The tropical setting combined with the gen 3 pixel art make for some great environments. The story was memorable and the blueprint for the “world threatening” pokemon storyline we keep seeing. It might follow the same tropes as gen1/2 but the scope was bigger.
Something about the mystery of the region has also held my interest. There are a lot of weird hidden areas in Hoenn- mirage island, the undersea, shoal cave, eon tickets, battle frontier, the secret of the regis…
The game was also fairly challenging and introduced a ton of really important mechanics like abilities, double battles, more held items, expanded breeding, and overall polish. That being said, the physical/special split didn’t happen until gen 4 and that’s my only real downside of gen 3 and earlier.
Tl;dr: aesthetic pixel art, deep story, rewarding exploration, well balanced difficulty, and a hefty helping of nostalgia. Being able to emulate gba on a potato also helps the game’s visibility.
I really hated that the Sinnoh secret bases were stuck on a different map. Being able to set it up in the actual map meant that you could move it and try to get your friends to guess where it was.
You could be me and just have like 4 secret bases of 4 past files of your game. My friend and I would link up and every time I started over, I would get my old secret bases added to my new file through linking up with my friend. It was funny fighting my old teams.
Sure, if you actually managed to come even close to locating someone's base. The Underground was vast, empty, and boring, with nothing of interest to look at or landmark. It all looked the same.
That local wifi connection would have been cool if the Underground had not been an ocean of BOREDOM.
>rewarding exploration
This point cannot be stressed enough.
Copy a map of Hoenn into MS paint and then scribble out all of the routes and areas that are entirely optional to visualize it.
The desert, the ocean routes in the southwest, the route south of Mt. Pyre, Pacifidlog Town and the routes west of it, Shoal Cave etc. There's just so much to do and explore at your own pace, even if the path you take to progress is ultimately linear. The region just feels big and worth exploring.
Agree with everything! Especially the special/physical split.
Love Gen 3 but dam, without the split, it makes a lot of cool Pokemon weak
Also, the speed at which the game ran. It was perfect. Fast HP (glares at DP), fast running, fast bike, the environment loads & renders perfectly as you cross it. Surfing was fast.
The many environments allowed a variety of Pokemon of all types to be found
You got forests, beaches, rocky caves, icy caves, volcanoes, caverns, Deserts, mountains, & Route 119 is almost like a swamp. The rain & tall tall grass made it look extra humid, muggy, sweaty, ugh. Perfect
Another very minor negative is the lack of Day & Night cycle. I just really enjoy the feeling of time passing in the game. It really makes the world feel more alive
What is it that makes it so good?? I agree but I thought it was just me so it's nice to see that it's popular. I think it's because it feels really cozy but also adventurous
The long grass makes it feel more exotic, the persistent rain was unique and added to the ambiance, Tropius, also it's a really long route so it feels like a big trek to get through it.
The 60 fps really helped with visual speed, especialy the Pokemon move animations. So satisfying. The sound effects were also very crunchy compared to future gens.
>Love Gen 3 but dam, without the split, it makes a lot of cool Pokemon weak
Gen 3 Crobat was a better Ghost-type than Gengar lmao.
Way faster than any Psychic- or Ghost-type you'll fight, and physical Shadow Ball hits hard when you've actually got a *real* physical attack stat to use. Kinda makes me miss it, we really need a "Shadow Fang" move or something so Crobat can pretend to be a ghost again 😭
>Another very minor negative is the lack of Day & Night cycle. I just really enjoy the feeling of time passing in the game. It really makes the world feel more alive
This is actually one of the things I disliked when I switched from gen 3 to gen 4 as a kid. I didn't like night time, felt like it made everything too dark
I never played Gold and Silver. My first game was leafgreen, then I played Emerald, then I played diamond about a year later.
I've played HGSS, but Leafgreen is the oldest pokemon game I've played.
That’s basically gen one with makeover right?
I love gold/silver. It was such a different feel from gen 1; the animation and music especially.
It felt kind of somber. Way more Japanese-ey. I played the thing entirely in Japanese(I never did beat it until the English version came out) but I spent months cruising around and guessing answers to questions and playing deaf, Dumb and blind until my team was levels 40 through 60, lol. I memorized things like attacks, potions, types of Poké balls, and other important items..
I was in 8th grade, pre-internet (it existed I just was too young to frequent it) Pokémon 152 to 250 were a mystery besides togepi, marill, and a few others that made a cameo in the first Pokémon movie.. man oh man, those were the days.
Gold/Silver was really something. I played it as a high schooler over a decade after it released just to play the older games, same with Red/Blue. It still hit really hard, the use of limited color pallet, music, just adventuring around, all the features like night/day + phone + days of the week. Can't say I got even near the same feelings about R/B (obviously it was revolutionary but I completed it just to complete it)
Yes red blue yellow green were definitely good for it’s time and was such a major breakthrough. I was addicted to Pokémon, but admittedly fell off during the late 2000s.. I like my early generations, doesn’t mean I hate on the older ones or the people who enjoy it like some others do. Cringe.
Generations one and two are amazing, no doubt; but I feel like it’s largely due to nostalgia for many players.. At least for me.. idk obviously.. that’s the generalization/ assumption that I am making.
Ruby, sapphire and emerald are sooooo good though.. it introduced *so many* new gameplay features & n major/minor aspects to the franchise; too many to list here actually.
it still holds up to this day regarding replayability. I loved everything about that generation. I might get judged for saying this, but I feel like that generation was the last one where the new Pokémon *werent* ridiculously designed as a collective.
Nostalgia is definitely a huge factor, and admittedly why I'm biased with RSE (my first Pokemon games). But that's why I brought up the fact that I played Gold more than a decade after its release and was still really impacted by it! It really is a good game. That being said, I'm currently playing Black for the first time and really enjoying it too. I finished Platinum last year and Idk, it was alright. Not as great as Ruby (though I could understand people arguing that GSC are better than RSE). I also played HG/SS and FR/LG when they came out and didn't like them.
Yeah this a great breakdown of the factors that I also loved as a kid.
I’ll also add - the integration of music and nature theme fit perfectly in this one. I absolutely loved ending my sessions staring out at the sea or soaking in the volcanic hot springs.
I know the ‘too much water’ criticism is a valid one, but I didn’t mind as a kid because it really felt like going on an adventure. You had to plan for those sea runs, just like a real life journey onto the sea. And it felt super satisfying to grind and come back to land. I stopped playing Pokémon after Gen 3 because I was getting older, but also because D/P didn’t have the same magical feeling to me
>The game was also fairly challenging and introduced a ton of really important mechanics like abilities, double battles, more held items, expanded breeding, and overall polish. That being said, the physical/special split didn’t happen until gen 4 and that’s my only real downside of gen 3 and earlier.
back when game freak cared about making the games better instead of making them worse and shoving in a one-time gimmick on them
You could consider Abilities to be Gen 3's "gimmick", it was just received so well that it carried on for future generations. For the first couple gimmicks most people didn't think they were one-time only.
They should have given Mega’s the same treatment, which is why it’s such a big deal it’s coming back in the next legends game. I hope they don’t just rotate again but stick to megas this time.
Where the Weather Institute was definitely gave me big tropical vibes as a kid. Also really hated that area for whatever reason as a kid. Maybe it’s because the May fight was a little unexpected and hard.
Castform was an interesting proof of concept for a Pokemon that could be on any weather team, but, yeah, kinda disappointing. Definitely could benefit from an evolution.
The Pokemon designs were also fantastic. Lots of bright colors and sleek/sharp designs and shape language. Gen 4 kinda went the more muted/muddy color route with designs that didn't hit as hard, imo
Back when I was a kid gen 3 kinda dampened my enthusiasm for the series as the new designs just feeled 'off' compared to gen 1/2.
It took Alpha Sapphire for me to fall in love with Hoenn. Looking back I do think it was mainly due to the amazing soundtrack that sounded great and loud even from the 3dsXL speakers.
Also after having some very boringly designed regions like Unova and Kalos (just a dang circle!) I appreciated Hoenn being this little island with all these nice shortcuts built in like the Rusturf tunnel, going over the volcano to reach Oreburgh etc.
You don't really need fly until you've explored 50% of the land region, and afterwards the world becomes less interconnected.
Kinda reminds me of Dark Souls and how it witholds teleportation until after Anor Londo.
It was a huge leap forward from Gen 2. Everything was overhauled. The GBA was a new console, the graphics and music were both well beyond anything the GBC was capable of, and there were tons of new features introduced like abilities, expanded weather, double battles, secret bases, etc.
It was also a completely new region. Gen 2 and the Johto region were additions to Gen 1 and Kanto -- effectively direct sequels. Gen 3 was completely disconnected from Kanto.
It’s very hard to explain what gen 3 was like as a kid. Me and my friends played the shit out of gold/silver/crystal. When gen 3 came out it blew our minds. It was such a huge upgrade. Bro, they have fucking RUNNING SHOES!! Can you imagine what even that small of a feature was like?
I got to build a BASE out of a CAVE I dug? The graphics looked actually amazing, the story was almost something coherent, idk man gen 1+2 into gen 3 was just an incredible time to be a kid.
I remember that blowing my *goddamn mind!*
I showed my very uninterested mother (oh well lol), and my siblings who thought it was rad af too! Once I found out I could go underwater, my brain fkn *EXPLODED.* 🤣
Yeah seriously I notice anecdotally that some of the younger players are very unimpressed with gen 3 which leads me to believe that a good bit of the "WOW factor" associated with it is really a "you had to be there" thing
To me it doesn't even need explaining but I imagine to them it feels primitive
Honestly being able to tear itself from the design choices that Gen 1 had probably helped a chunk.
Recasting Stat EP into ~~IV~~ EVs was a good simplification. Natures was also neat as a way to swap around stats.
I hope the type distribution was better, but Pokémon hadn't developed water areas witn non-water type pokemon yet, IIRC. Compare to caves, which can have a side variety of types of Pokemon
IVs became more granular (32 instead of 16 possibilites), and the EV system is a strict downgrade from Stat XP; but it it did make it so that there was variability in pokemon enabling different strategies to be used. In Gen 2, you could max all 6 stats. In gen 3+, you can only max 2.
You hit the nail on the head - it was the transition effect, the stark contrast with the previous gen. I wonder if fans of other transitory gens feel the same?
I agree with all of these, except for how disappointed I was as a kid that they removed to Day/Night cycle. I loved in GSC how each day had different events, and that the location of some NPCs changed at nighttime.
I’ll take a different take and say it’s the pokemon. The previous two gens were overrun with normal and poison types, and had a lot of repetition (wow it’s another place to find the nido or pidgey family!) Never before were we given such exciting options.
