Pokemon - should I catch them all?

[Geoff D]

I've never played a Pokemon game before & feel that I should before I die - can anyone point me in the direction of the best starting point please? Which game should I begin with?

[Crispin]

Pokemon Gold/Silver, for me is the highlight of the series so far. Later additions merely complicate and distract from the core rpg-squad-management that marks the game out from other rpgs. Also they remove a few useful features from Gold/Silver.

No, don't try catching them all. It's very expensive early on to do so (especially in Ruby/Sapphire) and you'll end up broke. Just catch ones you like, you'll soon develop a gut instinct of which Pokemon will bolster your squad (unlike in Ruby/Sapphire...)

[jezzace]

Start with red/blue or even Fire Red/Leaf Green remakes. Its always best to start at the beginning and its still a fantastic game. I found that as they introduced more monsters it became too overwhelming for me.

[csuzw]

I would say get Fire Red/Leaf Green - they're the most polished in the series and have all the good new features whilst not having some of the more annoying aspects of Ruby/Sapphire (which I still like). I don't see any point in starting with the GB/GBC games as the GBA games do all they do but have more features/easier interface etc.

I'm now on 283 seen/273 caught after about 200hrs play between Sapphire/Leaf Green and Colluseum (yes I'm sure it could be done quicker...). Its only really possible to catch em all if you have friends with the other colours though as the price of Pokemon games is prohibitive over here.

[Crispin]

Plus, you would not be able to get all the legendaries such as Mew without cheating. Legendaries suck anyhow. They're at far too high levels for you to be able to control their development/move list and a hand-raised pokemon from lvl 5 can match them usually. Heck, Lugia has forgotten some of it's best moves by the time you encounter it at lvl 70 in Gold.

Though this can be rectified using the excellent Pokemon Stadium 2.

[csuzw]

You can rectify the problem of forgotten moves in Fire Red/Leaf Green too. There's a guy who can teach moves that have been forgotten. As it is at the moment I believe there are 4 pokemon that you cannot get in the UK yet: Mew,Lugia,Deoxys and Celebii. Also Jirachi and Ho-oh are horrible to get as well, so I'd say 380/386 is the best most people can hope for. In the US, Lugia,Deoxys and Ho-oh can be unlocked on Fire Red/Leaf Green and in Japan they also got Celebii - Mew is still nowhere to be seen in the current gen.

Just like to add - I've played Red/Blue,Sapphire,Leaf Green and Colluseum. I think my favourite pokemon (in general) though are the ones from Gold/Silver (which can be caught in Colluseum and Leaf Green/Fire Red). The original Red/Blue ones are a bit boring now I think. There are some interesting Ruby/Sapphire pokemon but some of them are a bit redundant (given there was already 200 odd before Ruby/Sapphire this was always going to be the case).

[Meng De]

For a new player I would definitely go with Fire Red or Leaf Green. The improvements over the Ruby/Sapphire titles are suited perfectly for newcomers. The game now has a full help menu (selected with L/R buttons) which will help you with matching the moves and types during battles, as well as a guide to the terminology of the game. Another feature that I feel has been overlooked in previous games is that when you re-load your previously saved game; the game will quickly recap your last movements, and story achievements, making it near impossible to loose your place. This is particularly handy if you are only playing sporadically.

Ruby and sapphire are very good, but you might as well wait for the new remake of those (Emerald) which will probably be out in America next year.

Let us know which one you pick!

[Shotski]

I got all 151 in red blue but so far the best in the series is Gold Silver because there is 16 gyms to keep you occupied and the radio function in the pokegear is pretty cool.

[razu]

Oh man, I played hours and hours of Sapphire this year, my first go at Pokemon. Now your telling me there are better versions. I only have so many hours in a day you know...

[csuzw]

Razu: Fire Red/Leaf Green are better than Ruby/Sapphire. I very much doubt however that you will like Gold/Silver or he original Red/Blue more than them though if you have started at Sapphire.

[nips]

You can't take a step back. It's like going to VHS after DVD.

Leaf Green and Fire Red kick ass. Kanto is by far the best region ever.

[csuzw]

Another reason for not trying to collect 'em all is that you won't have to endure the mind numbing boringness of Colluseum (it does have its good points but what were the developers thinknig with purification!!!!).

[nips]

The fact that there is 300+ of them turned me off.

150, brilliant, fair enough, but 380!?!! COME ON!

Should be separate for each if you ask me. Should have different pokedexes for each one. Separated into region.

That would be fine by me: "You have all the pokemon from Kanto, but only 65% from Johoto." Something like that.