Why is this gen so underrated?

[Mew King]

Not at all there are many Hoenn fans out there, myself included :]
But yes, you do get plenty of haters that dislike it because they are nostalgic fags or just hate for stupid meaningless reason.
I've said this before and will say it again, 3rd Gen was my Favourite Generation and one of the best for the franchise as it refreshed the Series.

What was so good about 3rd Gen?
- The most diverse, creative and well designed Region in Hoenn. Which had so many creative Landmarks and Towns, such as a Town built on Trees and Water and much much more!
It was bright, adventure packed unlike the previous Regions it was also alot BIGGER.
- Revamped System - Introduced Pokemon abilities, IV's, EV system, almost 100 new moves, over 100 new Pokemon and the concept of Double battling. I'd like to see one person disagreeing or dislking any of these new features. 3rd Gen was stepping up of the series in so many ways, strategy, battle system and everything we have today in Pokemon.
- Pokemon Contest - Some may dislike it but I remember plenty likeing it because it was great side-addition to the main theme.
- Battle frontier - Hoenns BF was great, it was amazing for replay value - what did GSC a battle tower and Viridian rematch against the 3 Johto starters? Boring.

- Creative Pokemon - the designs were very unique and matched the tropical theme of Hoenn. Of course they're nostalgic fans out there who will hate but would you rather get new creative Pokemon or GF just re-use the same Pokemon over and over? this was a refreshening take on the series, there's more to Pokemon then Gyarados and Bulbasaur.
Alot of Hoenn pokes were fan-favourites like Mence, Metagross and Flygon to name a few.
I agree there was plent of Water routes but that was part of Hoenns theme, Land and Water. If you was that bothered use a damn repel.
It made Hoenn tropical and I'd prefer that over a dry Region like Sinnoh.

--- Hoenn was the Advanced Generation, it was the next chapter in the Pokemon World.
You either move on from the amazing Johto or get left behind.
The motto of Littleroot Town ... "A town of New begginings" - the next chapter of the franchise.
The haters would call it the end, but they don't know what they missed out on.
Hoenn alone, a new world out there - the advanced step in the Pokemon Saga.

Actually, going back to this, this is the main reason I liked RSE everything you said. I only had one Pokemon in the contests though, my Raichu. It's great when every single battle move I taught him and wanted him to know were Cool Moves and that he had a nature that boosted the affect of red Poke Blocks. But I digress.

I still think the main reason people were and to some extent still are upset with Gen 3 was that when it started you could only catch 202 of the 386 Pokemon in the game. Without a transfer system, there was no way for people to get the other 184 Pokemon that many people loved. I remember getting a Mew from a Nintendo real life event back in Pokemon Blue days, cloning it to have it in Gold, and raising it up with loving care (I guess you would call it that) only to figure out that I can't transfer it over to my Sapphire version. That was the upsetting part. Of course, then comes Collosseum, FRLG, Emerald, and XD and now most of the Pokemon are obtainable except all the work that I put into raising Pokemon in Blue and Gold was worthless. I know now the two main reasons trading between them wouldn't work (the Pokemon IVs and EVs made it impossible to work that way and the link cables weren't really compatible - the GBA sent data simultaneously while the GB took turns sending data). I still didn't get a legitimate Mew until Gen IV though...

[your boss]

Eh, I never liked RSE, too meh, FR/LG were great, don't see why their aren't many likings of those games.

[Ciccone]

Eh, I never liked RSE, too meh, FR/LG were great, don't see why their aren't many likings of those games.

From what I've seen, nostalgic fans love LG/FR. I like them a lot myself, but I don't think they're the greatest games ever. I liked R/S/E because they offered so much more than the Gen 1 and 2 games. Contests were a fun addition to the games, the villainous teams were refreshing, and Secret Bases were interesting as well. I also liked that connecting with other games gave you more benefits than ever before.

[Princess Raspberyl]

Gen 3 is underrated? This is news to me, I saw that a lot of people loved the games, myself included ^^ Emerald is my favorite game in the series. ^_^

[Demon Kitsune Yoko Kurama]

Gen 3 is one of my favorites, since Blaziken and Milotic were introduced. But, yea I agree that most people are blinded by nostalgia.

[Gomez025]

I wouldn't really call it underrated but I would agree that gen III wasn't looked over as much as other gens.