Well out of all of those EX boxes one set has always been my favourite with no gold stars and that’s the EX dragon set …
The box art 
Makes me think of the movie with Latias and Latios every time I see it.
Still remember too this day the promotional pages inserted into Nintendo Power magazines for EX dragon ( shadow of Salamance on a building , burning down the city it seems )
The nostalgia 
I’m a Kanto kid (and lover) but Gen 3 might be my favourite. It’s definitely my favourite generation when it comes to the games (BW2 being a close second). I actually bought all of Saphire, Ruby and Emerald. …and recently Alpha Saphire.
Starters, legendaries, pseudos, double battles, hidden bases, awesome evil teams, overall new designs and map aesthetics: 10 out of 10! I’m all here for the Hoenn supremacy!
Emerald was the first Pokémon game I really got deep into. I was in high school watching Chuggaaconroy’s lets play of it. I was mesmerized by how in depth his Pokémon bios and general knowledge of the game was. I downloaded multiple emulators (gba4ios shoutout) and have started
more playthroughs of the game than any other Pokémon title. I tend to choose Swampert as its my favorite starter from the gen (and its simply the best 
)
Funny enough, I never played ORAS due to not having the right DS and I somewhat regret it. I hope that we get another Hoenn love game (though other gens are certainly overdue).
Obligatory Gamecube praise, both Colosseum and XD were good games. Well, they were decent games, but they had some vital compatibility features. And the design team came up with some gems too:
I like that wailmer on the bottom there. He’s too big to be included in many artworks
I remember seeing those at Costco all the time. Never could convince my parents to buy me it.
The 3D games we deserve (with a little less grinding because sometimes it’s just mind numbing)
I did and have all the releases until today, even though i like all of them these older ones for sure are more creative and higher quality, you kinda have to read the earlier gen releases too to fully understand everything but if that’s possible i strongly suggest the series
Ah Gen 3. Doesn’t get enough love even though I have a fondness for Gen 2 above all. It was the last game I played prior to being reintroduced to games with XY. The plot centering around Legendaries was unlike anything the two other games explored. Rayquaza is still my favorite Dragon type Pokemon to this day. Gave birth to my forever team favorite - Metagross. And also produced two Gyarados clones with Milotic and Whiscash. The new Elite 4 was also a welcome addition and having double battles was a fun mechanic. I remember liking the anime the most during this era as well. I still stand by the idea that it remains the last Generation of Pokemon with a fantastic and solid lineup. I felt like ideas for new Pokemon started to fall apart afterwards.
“Rattata fetish” LOL
Gen III was great because, at least for me, the line between Gen I and Gen II were pretty blurry. I don’t really have a memory of being excited for Gen II’s release as much as it just showed up. Furthermore, Gold and Silver included Kanto! So my initial experience with Gen II was merged with Gen I. I really view them as the same.
Gen III closed the door on the first 2 generations and started with a fresh slate. After being experienced with Pokémon, this was my first experience with new Pokémon. New console. New music. Most importantly, it was learning new Pokemon. And learning new Pokemon is something that has become hard to do after 27 years.
Gen 3 is the most critically acclaimed in so many aspects
GBA was peak of Pokemon games. The creative direction, the music, the sprites and the quality of life upgrades mixed with the preservation of charm is perfectly balanced. Hoenn is great but don’t forget about how amazing FireRed LeafGreen actually were. Wireless communication was groundbreaking too. And gen 3 continues to be the best legacy format to play competitively.
The low print runs of gen 3 makes it highly collectible. And print runs aside, the cards themselves are top notch. It has the artwork of E-reader in the commons, uncommons, rares and holos but it also introduced the modern ultra rares and hyper rares. Everything is rare and desirable. Sealed product, gold stars and ex’s. Even the reverse holos are amazing and highly collectible. No era will ever have reverse holos so desirable. Commons and uncommons are appreciated so much due to their reverse holo variations.
The TCG gameplay was actually amazing. Many turns were played out in each game which made it much more skill based than luck based. Pokemon has acknowledged this and this is the reason why we’re going back to small basics and stage 2 ex’s now.
It’s not said much but i think when gen 3 was released, we had the perfect number of Pokemon.
I am a certified #hoennhoe.
nothing to add. just checking in as a gen 3 enjoyer. so glad i grew up with this generation 
Lots of ex era cards on PWCC today. hopefully some hoenn hoes ended up winning!
(Kicking myself for not being more aggressive a few weeks ago when they had all those CGC 10 R&S holos!)
Yo, johto jock here.
I don’t understand why so many people disliked ORAS, I replayed It a few months back and didn’t enjoy myself playing Pokémon since when HGSS came out.
It’s true that I basically dropped with gen5, so the gen6 approach was new enough for me to enjoy it.
The navidex, the moving system (both on feet, bike or whatever), soaring in the sky, the damn Mirage islands I was finally able to see after what? 20 years?
I also liked the intro with the protagonist playing a gba. And viewing the pond on top of route 103 so that when you first beat Brendan/May you actually “make It full circle” to the First ever image of the game you see (the pond). It’s like the game is telling you “Bro the tutorial is now over, you can start to play”
The seabed are cool. They were cool in gen3 but oras took them to the next level.
You can tell me in every way the graphics of the 3ds sucks. Or that the graphics of Pokémon games in general sucks. You won’t change my mind.
It’s just spectacular to see the light reflecting under water.
Being a johto jock make me biased, but take johto away and ORAS are the best remakes hands down.
The right amount of “new” and “nostalgia”.
I think it’s aging well enough to be worth being replayed and appreciated.
Oh no… The exp share… Oh… Oh no…
A thing that reduce grinding… Oh no…
Now that I have a full time job and less time to play the same battles over and over again to level up weaklings that Will die in the box…
Oh no… What a shame this mechanic.
It totally ruined my experience…
Totally agree ORAS is a great remake, probably the last pokemon game with actually some heart inside (personal opinion). However not including the battle frontier was a low blow, considering how loved it was.
HGSS game freak tried to squeeze everything they had in that game, a mindset that simply doesn’t exist anymore unfortunately.
The issue with the gen 6 games and imo all games since, is some Pokémon don’t suit the 3D presentation.
I feel like a lot of Pokemon lost personality with the lack of 2D sprites
This is true and I prefer the 2d sprites and overworld, but it’s more like that 3d requires a lot of work and skill to communicate personality.
I find stadium, colosseum and battle revolution really impressive for example, nothing to compare with gamefreak models and animations.
I even forgot the delta episode.
The plot twist in the Meteorite scene, First Time I saw it in 2015, made my 18yo ass jump from the chair screaming in awe.
Nothing like that happened to me with Pokémon since I was a kid. Not even with HGSS.
Another nice touch for old time players.
I really need more things like this in post game
