How Has Pokémon's Battle Animation Evolved?

[@AppleIPie]

At one point they added closed eyes when Pokemon were sleeping, I remember that made a big impact on me.

[@jakec.1136]

It was in gen 5. I remember that impacting me too.

[@Thesaurus_Rex]

Gen 5 did a lot of neat stuff with its sprite animations. Almost to the point that I wish they had tried to maintain that for one more gen, just to see what further animations we would have had. But, at the same time, the 3d models introduced in 6 were a big step forward. And I think that the 3d models also allowed for some more intricate designs for newer Pokemon that would have been difficult to fully discern in sprites.

[@PatManDX]

They do that with 3d, and they emote more as well, but it's sadly less impressive when the pokemons animations in general are quite samey.

[@Porygon2ning]

Very impactful and awesome. In particular, my favorite sleep animation is Bronzong's. It's eyes go from red to glowing white.

[@DragonKriz]

i Do remember it being on pokemon XD, but i don't know if it was made on the Stadium games

[@RobinBaggett]

Also neat to mention: in B&W they animation slows down when the Pokemon is in red health.

[@ThePikaPlayer]

Mainly in B2W2, it doesn't happen sometimes in BW for some reason.

[@_V.Va_]

And the music change.

[@eigorson]

And in x and y and sun and moon too I think

[@Stratelier]

Being hit with a status ailment (poison, etc) also cuts the speed of their idle animation by half.

[@nebulous9280]

@@Stratelier It may be me remembering incorrectly, but for Freeze, the animation just stops, and for Paralysis, doesn't it like stutter? Moving slower but occasionally stopping for a split second?

[@DaybreakTownGSA]

I think you skipped B2W2 giving literally every trainer class its own custom sprite animation at the start of battle as opposed to just important characters

[@afarensis9720]

Even the champions and gym leaders who literally only show up for the PWT...god I love Gen 5

[@flyingphoenixcat3742]

B2/W2 Trainers: Are we a joke to you?

[@Jdudec367]

gen 7 did it for it's trainers to also it was the first time we actually see a trainer in battle with there pokemon

[@Victory619]

@@Jdudec367 This says otherwise: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWqsmK19bZ6tpa8

[@RayoMcQueen95990]

Never noticed that lol But also gave Pokémon more animation like the Unova starters which have new idle animations

[@iMac9991]

I remember when everything about B&W was being leaked, especially the moving sprites. I was so excited. You also forgot that in B&W they introduced when pokemon were inflicted by sleep, their eyes closed, and when they were weak (red health bar) their animation slowed down.

[@johtrio]

ohhh i forgot abt that !! makes me def miss gen 5 now ... (plus dat low health music doe)

[@unbound2424]

I'm playing bw2 for the first time in 2021 lol, I'm 17 but I never got any consoles in my childhood so now I just play lonely

[@Lazer_Specter]

Also if burn was inflicted they were tinted red, tinted yellow for paralysis and purple for poisoned.

[@lourila]

And it a been keep in recent 3D Pokemon game, Thanks Gamefreak studio

[@stellarknight04]

Another detail in B/W (idk about B2/W2) if the Pokemon is paralyzed their sprite freezes for a second sometimes, I always thought that was funny

[@Kuon_latte]

I never noticed that the summoning animations only had 2 different frames. Well played Game Freak

[@JOCoStudio1]

Yeah, how did I not see that in the years I've played those games? I noticed the change in back sprite animation in gen 4 but didn't realise it was the first time with multiple frames. Same with the way animation worked in gen 5. Thought they were just animated sprites but that bone method makes so much more sense on that scale.

[@bobvella7228]

@@ProfesorCafe it's a zombie girl in make up, not joking.

[@AzerothLatinoamerica]

The game industry is pack full of examples like that. Not only that, movie also find ways to cheat your eyes. The problem is when someone just use the technology available to make the most "impresive" shit around, usually that ages really really bad.

[@coreflakes]

Oku this aged like milk

[@zodayn]

The sprite animation in pokémon Crystal might have been an unsustainable effort. But man the hard work tells and the end result is lovely.

[@rin_okami]

Back in the day, I used to take those animations and recolor them with the color palette of whatever the latest game had for their sprites, cuz DAMN some of them looked AWESOME.

[@SamuraiMotoko]

Unsustainable for an indie company?

[@Thraim.]

I still remember when I first played Crystal and it just blew my tiny little child mind that the Pokemon would move so much. 2nd gen best gen. Fight me.

[@SeaHorseOfYoutube]

Not only the animations, the sprite art itself is amazing, the poses are dynamic and iconic, even the limited gameboy color palette works in their favor, they look amazing.

[@mikebarnes7441]

@@Thraim. move so much? Really? Lol. They barely move at all

[@adamhull6861]

21:21 "a significantly scaled down pokedex" Game Freak: Write that down!

[@Mynameishassan0]

21:24

[@theberrby6836]

Lol!

