Poll: Vote for Your Favourite Main Series Pokémon Games - 20th Anniversary Edition

Heartgold is the first one I played and the only other one I have played is X so I am going to have to go with Heartgold as my favorite. Need to play more of the series in order to form a true opinion though.

My overall favourite has to be Black 2/White 2. So much content in that game. X/Y was incredibly disappointing compared to it. There were the little details too. The music in particular, especially in the gyms and the gym battles.

Blue, Platinum, and Heartgold for me.

Blue is where it all started, Platinum is what got me back into Pokemon, and Heartgold's aesthetic and presentation remain the best of the series to this day.

Firered; Perl and White are my all time favorites
mostly because of personal nostalgia though

I only like SoulSilver. I regret transferring all my Pokémon over to Black.

Gold/Silver original remains my favorite.
Also Black/White 2 are fantastic entries.

Red, Silver and Ruby. The three that shaped pokemon in my childhood. I probably was most involved in it during the first 3 gens, after having played Red, then Blue, then Yellow, then replaying Blue (because Red was my precious), it felt like by the time Silver and Gold came out, the world seemed bigger and everything seemed so new that it recaptured me, then once again for Ruby with the GBA. After that it's ups and neutrals, not so many downs. But I've never missed a gen!

Pokémon Blue, Pokémon Diamond, Pokémon SoulSilver. But G/S and R/B/E also have a sweet place in my heart.

Those names itself just make me feel so happy and nostalgic.

Red,Ruby,Y

Emerald, Diamond and Black for me.
Emerald got me into Pokemon, Diamond was a lot of fun (and at the time I didn't even notice the really slow battles), both as the regular game and an Action Replay ridden save I ended up messing around with a lot. Black is easily the best one of the 3 but I prefer Emerald/Hoenn overall just because it was my first and I enjoy its Pokemon/lore/map more.

Alpha Sapphire, White and FireRed are (right now at least) my favorites. I love them all ver equally.

Soul Silver was the first pokemon game I played that wasn't really old when I played it, so it's always had a special place in my heart. Plus, it had a lot of great things like 2 regions, a battle frontier and Pokemon following you.

Crystal, FireRed, and SoulSilver for me. The Gen II games are undoubtedly my favourite.

Voted. Can't wait to see the final results. Is there any deadline?

Really tough, but I went with Blue, Gold and Black.

Blue, cause it was my first game and it literally took over my life, on and off the playground.

Gold, cause it introduced so many staples into the Pokemon franchise like held items, Steel/Dark types and the night/day mechanic. Also, as you can tell, Umbreon is my favorite Pokemon. The thing is a beast and you'd never know it by looking at him.

Then Black, cause I simply loved the music and it had a compelling story to tell.

Honorable mention to Pokemon Yellow, cause you know, you got all 3 starters, eventually.

Voted for Crystal, Silver and Blue. Only played Gen 1 and 2 and I consider Crystal to be the point where the formula was perfected. Silver is almost as good, never played Gold. Blue was my first Pokemon game and my favoured Gen 1 game.

My first Pokemon game was Emerald, but I was quite young when me and my brother played it, so I don't remember much about it at all.

SoulSilver remains my favorite for two reasons: I loved how your Pokemon followed behind you, and the ball capsules.

The other two I voted for were Black 2 and Alpha Sapphire.

1. Emerald (over 2'000 hours playtime)
2. Alpha Saphhire (over 1200 hours)
3. Pkmn X (over 500 hours)

With the upcoming rereleases of blue/red/yellow I am planning to play my way through all six generations of Pokemon. With the exception of Gen 1 I plan to use the remakes. Using the gen 1 originals as buying from eshop will be easier than hunting down the remakes.

Looking forward to it as gen 3 onwards will be new for me.

First Pokemon game I ever played was Y so it is my Favourite along with Omega Ruby and Pearl

Good Lord, very tough poll!
I have so many favorite Pokemon games I don't know which one to pick! FireRed, Diamond, Heartgold, Black, Black 2, X... Which one do I pick?!
I will say that Diamond was the only DS game I played for a pretty long while (scratch that, dominated a significant part of my childhood), so I guess I need to vote for two more games. FireRed I also played a lot, but that's the case for Black, too.
Gah. Hard choices, indeed.

I voted for Yellow, Sapphire and Alpha Sapphire. Gens 1 and 3 mean a lot to me and the remake of gen 3 is very good too. While Y was what got me back into the franchise after a fair few years of not playing, I feel there's plenty to be improved on which will probably appear in Z.

I voted Yellow (nostalgia), Gold (personal favorite), and Y (overall quality).

Thing is, Pokemon gets boring as a game almost immediately. Funny I keep going back to it.

Emerald, Platinum, and Black for me.

Blue - my first game ever & pretty much consumed my childhood.
Same with Gold too, loved the new features & the ability to travel back to the Kanto region once you became the Champ & most of all, for introducing my fav 'mon ever- Marill/Azumarill.

My absolute favs though have to be X/Y - loved the starters, region, customization etc & introduced what fast became my fav type ever, fairy type.

Honourable mention would go to White Version 2. Soo much content with a surprisingly good story & for getting a shiny dratini for beating the Forest Tree. Love my shiny Dragonite <3

Aside from those above & Alpha Sapphire which I wasn't too fond of, I haven't played any others in the series. Yellow will be joining that though later this week so rather excited for that.

My vote goes to Crystal.