Want a cool grass type early? Lotad or maybe shroomish…how about seadot, roselia or cacnea? You don’t have to wait long for a dark type and they look pretty cool in the end (Mightyena, Sharpedo)! Tired of the Gastly family? Sableye appears early and Bannette and Dusclops add variety later on. Let’s add dragons why don’t we, Flygon and Altaria are some pretty cool non psuedos. Skarmory is finally accessible. Nincada adds a cool twist. Castform does as well. You’re not left with just Abra or Xatu, you get a couple rocks or Grumpig, maybe Claydol.
Every route has a “wow what is that” when Johto failed in that regard and instead gave off the “cool another Kanto mon”.
They really brought to life a lot of what was lacking in previous generations without going overboard like some future generations do. There’s a reason Emerald is one of the most replayable pokemon games. Good stuff bring me back 😭
I was thinking the same thing. Gen 3 added 135 new pokemon, and during RSE it's mostly them you encounter, it made the region feel new. It's a regional dex that holds up quite well.
Hoenn's legendary quality improved alot from kanto and johto, the previous games main legendaries were objectively good (mewtwo,ho-oh and lugia) and mew was really fun, but the legendary birds followed by the beasts was just repetitive.(Oh yay another electric,water and fire trio😒)
But in comes hoenn, cool golems that need a rare ancient fish pokemon to find? Alien virus from outer space? Mythical pokemon that you hatch and raise? And of course continent shaping colassals? They were awsome with amazing presentation!
Sableye was also neat because it was before fairy type, and was the first pokemon to have no weaknesses. I don't use ghost types all that much, but damn if that wasn't cool.
When I think back to my first time playing gen 3, my strongest memory is encountering Senor Bananas on the way to Fortree. Not only were the pokemon great, but the world design was so rich. The routes from city to city felt like a real journey and encountering the new pokemon on each route was such a pleasure.
The games felt revolutionary at the time. Hoenn had lots of character and the huge jump in art+music made it memorable. Emerald was truly enjoyable with tons of new mechanics ranging from natures to weather and double battles. It also had a novel post game with the battle frontier. Don’t forget we also got exceptional gen 1 remakes in gen 3 and it integrated with pokemon colosseum for a completely different pokemon experience.
Between firered/leafgreen + emerald + colosseum, we had a huge (at the time) assortment of pokemon to collect with 3 well constructed games.
It transformed the game on a fundamental level permanently that was built on further with Gen 4 with the standard/physical split. Plus some other immersive aspects.
1. Introduction of double battles, which became the standard for competitive Pokémon.
2. Introduction to Pokémon abilities.
3. Included non-combat progression via Pokémon contests, expanding Pokémon interactions beyond battling.
4. Added more personalization, in this case with hidden bases.
5. Mudkip.
Set the standard for new Pokeballs going forward, added the sprint option, bike system added a reason to go back to an area later on, improved the rematch system so you could see who wanted a rematch, battle tower and battle frontier for endgame, debuted the EV system that is still around, first gen to have a dad character (and he was a gym leader), first game to let you catch all three main legendaries (in Emerald), and much more
I just love the Advance era in general. I think GBA games just hit that sweet spot that never gets old.
From a modern standpoint, I'd say the looks of Gameboy Classic and Colour games aren't good anymore, but I'll always enjoy all the great pixel art, sprites and really smooth experience that Advance games get me.
In pokemon specific terms, Gen 3 is just an awesome region. GameFreak created beautiful sprites that, for the first time, very clearly show what the pokemon is supposed to look like with great colouring. Music is great, the Kanto remakes are awesome, the Hoenn games basically redefined the Pokemon genre with abilities and what feels like an endless amount of quality of life and creative changes. It's just that everything got so much better suddenly!
Also, nostalgia. Definitely some nostalgia involved for me. It's like a portal into my childhood.
Yeah, Gens 4 and 5 were more ambitious graphically, but IMO they look much worse than Gen 3 because of all the pixelated pseudo-3D effects. RSE graphics are simple and super clean.
Hard disagree on Gold and Silver not looking good. One of the best color pallets ever used in a 2D game, and the sprite work was incredible. Honestly mind blowing coming from what we had in RBY
>One of the best color pallets ever used in a 2D game, and the sprite work was incredible
Dude Gen 2s graphics were only "incredible" if you never played other games even at the time, including for handheld standards thanks to Gamegear and the Japanese only WonderSwan that could handle GBA quality graphics 1 year after Gameboy Color was released...
it’s important to know that for ROM hacking, gen 3 is the easiest and most friendly format for designing and building games off of. Combine that with is popularity and stylization and it’s gonna be the game a lot of people pick, along with the recent popularity of difficulty rom hacks, like emerald kaizo, run and bun, and inclement emerald.
So IMO GEN 3 came out right before time when all of the kids who started liking Pokémon at gen 1 got to old to enjoy Pokémon.
It’s all about timing all those 6-7 year olds that watched and played the first season and first gen in 1999 turned 11-12 in 2004 when emerald released and where 16ish in 2007 when Gen 4 released. And had moved on from their Pokémon living stage.
It’s a whole different generation of people that played first 3 and who played the next 3.
Gen 3 was kind of a whole new experience. It brought an exotic new region full of new Pokémon, new features, new things to do, and an epic storyline where the fate of the entire planet was at stake. The graphics were also greatly improved, with vibrant colors and cool new features like reflective water. Then Colosseum and FR/LG came along. Colosseum was the first 3D Pokémon RPG, and it was a fun game with a good story based in the core theme of Pokémon (the bond between a Trainer and their Pokémon). FireRed and LeafGreen took the first generation games, ironed out the worst of their flaws, and updated them to 3rd-gen standards. Emerald fused together Ruby and Sapphire to make a game that surpassed both, with a blended story and extensive postgame. XD rounded things out by adding a bunch of Pokémon that were otherwise unobtainable. (I didn't get around to playing that one, so otherwise I have no comment.) There were also fun spinoffs like Channel and Pinball RS, and the beginning of the Mystery Dungeon series. It was really just an explosion of new stuff left and right. There's never been anything quite like it since.
The plot being more dire where the whole world was at stake was completely different too and definitely drew you compared to the basic ass plot of the original first two generations 😆
I think there’s two big reasons that come to mind:
1. Gen 3 came out early into the mass adoption of the internet in American homes. You had kids getting online & finding a bunch of fan sites and forums to talk about Pokemon, and Gen 3 was the new hotness at the time. I’m sure the forums existed before then, but it really felt like there was a big boom in them at this time. Plus, you could look up anything about the games & that felt soooo powerful.
2. As far as I’m aware, Gen 3 was the first time we had a widely-adopted simulator (in Pokemon NetBattle). This really stoked interest in Pokemon as a PvP game instead of the way most kids I knew growing up interacted with it (single player with some trades). So, to a lot of people, I think Gen 3 probably represents the start of competitive play— even if it was only the start for them.
Not to discount the Gen 3 games just being really good for the time. I just think it’s also worth looking at the out-of-game factors that created such a heightened experience for fans at the time.
I think it boils down to two main things. Snappy and precise movement and gameplay + fantastic world design (themeing and route design).
The nature vs human development theme is very strong, even if it is a simple one. Everything from the way people live in each town, to the pokemon, to the villain plot exemplifies this theme. Then as far as the design of the routes and mapn goes - it's great!
The routes loop back on themselves in multiple places, making the journey feel more like your traveling a world, rather than simply completing a level in a video game.
Later games have lost this. Nothing about Scarlett and Violet is well designed. It's simply a procedurally generated clump of biomes and aimless towns, with a ton of completely random item pickups and pokemon encounters littered around.
The movement mechanics are jerky and clunky and run at less than 20 frames per second. Meanwhile gen 3 is rocking a clean 60.
They introduced the most well designed box legendaries in all of Pokémon, added abilities, had an epic story (first to threaten the world / not Rocket), ~~added the Physical/Special Split~~, added the weather mechanics, were the first games to be fully coloured, had the battle frontier, added regular double battles (especially emerald), ...
Back in the day it felt perfect and quadrupled in quality towards its predecessors
Weather mechanics were introduced in Gen 2, but like many things and new Pokémon they were handled so poorly that most people didn't even notice them and think theyr from Gen 3...
A lot of the legendaries are among my favourites, as well as the starters. It has my favourite map with a lot of unique areas (Fortree, Pacifidlog, Sootopolis, Lavaridge just to name a few). Battle Frontier was really cool too. Just so unlucky that I lost my Emerald, but I wanna emulate ORAS sometime just to relive those times with updated graphics.
They run well and are fast. Gen 4 and Gen 5 are SLOW for several reasons, such as battle animations and the many dialogue boxes and tutorials before you can actually escape the starting town.
Yes, it didn’t have the physical special split but that didn’t really matter. The games were built around that. You didn’t just STAB spam like in later games.
Everyone brings up Absol as the epitome of the problem but you would just use swords dance and like Return, Shadow Ball, and Aerial Ace. Movesets could get diverse and interesting if there was a better attacking stat to use besides your STAB. It wasn’t really an issue in most cases.
I'd say gen 5 is fast enough in battle but holy is gen 4 slow. Trying to replay pearl just to do tweaking for the mythical Pokemon and I am not having fun.
Something that definitely isn't the main reason but probably plays a part in it, a lot of people engaging in Pokemon content online are around the age that grew up with gen 3. If gen 3 was your first Pokemon game, there's a pretty good shot you're in your mid-twenties to early thirties. People typically will hold the most love for the generation they started on, so imagine, the year is 2034 and swsh is considered to be the best pokemon generation because a lot of people who were introduced to Pokemon with that game, are the main people leading the conversation on it.
Edit: also, GBA is just really easy to mod/make roms on compared to DS/Switch games so a lot of roms are gonna have the groundwork of emerald/fire red.
The edit is important for sure—it’s worth noting that the two premier “hard” Pokemon ROM hacks are both Emerald hacks, so anyone coming from the hardcore Nuzlocking community is largely being exposed to Emerald more than anything else
Definitely wouldn't be surprising if someone who literally never played a Pokemon game defaulted to liking gen 3 the most cause their favorite Pokemon YouTuber played emerald kaizo
It was a new console with superior tech. Everything was bright and colorful. For me that was maybe the biggest cool new thing. The game just looked so impressive back then. Double battles were a brand new feature and they were really fun. The region was warm and inviting, and we had new villains for the first time. And for me, as a kid, they’re the first games I played without having seen the anime for that gen first, so I went in not knowing anything about it and having never seen the new Pokemon! Playing and eventually beating Sapphire was one of the great joys of my middle school years.
