Why Are The Generation 1 Fans the Biggest Complainers About Each New Pokemon Generation?

[Dragonbums]

Gentlemen, I have found a person who has never played Pokemon before. She's part of my tabletop gaming group. My other players and I decided to try the Pokemon Tabletop Adventures just for fun, and she decided to jump in, with the disclaimer that she knows nothing about series. Didn't play any video games until grad school, never seen a Game Boy let alone Gen 1; hell, she was asking me to show her Super Mario World and other various NES/SNES games the other day, because she's never seen them.

As the Game Master, I asked her to provide a list of 10 Pokemon she might want to encounter on her adventure (just I thing I do so people are at least guaranteed SOME Pokemon they really want). I have still have her scribbled list of 19 Pokemon from the initial brainstorming session as she flipped through our massive Gen 1-5 Pokedex (my wife likes getting the books).

My friends, I tell you, all five generations are represented on that list. Based on nothing other than how they look, and occasional questions on what types they are or what they do.

Blitzle, Zubat, Oshawott, Shinx, Starly, Feebas, Trapinch, Suicune, Espeon, Meowth, Deerling, Nidoran, Oddish, Gastly, Horsea, Lapras, Larvitar, Sneasel.

Interestingly, now that I look at it a third time, Gen 1 is the most prevalent. So there may be some truth to it. But still, here is the opinion of the mythical person who has never played Pokemon in her life.

(You don't have to like the same Pokemon she does, the point is which gens she picked from. Also, of course I told her that she couldn't have Suicune.)

Is she interested in playing the actual games? If so, which one would you recommend her play first? I would say FireRed and Leafgreen since those aren't too old and are Gen 1 remakes, or the remakes of Gold and Silver. Seeing as how it's based on Generation 2 and is at the very least based on the Nintendo DS systems.

Also we share similar tastes. I quite like Sneasel and Deerling.
Seriously when I was a kid I thought Sneasel were like some rare Pokemon.

 

[wadark]

Its probably a combination of many factors.

For me, being a Gen 1 original player, G/S will always be my favorite, but that's because it felt like the sweet spot for me, a large enough pool of creatures and a big enough world to explore.

Ever since then, for me, its just gotten to repetitive (it is Nintendo, after all). Fire/Grass/Water starters, 8 badges, a rival, an evil "Team" or 2, Elite 4, Champion, rinse repeat.

Then there's the ever expanding group of Pokemon which constantly run contrary to the game's own motto, because you CANNOT catch them all without some serious trading AND going to special events to get the Legendaries Mew, Celebi, Deoxys, etc.

Essentially, its the constant refusal to make more than one or two minor tweaks to the story structure, the ever expanding roster that most people CAN'T complete even if they would dedicate the massive time, and very little in the way of new or interesting gameplay additions.

 

[80sboy]

You know, back in the day, sitcoms, cartoons, and TV shows had this thing where you'd never see any continuity of story and character arcs or anything of that matter. Every episode of GI Joe was pretty much the same: Cobra attack! Cobra retreat! And character never changed and grew any wiser...or grew old for that matter. I mean why do you think the Simpsons characters: Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Have not aged since 1989? In 1989 I was Bart's age and now I'm in my 30s. Sitcoms back then were also the same, never any continuity. And they always had that one-liner gag that they said episode after episode after episode.

-"Did I do that?" Family Matters
-"You got it - dude!" Full House
-"I pity the fool! A-team
-"Not the mama!" Dinosaurs
-"Eat my shorts" The Simpsons...again.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make here is sometimes people just like things to stay the same. Back then, the reason that the producers kept rehashing the same episodes and lines over and over again wasn't because they were lazy (well...that too...but they had another reason). It's because they understood how audiences thought. They had done their statistics, and those were the results they got. Most of them liked things to stay the way they were.

No one wanted to see any of the castaways leave Gilligan's Island.
No one wanted to see Urkel finally get the girl.

Here's a personal example:

Back when I played WoW, I use to love the good ol' Vanilla WoW days before any of the Xpacs. I now I miss stuff like Southshore Vs. Tarren Mill. But the game eventually changed with each Xpac. And because of that. I lost interest in it.