Crystal, Platinum, Black. Gen 2, 4 and 5. The 3 best generations of Pokemon imo

SoulSilver for the nostalgia factor, since it was my first Pokémon game ever.
My absolute favourite is White 2 though. That game always stands out to me as the best one. The story was very engaging (at least for kid-to-starting-teen-me back when I played it), the region was unique, memorable, diverse and great to explore, the characters are memorable (especially N), and the aftergame is easily the best one yet. Without a doubt the best Pokémon game out there in my opinion.

Yellow because you could get all three starters and started with Pikachu. Heartgold because Gen 2 was awesome, you could get Pokemon through the Poke Walker and Pokemon followed you around. Black 2 because it improved Black in nearly every way and plus I liked battling in the black tower and getting the shiny Gible. Also loved the dream world game. I got some awesome Pokemon through that.
I would have voted for Platinum too since the Distortion World was awesome, so that gets a honorable mention from me

Emerald, Platinum, and Soul silver for me! Although Sapphire was when I first got into the series. I voted platinum because I feel like gen 4 doesn't get enough love! I thought it's region and pokedex were fantastic.

Wow, I ended up just picking a remake from each of the first 3 generations. I really wanted to pick "X" because it added a lot of great pokemon to the mix and had a really nice atmosphere but ended up going with Alpha Sapphire instead.

Clearly the Soul Silver is tops. It had everything and then some.

never played pokemon. blue version, after i download it sunday, will be my first one.

Red, Yellow, and Y.

Having skipped three generations entirely, I'm not super qualified to answer this question (and old carts are crazy expensive) but of the ones I've played:

1. Silver - given what I've heard about SoulSilver it might honestly be the best one in the series but I'm not dropping $45 for a cart (and well, I already have to drop $40 on the other two FE routes and has Mega Man Legacy's price been fixed yet?). Silver was also the first game I ever preordered, from Funcoland, which hasn't existed since 2000. So many hours of play in this game before the battery died. Exploring Kanto after going through Johto was so cool, and taking down Red's jerk Snorlax (uh, spoilers?) totally satisfying.

2. Blue - Where I got my pokemon start. I honestly don't remember why I picked this game up, or where, I don't remember bugging my parents about it (like I totally did with gen II) or following along with the cool kids at school like I did the Power Rangers in first grade. My blue cart still works, but I haven't decided if I'm getting red or yellow this weekend. First time I ever got to Indigo Plateau with that 8-bit snare beat I got chills. I was also 11 but whatever.

3. Omega Ruby - Having nephews and nieces brought me back into the series, and while the enormous end-game water route wasn't to my tastes, the music was pretty awesome (Wally's battle theme, oh my goodness; the eon flute theme is another top notch piece)

4. X/Y - Honestly I kinda found this one lacking in creativity other than the reflecting cave. Pokemon-amie was neat but I found most of the minigames more distracting than anything. Also the lumiose city thing, not great. The music I thought wasn't as good as ORAS either. Still passable for 40 hours.

For me, Ruby, Omega Ruby and Diamond. Because darn, I cannot get enough of Hoenn!

Look at how close the voting is! Every single game has its fans. How many videogame series with more than 20 titles can claim this?

Red/Blue probably is the most impactful game that I ever played, and I've been playing videogames since the ZX Spectrum. For many years, I considered titles such as Mario 64, Ocarina of Time or Super Metroid as the best videogames I ever played. But, after some introspection, I came to the realization that it was Red. It's simply a technological marvel. A game for a very limited portable console, with no colours, in a cartridge with little storage capacity and where every single bit mattered, the fact that such a rich universe was created, dozens of characters, each with their unique charisma, with an almost unlimited gameplay, is simply a miracle of inspiration.

Black 2/White 2 is the one that seemed to incorporate all of the previous games' best features. At the time, it seemed like the eauivalent of a "Best Of" album on the Pokémon universe. The 5th generation had the most interesting story, in my opinion.

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire corrected every single thing that I disliked in X/Y, (the first and only Pokémon game that I did not enjoy, although I wouldn't consider it a bad game), and I'm still enjoying it today. I feel no need for a new Pokémon game yet, which is a testament on how polished ORAS is.

Emerald, SoulSilver, and White. Emerald because Hoenn is my favorite region and the region I identify most with, SoulSilver because nostalgia, and White for the amazing storyline. Yellow gets honorable mention because it was my first Pokemon game.

I voted Red, Silver, and Y.

It was pretty hard for me to decide between Pearl version and Y for my third vote though! I loved Pearl, but I've put way more time into Y... Hm.

The ones I have played most are B2, Y, and AS, so there's 3!

Well I was into pokemon at the time when Emerald came out, but dit not have a gba. So I got a DS and Pearl for one of my birthdays. So generation 3 & 4 is where the nostalgia is. Voted emerald(nostalgia), platinum (to be honnest its a improved pearl, so easy choice) and Heart Gold. HG & SS where just really good games.

Alpha Sapphire, White and HeartGold in that order.

ORAS has amazing theming, a good storyline, tight gameplay and is easily accessible and supportive of casual gamers, hardcore gamers and competitive battlers alike. It's visually impressive too. It's literally taking my favourite and first Pokémon games (RSE) and just updating and improving on them in excellent ways.