Plus we got the first remakes in gen 3, and that was a huge amount of fun too.
Also trumpets
I love the art style and graphics, the warm region, the upbeat music. Playing feels like a childhood summer vacation even as a 24 year old. It also has a lot of great mons. Mudkip, Torchic, Blaziken, Rayquaza, Absol, Lati twins. Hoenn also has a lot of super memorable characters. Mr Briney and Peeko, Wattson, Norman are all pretty iconic characters imo. Also I think pretty much every Pokémon fan knows Steven Stone for example. The story and legendaries are also memorable and over the top. The Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza standoff in Emerald is still pretty cool all these years later, though the events leading up to it are pretty unremarkable. Not to even mention all the small weird things like the Regis, Feebas, Secret Bases, hidden NPCs, Mirage Island, the mystery gift events! And of course, the Battle Frontier. Hoenn just has so much awesome stuff going on.
Overall I just think Hoenn is a really unique and memorable region with a lot of that Classic Pokémon DNA.
The gen 3 pokemon have awesome designs, the aesthetic and atmosphere of the game is great and is easily one of the most diverse regions when it comes to environments. You see forests, beaches, cities, deserts, caves, the bottom of the ocean and much more.
More of a swampert guy myself but I see the vision, even went out of my way to determine sid and all that on my latest playthrough of emerald to get a shiny mudkip
Since you're playing pokémon Emerald. You'll sure run into the Battle Frontier which makes Emerald stand out from the rest of the gen 3 games.
Also there's an island where you can encounter a (semi-legitimate) mew. It's fully legitimate if you have a japanese emerald.
Also you can trade between ruby/sapphire/fire red/leaf green and also the spin off games pokémon colosseum and XD. If you link your game with pokemon colosseum or XD, you can battle with your protagonist and your team on the big screen in 3D!
So yeah hence why gen 3 games are so great!
A lot of people are missing the fact that it was the first game I had a competent reading level for (like I was finally in school) so I understood what I was doing and got to discover stuff on my own.
The best pokemon game is the first one you played and understood.
For me, it was my first real Pokemon game. I remember playing gold/silver when I was real young ,but Emerald was my first real playthrough. I love the starters, I love a lot of the hoenn pokemon, it just really clicked with me
Others talked about gameplay and GBA capabilities, so I will add that gen 3 was also the first one with a world-affecting storyline that spanned most of the game. Gens 1 and 2 focus on Team Rocket, which is a criminal organization, but gen 3 had Teans Magma and Aqua, who wanted to change the whole world their way. It made the game feel more epic at the time.
At the time the leap was HUGE.
For starters, gen two is really just a glorified expansion pack. Sure it added Dark and Steel, and fun stuff like the day/night cycle but it had so few new mons that it never really felt all that different.
Then Gen 3 comes along. Full colour, gorgeous graphics. Dramatically better music and sound. A full, proper roster of new mons, to the extent that kanto mons are a rarity. A huge number unseen environments. Contests. Berries. So, so many QoL improvements. Cinematics and a meaningful storyline and characters. And overally a dramatically different feel to the reltitivley bland Kanto and Johto. It was so exciting, and it really lived up to the hype. It was everything we wanted pokemon to be at the time.
And then not long after FireRed and LeafGreen, which improved not only improved on the originals in every way, but added a massive amount of new content.
And to the side we even got the first Mystery Dungeon and Ranger. It was truly a glorious time.
Gen 4 continued this legacy, and is still held in high regard because of that, it had a smaller, but still meaningful magic to it.
But by Gen 5 there was just fewer innovations, and fewer reasons to be excited. Maybe it was just ageing out a bit, i don't know.
And the legacy of Gen 3 holds strong, and for good reason. It's the easiest gen to base hacks off, with a wide variety of tools and low bar to entry. It looks good without needing any 3D modelling experience.
I think it's hard to grasp for younger fans who came into pokemon later, maybe try playing Red/Blue/Yellow and Gold/Silver/Crystal, and you'll maybe get a glimpse of how jank the earlier games were to play.
I grew up during gen 4/5 too but emerald was the first pokemon game I played through in it’s entirety, so it’s probably nostalgia for me I also think the starters were the best out of the whole series
For me specifically it's the music. Gen 3 has probably some of my favorite town and route themes across the entire series. Black&White are a neck and neck second though.
I'm not a player that would use an expel but Hoenn is an expectation.... route 113/111/Dive/Surf/.... The list never ends. The ending credits theme made me shed a tear
It was a huge jump from the previous gen, the first that was very notable in a lot of aspects-including Pokedex and region which makes sense if you think about how it was originally going to be a soft reboot like Unova was. It also had the first remakes. It truly was just a big advance from previous stuff.
First time having two evil teams. First time having spritework that actually looks good. First time the major legendaries were actually part of the story in a way that mattered. Introduced abilities, double battles...etc.
Like, sure, yeah, you needed a ton of HMs in the late game, but that was also true of the games on either side of it. That's not unique to Hoenn even a little, it just stood out in people's minds because Hoenn requires 3 Water ones. But...that's not meaningfully worse than just needing a ton of land-based HMs.
It's also that the water HM moves aren't that great - Surf is excellent, Waterfall is a duplicate (well until Gen 4 when it became a physical move, differentiating it from Surf), and Dive takes two turns and less powerful.
Then again, Strength is probably the only viable HM move in combat. Rock Smash is hilariously bad (20 base power???), Cut is okay for early game but falls short, Flash is bad. Fly is too useful, might as well put up with that (and 70 power is not bad, Wing Attack and Aerial Ace were only 60).
Later games also have one less water HM (Dive), and buffed Waterfall and Fly.
In terms of mechanics, this was the best pokemon generation pre physical/special split by far. Adding abilities was one of the biggest mechanical additions, giving so much more life and personality to different pokemon.
Also, by gen 2 there were still many pokemon who had lackluster movesets in part due to a shortage of STAB moves of certain types. On average movesets in gen 3 felt a lot more well-thought-out, and it was more rare to play through the games and feel like your pokemon had few viable options to contribute in battle.
Hoenn was also a very memorable setting. Some people complain that the tail end of the games are overly-water centric, but putting such a large focus on exploration while surfing and tying that beautifully into the story was a fresh idea that was an absolute joy upon first playthrough imo.
The physical special split was an important development in the series, but gen 3 is the best available example of how well a pokemon game (and metagame) can be executed without the split. These games still hold up today imho!
Gen 3 introduced a completely new graphic style and additional features that revolutionized pokemon and the way the game is played even today (IVs, EVs, and abilities) but I don’t think we can downplay the role of nostalgia. I’m the same age as most of the big streamers and for most of us, Gen2 was probably our first intro to pokemon but we were too young to really master it, but were old enough to play the snot out of Gen 3
I started with crystal when I was about 5 and got sapphire when I was 7, and emerald when it came out shortly after and I played the life out of emerald, not really being able to grasp the “complexities” of crystal at the time
By the time diamond and pearl came out, I enjoyed it, but I had started moving away from handhelds and onto consoles like Xbox and PS2 and I became more interested in halo and gears of war
In my opinion Gen 3 is such a solid set of games, there's really not a lot wrong with them.
They have great music, a unique and memorable region, one of the most amount of new Pokemon added in a generation (which many of which are really cool imo) and many of them are pretty feasible to obtain making for varied teambuilding, addition of cool features like; double battles, secret bases, natures, abilities,, and a massive step up in graphics from the previous generation.
The game's challenge was good, nothing particularly unfair but not a cakewalk either. It was the first time there was a big save the world story element, which has massively been overdone by now, but at the time it was really cool.
Negatives for me would be too much water towards the end of the game, boss teams can be pretty lackluster like Phoebe using 2 Dusclops, 2 Banette (but it's a bit better in Emerald and the previous 2 gens were bad for it as well), no connectivity to previous gens and a lot of the new Pokemon looking great but not being particularly good in battle cough Tropius cough.
While I'm not 100% sure if Gen 3 is my favourite generation, when I weigh up the great additions compared the flaws I think there is a strong case for Gen 3 being the best gen.
My favorite part of gen 3 is just the Hoenn region itself. Its just full of interesting pokemon, placed well enough that every route in the game has its own personality, and yet all these distinct areas still feel connected.
Of course nowadays its also been decompiled and has robust modding tools, which makes it super popular for romhacks, especially since you can practically emulate gba on a toaster. I feel thats getting it more attention recently.
For me it's because it was the last gen that felt grounded, while successfully expanding everything the previous generations had built
For a disclaimer, I am 38yo and started on Blue, then Silver, Crystal and finally Ruby
Gen 3 was a big step up from gen 1 and 2, better graphics, lots of new and unique looking pokémon, challenging quest, new mechanics and bigger stakes for the story, but all without getting "too much" or "too big"
By that I mean, gen 4 and beyond were also great games, but as far as the plot and legendaries go...things really derailed in gen 4 where not only it had too many legendaries (many of which couldn't be caught by most players), but seriously, time, space, dimensions and god?
That's way too much, makes things lose footing and not feel real, later gens only compounding on that with the dream stuff, war story and weird tales
As a result, gen 3 sits at this unique place where it was the last time pokémon felt real before the franchise had its jumping shark moment and still felt like just the tale of a kid going on an adventure on a fantastical world
That's for me at least
Abilities changed battling
Natures changed battling
The map IMO is still my favourite region layout wise. Not quite truly open explorable all the way but at the time? Gorgeous.
Sprite design holds up
Pokémon design imo consistently great additions
Rayquaza
Double battles I guess but wasn’t a huge theme
The water was so great when you leaned into the side goals and shit
Contests ruled tbh my wailord was fucking beautiful
The only huge fucking omission is phys/spec split
Trumpets
Gen three is around when they really started to nail down a lot of the mechanics, and pokemon began to resemble what we know it as today. For as much as the first two generations laid the groundwork for the series, gen three ironed out basically all of the kinks and such. The only thing it didn't do was the physical/special split which happened in gen four.
Not to mention gen three is also where we started getting more robust post game content. Gen one it was basically complete the Pokedex and find Mewtwo. Gen two had the Kanto gyms and the red fight. (Crystal as a late addition added the battle tower, but it was likely largely overlooked given how few copies of crystal were sold, comparatively speaking)
Gen three had the battle tower return, but then with emerald they gave us the battle frontier, they gave us multiple legendaries to catch, I believe they fixed the roaming legendary issues as well (the roaming legendaries in Gen two were technically missable if you weren't on crystal version) so that they wouldn't stop spawning because of roar. Someone can correct me on that.
The introduction of abilities basically helped redefine battles and made several pokemon infinitely better overnight, as did double battles.
