>>41564555Compare:
>unique locations to hunt for past legendaries vs. generic sky portals/wormholes we get nowadays (can also throw in Hidden Grottos here too for being neat)>Pokemon World Tournament, which appeals to hardcore players--to the point that you can even fight real life VGC players' teams--while also appealing majorly to casuals and longtime fans by bringing back almost every Gym Leader and Champion>The concept of sequels and two versions was fresh for the series>features like Join Avenue and Funfests at the time were amazing not only for the convenience it offered (instant egg hatching, for example) while encouraging interaction with other players>Pokestar Studios had mixed reception but I thought they were a neat timesink, and the unique Star Intro for your Pokemon was a cool trophy (same for N's Pokemon)>probably the best VGC format we've ever had in terms of being skilled and diverse. Weather could be annoying and gems were the first step to powercreep, but it was way better than Primals and other bs we got in the more recent gamesThere was just a lot of attention to detail, whether it be stuff like every trainer having an animation, to connecting with your old file to get some bonus features. I just think that in terms of content, HGSS and B2W2 set the standard, for having decent campaigns while also having a bunch of optional stuff to do
FRLG and Emerald what I consider "average", for reference (good campaigns with at least something neat to do in the post-game), while everything from Gen 6 onwards would be below that (bad campaigns with similar/lackluster post-game or side-content)
