in terms of human psychology, gen 1 is objectively the best gen

before the inevitable gen war this thread will start, just hear me out.

when gen 1 came out, there was nothing else like it before. no other franchise had done what pokemon was doing. sure, there were similar monster fighting/collecting franchises, but the multimedia universe was unparalleled for something like this. when gen II came out, it happened again.

gen II's release was a major turning point unlike any other new gen's launch, because it showed us that pokemon can be done again. but it came with a price -- we could compare it to something. now discussions came about "which anime plot is better, kanto or johto?" "which gen had better pokemon/leaders/region?" etc

when you have something to compare it to, it becomes less special