Black and White are the best plot the series has to offer hands down. The characters are well written and interesting (including Gym leaders that actually do stuff OUTSIDE their gym for once), the evil team is incredibly clever and just everything about the plot is excellent. In addition, Gen 5's Pokémon are my personal favourites for design. I played through Black and White about ten times when they were released with different teams because I wanted to use all the Pokémon in a playthrough each. The last playthrough was tiring, sure, but it never felt like a drag, and the plot, the characters and the Pokémon were the reason I could do that so many times.

HeartGold/Soulsilver still stand as the best Gameplay we've had for me. Everything is so smooth, and Pokémon following you is an absolute joy. There are a couple of problems I still have with HGSS, which means it's only my third favourite rather than being high up. For one, levelling up is horrible in this game. For another, I still to this day don't understand why certain Gen 2 Pokémon aren't found in Johto and are Kanto exclusives (looking at you, Houndour, Murkrow). Otherwise a Top Notch game.

Platinum is my fourth pick btw. Anything Kanto is at the bottom of the list. A couple of decent Pokémon designs in Kanto, but a lot aren't that great, and the horribly glitchy gameplay (in the originals - really inexcusable imo), ridiculous Poison overabundance and the fact that Pokémon don't even learn good STAB moves by level up drag the games down for me. Still respect and appreciate them for what they are though.

By far the Original Gold & Silver from Gen. 2

Black and white!

voted for pokemon yellow , Heart gold and X .
But if i could have voted for one more then it would be blue as it was my first pokemon game i owned

I am ashamed but I've never really played a Pokemon game before besides just turning on Pokemon X one time.

Fifth generation was my favorite so White and White 2 and for my third I'll do Soul Silver since it modernized what was at the time the best pokemon game.
I find it kinda silly that we have all the Pokemon games separated. The differences between the two versions always released is so minimal that I just count it as one release. For example Diamond and Pearl should of been one entry while Platinum should of been a separate entry.
I also find it funny out of 1,700 votes so far not one person has picked Green. I mean most people have never played it in the West and I doubt many would consider it the best but still.

I went backwards (I played Gen IV first, before going back to older games), so I have to go with the game I started with, Platinum, which is probably the Rose-Tinted spectacles working overtime (but hey, who isn't nostalgic about the first game in a series they played) , and the two games which I think are the best, HeartGold and SoulSilver, which have been the best games to my mind so far.

All old school for me, Red-Yellow-Gold.

HeartGold
FireRed
Y

For me!

1. Gen 1 originals - 17%
2. Gen 4 remakes - 15%
4. Gen 6 originals - 13%
4. Gen 2 originals - 13%
6. Gen 3 originals - 9%
6. Gen 4 originals - 9%

At time of posting.
I would like to see the numbers put up like that.

Pokemon Dash all day everyday!

Red/Blue for me. It was such a fantastic game. It's just been incremental updates since. I played Gold and then nothing until White, and was a bit shocked it felt like I'd played it all before. I'm pretty sure they'll never come close to giving me that feeling again, but I'm sure most people will feel the same about whichever one they played first.

I remember being so excited for Black and White. It was the first Pokemon generation where I could actually keep up with the new news coming out about it (mainly through serebii) so it was exciting seeing the new features and pokemon. But I didn't want to wait for the new games to come out in English so my brilliant middle school mind thought I'll just play them in japanese!
Got White and played through that whole game without an idea what was going on but I still loved it. Fifth generation holds a lot of nostalgia for me because of this and many other great memories. Even more so than third and fourth generations which I mainly grew up on. When I actually played through it in English I also really liked the story. Sure it is not groundbreaking but for a pokemon game it is one of the best. Part of my love for these games is yes nostalgic but I feel I have been fair with all the pokemon games and so far fifth generation has held up remarkably well. It feels much more fluid than how clunky fourth generation was at the really least.
It is honestly a real shame though that people refuse or hate on fifth generation because it has a garbage pokemon while there are (at least in my opinion) some of the most well designed pokemon in there. Who knows maybe years later it will pull a Zelda and become the "underrated games" every one skipped over but are actually good. At least I can dream right?
And holy crud Black and White were released in 2010. That feels like forever ago.

I voted Yellow, HeartGold and White. Although I think games really need to be paired up here, excluding third versions. Not with remakes, but with each officially paired-up game. Pair up Red/Blue/Green (but not Yellow), pair up Gold and Silver (but not Crystal), etc.

Wonder why no one pick Pokemon Green. 😉

The games that are practically the same should be grouped together. My 3 favorites are Black/White, Black2/White2, and HeartGold/SoulSilver, but I just couldn't vote on all of them.

Considering that the non-Japanese world already got the Green Version in the form of Pokemon Blue, Green shouldn't even be on this list. The niche value of that game is extremely superficial. If we must have a Japanese-exclusive game on this list, why not make it the Japanese Blue Version?

Really, X&Y are this high?! Whoever chose those clearly weren't around to experience the glory days of Pokemon back on the DS. The sixth generation of Pokemon are terrible, the game is way too easy, and there is almost nothing to do after you beat the Champion. At best a 7.5/10.

@ningeek185 I voted Y cause the Looker story is amazing.
And I have Played the DSgames too.

I have only owned three Pokemon games FireRed, SoulSilver, and Y. All of which are my favorite. I borrowed the rest.

Pokemon Red was my first and my Favorite. And while I played through all the others Y was the first one to really Suck me back in and enjoy it.

My first Game Boy game was Pokémon Red, so I had to vote for it. Besides, Emerald is the quintessential game to own on the Advance and HeartGold is the finest remake of one of the best generations. Plus, I like Ho-Oh quite a lot.