[@SnakeGuyMike]

Now We Have To Pay More Money For Updates To The Game And Pay To Transfer Our Pokemon To Sword. No Thanks, I Would Prefer To Play Games Like Digimon, Smash Bros, And Pokken Tournament... I'm Not Going To Play Games That'll Scam You For More Money Than The Game Is Worth...

[@Frikgeek]

@@SnakeGuyMike Your comment is not a title. You don't have to capitalise every single word.

[@NaiefThegoony]

Overdosing salt is unhealthy

[@edwuano7]

one thing I really loved about LGP&E was the scaling. Onix felt HUGE compared to a pidgey, and they did a great job at expressing that.

[@CNightmare072]

Colosseum did this really well too. They made everything scale to size based on the Pokédex which is awesome.

[@mr.preston1632]

The only thing they did right

[@AhmedHussain-ju6xd]

@@mr.preston1632 what about following pokemon

[@TheChildofAuraReborn]

Colosseum and Battle Revolution did scaling as well, but on a way grander scale. Revolution actually had the best stage/arena designs that really complimented the size scaling.

[@nullpoint3346]

@@AhmedHussain-ju6xd HGSS, the best in the series.

[@SoFarSoGoodSoWhat14]

The newer animations might be "better", but the gen 5 moving sprites look so great and have so much character

[@jamesayewale5695]

The gen 5 sprites have character, but a lot less character.

[@supahstarwarrior6942]

If you can even call the new animations better

[@jamesayewale5695]

@@supahstarwarrior6942 The new animations are better, yes. They are much less stilted, have better detail, have a LOT more variety, are smoother...they are better in nearly every metric.

[@holylarcenist9596]

James Ayewale nah gen 5 sprites we’re full of energy. Ever since the Jump to 3D they are stiff and emotionless.

[@holylarcenist9596]

Why are you always crying? It’s the same models as x and y. If you’ve ever seen what the 3ds games look like in 1080p it’s nearly identical.

[@Simipour1]

"Maybe for Gen 8 follower Pokemon will finally be a thing for all Pokemon again after HGSS" _Curb Your Enthusiasm theme starts playing_

[@RoboEpic]

Yeah

[@awildmoose6541]

Dead old meme

[@GetterBane]

You give love a bad name starts playing

[@raccoonchild]

A Wild Moose: Useful memes never die.

[@Stratelier]

"Maybe for Gen 8 follower Pokemon will finally be a thing *for all ... who-knows-how-many hundred Pokemon in the Pokedex"* Well, he's not wrong on the Pokedex part.... (He didn't say _National_ Dex specifically)

[@Kalernor]

A 27 minute episode covering the animation of an entire series that spans 3 decades of video-game animation? SIGN ME UP

[@snaiians]

3 decades? its only been 2 1/3 decades

[@rolandoroderickgonzalezhid9198]

shhhh... enjoy the function...

[@rewrose2838]

@@snaiians That's a Parker Square of a function right there

[@snaiians]

@@rewrose2838 nice mathematical meme right there

[@rewrose2838]

@@snaiians Haha I'd a feeling that you'd recognize that~

[@estellelass7292]

I still can’t stop thinking about how tragic Typhlosion became once 3D was implemented.

[@rhadamanthys649]

Can we talk about Eelektross too? His 3D model is almost comical when you compare to the 2D sprite

[@Lara-rm3gs]

And let’s consider Marshtomp. He looks so sad in 3D

[@estellelass7292]

Jungkook's International ARMY Oh absolutely, he looses all of his personality.

[@estellelass7292]

Dominik Zelenák Definitely- he looks insane with how fast he’s flapping

[@jimmymagic7686]

For real, generation 2 he was a beast, afterwards he became trash

[@RM-iu9bw]

Anyone else find the Black/ white animations the best to date? There is something about it's moving pixelated sprites that just breathes out life

[@Skittlespillygog]

there's something about moving sprites that just breathes out aliasing

[@Gafafsg]

GingerdreadCookie Good thing the switch games don’t have anti-aliasing either :)

[@Skittlespillygog]

@@Gafafsg ...... I think you've confused aliasing and the process of "anti-aliasing" and have only made yourself look the fool.

[@smoltoaster]

RM 1999 It fits pokemon way better imo in both battles and in the actual overworld gameplay itself. The 3D gens don’t have very many secret areas or little pathways to discover because it would look odd in 3D with the way they are designing the game. The pokemon are lifeless right now and just slowly breathe in and out while blankly staring forwards. 2D gen 5 sprites had a lot of personality and I think they looked really really good. If they continued 2D and kept updating moves and animation quality overall I think the games would look much better now than they do in 3D. It takes much more attention to detail to make 3D models look good because there isn’t much room for imagination to help. We see the 3D creature and expect it to act as lively as things are in real life. With 2D models there is a ton of room for imagination to fill in the gaps and it can look really clean.

[@AdrianGonzalez-sh7qm]

I think the pixel animations and 3D animations should be two different categories. B2W2 had great pixel art and I think it’s the pinnacle. I didn’t mind the design in x and y because it was the first Pokémon 3D game on the 3ds. But when that same animation hits the switch 7 years later it’s not really impressive. They even admitted that sword and shield wasn’t going to be their main project so it was already half baked from the start.

