On a whim, I picked up a used DS lite yesterday with the intent to play some games I didn't have an opportunity to play as a kid. I'd like to try play through as many generations of Pokemon as I can. The store I got the DS from had copies of Black, and SoulSilver so I got those, but I was wondering what games y'all would recommend from each generation that I could play on DS (or possibly switch, but I'd prefer playing mostly on the DS).
I know each generation had multiple versions, and I'm not sure if one version is much different or better than the others each generation.
The Let's Go games were fairly faithful? They are very easy though, because you get so much XP and it's given to all your pokemon. That might be a good place to start, since it kinda holds your hand.
As far as which is the best version, it's usually the last game from that generation. So: Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum… After that it doesn't matter which game you pick.
Keep in mind there is not a huge difference between the "regular" pokemon games (like red and blue) vs the 3rd release (yellow). The story is the same. They add a couple extra scene at the end and an extra legendary. That's it. For instance, it's not worth getting platinum if you already have diamond.
I would suggest yellow as a good place to start. Having Pikachu follow you around is cute, and by far the best gimmick added to a third game. Plus Jessie and James from the anime are added in a couple places. It's also less buggy than red or blue.
Anything DS or older is very easy to emulate on your phone, btw. I can elaborate on that if you wish.
Pokémon Yellow missingno with its 7 minute glitch cry would like to have a word with that.
All of Gen 1 and 2 have crazy glitches but you have to go out of your way to make them happen.
Well, they did fix some of the glitches! You've got a good point.
However, you don't have to go out of your way for some of the bugs! For instance, psychic being immune to ghost when they are supposed to be weak to it. (There are only two ghost moves so you may not notice this in a playthrough). Also, focus energy reduces your crit ratio instead of raising it.
These are definitely things a regular person could encounter in a playthrough.