So this is a topic that's been coming up more often in the last few years, but only tangentially and it's never settled either which way.

The question is, which is the weakest region of the "Classic" Pokemon Generations (i.e. Gen I, Gen II, Gen III, and Gen IV). This isn't about sidegames or the generations as a whole, but about the mainline games for each of the four regions.

For the sake of fairness, we should be evaluating on the basis of what is widely considered the strongest entry for each region: RBY or FrLg for Kanto; GSC or HgSs for Johto; Emerald for Hoenn; and Platinum for Sinnoh.

Fair game is the design of the region, the plot, the storytelling, the mechanics, the bugs & glitches, the movelist, the Pokemon design, the regional dex / Pokemon choice, minigames, dungeon design, balance, postgame, progression, challenge, speed & pacing, characters, music & sound effects, graphics & animations, endings, and any other features you can think of.

As a clarification, Johto's connectedness to Kanto should be counted as much as the region on its own (which still leaves it open to criticism of the content of each region).


With all that in mind, which of these games as representing their region should be ranked the lowest of the four? Let's try to reach a consensus.