I did competitive battling with Pearl and Diamond, but I haven't really played the series. I played through Pokémon Gold on a Gameboy Color, and now I'm playing through Pokémon Platinum on a Nintendo DS emulator. I found strategy battling with the newest DS series more entertaining than actually going through the plot of the game. The knowledge I got through competitive battling is useful during gameplay, though - it's a lot easier to progress in Platinum if you know all the strengths and weaknesses of the Pokémon.