[@uwuppa]

I think Gen 5 was the best that Pokémon ever looked. I wished they expanded on the animation concept.

[@kaylubproductions4517]

"No-no-no-no... it's just fainting you see - because of all the fun they're having." I was dying xd

[@fluffy_tail4365]

"It's not dogfighting" meanwhile the pokemon is clearly bruised and not happy. Never change nintendo

[@stevethepocket]

"Only one round, and Rokie's already tired!"

[@HemlockSky1991]

TheSmashMaster9000 Agreed. These are animals without as much free choice, though. Humans choose to do those arts, while pokemon are forced into balls and into battle. Doesn’t mean I don’t play Pokemon. I love it. But there is quite a difference. It’s a game, though, and not actual animal fighting.

[@DanielPereira-ey9nt]

@TheSmashMaster9000 wrestling is pokemon contests for humans

[@mikehawk2826]

So will the Pokemon

[@Player1-up]

kinda sad you didnt mention BW2's occasional improvements on the v1 animations. My personal favourite improvement has to be Emboar's. It goes from him slapping his arms against his hips to confidently *BASHING* his fists together, like it looks intimidating and i love it.

[@johtrio]

that's why bw2 holds a special place in my heart. love the lil updates they added 😌👌

[@enigmaarcs8559]

and all the trainers we fight got their own animation.

[@peckypork]

@@enigmaarcs8559 that's the best part for me, they look so cool and awesome😭

[@rpgfanatic9719]

Cool, Embroar in XY onward can jump up and slam his fists into the ground.

[@edcaous]

Snivy in BW crosses his arms, in B2W2, he brushes the dirt off of himself as if the fight is dirtying him somehow.

[@MetaAF]

I would love to see the battle animation reach the level of personality that stadium's had.

[@duckblast]

If modern Pokemon gams battles could look like Battle Revolution it would be hype

[@doubleasworkshop1692]

I doubt you saw the video

[@redking36]

I doubt that would be feasible. The most efficient way to do that would be to create every attack animation for each rig (skeletal structure), but there’s enough weird Pokémon out there that there must be dozens of rigs to do that for, or even a couple hundred. They could also have some moves use the same animation but have different visual effects tied to them, but that would probably be labeled as “lazy.” It would be a monstrous project.

[@MetaAF]

@@doubleasworkshop1692 I know quantity prevents it, but since gen 8 is omitting pokemon perhaps it can happen again.

[@doubleasworkshop1692]

@@MetaAF you talk as if they'll be removing 80% of the pokemon. 1. The pokemon count will still probably be 500 and that's a pessimistic estimate. 2. As clearly and briefly stated in the video. The stadium animations are not just for quantity. The stadium pokemons had defined number of moves. They had to animate only 4 moves for each pokemon give or take as you couldn't teach or remove moves without hacking. If they do that here, they'll have to do that for each of the 50 to 60 or more moves each pokemon can learn. You can't reuse the same double kick animation of a nidoran for a nidoking or queen, not only will it look odd but also the models and proportions wouldn't match for the move animation to be ported over or make look believable. Meaning for a pokemon with 3 evolutionary stage you'll need a different animation of the same move making total move animations sky rocket to 200+ for a single line of pokemon. Couple that with different animations for a hitmonchan double kick, or a scorbunny double kick or a lopunny double kick. They all need to have different animations to match their proportion and design otherwise the move will look jank, unless they do what they have been doing. That is not only hefty investment on the animators' part, this will also not come cheap. Animations don't come cheap. That much animation will cost over hundreds of millions.

[@stevenphan8677]

Make blastoise actually shoot from his cannons and I'm good. Legit even his mega evolution, 3 cannons shoots water from mouth. 😖😖😖

[@MattTheHuman9]

Simple changes like this would improve battles so much more.

[@vbarreiro]

Pokemon Battle Revolution actually does this

[@CausticFoil]

This would be awesome but doing so would expect that quality from every other Pokémon. Giving over 500 different Pokémon detailed animations like that would be a near impossible task.

[@bluefable3416]

@@CausticFoil It not lmao, it extremely easy to relocate where Water shotout from the pokemon plus it not like it haven't done before look at Battle Revolution it created 12 year ago and it have 493 pokemon with all that quality of animation with the technology to animate 800+ pokemon wouldn't even be that difficult for a Lage Company like gamefreak not to mention they have 2+ year since X&Y came out with the model

[@CausticFoil]

The problem there is that Battle Revolution was its own game dedicated to battling. There's way more content in Sword and Shield including new Pokémon that each need to be animated and many detailed areas. Relocating where over 700 different moves come out of 500 different Pokémon would take an extremely long time. However, one way to include this and avoid raising the quality boundaries could be giving Blastoise a unique Dynamax move where water finally shoots out of the right place. Signature Dynamax or Gigantimax moves would be awesome to see.

[@dizzybunnies]

this aged....interestingly.

[@smolbrendan5978]

Like a fine wine that has been left in cobwebs since the 1800s.

