>>57310622>clearly not as Gen III is 3x times more played than every gen after it except Gen VII (2x times more played)That's not indicative of anything. Gen 3 has a lot of tourneys funded by the likes of JimothyCool and other Poketubers. There's actual money in learning Gen 3 as opposed to other gens. Not a lot of money, but enough to incentivize it.
Gen 4 is also kneecapped by the council's insistence on keeping the meta a slave to Jirachi.
>still has rocks (and tspikes)Stealth Rocks and Tspikes are fine.
>scarfScarf is a good thing though. This isn't even a hot take. Everyone besides Gens 1 - 3 players likes Scarf.
>Life OrbIt's a shit item in Gen 4. Too much residual damage.
>Muh Close Combat and Brave BirdStrong moves are fine. Earthquake is everywhere in every gen and it has literally 0 drawbacks. You can say Flying Pokemon are immune, but Ghost types are immune to Close Combat and Steel types take nothing from Brave Bird. Double Edge is also in earlier gens with the same drawback as Brave Bird. And yes, taking recoil IS a meaningful drawback in a gen so rife with residual damage, especially since Brave Bird Pokemon take 25% from Stealth Rock for switching in. Close Combat's distribution is still very limited, mostly to incredibly frail Pokemon, so if you live a hit you can easily KO them back. In fact, the only relevant Pokemon with the move are Infernape and Lucario. Pic related is EVERY Pokemon that can learn CC in Gen 4.
>still has almost no spinnersThis is a huge drawback. Gen 4 would be dramatically improved with Gen 6 Defog backported to the gen.
>still has an oppressive spinblockerGen 3 has that same oppressive spinblocker. Gen 4 nerfed its viability by giving Tyranitar a OHKO Pursuit on it.
