Pokemon used to be about selling the fantasy of a child going on a lone adventure with only magical animals standing between himself and the forces of nature personified as elemental cryptids, poisonous dinosaurs or giant birds.
The closest equivalent might be Legend of Zelda, but you have a sword and you're some magical hero. Alternatively, there's Earthbound, but you have a group of friends and psychic powers.
In Pokemon, you are a truly lone mortal, weak person so when you prevail over a bat-infested cave or scale a frozen mountain, with only the trust between you and some animals being the thing that keeps you safe, that feels cool.
You can see why there's so much theory and lore behind the earlier games because between the low-res graphics and the general set-up, you could read into all kinds of things like Kanto actually being a post-war society, that your protagonist isn't really clued in on because he's too young (obviously not true, but it's a level of depth you could NEVER attribute to anything that came later).

Then it became a franchise and now it's a cutesy theme park ride with mascots designed for children and a variation of the classic Disney adult. You're surrounded by safety, both mechanically and through NPCs. You are never allowed to feel alone, or unsafe, or unchallenged, just delight in the marketable digital plushies you're collecting en masse like Pop Vinyls (unlike in previous games where you pick, choose and raise a squad of 5-6 OGs who will help you overcome obstacles).

Pokemon as it's core is a really cool basic, survival fantasy that can appeal to anyone, but that's been abandoned for years now. You can't blame the Pokemon Company because marketable image is where all the money comes from, but did that really have to bury everything the series is about? It was never about "le catch them all".
Half the fun of the Claude streams was seeing an AI navigate the obtuse world of Red/Blue Kanto and getting lost just like a real child would.