Gen 1 designs are my favorite, not because I grew up with them but because I largely prefer simplicity in character designs. There's something about the much later entries that kinda misses the mark big time in regards to the designs. Especially Gen 4 onwards.
Gen 5 tried to be like Gen 1 but failed so miserably. A lot of ugly ass designs and the grand majority of them looked over-designed. The good designs (which were actually great but make up very few) did not make up for that terrible generation.