Everything Wrong with the 3rd Generation of Pokémon

With Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire so tantalizingly around the corner, I feverishly dug out my old Pokémon Ruby and plugged it in. I’m a huge fan of the remakes, with Heartgold being my favourite Pokémon title to date, and while Black & White plus their sequels did very little to excite me I feel that Nintendo got right back on track by the time that X & Y came around.

I’ll admit my bias now in that the 2nd generation is still my favourite generation for many reasons. One being that when I played it again last month, it definitely stood the test of time, despite its lack of physical/special split, it simply beautifully builds on the original in a way I don’t feel any have done since. Generation 3, however, was a close second, with its fabulous Hoenn map, the introduction of abilities and great roster of new Pokémon I couldn’t wait to get back in, but after 32 exhausting hours, and Steven finally defeated, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Have I been spoilt by subsequent generations?

The internal battery has run dry

While battery problems in the first generations can be fixed quickly with a new battery, a screwdriver and some tape, the internal battery problems of the third gen are harder to overlook. While I think it’s safe to assume that no-one was mixing Pokeblocks for contests, because they were almost as bad an idea as Pokemon Musicals, it’s irritating to not be able to grow berries for hold items or being able to collect the items in shoal cave.

Where are all the electric Pokémon?

While I was generally impressed with the new roster of Pokémon that third gen brought to the table, I felt that the only strong electric type introduced was Manectric, and while he’s a fine Pokémon I felt like trying something different. I was going to catch a Magnemite only to realise that Magnezone wasn’t introduced until Gen 5 and so I just settled on nothing. Not that, that really matters and in Ruby at least Electric types don’t have any particular strengths against the Elite Four.

The HMs

Generation 3 had 8 HMs. Why anyone thought that was necessary I don’t know. While it was refreshing not to have to teach a Pokémon Cut, the inclusion of Rock Smash and Flash, along with 3 very similar Water type HMs, meant that you feel like you are constantly dragging around a probably Water type HM slave in order to make to through. Even worse than this …

Victory Road is beyond broken

Not only do you require no less than 5 HMs in order to make your way through the damn thing (Surf, Waterfall, Flash, Rock Smash and Strength) but it is full of tough wild Pokémon and trainers. And of course as soon as you slog your way through the cave, your old friend Wally shows up with a deceptively tough Gardevoir just to ruin your day at the final hurdle. Huff Huff Huff.

Intense Levels of Grinding

I am no Poke Amateur. Not boasting, but I defeated Red at the end of Gen 2 last month using my 4 level 40 Pokemon + 1 I caught at Mt Silver specifically for the occasion. I know how to battle, and yet with no electric Pokémon in my team I found the 8th Gym Leader Wallace to be tough. With my 4 Pokémon (Blaziken, Skarmory, Altaria and Ninjask) in the mid-30s despite fighting as many trainers as possible, they were simply no match for Wallace’s tough late-40s Water team. The new strategy: take out Groudon teach him Thunderbolt and blast through it. Cheating? Maybe, but by this point I just wanted done with the thing. Then I trained them all up 10 levels in Victory Road in order to prepare for the nightmare that is the Elite Four.

The Elite Four makes you want to tear hair out.

This is my final moan. The Elite Four is beyond anger inducing. It seems that almost every Pokémon knows  Earthquake encouraging you to use Flying types, but with 3 on my team I then learnt that they all also know Ancient Power. If you ever lower their Pokémon into the red, they appear to have never ending Full Restores which makes knocking them out all strategy and no power until the last moment.  Dusclops with his Pressure ability whittles down your best moves, and 30 hours in, so much longer than the previous games, you just want to be done.

So what do you think? Am I completely wrong? Are you looking forward to the new releases?

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