Gen 3 is the best game in terms of interesting and new environmental mechanics. Aesthetically it is also one of the most appealing because I felt they took a risk when designing their Pokemon, while the ones from gen 4 were rather lackluster. Gen 3's designs were great - I just wish that it's successor's had taken the time to portray the designs as professionally as Gen 3 did. Gen 4 + 5 sprites for Gen 3 are either the same (in gen 4's case) or outright awful.
Mechanically, the Pokemon in gen 3 left a lot to be desired. Base stats were distributed rather poorly considering the lack of Physical/Special split, rendering a lot of Pokemon that were more physically inclined like Crawdaunt, Azumarill, Mightyena, etc. without reliable STAB thanks to Water/Dark being Special. Pokemon like Lotad and Seedot were hard to evolve with the Leaf Stone and Water Stone unavailable till late game. The Elite Four was such a gigantic difficulty curve it was ridiculous without some form of grinding.
Also the plot was cool at it's base but ended up being really dumb but w/e.
I still enjoy gen 3 a lot. It's the second best Pokemon game (B/W is the best imo).
Mechanically, the Pokemon in gen 3 left a lot to be desired. Base stats were distributed rather poorly considering the lack of Physical/Special split, rendering a lot of Pokemon that were more physically inclined like Crawdaunt, Azumarill, Mightyena, etc. without reliable STAB thanks to Water/Dark being Special. Pokemon like Lotad and Seedot were hard to evolve with the Leaf Stone and Water Stone unavailable till late game. The Elite Four was such a gigantic difficulty curve it was ridiculous without some form of grinding.
Also the plot was cool at it's base but ended up being really dumb but w/e.
I still enjoy gen 3 a lot. It's the second best Pokemon game (B/W is the best imo).
![[Image: 2003-02-20.gif]](http://www.sinfest.net/comikaze/comics/2003-02-20.gif)