My experience with pokemon was Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire, HeartGold/SoulSilver, X/Y, OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire, Legend Arceus. I'm feeling quite content with those games.
Same here on the shiny ! My first ever shiny was a shinny zubat from the first cave , on my very first run of the game ! blew my God damn mind ! I still remember thinking....what was that animation , why is it different color ? Until I made it to gyrados I legit thought I had a bugged pokemon 😅
