My typical answer would usually be Emerald, BW2, and HGSS as being the best in the series.

I'm currently trying to replay every game that hasn't been made completely obsolete by remakes(so basically skipping gen 1/2 and the base versions). Currently playing White 2 and up to Mistralton City.

Right now I'd say my current ranking of the games I've finished is
Emerald>HGSS~=BW1>Platinum>FRLG
That's not to say FRLG is bad but I didn't really expect much from it. What was bad to me was Platinum. It's always ranked up as being in the "holy trinity" and was a complete letdown. BW1 on the other hand was a lot better than I remembered it being. I had way more fun in that, maybe even to the point of ranking it slightly higher than HGSS. Emerald is the undisputed GOAT though god damn that game is amazing. Tentatively BW2 might end up below Emerald.

After that I still need to play XY, ORAS, USUM, LGPE(1st time), SwSh, BDSP, SV, and the Legends games. From what I can remember of those game, ORAS is the best 3DS game and SV is the best Switch game but how they'd rank to what I've already played is up in the air.

Not sure how anyone can defend Sinnohs regional dex even in Platinum. There's a reason Sinnoh is the only region to get that "gonna use a different team this time" meme that only serves as proof the game has such shit selection everyone is basically forced into using the same shit every run

A few days ago some people were talking about the exp system in nu Pokemon and how forced exp share breaks the game and discussing how grinding adds to the difficulty.

I think it's an understated part of how good a Pokemon game is to see how the level curve is and how easy it is to grind. I used to be someone who grinded a lot to always make sure I'm relatively even with the next boss but honestly in the games where I was underleveled I was having the most fun.

People talk shit on Johto for having a horrible level curve and while I generally agree(how the fuck is having my mons at level 36 for the E4 acceptable) facing off against the champion while being 14 levels weaker than him was so much fun it really challenged me. Same with Emerald, I was a good 11 levels lower than Wallace and he was a super hard fight because of it.

Compare that to Sinnoh where I was level 60 cause the shitty game made me use two HM slaves so I had even more exp on my mons and the E4 were genuinely boring, including the champion.

My point is don't grind in Pokemon games and you'll have a lot more fun.

A few days ago some people were talking about the exp system in nu Pokemon and how forced exp share breaks the game and discussing how grinding adds to the difficulty.

I think it's an understated part of how good a Pokemon game is to see how the level curve is and how easy it is to grind. I used to be someone who grinded a lot to always make sure I'm relatively even with the next boss but honestly in the games where I was underleveled I was having the most fun.

People talk shit on Johto for having a horrible level curve and while I generally agree(how the fuck is having my mons at level 36 for the E4 acceptable) facing off against the champion while being 14 levels weaker than him was so much fun it really challenged me. Same with Emerald, I was a good 11 levels lower than Wallace and he was a super hard fight because of it.

Compare that to Sinnoh where I was level 60 cause the shitty game made me use two HM slaves so I had even more exp on my mons and the E4 were genuinely boring, including the champion.

My point is don't grind in Pokemon games and you'll have a lot more fun.