[@thedude7319]

Yes, but I like the ending part almost like a foreboding warning

[@Stratelier]

@15:16 - Cue basically ANY Pokemon performing a standardized Z-move. Maybe this is part of why the feature wasn't as well received as Mega evolutions (a legit new design for the Pokemon who got them, with a full* set of new battle animations) ? * Yes, I know their actual range of battle emotes was just as limited as their normal form, but that's kind of the point: no better, but no worse either.

[@ThatChiefGuy]

DizzyBunnies amen to that brother...or sister. I’m not sure which one 😂

[@ThatChiefGuy]

DizzyBunnies boy or girl bunny? Hahaa sorry I’m only looking at your name for reference

[@ThePoltergust5000]

One thing I really wish they would add to Pokemon is a dodge animation. Instead of just saying "But it missed!" or some variation thereof, it could show the attack animation proceeding as normal, with the target simply hopping out of the way right before it hits, and _then_ "But it missed!".

[@ZenoDLC]

Would be funny with stuff like Earthquake, Dark Pulse, Surf... Pokemon 1 : ※Washes the whole arena with lava by summoning an instant volcano※ Pokemon 2 : ※Sidesteps but still gets engulfed by the lava since the animation's wide enough※ Announcer : but it missed!

[@miimiiandco]

Sometimes, you only need the actual attack animation to miss. You could just show (maybe a shortened version of) Earthquake and not show the damage animation on flying Pokemon.

[@nataliemacqueen822]

@@ZenoDLC Pokémon Stadium was kinda like that. Lol. They'd use Surf and you would just see the Pokémon standing under the water in its idle animation and it says "But it missed!" Lol.

[@mechamonkeymancityboat7785]

Tfw showdown already has that

[@maciewaciej]

and national dex brings back all mons tfw some rando battle emulator literally better than game freak

[@spoofsrocks13]

Follower pokemon animations were actually in Sun and Moon's data, they just went unused in the actual game. As shown through the famous "Furret Walk".

[@2c3d48]

Which means those animations are in the animation bank, which is great news. I imagine they just didn’t work too well on slopes, though, at least if they don’t have inverse kinematics.

[@AsecasJavi]

@@2c3d48 they are used in let's go

[@shatteredsentient5321]

In Swoshi lemme have my shiny furret follow me

[@keeysOST]

If they are purposely keeping that secret I will scream

[@timothymclean]

@@keeysOST I'd bet money that Game Freak just didn't have the time to properly polish follower pokémon. Maybe they bugged around NPCs or other moving overworld things, maybe they never worked the kinks out of the inverse kinematics, maybe they just didn't have time to make the animations as unique and appealing as they wanted.

[@trobertt7271]

Dan sounds like a pokemon professor while talking about animations.

[@maggieent3215]

Professor Dan! Professor Dan! If he can't discuss them, no one can!

[@CatOnACell]

But..but... he doesnt have a tree name. If your a PokeProff you need a tree name.

[@c0mpu73rguy]

xcfencer99 Prof. Ebony or Elm maybe? If it’s not taken yet.

[@GeneralLuigiTBC]

@@c0mpu73rguy Elm's taken. Generation II, remember?

[@c0mpu73rguy]

@General Luigi My bad. The names aren't the same in my version (even if I think it's the same tree). Ebony then?

[@WipZedKay]

While the 3D animations are fantastic, the animated sprites from gen 5 just had a lot more character if you ask me.

[@BaskervilleLacie]

the dream would be to take the expressiveness of the gen 5 sprites and put them to the 3d models. but tbh just thinking about the scope of that is making me lose my mind

[@RoboEpic]

Agreed and it was amazing for the DS

[@MrLachapell]

Totally

[@ahyafikri4746]

Ds era is the best

[@enimo9241]

True. I miss Buizel's spinny tails

[@FerralVideo]

The whole "similar energy" is something I couldn't put my hand on for why Black and White felt "livelier" than the modern 3D games! Thanks for finding the words for me.

[@Leto85]

'It's fainting, because of all the fun we're having.' That should be an official NPC reaction. 😂😂

[@itsnotpaul8548]

Me too

[@BingQilin]

I think the closest thing would be that one NPC who says "My pokemon still looks cute even though it's fainted."

[@jwx9509]

@@BingQilin Why does that sound more concerning?

[@jonathanpoirier9576]

"the game is jam-packed with delightful creatures! and also pichu!" you sir, have extracted a good chuckle out of me!

[@FalkaRiannon]

Same here. Had to pause the video cause I was laughing so hard.

[@maggieent3215]

Me too, although I have no gripes against Pichu

[@KP-cb4sy]

I feel sorry for Pichu...

[@TheStrangeSandwich]

@@KP-cb4sy Yeah we need a punching bag pokemon for Dan's jokes.

[@ax9583]

@@TheStrangeSandwich well, there is wobuffet...

[@thepunslinger9349]

Still waiting on Hydro Pump to come out of Blastoise's cannons in a mainline game. Pokemon Stadium 1 had it for sukes fake.

[@LouPatt]

lol so you knwo the Pokedex Pro on the 3ds xD blastoise hydro pump works from his cannons

[@lionzcrown1702]

it also only had battling.

