Have Pokémon Designs Gotten Worse Over Time?

There’s no better time than now to start playing My Singing Monsters. The devs are gearing up for their yearly Anniversary Month event in September, when they make pretty much every piece of limited-time content available, and the sales are absolutely insane. Plus, they always release something new for players to enjoy - this year, I know they’ve got a new Monster coming that players helped vote on its design, and they’ve probably got a few tricks up their sleeve too. Don’t miss out - use referral code CIRCLETOONS for a free in-game gift to get you started!
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THE GOBLIN TEAM
@charliemacsart
@Goji_Bean
@IDKLessSleepy
@poptaffyart

[@CircleToonsHD]

FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE POKEMON... GO!! ALSO, I MADE A CARD GAME AND THERE'S ONLY A FEW MORE DAYS LEFT OF THE KICKSTARTER!!! Www.FoolsBlade.com

[@Mr.TLN1]

Favourite is paras and least is Pikachu

[@MothFable]

Aegislash and torracat are tied for first place. I hate wugtrio tho.

[@penguinclub2008]

Coffing

[@EpicPummelYT]

Fuecoco & quaxly

[@r.mictal]

Eevee Groudon

[@Frostgnaw]

Clearly the biggest issue is that Dunsparce doesn't have a 3-stage evolution line.

[@cameronweaver2013]

GF just adds another segment 😅

[@gregvs.theworld451]

We were done (Dun hehe) so dirty so wanting a Dunsparce evolution for so long. I remember seeing cool mockups of Dunsparce becoming a cool European style fantasy dragon but still having the dumb Dunsparce face and ahhhh why couldn't we have had that?

[@greenhowie]

Dunsparce and Shuckle got done dirty.

[@ConairHockey]

I think it would be cool if every Dunsparce was a Arceus larva and whenever Arceus dies it’s soul goes into one of the Dunsparce.

[@pspauloplayz4295]

@@ConairHockey bro its a dunsparce

[@Bazzero]

Typhlosion is a good example of a 2d era mon that got shafted in the modern era. In the 2d era he was fierce and the flames emphasized that this pokemon went from a cute little critter to something you dont mess with. In the later era's he just stands there, a bigger mammal with nothing which is a huge deal because it's one of it's defining features.

[@Supersonicspyro]

Thankfully in scarlet and violet his flames are out during all battles rather than just when he uses certain moves

[@crisiskrow]

Pokémon can be very divisive and this is a great example. I tend to like my Pokémon to be closer to natural animals. Typhlosion is what a badger ? If you saw a badger without knowing about them you’d be like oh they’re kinda cute, non threatening but at a drop of a dime they’re vicious creatures. Same with typhlosion, he’s not on 24/7 but when he’s in battle he looks intimidating. Coming from gen 1 I was disappointed in the jump to 3d. Very conflicted.

[@bigcooltony437]

haxorus was done dirty too

[@Gloomdrake]

3D Typhlosion would work if it was quadrupedal

[@Supersonicspyro]

@@Gloomdrake he's fixed in scarlet and violet

[@taru6342]

The lack of dynamic posses for monsters is and was a problem dragon quest never had, that's because they simply didn't take them out of their posses when transitioning them into 3D.

[@PteranoLiv]

My boio Incineroar still has an action pose an amazing one at that

[@Drstrange3000]

Yes, the dynamic poses really help. Without them, the Pokémon lose the energy and liveliness.

[@moosesues8887]

W dragon quest

[@blitzer9002]

Every pokemon should have some dynamic pose An example is hariyama Hariyama always has that pose with both palms facing the opposite direction it never gets old

[@Party0productions0]

One of the biggest examples of this is Hitmontop. They use to design him being on his top head and attacking with his feet. But ever since he went into 3D they had him standing up on his legs.

[@anonymousalligator7994]

Something I don't see mentioned often, but one of the main reasons is that they rush to release the games is that they want to release the new anime episodes, trading cards and video game at around the same time to make a cohesive release, so if they want to delay the video game for example then they would have to delay everything else as well. Obviously they don't have to do it this way, but I'm sure they've crunched the numbers and realised they will make more money releasing a half baked game, so long as they can sell loads of new merch as well.

[@popsickle_]

This is the first time I've heard of this, yeah it's a great reason, but I also definitely wouldnt mind if they delayed everything else to make their games better. That's an opinion based topic but personally for me I'd prefer them delaying it for the better

[@waylander9265]

The biggest issue I have with the move to 3D is the changes it made to colour palettes of Pokemon. The older games had much bolder colour palettes and this made them cooler and more eye catching. The desaturated look is fine for the cuter Pokémon, but for tougher, slick designs it makes them a lot more dull. Obviously, this problem has improved since gen 6, but I think it encouraged Nintendo to focus on cuter designs rather than a mixture of both

[@kruxdewdrop1220]

I sometimes wonder if the desaturated color is by accident, and was just never corrected. I've done texturing for 3d models, and depending on the shader being used, the colors can end up looking washed out compared to the original texture.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

​@@kruxdewdrop1220yeah, they probably didn't bother testing lighting while modelling and texturing the Pokemon, so everything looked fine until it was implemented into the scenes. And when someone at Creatures/GF asked if they could delay the release a week to fix them, the executives at TPC probably just told them to F-off...

[@Lazypackmule]

This is because colors needed to be blown the fuck out on the 3DS to work with the 3D gimmick, and they haven't really updated many of those assets since then

[@muf1nl0rd]

I think it’s because they color picked the colors on the official art onto the Pokémon’s 3D model textures, which is unfortunate since a lot of the older artwork - especially gen 3 - used very desaturated colors possibly to mimic a watercolor effect, even though the colors in the art didn’t match their colors in the game, leading to a bunch of Pokémon looking very very lifeless and dull. Thankfully later generations like gen 5 and beyond used much more vibrant colors in their official art, so if they colorpicked from there the 3D models’ colors would pop a lot more. Possibly why all the new pokemon in Kalos or Alola or whatever look way more colorful than a Milotic in the same game for some reason. I figured this color thing out by doing a little experiment of color picking original art and 3D models together, and I found the colors were near one-to-one matches. That’s definitely, possibly, the most likely reason why a lot of the Pokémon in these games have shit colors.

[@IDKLOL-qj7sl]

my bigger problem with the 3D is what it limits and enables. first of all, in terms of pokemon designs, it feels like we get less texture on individual pokemon, based on what will or won't render easily in 3D. the 3D sprites can easily depict something that is smooth, or something that has a pattern mapped to that smooth object's surface... but if you want an animal to look fluffy, your options are to either round it out and imply softness with a marshmallowy silhouette, or model each individual hair tuft. in other words... you can tell that Arcanine, with all its spiky fur tufts, was designed for a game that didn't utilize 3D models. and now that the games do use 3D models, we're going to see an intentional shift away from designs with fluffy fur like Arcanine. they rendered Arcanine in 3D out of sheer obligation, but I bet it was a lot more work than rendering Yamper or Boltund. and even in cases where designs with fluffy or spiky fur are updated, like Hisuian Zoroark... the fur tends to look blobby, goopy, or rubbery... because that's the main texture that 3D models are best at conveying, for better or for worse. this is also why most bug pokemon look great in 3D... this method is great for rendering a smooth hard carapace. but where the uglyness comes into play, is with what the 3D enables. in these sprites, you now get pokemon with a lot of clutter in their designs... a lot of little floaty bits, or really weird surface-mapped patterns, or they look too goopy when the design probably shouldn't have looked that way. Galarian Weezing is a great example... I know all the stuff around it is supposed to be smog, or steam, or gas clouds, but it just looks like snot or ectoplasm to me. and then sometimes you get to certain designs, and it feels like the only reason it looks like this is because it'd be easy to rig. Maushold looks lazy to me for a lot of reasons, but this is one of them. Raticate is a pretty boring rat, but it at least has more personality than this knockoff sanrio mascot, minus the color. but then even when considering the environments in the 3D games, I think the flaw is a matter of scale. in a 3D environment, you start with a world that your character model can look out at, and see everything, as far as the eye can see, from their current position all the way to the horizon. that is a massive amount of space. in the older games, everything was top-down, so you could only see as far down the road as the edge of the screen. in terms of physical distance, you could only see a few feet ahead of yourself. and pixels are a pretty crowded visual style with which to try and depict everything. your lines are forced to be super chunky, so everything has to be stylized to look simple, and more representational. you can have more detailed portraits for, say, if you're battling a trainer, and need to see them as more detailed than their overworld sprite. but this representational aspect actually benefits the entire look of the game, but explicitly telling you that you should be assuming more detail into this world than what is literally on your screen. so basically, these mediums have inverse limitations. one gives the creator such a large blank canvas that they're struggling to figure out how to fill it all up. the other gives the creator such a small blank canvas that they're struggling to figure out how to cram everything in there. and this leaves the 3D environments feeling empty and plastic, while the 2D environments feel full to the point where they're bursting at the seams. 2D games will even resort to giving individual houses more interiority, just so they can fit more content into an area... the cave systems will be a maze that you could genuinely get lost in, or they'll have little features like the safari zone, or the trick house, or the slot machines in the gambling parlor, or pokemon contests. it's actually easier to run out of space for all your ideas. meanwhile, in the 3D era, you'll have whole cities full of facades that you can't even enter. it's just too much space to reasonably fill all the way up. so yeah... in my opinion, washed out color palette is just the cherry on top of a whole host of other issues that the move to 3D introduced to pokemon... a game that was formulated to specifically play to the strengths of a 2D medium.

