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>GEN 4
Despite public demand, in early 2006 Game Freak makes the decision to push Pokemon Diamond & Pearl back a year to 2007, making it more like Platinum by adding a bigger Dex, Battle Frontier, distortion world, faster gameplay, etc. Various improvements to the games in general.
D/P come out 2007 in Japan, and the longer wait for the new games enhance public excitement and lead to increased sales, so they try to continue this formula.
They have three years to work on the fifth generation, but they actually find they have surplus time, and so work on another remake. HG/SS come out in 2009 as expected.
>GEN 5
Black & White come out 2010 as expected, and B2W2 come out in 2012 as expected.
>GEN 6
Despite the public demand for Pokémon franchise to step into the 3DS era, Game Freak takes their time. They push X & Y to 2014 (adding Zygarde forms and more postgame content), and ORAS to 2016.
>GEN 7
Sun and Moon come out for Switch in 2018, with better graphics and more content than they did for 3DS in the original timeline. Many improvements and features from USUM and beyond come out via DLC over the next several years.
Let's Go! Pikachu and Let's Go! Eevee are released in 2021 for the 25th anniversary of the series, and turn out to be deeply replayable games far deeper than a simple nostalgic cash grab, including both the Kanto and Johto regions as well as new Pokémon. True Generation 8 games come out a year later.
