Gen 2 graphics are the most soulful thing in the world, the music is great, and getting to explore two regions is fun.
However, the game suffers from a horrible difficulty curve and shit learnsets resulting from the lack of the physical/special split and the low number of moves available (just look at Bug-types). The Gen 4 remakes partly fixed these problems -- and they are indeed great games -- but going back to actual Gen 2 today isn't as fun as it once was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1PCmcoI8V8 