[@concordiaharmony2302]

I feel like something that should be pointed out is that while Ken Sugimori obviously had such a massive influence on the franchise design wise, Atsuko Nishida is responsible for the most popular ones. All three of the Gen 1 starters, Dratini, Dragonair, all of the Eeveelutions aside from Flareon and Jolteon, and the mascot of the franchise Pikachu and both Raichus were all her creations. I find in this discussion of graphical style it's important to remember that it wasn't all on Sugimori.

[@silverspeak4813]

thats true but sugamori still gave the Okay for all of the designs, they had to go ast him first. That being said you are right.

[@deeeeesp.]

Your wrong, actually they did the art but the source martial and or original art witch is mostly unchanged was done by neither

[@concordiaharmony2302]

@@deeeeesp. the hell are you even saying?

[@totallynotamimic3522]

Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, she's also very shy and doesn't like being the focus of the conversation, which probably is what leads so many people to forget that she's had a major impact when designing some popular Pokémon

[@pedromonteiro2248]

She also created the best Mega Evolution design: Mega Charizard X!

[@redwood34]

9:10 the perfect in between for me was B&W, they had the same sort of movements as the 3D games but because they were 2D they just looked more free, more mental imagery

[@NexusKirin]

Charming limited 3D graphics

[@Tortferngatr]

Ferrothorn was probably my favorite example of that effect, even if the camera pan kind of killed the illusion sometimes. It's just...hanging from the top of the screen by its vines, looking like it gives absolutely zero fucks about whatever you're going to try hitting it with as it swings around. That doesn't work in 3D, but it was incredibly fun to see back then.

[@Mirage475]

It’s funny cause they have the tech now to do pseudo 2D with anime style shading of 3D models. Any Arc Systems game for example. Persona in a way too

[@CatManOfTaste]

@@Mirage475if you’ve played octopath traveler I think Pokémon would work perfectly in that style

[@takarijbartleby]

I wouldn't mind a vid on Ultra Beats all on their own. I personally like how weird they are

[@infiniteoctopaw]

Right? I love buzzwole, he’s just a goofy guy. Let him live his life.

[@k.w.pillsbury4070]

I LOVE how weird they are. SO FUN!

[@wyvernplays1147]

I'm tried of "THEY DONT LOOK LIKE POKEMON >:[" like... That's the point?

[@-et37-]

Kartana is literally my favorite Pokémon I won’t tolerate UB slander.

[@yeetuszilla1663]

Best part about them? The community of ultra beast fans don't hate on each other's favorites. You can say you like stakataka because you think the name's funny, everyone is fine. You can say you don't like pheromosa because you don't like the spiky design, everyone is fine. Also, Xurkitree is cool

[@austinmoe4865]

So in summary, it's not the pokemon designs that are the problem. It's the stage they're being presented on. 10/10.

[@sadistfurret4205]

Hell yes, all Pokemon are fantastic! (Except for terra, they could've done better there)

[@lello2031]

People forget the "Monster" part of Pokemon, they aren't just colored animals. "Monster" can range from a yellow rat to an abomination.

[@namantherockstar]

Pokemon inspires me.. My parents said if i get 50K followers They'd buy me a professional camera for recording..begging u guys , literally Begging...

[@Introversion399]

Your summary is incorrect because CircleToons didn't heart your comment.

[@TheseUseless]

@@sadistfurret4205most of them are shit and most of them have always been shit

[@Synnabelle]

The funny thing is, once you showed Drowsee's eyes at the beginning that was my first thought about changes on designs. How the eyes have changed throughout the framchises life.

[@patroka]

For the record, Vikavolt line is Charjabug being a battery, and Vikavolt being a railgun, actually. No vehicles at all ahaha

[@DeathnoteBB]

Charjabug is a bus and I love him >:(

[@humorpalanta]

Wait, is that actually real? I thought it was made up for the video XD Man, I stopped at Gen 3 XD

[@gamehead1223]

bruh he has a sniper, you really want him to snap his fingers

[@DeathnoteBB]

@@humorpalantaSo far none of the Pokemon are madeup

[@itsturniptime3699]

@@humorpalantaEvery Pokémon in this video, is real. Aside from the sponsored monsters from My Singing Monsters but that’s it, Vikavoot is real, Dragapult the stealth bomber ancient tetrapod ghost dragon aircraft that launches babies is real, Seel is real, Ultra Beasts are real, Pokémon is whacky as hell and I live for it With the exception of Sinksalor from Gen 17

[@1upmash]

10:33 I swear, when gen 17 is next in line, we all gonna convince Pokemon to create a "sink" Pokémon

[@imperfectimp]

You could say Pokémon designs have really gone down the drain, eh?

[@Smood0310]

​@@imperfectimpgotta let that joke sink in

[@Watch-0w1]

Then it evolve into a toilet

[@lucasmatthiessen1570]

Sinkio, I choose you!

[@SteadyFreak]

@@Smood0310I am really letting that one get drained in my brain

[@K4RN4GE911]

"Why couldn't they have just let you be a big cat?!" I AGREE!!! I can name the starters that have the final evolution as a quadruped on TWO FREAKING *HANDS!!!*

[@sspectre8217]

I was so sad to find out Sprigatito’s line would stand up but I do have to admit Meowscarada did grow on me a lot being the starter I chose

[@dnidaz2553]

Well why can't he be a furry? This criticism of antropomorphic designs always seems stupid to me, why is it a big deal in the first place? Because people are afraid to like an antropomorphic design?

[@K4RN4GE911]

@dnidaz2553 Because it happens a lot. Like A LOT a lot. I've seen amazing fan designs of what Meowscarada would've looked like with the consistent quaduped likeness of Sprigatito. Instead, it's another anthro design that the starters seem to fall back on a lot. It still looks great, but final anthro evolutions are overdone.

[@wilsonsanabia4259]

​@@K4RN4GE911I don't think they are overdone, there's plenty on both sides, the problem people seem to have is that is over represented on starters, which are the face of their games. Aside from some designs, I don't really mind how they look

[@nightmareneo9363]

If you can count quadrapod evolution starters on 2 hands and then count with 7 hands with bipedal designs then that's not even

[@Highzen]

Funny enough Pokemon like Goodra and Baxcalibur remind me a lot of the older generation of Pokemon.

[@andrewpauly4783]

The funny enough you mentioned baxcalibur. Because I think his design looks absolutely horrendous in 3d. But would probably look fine and older Pokemon game. Though I think I'm nitpicking at his little hand claw things not being very intimidating looking and tacked on yo the design.

[@Zoroark539]

maybe baxcalibur's face but the rest of his body is weird

[@xord6286]

@@andrewpauly4783it's based off of a dinosaur that had things like those

[@facelessnameless]

Bax has the same body as Ttar

[@elgobaldez3487]

Baxcalibur is by far the ugliest and laziest pseudo by a long shot

[@21eeveevulpix]

Every Gens have their good designs, their bad designs, their 'what the fuck oh god kill it with fire designs' and their 'Eh I mean I guess it's alright' designs, you can't have every gen being nothing but good or bad.

[@lello2031]

People forget the "Monster" part of Pokemon, they aren't just colored animals. "Monster" can range from a yellow rat to an abomination. The robot ones are the only ones that confuse me.

[@SMCwasTaken]

​@@lello2031the "monster" part is irrelevant

[@namantherockstar]

Pokemon inspires me.. My parents said if i get 50K followers They'd buy me a professional camera for recording..begging u guys , literally Begging...

