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Least Favorite Third/Enhanced Version

Which did you Dislike?

  • Yellow

    Votes: 10 34.5%

  • Crystal

    Votes: 3 10.3%

  • Emerald

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Platinum

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • Ultra Sun/Moon

    Votes: 13 44.8%
  • Total voters
    29
I'd say USUM because they split the third version. It could've easily been a single game with a few modifications. It was exploiting the small amount of people who buy both games or are completionists.
 
PkmnTrainerV said:
I'd say USUM because they split the third version. It could've easily been a single game with a few modifications. It was exploiting the small amount of people who buy both games or are completionists.
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I would have appreciated this game a lot more if it had been released as a single version (say, Pokemon Eclipse) with Ultra Necrozma on the cover, in which you can catch both Solgaleo and Lunala.
 
Not seen anyone else note it yet but.... my least favorite third version was Pokemon Crystal (International version) since it cut quite a bit of content and that disappoints me greatly.

The Pokemon Communication Center is still semi-intact in the games but has been completely disabled or hidden outside of the Japanese releases meaning international players miss out on being able to wirelessly trade Pokemon to friends and strangers, paying microtransactions to battle other players (I think it was roughly 10 yen per battle?), and the ever elusive GS Ball / Celebi event. While the VC release does help fix up and re-adds the GS Ball events, the PCC is still missing in international vc copies meaning those are unplayable to anyone outside of the region.

Something else I did not like about it is that while Suicune does become kind of crucial to the updated storyline... Entei and Raikou still don't which seems kind of pointless. The intro for the game greatly hints at some event or story related event revolving around Suicune and Unown would be occurring but.... nothing ever comes of it making the intro cutscene just really awkward and pointless since it goes nowhere outside of teasing something that may or may not have been intended to be implemented.

Given the movie Pokemon Enter the Unown: Entei came out a few months before the game, makes me wonder if it might have been meant to tie into the movie in someway for a home release at the time.
 
Puddle said:
I would have appreciated this game a lot more if it had been released as a single version (say, Pokemon Eclipse) with Ultra Necrozma on the cover, in which you can catch both Solgaleo and Lunala.
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Yeah, it had the perfect set up for it too since there was inter dimensional travel: you could theoretically travel to Lunala's universe in Ultra Sun for instance and evolve a Cosmog into Lunala without trading.
 
Frozen Fennec said:
I don't but thought it was interesting to note. I imagine players had to pay at the time because wi-fi might have been still in its infancy for cell phones.
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Well it is interesting, although gets at the reason why those features were removed for the international versions - as I understand it, it was more common in Japan for youths to own mobile phones than it was in America or Europe. I definitely didn't know anyone my age with a cell phone. That stuff would have been totally inaccessible.

PkmnTrainerV said:
Yeah, it had the perfect set up for it too since there was inter dimensional travel: you could theoretically travel to Lunala's universe in Ultra Sun for instance and evolve a Cosmog into Lunala without trading.
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Evidently I guess they really want to maintain version-exclusivity on Solgaleo and Lunala, given that they still evolve depending on game version in Sword & Shield, while Rockruff (thankfully) does not.
 
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I voted for Emerald, but that's mainly because I remember not enjoying it. I can't remember why, other than I thought that the animation for the sprites was such a downgrade from Crystal. Part of the problem might have been because I went through another Sapphire game just before getting Emerald, so maybe it didn't feel as fresh to me as it could have if I didn't experience Hoenn three times beforehand. I liked the concept of the Battle Frontier, but I found it to be more difficult in some areas. I think I enjoyed the Battle Frontier in other games in large part because it was easier to get the medals.

Gameplay wise, I think that Yellow would be the weakest, but that almost feels unfair given that it was the first third version and the first generation games weren't known for having a lot of content to begin with. I liked the anime inspiration with Pikachu following you and getting all of the starters. That was always fun. If there was something different with the post storyline or maybe included some more anime characters, it might have been a bit better. I liked incorporating the Team Rocket trio, but they felt like generic grunts. Part of that was just because they couldn't show off their personalities as much with the graphics back then.

I'm sad over the hate towards US/UM, but I'm not surprised. I'm ultimately kind of conflicted over the games myself. I didn't care for most of the major changes to the storyline. I think reducing Lillie's role was a huge mistake, especially when a lot of her best moments were removed or watered down, and as nice as it was that she stayed in Alola at the end, I think that also weakened the ending. Lillie leaving for Kanto was an emotional moment in Sun/Moon since she developed a good relationship with the playable character and she was basically the secondary protagonist of the games. I'm not a fan with how Lusamine's characterization was handled and not having her as the final big boss was a bit of a downgrade too. The Ultra Recon Squad looked cool, but they didn't really stand out much beyond their designs and we didn't really get to explore their world either.

