Surely you jest, if any generation was an abomination at was gen 2.
really? Gen 2 was the best by far. It built on the previous generation in both pokemon and story. On top of that, you could actually go back to Kanto and see the world as it had changed over the past 3 years. It introduced time changes and eggs, as well as a more streamlined happiness system. The pokemon were much better conceptualized for Gen 2 as well since they were planned out from the beginning and used (as i've said) as a continuation of Gen 1 in the evolution line.
It felt more like an actual progression in the games, whereas Gen 3 took out time, completely ignored any pas generations, and introduced a ton of new pokemon with the majority being easily forgettable. On top of that, the legendaries for Gen 3 were unoriginal (even more unoriginal than Celebi as the grass mew). Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Jurachi, Deoxys, Latios and Latias. Not only were they stupid looking, but they added nothing to the pokemon world. It was a pointless game with a mediocre story, largely forgettable cast/list of new pokemon, fewer game mechanics than the previous generation, and used what were honestly some of the most annoying over world sprites i've ever seen.