Introducing the Old Gens Room

By Bedschibaer and Plasmanta. Art by unfixable.
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Introduction

Have you ever been in one of Showdown's chatrooms and thought, "Maybe I'd like a smaller place to discuss my Ruby version solo run!" or "You know, not many people in the Overused room talk about Gen II OU, where can I find a place that does?". Did you ever want to get into new metagames but lost interest because some of the ladders on Showdown were hardly ever used? Look no further than the Pokémon Showdown! Old Gens chatroom! The users are very friendly and welcoming to newer members coming in from all parts of the website, and look forward to seeing you join in. Since Old Gens is a smaller chatroom, it's actually quite easy for you to be noticed or contribute without much try-harded-ness, and it's also good for having a nice 2- or 3-man conversation without being distracted by a hundred other people on a different topic. Because of the smaller playerbases of the past generations' metagames, finding people to battle can be a hassle, which is why many players meet in the Old Gens room in order to find opponents to battle. The purpose of this article is to introduce you to the aspects of the room: competitive and in-game.

Competitive

Have you ever wondered what happened to the competitive scene of the last generation? Most of those players are still around and many of them still like the different environments of the past generations' metagames. Whether it's the highly strategic weather wars of BW2, the balanced environment of DPP, the fan-favorite metagame of ADV, the slow-paced mindgames of GSC, or the simplicity that still holds a lot more complexity in it than one would think of RBY, all of the metagames have their own uniqueness and reasons why the people who stick with them are usually enthusiasts about them. Pokémon Showdown! is a simulator that is capable of simulating all six generations of Pokémon games, and despite the first three generations still being in the beta phase and needing a couple of tweaks here and there, there are ladders for all generations' OU metagames, and some of the lower tiers too. Regular visitors of the room play pretty much all of the past generations' tiers you can imagine, ranging from Little Cup Underused of the first generation to last generation's Ubers, and they are willing to help you with new metagames and are always looking for new faces to battle. We have a couple of very experienced users that can tell you how to build teams for and play past generations properly and even give you useful hints on battling and strategy, since the simulator and teambuilder are made for the newer gens. The occasional tournaments that we hold cover most of these metagames and give users the possibility to show their skills, adaptability to new metagames, and knowledge over the generations. Because of the competitive spirit of most of the regulars in the room, even smaller tournaments won't be easy to win, but everyone that is in for a challenge has the opportunity to battle experts in different tiers and prove themselves to be universally good battlers.

In-Game

Maybe you don't have the best knowledge of the older tiers, but you still love to play your old Red version every once in a while. Or maybe you're one of the people who thinks that the XY games aren't the best thing ever and you have a more nostalgic side. The users of Old Gens have your back! A large portion of the userbase gets on just to talk about the in-game aspects of gens I to V. If you like to talk about your favorite starter in Ruby version, I can guarantee that a couple of other people will be there to chat about the same thing. Even if your topic is something that you feel is covered by another in-game room such as Meteor Falls, feel free to bring it up in the chat, since both rooms cover that. If you are in doubt, you can always ask a ranked user for advice. Or maybe you just bought a copy of Ruby at garage sale and are too lazy to go look up a walkthrough on YouTube, or you don't know where to go. Old Gens can help you in this department too! Just make sure to back up what someone tells you with an opinion from another user on something like Bulbapedia.

Conclusion

The Old Gens room has been around for quite some time now, and the userbase is still really dedicated to it. Whether you are looking for someone to battle, want to participate in tourneys, are a fanatic about your games, or just want to revel in nostalgia for some time, we are welcoming to anyone who is interested in joining. Whether you want to join in for a quick conversation or are planning on making the room your new home, we'd love to see you there! We have one general rule though: the Old Gens room should be used for discussion about generations I to V. You won't get warned for talking about XY or anything, but please try to stay on topic. Overall, Old Gens is a pretty cool room, huh? The staff and regulars of the channel would love to see you drop by anytime. We don't bite; we don't even crunch! We are friendly to new users, so just drop in, introduce yourself, and try out the room in person!

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