>>32566170There has, though not like the chart you've got.
Gen 2 was worse than gen 1, being duller rehashes of the gen 1 starters. Gen 3 was a huge improvement and the best the starters have ever been. Gen 4 was a decline when they started muddling the themes but was still good. Gen 5 was the nadir, three absolutely salvageable designs with terrible gameplay that turned a lot of people off the franchise entirely. Gen 6 was an improvement with more cohesive themes, and gen 7 fell back down again, with overall weak starters in terms of gameplay and design, though not nearly as bad as gen 5.