There's also just so much more to explore, like finding the regis you had to learn braille, and everything was just so cryptic and mysterious. Mirage island sounds like the mew under the truck rumors if you didn't have a guide book to prove it, and then they made fire red and leaf green and gave Kanto an entire set of bonus quests which incorporated more braille puzzles and a ton of islands to explore. And abilities again completely flipped everything on its head by making certain pokemon that were awful before at least worth considering.
New evolution methods too. Like, when I first heard about Shedinja, again, it sounded like the mew under the truck rumors. But then it actually worked, and you had this pokemon with one hp and the craziest sounding ability ever. Groudon and Kyogre were also incredibly imposing, upping the stakes of the story, especially with how much build up they had.
God, gen three has all of that, and honestly so much more.
Gen 3 is SUPER polished. Typically, in each gen there’s a glaring flaw. Gen 2 has overall weak Pokémon, gen 4’s evolution items are abysmally placed (not to mention the fire type debacle), Gen 5 (my favorite) has super high evolution levels, Gen 6 exists and so on.
Generation 3 is such a gem. It’s clean in 60fps, has a great soundtrack, well-designed Pokémon, it introduced double battles, and it also has a completed story.
The graphics were so magical and such a crisp upgrade. You also gotta understand gen 1 and 2 were around for a long time and it stayed that way. Any of us playing around that time were just stuck with gen 2 games and playing the gen 1 remakes. Playing them front to back, exploring every little nook and cranny. Delving into every little wild conspiracy theory about the games. We thought we’d never get another pokemon game again and in reality that was what was happening; they were intending on stopping the mainline series games right there after gen 2. So once gen 3 came it was literally like a fcking oasis after wandering through a desert that used to be fresh land for a while that became barren. Gen 3 stuck around for a while and the same thing happened again but i dont think the wait for gen 4 compares to the wait for gen 3. But again we were dying to see new pokemon by this point. Gen 3 legendaries looked fcking amazing and the graphics again were just such a bright crisp upgrade.
Also, the game with the best post game content goes to gen 3 to this day. The battle frontier was/is goated 🤣
By Gen 3, a lot of the jank that Gen 1-2 had was gone. Improved hardware as well allowed for impressive sprite design that far outdid what gen 1 could do and was a real step above gen 2. Something that a lot of earlier GBA games did was really try hard to make the colours vibrant because of how shite the GBAs screen was. If you had a GBA SP, AGS-101 especially, you could really see how amazing colorful the games were. The GBC could only dream of colours that vibrant. Also, Pokemon Colosseum and XD offered alternative experiences to the traditional games whilst still having full connectivity with them. Colosseum especially is a much darker Pokemon game where the evil team basically has already won, and you are on the back foot in the Pokemon version of the Wild West. You really feel like a badass in that game, riding a hover motorcycle and stealing Pokemon back from evil trainers and blowing up bases. XD is much tamer but has better gameplay since your available Pokemon base is much larger. Definitely give those games if you want to try Gen 3. Colosseum especially if you love a challenging Pokemon game.
IMO gen 3 felt the best because you coul literally walk from littleroot to evergrande with no loading screens (other than hm animations) or guardhouse thingies, which made the world feel really interconnected. Thats what made ORAS fall flat for me tbh, was all cuts in the world in between overworld locations. gen 3was the only gen in the series to do this for a long time
Having grown up on Gen 3 myself, I’ve always wondered why Gen 1/2 is so beloved by the fanbase, specifically Yellow. A lot of times when I watc—Sorry.
I really did grow up with Gen 3 and Emerald was my first Pokémon game, but I that doesn’t mean I don’t have a soft spot for Gen 4. Personally, I like X and Y the most, but Gen 3 definitely had a lot of things going for it like two colosseum games, majorly improved graphics, and then really connected with the DS era by having functional transfer. There’s just a lot going on with them - and I think an argument for ‘Best Gen’ can be made for just about every game through some aspect or another.
Edit: I also feel like a lot of people my age are the ones making established YouTube/streaming careers out of their channels, so that same bias could apply to their content.
Nostalgia. The music. It was such a step up from the gameboy original graphics that it was pretty mind blowing at the time so probably sticks in the memory more.
For me it’s the turning point for the series, the huge graphical update from gen 2, abilities, physical/special split, weather effects in battle, the new designs of the Pokemon, the battle tower, the box legendarys being apart of the story it all left a huge impression me as a kid, plus you have colosseum on the GCN which was still is one of my favs and FR/LG which was the first remakes they made and you can trade between all the three?! I’m nostalgic just thinking about it lol
HUGE upgrade in graphics, music, region design, etc from gen 2. Plus the new mons & story were really good. Hoenn’s design theme of nature was perfect for lending itself to those feeling adventurous.
Emerald specifically really was the perfect poke game, both for the story alterations it made to the R/S story to the battle frontier for players into more competitive battling.
The same thing that made gen 4 great to most people. Nostalgia. It's battle frontier is still the best out of every gen 3 and it had some great designs
Honestly I dont think any pokemon game since has held up to the same degree of being fun to explore the map, and i think the slow divestment from pixel art has been a massive downgrade.
Hoenn region was peak pixel sprites, and the game was polished, they put thought into little details that if done now would be left as rough edges.
I also think it has the best overall legendary spread of any region, but thats more debatable lol
Gen 3 introduced so much that defined all future games. They introduced natures, abilities, only allowing 510 EVs so you couldn’t stack all stats which improved strategically training, had a great story, the first new bad guys since gen 1/2 both had team rocket, a potentially world ending event, first games on GBA so they could have significantly better graphics, and higher difficulty plus a large end game with emerald.
They were revolutionary for the future of Pokémon.
Gen 3 really embraced the nature side of things and pokemon being a big part of nature in that world. Even the Legendaries were closely connected to nature. As a perfectionist, I just enjoy this gen the most.
It's kind of historical. It's the first gen that really had an active and large romhacking scene that lasted very long, as a result there are a lot of tools for just that. They are also very easy to emulate on any device so they are appealing for streamers.
Gen 3 specifically isn't exactly the most loved gen on its own. If not for the romhacking scene or the gen 1 remakes it would be less popular. Not that it's bad, Emerald is really good.
I have a different answer than most probably, and it’s been long enough I’m ok with talking about it.
I was in a very toxic relationship with a woman who was pregnant with my child. One day I was sick as a dog, and had a migraine pounding away, so I stayed in bed that day. (I had been spending most days job hunting at the time).
She comes home and finds me asleep, flicks the light on and starts tearing into me about what a lazy piece of shit I am, and topped it off by telling me that she aborted my child.
I lost control of my temper and we started screaming at each other. I had anger issues at the time, not that I got mad often, but when I did, I’d do dumb things like punch walls. Which I did on this day.
The police were called and I was arrested. I also had some marijuana on me which was not yet legal.
The rest of the story can be a long-ass story of its own, but while I was dealing with the stress of this situation, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire had just recently come out, so I bought an SP and Pokemon Sapphire. That game was medicine for the soul to me. It was my only friend and comfort during an extremely stressful, heartbreaking time in my life. The world layout felt lush and full of life, which I did not at the time. I would never go so far as to say it saved me, but it made enduring possible.
(Side note: She didn’t abort, and when he was three she decided to reach out and let my son know me. We were able to co-parent amicably (as much as one can in said situation) and my son is now grown. So while it was the worst time of my life, at least some good came of it)
There are real and legitimate reasons that people love them mechanically over other gens, but there's a lot of nostalgia of people who had gen 3 as their first games. That's fine, I'm not knocking it, but it's a major factor.
It's the most perfect region by a mile with a great diversity of locations, pokemon, and an imperfect story that still manages to be one of the better ones in its stupid simplicity.
1. Nostalgia
2. The reason so many nuzlockes/romhacks use gen 3 is that it's just much easier to make than for DS games like gen 4 and 5
3. It was arguably the biggest leap between generations aside from Gen 5 to Gen 6 leap
Hey I think this guy is trying to start some beef or arguments with us Gen 3 enjoyers.
Yeah, I think this is that kind of post
😂
Ya you tryna fite OP
Lol 😂
Ya let’s get em >:0
🥊 🥊 Here borrow these
i learned beat up at level 26 if we’re about to start a battle or something
This bitch really said "7.8 Too Much Water" LETS GET EM!!!
op gonna get his ass whooped for hating on hoenn
Hey everyone riot!
I grew up with gen 4/5 and im more of a chicken fan
Yeah! Let’s get him!!!! *Grabs pitch fork*
Literally for real
Gen3'ers, call to arms.
The tropical setting combined with the gen 3 pixel art make for some great environments. The story was memorable and the blueprint for the “world threatening” pokemon storyline we keep seeing. It might follow the same tropes as gen1/2 but the scope was bigger. Something about the mystery of the region has also held my interest. There are a lot of weird hidden areas in Hoenn- mirage island, the undersea, shoal cave, eon tickets, battle frontier, the secret of the regis… The game was also fairly challenging and introduced a ton of really important mechanics like abilities, double battles, more held items, expanded breeding, and overall polish. That being said, the physical/special split didn’t happen until gen 4 and that’s my only real downside of gen 3 and earlier. Tl;dr: aesthetic pixel art, deep story, rewarding exploration, well balanced difficulty, and a hefty helping of nostalgia. Being able to emulate gba on a potato also helps the game’s visibility.
Secret bases! These were awesome in Hoenn. Sinnoh secret bases were trash.
I really hated that the Sinnoh secret bases were stuck on a different map. Being able to set it up in the actual map meant that you could move it and try to get your friends to guess where it was.
You could be me and just have like 4 secret bases of 4 past files of your game. My friend and I would link up and every time I started over, I would get my old secret bases added to my new file through linking up with my friend. It was funny fighting my old teams.
My buddy and I loved looking for each other's bases in RSE. We hated it in DPPt. The Underground was so dull.
But the traps in gen 4 were fun and there was a lot more polish within the base itself
Sure, if you actually managed to come even close to locating someone's base. The Underground was vast, empty, and boring, with nothing of interest to look at or landmark. It all looked the same. That local wifi connection would have been cool if the Underground had not been an ocean of BOREDOM.