[@Ralathar44]

That being said as someone who plays other Pokemon style games that are good like Cassette Beasts, Nexomon: Exctinction, or even TemTem its obvious that the development of Pokemon has gotten lazy and the Pokemon design is often alot less inspired or alot more overcomplicated. Cassette Beasts is a solild game with new twists and amazing music. Nexmon Exctinction is a solid game with new twists and an actually good story. TemTem is just straight up almost the same quality made by someone with a fraction of the money. And the upcoming Palworld game sticks to the simple design philosophy of older Pokemon so well that when people point out lookalikes the Palworld version is often much simpler and cleaner than the thing they are comparing it too.

[@varg1231]

I first played Gen 1 so the original 151 are my favorite. I scoff at some of the newer designs (especially that fucking ice cream cone one), but I try to remember that we had ones like Jynx and Mr. Mime that were total out of left field ideas.

[@The_AuraMaster]

I remember in Pokémon Platinum they added unique invirements for the Elite 4 rooms, then gen 5 gave more emphasis on the invirements, but now all the games on the switch its just an empty room with a Trainer.

[@willkershisnik5893]

Yeah with hyper futuristic walls and floors. Too plain imo

[@OgerponIsACutie]

INVIREMENT?

[@MsMoonDragoon]

Sonic fan spotted. opinion discarded.

[@Hypermastergaming]

@@MsMoonDragoon I can see omega saying that

[@DenderFriend]

I'm glad this video isn't purely hating and is actually balanced in its criticisms! I'm young enough that Black and White was the newest game to release by the time I was old enough to think about Pokémon and I do think there's more nuance to it than old being better, but the crunch time being pushed by Gamefreak is definitely hurting the franchise and it shows in some design choices being more gimmicky.

[@Didagg]

I din’t understand how pokemon being gimmicky is being lazy, in any case, it’s putting extra work on it

[@Cigmacica]

Recently even TPC has admited that maybe they should release new pokemon games every 2-3 years instead of everyyear, so there could be more hope. Personally pokemon scarlet and violet was probably the most fun i had in a while in a mainline game, but you can definitively feel the lack of time GF has to develop these games

[@DenderFriend]

@@Didagg I myself do enjoy a lot of the gimmicks they use for new Pokemon, I think it's more a point of how the design philosophy may have been influenced by the way the games are made.

[@nathandam6415]

​​@Didagg Developing a game at this scale in under 15 months is extremely difficult. You'd have to put in overtime 24/7 to ship a game like this. 100+ new pokemon plus adding new moves would be a QA nightmare. On top of the CPU limitations of the switch. I don't envy the devs at game freak in the slightest. They literally cannot afford to add new mechanics, and that hurts the game in the long run.

[@dolofonosesostrefis]

@@Didagg Dudunsparce...

[@justsomeone2303]

I think posing has a lot to do with how people view the Pokémon too. It adds a lot to their personality. They really went all out with the poses for the Pokémon in the 2D games, whereas most of the ones in the 3D just... stand there. Idly. Speaking of idle animations, they help too. Nowadays most Pokémon don't even get idle animations in battle. In Gen 5 though, the Pokémon would occasionally do something to showcase their personality e.g. fire mons breathing out fire, ice mons letting out an occasional frosty breath, electric mons giving out a crackle of electricity, normal types waving around one part of their body, or Pikachu in particular twitching its ear cutely etc etc. They added a lot of charm to the Pokémon aside from the occasional blinking. But now? They just... stand around doing the exact same 2 second loop. TL;DR: IMO, part of the charm was showcasing the Pokémon's dexterity that GF put effort into in Gen 5, putting them in poses that *really* showcase how the Pokémon moves or is like standing still. Now they *barely* move and the charm is lost. Its not that it's 3D, its that their needs to be more simple, tiny animations that make the world more lively and give it a stronger personality.

[@Mobius118]

Underrated point

[@Gloomdrake]

A good example is Hitmontop. Like every other Pokémon, it’s on a two second loop, but that loop is so much more dynamic than the rest that you can’t help but like Hitmontop

[@Sarah12471]

I do think, they've been getting better about that in the scarlet and violet games

[@in-craig-ible6160]

This was fascinating. Your art background really helped explain a lot in simple terms a non-artist (like myself) can understand.

[@fabiofanf3e813]

5:54 Ultrabeast slander WILL NOT be tolerated

[@SingTingz31]

I just discovered this channel. I love it! The pacing, and storytelling while being educational makes it so entertaining

[@BladeBloodTear]

I really never thought about the eye aspect and you are completely right. It's definitely the eyes that started that real change. I kind of wish we could see newer pokemon with more classical eyes to see if they fit better, but I guess that would go against their design philosophy now

[@nate51691]

We DO still get the occasional ones that somewhat match the old eye styles (i.e. the Goomy and Sprigatito lines [very similar eye progression to Dratini and Bulbasaur, respectively], Cramorant [simple round eyes with black dot pupils], and arguably the Charcadet line [classic angular shape that gets more angular at evolution, but with the flame as an extra detail]), and admittedly, those tend to be some of my favorite ones in newer games, even if they get anthropomorphized more often these days. Personally, I feel like those four I mentioned could have been introduced in gen 3 or 4 and still matched the art style, more or less, so maybe that's the reason I like them lol

[@JL-yw1cp]

True

[@HirokiPlays]

Pokemon should try their hand at going back to 2D, at least for a quick spin off, just to gauge reception. I think B2W2 sprite art was top tier, and they should've expanded on it. I was on board with the switch to 3D of course, as it seemed like the natural step forward, but after getting mess after mess of games since, it makes me wonder if the quality would've been better had they stuck with a simpler yet more redefined style, even with the horrible time crunch, 2D games would've been vastly simpler to make.

[@GhostEmblem]

If they could get the same quality in 3D but realse them half as often would you prefer 3d, 2d or have no preferance.

[@HirokiPlays]

@@GhostEmblem I don't have a preference, but 3D doesn't really make Pokemon better, graphics were never the reason we played the games. So them putting so much effort into something that's not as important seems like an unnecessary spending of resources they already have so little time to manage. If they could slow down and actually polish their games, I think we'd all want that, but realistically, they're not gonna slow down. They're greedy corporate business first, and game developers second.

[@kaka8635]

No

[@HDxBLAZE]

True I liked b&w's 2.5D it looked great and kept the magic of the original while adding a more detail and pop to the environments

[@zanpakutoman4225]

I'm not the biggest Gen 5 fan, but Gamefreak really became kings of sprite art by the end of their sprite based games. Even by Gen 3 or 4 they were probably some of the innovative sprite based graphics on a handheld. When they moved to 3D they purposefully worked their asses off to make REALLY good models and people were willing to take the slight performance issues and stiff animations in Gen 6 with a grain of salt. But, that experience must have fried their brains or muscles cause it seems like they were just like "We're DONE! No more improving and polish is a luxury!"

[@blaineley2503]

Old desings: grab and animal, give them something New designs: Inspiration and meaning

[@ChronoCartographer]

"muh designs are lazy!!!!" (someone who cant read)

[@stringram]

3:11 that arceus trollface killed me and the whole dragapult bit? Superb.

[@heatherhallfo5179]

Trollceus

[@limkailuen3022]

This video came out one minute before truegreen7’s worst Pokémon design of each generation . Big concidence lol

[@Just_a_commenter]

Interesting! I always thought I saw something of a pattern with eye designs, but I never dug deeper... very neat. :D

[@Awildgamer]

Wait a second

[@RealSkello]

Bro that pfp is wild

[@zooning-6843]

It’s Japan. You could swear it’s there lack of eyes that lead them to over extenuate them anywhere they can. (Joking about the lack of eyes, but I only need to site anime for my second point)

[@moonlit_ruffles]

​@@RealSkellohow have you never seen this person, i swear half of the videos i watch have a comment from them (Also, hi round latias)

[@Garyse]

Yo it's the pfp guy !

[@Kereea]

Overall I feel that the main issue is not "overall are they worse" so much as the high-low ratios of each gen's new mons. Personally I feel Gen 5 suffered the most here as they had to make a TON of common 'mons as analogues to older, more beloved common 'mons. Like, Gen 1 and 2 have some lows design wise (lookin' at you, Seel and Dewgong, and I say this as someone who LIKES those Pokemon) but generally they're close to the same tier and feel fairly cohesive. Gen 3 has a couple lows (Plusle+Minun, Whismer line, Chimecho) but also some great highs (the Weather Trio, Absol, the psuedo lines). Gen 4 was almost as good as 1-2 because a LOT of its mons connected to them or filled needed holes. Then we got to 5 where they needed a WHOLE DEX from scratch and we got a lot of weak entries. I think this was the low point. Gen 6, 7, 8, and 9 all are above it if looked at as a whole, tho they all have their own bad designs and amazing designs (ex: sure Gen 6 has Klefki, Aromatisse and Slurpuff, but is also has Goodra, Aegislash, Sylveon and Hawlucha, for example). Also there's the issue of New Weak Pokemon being judged more harshly than Old Weak Pokemon. If they don't have a beloved design, they get sunk HARD. I'm talking new Pikaclones that don't do anything unique, your early route bird and normal types, and so on.

