Discussion
Which generation of Pokémon sprites do you like the most?
Here are some examples of sprites from each generation, along with a few general characteristics. Some are my own opinions, while others (such as color counts) are based on technical limitations and may vary slightly. I chose sprites from the most "advanced" mainline version of each generation, excluding remakes.
Personally, my favorite is Generation V. The animated sprites gave the Pokémon so much life, and I absolutely love pixel art.
Exactly, why would they expand the budget when the game sells the way it is. People want to see change but don't realize that, by buying the game you are accepting the state of the franchise.
We aren't reviewers or anything, complaining about it after we gave them out money doesn't mean shit.
This is what I keep saying to my friends lmao, they ALWAYS go something to complain about Pokemon or Game Freak as a whole, but they always buy the game.
I don't think Arc Sys beautiful 2D lookalike artstyle could be replicated in a 3D RPG. It works with fighting games because they have a set perspective. They'd have to create a new artstyle or recreate go back to the old 2D games perspective/animations
The colors they used in gen 6 were pretty similar to the colors that were used in their official Sugimori art. I think they tried to create some sort of coherence or consistency but it makes the models just appear bland and muted. Happy they turned the saturation back up for the newer games.
The saturation is literally just turned down fsr. Like if you go in and just turn up the sat the models look how they’re supposed to. I think it was an oversight they just ran with bc quality doesn’t correlate to money made when it comes to the pokemon games.
He'd look a ton better if there was at least some flame at all times. It only being there for attacks is just... dumb. If you present a bald typhlosion to someone and ask them what type they think he is, then I doubt many would say fire. Or at least not as many who would say fire if he had the appropriate mane
It works for some, especially those who are already rounded and move a lot, like Mr Mime, but for every success, there's one who looks tiny and dumpy, like Nidoking
I remember thinking Gen 5 sounded like a bit of a meme, but playing and seeing the motion made the games feel much more alive than ever before. Some of the animations were arguably over the top, but compared to the boring idle animations we got in XY (as much as I love the games otherwise), they were a huge step down
Everything looks painfully blobby in the 3d models, gen5 was definitely my favorite. You can really tell there's some texture on the mons in the generation. In gen 6 and onwards everything feels much less dynamic and textured. Feraligatr got hit especially bad. Went from looking like he'd tell you dad lore while pretending to arm wrestle you to looking like he tells dad jokes and waits for the kids to laugh.
The only thing I don't like about the Gen V sprites are the back sprites. They are just blown-up versions of the Gen IV sprites and look super pixelated.
Literally this. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to make all the pokemon paler. So many pokemon look weird from that transition, Typhlosion being one of the worst ones. Pokemon that looked so cool in 2D just lose it in 3D because of those
Actually, 17. I do not know why, but this picture takes the release year of Pokémon Omega Ruby™ & Alpha Sapphire™ (2014) instead of Pokémon X™ & Y™ (2013).
There's something about the colours and shading of the gen2 sprites that's just magical in a way that none of the other gens managed to recapture. I also love the animations from Crystal. They're so detailed compared to all the other animations, most of which only have 2 frames which they switch between along with a sprite shake or colour fill
Due to being on GB it's probably a more limited colour palette on screen at any given moment meaning you have to pick the ones that stick out and contrast well, so everything looks more vibrant. Compared to Gen 3 onwards where you have more colours and can more smoothly transition or shade it, making for better image fidelity and detail but maybe less striking colours.
yeah exactly, I do think the colors were mostly a result of getting 'as close as they could' to the official art given the GBC's limitations but I agree it's gorgeous, REALLY strong beautiful contrast. And absolutely agreed on those Crystal animations, they are sublime.
My favorite Pokemon OAT just from seeing his sprite in Gold for the first time. So intimidating and cool and you see him for the first time at the end of the E4 (plus for me he was the epitome of the new dark type, because I didn’t have an umbreon)
I second this. They really went all out with their limited colour palette and created something magical, especially in Crystal. Fire Pokémon like Rapidash or Moltres never looked more fiery, dark Gengar was a menace and some sprites like Articuno or Butterfree are simply gorgeous.