This list is a summary of my life over the past 20 years 😃

Crystal, Platinum, and White.

Can't believe I've been following this franchise for over a decade now. I remember when Gen 3 came around and it was pretty big in elementary school.

I can understand separating the remakes and remasters, but you really should've combined the dual releases, as they're pretty much the same games with extremely minor differences (except possibly Ruby/Sapphire and their remakes).

Anyway, I voted for Emerald, Black 2, and Y. I thought about Yellow and Silver, but the first generation is just too glitchy and unbalanced, while the second gen still has some balance issues and glitches and lacks too many of the more modern features. One of these days, I'll get around to getting SoulSilver, which may very well replace Y on my list, and who knows what we'll get with Z version or whatever? In the meantime, Y may not have as much content as most other releases, but it's still very impressive with its 3D engine, avatar customization, adding the Fairy type and Mega Evolutions, and in my opinion the best overall set of new Pokémon designs.

I'm kind of surprised to see OR/AS doing so well when they're generally considered to be inferior to Emerald. Also, Black 2 and White 2 need more love. While the story isn't quite as good as their immediate predecesors, they more than make up for it with Pokéstar Studios and the Pokémon World Tournament.

Went with Crystal, White and Black 2.
I think people remember the second gen fondly due to the Pokémon craze being at a very high point, even if the novelty was starting to wear off by Crystal. Gen 2 was also much more polished than the first gen games, and they really felt like a meaty expansion of the original concept. I still consider them to be the highest point of the franchise game-wise, even without the physical-special split, online battling and limited 'mon figures. The aesthetics were spot-on, the sense of discovery of the original gen was still there and the single-player content was quite meaty for a GBC game.

Similarly, Black and White recovered some of that sense of discovery for me. I found the designs to be much more appealing than those featured on the previous gen (which are quite bland, in my opinion) and, even if the routes were a bit more on the steamline side, not bringing back older Pokémon until the post-game and the more urban setting makes them very similar in spirit to the first games in my mind. BW2 were just the icing on top of the cake. Getting sequels instead of third versions was a breath of fresh air, and little details such as rebattling every single gym leader were fantastic for longtime fans. Unlike the gen 6 games, they did nostalgia right, without shoving it in your face.

Overall and not counting remakes, I'd go 5 > 2 > 4 > 1 > 3 > 6

@ningeek185 They were a huge step down in my opinion too. I can't think of many positives outside the multiplayer improvements and the battle models. The 3D maps didn't make the over-world any favors, and even the gym leaders were extremely forgettable.

Blue is where I got my first Pokemon (a Squirtle named Jazz). I just wish I was able to transfer him to Ruby/Sapphire. ...

HeartGold, White 2 and Platinum are my favourites. I have to say this series has stood the test of time better than most, you can play every entry today and enjoy it just as much.

Pokemon XY was a big letdown. Granted in graphics it was the best looking but the first three gym leaders was too easy, not enough new Pokemon and the worst bad guys ever. As for the best its HeartGold.

White is my favourite. It's the game that rekindled my love for the series after I was frazzled by Pearl. It felt like such a fresh start and made lots of little changes. It also has a great story and an amazing soundtrack.

My second favourite is Soul Silver, which I played after White. A marvelous remake of the excellent Gold/Silver. The gameplay is brought up to date, there's a lot of new content and I particularly liked that all the pokémon follow you around, which was a lovely touch. It also made great use of the touchscreen.

Had to go with
Soul silver
Fire red
And diamond.
Black and white 1 and 2 are absolute trash with X and y being dry. I'm glad they aren't that close to winning!

SoulSilver is my favorite, just because it's my old favorite (Silver) remade much better! Second place, FireRed, again a remake of a great game, making everything wayy better! In third, Black with an amazing story, and nice view of NY.

And while I'd recognize the importance, I really don't like XY, which are very bland, and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, which are all very boring.

pokemon emerald man hoenn was the best

Given that each version was separated, I was actually expecting to struggle with voting in this poll. Given I had 3 votes though, I found it surprisingly easy.

Pokémon Black and White is my 9th favourite video game (I... count both versions as the same game within my list of favourite games), so I naturally voted for both Pokémon Black and Pokémon White. I loved the usage of only new Pokémon, the story was great, I felt there was more challenge than in previous Pokémon games, and it just felt to me like the journey lasted both in length and in memory.

For my 3rd vote then, I went with Pokémon Platinum. 4th Gen features a lovely region and stars my favourite Pokémon of all; Kricketune. That said, I felt Diamond and Pearl were poorly executed in regards to the order of events, the look of the region given it's supposedly colder setting, and the available Pokémon within the main game. Platinum fixed the majority of my issues I had with Gen 4 main entries and I ended up loving it to bits.

1. Pokémon Leaf Green
2. Pokémon Silver
3. Pokémon Emerald

I loved these games, but i can't get into the new generations. Felt X/Y was way too easy.

I will give a vote to every Pokemon main game because I like these games, but if I would choose 3 games, well, my votes are for:

Crystal: first female trainer to choose, Pokemon animation and history/escenary, Battle tower.
Sapphire: My first original Pokemon game that bought, escenary, history, Pokemon contests, my favorite character, Haruka, XD
White 2: with White, the history, and characters, and Meloetta, the soundtrack (well, with all Pokemon games), Meloetta, escenary, Pokemon musical, online tournaments, and Meloetta, XD

But, well, my vote really will be with all main Pokemon games, Pokemon Amie, and Meloetta, jiji, sorry.

