1 set of games that felt ahead of their time were Pokemon Gold/Silver and Crystal.
They had so many interesting mechanics and mechanics that (for some reason) were not introduced in the later games that it almost feels like robbery.
- Day/night time switch with corresponding pokemon. I remember you could encounter night specific pokemon and also daytime pokemon in the night who were fast asleep when starting the battle.
- Two regions in 1 game.
- End boss as Red in MT silver
- Rematches with trainers.
- Pokewatch system overall
- Hapiness system for Eevee evolutions
- The encounter system for suicuine, Entei and Raikou
- Pokemon crystal with the Battle tower.
- Moving sprites in pokemon crystal.
Probably even more, but for me it is still the best designed pokemon game to date and really ahead of it’s time.
It also felt like one of the last games that was oozing with the passion that the developers put in it.
Resident Evil 5.
Sheva is a badass.