Pokémon Regions: Best to Worst

[ZemZem]

GF hates Fire types not named Blaziken or Charizard.

[Irony]

Oh YES, another Village Bridge fan! I love it there too and the music is some of my favorite in the series. :3 I liked how it got better as you talked to the musicians and the singer dude. The singer dude made it the best, imo.

Ikr? I used to hatch all of my Pokemonthere coz it was such a lovely place. :)

[Anacybele]

I just go there to complete the music and then relax and enjoy it. lol

[Maiden of Ghosts]

Hmm.. I guess I may as well add my opinion in here. Because why not. I like rambling about my favourite regions.

1. Hoenn. Gorgeous tropical region with absolutely I'm so funny *shot* amazing Pokemon (I couldn't even list all the Hoenn Pokemon I love. There's too many! But some of my favourites include Shuppet and Linoone.), scenery, towns (FORTREE CITYYYY), amazing soundtrack, and a fun plot with by far my favourite endearingly idiotic antagonists. (I'm sure by now it's obvious how much I love Team Magma and Team Aqua. Oops.) And, well, Emerald was my first Pokemon game that wasn't a spin-off game. So Hoenn is pretty dang special to me.

2. Unova. I don't even know what it is about Unova. I just love it. It's actually a contender for my favourite, but I think Hoenn wins out by JUST a bit. I adore the Pokemon in it for one. (My favourite group of Legendaries are from Unova, in fact! The Legendary Musketeers. <3) The music is great too (ROUTE 10.). The scenery is pretty nice.. I loved the plot of BW. Oh and Village Bridge. Village Bridge is easily my favourite thing about Unova, barring the Pokemon. It's a beautiful place, the music is amazing, and come on, it's a village on a bridge. I just love hanging out there. It's so relaxing. I used to go there a lot and just do the silly little serving sandwiches "daily quest" thing for fun. the fact that a lot of my Pokemon OCs live at Village Bridge may or may not have something to do with my love of the place, too.

3. Johto. I really like Johto! It has its issues, but.. I dunno. I just like it. I love SoulSilver, so that might have something to do with it. Not a huge fan of the music in the region, though. But I really like a lot of Johto Pokemon. My all-time favourite Pokemon is a Johto one, too! (Being Umbreon. <3) I think my favourite thing about Johto is Ecruteak City. Almost everything I love about Johto has something to do with that place. It's just my favourite city in general due to aesthetics, my favourite Gym Leader is there (Morty is the best. Cute Ghost type Gym Leader? All of my yes. <3), I adore the stuff about the Legendaries there (The Legendary Beasts are my second favourite group of Legends, and I love Ho-Oh too!), and one of my other favourite characters first shows up there as well. (Eusine! I love that dork and his dumb Suicune obsession.)

It gets a little harder to rate from here, honestly...

4-5. Sinnoh/Kalos. I really can't decide which of these two I like more. So they get to share the spot of.. Me being indecisive. I like Sinnoh. It's cool. Platinum was fun. I liked the plot in it, too. But there's just something about it that makes it not my favourite thing ever. Maybe it was because of how many damned playthroughs of Platinum it took me to BEAT THE GAME. There were like maybe 3-4 times I tried playing Platinum, but got burnt out by the time I reached the end of the plot before I FINALLY managed to get through the Elite Four. Yeah. Sinnoh is still pretty great, though. (It had some really nice Pokemon, actually! Particularly Rampardos, Shaymin, Darkrai, Cresselia and Giratina.) Then there's Kalos. I like it. It's pretty cool, too! I love Snowbelle City. Xerneas is awesome. And Sylveon. AND HONEDGE. HONEDGE IS LIKE, THE PERFECT POKEMON FOR ME. IT'S A GHOST SWORD. GHOST. SWORD. And the plot was fun. ..Okay, I just really liked Lysandre. Like, a LOT. Oops. But I think Kalos is a bit lacking in... Something. I don't know what. But I still really like it.

6. Kanto. Bah, Kanto. I've never liked Kanto, actually. It's good and all, but.. Meh. Back when I got Emerald, I had also gotten FireRed and LeafGreen. As much as I kinda liked FireRed.. It NEVER struck me the same way Emerald did. Kanto just wasn't as interesting as Hoenn. And HGSS's Kanto was even more boring. I don't really dislike Kanto, but I don't like it, either. (Although I will say I do like a lot of Kanto Pokemon. Gastly line, Vulpix line, Eevee and its Kanto evolutions, the Nido lines.. Yeah. Some nice Pokemon in Kanto. :D)

[Knight]

1. Hoenn- First game bias, but I loved the tropical island and exploring the vast ocean. I understand that a lot of people complained about the amount of water, but I really don't mind an adventure on the high seas, it could just use a little less wingull and tentacool. Overall, I really liked the overall design of this game, the colours used and the beautiful spritework is perhaps some of the greatest on GBA and all the moving parts like the waves, the swaying flowers and footprints in the sand that really make the world feel alive. There's so much stuff in this game that over the course of several years, I was still discovering stuff I didn't know existed. I also think that the routes and towns are really unique as far as aesthetics go, a route covered in ash and a town on floating platforms are just some of the crazy environments. I also liked the fact that each HM didn't feel just like a key to the next area, but rather a key that unlocks a bunch of areas in previous travels as well as the key to move forward. I could go on and on, but this is already really long.

