Does anyone else miss sprites?

[Esserise]

I personally have a problem with the altered model as well. The head and arms may have been vastly improved from the original but Typhlosion has never struck me as a Pokémon who could constantly maintain an external fire like Charizard or Infernape. In reality I just imagine they'd pointlessly exhaust themselves with such ferocious posturing. Only lighting up for their special attack animation honestly feels more sensible from that viewpoint.

It's sad, but Typhlosion just was not meant to ever exist in 3D

Dynamic pose or no, constantly igniting or no, with the example above, you still have the fact that it's a 3D model trying to simulate a living creature while emitting a line of cartoonish, 2D flames, which stands in contrast against almost every other Pokémon model that incorporates active fire elements. (Although Blaziken does demonstrate this same issue with its wrist flames, at least until it Mega Evolves.)

Sometimes I wonder, on the off-chance that they ever felt like doing a regional variant for a Starter, could that be the chance for them to properly reimagine Typhlosion in a 3D context? Similar to how Alolan Muk picks up the cool iridescence element that flat-out wasn't possible in earlier generations.

 

[Nicolas721]

Typhlosion's model should be quadruped in my opinion, as it's the only Fire starter able to maintain that pose.

I agree that it was very fun to look up how the Pokémon's poses when a new game was released. However, if your favorite was from Gen 3 onward you'd get screwed, as Gen 3 poses didn't have drastic changes, most of Gen 4's sprites were recycled in Gen 5 and Gen 5's poses didn't change between its two games. Sprites were entering on a dark era where recycling was the norm.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

My favourite Charizard sprites. Now they float in the air.

 

[Esserise]

Typhlosion's model should be quadruped in my opinion, as it's the only Fire starter able to maintain that pose.

I agree that it was very fun to look up how the Pokémon's poses when a new game was released. However, if your favorite was from Gen 3 onward you'd get screwed, as Gen 3 poses didn't have drastic changes, most of Gen 4's sprites were recycled in Gen 5 and Gen 5's poses didn't change between its two games. Sprites were entering on a dark era where recycling was the norm.

Crystal and HGSS were the two heydays of sprites for me

Gen 1's are legendarily bad, I genuinely think Gen 3's tend to look really wonky and awkward, and Gen 5's aren't to my taste because of the pixelation and tweening. Gold & Silver both have a good mix, but Crystal easily one-ups them by giving everyone unique animations (unlike in later generations where the animations are often like, "flash this color" or "just make it puff up/shake left and right"). Gen 4 has quite a few duds in Diamond & Pearl (Gliscor lmao), but Platinum fixes a lot of those and then HGSS overhauls some of the earlier-gen Pokémon, resulting in a pretty crisp set overall.

Oh and, anyone else remember Gen 3 Rayquaza's weird blue mouth? It doesn't look better than the proper design, but there is a small part of me that thinks it gave it a bit more character. The blue mouth kinda reminds me of a giraffe tongue.

 

[mikechuu]

I definitely do. I prefer them to the 3D models we have today. I am currently replaying Crystal and I just love the sprites so much!

 

[Everclear]

Yes I thought sprites looked cuter and there was less lag during battles when still sprites were a thing. I like some of the 3D models in the newer games of course but mostly I think sprites were better.

 

[Emmy]

I certainly miss the simpler times with good sprites.

But I acknowledge the march of progress and will bear with the teething problems of getting Pokémon into 3D and on consoles now. Hopefully by Gen IX it will be a lot better.

 

[Norzan]

Gen 3 and Gen 4's sprites are overall very good with some exceptions that look very weird and awkward, but i hate the Gen 5's sprites. Horribly pixelated and just looping the same two animations over and over, they were atrocious with some few expections. They are even worse when the game decides to zoom in on the pokemon when they attack and they get even more pixelated. Never saw the appeal of the Gen 5's spirtes.

The problem i have with the 3D models, besides some pretty poor translations from the sprites, is the fact that all pokemon actually have some pretty cool animations they use from time to time that showcase their personality, but you hardly get to see them because it takes forever for them to use them. You have to wait an obnoxious amount of time to even see one.

The pokemon that are constantly flying like Xatu and Salamence in their 3D model still look ridiculously stupid and a constant reminder that Sky Battles existed at one point. Thankfully Gamefreak has decided to ditch them right after XY and good, let them stay gone.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

I do personally prefer sprites, mainly due to the colour schemes striking out more as opposed to the 3D models being mainly just shot-for-shot with the colours used in the Sugimori art.

 

[Daenerys]

I preferred sprites not just in battles but in the overworld too. Everything was so much cuter in the earlier generations but now everything in the games looks too realistic which takes away from the immersive experience.

 

[Almonds]

I said this before, but I love Quilava's Gen 2 sprite because it looks like it just came from hell (in a good way)

I miss the sprites because there's a raw charm to those rough pixels.

 

[a230]

I miss sprite from gen 1 to 3, and gen 5. But not because I don't like 3d, a lot of them are good, but a lot of them are also really bad. It's poorly executed for a lot of pokemon. Some times I don't like a new pokemon when I see the 3d model in new trailer, but when they show the artwork, he seems better. It almost never happen when it was sprite.

 

[Nightmare Marill]

Really miss the tiny over-world sprites. I liked it when the characters looks like miniatures and the bigger 3D models that the new games use still don't look right to me.

 

[RustyTrubbish]

Yep sprites were so much better than full models. Pokemon followed the trend started by basically every other franchise but that's what's made recent gens less appealing to me than earlier ones.

 

[Esserise]

Replaying Sun and engaging with Refresh only increases my appreciation for the models even more. I love that the Pokémon can have actual facial expressions that can change in response to different things. Also, the way they turn their heads back to look at you when they're sent out in battle, if they have some affection built up. It's such a nice little detail that again, just makes them feel more like they have their own minds and can act on their own.

and there was less lag during battles when still sprites were a thing.

I mean, that really depends on the game you're playing I don't think any of the 3DS games' battles feel slower than Gen 4's.

 

[Norzan]

I mean, that really depends on the game you're playing I don't think any of the 3DS games' battles feel slower than Gen 4's.

At least the Gen 6 games are faster than the Gen 4 games, the Gen 4 games have yet to be beaten in terms of slowness. I noticed this instantly when i tried Platinum right after playing a Gen 6 game and Platinum is so much slower by comparison, in the overworld and in battles. I mean, when the biggest meme about Gen 4 is how slow Blissey's HP goes down from full to zero, it really does say something about its slowness.

Gen 7 does have horrendous lag, specially in Totem battles.

 

[Esserise]

Gen 7 does have horrendous lag, specially in Totem battles.

I just finished replaying Gen 7 and didn’t experience much lag, even during Totems. There was a bit, sometimes, but mostly the problem was just with frame drops. Though I was playing on a New 3DS XL. I’ve heard that older 3DS systems can struggle more.

 

[prog rocker]

The animation got choppier at times in Gen VII, but I only experienced actual lag during multi-battles.

 

[Norzan]

Though I was playing on a New 3DS XL. I’ve heard that older 3DS systems can struggle more.

I played on an orignal 3DS XL and the lag was really bad during totems. I'm talking choosing my move and taking at bare minimum five seconds before anything happened. And i could feel the 3DS dying while trying to process the whole thing.

 

[Jessibella]

Sprites were cute but at the same time the newer graphics look better too so I don't know which I prefer. Maybe if the games mixed both sprites and 3D graphics like in Generation 5.