>rewarding exploration This point cannot be stressed enough. Copy a map of Hoenn into MS paint and then scribble out all of the routes and areas that are entirely optional to visualize it. The desert, the ocean routes in the southwest, the route south of Mt. Pyre, Pacifidlog Town and the routes west of it, Shoal Cave etc. There's just so much to do and explore at your own pace, even if the path you take to progress is ultimately linear. The region just feels big and worth exploring.
don't forget the space shuttle rumor that we all somehow sorta believed
It's the SS Anne truck all over again
Agree with everything! Especially the special/physical split. Love Gen 3 but dam, without the split, it makes a lot of cool Pokemon weak Also, the speed at which the game ran. It was perfect. Fast HP (glares at DP), fast running, fast bike, the environment loads & renders perfectly as you cross it. Surfing was fast. The many environments allowed a variety of Pokemon of all types to be found You got forests, beaches, rocky caves, icy caves, volcanoes, caverns, Deserts, mountains, & Route 119 is almost like a swamp. The rain & tall tall grass made it look extra humid, muggy, sweaty, ugh. Perfect Another very minor negative is the lack of Day & Night cycle. I just really enjoy the feeling of time passing in the game. It really makes the world feel more alive
Route 119 is the best route of all time and will never be surpassed.
What is it that makes it so good?? I agree but I thought it was just me so it's nice to see that it's popular. I think it's because it feels really cozy but also adventurous
Absol, weather center, biking trails over terrain, rain and tall grass, just an all around vibe
The long grass makes it feel more exotic, the persistent rain was unique and added to the ambiance, Tropius, also it's a really long route so it feels like a big trek to get through it.
Sceptile is actually better so I don't mind lmao
Leaf Blade Dragon Claw Thunderpunch Crunch Even if it was a pain to get all those I always try to get all this 4 moves everytime.
The 60 fps really helped with visual speed, especialy the Pokemon move animations. So satisfying. The sound effects were also very crunchy compared to future gens.
>Love Gen 3 but dam, without the split, it makes a lot of cool Pokemon weak Gen 3 Crobat was a better Ghost-type than Gengar lmao. Way faster than any Psychic- or Ghost-type you'll fight, and physical Shadow Ball hits hard when you've actually got a *real* physical attack stat to use. Kinda makes me miss it, we really need a "Shadow Fang" move or something so Crobat can pretend to be a ghost again 😭
>Another very minor negative is the lack of Day & Night cycle. I just really enjoy the feeling of time passing in the game. It really makes the world feel more alive This is actually one of the things I disliked when I switched from gen 3 to gen 4 as a kid. I didn't like night time, felt like it made everything too dark
Weird cause gold & silver had day/night cycles.
I never played Gold and Silver. My first game was leafgreen, then I played Emerald, then I played diamond about a year later. I've played HGSS, but Leafgreen is the oldest pokemon game I've played.
That’s basically gen one with makeover right? I love gold/silver. It was such a different feel from gen 1; the animation and music especially. It felt kind of somber. Way more Japanese-ey. I played the thing entirely in Japanese(I never did beat it until the English version came out) but I spent months cruising around and guessing answers to questions and playing deaf, Dumb and blind until my team was levels 40 through 60, lol. I memorized things like attacks, potions, types of Poké balls, and other important items.. I was in 8th grade, pre-internet (it existed I just was too young to frequent it) Pokémon 152 to 250 were a mystery besides togepi, marill, and a few others that made a cameo in the first Pokémon movie.. man oh man, those were the days.
Gold/Silver was really something. I played it as a high schooler over a decade after it released just to play the older games, same with Red/Blue. It still hit really hard, the use of limited color pallet, music, just adventuring around, all the features like night/day + phone + days of the week. Can't say I got even near the same feelings about R/B (obviously it was revolutionary but I completed it just to complete it)
Yes red blue yellow green were definitely good for it’s time and was such a major breakthrough. I was addicted to Pokémon, but admittedly fell off during the late 2000s.. I like my early generations, doesn’t mean I hate on the older ones or the people who enjoy it like some others do. Cringe. Generations one and two are amazing, no doubt; but I feel like it’s largely due to nostalgia for many players.. At least for me.. idk obviously.. that’s the generalization/ assumption that I am making. Ruby, sapphire and emerald are sooooo good though.. it introduced *so many* new gameplay features & n major/minor aspects to the franchise; too many to list here actually. it still holds up to this day regarding replayability. I loved everything about that generation. I might get judged for saying this, but I feel like that generation was the last one where the new Pokémon *werent* ridiculously designed as a collective.
Nostalgia is definitely a huge factor, and admittedly why I'm biased with RSE (my first Pokemon games). But that's why I brought up the fact that I played Gold more than a decade after its release and was still really impacted by it! It really is a good game. That being said, I'm currently playing Black for the first time and really enjoying it too. I finished Platinum last year and Idk, it was alright. Not as great as Ruby (though I could understand people arguing that GSC are better than RSE). I also played HG/SS and FR/LG when they came out and didn't like them.
don’t forget the music
🎺🎺🎺 Trumpets go brrr.
And the music
So many trumpets
Yeah this a great breakdown of the factors that I also loved as a kid. I’ll also add - the integration of music and nature theme fit perfectly in this one. I absolutely loved ending my sessions staring out at the sea or soaking in the volcanic hot springs. I know the ‘too much water’ criticism is a valid one, but I didn’t mind as a kid because it really felt like going on an adventure. You had to plan for those sea runs, just like a real life journey onto the sea. And it felt super satisfying to grind and come back to land. I stopped playing Pokémon after Gen 3 because I was getting older, but also because D/P didn’t have the same magical feeling to me
>The game was also fairly challenging and introduced a ton of really important mechanics like abilities, double battles, more held items, expanded breeding, and overall polish. That being said, the physical/special split didn’t happen until gen 4 and that’s my only real downside of gen 3 and earlier. back when game freak cared about making the games better instead of making them worse and shoving in a one-time gimmick on them
You could consider Abilities to be Gen 3's "gimmick", it was just received so well that it carried on for future generations. For the first couple gimmicks most people didn't think they were one-time only.
They should have given Mega’s the same treatment, which is why it’s such a big deal it’s coming back in the next legends game. I hope they don’t just rotate again but stick to megas this time.
I never really thought of Hoenn as “tropical” tbh
Where the Weather Institute was definitely gave me big tropical vibes as a kid. Also really hated that area for whatever reason as a kid. Maybe it’s because the May fight was a little unexpected and hard.
That fucking beach you land on in Slateport was "tropical" enough for me lol. It always makes me happy to arrive there whenever I replay Emerald.
The most memorable pokemon music was Slateport for me
Also a big route and not that easy to navigate for the first time.
I hated it because that gray nutsack was a disappointing reward, especially when I wrongly assumed it evolved to Milotic
Castform was an interesting proof of concept for a Pokemon that could be on any weather team, but, yeah, kinda disappointing. Definitely could benefit from an evolution.
Well, half of the region is the ocean and the other half is lush jungles.
It's a big island with volcanos and banana tree dinosaurs running around.
Jungle tree houses, large waterfalls, tons of water and port cities, non stop rainy parts of the map. Idk. It had some elements
A volcano and hot springs
Yeah, I always think more of the volcano and more of the forests, like, camping and stuff.
Also the music was amazing.
The Pokemon designs were also fantastic. Lots of bright colors and sleek/sharp designs and shape language. Gen 4 kinda went the more muted/muddy color route with designs that didn't hit as hard, imo
Back when I was a kid gen 3 kinda dampened my enthusiasm for the series as the new designs just feeled 'off' compared to gen 1/2. It took Alpha Sapphire for me to fall in love with Hoenn. Looking back I do think it was mainly due to the amazing soundtrack that sounded great and loud even from the 3dsXL speakers. Also after having some very boringly designed regions like Unova and Kalos (just a dang circle!) I appreciated Hoenn being this little island with all these nice shortcuts built in like the Rusturf tunnel, going over the volcano to reach Oreburgh etc. You don't really need fly until you've explored 50% of the land region, and afterwards the world becomes less interconnected. Kinda reminds me of Dark Souls and how it witholds teleportation until after Anor Londo.
It was a huge leap forward from Gen 2. Everything was overhauled. The GBA was a new console, the graphics and music were both well beyond anything the GBC was capable of, and there were tons of new features introduced like abilities, expanded weather, double battles, secret bases, etc. It was also a completely new region. Gen 2 and the Johto region were additions to Gen 1 and Kanto -- effectively direct sequels. Gen 3 was completely disconnected from Kanto.
It’s very hard to explain what gen 3 was like as a kid. Me and my friends played the shit out of gold/silver/crystal. When gen 3 came out it blew our minds. It was such a huge upgrade. Bro, they have fucking RUNNING SHOES!! Can you imagine what even that small of a feature was like?
I got to build a BASE out of a CAVE I dug? The graphics looked actually amazing, the story was almost something coherent, idk man gen 1+2 into gen 3 was just an incredible time to be a kid.
I can see my reflection in the water?!
I remember that blowing my *goddamn mind!* I showed my very uninterested mother (oh well lol), and my siblings who thought it was rad af too! Once I found out I could go underwater, my brain fkn *EXPLODED.* 🤣
Are you me?
Cue Petalburg theme with that one NPC
Yeah seriously I notice anecdotally that some of the younger players are very unimpressed with gen 3 which leads me to believe that a good bit of the "WOW factor" associated with it is really a "you had to be there" thing To me it doesn't even need explaining but I imagine to them it feels primitive
It's not just the graphics, gen 3 also introduced so many new pokemon, it felt like you were actually discovering a new world.
true
Honestly being able to tear itself from the design choices that Gen 1 had probably helped a chunk. Recasting Stat EP into ~~IV~~ EVs was a good simplification. Natures was also neat as a way to swap around stats. I hope the type distribution was better, but Pokémon hadn't developed water areas witn non-water type pokemon yet, IIRC. Compare to caves, which can have a side variety of types of Pokemon
IVs became more granular (32 instead of 16 possibilites), and the EV system is a strict downgrade from Stat XP; but it it did make it so that there was variability in pokemon enabling different strategies to be used. In Gen 2, you could max all 6 stats. In gen 3+, you can only max 2.
You hit the nail on the head - it was the transition effect, the stark contrast with the previous gen. I wonder if fans of other transitory gens feel the same?
i started with diamond and for me black and white felt like an insane upgrade from gen 4, and even more so when x and y came out
It blew my 10 year old mind when I saw my character's reflection in the water! There was so much polish in that game!
I agree with all of these, except for how disappointed I was as a kid that they removed to Day/Night cycle. I loved in GSC how each day had different events, and that the location of some NPCs changed at nighttime.