[@SirPembertonS.Crevalius]

I'd be chill if the games had mechanical, story, or gameplay changes more so then a new generation of pokemon with each new installment. Maybe something like a game where we view the world of pokemon from team rocket's POV, almost like Half-Life's Opposing Force, something new and fun without the need for an entirely new generation of pokemon. I'd gladly take multiple games based on the same region if they all had a fun and unique twist on gameplay.

[@tsu08761e]

you dont even need new mechanics, imo the biggest issue is boring world design

[@bluedog4248]

​@@tsu08761eI agree with this. The world is very broad and deep, but they haven't been doing much with it. Arceus was the first one to take a totally different vibe because of everything it did

[@dolphinsniper]

I mean, Scarlet & Violet had 3 seperate stories you could handle as you want, and each story was pretty damn different, so you have your story changes right there.

[@Felix.Fictus]

... why?

[@Ticazoid95]

They're not going to stop making new pokemon because (New mon = new more unique merch)

[@drood100]

One thing i find interesting is with the rise of pokemon infinite fusion the 2d sprites are being custom made to show as much personality as possible and it's had me hooked for months now. The variety and expression i can have in a single game is riveting and holds my attention much more than any "gimmick"

[@amykirschman3410]

The fusions make for some of the wildest and diverse teams.

[@5t0rm78]

and i BET gen 10 or 11 will have a shit fusion gimmick to capitalize on infinite fusion's success edit: i dont mean the fusion gimmick in infinite fusion is bad, what i am saying is that they are going to RUIN it tbf creating over a million custom models is... time consuming (unless they reduce the pokedex... AGAIN)... but still

[@Vardanix2468]

@@5t0rm78 its probably gonna be something like IF, but you only have the model of one of the pokemon....except for a few gimmick pokemon that have unique fusions....oh and they ll be completely busted and every single competitive team will use them

[@iancastro1327]

​@@5t0rm78fusions are a thing in pokemon since gen5 idk what are you saying

[@5t0rm78]

@@iancastro13279 pokemon can fuse. necrozma with solgaleo and lunala, kyurem with reshiram and zekrom, calyrex with spectrier and glastrier (but i dont count those because he just rides them). infinite fusion has HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of fusion combinations, while pokemon has SIX. what im trying to say is they're probably gonna try to add a fusion mechanic like infinite fusion's mechanic, and it's gonna suck.

[@rwberger6]

Gen III is when they started experimenting with more "weird" designs and seeing how humanoid they could get away with the designs outside of the fighting type. Gen IV they started making slightly more complex designs thanks to the jump to the DS, and Gen V was when they went sort of hog wild with the designs because they were going for a 100% new pokedex. From there the various gens have sort of shifted back and forth with how much they experiment with designs although Scarlet and Violet have sort of gone hog wild again like they did in Gen V.

[@stxrb_xy]

I feel like that gen 3 part is correct, I didn't play gen 2 so immediately going from fire red and seeing Blaziken was super weird and it's my favorite pokemon

[@rwberger6]

@@stxrb_xy I base that part on an old interview I admit I can't find at the moment, where they admit Gardevoir and several other designs (Like Blaziken) in Gen III were experiments in how far they could push the humanoid look and have the fans accept it. Pokemon like Jynx, Hitmonchan, and Mr.Mime were kind of seen as oddballs even before that and raised the question of the whole clothes vs skinflaps debate about their designs. In Gen II they shied away from doing designs like that due to their reception but decided to do more in Gen III.

[@halinaqi2194]

Not my favourite direction they went in. Although Gen 3 is my favourite, I grew up with it after all, my favouriye pokemon were more on the animalistic or fantasy side. Such as the bagon line, trapinch line, poocheyena line, absol, skarmory, aggron, etc. I basically liked every design except for a small select amount, ex luvdisc was just lazy ngl.

[@thecatladytm7172]

I personally enjoy the more folklore, spiritual history, and monster based pokemon. I like the sharper looks these pokemon have, even literally round ones like spheal have more edge than some modern designs. That being said, there have been designs I love from new gens too. Appletun is one of them. I think Appletun is a good example of a modern mon that follows/respects the classic design principles. You cant see its eyes, they can be mistaken for flopped ears (I did that, lol) it monster, and it has just the right amount of detail. I actually think some older gen mons could use *more* detail. Venusaur should still have spots, Feraligatr needs more yellow to tie in with Croconaw bc right now it completely disregards its middle evo like a redheaded stepchild and just looks like a big Totodile. And, im about to commit pokemon blasphemy here, but Charizard... needs more detail. The mega Charizards are both steps in the right direction, but they OVER stepped. Something in between Megas and normal should be the standard final evo level of detail. I think Greninja is a great example of design cohesion among a line and final evo detail. Each mon keeping the detail from the previous evo but adding slightly more. I could honestly ramble forever about this, but yeah.

[@wesnohathas1993]

Comparing modern Pokémon designs to a pretty decent burger in an actively burning restaurant seems like a very accurate assessment. The games have far worse issues to be concerned about.

[@nicholaspetri2475]

I found it so weird that for gen 9 they decided to use realist details on the 3d models like showing off scales and fur textures in a gen were most of the pokemon have (at least to me) the most toony looking designs and they just don't do the designs for either the pokemon or the human characters in those games any justice.

[@DeathnoteBB]

Honestly I prefer the better textures. I mean realistically, the Pokemon _have_ fur and scales.

[@nicholaspetri2475]

@@DeathnoteBB I think it's cool that we get to see those details and admittedly I do think the metal textures on the steel type pokemon look cool but it also looks a bit too uncanny valley to me and I just personally would prefer a more stylized art style since the issue when games go for more realism the look risk's being outdated at some point in the future.

[@corenlavolpe6143]

It's like whiplash to have highly detailed textures on very simple designs, I really don't like it.

[@Zevox144]

@@corenlavolpe6143it's like throwing an HD texture pack on minecraft.

[@Haskellmd76]

Honestly, I think a big problem is Pokémon’s scheduling nowadays. If it’s just take a one year break then take two years to make the next game that would be fine, but now they’re releasing tons of spin-offs and crap that are clogging up the quality of the games. So I think if we want to see a brighter future for Pokémon, expand their team, make a new schedule, and maybe start making Pokémon more similar to Gens 3-5

[@lirsavvy]

I like pokemon designs but not when one is a freaking tumbleweed

[@robertbartley2409]

@@lirsavvydo you prefer the pile Kum known as muk

[@demonkingrouga]

@robertbartley2409 Muk gets way to much flak. Slimes have always been a mainstay in rpgs. The grimer line actually provided a new take compared to the cutesy dragon quest slimes and featureless blob slimes around that time period.

[@loren5432]

Spin off Pokemon games? When? Mystery Dungeon gets like a new entry every 5 years or so, but besides from the strange case where it happens, there haven't been a lot of spin offs for the newer generations (DS generations come to mind since you had the Ranger series, Conquest, Rumble and etc), unless you count Arceus and Unite I guess.

[@infiniteoctopaw]

​@@loren5432God, I wish we got more mystery dungeon games. I need more amo to use on the "pokemon has never been about storytelling" crowd.

[@OnlyRoke]

I like how the Gen 8 starters all start like they're an archetype of a child (loud creative kid, sporty kid, shy emotional kid) and they all evolve into something a kid would dream of as a profession (a cool rockstar, a soccer player and a secret agent).

[@mouthwaterin]

I like how scorbunny even goes thru an edgy phase (raboot)

[@sortacoolmaybe]

Cool but they’re not kids they’re Pokémon

[@ChronoCartographer]

@@sortacoolmaybe things can represent other things, you learn this in 2nd grade

[@supergeno128ds]

This is a great video that really feels like it explains a lot of the problems recent games (and their designs) have. I do like a lot of the more recent designs but like CircleToons said- its hard to enjoy your burger when the restaurant is on fire lol Raichu has been and will forever be my favorite. Least favorite? Probably Aromatisse. There really aren't a lot of designs I absolutely hate.

[@Hypnos45]

I agree, I never had a real problem with mon designs even when they went anthro, some do work like Mr Mime, my main issue is that they always present newer mons in lower quality and boring plain environments

[@DeadlockDrago]

Aromatisse is such wasted potential.

