I started with red and the original GB Brick, which I feel is the best because: GBA broke with one punch, GBC broke with 3 punches, and GB has been punched dozens and dozens of times but is the only one that remains working, I have literally dropped it on concrete and fallen on top of it (at the time I was arond 100 lbs) without it busting. Of course, I don't really punch my video game systems anymore :laugh:, but I do drop them occasionally.
On my first play through I didn't know how to use poke balls (I was in 4th grade), so I had a Venusaur by the time I hit Rock Tunnel :D . That game file mysteriously corrupted before I got out the tunnel. After much heartache I picked the game back up and played the game as it was meant to be played (caught pokemon). I beat the games 2 more times after that file (full dex), then proceeded to Gameshark everything that could be for around 4 more playthroughs. I ended up falling for the rumors and thus, searched every tile of the Sea Foam Islands for the Mist Stone. Good times indeed.
I bought Yellow on release day and enjoyed it, despite there being little difference between this version and the previous. I spent many hours boosting my Pikachu Surfing record.
I then played Silver and absolutely loved all of the new features. I got all 251 pokemon and even got Pokerus (I pretty sure it is a 1/12000 chance) on an Onix! At this point I had entered 7th grade, so I got all 'cool' and sold it :( .
A few years later (after growing out of the aforementioned phase) I got Ruby and the series was reintroduced to me. I didn't catch all of the Pokemon, because no one plays it. All of the people my age seem to still be in the "7th grade" phase. I still got interested in EVs and did several of those.
I then downloaded Fire Red-J (used 20%english patch), because I couldn't wait any longer and I felt it would be too similar to the original to be worth purchasing. I played it and my foreboding was correct, there was very little difference at all. So much so that I knew exactly what was going on (except the islands) despite not being able to read Japanese. So, it was a mild disappointment, but only if the one playing it has already played the original.
And now I'm anxiously awaiting Emerald. I'm going to wait for the US release this time, as I feel it will truly be a great, original game.