With any series as old as Pokemon, there are bound to be a lot of changes over the years, and the vast majority of them have improved the franchise significantly. From the ever-expanding list of 'mons to catch, to Quality of Life changes that make the games more streamlined and easier to play, there is plenty to cover.
Whilst there will always be debate regarding the best games in the franchise, there is no question that all of these changes below have had a positive impact on the series. Some were introduced early in the franchise's history, whereas some additions have been added in more recent generations.
10 Removing HMs
HMs weren't a bad idea, in theory, they were just poorly executed and resulted in players carrying around "HM slaves" in order to avoid teaching their main Pokemon moves which were usually weak and ineffective in battle.
The move away from HMs in favor of features such as ride Pokemon in Generation 7 resulted in more organic gameplay and enabled players to have a full party of usable fighters. Anyone who remembers having to carry around a Bidoof in Generation 4 knows how much of a positive change to the series the removal of HMs has been.
9 New Types
Any series like Pokemon has to strike a difficult balance when making additions as significant as new types to the fold, but each type addition to the initial roster has in hindsight been a great success. Dark and Steel types massively shook up Generation 2 and corrected some major oversights present from the first generation, including some of the major power imbalances.
Fairy type was added in Generation 6, the first addition in 12 years, and was mainly added to counter the dominating nature of Dragon-type Pokemon. All three new types have become key parts of the meta-game of the franchise, and the Fairy-type remains one of the most popular typings in the series.
8 Mega Evolution
Fans were divided when mega evolution was first revealed as a new feature in Pokemon X and Y, with some players unsure of whether it was a necessary addition to the largely unchanged battle system. Nowadays, it is beloved by most fans, with a majority of people questioning its absence in Pokemon Sword and Shield.
Game Freak managed to not only create awesome new designs of fan-favorite Pokemon like Charizard, Mewtwo, and Steelix but also used the opportunity to alter some typings, adding another layer of strategy to battles. It's unclear if mega evolution will return in future installments, but most fans would not be opposed to seeing it become a permanent feature in the series.
7 Wild Area
One of the biggest changes in Pokemon Sword and Shield was the Wild Area, a semi-open world section of the Galar region that allowed players to interact with a wide range of Pokemon on the world map itself. It definitely isn't as fleshed out as it could be, but it is a promising development to the series and hopefully indicates the direction in which the future games will be going in.
It also represents the first time a Pokemon game has given players full control of the camera, allowing people to move around the playable character any which way they fancy. The differing climates in the wild areas also allow trainers to catch a wide variety of Pokemon depending on where they are and the weather conditions in that area.
6 Outlandish Pokem0n Designs
The first few generations based the Pokemon designs on real animals, with creatures such as birds, rats, and dogs being used as the inspiration for a lot of 'mons. As the series has continued to add new entries to its roster, a lot more creativity has been seen in the designs of Pokemon, with newer examples being based on objects such as ice cream cones, chandeliers, and even a sword and shield.
This shift in design inspiration hasn't been to the taste of all fans, but in a world as fantastical as Pokemon, seeing a sentient lock and key go forth into battle is great.
5 Graphical Enhancements
New hardware brings new graphical options and considering Pokemon started all the way back on the original Gameboy, it is inevitable that the games have had major visual changes across the eight generations. The biggest upheaval came with the launch of Pokemon X and Y, with the shift to 3D being their major selling point, and the franchise hasn't looked back since.
Not many fans would be opposed to a return in some form to the classic pixel art style, but it was still a great choice to allow long-term players to see the world of Pokemon in fully realized 3D.
4 The Expanding Pokedex
The best part of every new generation of Pokemon is the new creatures available to catch. The series' long-term tagline of "Gotta catch 'em all" is a testament to this fact, and Pokemon stands apart from most other RPGs because of how many options it offers players in regards to party formation.
As of Generation 8, there are 898 unique 'mons to catch, with Pokemon such as Unown having a lot of different forms to catch too. There are very few misses in this large collection too, with nearly every Pokemon having a rabid fanbase based on anything from its appearance, to its powerful battling ability.
3 Regional Variations
Both the Alola and Galar regions added unique forms of already existing Pokemon to their rosters, offering new appearances and typing to classic 'mons such as Vulpix, Ponyta, and Geodude, as well as the three legendary birds from the Kanto region.
It is still a relatively minor feature, with a very small percentage of Pokemon having such forms, but it was a welcome refresh of some of the most beloved Pokemon in the series.
2 New Regions
In the same way that each generation adds new Pokemon, they also give players a whole new region to explore. They're also all based on real-life countries or regions, with the Galar region being based on Britain, and the island-based Alola region taking heavy inspiration from Hawaii.
This constant change ensures that every generation is fresh and packed with cool locations for players to explore, with each new region being completely unique from its predecessors. It also allows fans to speculate on what real-world places new regions could be based on.
1 Interesting Lore
The original Pokemon titles are classics no doubt, but each new addition has allowed the lore behind the games to continuously expand in some really neat directions. Generation 4 saw the addition of Arceus, who is credited with the creation of the whole universe for example.
Every generation always features its own lore too, often explaining parts of the region itself or just adding a more interesting background narrative to the long-running franchise. The inclusion of "AZ" and his story in Pokemon X and Y remains one of the most interesting parts of the series, and is still relatively unexplained, adding a lot of mystery to what on the surface appears to be a rather simple set of games.