Which 3D mainline Pokémon games thus far have been your favorites?

[Quinton]

Yeah, I'm in a Pokémon mood this week.

So there's a fairly common consensus among Pokémon fans that the older, 2D generations are generally superior to the newer, 3D generations. This isn't to say that some don't feel otherwise; especially in the case of younger players, I'd imagine there's real pushback against the idea. But among the older crowd, at least, I think it's the majority opinion.

As a result, there's been a lot of discussion as to what exactly the 3D installments have lacked that the 2D years, especially throughout the DS era, had in spades. But something I've seen less often is 3D-only chatter — barring drive-bys from people chiming in real fast that they "all suck" or that a particular entry sucks the most. :P So whether you're a big fan of certain 3D entries or choosing between modern mainline Pokémon games is like pulling teeth, I challenge you: share with us which games are your favorites!

No lamenting that Platinum had better postgame, or HeartGold/SoulSilver's gameplay variety is so much better, or Yellow's Pikachu cries used to put you to sleep on a hammock in your dad's backyard and nothing else will ever compare. Just pure, 3D-versus-3D discourse.

For my money, and speaking as someone who has completed an entry in each pair of 3D games except USUM (I'll get to them soon), I would say Sun and Moon are my favorites. I understand why the linearity and intense cutscene repetition are major turn-offs for folks; really, I do. I'm not the biggest fan, either. But I enjoy Alola more than Galar and certainly more than Kalos. I like its vibe. I love how much Game Freak experimented with proven formulas. Totem Pokémon are rad! I'm grateful for the sheer number of "random" little events featuring various Pokémon throughout the island chain. And I love some of the story beats, especially the growth of Lillie and the true villainy in her relations. Sun and Moon aren't perfect, but that's OK. I like them a ton, anyway.

 

[Refrain]

I like Sword/Shield

 

[Heromanz]

Can I pick coliseum?

 

[Benzychenz]

Sun/Moon is the only one so far I really enjoyed.

The rest were incredibly mediocre.

 

[DecoReturns]

My favorite Gen Is Gen 3.

but I felt AS/OR was a mediocre/bad remake. Except Music. And it's the only game I beat from the 3D era of pokemon so I guess none.

Pokémon Colosseum. That's my favorite Pokémon game and it's 3D!

 

[Farrac]

Can I choose Pokémon Black and White being played on a 3DS with the 3D slider on?

 

[Deleted member 17990]

Soul Silver played on 3DS is the only answer

 

[Fnnrqwin]

Seeing as no one else seems to want to read the OP, I'm also going with Sun/Moon. Ultra Sun/Moon were terrible downgrades as far as the story goes. I don't really pick up Pokémon games for the story though, but even then the gameplay in Sun/Moon have been better than the other 3D games to me. Alola is the closest thing we have to an interesting region since the transition.

Isle of Armor is definitely pulling Sword/Shield up for me though. We'll see how Crown Tundra manages.

 

[BasilZero]

X/Y - simply because I enjoyed it far more than Sun/Moon and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon. It followed the original formula rather than doing some weird Island sidequest thing. Also the region imo was great. The 3rd gen remakes are up to par with them imo but the fact that the 3DS was a new platform for me at the time and Pokemon X was my first Pokemon game on it (and the fact that going from 5th gen to 6th gen in terms of its leap) - was a great experience for me.

The 3DS line of Pokemon games have been my least favorite experiences, even the Ruby/Sapphire remakes (which honestly 3rd gen OG have been my most favorite for years).

 

[entremet]

SwSh easily. I love the wild area stuff and raiding.

 

[jgminto]

Sun & Moon was easily the best setting, characters and story in quite a while. I think they did a great job of showing how Pokemon could actually interact with people in society outside of battles. The story changes and padding in Ultra didn't really improve the game so I'd still go with the original over that.

 

[Uncle at Nintendo]

Yeah, Sun and Moon are the "winners" here.

 

[brinstar]

Sun & Moon for single player, Sword & Shield for multiplayer

 

[Unicorn]

Soul Silver played on 3DS is the only answer

Click to shrink...

Yeah

 

[Trrzs]

X/Y were awful and disappointing games, specially coming from the masterpieces B2/W2 are, they improved a bit with Sun/Moon and then Sword/Shield happened to compete with Kalos as the worst Pokemon mainline game.