@BarryDunne - This is main games only. Side games deserve their own poll, since although a huge majority of them are top-quality, they're nothing like the main series games, save the Colliseum games, kind of.

Anyway, my votes went to White 2, Crystal, and Emerald. White 2 had the best post-game content in any Pokemon game to date, and all the details and additional story to what already was the best story in Pokemon so far was amazing, and is what made that game a masterpiece. White 2 edges out Black 2 though because Shiny Dragonite > Shiny Garchomp.

Crystal was amazing for having the first animated sprites, a better, more expanded battle system than RBY, and shiny Pokemon making their first appearence. I could say the same about GS, but Crystal is just the best of that bunch. It also connects with Stadium 1 and 2, which are AMAZING games too!

Emerald had the Battle Frontier. Need I say more?

Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver are easily the best Pokemon games as you can collect 16 badges and catch a lot of great Pokemon in them.

I voted for:
Yellow because it was the first pokemon game that I ever played,
Soulsilver because it was an amazing remake,
and X.
(PS. can we have a poll about pokemon spin off games?)

I picked Omega Ruby, HeartGold, and LeafGreen, but it's very hard to choose as I love em all about equally except B/W.

But I've played all of them.

And I love all of them.

And they're all great in their own way

Tough to pick only 3 since I love every Pokemon generation. My top 3 are: Yellow, Diamond and Heartgold. These are the games that I've enjoyed the most and spent the most time on.

Black, Black 2 and Y would be my next choices.

I love the variety from everyone's answers! Pokemon love is strong 20 years later!

@Shikinouta
Agreed, well, except for X/Y.
Wait, you've played every main Pokemon game on this list?
Wow, that's a lot. Impressive! That's actually pretty cool.

My votes go to Firered, Emerald, and Black.

Firered because it was a better version of the original, classic Pokemon games, with more content and better mechanics. Really the best version of the masterpiece that was the original Pokemon series.

Emerald because of my love and fondness of Gen III, the exploration, the best overall Pokemon designs in the series, the Gym leaders were great, the lore was fun, the double team trouble was pretty interesting, and the region itself is my favorite.

Black I've already gone over several times.. it's my favorite Pokemon game for many reasons, but I'll just say it's because of the story, the Pokemon, the music, the game-play, and the characters.

But it's silly to fight over Pokemon games, they're all the same series, and they're all good games in their own right.

..You really should have put the dual releases together, however.

White 1 & 2, there were my best competitive teams. I played a lot of generations but there are the best evolution techiques. I have X but i didn´t played a lot the actual gen.

Also I forgot how much I enjoyed white 2! The story and difficulty were excellent! It's just not as nostalgic for me as the other games on my list.

Love the classics(red/blue & gold/silver), yet black&white were a breath of fresh air. Fourth is platinum because of the legendaries.

This poll is too fragmented, you should combine dual versions into one poll option for simplicity.

At any rate, Platinum is definitely #1, with HGSS and BW2 not far behind. Platinum is the only game that really feels complete and flawless, with HGSS and BW2 also being strong on content and had several exciting gameplay features and changes.

Crystal, Platinum and Black for me.

Crystal is the game "to beat" in the Pokémon franchise. No other game in the series comes close. The music, the beautiful yet simplistic graphics and animations. It was an absolute joy to play from beginning to end, and I'm really looking forward to a VC release even though we have HG/SS (which are also really good, but I prefer the more simplistic graphics and music of the original games).

Platinum improved upon Diamond/Pearl in many ways and it should have been released in this state from the beginning. It was also packed with a lot of extra content and side tasks making it one of the most content-rich Pokémon games ever. I'm still bummed that the Platinum update for My Pokémon Ranch was never localised (which means I'll probably never end up getting Hayley's Mew unless I beat Diamond as well).

And finally Black version. Black and White was everything that Diamond/Pearl/Platinum should have been from the beginning. It improved upon the earlier DS Pokémon games in every conceivable way, and I'm bummed that we'll never be able to experience Platinum and HG/SS with Black and White's vastly improved version of the D/P/P engine. The new Pokémon, camera angles and other minor improvements and features were refreshing, offering perhaps the freshest Pokémon experience in years.

I have no taste for remakes though, unless they include a previous region as a post-game feature a la G/S/C. Bring on Gen VII!

Platinum, Love the Sinnoh region love team galactic and the distortion world! We haven't had anything like it! Loved how it was one of the darker entries into the series which was pretty cool! Looker is awesome and this game is what introduced him to us! It had the battlefrontier depsite the fact it had no reason to! Main story was awesome just an amazing game looking forward to the eventual gen 4 remakes ahha

Diamond is honestly the goat. Brought so much more to the table than the previous three which I also played as a kid

Yellow version is the highest? shocking...

@Zibene999 Over the years, I can safely say I've played every single main series Pokemon game. Pokemon is to me as Mario/Zelda/Etc is to other people. I'm turning 20 this year as well, so the whole Pokemon series has been pretty integral to my identity I guess.
I didn't really mind X or Y that much. I'm playing through Y right now and I'm enjoying it more the second time around. I would recommend giving it another go, even if the pacing is a bit stupid.