[@supergeno128ds]

@@DeadlockDrago it mostly just creeps me out by looking extremely flirtatious but at the same time completely repulsive. I know there are other pokemon like that but Aromatisse creeps me out the most.

[@raphaelkgh218]

​@@supergeno128ds Personally, i like Aromatisse's colors, and i think it can get a pass because it's partially based on french cancan danses i think... But still, the more i tthink about it, the more i see it's wrongs... I mean, makimg a pokemon partially based on french cancan was already risky and kind of bad, but like seriously, they could have just made her based on perfumes, without her legs showing, or something like that... We didn't need a pokemon with a bottom-half design based on french cancan... Man, i kind of really think it's kinda bad now, like Jesus-Christ!

[@OriginalGameteer]

Honestly can't say the burger analogy applies to me SV was singlehandedly my least favorite game in the series, yet the state of it and the franchise have absolutely zero effect on how I feel on the designs. There's alot of gen 9 mons I love and that's that.

[@Happyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

6:14 dude gave him the Seel of approval

[@fabiofanf3e813]

They shoudlve made it a steel type

[@MrMoom08]

5:45 As an Ultra Beast enjoyer I have to humbly disagree with your opinion. However, as a civil human being with manners I have decided to respect your opinion despite of our disagreements. I for one, am very fond of those disturbing hellspawn, especially Xurkitree, as it is my favorite of the current 1015 “pocket monsters” *sips tea condescendingly*. Regardless, I hope you have a wonderful day in spite of the Guzzlord I have sent to consume your place of residence.

[@Dragodilian]

Theres definitely different design styles between generations, but i dont think any of the generation designs are worse or better than the other. Theres pokemon and gimicks i like and dont in each gen. I do agree that the shift to the 3D models took a lot of personality and character (and color) out of the pokemon. I do think the models look a lot better in Scarlett and Violet, despite how many issues those games had, i do think they improved the models somewhat. Being able to see different fur and scale patterns and the metallic look to metallic pokemon were things i liked. 😊

[@THATotherGUY415]

As someone who is old enough to be a Genwener (however it's spelled). Gen 1&2 design philosophy is pretty much some animal/creature with one fantastical feature. So that's why early Pokemon designs were so simple looking back then.

[@archwing3441]

I also grew up with gen 1 but it's not like all pokemon from gen 1 were animal/creature. We got weird object pokemon Grimer/Muk, Magnaton line, Geodude line, voltorb line, Arguably Weezing line (does cancer count as an object?). They also have there weird share of anthropomorphic pokemon, such as poliwrath (why did the tadpole turn grow fists?), hitmonlee/hitmonchan, jinx, mr. mime, electabuzz, magmar, and machamp line. Pokemon always had a thing with making objects and anthropomorphic pokemon instead of just simple animals or creatures. My favorite gen is gen 3 and while I love blazekin... that's just an anthropomorphic bird.

[@DeathnoteBB]

Well that, but also they were extremely limited in what they could do as designs. It was pixelated _and_ usually black-and-white. Starting Gen 3 they had more colors to work with, making the designs more detailed.

[@norsebarbarian2843]

@@archwing3441Weezing and Muk line are meant to represent the physical embodiment of air and water pollution respectively. Land pollution didn’t come until gen five with Garbodor. All designs I love by the way, but I’m a Poison type fanboy.

[@hindelsoft4650]

​@@archwing3441It's not about whether it's animals or objects. It's about how most gen 1 is "simple" designs which are basically "it's just the real animal" or "it's X but with Y". There are some variations like Mew and Mewtwo being Giygas inspirations or Exeggutor and the nidos being uniquely weird. but most of gen 1 fit the "simple" description. Gen 2 is where they started getting creative but a lot of pokemon are still simple or very barely different from the real animal like Stantler having unique horns.

[@weridplusho]

Considering the lore in Gen 1, that actually is in-line with they were attempting to recreate: the real world where animals suddenly mutated into pokemon. By Gen 3, it was no longer about that as they shifted over to: AU of real world where pokémon have always existed. Most of them being super cute was just a bonus, I guess.

[@Troubled-Kidd]

I love the variety in designs but variety means there’s going to be more bad designs with the good ones

[@octoslut]

gen 9 is literally the worst one... so many bad designs and i thought gen 5 was bad.

[@jonahboris6681]

@@octoslut I thought gen 8 was worse, at least with the starter and legendary Pokémon designs... And the quality for most of that game...

[@Alex_Munoz5]

​@@jonahboris6681gen 8 is definitely the generation with worse designs. Heck, its the generation that popularized boxing the starter... but gen 9 is probably the second worst, which is sad because it has very good ones, but they are a small number. I Will never forgive how they disrespected fans making gholdengo the Pokémon numer 1000

[@Robinson513]

What the fuck is pokemon

[@Alex_Munoz5]

@@Robinson513 idk some weeb bs

[@ohmaplaymaker]

12:10 That's a pretty good metaphor xD

[@KraylebStudios]

I think Pokemon designs later on down the line became a lot more creative and the designers wanted them to have more life and personality... The biggest problem with this is that they make some Pokemon more like characters than actual animals which ruins it for a lot of people And also inanimate Pokemon are a lot of the time inspired by Yokai so I really like how many we have

[@Kortezxero]

"How I see my pokemon battles now." That whole part had me laughing so hard I was crying. I completely agree with this.

[@robijakus6860]

4:37 OHH COME ON CHARJABUG IS CLEARLY A NINE VOLT BATTERY

[@ronald1416]

The best approach for me was what they did in Unova; 2d sprites with just enough moving parts to make them real alive. Not to mention the way the sprites would shake or stretch, leaving it to you’re imagination as to how they where actually moving during a fight.

[@ArshadZahid_nohandleideas]

Yeah, Generation 5’s animated sprites are exactly what I love sprites in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, IV, and Devil Survivor for. They're awesome!

[@unkarsthug4429]

Ironically, I think Gen 5's graphics are my least favorite. I prefer images to either remain still, or move smoothly, and Gen 5 just looks so unbearably jerky. I'd say pixel art Pokemon peaked in Gen 4, if I were to say my preferred art style.

[@piranhalettuce]

Yeah I also preferred the animated sprites over the static png's from Gen 1 to 4 or 3D models from Gen 6 to Now, I never liked how pokemon stopped moving after doing their entrance animation in Gen 2, 3, and 4. Either have them always moving or don't have them move at all.

[@the-sillycate]

Nah. My hate for tweening animation is bigger than my love for gen 5 (and I really love gen 5)

[@ArshadZahid_nohandleideas]

@@the-sillycate Don’t let negativity overwhelm you, like the game for what you like Surely it can't be that bad, right?

[@ish1057]

That bit with the trading cards exemplifies the stark contrast between what should be and what is. Rare to find a case that extreme but it's perfect, I want games to have that level of care baked into them and most people can't seem to see that till it's right in front of them. I mean christ they got the weird water noodle's environment to look so cool I want to see it in motion.

[@leonbrown7705]

10:59 caught me of guard and laughed my butt off

[@dragonarcher89]

pokemon designs have changed in terms of inspiration. like circle brought up dragapault but there are a lot of modern pokemon that have lots of thought that get put in the designs. its not just one aspect but multiple things get put into them. take feucocos line for example. crocalor may have a weird hat thing but it represents a sombrero and a nest at the same time. hence the flame bird flying around skeledirge. the bird is significant becuz there are some crocs/alligators (i dont remember which skeledirge is) that rely on birds to clean their teeth. dirges meaning is "lament for the dead, especially for funeral reasons". the day of the dead is significant for mexicans. to go further the facepaint for skeledirge could be representing both a thermometer and day of the dead paint at the same time. of course that parts speculation on my part but to me it makes way too much sense. like i said, theres other modern pokemon that have aspects coming into the design. gens 1-3 are simple becuz there wasnt AS much thought. heck, the starter trio theme was first "introduced" with the sinnoh starters and ever since, all three starters have a coherent theme each generation. with all that said, for me personally, i dont care if a pokemon is quad or walks on two feet (blanking on name) as long as the design has elements into it that make sense for the pokemon and is executed well. i dont care how simple or how complicated the design is, as long as the design is executed well. after watching subjectivelys vid on this, i know why i dont care for incinaroar and inteleons design compared to meowscarada and greninjas designs. the first two is just a human wearing a suit. the other two are animals first then human. greninjas main pose is on three of his legs and has a lot of frog elements. sure he can walk on two but thats not the main focus. the main focus is the frog. meowscarada looks way more cat like than incinaroar ever did. i dont like incins arms and legs. i dont like incins large hands and feets. i dont like how human he looks. the design is executed poorly. i get it, hes a wrestler. but u can still make it cat like while looking somewat like a wrestler. inteleon is the same way unfortunately. the only thing preventing me from disliking it the same as incin is the fact that i used a modest inteleon in my first playthrough. got lucky on the nature lol tldr: modern pokemon have typically have more thought put into there designs than the older pokemon. as long as the idea of a pokemon is executed well, then i dont care if its supposed to be quad or walking on two. if its animal like, then make look more animal like. dont need it to act like one 100 %. but it needs to be enough to make sure ppl arent just rolling their eyes the moment they see a "opposite of a quadruped"

[@rustymidlander05]

A fellow Lockstin & Gnoggin aficionado I see

[@Big_Dai]

I don't care.. but the Games themselves have DEFINITELY gotten worse.

