Don’t bother with the newer ones. Instead off adding to the core gameplay, they just added a bunch of variables to existing gameplay.

So if the early games had 12 types (grass, psychic, etc) the newer games have triple that. Pokémon have natures now, which modify specific stats. They can hold berries in battle. There’s dual battles. Instead of 151 Pokémon to learn about and catch there’s 700+. It’s just such a fucking convoluted mess

Adding more of a good thing doesn’t always make that good thing better. In some cases it makes it unbearable shit. Pokémon is one of those cases.

Skip the newer games. They’re bad. I wouldn’t go past Gold/Silver/Crystal. Let’s Go would be a great starting point though.