>>43447071>Villain teams are actually threatening and competent>Same goes for Leaders/Champions getting fleshed out and being more involved with those conflicts>You will see practically every game mechanic implemented in some way. They even cover Pokerus as an explanation for how a trainer's newly caught Pokemon were able to catch up in terms of battle prowess, for example>Despite this the battles are the opposite and are very creative. Imagine stuff like a Marshtomp flooding a building's pipes with mud to launch at an opponent from far away, or a Munchlax and Torterra tag-team where the Munchlax dodges attacks by using the tree as cover, but also adds its weight to that tree for more power in Wood Hammer>Trainers are active with the Pokemon battles too, so you'll see them in the line of fire, or they have to be athletic to keep up their Pokemon and such>Goals outside of just being the League ChampionFor a standalone arc, my favorites are R/S (but not Emerald) or D/P (not Platinum, but you have to read it anyways). RB through Crystal are basically one big storyline, although they do rotate the focus on characters
