>>31350566Because this was before gamefreak thought they'd be making a new pokemon game every year, so it was made more like an expansion to R/B/Y than a new generation.
Also the internet was relatively young at the time, /vp/ wasn't a thing and neither were shitloads of leaks. We didn't preemptively know half the pokedex through leaks/teasers back then.
Compared to now when lots of people analyze and pretty much decide their whole team before the game comes out.
Couple that with the fact there were lots more pokemon as well.
People not being old enough is also another factor. Lots of avid pokemon fans were still pretty much children when they came out with Gen 2 and probably took pokemon a lot less seriously. Sure I could recount all 800 pokemon right now as an adult, but as a kid playing pokemon red I was just focused on having fun.
