Ok, I have been gaming for over 30 years, I'm a huge Nintendo fan who has owned most of their systems, and played a high percentage of their big titles. However I'm ashamed to say I have never played a Pokemon game (Pokken Tournament doesn't count). With Pokemon go being all the rage at the moment I thought I might as well finally delve into the franchise, better late than never. Anyway, could I please have some recommendations which Pokemon game would be a good starting point, It will have to be one that's available on the Wii U E shop as that's where I do a lot of my gaming (good old off tv play). Thanks in advance, I look forward to your recommendations.

You've been gaming for 30 years? then you should have no problem starting with Red/Blue/Yellow since those are the main games. I don't think they are on the Wii U eshop, but you should know this info anyway in case you get a 3DS.

There is no mainline Pokémon games on the Wii U e-shop and there never will be (unless Nintendo goes hybrid with NX) you need handhelds to play Pokémon.

I would say HeartGold as it has two lands to explore and is pretty great in general, however it gets pretty grindy at the end.

So instead I recommend X or Y. It's a pretty easy game to learn the basics from as it's on the easy side difficulty wise and has access to all the generations.

Well no, they could release the GBA or DS pokemon games on WiiU VC.

This isnt something to ask about Pokemon. Every Pokemon gen is created so that it can somebodies first. Everyone is a good starting point.

I wish you said 3DS eShop because the only Pokemon games I know that are in the Wii U eShop are spin-offs. If you said 3DS eShop, I would've recommended Pokemon Yellow first, then Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, and X/Y before playing Sun/Moon.

That aside, I would recommend Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. I enjoyed Blue Rescue Team.

I recommend Pokemon Fire Red, back where it all began. THE BEST POKEMON GAME!!!!

red/blue/yellow/fire red/leaf green

don't make me laugh, they needed 20 years to release R/B/Y, you really think they would make another one ? and still it would NEVER land on the Wii U e-shop.

If the OP is interested in purchasing handhelds to play some Pokémon I suggest him to go for a GBA SP- 3DS combo that lets him play any game from gen 1 to the upcoming gen 7

OK, I didnt realise the Pokemon games on the Wii U Eshop are spin offs. Shows how much I know about the franchise lol. I have a 3DS too so be sure to recommend. The reason I didn't mention 3DS is because I get my digital content on Wii U, due to my 2TB hard drive having tonsof space to fill.