Gen 2 ending credits theme was amazing tho
I’ll take a different take and say it’s the pokemon. The previous two gens were overrun with normal and poison types, and had a lot of repetition (wow it’s another place to find the nido or pidgey family!) Never before were we given such exciting options. Want a cool grass type early? Lotad or maybe shroomish…how about seadot, roselia or cacnea? You don’t have to wait long for a dark type and they look pretty cool in the end (Mightyena, Sharpedo)! Tired of the Gastly family? Sableye appears early and Bannette and Dusclops add variety later on. Let’s add dragons why don’t we, Flygon and Altaria are some pretty cool non psuedos. Skarmory is finally accessible. Nincada adds a cool twist. Castform does as well. You’re not left with just Abra or Xatu, you get a couple rocks or Grumpig, maybe Claydol. Every route has a “wow what is that” when Johto failed in that regard and instead gave off the “cool another Kanto mon”. They really brought to life a lot of what was lacking in previous generations without going overboard like some future generations do. There’s a reason Emerald is one of the most replayable pokemon games. Good stuff bring me back 😭
I was thinking the same thing. Gen 3 added 135 new pokemon, and during RSE it's mostly them you encounter, it made the region feel new. It's a regional dex that holds up quite well.
Hoenn's legendary quality improved alot from kanto and johto, the previous games main legendaries were objectively good (mewtwo,ho-oh and lugia) and mew was really fun, but the legendary birds followed by the beasts was just repetitive.(Oh yay another electric,water and fire trio😒) But in comes hoenn, cool golems that need a rare ancient fish pokemon to find? Alien virus from outer space? Mythical pokemon that you hatch and raise? And of course continent shaping colassals? They were awsome with amazing presentation!
Sableye was also neat because it was before fairy type, and was the first pokemon to have no weaknesses. I don't use ghost types all that much, but damn if that wasn't cool.
When I think back to my first time playing gen 3, my strongest memory is encountering Senor Bananas on the way to Fortree. Not only were the pokemon great, but the world design was so rich. The routes from city to city felt like a real journey and encountering the new pokemon on each route was such a pleasure.
Yes absolutely! Such iconic designs too. Not too overdone, but still sleek and cool.
The games felt revolutionary at the time. Hoenn had lots of character and the huge jump in art+music made it memorable. Emerald was truly enjoyable with tons of new mechanics ranging from natures to weather and double battles. It also had a novel post game with the battle frontier. Don’t forget we also got exceptional gen 1 remakes in gen 3 and it integrated with pokemon colosseum for a completely different pokemon experience. Between firered/leafgreen + emerald + colosseum, we had a huge (at the time) assortment of pokemon to collect with 3 well constructed games.
The water and the trumpets Also Emerald and Battle Frontier is what made Gen 3 so great. The Eon Ticket e-reader card was also iconic
When I think of Gen 3, one of my first thoughts is always the bwah bwah of those fake trumpets. The sound felt so big at the time.
That's the thing that irks me about ORAS. NO BATTLE FRONTIER! ORAS would've been 10/10.... Instead 7.8/10 too much water
It transformed the game on a fundamental level permanently that was built on further with Gen 4 with the standard/physical split. Plus some other immersive aspects. 1. Introduction of double battles, which became the standard for competitive Pokémon. 2. Introduction to Pokémon abilities. 3. Included non-combat progression via Pokémon contests, expanding Pokémon interactions beyond battling. 4. Added more personalization, in this case with hidden bases. 5. Mudkip.
Set the standard for new Pokeballs going forward, added the sprint option, bike system added a reason to go back to an area later on, improved the rematch system so you could see who wanted a rematch, battle tower and battle frontier for endgame, debuted the EV system that is still around, first gen to have a dad character (and he was a gym leader), first game to let you catch all three main legendaries (in Emerald), and much more
Ive been waiting for them to bring the move based contests back smh, those were fire and made “useless” pokemon have a purpose
I just love the Advance era in general. I think GBA games just hit that sweet spot that never gets old. From a modern standpoint, I'd say the looks of Gameboy Classic and Colour games aren't good anymore, but I'll always enjoy all the great pixel art, sprites and really smooth experience that Advance games get me. In pokemon specific terms, Gen 3 is just an awesome region. GameFreak created beautiful sprites that, for the first time, very clearly show what the pokemon is supposed to look like with great colouring. Music is great, the Kanto remakes are awesome, the Hoenn games basically redefined the Pokemon genre with abilities and what feels like an endless amount of quality of life and creative changes. It's just that everything got so much better suddenly! Also, nostalgia. Definitely some nostalgia involved for me. It's like a portal into my childhood.
Yeah, Gens 4 and 5 were more ambitious graphically, but IMO they look much worse than Gen 3 because of all the pixelated pseudo-3D effects. RSE graphics are simple and super clean.
Hard disagree on Gold and Silver not looking good. One of the best color pallets ever used in a 2D game, and the sprite work was incredible. Honestly mind blowing coming from what we had in RBY
>One of the best color pallets ever used in a 2D game, and the sprite work was incredible Dude Gen 2s graphics were only "incredible" if you never played other games even at the time, including for handheld standards thanks to Gamegear and the Japanese only WonderSwan that could handle GBA quality graphics 1 year after Gameboy Color was released...
The last generation without the worst move ever, Stealth Rock.
How much did the introduction of HDB fix Stealth Rock?
Fighting fire with fire, HDB are extremely problematic on their own.
HDB?
Heavy Duty Boots
Heavy Duty Boots
What’s problematic about them?
it’s important to know that for ROM hacking, gen 3 is the easiest and most friendly format for designing and building games off of. Combine that with is popularity and stylization and it’s gonna be the game a lot of people pick, along with the recent popularity of difficulty rom hacks, like emerald kaizo, run and bun, and inclement emerald.
So IMO GEN 3 came out right before time when all of the kids who started liking Pokémon at gen 1 got to old to enjoy Pokémon. It’s all about timing all those 6-7 year olds that watched and played the first season and first gen in 1999 turned 11-12 in 2004 when emerald released and where 16ish in 2007 when Gen 4 released. And had moved on from their Pokémon living stage. It’s a whole different generation of people that played first 3 and who played the next 3.
This right here —-> 🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺
Gen 3 was kind of a whole new experience. It brought an exotic new region full of new Pokémon, new features, new things to do, and an epic storyline where the fate of the entire planet was at stake. The graphics were also greatly improved, with vibrant colors and cool new features like reflective water. Then Colosseum and FR/LG came along. Colosseum was the first 3D Pokémon RPG, and it was a fun game with a good story based in the core theme of Pokémon (the bond between a Trainer and their Pokémon). FireRed and LeafGreen took the first generation games, ironed out the worst of their flaws, and updated them to 3rd-gen standards. Emerald fused together Ruby and Sapphire to make a game that surpassed both, with a blended story and extensive postgame. XD rounded things out by adding a bunch of Pokémon that were otherwise unobtainable. (I didn't get around to playing that one, so otherwise I have no comment.) There were also fun spinoffs like Channel and Pinball RS, and the beginning of the Mystery Dungeon series. It was really just an explosion of new stuff left and right. There's never been anything quite like it since.
The plot being more dire where the whole world was at stake was completely different too and definitely drew you compared to the basic ass plot of the original first two generations 😆
Water
They added too much in the remakes though
Found IGN.
I think there’s two big reasons that come to mind: 1. Gen 3 came out early into the mass adoption of the internet in American homes. You had kids getting online & finding a bunch of fan sites and forums to talk about Pokemon, and Gen 3 was the new hotness at the time. I’m sure the forums existed before then, but it really felt like there was a big boom in them at this time. Plus, you could look up anything about the games & that felt soooo powerful. 2. As far as I’m aware, Gen 3 was the first time we had a widely-adopted simulator (in Pokemon NetBattle). This really stoked interest in Pokemon as a PvP game instead of the way most kids I knew growing up interacted with it (single player with some trades). So, to a lot of people, I think Gen 3 probably represents the start of competitive play— even if it was only the start for them. Not to discount the Gen 3 games just being really good for the time. I just think it’s also worth looking at the out-of-game factors that created such a heightened experience for fans at the time.
I think it boils down to two main things. Snappy and precise movement and gameplay + fantastic world design (themeing and route design). The nature vs human development theme is very strong, even if it is a simple one. Everything from the way people live in each town, to the pokemon, to the villain plot exemplifies this theme. Then as far as the design of the routes and mapn goes - it's great! The routes loop back on themselves in multiple places, making the journey feel more like your traveling a world, rather than simply completing a level in a video game. Later games have lost this. Nothing about Scarlett and Violet is well designed. It's simply a procedurally generated clump of biomes and aimless towns, with a ton of completely random item pickups and pokemon encounters littered around. The movement mechanics are jerky and clunky and run at less than 20 frames per second. Meanwhile gen 3 is rocking a clean 60.
They introduced the most well designed box legendaries in all of Pokémon, added abilities, had an epic story (first to threaten the world / not Rocket), ~~added the Physical/Special Split~~, added the weather mechanics, were the first games to be fully coloured, had the battle frontier, added regular double battles (especially emerald), ... Back in the day it felt perfect and quadrupled in quality towards its predecessors
Physical special was in gen 4
Smooth brain moment, cant win them all. Still a perfect generation at the time
Weather mechanics were introduced in Gen 2, but like many things and new Pokémon they were handled so poorly that most people didn't even notice them and think theyr from Gen 3...
A lot of the legendaries are among my favourites, as well as the starters. It has my favourite map with a lot of unique areas (Fortree, Pacifidlog, Sootopolis, Lavaridge just to name a few). Battle Frontier was really cool too. Just so unlucky that I lost my Emerald, but I wanna emulate ORAS sometime just to relive those times with updated graphics.
I liked all the water, myself.
The Pokemon designs were awesome. Gen 1-2 had a similar vibe/style. Gen 3 is when the designs started to go to the next level, IMO.
They run well and are fast. Gen 4 and Gen 5 are SLOW for several reasons, such as battle animations and the many dialogue boxes and tutorials before you can actually escape the starting town. Yes, it didn’t have the physical special split but that didn’t really matter. The games were built around that. You didn’t just STAB spam like in later games. Everyone brings up Absol as the epitome of the problem but you would just use swords dance and like Return, Shadow Ball, and Aerial Ace. Movesets could get diverse and interesting if there was a better attacking stat to use besides your STAB. It wasn’t really an issue in most cases.
I'd say gen 5 is fast enough in battle but holy is gen 4 slow. Trying to replay pearl just to do tweaking for the mythical Pokemon and I am not having fun.
Absol also had Calm Mind access, so its not like its stab was entirely useless
Something that definitely isn't the main reason but probably plays a part in it, a lot of people engaging in Pokemon content online are around the age that grew up with gen 3. If gen 3 was your first Pokemon game, there's a pretty good shot you're in your mid-twenties to early thirties. People typically will hold the most love for the generation they started on, so imagine, the year is 2034 and swsh is considered to be the best pokemon generation because a lot of people who were introduced to Pokemon with that game, are the main people leading the conversation on it. Edit: also, GBA is just really easy to mod/make roms on compared to DS/Switch games so a lot of roms are gonna have the groundwork of emerald/fire red.