2. Johto- It's hard to describe what I love about Johto, but I think it's mostly all the features added in it's original release and the even more features added in it's DS remake. Johto has a lot of Pokemon and a lot of things to just do, It's a nice place to explore.

3. Sinnoh- I don't remember much about Sinnoh since I haven't played it in ages. Sinnoh is a big world that has a lot of interesting places and details, but it didn't feel as alive as other games to me. I liked the enemy teams in other games much more than Team Galacatic, although generally I liked the plot.

4. Kanto- Kind of bland, not much to really do. It was revolutionary for it's time, but it is no longer it's time. I'm not counting the Sevii Islands as part of Kanto, I think those are much more interesting than Kanto itself, or Sinnoh and Johto for that matter.

5. Unova- I gave a lot of undeserved hate to B&W, it had a cool plot, but that doesn't make up for the fact that I only played Black 2 a year ago and I forget more about it than Sinnoh that I played about 6 years ago.

Undecided: Kalos, Orre- I can't find a spot to put these regions in my list as I am still deciding on a lot of things about them.

[WIRE Shut]

1-Johto- Fking masterpiece, HGSS are the best pokémon games and have the best region mostly because of how different it is never I fest bored walking in that game, even grinding was fun.

2-Sinnoh- It was the one I explored the most as a kid, even if I had both Emerald and Fire Red first, maybe it was the graphics or something but it was engaging

3-Unova- Had the best characters and story, just felt more fair and was the last actually rather difficult Pokémon game I played

4-Kanto- My first but I haven't got to many memories, it felt immersed it was just to streamlined

5-Hoenn- Strangely not 1st because I would rather drown than being in that endless sea of emptiness, god that is the only flaw but I giant one

6-Kalos-I don't remember anyone, I don't even remember a towns name except Aquacorde because IDK, It felt like a bland grey goo(my) in a series amazing places and personality

If you excuse me I will probably change name.

Edited June 15, 2014 by Hoenn

[S_Cero]

I'm just gonna give my first since I don't want to list them all.

My first would have to be Sinnoh. The lore and history that were put into this region made it feel much more alive to me. Unlike the other regions, Sinnoh actually felt like a world to me. Seriously, that library place was like the best addition to any Pokémon game.

[Florete]

1. Kanto. Least linear (you can take on gyms 3-7 in almost any order), some of the best music, good Pokemon.

2. Hoenn. Good diversity, good new features (such as secret bases and bikes), and good environment. Too much open water is the problem.

3. Unova. A good, interesting region with a lot to see and some good characters, but not much specifically great about it, such as not many interesting Pokemon or special features. Lack of reliance on HMs is also nice.

4. Johto/Kalos. Nothing particularly wrong with them, but nothing particularly great either. They're kind of just there to me.

6. Sinnoh sucks. Fog, snow, over-reliance on HMs, too many legendaries. Best champion, though.

[RJWalker]

Village Bride's atmosphere was ruined by putting tennis and baseketball courts in BW2. It was perfect in BW.

Edited June 19, 2014 by Ranger Jack Walker

[Just call me AL]

1. Kanto. Least linear (you can take on gyms 3-7 in almost any order), some of the best music, good Pokemon.

2. Hoenn. Good diversity, good new features (such as secret bases and bikes), and good environment. Too much open water is the problem.

3. Unova. A good, interesting region with a lot to see and some good characters, but not much specifically great about it, such as not many interesting Pokemon or special features. Lack of reliance on HMs is also nice.

4. Johto/Kalos. Nothing particularly wrong with them, but nothing particularly great either. They're kind of just there to me.

6. Sinnoh sucks. Fog, snow, over-reliance on HMs, too many legendaries. Best champion, though.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts here. I'm not gonna go into too much detail. Though I will mention that I did like that exploration in Kalos wasn't too reliant on HMs.

[Ragnell]

I'm doing this by actual geographic variety, exploration features, and characters not Pokemon, story, or other things like that.

1. Kanto. It was the region that felt closest to our world, just with Pokemon added. As such, it had an odd atmosphere that no other game has really replicated in my eyes. Also, the nonlinearity was fantastic, as opposed to the halfassed bottlenecking of most other games.

2. Unova. It contained some of the most unique locations in the series, like Chargestone Cave. The number of post-game cities and routes was really neat too. Also, the scope of some of the cities and landmarks was super impressive for the DS. The lack of HM walls was especially great, though the region was quite linear to begin with. Also, by and away the best NPC's.