However, I thought that most of the smaller changes were noticeable improvements. I already liked Hau and Guzma, but the small changes to their storylines helped to give them more development and make them more interesting characters. I especially liked Hau and Guzma's conversation after you defeat Ultra Necrozma. While Ultra Necrozma wasn't as unique of a final boss compared to Lusamine, it was still a really awesome battle. I liked the new features like going through Ultra Wormholes and Maintine Surfing. They were so much fun. Team Rainbow Rocket was such a cool and fun post storyline event while also making use of the franchise's history of evil team leaders. Even going through the storyline again didn't bother me that much when having different teams helped to make the experience more fresh for me. That might be one reason why I don't remember enjoying Emerald if I primarily had the same team as previous games.

I think it would have been better if they had released one version as opposed to two. There wasn't really enough of a difference between either version, or Sun/Moon for that matter, to make two versions. Despite that, I still really enjoyed them. There were plenty of Pokemon that I hadn't used before that I finally got a chance to use in US/UM. I feel like if they had taken the storyline from Sun/Moon, combine it with the small changes and new features from US/UM, we'd have a fantastic Pokemon game. Maybe that's more of a typical reaction to third version games, but I never came away with that feeling before. It's one reason why I was happy with the DLC announcement for Sword/Shield since it sounded like they were doing that. I can understand the complaints for US/UM to a point and I still would have loved sequels instead, but I ultimately enjoyed US/UM too much to consider them my least favorite third version title.
 
Hidden Mew said:
I think it would have been better if they had released one version as opposed to two. There wasn't really enough of a difference between either version, or Sun/Moon for that matter, to make two versions. Despite that, I still really enjoyed them. There were plenty of Pokemon that I hadn't used before that I finally got a chance to use in US/UM. I feel like if they had taken the storyline from Sun/Moon, combine it with the small changes and new features from US/UM, we'd have a fantastic Pokemon game. Maybe that's more of a typical reaction to third version games, but I never came away with that feeling before. It's one reason why I was happy with the DLC announcement for Sword/Shield since it sounded like they were doing that. I can understand the complaints for US/UM to a point and I still would have loved sequels instead, but I ultimately enjoyed US/UM too much to consider them my least favorite third version title.
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I don't think one version would've helped much. The issue was that even one version for $40 was still too much for too little changes. It would've been better as DLC. I still wouldn't think it's "fantastic" because it still does much less than the likes of Emerald, Platinum, and BW2, but at least it would also cost less than the usual enhanced version.
 
Hidden Mew said:
I'm sad over the hate towards US/UM, but I'm not surprised.
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If it's any consolation, I actually do like Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in spite of my criticisms. I find them more enjoyable than Red/Blue/Yellow, FireRed/LeafGreen, Diamond/Pearl and even Black 2/White 2 (I think B2W2 are better in terms of the new content they added, but I still find USUM more fun to play overall). Even if the story's a bit of a mess, the interdimensional travel and alternate worlds are right up my street. There's never been a core series Pokemon game that I've truly disliked, even if I enjoy some more than others.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are also one of the only pairs of games where I bought both versions, because I liked the fact that you can catch every legendary between them.

Hidden Mew said:
I think it would have been better if they had released one version as opposed to two. There wasn't really enough of a difference between either version, or Sun/Moon for that matter, to make two versions. Despite that, I still really enjoyed them. There were plenty of Pokemon that I hadn't used before that I finally got a chance to use in US/UM. I feel like if they had taken the storyline from Sun/Moon, combine it with the small changes and new features from US/UM, we'd have a fantastic Pokemon game. Maybe that's more of a typical reaction to third version games, but I never came away with that feeling before. It's one reason why I was happy with the DLC announcement for Sword/Shield since it sounded like they were doing that. I can understand the complaints for US/UM to a point and I still would have loved sequels instead, but I ultimately enjoyed US/UM too much to consider them my least favorite third version title.
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I find it a little frustrating that there isn't really a "definitive" Alola game, because each pair of games did certain things better. In my hypothetical imagining of a perfect Alola game, the main story would be more or less identical to that of SM except with the addition of the Fairy Trial, and perhaps some of that extra character development for Hau and Guzma like you mentioned, but I'd keep Kukui as the final boss. The postgame story would revolve around Necrozma and the Ultra Recon Squad, incorporating a few elements of Looker and Anabel's story from SM as well. And of course all the features/additions from USUM like Ultra Warp Ride, Mantine Surf and the expanded Pokedex would be there too (but I'd leave out Rotom's "advice you didn't ask for" and the Festival Plaza tutorials).
 
