Pokémon

Don’t bother playing the original gen 1/2 unless you do the VC versions out of curiosity. The physical versions of those games cannot carry your mons forward to gen 3+. This is why gen 1&2 had remakes in the first place.

Most gens follow a release like this: OriginalA, OriginalB, Sequel, Remake1, Remake2.

Usually the Sequel game is just an enhanced/fixed version of the OriginalA/B games, so that’s the one you want if that generation has one (e.g. Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, Ultra Sun/Moon).

Gen 5’s sequels (Black/White 2) are actually a different story so they stand out as being a little different from the other sequels. Gen 6’s sequel (Z) got canceled and some elements of that (such as Zygarde) seemingly ended up in Sun/Moon instead.

The remake games always have 2 words in the name and are the setting from an older gen (e.g. FireRed/LeafGreen, SoulSilver/HeartGold, OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire, BrilliantDiamond/ShiningPearl).

These remakes are generally regarded as the best version of that setting. Be aware that they usually introduce mons from later gens in the postgame, so it wouldn’t be a “pure” experience if you want things to be chronological. Also be aware that BD/SP had some negative reviews and some people say it’s worse that just playing Platinum instead since it is missing some features added in Platinum.

I would consider the Let’s Go games to be spin-offs and would only recommend them if you played a lot of Go. They are mechanically different from the normal games, taking several elements from Go.

Playing the games is great but if you are trying to experience the feel of playing Pokemon as a kid you should put the show on! Even if its just playing in the background it will add to the experience.

As for what to play my favorite Pokemon was Ruby for the gameboy advance.

For Gameboy of course red and blue. Maybe also yellow if you want too. Then you have gold and silver. And again maybe you also want to play cristal. From the Gameboy (color) generation I recommend Pokemon red and gold at least.

All the Gameboy(color) games you can play on the ds using a r4 card(there quit cheap now if you get a clone) and a emulator.

For Gameboy advance you have FireRed and leaf green. And then again a not double release emerald. For Gameboy advance I only played FireRed. It was pretty nice

Luckily you also can play the cartridge for the Gameboy advance on your ds lite. Emulation of Gameboy advance is not really possible on the ds. So you wil need to get the real games or play it on a other device.

The double release are most of the time pretty similar.

Try out Diamond version, you can't get Skuntank unless you use GTS trades or catch Stunky from Diamond Version...

In my opinion it is as follows: Soul Silver, Emerald, Fire Red, Black, Diamond, the rest.

Another fellow here who didn't get into pokemon as a kid. I had a gameboy, but never got a pokemon game for some reason :/

For original entries in GBA/DS realm I'd play the third version (emerald & platinum). With remakes or gens without the third version, I wouldn't stress too much about what to buy.

If you're buying legit carts, then just get the one that you can find for a good price. Alternatively if a game has version exclusive pokemon that you really like, get that one.

I also could borrow a copy of Let's go Eevee from a friend, but they told me it's not a great representation of Gen1.