It's just human nature to want to see things the way they were...never growing old...never changing.

:/

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

Gen 5 was my least favourite. I didn't like the setting, the lack of cool pokemon and the frankly irritating evil gang. My favourite games were Emerald and Heart Gold. Won't be playing X/Y as I'm not gonna buy a 3DS

 

[Naeras]

In terms of gameplay, the games have hardly evolved since the first generation.
In terms of balance, it's hardly evolved since the second generation.

Those are my personal reasons why I stopped caring about pokemon. However, I haven't seen people complain much about new generations for years, so I have to say I'm kind of curious what kinds of people you're hanging out with.

 

[Rob Robson]

I never complained about Pokemon, but whatever generation introduced the trash bag and chandelier Pokemon killed it for me. Sucked the life right out of my interest for the games. I can only imagine the mountains of drugs they're doing by now to come up with new ideas.

 

[DarkRyter]

Well, if they're nostalgically attached to the worst generation of pokemon games, they tend not to have the best judgement.

 

[LifelessArt]

I think it really has something to do with the fact that they were around when Pokemon first began. It's the classic "back in my day" argument made by people who have nostalgia for the original. Everyone does it. Heck, I find myself still doing it today for certain things, but Pokemon was never one of them. Sure, my interest in Pokemon dies every now and then but it will always came back whenever a new generation of Pokemon are released. Still, you're going to have those who were around from the beginning and if they feel like it they will voice there opinion on the subject, though it usually boils down to nothing more than fanatical tirades about how the first 151 Pokemon were the best and how nothing will ever match them.

TL;DR: Pure nostalgia and personal opinions.

 

[Roxas1359]

Might just be the "This is the one I started with, therefore it's the best" kind of attitude I suppose.

Ding ding ding, and Andy Shandy has hit the nail on the head. Many people will always identify that the first game, or show in some cases, they played or watched that got them into a series was the best game out of that entire series and that all the other games suck. This is evident in the Final Fantasy series when people say that VII was the best ever and all the other ones sucks, it's the same with G1 Transformers fans, and especially the case with the Sonic fandom, when it comes to SA2. Now it isn't always the case, but through everyone I've asked when it comes to these certain things they always reference the first game in that series that they played. Some people are also just blinded by nostalgia and will refuse to accept that they are better games in the series.
I started Pokemon in generation 1 with Red, Chamander rules, and can see improvements and say that there are better games than the generation 1 games. When it comes to Transformers I started with Armada so I love that one, but I will admit that Beast Wars was better and the I loved Animated, and I started the Sonic games with Sonic 2 on the Megadrive but Colors is my favorite Sonic game.

 

[Versesai]

A long time ago in a galaxy far away, a young gentleman got a Gameboy for his birthday and a friend of his who'd since beaten it and wanted to try battling/trading/etc gave him a copy of Blue and kept a copy of Red. So I'm not only a Gen 1, I'm one of those spoiled Gen 1's who actually had someone willing to trade/etc to fill out the Pokedex. To this day I can fondly remember doing the Missingno glitch and the cloning Pokemon by switching off the console during saves exploit, not to mention my awe at getting a Mew because a friend of a friend of a etc got it legitimately.

On reflection though, and this is why I'm even posting all this build up, I don't actually remember the game itself incredibly well. I remember the Pokemon and how can you forget your first superstar tagteam (Arcanine, Blastoise, Nidoking, Gyrados, Alakazam and Golem) but I got more swept up in the cards when I was younger and that conversely was the reason I even bothered with the game at all. All I remember was the fun I had with my friend and everything else is just so much haze.

I think what might be a contributing factor to why I personally never bothered playing anything past Gen 2 until recently is that my friend and I stopped playing together and I continued on alone; After lovingly running into Gold and then Crystal with open arms, I lost interest after some Gen 3 previews I can't remember and it all goes dark from there, I never participated in anything Pokemon related again. I only in recent years (Around Gen 5's first previews and sneak peeks) played the entire series again in order along with my fiancee.

