Yes, I spent many years with red/blue/yellow, but I have to say, gold/silver were the most bang for the buck. I remember reading so many articles about what the new game would have (day night cycle, radio with daily lottery system, weekly events, new pokeball types, holding/berry systems, etc.) and they delivered on absolutely everything in spades. It was only after I beat the elite four that I realized you could go back to kanto and do 8 more gyms! It was by far the most satisfied I have ever been with a new release to a series. I have since read that the devs were under the impression that it would be the last game in the franchise (lol!) so they poured everything into it. And it shows.
Handheld it’s Pokemon red/blue, no competition.
Edit: although it’s actually gold/silver if that counts (released 1999 in Japan, 2000 in North America)
Yes Game Boy was a must in that years, even with just Tetris was great as device and then Pokemon have make the addiction.
Yes, I spent many years with red/blue/yellow, but I have to say, gold/silver were the most bang for the buck. I remember reading so many articles about what the new game would have (day night cycle, radio with daily lottery system, weekly events, new pokeball types, holding/berry systems, etc.) and they delivered on absolutely everything in spades. It was only after I beat the elite four that I realized you could go back to kanto and do 8 more gyms! It was by far the most satisfied I have ever been with a new release to a series. I have since read that the devs were under the impression that it would be the last game in the franchise (lol!) so they poured everything into it. And it shows.