>>57019860Blue version was the first third version, but it was more just polishing up issues with Red and Green
Our Red and Blue is just Japan's Blue, so we technically got 2 third versions
Yellow was made as a bonus that added some Pokemon anime flare onto the events of Gen 1 for those that were into the anime
But yeah, Crystal is where they got their real idea for how to make third versions, as it actually includes new plot and content, which gets followed into Emerald and Platinum
Conceptionally while Black 2 and White 2 are direct sequels, they functionally act as a third version due to new content, but more obviously Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are to their original games, despite removing things alongside adding others
Obviously now SwSh and SV have DLC in place of third versions, so no longer expanding the base game, just adding new unrelated stuff on top of them
Moral of the story is that XY got fucked because they didn't get anything till years later with Z-A, when it was pretty obvious there was meant to be a Z version that just got scraped