[@user-AADZ]

Wow, that's a rare take /s (literally everyone think so because of the massive glitches only)

[@lukiwei9468]

@@user-AADZI mean, despite it being probably the best game in the series, the story in Legends is incredibly meh

[@avaluggglazer445]

​@@lukiwei9468if it weren't for the glitches I'd say gen 9 would be top 3 or 4

[@stevejohn7459]

4:08 Eats a Pokémon and acts like it’s nothing.

[@Tsupek]

*me glaces over the Krabby sandwhich/food from modern pokemon

[@PyraXadon]

I was always partial to M-Lopunny actually. It’s one of those megas that re-invent the pokemon rather than just doing a “More of the pokemon”. It also made lopunny a competitively viable threat, elevating it from an unusable sex symbol in a kid’s game, to basically a girlboss that kicks ass.

[@JoeyTee420]

G-Max Intelleon, we found another 🎯🔫

[@BonnyJohn]

Love the art, animation, and your sense of humour all the while still being coherent and entertaining! Love the lengths you went to prove your points and definitely gonna check out the rest of your stuff! Great job!!!

[@chaosXP3RT]

You predicted the rise of Palworld

[@Ninjorsta]

7:51 This is why the sniper lizard is important.

[@Blacardevoir]

I am so happy that someone else other than me finally pointed out the “eyes” when it came to the change in pokemon designs. The best way that I described it is that they lost how “anime” they look and a good portion of modern pokemon now have a more Americanized “cartoony” look with their eye choice which I personally don’t like

[@crocoboi7936]

The old Pokémon eyes look like dragon ball z eyes. Have you noticed that?

[@leezard7696]

I noticed it too. It's kind of one of several reasons Pokemon doesn't feel like Pokemon anymore. It doesn't FEEL like it's from Japan anymore, which isn't just me being a weeb, it's me saying that it doesn't feel personal. That little spark of magic that was Ken Sugimori's original expression of his childhood catching bugs is just GONE now and it makes me sad. The design of the pokemon themselves being one piece of that since he and a lot of the original artists aren't working on the games anymore. Also the more anime-like eyes just gave everything a more unified look and I think it was better than the complete and utter lack of coherence between modern pokemon. For example, Alcremie and Cinderace don't look like they belong in the same generation, much less the same franchise.

[@tpfoxCastro]

Duraludon, Drednaw, Iron thorns, Baxcalobur, the Charcoal line and every other new pokemon with sharp eyes left the chat

[@ilikestuff9250]

​@@leezard7696 1. Sugimori was not the one who caught bugs as a kid. That'd be the CEO of Gamefreak, Satoshi Tajiri. 2. Sugimori is still designing Pokémon in Gen 9 and a basic checkup on Bulbapedia will reveal the series has used multiple artists from Gen 1 itself.

[@MiguelHernandez-lo5lg]

My only issue is that they are making the pokemon too breedable.

[@billybob1831]

Ayo?

[@pixidraw5411]

Where is that an issue?

[@catoblepas8697]

sus

[@wu--]

False. Ditto has been THE MOST breedable pokemon since the very beginning. There is simply no going up when you start at the peak

[@flak_d0]

Vaporeon is from gen 1

[@dimetrodon2250]

4:19 "Pokemon that go completely against cohesion" Shows Bellibolt, who is the same shape and shares the same shape as Chansey. They both even have head and stomach accessories in the same places.

[@jacobellis2313]

Wasnt he talking about the eyes at this moment?

[@dimetrodon2250]

@@jacobellis2313 Their eyes are also the same shape, except Bellibolt's are yellow

[@Blu-ps5rq]

​@@dimetrodon2250 No? Chansey eyes is literally more of an I I while Bellibolt is more of a 0 0. Not only that, Chansey's eyes is also just all black while Bellibolt has irises and pupils. Its not even similar

[@dimetrodon2250]

@@Blu-ps5rq The lumps on the sides of its head arent eyes

[@dimetrodon2250]

@@Blu-ps5rq The lumps on the sides of its head arent eyes. The yellow dots are.

[@megasparklegoomba6807]

Personally, I LOVE the UB's, and no one can take that from me. Besides, they're SUPPOSED to look alien(because they are). Stakataka and Blacephalon are easily the best looking ones, with Xurkitree and Nihilego coming in behind them. My least favorite is probably Naganadel, with Buzzwole being close.

[@cottoncandysans]

you're supposed to see them differently than normal pokemon and they nailed that part

[@jacksmileyco]

I came to see if anyone mentioned this cuz I was genuinely shocked because I thought most people loved UB’s they’re my personal favorite modern Pokémon idea

[@ediakin4993]

they made them "strange" even among "strange creatures" ultra beasts are excellent, the fans are insolent as always

[@pokeoh1831]

Came here for this was ready to throw death threats for my boy buzzwole

[@ttmfndng201]

I love kartana

[@alex.g7317]

11:59 👀👄👀

[@darkdestiny9106]

I think you effectively summed up why I've been enjoying Pokemon Infinite Fusion so much. It's a nostalgia trip back to the 2D era of Pokemon games and we're still "creating" new Pokemon via the fusion mechanic and I like seeing the new gen Pokemon in 2D.

[@cryolitegem]

I think there’s a couple of lazy ones in there but for the most part, like it or not, the Pokémon designs are unique and interesting. Like take gen 9. With all its flaws I’m sure we all saw at least one Pokémon and were immediately like “you’re my favorite of this generation”

[@shiruotakuno28]

I adore everything about Maushold. They are my new favorite

[@Diablocera]

The Fuecoco line is so precious to me 🥹

[@nourmals]

Meowscarda fr

[@StarkMaximum]

You can say Tinkaton, it's fine.

[@CobaltCruiser]

Annihilape is my spirit animal. It got so angry, it ****ing DIED

[@Bob-Probably]

Incredible video, easy to tell all the hard work you put in

[@lmao2302]

I think every gen has a design that was intentionally made to look awful or goofy but I feel like gen 8 and 9 had a couple that were meant to be good but were just ass cause of the new more noticeable direction.

[@Matrixmacy]

It is absolutely the games graphics that hold back the new Pokémon’s amazing designs. That and the fact that they are in 3d without any real 3d-esque animations. If the main Nintendo company made the mainline Pokémon games instead of game freak and didn’t have the insane time crunch to release new games every year then the animations and world could be beautiful and give these great Pokémon designs time to shine. This would also allow you to see classic Pokémon having new polish and personality. Like with every starter coming to SV in the upcoming dlc, imagine if SV had good quality animations already then people would be insanely hype to see their favorite starter come back in this new light. Playing TotK and coming back to Pokémon violet makes you directly see the sad state that the graphics are in.

[@Matrixmacy]

If you don’t like the new designs in modern Pokémon please look at the fanmade sprite projects for gen 9 and earlier that make sprites for every Pokémon in gen 5 style spritework. They look absolutely incredible. Now look back at 3d Pokémon games that weren’t made by gamefreak like Pokémon stadium and look at the care put into their animations. Imagine SV in either 2d or 3d with actual care put into the games graphics and style

[@dingola_]

HARDLY agree man

[@DonutMadeInBlender]

The fact that my singing monsters was the sponsor is insane to me

[@BrandonWhatTheF]

Damn, Circletoons video essay? Sign me up! Can't wait for a 5 hour video on why Pikmin 3 is a subversive masterpiece!

[@actingapple3607]

I favourite Pokémon gen was gen 5 because that’s when I really started getting into Pokémon. The first Pokémon game I had played was Soul Silver, but Pokémon Black was after that one and for some reason I just loved it more. I have favourite Pokémon in so many different generations, I have Spheal from gen 3, Clauncher and Clawitzer from gen 5, Araquanid from gen 7, and Honedge from gen 6 just to name a few

[@OlleLindestad]

Clauncher and Clawitzer were introduced in gen 6!