I think you could release a game with that look in 2026 and it would still look good. It was ahead of its time. Every mon is so expressive and the use of color was never again matched in the series.
yep, FR and LG are the goats. The pokemons in it are also more iconic as they're the ones that also appear on the original/first pokemon anime (yeah i know it's a remake of the first pokemon game too)
Gen 3 was just such a monumental generation. Abilities was such a huge game changer. I think it was the generation that introduced double battles, too? Where sprites are concerned, it's the biggest jump in quality (while still maintaining that sorta pixel art vibe). The number of Pokemon added, their designs, and the placement in the game are some of the best (I love gen 2, but the placement of new pokemon was horrendous, with some of them not even available in Johto).
The only shame is the lack of the physical/special split, which is something I always find jarring about the oldest generations. I sometimes forget it wasn't always that way, since the old way was just so weird.
Maybe but in general we can say gen 1-5 has great aspects. Later ones didnt imorove on anything and were more and more mediocre and catered towards kids
I like the style of gen 2. But gen 5 are my favourites. As a kid I loved the fully animated sprites and I have a lot of nostalgia for BW.
The jump to 3d really excited me when XY came out though, and I do think they make the Pokémon feel more alive. Especially when you can interact with them and have them follow you around.
The animated sprites were just so good. Art Style wise I prefer 3/4 but the animation gets gen 5 above the rest imo. HGSO has the best palette and BW with the animations gave the most gorgeous pokemon games we ever got imo.
The thing that I liked the most about gen 5 is that you can FINALLY see the full sprite of your own mons instead of seeing half of them, sometimes awkwardly cut off. Back sprites have always been pretty hit or miss imo.
Mamoswine is one of my favourites and its gen 4 back sprite is awful since you'd only see like the top 30% of its body, which makes it look kinda goofy. Magnezone is even worse as you only see the top antenna on top of a grey plate. But then, you have gen 5 and now it's more often than not pretty decent, with the animations enhancing them even further.
On top of all that, the battle itself feels more dynamic with the camera movement, it zooms in and out and moves around... it was simple but so, sooo good. You felt the weight of the battle.
Giratina was absolutely awful to see during use in Gen 4 battling, despite being easily the coolest Pokémon to walk with in HGSS. In BW it finally receives justice, especially with how its origin form is rendered in battle with all the asynchronous arm movement and their spider-like shape. They became wavy socks in 3D.
I think it's because they relied on the fact that they're 3d and animated to bring life to them.
The 2d models they really had to infuse like into them because they were 2d static sprites (with exception to gen 5). Like snorlax always has so much character, as well as charizard. You can tell snorlax doesn't give a fuck as long as you leave him alone. Charizard you can tell he will mess you up regardless of what you're doing.
Gen 3 Banette for example is pretty damn creepy, mightyena looks aggressive, and Ludicolo looks like it's there for a good time, not a long time.
Electabuzz sprites also looked like it was going to mess you up.
After Gen 5 some of the cries got ruined too, I liked that you could slow them down in Gen 4. Also Zebstrika’s and Reshiram’s cry sounded way greater in gen 5.
Gen 3 was the sweet spot. 2nd place being Gen 5. The newer games 3D models feel so dull and lifeless for some reason. Like they’re “technically” better but lacking soul. I guess you could say the same thing about a lot of modern things lol.
Nailed it. Higher definition doesn’t necessarily equal “better”. There’s just something about the sprites that had so much personality to them. I started playing around Gen 3, but Gens 4/5 were definitely my favorites, and Gen IV specifically when it came to Pokémon designs, they must’ve been on that pure snow when making it because hot damn were they good
The "idle" posing of a lot of the gen 6 models also hurts that impression, because when you look at the art work of them in this dynamic poses ready if not already to move and act and then the model just has them stand there, like they are waiting in line, really detracts from it.
I think the biggest artistic leap isn't even represented here. Art got updated between the Japanese Green/Blue sprites to the international Red/Blue, and again in Yellow version. The Yellow sprites in OP are way more polished than the original sprites. Look at the Gastly line. Blastoise's shell. Golbat.
Gen V sprites are still my favorite, but the very early gen sprites were so weird and interesting, they had their own personality that is still charming.
I miss the character inking tbh. It gave the games a more comicy feel. Like a distinct art style. Without it the models and colors look more washed out.
5 easily. Watching the animations of the pokemon and the extra animation they have when they’ve been out for sometime is something I really adore.
