Relevant post: https://sopuli.xyz/post/50902769

I said in this post that I've never been in to Pokemon, but I'd come check the post again in a couple of days, see what's the most recommended game and play that game through. And I'm doing just that!

I counted by games recommended. I didn't additionally weigh by "likes" for a given comment. I was also a bit selective when it came to comments mentioning several games. I took one of u/Manalith's comments as a vote for FireRed / LeafGreen and they specifically suggested it as a starting point to get in to the series, which is what I'm doing. But I otherwise disregarded comments that recommended more than two games. There was a fairly large spread, with any given game only being recommended once or twice.

But, there was also a comment stating:

Gen 3 is definitely my pick, doesn’t really matter which one.

One comment mentioned Emerald and two comments mentioned FireRed / LeafGreen. Which are both "Gen 3" games, according to Wikipedia. So treating that was one vote for each, putting FireRed / LeafGreen at three votes. Chose FireRed over LeafGreen because it's the first one written.

I will play the game through without doing any kind of research or looking at a walkthrough. I probably won't aim for a high level of completion. I'll do another post when I complete the game, and share my thoughts.

Firered is a good choice.

I love emerald but I wouldn’t have someone start on it.

If you like the style, my favorite is a rom hack: Pokémon Lazarus.

Curious about all the ROM hacks. A lot of them are added difficulty. Is Lazarus one of them? I'm explicitly not looking for a harder experience than mainline; part of why I like the difficulty as it is is that I can pick my favorites or weird choices and still eventually beat the game without being a hardcore metagame librarian (although I do have to learn some things to still win with odd picks from time to time, which is fine by me).

I guess it is a little more difficult. But, the mod specifically adds Pokémon up to and including the latest gen so there are way more options.

It’s been awhile since I played it. I don’t think people will breeze through the gyms without prep but I think it’s manageable and rewarding.

Are there language options/hack for it? It's not a huge deal, but there are certain games I grew up playing in specific languages and it weirds me out to play in another...

Not that I know of. I’m pretty certain the person who made it only knew English.

Thanks! I suddenly have an urge to start a personal translation project...

There's just something so funny about your screenshot. "Lemmy played with the NES." Like all of us are doing it.

It's an obvious product placement that might have annoyed me, especially since they did something similar with HGSS (I think they gave the protagonist an interactable Wii in their room?) but since I'm old enough for nostalgia, it reads more as a charming time capsule.

Naming the character after something other than yourself, or something that isn't a name-name (like someone putting Elevator7009 instead of John) is something commonly done. It is probably all over Let's Plays. I know it's super common and not something to marvel at. But as someone who always puts in a name-name when playing games it feels funny to see.

I hope you're enjoying the game!

It's an obvious product placement that might have annoyed me, especially since they did something similar with HGSS (I think they gave the protagonist an interactable Wii in their room?) but since I'm old enough for nostalgia, it reads more as a charming time capsule.

I hadn't thought about that. Same sentiments though. Any product placement in a game generally irks me. But like you I found it charming in this case.

Naming the character after something other than yourself, or something that isn't a name-name (like someone putting Elevator7009 instead of John) is something commonly done. It is probably all over Let's Plays. I know it's super common and not something to marvel at. But as someone who always puts in a name-name when playing games it feels funny to see.

I don't think I've ever named a character after myself, come to think of it. Lately I've just been naming characters or game saves or whatever arbitrarily after things on my desk. Though in this specific case Lemmy as the play through was inspired from here.

I hope you're enjoying the game!

I am, more than I thought I would! I beat the Team Rocket boss in the secret hideout under the game room earlier today.