My top pick was Leaf Green version. At long last, a game which represented my favorite starter, Bubasaur! Finally, some recognition for the best pokemon ever! (Outside Japan anyway). The game itself is just my favorite, this is definitely the game that I clocked the most time into altogether. I have beaten and restarted that game more times than i can count! (In fact, I'm playing through it again right now!) it is a really great reboot of a classic game, and there is a lot of fun things to do. The PERFECT game for any person wanting to get into the series. 10/10 on my scale.

Number Two was a tie between Emerald and Gold version, Both games carry a great deal of nostalgia for me, but I decided to go with Gold as it was my first PKMN game ever. Loved the Johto region, and the fact that you could go to the Kanto region after beating the elite four. like i said, It was my first Pokemon game, and I still have and play it to this day!

Number three was Black version. The best title to be released on the DS imo. This game was the very first game in which i made a competitive team, and played at the Regional championships. I lost miserably, and my team sucked eggs... but I had a really fun time doing it I also like the entirely new 151 pokemon that were released for the game. No recycled pokemon from past gens. (not that there is anything wrong with that, it was just fun to see some fresh designs)

Love these games!

Hmm for me it's Fire red, Soul Silver and Black 2. i don't get listing all the games like this, it should be more vote for the games like blue/red/green/yellow as one vote not each title.

Yellow will always have a special place in my heart as the first game I played. All the tie ins with the anime made it that much better! Gold is my all time favourite pokemon game but I had to pick heartgold instead because of all the updates! Other than that Y was pretty great.

Yellow and Leaf Green are the only answers for me

Would be shocked if any single game gets to double digits in percentage.

Oh ho...you guys are really making me do this??? Hehe...well I should explain myself then and my favorite games.
Pokémon Diamond: Gen IV gets too much hate, however I must say time has certainly made people take a fonder look at it. No, no for me what matters most is that this was my very first Pokémon game. 10th birthday, 2007. Now that was the time. Diamond not only introduced me to Pokémon, but got me interested in Nintendo and handhelds in general. That game was simply awe-inspiring to my ten-year-old self.
Pokémon SoulSliver: As some have said above me, this game is the greatest Pokémon game on the DS and (likely) of all time. It took everything from Silver and took it from a 10 to a 100. The graphics are charming Johto is stunning on the DS. The large wealth of gameplay can't be ignored either. And the music! One of the best Pokémon sound tracks ever. While I can't decide if this is my favorite Pokémon game, it very well might be.
Pokémon Sapphire: So why this instead of AlphaSapphire? For one, Sapphire was my second Pokémon game after Diamond, so rosy tinted. Also...I think Sapphire was the better game. It is missing the Day/Night cycle, Pokémon are missing, but there is still some charm to it all. Hell, maybe nostalgia is talking here, but that is my list!

I'm glad that the remakes and the originals are separate. I don't remember the original Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald having such a "Mary Sue fanfic-esque" story the way ORAS does. And FireRed and LeafGreen basically render the originals obsolete.

Green, Silver, and Ruby.

Emerald, White, HeartGold

LOL at the results.

Not really sure why paired versions are sperate....

HGSS, BW2, ORAS

Very High Quality games here.

HeartGold and SoulSilver are the best ones. Gold/Silver/Crystal were the best prior to that. Ergo, HeartGold and SoulSilver are the best Pokémon games made even better. The dual region concept was really cool in the Johto versions. The DS remakes added a lot of first generation stuff that was missing in the originals like the Safari Zone, the caves on the Seafoam Islands and Cerulean City and the forest north of Viridian City. You could also capture legendary pokémon from the first and third generation. All in all HeartGold and SoulSilver still feel like one of the most complete games two generations later. I picked X as my third option besides these two because of its carefully designed world and huge Pokémon variety. Could have picked Y as well but I slightly prefer X.

Where's the love for gen 5? It's one of my favorite generations...

I'd have to go with Black 2 and White 2, followed by Platinum (my first Pokemon game I've played all by myself as I was too lazy training my Pokemon in Gen 1 and Gen 2) and SoulSilver and HeartGold.

Pokémon Crystal was cool because you could select the gender of your character.

Pokemon Silver, Crystal and Red for me! Played them the most in my childhood!

@ThomasBW84
Just look at the results. I think choosing 3 games won't work in this poll. You have to make another poll with only one choice allowed.

Yellow, Diamond, X.

Mostly just Yellow though.

My first favorite was Pokemon Yellow, followed by Soulsilver, then Emerald. Great games in the series.

@ThomasBW84
I know but it goes to show there are no clear favorites. You gotta make things harder for Pokefans next time.

Pokémon Silver because it was the first Pokémon game I ever owned, then SoulSilver because it let me relive those memories and it was amazing having the Pokémon follow me around like they did in Yellow. Lastly I'd say Y was my most recent favorite because I loved the Pokémon and the story; the new online functionality was amazing too and even the anime has been really fun to watch.

On one hand, I'm glad to see the current results, with no obvious winner. Every generation has games worth celebrating.

On the other, Yellow is doing embarrassingly well. I appreciate the early friendship mechanic in that game, but it is otherwise a step down from Red/Blue, and makes latter third versions like Emerald and Platinum embarrassed.

I voted for the only three I've played. Someone needs to vote for Pokemon Green!

Pokemon sun and pokemon moon !

