Well, I am one of the few who liked Generation Four the most, for the same reasons you did.
But the one I dislike the most is, quite probably, Generation One.
As a kid, it was quite tedious to walk without the bike, and getting the bike was not so easy if one did not check all houses. There were few indications how to advance, although that was not completely necessary once one reached Lavander Town's famous Earth-Type Ghost (freedom to choose gym battle, or even before as some have said). Heck, you even had to BUY a soda for the keepers as a BRIBE! TEAM ROCKET HOSTAGES ARE AS CHEAP AS BLOODY HELL! SOME ROCKS LOOKED LIKE FAT MEN!
(http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130919170715/es.pokemon/images/5/55/Mazmorra_Rara_PB_RAAm.png)
Look at the entrance! These two rocks look like a fat(ter) Mario holding a pint of beer; a fat, bald, white guy from GSC, or even a tiny Snorlax!
As an adult, I could understand what was going on (it was not Takeshi's Challenge, after all), but leveling Pokémon up is a PAIN. Heck, one can just have a team made out of six Pokémon because training any other wild Pokémon (bar legendaries, even lvl 7 Mew) was plain impossible due to the fact that capturing one required you not to have a full box in use, do not miss with the Pokéball, not being hit by Wrap AND having enough good moves to teach them... if they could learn any. Only Mimic and Hyper Beam were and are real options! And Hyper Beam has the problem of needing a turn for recharging purposes if one happened not to KO the rival with the move! And to have good moves one has to transfer them to GSC, and that means not messing with the Time Capsule!