Sinnoh, where space and time tear apart, the corner of Pokémon a whole generation keeps in memory.

With no gut-pick in the data, we go straight to the detail, criterion by criterion. And the picture is very split. Attachment pulls best, just above the middle, ahead of a little more than one game in two. The soundtrack and the rediscovery sit right in the center. But two lines stumble: for the desert island, the game you'd take with you, it falls ahead of only two games in ten, and the feel of the controller drops even lower, right to the bottom. Mind you, both of those verdicts rest on very few votes, so nothing definitive.

It's a beloved classic, but criteria built for immediate emotion and today's comfort of play serve it poorly. The turn-based DS era weighs against RPGs that are more generous in the hand.

So, who's it for? It's for you if you have a genuine bond with this generation, if it's attachment you're after. A lot less so if you want the game you take everywhere or the controller feel above all.