[@lewdpanties]

This comment is pretty old but it's funny that they removed Blastoise instead of fixing its animations lol.

[@michaualtington]

@@lewdpanties ikr, also that could be a spoiler.

[@reiverdaemon]

@@lionzcrown1702 My guy, it's literally one animation for one of the most popular Pokemon.

[@whatchahowsya8688]

2:40 the sad moment when gen 8 Double Kick still looks like Squirtle's Tackle back on the Gameboy.

[@michaelballack3051]

@Blade Vizor imagine being blind to criticism and reality.

[@zade8726]

Michael Lema imagine the person who’s typing won’t shut up

[@Duckybacca]

@Michael Lema ah yes the animations suck now but in sun and moon they were fine

[@Duckybacca]

@Michael Lema stiff but yeah

[@coreflakes]

The game’s neat but those animations tho

[@Emmajh97]

After the E3 2019 announcement about Pokemon Home and the limitations of Sword/Shield’s dex... Dan’s comments about the scope issues just hit so much harder... 😅😓

[@RoboEpic]

ikr

[@noticias6111]

If the 2-D sprites had continued for another generation maybe the action-adventure like elements of the 'Rangers' games would have integrated into furthers games.

[@michael6079]

No not really they already have the 3d models and animations they would only be working on maybe 1-2 animations for the old pokemon in the over world. There is no way in hell it would be as hard or time consuming as some people think it would be. Its literally what they have done from XY and up.

[@alexstewart9592]

You really didn't pay attention to the end of this video or to what was ACTUALLY said when they announced it. From what Masuda said, it is pretty heavily implied that they actually ARE doing what New Frame Plus most wanted, and re-doing all the old animations with more care. On top of that, each Pokemon has a new battle entry animation for wild encounters, a new animation for when you dynamax them, and a new out-of-battle animation for when you whistle, which is +3 animations on over 1000 unique models, making over 3000 brand new animations right there (and thanks to Dynamax, there are probably another +3 animations we have not been shown yet), on top of re-animating all 742 existing moves and making all the new moves (including at least more intricate 19 Max moves for Dynamax), including the alternate animations that a few moves have (Fusion Flare and Fusion Bolt have a second animation used when they crit and when their power-doubling condition is met, and some moves have unique animations when used by a specific form of a specific Pokemon, such as Dragon Ascent changing when used by Mega Rayquaza). Oh, and they also put a substantial amount of time and money into animating the player characters so they emote, and NPCs appear to have substantially more animations than they used to.

[@misanthropiclusion]

@@michael6079 Ah yes the "i have no idea about 3d modeling, game design or animation so i just assume that it's copy pasting stuff they are just lazy" get a job first before whinning about people working dude, and second there is more than just battles to animate it's an entire pokemon game this is not a pokemon stadium.

[@rayo3708]

It s incredible how much personality pokemon have in the n64, gamecube and wii games

[@sylvierose2799]

@Why are you always crying? *Gale of Darkness wants to know your location*

[@mortenera2294]

@@sylvierose2799 C'mon, we all know he's trolling

[@sylvierose2799]

@@mortenera2294 I wouldn't be surprised if he is being serious

[@mortenera2294]

@@sylvierose2799 Pokemon Snap was a good game, but they could remake it for the Wii U. Battle Revolution has awesome animations tho

[@magic_cfw]

Wait, that sprite's arm moved. Me: *panicked, and calls all paranormal containment and extermination organisations*

[@erican3781]

@Rotom Channel SCP-ARM Class: Keter Security Procedures: SCP-ARM is to be kept in one (1) standard black Nintendo 3DS attached to a power unit in a windowless 5×5×2 meter room. Description: SCP-ARM is the arm of a Pokémon trainer sprite. It is capable of independent 3D motion separate from it's host body (referred to as SCP-ARM-1) When any human or animal enters the room, SCP-ARM will materialize six (6) poke balls around SCP-ARM-1's waist and throw one (1) ball at the ground. On contact, a large snowflake - shaped creature emerges from the ball and attempts to throw a large icicle at the target. Attempting to flee will cause the words "You can't run from a trainer battle!" To appear above the creature's head, and any attempt to attack the creature will result in the creature firing another icicle. Bonus points if you figure out what Pokémon I'm referring to

[@erican3781]

@Rotom Channel Nice, you got it. Cryogonal is probably one of the most obscure Pokémon so I used it

[@originaluseername]

WHY IS THERE A “ME:”?! IT SERVES LITERALLY NO PURPOSE!

[@Avriel_Mimiga]

It's just Magnets, don't worry

[@gabfg]

something i’ve never understood is how the animate every pokemon actually sleeping in pokemon amie/pokemon camp and yet they don’t use those animations in battle when a pokemon falls asleep. like they just close their eyes while the do the same idle animation, why lmao

[@builderbosc]

I mean games take a bunch of time to make, plus gamefreak hates to delay games so it’s the best they can do sadly

[@OzCroc]

@@builderbosc You didn't read the comment.