I know I haven't really found a pokemon I've been immediately fascinated with like my one true love Nidoking and the original designs hold this grace for me that I love, but I have to say I do love the game's progression since Gen 1; The designs, while sometimes seeming made to appeal to the easily amused by color and sometimes feeling half-assed (I'm looking at you, Rotom) still aren't bad and the story only continues to progress. Admittedly that's because Pokemon Gen 1's story basically summarized as thus; Catch Them All and beat up Team Rocket.

So overall I sort of can see it from both sides as a Gen 1 and as the currently mildly enlightened Buddha I am currently. But enough about that, what's with that dorky deer from X and Y? Lame, Pokemon is dead.

 

[aperson726]

Gen 1 gamer here and I have played at least one game from each generation and I have found people complain because gen 1 gamers just want to bring justification back to the original generation. I am familiar with each generation and I gotta say that the first generation was good but not the best.

As the later generations go on, there are more legendary types and just cool pokemon that you can find in the wild. the thing that I give the first generation credit for are the starting pokemon. these starters felt so much more badass and pure than any other generation. when i say pure i mean pure grass or water or fire type (even though charizard is a flying/fire) but almost every starter after the second generation becomes a mix although its fun to have that, it just doesn't give you that same strong feeling i got from first generation. for example, i played pokemon white and started with tepig until he evolved into a fire/fighting type. this sorta frustrated me because i had to adjust my strategy when facing off against opponents with type differences posing a threat. i liked having just a pure fire type like charmander when i could plow through so many opponents which made me feel like i made a strong choice.

i know there are so many types involved in the game and each pokemon nowadays has more types to them than before, making it more difficult to strategize which i guess is a plus for the new generations. the thing that new generations have to do is up the creativity, making every pokemon accessible to players and changing which pokemon we use. the fact that we have so many pokemon now, there are just even more pokemon that probably arent even being used in battles because of their design or stats. thats the thing the first generation had was a very small amount of pokemon that went unused, mainly because other generations weren't involved yet but because it all felt balanced. each pokemon had a design or stat feature that made you want to own it and use it in battle.

now that other generations are coming out, the pokemon that you barely held onto in the first generation now become unwanted pokemon because of another's features. what the later generations are doing is making us forget about the first generation pokemon we grew up with unimportant, and if there is a first gen pokemon with high fan service then they get a baby pokemon or flashier evolution which just makes us want to capture them to evolve them for a better look or just the sake of filling up your pokedex.

So many pokemon i feel are just being made to keep players busy searching and trying to catch them, fill their pokedex, then buy the other version to trade over the restricted pokemon to that version. pokemon designs have just become a ploy to get you to buy both games and spend more time with them in order to get 100% if you're into that sorta thing.

all in all, first generation is great, not the best, and if you're still complaining about which generation is the best, then go complain about something manly like a football team's jersey color or something

 

[shootthebandit]

I played blue, red and yellow. Then i grew up. Its basically a nostalgia thing. They have essentially taken what we loved as children and ruined it

 

[Dragonbums]

I played blue, red and yellow. Then i grew up. Its basically a nostalgia thing. They have essentially taken what we loved as children and ruined it

How exactly did they ruin Pokemon? It's one thing if you just got over it, or you couldn't remember anymore Pokmeon, or you just don't like the newer designs.
But how exactly did Nintendo ruin the franchise? It is literally the same thing as always. All they do is add new Pokemon, add a new villian, and change up the plot here and there. Everything else is literally the same thing. It's really hard to royally screw up something like that.

 

[Buizel91]

I have loved every Pokemon generation, each gen has had bad designs but I grew to life them eventually, he'll even vanilish

This is simply a case of "gen 1 superior, everything else inferior" transformers is the same, look at the new pics of prime and bee for the new film, many people are up in arms over them, and the fact that hound (who in gen 1 was a military jeep) is now a military truck, some people just hate change with what they love, but if things don't change, they become stale and eventually are forgotten.

 

[Nazulu]

I have no idea. I've seen some people with that opinion as well and though the general designs have changed a bit, each generation isn't so dramatic in change that it's understandable that it will 'throw fans off'. Not that I can see anyway. Then again, I haven't had the chance to ask them properly so I could get a in depth answer, which is what we should always do before generalising.

