Gen 1 is the only good gen because it has zero expectations to live up to except from those who were born after its release who expect some kind of revolutionary masterpiece to justify the existence of Pokemania without realizing Pokemania was founded on the supplementary material more than the actual games themselves.
RGB were just simple JRPGs with a unique approach to party composition (team-building out of monsters, but also in a 1v1 style) and the impressively innovative idea to allow for multiplayer interaction via trading and battling, thereby giving players the perfect means to keep playing the game even after the credits roll, they catch Mewtwo, and optionally complete all the Round 2 challenges from Pokemon Stadium. That's all they needed to be, and it worked spectacularly.
None of these grand delusions of unfathomably large rosters, cutting-edge graphics, masterful gameplay that would make even Chess players weep, just a simple rock-paper-scissors element system and the status conditions that enrich a fun yet engaging idea.

Pokemon's games were never good and was carried exclusively by the marketing focusing on the TCG and anime.

>>713016114
All the shit about "LOL LOOK WE GOT TOTK PRE-RELEASE AND ARE EMULATING IT BETTER THAN REAL HARDWARE" was industry plant tactics, including the very creation of those emulators.
Nintendo always knew the Switch ran games like shit, Switch 2 Editions were ALWAYS on the agenda to pad the lineup instead of focusing on new games.
This was all just to justify a tightening of the bolts, which is why we're back to having region locks and allowing third parties to do digital-only games.