[@avionboi6866]

That would need making another animation for *every* pokemon

[@graysonkenna1464]

@@avionboi6866 reread the comment

[@peckypork]

@@avionboi6866 what you mean EVERY Pokemon????? Gurl you're out of the loop 😭✋

[@Skallva]

Didn't even mention that Gen V added a dynamic camera to the battles? And forgot that B2/W2 was the true first set of games that gave all trainers pre-battle animation? Or even some one-off experiments, like the champion battle in B2/W2 having a moving background. The Pokémon movement was not the only reason Gen V battles feel so good.

[@siragon756]

Also, the final pokemon theme. But that's not about animation anymore.

[@sternosaur4132]

ooh, stop , he made his point :P

[@carlbloke8797]

Skallo exactly

[@ECAPS.]

And battles felt snappier and faster. I just can't go back to the previous gens or the recent gens.

[@fluvee]

Hahaha... Ah.... You must have been very excited about the recent news with Sword and Shield..

[@plznobanihack6132]

Lol

[@_mako]

It all makes so much sense now.

[@khabigg9510]

But this came out a month before E3

[@darling8131]

little did he know

[@gishathosaurus6828]

BOOM SHAKALAKA!

[@Chickenman161]

I'm really surpized you didnt talk about how much personality the XD and colluseum games had in thier idol animations. I still remeber ludicolo doing its little can-can to this day

[@HardGuess]

You mean idle animations?

[@lukebytes5366]

I feel like the problem with the 3d generations is that the animation just looks plain. You see gen 5 animations have only one or two for most pokemon, but those few animations show a lot. Pokemon bounce all over the place, and the ones who don't move alot make some sense, since their often very intimidating anyway. Like the yin yang legendaries. But gen 6 and onward just show pokemon...stand there. There isn't much movement from them and most don't even have a cool pose like the previous gens. It's not even that there isn't enough animations or that the animations ar lacking anything technical, (except for some move animations.) Theres just a lack of character and creativity in most animations.

[@Cringe89563]

They also just stare off into the void of space while standing as stiff as a rock

[@Avatarbee]

The problem is that they lost their fidget animations so now they just endlessly loop their idle animations.

[@qyxgames]

​@@Avatarbee do you know when that happened?

[@Avatarbee]

@@qyxgames Generation 6

[@qyxgames]

@@Avatarbee Gen6 did have fiddle animations, right?

[@eldritchtoilets210]

Pokemon follower animations were actually datamined in the Sun & Moon games, so they might not be where GameFreak spent their ressources for Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee.

[@alzaraf3807]

this. not to mention that the follower animations include everything from gen 1-7, not just gen 1 seen in LGP/E

[@maggieent3215]

@@alzaraf3807 let's blast those hopes to the stratosphere! Prepare for follower pokemon!

[@samuelturner6076]

L'indécis de nature Your 90% right, they weren’t specifically follower animations, just walk and run animations, they’re they same set of walk and run animations Pokémon use for the Pokéfinder (the camera that was mini Pokémon snap in USM), however it’s very possible (I think they may be in LG) that they could be used for follower animations.

[@maggieent3215]

​@@samuelturner6076 and there's interactions w/specific pokemon in USUM like Bewear and Rockruff.

[@eduardod14s]

They have no excuse to don't have walking and ridable Pokemon in Sword and Shield

[@danurruty7981]

There is so much good in this video that I know I should be focusing on... But that Pichu slam? That was art.

[@MrTombombodil]

An added gameplay benefit of all the moves having the same effects is that it reduces complexity. if you've encountered a move before and know what it looks like, you'll recognize it no matter what future Pokémon you fight use it and have a good idea of what that move does.

[@SaberToothPortilla]

Yeah, it definitely helps for if you can't/failed to read the text. The reading part is becoming less and less of an issue now though, because the games are translated into like 8 languages now. That was honestly one of the best things about X&Y, they gave themselves a solid jumping off point, even if the game itself kinda suffered for it.

[@WalkingSpider3825]

I kinda preferred the gen 5 sprites over the 3d models right now for the pokemon cause they felt more lively

[@TheShadeVoid]

Yasssssss

[@enzodimasi8248]

Yeah they should go back

[@dairhat]

I would prefer a 2D sprite based Pokemon game instead of them trying sk hard to do it in 3d.

[@nonexistent2112]

Even the trainers were animated

[@SluggishGA]

What if they used sprites similar to the style of the official art of each pokemon, animated in a similar style to gen 5.

[@DennerBob]

"... And also pichu." Had so much subtle shade I had to rewatch that part just to confirm that I'd witnessed a murder. I hadn't examined the battle animations closely since I the 3D change, but something I hadn't put my finger on was bugging me, and I think you're right. The sameness, particularly in the speed of the idles I think, just feels really at odds with the design. I enjoyed some of the fidgets in Coliseum so much that I would wait on my turn just to watch them. There was a lot of personality in dang near all of them. Benefit of the reduced scope I guess.

