Every mainline Pokémon game ranked from worst to best – from Game Boy to Switch 2

Pokémon has been around for almost 30 years now, across handhelds and home consoles, but which is the very best, like no one ever was?

Whatever criticisms you may have about Pokémon (and there are many to be had), there’s no denying its popularity or its continuing success. It’s one of Nintendo’s core franchises and there’s always a new entry or spin-off just around the corner.

None of them are referred to as sequels, as such, but each mainline entry, and its different versions, is known as a generation, so Pokémon Red and Blue were Generation I and Scarlet and Violet is Generation IX, with Generation X rumoured for next year.

Since they all share the same basic gameplay, determining which of the mainline Pokémon games is the best is difficult, especially since there are no truly bad entries. It’s a lot like picking the best Doctor Who actor or James Bond; it’s a decision mostly impacted by what you grew up with or were exposed to first.

So, to coincide with the launch of Pokémon Legends: Z-A and the franchise’s debut on Nintendo Switch 2, we’ve tried our hand at ranking every mainline Pokémon game, from worst to best.

Although we’ve made note of the remakes in each case, these listings are purely for the original versions of each game. The Legends titles are also included, as Nintendo insists that they do count as mainline entries, even though they’re not the start of a new generation.

11. Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Game Boy Advance

The jump from Game Boy to Game Boy Advance should have resulted in more… well, advanced Pokémon games. Sadly, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was not much of an evolution and while the Emerald director’s cut did improve things slightly, Generation III remains an underwhelming part of the series’ history.

Very few of the new pokémon designs introduced were any good and while the Hoenn region’s reputation for having ‘too much water’ is more a meme than it is a criticism, it did seem to result in a poor balance of elemental types, with there being far more water pokémon than any other. Plus, the overreliance on HMs means you often need to waste party slots on glorified Swiss army knife pokémon.

To its credit, though, Generation III has left a far greater impact on the series than some later entries. It not only introduced passive abilities and natures (bringing more complexity to raising your team), but also weather effects and double battles, which now serve as the default format for the competitive scene.

10. Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Nintendo Switch

After years of sticking with the same formula, that had gone mostly unchanged for over 20 years, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was the first to really break away from the usual conventions of the series, reworking Pokémon into a hybrid of The Legend Of Zelda and Monster Hunter.

Aside from the novel premise of setting the game in the distant past, it has you hiding in the tall grass for a change, to sneak up on and catch pokémon, which roam around self-contained open world areas as they please and, for once, are willing to attack you, adding a new sense of danger to exploration.

It also introduced long overdue quality-of-life elements that have thankfully become standard since, but it doesn’t quite reach its full potential as an open world Pokémon game and, after Sword and Shield, its barely improved graphics and presentation feel very disappointing.

9. Pokémon Sword/Shield

Nintendo Switch

We’ve always felt the outrage over Generation VIII’s culling of the pokédex was overblown and, frankly, a long time coming, but even disregarding that, Pokémon Sword and Shield should’ve been a much bigger deal for the series – as the first wholly original mainline entry designed for a home console.

First, the positives. The new Wild Areas, while simplistic, are an important advancement that set the groundwork for later games. A lot of the new pokémon are enjoyably unique too, such as Morpeko and Cramorant. The UK inspired Galar region itself is fun and it results in a script full of delightful Britishisms, even if the story is barebones.

However, for the most part, Sword and Shield feels woefully unambitious. Not only are there very few new features, but a lot of old ones are gone or sanded down to the point of irrelevancy. Worst of all is how low-tech the whole game is, with no voice-acting and graphics no better than an upscaled 3DS game.

8. Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Nintendo DS

Much as Pokémon’s debut on Game Boy Advance did little to evolve the formula, history unfortunately repeated itself when the series arrived on the DS with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, aka Generation IV.

The Sinnoh region is certainly more fun to explore than Ruby and Sapphire’s Hoenn, and Diamond and Pearl did bring Pokémon into the internet age by adding online battles and trading, which are now core aspects of the series that Game Freak has wisely only doubled down on over time.

Overall though, it just doesn’t feel like much of an update even when compared to the original Game Boy games, as it continued to rely on 2D sprites for its graphics and barely used the touchscreen outside of mini-games and the pokétch apps. Pokémon Platinum is the definitive version, but it’s not that much of an improvement.

7. Pokémon Scarlet/Violet

Nintendo Switch

In retrospect, we’re not as high on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet as we used to be (especially after playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A), but it’s still a far more ambitious Switch entry than its 3D predecessors.

While patches have ironed out the most obtrusive visual glitches, Scarlet and Violet is far from handsome and the improved frame rate on Switch 2 further highlights how flat the graphics and textures are. Plus, while this finally introduces a proper open world to the series, it still feels like a first draft of an attempt.

Even so, that open world remains fun to explore in how it lets you progress all three of its storylines in a non-linear fashion. It’s also propped up by some of the best new pokémon in recent years, like doughnut dog Fidough, and four player co-op. Here’s hoping Game Freak builds and reiterates upon this for Generation X on Switch 2.

6. Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow

Game Boy

For as outdated as they are compared to the modern entries, it is a testament to the series’ formula that the original Pokémon Red and Blue are just as fun to play today as they were in the 90s.

It can be very hard to go back to it thanks to the unhelpful interface and menus. Not to mention how buggy it is, with some mechanics outright not working as they should. Seriously, looking at the full list of bugs and glitches makes you realise how this thing is being held together by duct tape and prayer.

But whether you’re playing the original versions or the Pikachu-centric Pokémon Yellow, you’re in for an enduringly charming experience that is far deeper than you’d expect but so simple a child can pick up and learn its intricacies.

5. Pokémon X/Y

Nintendo 3DS

Pokémon X and Y marked the series’ first step into 3D graphics but since it was still confined to the handhelds, it was a far greater overhaul than the leap from 3DS to Nintendo Switch. While a tad graphically inconsistent, seeing the games rendered in full 3D, and not 2D sprites, was a big deal.

X and Y also brought significant enhancements to the social aspects of Pokémon, allowing you to send and receive boosts to and from other nearby players, and generally making online trading and battling far easier. Plus, it properly allows you to interact and bond with your pokémon through feeding them and petting them in a Nintendogs-like fashion.

Not to mention it offered a nice variety of new and returning pokémon and was the first to add customisation options for your player character, as well as the ability to earn experience through capturing pokémon. It is rigid in its structure, though, making it more obvious than ever that the series was resting on its laurels at this point.

4. Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2

The most recent game, released this October, is also the best of the 3D entries and the first time in several years when it’s seemed liked Game Freak was not only getting a handle on modern hardware but was pushing for some real innovation in the series.

It’s still very low-tech, compared to other Nintendo first party games, but the freedom offered by the open world is great, even if the whole game is set purely in the Pokémon equivalent of Paris.

As well as not being filled with bugs and glitches, the game’s central innovation is real-time combat, instead of turn-based. Whether that’s going to make it into other mainline entries isn’t clear but it works very well and we definitely look forward to it being refined in future games.

3. Pokémon Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

Nintendo 3DS

Compared to X and Y, Pokémon Sun and Moon truly makes an effort to shake things up, both in the short term and long term. For starters, HMs were finally removed (meaning no need to hold onto useless pokémon for the sake of cutting down small trees and whatnot) and battles now inform you of which moves are best against which types, removing the need to memorise complex charts.

Perhaps most importantly, instead of the usual gym challenge, Sun and Moon gives you island trials that aren’t that dissimilar but at least provide more variety with how you complete them. You can feel their influence on how gyms are handled in subsequent games, in how they offer bespoke mini-games to complete instead of only battles.

The Alola region is also home to a nice surplus of unique pokémon (including new forms of pre-existing ones) and the story’s also a step above the series’ usual fair, giving us a solid script and the best villain team in the series: a gang of wannabe gangsters called Team Skull.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the game’s equivalent of a director’s cut, didn’t really change things that much, but the remixed story improves the overall pacing, and the endgame content is greatly expanded upon, particularly with the fan service filled Rainbow Rocket subplot.

2. Pokémon Black/White/Black 2/White 2

Nintendo DS

Generation V was an odd time for Pokémon. Not only did Pokémon Black and White force you to catch 150+ brand new Pokémon (with no old favourites available till post-game), but instead of the usual director’s cut it is the only mainline game to be succeeded by a direct sequel set in the same region.

As a complete package, Generation V is one of the series’ biggest highlights. The Unova region broke convention by drawing inspiration from outside of Japan (in this case, the US), bringing a new flavour to the visuals, which were fantastic for the DS and a welcome step up from Diamond and Pearl.

Black and White is also the first game to try its hand at telling a story beyond thwarting a band of criminals looking to conquer the world. The writing’s not very complex, but your rivals are a bit more fleshed out than usual and the Team Plasma plot is interesting in that it addresses whether it’s right for people to be catching pokémon in the first place.

Black 2 and White 2 can feel like a rehash thanks to the familiar environments and its story just being the gym challenge again, plus the less ambiguously evil Team Plasma shenanigans, but it is home to the enjoyable movie-making Pokéwood mini-game and the Pokémon World Tournament, where you can battle characters from all the previous games.

1. Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal

Game Boy Color

To this date, the Generation II era of Pokémon is still widely revered as the best in the series’ history. That’s probably down to nostalgia more than anything, but if you weren’t there at the time, it’s hard to understate how magical a time it felt for Pokémon fans.

Learning there are another 100 pokémon to catch in a brand new region was mind-blowing to children of the 90s (who here remembers playground rumours of Pikablue?), but even in the long term, Gold, Silver, and Crystal left a massive influence on the series by introducing so many mechanics that remain series staples today, like breeding, friendship values, day/night cycles, and shiny pokémon.

What makes Generation II truly special, though, is its post-game. After conquering the Elite Four you get to revisit Kanto, which itself has changed since Red and Blue, with a few new gym leaders, culminating in a secret boss fight against the original player character. It’s a feat of genuine technical wizardry considering what the Game Boy was capable of and is a high fans have been chasing ever since.

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