Pokémon White was my first proper dive into Unova, and man, it still holds up. You start off in your hometown, pick your first Pokémon (I went with Oshawott, no regrets), and suddenly you're thrown into this whole new region packed with fresh monsters—none of the old Kanto or Johto crew at first, which was weird but kinda cool.

The story actually has some weight to it, way more than earlier games. Team Plasma’s running around preaching about Pokémon liberation, and you’re stuck wondering if they’ve got a point—until they start being hypocrites, of course. The battles feel snappy, the animated sprites give the Pokémon way more personality, and the seasons changing every month? That was a neat touch, especially when certain areas only opened up in winter.

If you’ve only played the modern Pokémon games, this one’s a great way to see where a lot of the quality-of-life improvements started. Just don’t expect to fly through it—some of those gym leaders don’t mess around.