[@samuelturner6076]

I think the sameness caused by they’re idle animation speed is due to the tie that animation has with Pokémon HP, since Pokémon got in battle idles (or at least not to long after) the less HP a Pokémon had, the slower they’d preform that idle, and because of this I think GF made all their idles similarly timed or something so the mechanic would work with all Pokémon without causing any issues. It’s interesting too see that this mechanic meant to make battles more lifelike and realistic kinda can do the opposite.

[@plet0707]

One animation I absolutely love is Growlithe in Pokémon Stadium. It's really simple. He just sits there like a dog, but he looks like he's panting because of the speed at which he bobs back and forth. Also his tail waggles, and his tongue sways back and forth in his mouth like a pendulum, and it's so goddamn adorable. It makes him look like such a good boye.

[@harrylane4]

Nothing will ever be worse than the "bird gliding " animations in the current games

[@samuelturner6076]

Harrison Lane bit excessive my dude, sure some of them aren’t the best, but they’re serviceable.

[@harrylane4]

@@samuelturner6076 Nothing. Worse. Child labor? Exploitation of minimum wage workers? Increasing suicide rates worldwide? That shit ain't got nothing on my imaginary birds not flapping their wings.

[@pegasBaO23]

After this it's hard to justify being annoyed by the decreasing amount of new pokemon added with it each gen, and I think a have idea of how to make the 3d animations more unique without doing too much work, make pokemon move to time signature, like in music, with signature being asigned to pokemon depending on type of character it has, for example magnemite could move a 4/4 time signature as it's slow and steady, while more erractic pokemon could move in an higher rate like 15/16 etc

[@marsupialmole3926]

I'm just annoyed with how the ratio of legendary:non-legendary Pokemon has continually shifted. In gen 1 you had 5 legendary Pokemon out of 151, about 1 in 30. In gen 7 you have 83 legendaries out of 809, or roughly 1 in 10, roughly three times the ratio. Though you could argue that it's 81 out of 807 if you exclude Meltan and Melmetal, or 84 out of 809 if you include Phione. It gets even worse when you look at gen 7 alone. It has more than twice as many legendaries than the next two most legendary-laden generations (4 and 5) with a whopping 30 legendary Pokemon, though only 23 if you exclude the NFE legendaries, and with only 88 Pokemon introduced in total, that's somewhere between 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 Gen 7 Pokemon being legendaries

[@DarthQuazarXII]

Marsupial Mole 69 of the current Pokédex are legendary/mythical pokemon which only makes 8% of the Pokédex. And Gen VII had 16 non-legendary pokemon, not 30. 12 of you don’t count NFE type:null, cosmog’s evolutions and meltan. While that’s still more than what gen VI went back to of only 6, 12-16 is still not that far off from what gen past gens have done.

[@marsupialmole3926]

@@DarthQuazarXII 1. Type: Null 2. Silvally 3. Tapu Koko 4. Tapu Lele 5. Tapu Bulu 6. Tapu Fini 7. Cosmog 8. Cosmoem 9. Solgaleo 10. Lunala 11. Nihilego 12. Buzzwole 13. Pheromosa 14. Xurkitree 15. Celesteela 16. Kartana 17. Guzzlord 18. Necrozma 19. Magearna 20. Marshadow 21. Poipole 22. Naganadel 23. Stakataka 24. Blacephalon 25. Zeraora 26. Meltan 27. Melmetal Whoops, guess I was wrong, thought there were 30, there's only 27. Think I might have accidentally counted the Necrozma forms as different Pokemon. Sorry

[@SEMIA123]

@@marsupialmole3926 ultra beasts base stats are too low (570 across the board compared to average 680) to be considered legendary. They're lower than the mythical too, albeit only just. UB's are their own thing. Some might say that the distinction is pedantry at it's finest. Edit: apparently the trios are considered legendaries? They're usually 570-580 so I guess that does put UB's in range of legendaries. I always thought they were mythical

[@marsupialmole3926]

@@SEMIA123 There's a specific, limited number of them available per save file and they can't breed, ergo, legendary. "Mythical" specifically refers to event legendaries

[@afarensis9720]

Finally, someone who appreciates Generation 5 for what it deserves

[@tahmaskenchers1782]

it had the best roll out of any Gen and had one of the best stories.

[@agareverie]

Not the anime

[@ultralucario9152]

*The bw anime doesn't exists*

[@redwarrior118]

Therapist: Bw anime doesn't exist, it can't hurt you Bw anime: *exists*

[@kushagrayadav1364]

@Merciless Freak They look bad I'll give you that but at least they look like Pokémon.

[@BlueFireDrakka]

that little details they added in XY with Amie, where as your pokemon grows more attached to you they start getting little excited wiggles and bounces showing how eager they are to fight with/for you, up to the epic pay off of your pokemon tilting its head to look back at you as if to say "hell yeah lets win this fight together" or when they're being praised for getting crits was just so sweet. it was really sort of the first time I actually _Felt_ like I was a pokemon trainer, all because of a little animation feedback of my My little Pixel monsters just tilting its head to look at me and the fact that Vaporeon literally makes an XD face when you pet its middle fin/fave spot was just too cute. fun fact you can get some of your Mons to high five you as well and one that legit surprised me was _Dratini_ of all things, it dont have arms but it will donk its little head into your hand. what a determined little Wyrm.

