Topic: What's a good starter Pokemon game?

I'm considering trying a Pokemon game soon as I have a pretty good interest in RPGs (like Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Fire Emblem Awakening, and Bravely Default) and I was wondering what's a good place to start with the series. It's the only major Nintendo franchise I've never played or owned a game from. I'm considering X, Y, Alpha Sapphire, or Omega Ruby. Any tips on a good starting place and is it worth getting both of the games in a set (e.g. getting X and Y together).

I'd say X/Y, simply because they focus more on the Pokés of their generation. OR/AS might be a bit overwhelming due to combining the first three Generations to boot, and then adding the later three to the mix.

So would you recommend X or Y over the other? Or perhaps both? Also, do OR and AS have 3D everywhere or only in battles like X and Y?

Also thanks for replying. Seems like most of my posts here and on Miiverse get ignored. I start to feel like Kellam after a while, heh.

Pokemon Platinum for Nintendo DS... BUY IT AND EXPERIENCE MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME.

I suppose I could, but I was really only interested in the current generation of games, being those on the 3DS.

the first ones on gameboy of course!

X and Y are so largely identical, it doesn't matter which one you'll get. Just pick the one with the Pokémon on the cover you find more interesting.
Also, I think OR/AS have the same limitations on 3D as X/Y.

I'd say go X or Y. They're easier to get into than most other games in the series. Just pick one based on which cover you find more appealing.

I haven't played OR/AS yet, buy XY seems like a great starting point to the series. XY are pretty much identical, the major difference is that the pokemon on the cover is exclusive. Pick the one you think looks cooler.

I say ORAS..

Unlike other franchises, pokemon doesn't nessecarly need played in any kind of chronological order to keep up with it.. for the most part they're pretty noncanon between games. You should buy the game that's most up-to-date with everything in it. While past games were amazing on their own, they're severly outdated and after completing the main story/post game (which x/y lacks too) there isn't much to do.. especially now that the DS wifi is down for good giving no real purpose to keep playing when you're done.. x/y is just a downgraded oras, less megas, less content, less (and worse) music, just overall not that great in comparison.. nothing x/y has that oras hasn't included/improved on _{except customization but that was pretty dull anyway tbh..} Wifi is still there, but if that's the main selling point oras got it too with more enchanements.

ORAS is up to date with all the mechanics, has a great story and post game.. while past games you'd basicly just be playing just to visit older installments..

My god what is wrong with you people saying X/Y, avoid it. It is a very horrible representation of what Pokemon is.

Grab ORAS, Grab the DS games (start with this one first so it doesn't feel so dated when you get ORAS) but do not touch X/Y. I wish i hadn't. Even if others don't believe me, theres also the point that ORAS does everything and i mean everything better than X/Y (partly due to the fact its a remake, with X/Y features, with some new features shoved in there).

TL ; DR I vote for Black/White, wait and see if an improved "Pokémon Z" is announced instead of buying X/Y

I haven't played ORAS yet, so I don't know how good those are. I have played X & Y. They're the easiest in the series, by far. If you just want to understand the type charts, status effects and the like, they're a decent starting point. In any other case, they're possibly the worst post-GBC games of the series. Poor story, overly low difficulty, replay value relies on the online. The online, graphics and Pokémon selection are better than before, but for non-competitive players I think those are the only notable improvements.
The only contenders for my least favourite entry (beyond Gen II) are Diamond/Pearl, which are horribly slow, already starting to feel dated and also have an overzealous plot. At least they had more background lore, less annoying characters and much better single-player content. And they were actually challenging at points (oh god, Cynthia).

I think the mechanics aren't hard to get used to and you'll be fine playing another game first. I suggest Black/White. Like X/Y, they're crippled by relying on Wi-Fi features for replayability- and those are all gone now- but have a much better plot (the best of any Pokémon game) with a thought-raising theme and likeable characters. They also open up more locations postgame. Aside from a sharp difficulty curve at the end of the game, I don't think they'd be too hard.
After that, you can move onto Black 2/White 2, the second best games in the series (beaten only by HeartGold/Soulsilver, which are jam-packed with single-player extras and have Pokémon following you).

You can also try FireRed/LeafGreen. They have a help menu that's accessible any time (even during battle) by pressing L/R. I can't remember how good that menu actually is, though.

The version differences are always minimal. The main change is what Pokémon you can catch in the wild, but even then, it's not noticeable- usually 2-3 Pokémon for every couple of routes. The pairs with the biggest version differences are Black/White and their sequels, which have a couple of tweaked battles, different areas and some places that look different between versions. Also, Black 2/White 2 have different "Keys", which change a couple of things.
Check here/here for specific info on Black & White area differences, here for battle differences, here for info on Keys. Unless you really want an exclusive Pokémon or an exclusive area, just go with whatever version has the better-looking Pokémon on its box, because you're going to see them every time you boot it up.

By the way, don't bother with Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire or Diamond/Pearl. Yellow, Crystal, Emerald and Platinum are the definitive version of those pairs. They add bonus features and polish the story. The definitive versions don't act as sequels to their preceding paired versions, so you don't need to play one of the paired games before the better, third version.
It seems very likely there'll be a Pokémon Z acting as the definitive version of X/Y, so you might want to skip X/Y entirely and wait for it- but everyone thought there would be a Pokémon Grey, so who knows, they might go for sequels again (or something else entirely). Can't hurt to get through another Pokémon game and wait to see if they announce it next year.

I would suggest Heart Gold/Soul Silver. Not over complicated eith the extra features like Black and White, and you get to see your pokemon follow you around which is cute.

I vote Blue, the best Pokémon games will always be the Gen 1 games (not the remakes on GBA but the originals on GB). I personally preferred Blue but Red and Yellow are also extremely good.

I'm with @TeeJay on HeartGold and SoulSIlver.

It is large with 16 badges and 2 regions to play in.

Thanks for all your responses, guys! Since some of you say just pick the one that looks better, I would go with Y as Yvetal is way neater looking than Xerneas, but I like Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Charizard X way better than their Y mega evolutions so I'm kind of torn...any suggestions? I plan to also pick up either OR or AS later on if I like X/Y enough. Also, like I said, for the time being I'm only interested in the 3DS games. I may look into the older ones later if I like the 3DS ones enough.

Edit: Actually, since some of you are saying that Pokemon Z may happen, I may just go with OR or AS (probably AS because I'm a big fan of sea creatures, and Kyogre is a really neat one) for now and perhaps I will go ahead and try Platinum at some point. We'll see. Still, If I do decide to get either X or Y, would you guys say it's worth it to get Yvetal as opposed to Mewtwo and Charizard's X mega evolutions?

Doesn't really matter for x/y, you can trade for them reguardless. ORAS has different cinematics between verisons so it's which looks cooler coughAScough

Yeah, I agree. Kyogre is definitely cooler than Groudon. So I think I'm gonna go with Y for now and AS later on. Then once I'm done with those, I may try Soul Silver (because Lugia!) and Platinum.