3. Hoenn. The region had some of the coolest locations, including Fortree, Sootopolis, and Mt. Chimmney, and introduced some really neat exploration techniques, but 50% of the map being water is a huge mark against it. I got so sick of water encounters.

4. Johto. The region was pretty meh. There were some cool places like the Bell Tower, Lake of Rage, and Dragon's Den, but for the most part the world was pretty bland. Some neat pseudo-nonlinearity, though. The far left side of the map was done in a pretty interesting way. And I feel like the gym leaders had a lot more personality and felt more important than in many other regions (i.e. Whitney refusing to give a badge, Jasmine's medicine quest, Clare's dragon quest), though that might be me wearing rose-colored nostalgia glasses.

5. Kalos. It hurts me to do this, since I love X and Y, but geographically Kalos was one of the most boring regions. I can't even remember the names of any of the cities, and I honestly couldn't distinguish half of them even by appearance. And this is the game I most recently played. Anistar and Lumiose are really the only locales I liked.

6. Sinnoh. I didn't like DPPt as a whole, so this might just be an extension of that, but the towns were almost all boring. Most lacked any sort of the distinctive feature or theme other than "oldness" which was the theme of about half the map. Spear Pillar was sweet, and Solar Panel City was nifty, but I honestly had to look up a map to even remember most of the world. None of the NPC's were all that memorable either. Also, the constant HM's were brutal.

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

It's not too late to do this, right?

Hoenn- I don't know, I just love it. I love all the cities, and even the open water just clicked with me.

Unova- I found this one incredibly fun to explore. It took me forever to find small stuff in this one.

Kanto- That nonlinearity. It was great.

Sinnoh- Lots of fun to explore, but after my first playthrough of Platinum I haven't been motivated to explore it aain.

Johto- I thought it was a bit boring to honest. It seemed very small and not as fun.

Kalos- I played it the most recently and I can't even remember the names/locations of any towns or landmarks. Meh.

[Anacybele]

I don't get why people complain so much about HMs in Sinnoh. While I agree that Defog was a dumb idea and I'm glad it wasn't reused, you CAN replace those HM moves later, you know. And besides that, Surf, Fly, and Waterfall are actually pretty decent moves.

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

You need them consistently throughout the game and they prevent your Pokemon from having a fourth move for all the time you need the HMs

It's very obnoxious

[ZemZem]

Bibarels exist.

I've personally had no problem with the HMs in Sinnoh. Or any region, for that matter.

[Refa]

Bibarel is actually TOP TIER according to Smogon because of its great HM slave capabilities.

[Anacybele]

What ZM said. And yeah, it's like Bibarel was made specifically for that purpose. lol

[Breezy Kanzaki]

Well yes.

But that requires taking up a slot in our party if we are using a team of six (which a majority of us probably do).

And having an HM slave just doesn't sit well with me because OCD and whatnot.

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

Well yes.

But that requires taking up a slot in our party if we are using a team of six (which a majority of us probably do).

And having an HM slave just doesn't sit well with me because OCD and whatnot.

Gonna have to go with Breezy on this one. I like having a team of six, and while I do use Bibarel until then, I still need crap like rock smash for victory road. I don't like having one of my main team members carrying rock smash

[algae]

Gonna have to go with Breezy on this one. I like having a team of six, and while I do use Bibarel until then, I still need crap like rock smash for victory road. I don't like having one of my main team members carrying rock smash

As above, I'm not sure why it's a good thing that the game essentially forces you to be down one teammate for Victory Road and the boss rush at Mt. Coronet. It's almost better to just spread your weak HM moves around your team.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Alg

[Anacybele]

And when you're done with Victory Road, you'll be able to use Fly to get to the league. When you want to challenge the league, switch out all those HM moves for better ones so you have a better chance of winning. It's not hard.

[Breezy Kanzaki]

And when you're done with Victory Road, you'll be able to use Fly to get to the league. When you want to challenge the league, switch out all those HM moves for better ones so you have a better chance of winning. It's not hard.

Well yes that's what happens AFTER we beat Victory Road.

Which Like Duck said.

Requires Rock Smash which is a bad move in general

And iirc every other HM in Sinnoh (Haven't played to there in a while so I MIGHT be wrong)

The problem is the fact that unless you've grinded and are using a team of 6, 1 Pokemon will be severely underleveled for the League because you need the HM Slave.

[Anacybele]

I just said earlier that Surf, Fly, and Waterfall are pretty good.

And that's actually why I never used an HM slave myself. I just spread the moves among my team and replaced the ones I wanted to get rid of later.

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

Surf and waterfall are good, I usually have those on Golduck (which is essential for my team). Fly can replaced by something better. Rock climb and strength are just meh that can easily be replaced by something better. If rock climb was rock, it'd be awesome. Rock smash is horrible, and we don't even need to talk about defog.

[Lance Masayoshi]

Am I the only person who uses Rock Smash

And Strength

And Rock Climb