my opinion have influenced team building far more then the previous two pokemon.

Still a very interesting question. Though I do not see how one could not answer DPPt. Though all the generations have done their bit to pave the way for the metagame we know and love today.
 
Well I don't know all the Gen's helped out in some way whether be abilities, Physical/Special split, hold items and other important stuff like revolutionary pokemon. So i don't know but I think it has to be B/R/Y it's where we started isn't it?
 
I have to go with DPP on this one, mainly because it seems the game mechanics of Pokemon have finally reached a balance as far as competitive customization is concerned. EVs, held items, Berries, Natures, and Abilities have all come together to make the DPP metagame the most complex and, therefore, fun metagame yet.
 
Generation IV takes the cake for me, because the physical/special split introducing hyper offense, with no thanks to life orb and the 2 choice items. Gen IV also introduced stealth rock, probably the most broken entry hazard. Also giving way to even more weather inducers, such as Abomasnow and Hippowdon.
 
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