I have Red and Time. Red and Blue have a good storyline and is generally much easier than Time and Darkness. Once you reach lvl 70, your standard attack pretty much KO's everything. This game actually utilizes the HMs as you need them to access certain dungeons. My favorite part of this game is Wish Cave with Jirachi. It's how I almost got all 386. Also, this is the only game that has Friend Areas, and I was surprised when they weren't in Time. I like them and they add an extra element to the game. Plus, most of the legendary areas look awsome.
It's much shorter than Time and Darkness, but it's still a great game.
Time and Darkness I think is Red and Blue on steroids. The storyline has so much depth you could drown in it. It has its twists and turns and the second half of the game blew me away. The game took me a good two weeks to beat and I was lvl 70 when I did. It is much more difficult as having a high lvl doesn't matter anymore. The main games focused on stats, as did time and Darkness, while Red and Blue focus on lvl. Not to mention the Kecleon are INSANE!
It is a nice break from the main stream and is not as repetitive, due to ever changing dungeons that actually pose a challenge compared to the Elite Four that become pushovers after awhile.
The difference between Time and Darkness is the same as the others: some game specific items and Pokemon. Most notably Time gets Celebi and Darkness gets Mewtwo. There are also the Foe-*Blank* Orbs where each version gets certain ones.
These are all my opinions and the reply to your post.
Linear Mode