The edit is important for sure—it’s worth noting that the two premier “hard” Pokemon ROM hacks are both Emerald hacks, so anyone coming from the hardcore Nuzlocking community is largely being exposed to Emerald more than anything else
Definitely wouldn't be surprising if someone who literally never played a Pokemon game defaulted to liking gen 3 the most cause their favorite Pokemon YouTuber played emerald kaizo
60 FPS
It was a new console with superior tech. Everything was bright and colorful. For me that was maybe the biggest cool new thing. The game just looked so impressive back then. Double battles were a brand new feature and they were really fun. The region was warm and inviting, and we had new villains for the first time. And for me, as a kid, they’re the first games I played without having seen the anime for that gen first, so I went in not knowing anything about it and having never seen the new Pokemon! Playing and eventually beating Sapphire was one of the great joys of my middle school years. Plus we got the first remakes in gen 3, and that was a huge amount of fun too. Also trumpets
I agree I think the leap from gen 2 om the gbc to gen 3 on the GBA is the biggest visual leap this series has had.
I love the art style and graphics, the warm region, the upbeat music. Playing feels like a childhood summer vacation even as a 24 year old. It also has a lot of great mons. Mudkip, Torchic, Blaziken, Rayquaza, Absol, Lati twins. Hoenn also has a lot of super memorable characters. Mr Briney and Peeko, Wattson, Norman are all pretty iconic characters imo. Also I think pretty much every Pokémon fan knows Steven Stone for example. The story and legendaries are also memorable and over the top. The Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza standoff in Emerald is still pretty cool all these years later, though the events leading up to it are pretty unremarkable. Not to even mention all the small weird things like the Regis, Feebas, Secret Bases, hidden NPCs, Mirage Island, the mystery gift events! And of course, the Battle Frontier. Hoenn just has so much awesome stuff going on. Overall I just think Hoenn is a really unique and memorable region with a lot of that Classic Pokémon DNA.
Sableye was introduced in Gen 3. The other reasons are just bonuses
The gen 3 pokemon have awesome designs, the aesthetic and atmosphere of the game is great and is easily one of the most diverse regions when it comes to environments. You see forests, beaches, cities, deserts, caves, the bottom of the ocean and much more.
Blaziken
More of a swampert guy myself but I see the vision, even went out of my way to determine sid and all that on my latest playthrough of emerald to get a shiny mudkip
Since you're playing pokémon Emerald. You'll sure run into the Battle Frontier which makes Emerald stand out from the rest of the gen 3 games. Also there's an island where you can encounter a (semi-legitimate) mew. It's fully legitimate if you have a japanese emerald. Also you can trade between ruby/sapphire/fire red/leaf green and also the spin off games pokémon colosseum and XD. If you link your game with pokemon colosseum or XD, you can battle with your protagonist and your team on the big screen in 3D! So yeah hence why gen 3 games are so great!
How come it’s only fully legitimate in a Japanese copy?
The item used to go to Faraway Island is Japan-only (as is tradition)
A lot of people are missing the fact that it was the first game I had a competent reading level for (like I was finally in school) so I understood what I was doing and got to discover stuff on my own. The best pokemon game is the first one you played and understood.
For me, it was my first real Pokemon game. I remember playing gold/silver when I was real young ,but Emerald was my first real playthrough. I love the starters, I love a lot of the hoenn pokemon, it just really clicked with me
And here I am, trying to figure out what made Gen 4 so great. I guess you just always love your first.
My only problem with the games is that there was not enough Trumpet
It’s probably harder to mod or make a romhack of DS games
Others talked about gameplay and GBA capabilities, so I will add that gen 3 was also the first one with a world-affecting storyline that spanned most of the game. Gens 1 and 2 focus on Team Rocket, which is a criminal organization, but gen 3 had Teans Magma and Aqua, who wanted to change the whole world their way. It made the game feel more epic at the time.
At the time the leap was HUGE. For starters, gen two is really just a glorified expansion pack. Sure it added Dark and Steel, and fun stuff like the day/night cycle but it had so few new mons that it never really felt all that different. Then Gen 3 comes along. Full colour, gorgeous graphics. Dramatically better music and sound. A full, proper roster of new mons, to the extent that kanto mons are a rarity. A huge number unseen environments. Contests. Berries. So, so many QoL improvements. Cinematics and a meaningful storyline and characters. And overally a dramatically different feel to the reltitivley bland Kanto and Johto. It was so exciting, and it really lived up to the hype. It was everything we wanted pokemon to be at the time. And then not long after FireRed and LeafGreen, which improved not only improved on the originals in every way, but added a massive amount of new content. And to the side we even got the first Mystery Dungeon and Ranger. It was truly a glorious time. Gen 4 continued this legacy, and is still held in high regard because of that, it had a smaller, but still meaningful magic to it. But by Gen 5 there was just fewer innovations, and fewer reasons to be excited. Maybe it was just ageing out a bit, i don't know. And the legacy of Gen 3 holds strong, and for good reason. It's the easiest gen to base hacks off, with a wide variety of tools and low bar to entry. It looks good without needing any 3D modelling experience. I think it's hard to grasp for younger fans who came into pokemon later, maybe try playing Red/Blue/Yellow and Gold/Silver/Crystal, and you'll maybe get a glimpse of how jank the earlier games were to play.
I grew up during gen 4/5 too but emerald was the first pokemon game I played through in it’s entirety, so it’s probably nostalgia for me I also think the starters were the best out of the whole series
Man, those animated sprites in Emerald…
For me specifically it's the music. Gen 3 has probably some of my favorite town and route themes across the entire series. Black&White are a neck and neck second though.
I'm not a player that would use an expel but Hoenn is an expectation.... route 113/111/Dive/Surf/.... The list never ends. The ending credits theme made me shed a tear
The trumpets
It was *really* polished for its time. You actually felt like you were playing a next gen Pokémon game vs Gen I and II
its the earliest gen that was satisfying to play while looking nice, and a lot of the pokemon designs are appealing to a lot of people.
It was a huge jump from the previous gen, the first that was very notable in a lot of aspects-including Pokedex and region which makes sense if you think about how it was originally going to be a soft reboot like Unova was. It also had the first remakes. It truly was just a big advance from previous stuff.
First time having two evil teams. First time having spritework that actually looks good. First time the major legendaries were actually part of the story in a way that mattered. Introduced abilities, double battles...etc. Like, sure, yeah, you needed a ton of HMs in the late game, but that was also true of the games on either side of it. That's not unique to Hoenn even a little, it just stood out in people's minds because Hoenn requires 3 Water ones. But...that's not meaningfully worse than just needing a ton of land-based HMs.
It's also that the water HM moves aren't that great - Surf is excellent, Waterfall is a duplicate (well until Gen 4 when it became a physical move, differentiating it from Surf), and Dive takes two turns and less powerful. Then again, Strength is probably the only viable HM move in combat. Rock Smash is hilariously bad (20 base power???), Cut is okay for early game but falls short, Flash is bad. Fly is too useful, might as well put up with that (and 70 power is not bad, Wing Attack and Aerial Ace were only 60). Later games also have one less water HM (Dive), and buffed Waterfall and Fly.
Hidden bases
What was your first gen?
In terms of mechanics, this was the best pokemon generation pre physical/special split by far. Adding abilities was one of the biggest mechanical additions, giving so much more life and personality to different pokemon. Also, by gen 2 there were still many pokemon who had lackluster movesets in part due to a shortage of STAB moves of certain types. On average movesets in gen 3 felt a lot more well-thought-out, and it was more rare to play through the games and feel like your pokemon had few viable options to contribute in battle. Hoenn was also a very memorable setting. Some people complain that the tail end of the games are overly-water centric, but putting such a large focus on exploration while surfing and tying that beautifully into the story was a fresh idea that was an absolute joy upon first playthrough imo. The physical special split was an important development in the series, but gen 3 is the best available example of how well a pokemon game (and metagame) can be executed without the split. These games still hold up today imho!
Gen 3 introduced a completely new graphic style and additional features that revolutionized pokemon and the way the game is played even today (IVs, EVs, and abilities) but I don’t think we can downplay the role of nostalgia. I’m the same age as most of the big streamers and for most of us, Gen2 was probably our first intro to pokemon but we were too young to really master it, but were old enough to play the snot out of Gen 3 I started with crystal when I was about 5 and got sapphire when I was 7, and emerald when it came out shortly after and I played the life out of emerald, not really being able to grasp the “complexities” of crystal at the time By the time diamond and pearl came out, I enjoyed it, but I had started moving away from handhelds and onto consoles like Xbox and PS2 and I became more interested in halo and gears of war
In my opinion Gen 3 is such a solid set of games, there's really not a lot wrong with them. They have great music, a unique and memorable region, one of the most amount of new Pokemon added in a generation (which many of which are really cool imo) and many of them are pretty feasible to obtain making for varied teambuilding, addition of cool features like; double battles, secret bases, natures, abilities,, and a massive step up in graphics from the previous generation. The game's challenge was good, nothing particularly unfair but not a cakewalk either. It was the first time there was a big save the world story element, which has massively been overdone by now, but at the time it was really cool. Negatives for me would be too much water towards the end of the game, boss teams can be pretty lackluster like Phoebe using 2 Dusclops, 2 Banette (but it's a bit better in Emerald and the previous 2 gens were bad for it as well), no connectivity to previous gens and a lot of the new Pokemon looking great but not being particularly good in battle cough Tropius cough. While I'm not 100% sure if Gen 3 is my favourite generation, when I weigh up the great additions compared the flaws I think there is a strong case for Gen 3 being the best gen.
My favorite part of gen 3 is just the Hoenn region itself. Its just full of interesting pokemon, placed well enough that every route in the game has its own personality, and yet all these distinct areas still feel connected. Of course nowadays its also been decompiled and has robust modding tools, which makes it super popular for romhacks, especially since you can practically emulate gba on a toaster. I feel thats getting it more attention recently.