 

[Normal]

1. ORAS
2. SW/SH
3. S/M
4. X/Y
5. Let's go

Never played US/UM.

 

[defaltoption]

While it was definitely disappointing as a remake after soul silver, I really had a good time with omega ruby.

If I had to choose a new game then Sun

Shield was my least favorite because it was worse then even what I expected and I had low expectations. Of course some things are better but my goodness if QoL features are our bar then we're not in a good place.

 

[Strings]

X&Y I guess... Colosseum is my 'favourite' 3D Pokemon just because it wasn't 10 years behind the curve.

 

[entremet]

X/Y were awful and disappointing games, specially coming from the masterpieces B2/W2 are, they improved a bit with Sun/Moon and then Sword/Shield happened to compete with Kalos as the worst Pokemon mainline game.

Click to shrink...

I just wish it was harder. It is the easiest Pokemon game by far.

 

[Mario_Bones]

I haven't played USUM so SM win by default based on how much worse the others are. Didn't particularly like them but there were some strong characters and the team were at least trying new things with the game structure

 

[Sybil]

I like ORAS quite a bit if I take it as its purely its own game rather than try to compare it to Emerald - which is an unfair comparison to begin with (for both this topic and in general), but it's hard not to do.

xy is mostly nonsense (for lack of a better word) and ridiculously easy, but it's actually the only game I'm willing to ever replay because imo SM+USUM are plagued with cutscenes that are a real slog to tap through. But looking back, I did enjoy SM's story way more than I thought I was going to. Too bad USUM proceeded to throw all that good will out with its story...

 

[Slamtastic]

X/Y and OR/AS equally because I like the designs of the mega Pokemon followed by Sw/Sh because you can sometimes control the camera and rounded out by Let's Go for Pokemon riding and having introduced visible encounters.

None of them are good video games, but those are the ones where I can say there was a single good feature or idea in them.

 

[Zeal543]

I dislike all of them but X/Y is the least egregious. If anything, it has the benefit of not being an inferior remake, not having tons of shitty unskipable cutscenes, not being an underwhelming enhanced version, and its network systems were streamlined and convenient.

 

[Deleted member 4532]

ORAS followed by USUM. Kalos, Alola, Kanto, and Galar cannot top Hoenn even if it is a bit neutered from its GBA counterpart. I think USUM would have taken its place if Alola had more exploration and less handholding.

 

[Ultima_5]

XY cuz at least it could use the excuse that it was the first 3D one to excuse how bad the games were getting

 

[NHarmonic.]

Nobody likes USUM, shame on you because it gave us the glorious Ultra Necrozma song.

 

[TheAggroCraig]

I liked Let's Go a lot more than I thought, it was far from perfect but there was something really charming about it. Other than that in terms of enjoyment it's probably XY > SwSh > ORAS > SuMo > USUM. Ultra Sun is to this day the only Pokemon game I have never finished the main story of, and I never finished the Pokedex either.

 

[Phendrana]

Pokemon X and Y by far.

They get shit on a lot by people on Era these days, which has always confused me since there was nothing but love back when they released. From my perspective it wasn't until much later when the consensus started to shift. My theory is that they started looking worse in hindsight for a lot of people, because that gen started some trends that have now skewed negative due to Game Freak's general incompetence. People really take for granted all of the new features and QOL improvements that they brought to the table, though:

• 3D battles. This is just the status quo now, but back then it was a huge deal and made XY feel super fresh to me. Of course, Game Freak being Game Freak decided that using the exact same poses and animations for the models for the next SEVEN years (eight subsequent sets of games) was perfectly fine. This is one example of a good feature that XY introduced, but has probably been tainted over time because of Game Freak being awful. They also never fixed the flying animations in later games despite fan outcry either.
  
  
• Trainer Customisation. Another long-requested and exciting new addition. I enjoyed this so much at the time, and comparing looks with my friends was super fun. And yet...low and behold, Gen 7 had significantly less clothing options overall, and much less variance in style. I think Gen 8 ultimately has more, but it still hasn't been improved as much as it should have imo. Hairstyles are still so lacking.
  
  
• PSS. This is the best online functionality a Nintendo game has ever had. Fans universally agreed that it was awesome. So in typical Game Freak fashion, they replaced it with the worst online implementation ever devised in the following gen. And Sword/Shield's system still isn't as good.
  
  
• Super Training, O-Powers and horde battles all simplified EV training and made it more accessible. Game Freak removed these features in Sun and Moon. Are you sensing a pattern here?
  