[@actingapple3607]

@@OlleLindestad huh, so they did

[@griefingg0lem685]

This felt like a very fair look at this whole situation. You give points as an artist as to how each of the generations do their art styles and how things have evolved and changed, but also pointing out where failings of the development and a swapping to 3D leave to needing new situations. I do agree, and it isn't like this isn't doable. I know Persona and SMT don't have as big of a roster of Shadows/Demons, but those characters have dynamic posing when in 3D and you can understand a lot of their personality from other aspects of their attacks and lore. I do think Pokemon should slow down for better quality games, because as you said "This burger might be good, but it doesn't matter if the restaurant is on fire."

[@robbtaylor8]

And along comes Palworld

[@MoonMoon-cl4co]

This might be unpopular opinion but I really like how different and abstract some of the Pokémon designs have gotten! Like for example Eternatus! I love it’s design it feels so different and unique and I love that!

[@supersaiyankirby]

I actually really like the Ultra Beasts for that too. Like they're absolutely ugly but they're Pokémon from a other dimension it's cool that they look super weird as a result

[@joshcoy6748]

Personally, I'm not actually fond of eternatus, I actually precieved it as a garish knock off of ultra necrozma, not to mention that I greatly disliked the dynamax gimmick, sorry I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just stating my personal opinion.

[@trustindean5164]

@@supersaiyankirby agreed, I actually adore the Ultra Beasts precisely because they have such distinctive designs that feel like something from another world. Not to mention their story role as essentially some of the only actually villainous pokemon that aren't that due to the human villains machinations. I feel like to say pokemon designs have gotten worse over time is just fully wrong, its simply that they got more complicated over time. Some folk prefer the original ideas since they're simpler but personally I love the more complicated themed ideas, it makes them feel more like something beyond just animals (and probably helped alleviate the "forcing animals to fight" idea)

[@BladeSerph]

When they stand out an actually feel like they should be in a entirely different generation without some lousy design whether on `terrible` pokemon designs, bad gameplay design or just a incohesive story design. Yes they can be amazing. Since they decided to do with a less then yearly design to pump out a new pokemon game, put no effort on innovating & enhancing from the previous generation and instead chase a lazy `reuse` level of trend that might as well of started when they first started using 3D models, but its sword & shield when it hit much harder with how things like a `open generic map` with randomly popping in mons that have a lousy draw distance and effectively axed HM moves and put the functions in tedious means of acquire (Screw how Scarlet/Violet handled it and made the signature legendary feel less, `legendary`). What they really should do is go with lower budget games and use that as an excuse for the yearly~less-then-yearly release to UPDATE models to give more dynamic poses. This way they don`t need to keep making new mons each year, improve existing ones and then reuse those models in an actual mainline title they could release once every 2-3 years instead, maybe even use other assets from the smaller titles to make a super amazing polished one later. LIKE GIVE US A POKEMON TITLE SIMILAR TO GOLD/SILVER THAT ACTUALLY GOES THRU MULTIPLE REGIONS SINCE IT WOULD BE AMAZING TO HAVE A REMAKE THAT HAS YOU GO THRU THE FIRST THREE OR FOUR TITLES AS A SORT OF SUPER ADVENTURE WITH ALOT MORE UNIQUE CONTENT ON TOP OF THAT. Games these days are already abusing the fk outta things like Rogue-likes, Card-based, Procedural generation and so on and Pokemon already did some of those especially with things like Mystery dungeon to an extent, if the games are gonna get eaten up so easily on its IP, they might as well focus on refreshing the brand so it can last much longer. Dex-it likely ruined the game`s credibility and eventually alot more people are gonna jump ship from being dedicated fans when they are simply being forced to pay for DLC that mostly consists of thar mons able to come back to the game, NOT the ones from previous generations, which ruins the GENERATION carry-over design and if its not rather obvious for scarlet/violet, just being full of more MOBA/Gacha-like power creep design of new mons with even more broken abilities to saturate the competitive level play, make even more mons get auto banned from a `balanced` game, then GAmefreak breaks it by changing stats/moves of existing mons resulting in more generation specific divides and then people just complain over half the mons in the game are banned because they have one broken ability that some can just straight up sweep half or more of a team, REGARDLESS of types/abilities/stats. Also for Eternatus, they really did that interesting design a dirty and doing what i like to call the `shove in big baddie` filler bit. Its one thing if its say a, Lugia that was corrupted into a darker ver like Pokemon Colosseeum 2 did, but just having a legendary that simply appears, hyped up to be some disaster level mon then basically forgotten next generation, usually because its main gimmick is forever lost to later games...yeah its no wonder its annoying when you get loads of these and they get under utilized, never get utilized or become the equilvency of some MOBA game with too many champions that if someone were to bring them out, they can`t even remember who that mon is, even when it literally was from a previous generation and served as a final boss.

[@diekrahe.]

I really hate the creepy faces at 12:46 Good job

[@hlavco]

The art style has certainly changed over time. Problem is, the original art is what I fell in love with, and the games are drifting farther from that in each generation. I remember opening an issue of Nintendo Power in 1998, seeing the Sugimori watercolor artwork of the first three starter pokemon, and my little kid brain immediately thinking "I want that".

[@ilikestuff9250]

You want Dragon Quest than. Sugimori didn't have an artstyle. He has admitted to cribbing from Akira Toriyama for the earlier gens. If you want that 90's charm, DQ did a much better job of representing it.

[@hlavco]

I'll have to take a look then, thanks.@@ilikestuff9250

[@RedVelvetUnderground333]

@@ilikestuff9250that explains the eyes

[@PhoenixDavis-m4g]

i feel like using ultra beasts as an example doesn't work since they were made to ignore, and break the design principles :I

[@frownyclowny6955]

Kill me I dare you. I fucking love the Lopunny line so much. I love it’s mega, I love its cutesy and interesting design. I love Buneary’s cute and interesting design. I understand how the internet has “taken” Lopunny. But it’s genuinely a fantastic Pokémon

[@limkailuen3022]

Bro is based chad

[@WebcasterProductions]

…

[@breadman8100]

yeah,mega lopunny is definitely interesting

[@wu--]

Just admit you want to have sexual relations with mega lopunny

[@Jard_the_Bard]

Death Penalty

[@thebugbehindthesnax]

I definitely think they’ve changed their design philosophy over time, but I don’t think that they’ve been getting better or worse, just different

[@BahhBahhBrownSheep]

as an outsider who hasn’t enjoyed a pokeybug game since the GBA, I think it’s MUCH worse.

[@blackfox4138]

The designs aren't better or worse, what's worse is production standards.

[@ediakin4993]

As always some pokemon you like and some dislike there never was good for everyone

[@ediakin4993]

​@@BahhBahhBrownSheepyou should just try new games

[@drakegrandx5914]

I mean, if so many people are dissatisfied with the current looks because so many pokemons don't feel like pokemon anymore, in this case "different" is definitly "worse". Designs don't work in a vacuum, they must service the product they are being used for.

[@corbinmoore96]

This is your best video to date. It's especially hard to define whether one model is better than 1 sprite. As someone who hunts for shinies, this question comes into play a lot more often than not. I think whats great about the series being one of the largest and most successful corporations to date is that we've had so many wonderful games put out over the years. I like diving into my collection of older games and deciding which sprite looks the most rewarding to hunt for c: I only wish older titles were more available for cheap, or at least digitally.

[@SageofStars]

They got BUSIER over time, not worse. Not unlike Power Ranger/Sentai monsters and villains, who had simple designs with one primary color and up to 3 secondary most of the time before the Disney Era. But around, I'd say, Ninja Storm, they started to really make them more detailed and just full of small bits and bobs. In the same way, Gens 1-3 tended for single primary, with up to 2 secondary colors, due to the limitations of what the Gameboy Hardware could do for the first two, and out of tradition in the third. After that they started to add small details to just about everything. No solid colors when a pattern can exist, and sometimes it will have splits between three or four colors equally so there is no primary. And details along with bits and bobs everywhere to make them more intricate. This is NOT a bad thing, BTW, just an observation.