Here are my votes, everyone!
1) Pokémon Gold Version: it was the first game I bought (although not the first I played... then again, as easy as GB and GBC were to emulate, it just was not the same without trading and battling other kids) and my introduction to Nintendo consoles as a whole. While I wouldn't own a home Nintendo console until the GameCube years later, this was my first step as an A-button... er, "presser". And what an introduction it was! Until my save file died (with my Pokémon left without anywhere to go, thank you Generation III), I had explored just about every corner of both Kanto and Johto... and I might even be literal about it, too! The only Pokémon that was missing on my Pokédex was Kabutops, and that was it. And as beautiful as the Hoenn region was, there's not quite anything like your first love in a franchise - sad to say, though, Generation III not only did reboot the series, it also made some of the Johto Pokémon ridiculously unavailable. And I would never see them again until...
2) Pokémon HeartGold Version: oh, yeah baby! As the in-game versions of Masuda and the rest of Game Freak acknowledged, it's hard to remake a Pokémon game that's interesting to older fans and newcomers alike. But Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver passed the test of time with flying colors! Game Freak could have simply give us a hack of fellow Generation IV games Diamond, Pearl and Platinum and call it a day - and I mean it, they could: the charm of the Johto and Kanto regions would have done the rest. But the dev team went the whole hog and delivered an even more charming experience with many clever little touches, nods to other games in the main series, the most amazing reward for obtaining all sixteen badges (seriously, by the way, name another Pokémon game aside from the Johto ones where you can find sixteen badges. I'll wait.) ever conceived, a Battle Frontier to go along with the one seen in Pokémon Platinum, and so on. Kids who got their start in Hoenn or Sinnoh might have wondered what the fuzz about the Johto and Kanto combo was about; thanks to these remakes, they understood why we were so eager, yet patiently waiting, for these games to bring the Johto wildlife back into the game. And with Game Freak learning the "always make the games backwards compatible" lesson, there would be no need to fear any more, so what other game - featuring an entirely new region - would get my third vote, one set in the Unova region or...?
3) Pokémon X: the answer is, the "life" half of the Kalos Pokémon duo. Dropping the "Version" naming convention altogether, X and Y created an entirely new adventure that blew all former standards for main series games away. And that's not just a mere matter of entirely polygonal graphics, although cramming a whopping 700+ model in one game is no easy feat. The point is, even though backwards compatibility wouldn't make it to the eShop (in its Pokémon Bank iteration) until a couple more months, the France-inspired Kalos region was filled to the brim with a Johto-esque feeling. I can't exactly describe why, but for the first time getting my hands on older Pokémon wasn't a priority and I enjoyed the spirit of getting in an entirely new adventure as a rookie trainer, also enjoying the region for what it was. While replayability isn't at the same level of some other games in the series (Johto and Sinnoh's post-game parts come to mind), as far as the main-game goes Kalos' is one of the most beautifully crafted in the franchise's history.

Three votes, however, aren't exactly enough for such a franchise... so here are the runners-up!

a) Pokémon FireRed Version, as the Kanto remakes tried their best - emphasis on best - to rectify things after Ruby and Sapphire cut off all ties with previous generations.
b) Pokémon Platinum Version, which could have waited a little longer as Emerald did but, instead, was released painfully earlier than the Johto remakes; then again, the latter games did feature two whole regions, so this is somewhat excusable. Also, the game steps things up a notch in comparison to Diamond and Pearl, and offers the best the "new" part of Generation IV has to offer.
c) Pokémon White Version 2, with its greater focus on older Pokémon (and a much better regional Unova Pokédex as a result) than the vanilla Black and White versions, was a serious contender for my third vote; the Pokémon World Tournament also automatically earned it its spot among the honorable mentions.
d) Pokémon AlphaSapphire, with its Kalos-esque backwards compatibility, improved Pokénav, the StreetPass compatibility for secret bases (which everyone saw coming, as StreetPass is a PERFECT fit for secret bases) and much, much, MUCH greater emphasis on older Pokémon, this game - alongside OmegaRuby - is essentially Hoenn done right.

Never played any of them, sorry. I was never the target audience.

HeartGold/SoulSilver. They were basically two games in one, plus had the Battle Frontier and your Pokemon could walk with you. What could beat that?

Emerald, Alpha Sapphire and Fire Red.

Must admit I was disappointed with X and Y's lack of post game content. Did love Pokemon White too, and liked all the Pokemon games but for some reason Pearl felt like a low point for me. Maybe I should try Platinum and see if I still feel the same.

I'm surprisingly glad to see HGSS getting so much appreciation.

The games looked gorgeous, played wonderfully (if my rose tinted goggles serve me well), had fantastic updated music (AND the brilliant GB Sounds device), a great selection of Pokemon (which complemented the original 151, yet stood apart enough to make the Johto region feel unique), and the perfection of gimmickry; the Pokewalker.

I really loved that little thing. I thought it did a fantastic job of keeping the game alive even when you weren't playing, and the ability to connect with other devices just felt so... Pokemonish.

I also liked how including both regions not only extended the game's lifespan, but also gave it a feeling of being set against a grander backdrop than any other little. You were involved the in a shared history of two regions, and the differences between the Kanto region of the first games and the second made you feel like part of a changing, living world.

How are we supposed to choose? This is impossible.

I went with Blue, Black, and Y, but it was a tough, tough decision.

Black 2 and White 2 are by far the best and had the best graphics, content, and story.