  
• Pokemon Amie. This one is easy to dismiss as it's not everyone's cup of tea...but I do think it was a fantastic new feature that helped give the Pokemon much more personality within the games. And it hasn't been improved upon since. The camping feature in S/S is still using the exact same animations.
  
  
• Fairy Type. Fans had been clamouring for a new type for years, and we finally got one here.
  
  
• Mega Evolutions were admittedly a bit hit or miss, but ultimately I liked their inclusion overall.
  
  
• Friend Safari. I get the feeling that this was overlooked by most people? I thought it was awesome! It encouraged connecting with lots of people to try and get a Safari with a specific Pokemon you couldn't get anywhere else (at the time). For those who were interested in the competitive side of things, it offered a good way to get Pokemon with good IV's for breeding, and it also had a super high chance of letting you find a Shiny.
  
  
• Battle Maison. This was a decent postgame battle facility, and is only hated as much as it is because ORAS copy and pasted it. Hell, the Battle Tree in Gen VII feels like a re-skinned Maison too tbh. I'm pretty sure it is, just with a few extra boss trainers.
  
  
• New breeding mechanics made getting competitive Pokemon much, much easier.
• Between the Friend Safari, the Poke Radar and Consecutive Fishing, shiny hunters had lots of different options available to them.
• Wonder Trade was a super cool little addition.

I also have to praise Gen VI's expansive regional dex, which makes it such a good game to replay as you can create wildly different teams every time. It also has the best feeling gameplay since Gen III and the lack of a grid-based world is another feature I should have mentioned above. The skates were super cool!

On top of all of that, XY had a super vibrant trading and battling community. Especially in those months before Bank was released. It was a seriously magical time, and made me completely unaware that the game didn't have much of a postgame, because I was too busy breeding shinies and competitive Pokemon, as well as trading and battling with others online. That was the post-game for me.

The one criticism I will agree with is that the story sucked. That being said...personally I wouldn't praise the story of any Pokemon game? At least Gen VI's story has the decency to be fairly unintrusive, unlike Gens V, VII and VIII.

Oh, and the Kalos dex is the best batch of new Pokemon since Gen 1 imo.

 

[gardfish]

Going back and forth between vanilla and Ultra Sun/Moon. Ultra's story is worse, its new areas were underwhelming (I still cannot believe that they advertised Ultra Megalopolis as a selling point in a trailer), and most legendaries are locked behind an INCREDIBLY tedious minigame that you have to play dozens and dozens of times, but I enjoyed the expanded dex and remixed totem fights, and the Rainbow Rocket episode was a lot of fun.

Both sets of games stand out for having the most interesting boss encounters in the Pokemon series with the totem battles, which could actually get quite tough at times depending on your party. Alola was also a very well-realized region, although it felt a bit small and cramped.

 

[Wise]

Tbh ORAS for me.

they all kinda suck though imo

 

[Revali]

Gale of Darkness is better than any of the mainline 3D games, so I'll go with that. If I must pick a mainline game though, I suppose XY because it introduced Talonflame.

 

[oofouchugh]

Sun and Moon would have been amazing if they cut like 70% of the dialogue and cutscenes.

 

[Mekanos]

ORAS is the best since it's based on a game from the pre-3D era. USUM is also I think a very solid experience, even if the story is worse than the original SM.

XY and SWSH are easily the worst. Though SWSH certainly makes XY look good these days.

Pokemon X and Y by far.

They get shit on a lot by people on Era these days, which has always confused me since there was nothing but love back when they released. From my perspective it wasn't until much later when the consensus started to shift. My theory is that they started looking worse in hindsight for a lot of people, because that gen started some trends that have now skewed negative due to Game Freak's general incompetence. People really take for granted all of the new features and QOL improvements that they brought to the table, though

Click to shrink...

I was disappointed with XY from the jump, lol. Too easy, badly paced and lacking in valuable endgame/postgame content. I prefer them to SWSH but I definitely thought gen 7 was more enjoyable overall.

 

[Deleted member 40179]

Sun and Moon would have been amazing if they cut like 70% of the dialogue and cutscenes.

Click to shrink...