I guess they believe if they stick around then maybe they can change things to suit them more, even through challenging other fans. It does happen sometimes. Or with every group, their could be just a lot of jerks or idiots who can't think of anything better to do with themselves.

I started with P.Red, my favourites are Silver and Gold, really liked Gen 3, reckon Gen 4 is the blandest, Gen 5 improved but not by much, and I already like most of the new designs I've seen from Y and Z. I really don't like the designs of the legendary's in 4 and 5 (except the Meloetta duo), the re-skins of Tornadus is pretty sad. My opinion on the games is pretty similar as well.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

because every pokemon after Gold and Silver just reeks of no imagination.

Sometimes it's litterally like the art department goes.... "Well fuck, I need to make another one.... PINE CONE WITH EYES! That's Good! What about a chandelier with eyes? Lets have a whole species of pokemon based on the alphabet!"

not that the first 151 were all good either. Like, what the fuck is magnemite? How does that exist in the wild? It's a fucking robot.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

As far as I can see, almost EVERY fandom has that segment of fans who ONLY like the original incarnation, and scoff at anything new.

Transformers has it's own "Geewunners".
Power Rangers fans who won't touch anything not Mighty Morphin.
Star Wars fans who hate the prequel trilogy (although there is a bit of justification to this one)
Star Trek fans who only like the original series/Next Generation.
Sonic fans who ONLY like Genesis games.

Weirdly, Bronies have an odd, reverse "genwunner"-ism, and generally look down at anything that came BEFORE Friendship is Magic.

In the end, it really has less to do with the overall quality of any given Pokemon generation (since I personally think that the basic quality of all 5 gens are more or less comparable), and more to do with the close-mindedness of the individual in question.

While obviously you can't expect anyone to like EVERY single Pokemon design, and there may even be generations with far more designs that you personally detest, I think it's a mistake to write of any generation simply on principle.

Speaking as a brony, cause your mention of it actually got me curious, I think that's because the previous shows didn't really have what the current show had. It wasn't as well acted from what I've seen (cause it was even more so meant for the littlest of kids than now), animations were older and not quite the same as now (the style is far different), the ponies actually were modeled like real ponies and it creeps the hell out of me, and it just lacks the overall charm FiM has. The personality, the jokes, the charm, animation quality, etc.

OT: Everybody is gonna complain one way or another, simply put. I can understand the pokemon feeling though, but I did enjoy the games up till Black and White before I said "Christ, are these people even trying anymore?" I found maybe 3 I liked in the whole gen, that's messed up. Granted, I am excited for X and Y, and am gonna get Y REALLY fast~

 

[Nazulu]

To be honest, the thing that bugs me the most in modern Pokemon games is that the design of new pokemons seems lazy. Gameplay hasn't improved much over the years either.

Could be because I grew over it I guess.

http://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/pokemon.shtml

I don't know what you exactly mean by lazy but I can't see how you could call it lazy when the newer generations are generally more detailed (except Tornadus and his clones).

I reckon it has more to do with that most of the newer designs just aren't memorable at all. Some of them also look too detailed with certain pieces hanging off not adding anything to it. Also, I reckon the lengendary's in the first 3 generations stood out a lot more from all the others in their generations.

 

[Dragonbums]

To be honest, the thing that bugs me the most in modern Pokemon games is that the design of new pokemons seems lazy. Gameplay hasn't improved much over the years either.

Could be because I grew over it I guess.

http://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/pokemon.shtml

I don't know what you exactly mean by lazy but I can't see how you could call it lazy when the newer generations are generally more detailed (except Tornadus and his clones).

I reckon it has more to do with that most of the newer designs just aren't memorable at all. Some of them also look too detailed with certain pieces hanging off not adding anything to it. Also, I reckon the lengendary's in the first 3 generations stood out a lot more from all the others in their generations.

The thing is though is that what's not memorable for us will be for the younger generation.
For instance there are a lot of people now that are having a nostalgia fest for Generation 3.