Yellow, Crystal, and Platinum for me. (With Heart Gold / Soul Silver being runner up, and Black 1 / White 1's story not far behind)

I grew up during 1st gen era, and Yellow offers the best version of that experience. (Minus Missingno and other glitches, of course...) Yellow had several unique aspects to it which are still rarely used in the series today. (Your rival changing their team composition based on your performance against them in the early game, a signature companion who walks beside you, unique movesets for your signature creature, unique benefits for linking with other games like Pokemon Stadium, etc)

My favorite gen is gen 2, and Crystal is the best version of that gen as well. Crystal wins out over HG/SS for me because the GBC was where I devoted more of my time towards over the years; objectively, Crystal was the definitive Pokemon title for many years, whereas HG/SS were good, but they were merely 4th gen upgrades (or, compared to Platinum in some cases, downgrades) from what came before. Even today, with mods like Kaizo Crystal and Prism version, Crystal offers something unique. I'm sure the Japanese audience would also rate Crystal highly for having the first online experience for them.

Finally, I would pick Platinum, because that was the title where Nintendo started getting serious with the direction of the series. It had all of the desperately needed 4th gen upgrades, but it also had many minor and major changes from Pearl/Diamond which made a good game into a great game. Many features were introduced that still have not really been done drastically better since then, or in some cases were downgraded in subsequent titles (HG/SS and gen 5 titles in particular). And of course, this is the one where Pokemon started exploring existential questions within the world itself, and began to actually flesh out the culture and origins of the world. Until Platinum, Pokemon hinted at some serious environmental issues, but it didn't really feel like a full range of accompanying world views were being focused on. Platinum is when that started.

I would also give a special accolade to Black 1 / White 1's story. This is where Pokemon started questioning not only the existential and environmental aspects of the world, but the motivations of the player. Even though I didn't like Black 1 / White 1 as games quite as much as others, the themes present legitimately made me question my own actions, and what is really "good" in this world's context.

I don't hoard creatures in the PC box anymore- if I'm not going to use them frequently, I release them after I don't need to use them anymore. I release creatures back into their home environment before I leave a zone surrounding a city where their habitat is, excepting my first Pokemon and NPC trades / egg hatched. If a Pokemon faints while I'm using them, with the exception of my first, NPC trades, and egg hatched, I release them; they're down for the count and I can't get another one. I don't catch additional creatures I already have registered as "caught" in the Pokedex. I don't use artificial medicines like Potions or Revives, only natural items like berries, bitter stuff, and Fresh Water, although Pokemon Centers are okay to use. I only breed creatures I can't get any other way, like Pichu. (No crazy combos like Whalord/Skitty...) Finally, if I ever get "blacked/whited out", that's Game Over, I have to start all over again. It's sort of a Nuzlocke Lite "N-Locke" style, inspired from N's philosophies.

I'm loving the gen 2 love here!

Haven't played Gen4 yet but I voted Crystal, Black 2 and Y.

Heart Gold, White, and Sapphire are my favorites. Platinum is a close 4th for me.

"Pokémon X - 6%"
Nintendolife confirmed for worst community.

@GH05T I'm sure the amount of badges is the only way to measure a game's quality.

Voted for Diamond as that was my first, Black as I felt that was the most exciting when first exploring it and its story, and Y for being the most accessible in my opinion.

I'm really happy to see Heartgold/Soulsilver get all this love. It's the most complete and polished pair of games in the series, in my opinion.

Blue, Gold and White, i guess?

It's kindof hard to decide, honestly considering i love most of these games - but sometimes you can't beat the classics, i guess

@Blue_Blur Oh man the ball capsules were great, they need to come back.

I go Alpha Sapphire, Black, and Platinum. Favorite region is Hoenn with all its nature-y beauty. I basically played Black for its story alone, I enjoyed it that much. Platinum was just such fun, not sure what else to say about it.

@maukenboost: Agreed! I wonder why they got rid of them in the first place... no reason to remove them! If you have to watch the same intro into a Pokemon battle thousands of times, might as well make it a bit more interesting to watch with ball capsules.

I went with Yellow, Soul Silver and X.

Yellow was my first Pokémon game, I got it for my birthday in 2000 having borrowed my friend's copy of Red for a few years (he had Red and Blue).

Soul Silver is my favourite. 16 gyms and fantastic presentation. That game was a true adventure!

I voted for X because it's the one I played the most

Started with Pokémon Diamond in the DS (though I'd played a few spin off games prior to it) when it was pretty new and went back to play Leaf Green soon after. Since then I've owned one of every pair (with my sister having the other most of the time), so even though I joined in the 4th gen I've still played a lot. Gen 5 is in my opinion the best, I like its art style, tone and Pokémon design (which I realise is somewhat of an unpopular opinion, but hey, I think Vanillite and Trubbish are actually pretty cool). My favourite feature in White was that it forces you to use these new Pokémon and severely limited the transfer of old ones prior to the elite 4 (though I did transfer the shiny Raikou, Entei and Suicune in order to get my Zoroark) it made the game feel really fresh. White 2 is perhaps the best Pokémon game I've ever played, whilst it stopped the limiting to only Gen 5 Pokémon it's sheer amount of content only rivalled by Soul Silver (which I also voted for) it's lore expanded in such a way I wanted to keep playing, I also really liked the Film making thing in it too and never really saw why it was so hated, I personally found it more enjoyable than both musicals and contests. I find Alpha Sapphire to be my least favourite game in the series, which saddens me because it has my favourite Mega designs that I can't move back to Y which I still play.