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Any pokemon game pre-3ds is good. R/B/Y are of course amazing and important, but better experiences are available. G/S/C achieve great magic, but are surpassed by the remakes. R/S are often deemed inferior to Emerald because that game features a cool cutscene; actually, the narrative conceit of R/S is only meaningful if you bring about drought or rain, not both, and must stop either personally. The pacing is also far better in R/S without the Rayquaza mission, and finding Rayquaza without so much as a clue of its existence in R/S is just about the coolest thing I've ever experienced in a video game. Still, the narrative overextends for a game that is not prepared to effect the consequences of your actions (actual flooding/actual drought). Environments in general needed to be far more varied, too. Platinum actually has the courage to show the player what Cyrus would have created, not with a cutscene but an explorable environment. In any case, the game fails to offer the kind of graphical variety and poise that make gen 5 so impressive.
No pokemon game is particularly finished except HG/SS, which is why it is "Great". The B/W saga are also "Great" but not as polished as HG/SS, though they have the advantage of a conceptual narrative that relates to the core loop of the actual games. FR/LG are also "Great" for aesthetic reasons -- the presentation is just about spotless -- but the postgame is quite thin and the game has far less replay value than others.