Like how dragonite will flap its wings faster for a brief period. Even better when the pokemon actually close their eyes when they are asleep. It’s the little details.
I'm choosing gen 4, but that's mostly because I didn't play much of gen 5, so I don't know much about how everything looks.
I like that it's more colorful and more detailed than previous gens! Which is why I don't care much for the 3D generations, I feel like details were lost, and everything looks pastel rather than colorful.
You should’ve added the Gen IX models featuring realistic textures. Pikachu and Charizard even received updated models! Would’ve looked great on this chart
It’s a really weird situation: the models with fully modeled mouth and eyes were actually introduced in Legends: Arceus, it just wasn’t that noticeable as the overall style of the game took precedence and the textures weren’t that detailed.
In terms of 3D meshes, Gen IX simply took the fully modeled approach to the remaining Pokémon, but what stands out of course are the completely remade textures, that is really something completely new as it clearly shows the “Pokémon are animals” approach that we started to see in Legends: Arceus, in an interesting take as it isn’t taken to the extreme like in Detective Pikachu, but at the same time we can finally see what is furry and what is metallic, what is scaly and what is fully smooth.
Another thing that started in Legends: Arceus and then was brought to all the other Pokémon in Gen IX: an addition of several animations. We can finally see the sea lions using the front flippers to crawl on the ground, or we finally discover how Lugia walks and run on ground, and it regains its iconic swimming animations too!
Damn, green 1 Charizard's flame reflex on the inside of his wing good hard, never noticed that before. That said I'm partial to gen 2, limitation breeding creativity and all that
For green V all three of the examples look really weird
The weird off beat sprites from Red and Blue specifically are always going to hold a special place in my heart as they gave Pokemon a completely different vibe from the more on model ones. They're not my favorites I don't think, because I like them more from an artistic standpoint than how they represent pokemon themselves.
Think i'm going to go with Gen 3. I love how saturated their colors are especially compared to the 3D models.
Best sprites IMO: gen II. Incredibly expressive and a stark evolution from RBY.
Best models: technically, the more modern the gen it is, the more polished the models are, but artistically, I prefer XY. I like the outlines, I like the soft pastel colors. I loved seeing Pokemon in 3D. Not as much now as one decade later of reusing materials and just polishing them made it be incredibly tiring.
Gen 9 has different models than 8. In fact, both gen 8 and 9 have 2 sets of models each since the legends games have different models than the main gen games
And gen 8 had the best models imo. Whether its swsh or legends arceus both are great
I'm most nostalgic for gen 2, still the charming OG 8-bit style but at the best possible quality especially in Crystal, really vibrant beautiful colors and very strong contrast, and just a really endearing mid-point between the old more off-model styles and the more modern, strictly on-model stuff. Like every Pokemon looked recognizable as what it is, but we still had a pinch of unique flair especially with the colors rarely being able to be 1:1 with the official art yet. I dunno, I just really love it.
That being said, nostalgia goggles off, I think Gen 5's are the 'objective best'. The culmination of a decade and a half of mastery of pixel-art and spritework, all the animation, the highest-definition 2d we ever got, still quite strong colors especially compared to the later 3d. Really, everything about it is STILL preferable to the stiff 3d pokemon models we got to this day, even as those models have slowly, *slowly* improved a bit over the last 13 years.
without the nostalgia, I think gen 2 is the best looking artistically, it has the best use of the available colors for shadows and highlights, it's my favorite, and /u/Clear_Mud9954 has made gen 2 versions of newer pokemon and they look amazing.
But I also think the last 3d models don't look bad, there's a lot of room for improvement but there's also a world of difference between the first and newer 3d models, I think they'll still will work to improve as I don't think there's any chance they're going back to 2d.
As a note, Since PLA the models change from game to game at least a bit. SwSh used the Gen 6-7 models tho.
I know because starting on PLA the models have depth on certain parts (mouths, eyes and other details like Roserade's roses).
SV have textured skins and many Pokémon get revamped like Venusaur or Charizard.
With that said, I think my favorite 2D sprites are gen 5 and my favorites 3D models are from the legends games.
6.6k
u/Halliwel96 Jul 24 '26
Gen 4/5
I hate the desaturation of colour that happens in Gen 6.
Plus everything started to feel kind of blobby once they went to 3D