Best Pokemon Games: Where Does Pokemon Legends: Arceus Rank?

gamespot.com:

The Pokemon franchise has been one of the behemoths in gaming for decades at this point. While the franchise has branched out into a wide variety of video game genres, the core role-playing game series remains the most popular and influential. Fans have been trying to catch 'em all for decades. With each passing Pokemon generation, the series has evolved to feature more Pocket Monsters, new features, and updated visuals. We took a hard look at every mainline entry and compiled a list of the best Pokemon games, ranked from not very effective to super effective.

You'll notice that we've included a pair of Switch games that deviate from the overarching systems of the typical Pokemon RPG. While Pokemon: Let's Go is essentially a remake of Pokemon Yellow with a simplified catching system, Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a major departure from the norm. That said, its design branches off from the overall loop of the other mainline games that fans have become familiar with over the years, so it's still worthy of being compared to its predecessors. And with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet ushering in a new generation of Pokemon later this year, we wouldn't be surprised to see The Pokemon Company take cues from Arceus.

All of the Pokemon games loosely take place within a shared universe, but Black and White 2 is the series' only actual, canonical sequel. Set two years after Pokemon Black and White, these sequels revolve around the reemergence of Team Plasma. Though it took place in the same region, it featured new towns and areas that hadn't been accessible in the first game, and a handful of new mechanics. Those included a Pokemon World Tournament that featured famous trainers from the series' history and a new PokeStar Studio side-game.