>>41141049pokemania was already over when gen 3 came out. crystal flopped hard and the anime went to shit when they couldn't finish the gs ball arc. yu-gi-oh had taken pokemon's spot as the hot new fad.
normalfags started thinking about pokemon again when '90s nostalgia became trendy. black/white had the misfortune of being a soft reboot at a time when "le epic '90s kids" were practically begging to spend money on pikachu and charizard again like the "good old days."
everything since gen 5 has been a desperate attempt by game freak to make up for the opportunity they missed back then - at the expense of innovation, artistic integrity, and quality.