Agreed.
My order is:
1. Sword/Shield
2. Sun/Moon
3. Let's Go
4. ORAS
5. XY
Never played USUM

X&Y was so bad I skipped the whole 3DS system until Sun&Moon came out. Usually I upgrade to the next handheld just to play Pokémon but XY looked like absolute garbage. I ended up finding a used 2DS that came with X and Alpha Sapphire for like $100 on eBay, otherwise I may have also skipped Sun/Moon.

 

[Twister]

Probably Let's Go. It has a really chill vibe and I like the catching mechanics and Pokemon following you a lot. I only wish that you could use a Pro Controller in docked mode, but that's really my only real complaint with the game. I also enjoyed ORAS and USUM a good bit but the other games aren't really my favorites (never played Sun/Moon).

 

[Deleted member 11626]

I was lukewarm on Sword and Shield at first, but the second time through (my first file got erased) and I had a blast. Sometimes less is more, and the game definitely forced me to abandon conventional teams and my typical Pokémon. No Pursuit, no Hidden Power, no TM for Toxic, no Garchomp (though it's returning in the Tundra I think), no Greninja (Libero Cinderace fills that void now though), and old Pokémon with new tricks, like Teleport Slowbro and Teleport Clefable, gave new life to two of my old favorites.

Also really liked the new Pokémon, and I made a whole team out of them: Cinderace, Drednaw, Appletun, Corviknight, Hatterene, and Obstagoon...I like them all way more than I thought I would. I feel for the folks that want a deeper single player, but I'm enjoying actual battling more than I have in a long time. Working on a competitive doubles squad, as my first foray into double battling. Sorry for the rant, but I'm just enjoying them and thought I'd offer a bit of love for the gen that's gotten so much hate around these parts.

 

[GoldStarz]

Sun/Moon pretty easily. It has a story that's really good and a ton of likable characters. My only complaint is that the game doesn't really lend itself to exploration and is kinda just a bunch of circles (that don't even connect outside of the first island) which is a shame because it has some of the coolest locales in the series and you could make some awesome dungeons and side areas out of Alola (in fairness to SuMo though, that has been a major ongoing problem with the series since the leap to 3D).

Similarly, X/Y is easily the worst. People talk about Sw/Sh's bad pacing but X/Y's is honestly even worse because in addition to the story all taking place in the blink of an eye in one over-condensed exposition dump.... It doesn't even take place at the end of the game. You literally beat Team Flare before you finish all the gyms and since unlike in Sw/Sh, your rivals are either Literally Nothing (the trio) or the worst one in the series (Serena/Callum) and the game is probably the easiest in the series, there's basically no tension for the rest of the game. I mean the last gym leader uses ICE TYPES and the Elite 4 don't even have 5-pokemon teams.

Special Mention to ORAS: it's not terrible, but honestly I always thought that the goal of these remakes was to essentially be the Most Definitive Edition game of the generation they're remaking and ORAS just kinda straight up tells you it's not even really that interested in being the best. Has made me extremely cautious for when the D/P remakes are inevitably announced.

If I had to rank them...

1) Sun/Moon
2) Sword/Shield
3) USUM
4) ORAS
5) X/Y

Despite what the TPCi says, I still don't count Let's GO! games as mainline, they're better off just being considered their own side series honestly. Then they'd be more free to dip into a plasticy toyetic aesthetic that would really benefit those games.

 

[Faiyaz]

Sun and Moon and ORAS are both excellent.

 

[milkyway]

Sun/moon would be my favorite main campaign playthrough by a mile but X/Y and ORAS were much more playable for me post-game and to date still have the best online, which is really sad given we have had two generations after these games. I voted ORAS in the end. Overall ORAS > S/M > X/Y > LG > USUM > SWSH

 

[Sou Da]

Sword and Shield purely because of the better dex.

 

[RockmanBN]

This is with the opinion of ORAS being inferior against Emerald.

ORAS > XY > Lets Go > Sun & Moon > Sword & Shield

 

[Sterok]

USUM for the single-player. Even on my third/fourth playthrough in Alola I still had a reasonable challenge with different Pokemon for me to use each time. Story may be a bit worst, but it's still decent by Pokemon standards, and Alola is by far one of the most fleshed out and interesting regions. I generally regard BW2 as the best solo Pokemon game due to its perfect difficulty curve, but USUM does have more interesting encounters, so I could make an argument for it.

Sword/Shield get the multiplayer nod entirely because of the ease of raising Pokemon. Raids are garbage, I'm still not sure about the meta, I don't really care for Dynamax, and the lack of many Pokemon hurts a lot, but getting a perfect Pokemon and just going online for some battles has never been easier, and the battles are still fun, so it gets the nod for this category.

