definitely one of the best pokemon games, johto as a region is jank and has some shortcomings and i wish more of the new mons were readily available in the game, but the absolute amount of postgame content and the general coolness of being able to go to kanto and get 16 badges is just way too awesome. it was awesome when i was a kid and its awesome now. i enjoy the main story and the simplicity of the adventure, the ost is fucking awesome and this is just such a nostalgic game to me and it still holds up, brilliantly. the level curve in johto and some of the weird decisions do hold it back but this is such a fun game. classic pokemon at its absolute finest.

being a little ass kid and playing this game just completely nonstop when this was a new and fresh adventure is such a precious memory i have it nearly brings tears to my eyes, every single one of my friends and i played this game religiously. finding all the legendary pokemon secret goodies, doing the cool ass events, fighting Red (which is still the coolest thing in any pokemon game ever) or just messing around and playing the game normally i will never ever forget. needless to say they cooked