I really dislike it when people praise Gen 2 and call it one of the best generations of Pokémon while proceeding to bash the newer generations. In my opinion, Gen 2 is the weakest generation for a variety of reasons.
1. All three of the Johto starters are incredibly bland, uninspired and generic. Meganium is arguably one of the worst starters in the series. Venusaur does a much better job with the "Flower Dinosaur" theme. Feraligatr... is just a generic blue crocodile. Blastoise has cannons. Swampert is a hybrid of multiple creatures with a fairly unique typing. Empoleon builds upon the emperor penguin concept. Samurott is a dual-wielding otter swordsman. Greninja is a ninja frog with the ability to adapt. But what does Feraligatr have? All of its Pokedex entries does describe things that ordinary crocodiles would do. And Typhlosion, what is it even supposed to be? It just looks like a weasel and that's it. Oh, it can shoot fire out of its body... like any other Fire-type starter! Most of the Pokémon of Gen 2 are forgettable and weak in general. Sunflora, Qwilfish, Stantler, Delibird, Ledian, Ariados, Unown and the excessive amount of baby Pokémon all reek of mediocrity. Gen 2 was also the only generation to not introduce any new fossil Pokémon.