 

[Crayolan]

USUM is the only one I have any desire to replay because the bosses are genuinely great in that game (mainly the totem pokemon). Keep the exp share off and it's one of the more difficult games in the series.

 

[Deleted member 40179]

Sword and Shield purely because of the better dex.

Click to shrink...

People whine about Dexit but no joke I loved the Galar Dex. I honestly loved it way more than any other the other regions despite missing some of my favorites. It wasn't the perfect 400 but overall it's the best we've had. Also every new Galar Pokemon was great.

 

[Homura]

ORAS > XY > LGPE > Trash > SwSh > Shit > SM > USUM

 

[Sou Da]

People whine about Dexit but no joke I loved the Galar Dex. I honestly loved it way more than any other the other regions despite missing some of my favorites. It wasn't the perfect 400 but overall it's the best we've had. Also every new Galar Pokemon was great.

Click to shrink...

I honestly felt it that it was themed perfectly for the region. XY felt like they were ashamed to be unique and went "hey you wanna see these Kanto Pokemon in 3d!", Sun/Moon didn't even have Solrock/Lunatone in it.

 

[GoldStarz]

Pokemon X and Y by far.

They get shit on a lot by people on Era these days, which has always confused me since there was nothing but love back when they released. From my perspective it wasn't until much later when the consensus started to shift.

Click to shrink...

Nah dude, you're probably thinking of pre-release hype because when the game first started leaking and no one knew of the new "sub-100 new Pokemon" trend this game was gonna start, people thought the game was gonna be HUGE because most of the leaker were like "huh, I'm already several hours in and I haven't gotten my 2nd badge and also haven't seen many new Pokemon. Once the game was out, people kinda immediately just realized the game was really poorly paced with that huge amount of bloat between your 1st and 2nd badge followed by you getting your 3rd, 4th, and 5th badge in extremely quick succession. And, of course, there was an immediate divide between people who criticized the small amount of Pokemon and apologists who said it was because this gen, Game Freak was focusing on Pokemon with a certain 'beautiful' aesthetic.

Oh, and the Kalos dex is the best batch of new Pokemon since Gen 1 imo.

Click to shrink...

I legit can't tell if you're baiting or genuinely unaware how many people's Kill Bill sirens you've set off with this comment. lmao

 

[Phendrana]

Nah dude, you're probably thinking of pre-release hype because when the game first started leaking and no one knew of the new "sub-100 new Pokemon" trend this game was gonna start, people thought the game was gonna be HUGE because most of the leaker were like "huh, I'm already several hours in and I haven't gotten my 2nd badge and also haven't seen many new Pokemon. Once the game was out, people kinda immediately just realized the game was really poorly paced with that huge amount of bloat between your 1st and 2nd badge followed by you getting your 3rd, 4th, and 5th badge in extremely quick succession. And, of course, there was an immediate divide between people who criticized the small amount of Pokemon and apologists who said it was because this gen, Game Freak was focusing on Pokemon with a certain 'beautiful' aesthetic.

Click to shrink...

I don't know what to tell you. I was active in all of the threads back at the old place (old username was Macka), and that was my sense of the reception.

I legit can't tell if you're baiting or genuinely unaware how many people's Kill Bill sirens you've set off with this comment. lmao

Click to shrink...

No bait, it's just how I feel. The Kalos dex is amazing. And the Kanto Pokemon are still among the best in the entire series.

 

[Lazybob]

Sun/Moon easily. Likable characters with good designs (X & Y designs are terrible with a few exceptions), the totem fights could actually provide an occasional challenge, and it didn't confine itself to the usual pokemon formula from previous games. By that last past I mean they did things like the Totems instead of gyms, the main bad guys aren't Team whatever but instead a big company (yes Team Skulls still there but they're not the big bad), all previous legendaries had no pre-evo's or evo's now the cover legend turns out to evolve from cosmog. None of those are huge departures and it still sticks closely to the usual stuff for the most part but after 6 other gens not deviating at all that's still refreshing. The story is the most divisive aspect of these games as it is something you either find endearing or hate because you don't give a shit and end up hating these games for as a result of not being able to skip it quickly.

 

[Bitanator]

OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire

I liked the sneak mechanic and the other changes they made