[@ThePlasmicAlchemist]

I feel like you may have missed the point of the change in designs. I believe every single generation has its own signature design theming, but newer gens have been crutching more on the idea of wearing their personality on their sleeve. I'm bad at explaining things, so I'm sorry if some things get lost in translation. ● Generation 1 is obviously the roughest looking one. They all look like beasts & animals; something that just almost looks like you could find them in your backyard! ● Generation 2 has a style I can't seem to put into words. Many of them are still gruff, but they look a little friendlier, somehow. Soft, simple details are mixing with the rough, angular details, making for designs that are more quirky or uncanny than the previous gen! ● Gen 3's Pokémon are a direct response to previous criticisms. These creatures almost all have strikingly sharp patterns & designs with bright, eye-catching colors that deliberately clash to get your attention! You can tell they wanted to make a Pokémon you will remember for the rest of your life when you see one of rhem! ● Generation 4 uses more muted colors for its designs to express a cooler climate. Soft, swirly shapes come to my mind when I think Gen 4 - like Pachirisu's tail, or the tuft of hair on Chimchar's head. There's also a bigger use of button eyes, a larger eyes-to-face ratio, and there's a noticeable departure from the sharp, angular designs of the past. ● Generation 5 returns to the bright, eye-catching colors, but it does a lot more to make itself stand out. Many of its small or cute designs are more chibi-like, while the cool designs have fierce or stoic looks to them. It's as if these Pokémon were designed to fit inside a comic book world! If I go any longer, I don't feel like I have enough descriptions to justly describe further generations. All I could say are "gen 6 looks whimsical," and "gen 8 splits between sporty designs & English folktale-looking designs."

[@prayagsuthar9856]

Yeah, I agree, it seems more like each region has its own unique style as opposed to there being an overall style that’s somehow changing. I think I saw a “Did You Know Gaming” video about Gen 3, where someone said in an interview that Gen 1 and 2 Pokémon looked similar to each other, while Gen 3 Pokémon looked much different to set itself apart from those past games.

[@bluebaron6811]

I would say gen 6's designs really hit the spot between simple and gimmicky designs. Yes, there are things like Aegislash who is a gimmick, but lots of gen 6 Pokémon are ones you couldn't tell are gimmick designs in the first place. Goodra, Pyroar, Heliolisk, Dedenne, Tyrantrum, Dragalge, and a lot more HAVE a gimmick in their design, but it's not forcing the gimmick. It took me *10 years* to learn that Dedenne was supposed to be a tooth fairy, whereas I look at Quaquavel and I go "yep, that sure is a Brazilian dancer duck".

[@princessnazario2597]

Great observation and analysis, but the guy says in the video himself is that problem isn't that each generation has their own unique style. The problem is that most of these ideas are executed rather poorly and sort of even miss the whole concept of Pokemon. For example, the gen 8 starter's final evolutions don't look powerful creatures you're taking but literally just humans. The more humanoid, gimmick or otherworldly designs (that are not animal based)should be a MINORITY, not a majority. Other times, a lot of Pokemon look out of place with the general universe of Pokemon UNINTENTIONALLY these days. Not to mention the whole 3-d versus 2-d situation going on. Sometimes, a dynamic static pose can really save a Pokemon concept from looking too boring or basic. With the graphics of modern games looking mediocre, you can see this leak into the Pokemon illustrations or even designs themselves as now they look far too static and humanoid. When it comes to more otherwordly and weird looking Pokemon "designs" like ultra beasts, if you asked a pixel artist to draw those things, they'd probably die.

[@cbbblue8348]

It always my head cannon that Pokémon never forgets the Youkai watch war when Youkai watch beat them on their home turf for like a year. And decided to steal Youkai watch 1-3 design philosophy and completely kicking Youkai watch out of competition.

[@cristiancepeda_yt]

What a bout gen 9

[@merumsb4794]

12:18Hey my favourite Pokémon is Probopass, don't call it like that 😢

[@Cyan-bm6sz]

He's just not smart enough to understand the beauty of the big nose lololol

[@TRUEKingEN]

I still stand by that same idea of every generation has its bad designs (yes even Kanto and Unouva) but they all have a lot of great designs too. Favorite design is Bulbasaur and Popplio Least favorite I really don’t have a least favorite design, each of them is great or funny in their own way.

[@jenssuperkalifragelistisch4488]

So ypu say, every generatoiom has bad designs, just to argue that there are no bad designs two sentences later?

[@corxeth1177]

As someone who refuses to pay $60+ for any of the current gen stuff…. But is actively seeking and paying several hundreds of dollars for older experiences…. May i…. Receive one uh dem gold stars you gave to blue shirt? 😭 at 11:10 as well?

[@corvidcosmo]

I just do this fun thing called *HOMEBREWING* on my 3ds so I don’t have to sell an arm and a leg.

[@silentkill450]

I guess it really does depend on what visually resonates with you in the long run. As someone who grew up with the games with gen 1, I tend to lean on some of the newer ones as my personal favorites (Galvantula and Chandalure being my personal all time faves). I definitely agree with the idea that the issue with newer Pokémon isnt so much the designs themselves, but how they’re plainly presented in the 3D games. Inteleon looked so dull in sword and shield, but the official illustrations and fan sprites made it my 3rd favorite water starter.

[@Strato_Casterrr9898]

I used to hate Incineroar until I saw its front and back sprite in inclement emerald and realize how amazing the design is. My legit fave fire starter next to typhlosion infernape and charizard.

[@CaptainEffort]

@@Strato_Casterrr9898Fr the fan made sprites in rom hacks make me actually appreciate the newer Pokémon designs

[@Khyon521]

6:22 And he’s my favorite little Terrorist Lizard.

[@Metaknighttheloneswordsman]

Same

[@JacobPDeIiNoNi]

FINALLY SOMEBODY BRINGS UP THE CARD ART it’s always so good and sometimes I just go on the tcg card database to look at all the art for various Pokémon even though I haven’t done anything with the physical cards for years. It has single-handedly made me like many designs I didn’t at first like Kommo-o (seriously look at kommo-o’s card arts they’re great)

[@feickpehbehehy]

yeah i started to like Urshifu way more after I see their TCG (and anime) artworks

[@NathanielJordan85]

Now do PalWorld.

[@thomasace2547]

As someone who played Gen-1 Red as a kid I feel like I have this exact rant every time i see the roster for a new Pokémon game

[@ZERARCHIVE2023]

same

[@AuraStrikeAce]

I must be a rare breed. I'm someone that's played since Gen 1, and I still like a fair amount of Pokémon from more recent Gens.

[@ZERARCHIVE2023]

most of them are hit or miss tbh@@AuraStrikeAce

[@kingleonidas2182]

This is such a good video lol. I should’ve known once it was more than a minute long. Also it helped me realize that Pokémon design should be grouped up via the game they came out on.

[@jasonthejazzman8521]

I don't believe they've gotten worse, but when I saw the Magikarp morph into a Bruxish (shudder) I involuntarily said "YES" 11:26

[@MrSkittles_The3rd]

Love how mimikyu just shows that one child it’s true form and literally just.. fricking killed that child (Reference to mimikyu’s dex entry)

[@inoob26]

Pokémon slowly lost their cohesive artstyle due to literally releasing a new game every year, a move which thankfully they started reconsidering in recent news

[@ThatoneLlama]

I still really like the new Pokémon designs, take Arboliva, Hatterene or Iron valiant for example.

[@CringusMcDingus]

They be making the Pokemon non binary now💀

[@Gloomdrake]

@@CringusMcDingusIron Valiant is very binary actually

[@dany_fg]

12:27 this is why I liked Koraidon idle battle animation, they made is a cool pose that make it feel alive.

[@cronic7581]

OMG ! I can't believe someone finally made a video on this, I thought I was the only one that felt this way. Playing Pokemon since my childhood and seeing it change in these ways and not knowing whether to like these changes or not, cuz.... It just doesn't feel the same and traditional.

[@Echo81Rumple83]

this is what i find refreshing about the Rune Factor series: they recycle the same monsters, but their designs are recreated for newer next-gen consoles like the Nintendo Switch that makes it hard to go back to the old days of low polygon counts like the Nintendo DS. that and farming and RPG elements are my go-to destressors.

[@AntAuntGaming]

I love the changing artstyles, especially with older pokémon staying the same, seeing them side by side feels kinda awesome. Shows how long the series have been going on, and it's also really cool seeing old pokémon in new games, it's comforting to know that even in a brand new world, surrounded by brand new creatures, some things still stay the same. Now if only the games were good.

[@Jan12700]

To give Nintendo here a favor, they sadly don't have control over The Pokemon Company and Game Freak. They are Independent to each other. Also Game Freak has always been like this, just watch the Vid from Gireum Red: "I EXPOSED What’s Really Going On At Game Freak"

[@GoldGalaxianFin]

The designs have gotten better and worse. Good designs are even better while bad designs even more noticeable and awful.