>>3222516596 here, It was a mix. I remember Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Beyblade all co-existing at the same time. I wouldn't say they missed the boat, look at all the hype Hoenn got when the remakes were announced. It was just nowhere near as big as the first two generations due to the older fans growing out of the series and all the diversity. Majority of the people that played gen 3 started with that and got their fix of the other two gens from FRLG and GSC thanks to the SP's compatibility. The card game got a boost from Yu-Gi-Oh as well.