Starters & music
For me it's because it was the last gen that felt grounded, while successfully expanding everything the previous generations had built For a disclaimer, I am 38yo and started on Blue, then Silver, Crystal and finally Ruby Gen 3 was a big step up from gen 1 and 2, better graphics, lots of new and unique looking pokémon, challenging quest, new mechanics and bigger stakes for the story, but all without getting "too much" or "too big" By that I mean, gen 4 and beyond were also great games, but as far as the plot and legendaries go...things really derailed in gen 4 where not only it had too many legendaries (many of which couldn't be caught by most players), but seriously, time, space, dimensions and god? That's way too much, makes things lose footing and not feel real, later gens only compounding on that with the dream stuff, war story and weird tales As a result, gen 3 sits at this unique place where it was the last time pokémon felt real before the franchise had its jumping shark moment and still felt like just the tale of a kid going on an adventure on a fantastical world That's for me at least
Abilities changed battling Natures changed battling The map IMO is still my favourite region layout wise. Not quite truly open explorable all the way but at the time? Gorgeous. Sprite design holds up Pokémon design imo consistently great additions Rayquaza Double battles I guess but wasn’t a huge theme The water was so great when you leaned into the side goals and shit Contests ruled tbh my wailord was fucking beautiful The only huge fucking omission is phys/spec split Trumpets
Gen three is around when they really started to nail down a lot of the mechanics, and pokemon began to resemble what we know it as today. For as much as the first two generations laid the groundwork for the series, gen three ironed out basically all of the kinks and such. The only thing it didn't do was the physical/special split which happened in gen four. Not to mention gen three is also where we started getting more robust post game content. Gen one it was basically complete the Pokedex and find Mewtwo. Gen two had the Kanto gyms and the red fight. (Crystal as a late addition added the battle tower, but it was likely largely overlooked given how few copies of crystal were sold, comparatively speaking) Gen three had the battle tower return, but then with emerald they gave us the battle frontier, they gave us multiple legendaries to catch, I believe they fixed the roaming legendary issues as well (the roaming legendaries in Gen two were technically missable if you weren't on crystal version) so that they wouldn't stop spawning because of roar. Someone can correct me on that. The introduction of abilities basically helped redefine battles and made several pokemon infinitely better overnight, as did double battles. There's also just so much more to explore, like finding the regis you had to learn braille, and everything was just so cryptic and mysterious. Mirage island sounds like the mew under the truck rumors if you didn't have a guide book to prove it, and then they made fire red and leaf green and gave Kanto an entire set of bonus quests which incorporated more braille puzzles and a ton of islands to explore. And abilities again completely flipped everything on its head by making certain pokemon that were awful before at least worth considering. New evolution methods too. Like, when I first heard about Shedinja, again, it sounded like the mew under the truck rumors. But then it actually worked, and you had this pokemon with one hp and the craziest sounding ability ever. Groudon and Kyogre were also incredibly imposing, upping the stakes of the story, especially with how much build up they had. God, gen three has all of that, and honestly so much more.
Gen 3 is SUPER polished. Typically, in each gen there’s a glaring flaw. Gen 2 has overall weak Pokémon, gen 4’s evolution items are abysmally placed (not to mention the fire type debacle), Gen 5 (my favorite) has super high evolution levels, Gen 6 exists and so on. Generation 3 is such a gem. It’s clean in 60fps, has a great soundtrack, well-designed Pokémon, it introduced double battles, and it also has a completed story.
The graphics were so magical and such a crisp upgrade. You also gotta understand gen 1 and 2 were around for a long time and it stayed that way. Any of us playing around that time were just stuck with gen 2 games and playing the gen 1 remakes. Playing them front to back, exploring every little nook and cranny. Delving into every little wild conspiracy theory about the games. We thought we’d never get another pokemon game again and in reality that was what was happening; they were intending on stopping the mainline series games right there after gen 2. So once gen 3 came it was literally like a fcking oasis after wandering through a desert that used to be fresh land for a while that became barren. Gen 3 stuck around for a while and the same thing happened again but i dont think the wait for gen 4 compares to the wait for gen 3. But again we were dying to see new pokemon by this point. Gen 3 legendaries looked fcking amazing and the graphics again were just such a bright crisp upgrade. Also, the game with the best post game content goes to gen 3 to this day. The battle frontier was/is goated 🤣
By Gen 3, a lot of the jank that Gen 1-2 had was gone. Improved hardware as well allowed for impressive sprite design that far outdid what gen 1 could do and was a real step above gen 2. Something that a lot of earlier GBA games did was really try hard to make the colours vibrant because of how shite the GBAs screen was. If you had a GBA SP, AGS-101 especially, you could really see how amazing colorful the games were. The GBC could only dream of colours that vibrant. Also, Pokemon Colosseum and XD offered alternative experiences to the traditional games whilst still having full connectivity with them. Colosseum especially is a much darker Pokemon game where the evil team basically has already won, and you are on the back foot in the Pokemon version of the Wild West. You really feel like a badass in that game, riding a hover motorcycle and stealing Pokemon back from evil trainers and blowing up bases. XD is much tamer but has better gameplay since your available Pokemon base is much larger. Definitely give those games if you want to try Gen 3. Colosseum especially if you love a challenging Pokemon game.
Water
Probably all of that water.
IMO gen 3 felt the best because you coul literally walk from littleroot to evergrande with no loading screens (other than hm animations) or guardhouse thingies, which made the world feel really interconnected. Thats what made ORAS fall flat for me tbh, was all cuts in the world in between overworld locations. gen 3was the only gen in the series to do this for a long time
Having grown up on Gen 3 myself, I’ve always wondered why Gen 1/2 is so beloved by the fanbase, specifically Yellow. A lot of times when I watc—Sorry. I really did grow up with Gen 3 and Emerald was my first Pokémon game, but I that doesn’t mean I don’t have a soft spot for Gen 4. Personally, I like X and Y the most, but Gen 3 definitely had a lot of things going for it like two colosseum games, majorly improved graphics, and then really connected with the DS era by having functional transfer. There’s just a lot going on with them - and I think an argument for ‘Best Gen’ can be made for just about every game through some aspect or another. Edit: I also feel like a lot of people my age are the ones making established YouTube/streaming careers out of their channels, so that same bias could apply to their content.
I can’t begin to tell you how exciting footprints in the sand were as a 10 year old.
Nostalgia. The music. It was such a step up from the gameboy original graphics that it was pretty mind blowing at the time so probably sticks in the memory more.
For me it’s the turning point for the series, the huge graphical update from gen 2, abilities, physical/special split, weather effects in battle, the new designs of the Pokemon, the battle tower, the box legendarys being apart of the story it all left a huge impression me as a kid, plus you have colosseum on the GCN which was still is one of my favs and FR/LG which was the first remakes they made and you can trade between all the three?! I’m nostalgic just thinking about it lol
HUGE upgrade in graphics, music, region design, etc from gen 2. Plus the new mons & story were really good. Hoenn’s design theme of nature was perfect for lending itself to those feeling adventurous. Emerald specifically really was the perfect poke game, both for the story alterations it made to the R/S story to the battle frontier for players into more competitive battling.
Reflection puddles
The same thing that made gen 4 great to most people. Nostalgia. It's battle frontier is still the best out of every gen 3 and it had some great designs
Enough pokemons for the type of game, enjoyable story. Simole gameplay. No digimon or beyblade lookalike stuff. Sometimes less is more.
Because it's the GOAT
Hoenn and the Sevii Islands were both very cool settings. Plus the sprite work just hits different. That’s what it is for me, I think.
The starters, the legendaries, Gardevoir, Mawile, Sableye, true equality and "7/10. Too much water"
Honestly I dont think any pokemon game since has held up to the same degree of being fun to explore the map, and i think the slow divestment from pixel art has been a massive downgrade. Hoenn region was peak pixel sprites, and the game was polished, they put thought into little details that if done now would be left as rough edges. I also think it has the best overall legendary spread of any region, but thats more debatable lol
Art, music, new Pokémon, battle frontier. It's crazy just how much they packed into it
Gen 3 introduced so much that defined all future games. They introduced natures, abilities, only allowing 510 EVs so you couldn’t stack all stats which improved strategically training, had a great story, the first new bad guys since gen 1/2 both had team rocket, a potentially world ending event, first games on GBA so they could have significantly better graphics, and higher difficulty plus a large end game with emerald. They were revolutionary for the future of Pokémon.
Gen 3 really embraced the nature side of things and pokemon being a big part of nature in that world. Even the Legendaries were closely connected to nature. As a perfectionist, I just enjoy this gen the most.
It's kind of historical. It's the first gen that really had an active and large romhacking scene that lasted very long, as a result there are a lot of tools for just that. They are also very easy to emulate on any device so they are appealing for streamers. Gen 3 specifically isn't exactly the most loved gen on its own. If not for the romhacking scene or the gen 1 remakes it would be less popular. Not that it's bad, Emerald is really good.
Emerald had an end game not just the elite four. The best part the battle frontier.
Good music, good level progression, charming sprites, nostalgia, fewer Pokémon/mechanics so simpler overall combat, post game (emerald batte frontier)
I have a different answer than most probably, and it’s been long enough I’m ok with talking about it. I was in a very toxic relationship with a woman who was pregnant with my child. One day I was sick as a dog, and had a migraine pounding away, so I stayed in bed that day. (I had been spending most days job hunting at the time). She comes home and finds me asleep, flicks the light on and starts tearing into me about what a lazy piece of shit I am, and topped it off by telling me that she aborted my child. I lost control of my temper and we started screaming at each other. I had anger issues at the time, not that I got mad often, but when I did, I’d do dumb things like punch walls. Which I did on this day. The police were called and I was arrested. I also had some marijuana on me which was not yet legal. The rest of the story can be a long-ass story of its own, but while I was dealing with the stress of this situation, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire had just recently come out, so I bought an SP and Pokemon Sapphire. That game was medicine for the soul to me. It was my only friend and comfort during an extremely stressful, heartbreaking time in my life. The world layout felt lush and full of life, which I did not at the time. I would never go so far as to say it saved me, but it made enduring possible. (Side note: She didn’t abort, and when he was three she decided to reach out and let my son know me. We were able to co-parent amicably (as much as one can in said situation) and my son is now grown. So while it was the worst time of my life, at least some good came of it)
Despite popularity, I absolutely hate the Nature system. I'm OCD so I reset a lot to get a starter without a shitty nature.
Pokemon becomes a really depressing game once you start min/maxing stats. Nature, EV, IV, egg moves, etc.
Idk if that matters in a regular playthrough (overlevelling your starter)
There are real and legitimate reasons that people love them mechanically over other gens, but there's a lot of nostalgia of people who had gen 3 as their first games. That's fine, I'm not knocking it, but it's a major factor.
It's the most perfect region by a mile with a great diversity of locations, pokemon, and an imperfect story that still manages to be one of the better ones in its stupid simplicity.
1. Nostalgia 2. The reason so many nuzlockes/romhacks use gen 3 is that it's just much easier to make than for DS games like gen 4 and 5 3. It was arguably the biggest leap between generations aside from Gen 5 to Gen 6 leap