It’s nowhere near the ballpark of a secret that the Pokémon games are my favorite. Pokémon is an iconic millennial franchise, a staple of the quintessential 90s/early 00s childhood (and beyond!). My family was certainly no exception, though with four kids, our collection was…eclectic, rather than complete: a hand-me-down original GameBoy with Red and Yellow, one GameBoy Advance with Crystal, and two GameBoy SPs with FireRed, Sapphire, and Emerald, with a Blue Version and a Ruby Version floating around in my brothers’ room due to trades with friends. I still have our original Sapphire and Emerald cartridges, with a FireRed version given to me by a friend. Our Gen 1 games are lost to time (along with original Tetris, RIP sweet friend), but thanks to the 3DS Virtual Console I have Red and Yellow again, as well as Crystal and Gold, which I never got to play as a child; never underestimate the tenacity of a baby sibling’s unwillingness to share once they have something of their own, as I learned to my detriment. I have at least one game from every generation, and am looking forward to Gen 8 with the tearful joy of a lifelong fan.

Which leads me to this post: the first of many in a once-monthly series I’m starting, where I list my top five Pokémon from each generation of Pokémon games. The original draft of this post was…frightful, to say the least. For one, I had all my favorites from each generation listed, and once I’d finally gotten all of it down, I realized I needed to streamline for my own sanity as much as anyone else’s. So, to kick it off, here it is, my Top Five for the Generation 1 series of games, taking place in the Kanto region.