>>36646746This is definitely one of the main reasons why I tend to prefer "even-number" generations. While Gen 2 is the only one that felt more like an expansion, Gen 4 has a bunch of cross-gen evos, and Gen 6 introduced Mega Evolutions, all while having a good mix of old and new Pokemon. And focusing more on new important features like held items, special split, physical/special split, online play, 3D, and character customization.
Ruby and Sapphire is what started the trend of "You liked Pidgey? Too bad, Pidgey doesn't exist anymore, here have the same thing but now it's fucking blue." which just made them feel like soulless knock-offs. It was honestly a huge shock when I played Sapphire for the first time as a kid, where the hell were Pidgey and Caterpie, or even Sentret and Hoothoot from the last games? Where were the fucking POKEMON?
At least Gen 3 introduced new mechanics like Abilities, Natures, and EVs/IVs, but Gen 5 only really had re-usable TMs and Hidden Abilities, and Gen 7... removed HMs? They're too focused on being half-assed "reboots" filled with expies, instead of just improving on what Pokemon already has.