I just think SM end up looking pretty embarrassing in hindsight. USUM aren't great, but those empty lots*, the relative blandness and fruitlessness of the Poké Finder in comparison to the Alola Photo Club, the comparatively underwhelming presentation of Ultra Space, the poorly-constructed Totem battles (Vikavolt and Kommo-o in particular) and some of the trials (compare SM's very obviously not-resource-intensive Hokulani trial to the one in USUM), the total emptiness of Victory Road, the entire lack of an eighth trial, the literal pause that occurs at the start of a Double Battle... I don't think any prior third version has ever shone such an exposing light on the cut corners of the original pair of games. In part this is because none of those earlier games cut such obvious corners. Yes, even DP - I don't think the way that Platinum obsoleces DP is quite the same, because DP don't really cut corners so much as make terrible design choices, which Platinum then tries to correct. USUM are an outright confession that SM were pressed for time and it's like... why would you do that?

* But it seriously baffles me how even USUM struggled to think of anything to do with the empty lots. Fans had these ideas that maybe there'd be sequels and we'd see Alola develop its own Gym Challenge. But nah fam. Only one quasi-Gym, and then literally just two Photo Clubs locations, two Surf Association buildings (one of which serves no purpose, the other of which hardly serves one), a f***ing Pokémon Fan Club, and a still-empty lot.
 
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Bolt Strike said:
I don't think one version would've helped much. The issue was that even one version for $40 was still too much for too little changes. It would've been better as DLC. I still wouldn't think it's "fantastic" because it still does much less than the likes of Emerald, Platinum, and BW2, but at least it would also cost less than the usual enhanced version.
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To be clear, I said that a Pokemon game that combines the strengths of Sun/Moon and US/UM would be fantastic, not just a single version of US/UM. I wasn't really talking about just an enhanced version of Sun/Moon. I was thinking more along the lines if they had that hypothetical game from the start of the generation instead.
 
Hidden Mew said:
To be clear, I said that a Pokemon game that combines the strengths of Sun/Moon and US/UM would be fantastic, not just a single version of US/UM. I wasn't really talking about just an enhanced version of Sun/Moon. I was thinking more along the lines if they had that hypothetical game from the start of the generation instead.
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Even SM and USUM combined still wouldn't be "fantastic", it still pales in comparison to what the likes of Emerald, Platinum, and BW2 offered.
 
Bolt Strike said:
Even SM and USUM combined still wouldn't be "fantastic", it still pales in comparison to what the likes of Emerald, Platinum, and BW2 offered.
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I don't think I'm making myself clear. I'm not talking about what a possible third version could have been if they had combined Sun/Moon and US/UM when they had released US/UM. I'm talking about if they had the strengths of both sets of games from the beginning of the generation. Basically if they had Sun/Moon and US/UM combined from the start of the seventh generation instead of releasing US/UM in the middle of said generation.

That's the hypothetical Pokemon game I'm talking about and that's one reason why I still think it would be fantastic. I'm not comparing it with other third versions, or sequels in the case of B2/W2, but just if they had started the seventh generation with Sun/Moon basically already being enhanced.
 
Hidden Mew said:
I don't think I'm making myself clear. I'm not talking about what a possible third version could have been if they had combined Sun/Moon and US/UM when they had released US/UM. I'm talking about if they had the strengths of both sets of games from the beginning of the generation. Basically if they had Sun/Moon and US/UM combined from the start of the seventh generation instead of releasing US/UM in the middle of said generation.

That's the hypothetical Pokemon game I'm talking about and that's one reason why I still think it would be fantastic. I'm not comparing it with other third versions, or sequels in the case of B2/W2, but just if they had started the seventh generation with Sun/Moon basically already being enhanced from the start.
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I got that. I still don't think said hypothetical game would be good by its own merits. It's too lacking in content, there aren't enough lengthy sidequests in SM to really make it as fun.
 
Bolt Strike said:
I got that. I still don't think said hypothetical game would be good by its own merits. It's too lacking in content, there aren't enough lengthy sidequests in SM to really make it as fun.
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Well, with the extra features in US/UM incorporated into Sun/Moon from the beginning, I'm not sure if that would be that much of an issue, but I'm also not really into arguing over a hypothetical game just because of our different opinions on the seventh generation games. I enjoyed both sets of the games, so that's why I think this hypothetical game would be good by its own merits and I stand by that.
 
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