It's classic Pokemon, but Pokemon diversity among trainers could be better. (Despite touting 151 Pokemon, it seems like you fight Pidgeys, Rattatas, Koffings, and Zubats all game.)
My team for this playthrough: Charizard, Raichu, Graveler, Haunter, Vaporeon, and Lapras
*Thought I could trade evolve those, but I could only play on DS as my GBA didn't work

Decided to finally play the campaign since split-screen co-op is no longer a possibility. Gameplay's as smooth as ever, especially with the addition of the grappling hook. Open world's pretty samey, though.

I had never actually gotten around to beating this game back when it first came out, as I kind of drifted off from Pokemon around that time. But, the wait was certainly worth it, as I think this is one of my favorites. Great Pokemon, a surprisingly good story (for a Pokemon game at least), and a much faster battle system are some of the highlights for me.
My team for this playthrough: Serperior, Seismitoad, Archeops, Eelektross, Chandelure, and Haxorus

Outside of a little bit of an overreliance on HMs, it really shows how strong the DS era of Pokemon really was.
My team for this playthrough: Torterra, Staraptor, Luxray, Floatzel, Bronzong, and Garchomp

Despite it being a good bit more linear and having more of a story than previous entries, I would argue that that makes Fusion one of the more accessible entries in Metroid (especially compared to the first two). Not to mention that Samus feels a lot less clunky in combat and exploration. And, it still has those great boss fights and tense atmosphere that are a big part of what makes a Metroid game a Metroid game.

Boo! (as in it sucks, certainly not that it's scary)

Arguably better route design than in the Kanto or Johto games, even if that isn't necessarily true of the later routes that are just wide expanses of ocean filled with Tentacools and Wingulls.
My team for this playthrough: Swampert, Gardevoir, Breloom, Aggron, Manectric, and Altaria

Still a classic. It's surprising how much of a jump in quality in the Metroid series happened when you just add a map, a few tweaks to items and combat, and a bit of storytelling (environmental and otherwise).

A fun enough time to play with friends at night, passing around the controller and getting your characters killed. But, I can't even imagine how boring this game probably is when you play by yourself.

One of the best, if not possibly the best, Pokemon games thanks to the sheer amount of content (two regions in one game) and a lot of tweaks to the game's balance compared to previous games. Surprisingly difficult for a Pokemon game!
My team for this playthrough: Feraligatr, Ampharos, Crobat, Shiny Gyarados, Espeon, and Donphan

Probably the best written game of them all.

A slight improvement on the first Metroid, thanks to save stations and more reliance on exploration (compared to Metroid 1 which more preferred to fill rooms with swarms of enemies). It is unfortunate that the black-and-white graphics make it pretty easy to get lost (still no map sigh) and the Metroids themselves are annoying and repetitive bosses to fight.

Sets a decent foundation for the Metroid series and Metroidvanias as a whole, but is just really clunky and less elegant than its fellow series-starting contemporaries (Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda) as well as future Metroid games.

Probably the best Zelda-like (I don't know if there's a term or anything) I've ever played. Really loved the style, world connectivity, and puzzles (both direct and indirect). Combat's solid enough, but the boss battles are where I'd prefer a more Zelda style of boss.

I think Nintendo hasn't made a new Super Mario game (not counting remakes or Mario Maker) since Odyssey, because they don't know how to top it.