I myself been following the franchise since 1999 and have had internet experience for about 2 years prior, so naturally I did do a lot of browsing when it came to Pokémon. Pic here shows what the official Pokémon website was like in late 1999, with the following link showing more:
https://dinosaurdracula.com/blog/deadsites-pokemon/>>43726597In terms of hype overall, Gen 2 came out when Pokémania was starting to wane, but it was still a big thing. I'd like to say it was around mid-2001 when Pokémania died down. Gen 3's hype sesason was more like as
>>43726793 pointed out, little to none outside of those still dedicated.
>>43726735>I definitely remember a hammer-headed shark and another Mon I don't remember in one of those screenshots, and then realizing years later it wasn't actually in game.I remember that fakemon. This page here shows some notable fakemon from the hype seasons of Gen 3 up to parts of Gen 5.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160529042824/https://www.serebii.net/fakes/Serebii, along with many other big fansites, were actually fansites worth visiting before Gen 5.