[@NeoKingGhidorah]

Dan your continued Pichu vendetta does essentially boil down to bullying an actual baby so tread lightly

[@jerrisatyourwindow]

"If it can crawl it can brawl

[@zencyn4682]

@@jerrisatyourwindow That sounds like a Smash Bros ad

[@dbzfanexwarbrady]

@@zencyn4682 where pichu will kick your ass

[@emc246]

Well considering it's in competitive battling Pichu is probably at least level 50, maybe even 100. I wouldn't call that a baby.

[@srfrancium9728]

I mean it's also not real so

[@fascinationproductions5973]

I wish the modern pokemon idle animations could have taken a little more inspiration from Pokemon Stadium or Pokemon xD and Coliseum: those games nailed the lively hood of the 3D Pokemon animations pretty well and improved it from there.

[@timothymclean]

Limited scope lets you do that.

[@onelessprettierhorizon4253]

I know right!?

[@QuinLIVE]

Timothy McLean limited scope would be an excuse if the hardware hadn’t advanced significantly since these games

[@redking36]

Quinn It’s not about the hardware or memory space. It’s about the sheer number of animations that has to be created per Pokémon. The Pokédex is way bigger now.

[@SilverDrakez]

@@redking36 This is the most profitable franchise in the history of games. They've used the same models and animations since 2013. Not only that, they've had the running and walking animations of every single pokemon done since SM - which never even gets used!! If you hire 100 animators, each animator will have 7-8 Pokemon to dedicate time towards. Hire 50 animators? They'll have at max 20 pokemon each to work on. They certainly spent all that time animating the models for Pokemon Amie. They could have easily spent some time and money over the past 6 years on animating the Pokemon for battles. There is no excuse.

[@Roppyz]

Gen 5 is by far the most polished in all aspects.

[@RoboEpic]

Agreed and it was amazing for the DS

[@MrLachapell]

Not in the map routes tho

[@awildmoose6541]

Map sucked ass

[@maganacgod6571]

@@MrLachapell Literally what? Gen 5's level design was stellar.

[@66Kusmu]

Gen 5 is my personal favorite, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the most polished in *all* aspects.

[@RealmOfUnknown]

“Expectations were met and we could never go back to static sprites.” Lol. Now we just have static models.

[@RiahGreen]

LMAO nice one I'll remember it

[@walterHonwana]

Ha!

[@Iamverykarpy]

They still move?

[@XavierPlayR]

@@Iamverykarpy barely

[@actualatom]

@@XavierPlayR cope

[@ftufaif]

I usually hate poketubers because of the lack of contents and the use of clickbaits in their videos .. but this 30:00 video is truly impressive! Gotta appreciate the hard work you put on this video

[@Argol228]

that isn't something that is a Poketuber thing. ever kind of youtuber community has those that have lack of content and clickbait

[@andrew6179]

Fatimah Al Tufaif One could also say he put much more effort on this video then gf on gen 8

[@Argol228]

@@andrew6179 oh so you have played gen 8 have you?

[@andrew6179]

Argol228 Do you need to eat a burned pizza to know it‘s burned? What question is that ssly

[@Argol228]

@@andrew6179 yes, because the burn might only be on the base, and also, some pizza are better with a bit of char

[@magikwindmill9165]

I love spinda's and hitmontop's 3D idle models because they look so lively doing individual movements that don't look as static as the other Pokemon

[@brickmastere5535]

"I think I want to see the animations we already have be more appealing." I totally agree. Just see Toucannon use Supersonic Skystrike lmfao

[@TheTheThe_]

😳

[@shatteredsentient5321]

Lmao I remember that XD.

[@NameName-yj7lp]

I was like 10 when I played SM I- I thought all thoese were so well done God no they were funny

[@nullpoint3346]

@@NameName-yj7lp You weren't looking at the models, all you saw was the special effects. You were to blinded by pyrotechnics to notice just how bad the dancing was.

[@roondar6141]

Honestly looking at this in retrospect, now that Gen IX has been released, I think they should have just stuck with the pixel art and iterated on the animation there. I can see an alternate future where Pokemon resembles the style of Octopath Traveler with HD effects and high quality pixel art with expressive animations for each pokemon, as opposed to now where the design is still doing all the appeal work and the attacks are mostly just rotating and translating models with some basic camera work. I think the only significant addition Gen IX added was the ability to walk with your pokemon, which granted is a significant amount of work but it just doesn't feel worth it for how little it ended up mattering, at least for my playthrough.

[@anugrah1921]

W comment totally agreed

[@samn6760]

...suddenly this video is SUPER relevant, seems Game Freak finally hit their limit

[@josueayala1249]

@@choconatic Without any evidence to back up your claim, that's an incredibly idiotic statement. If this video tells us anything, it's that Gamefreak has always been extremely economical with their resources, and they need to be because the premise has always been impossible. The Pokemon did not move even after other handheld games like Golden Sun were able to pull off truly dazzling animations because that simply would have been too much for the team to bear, and it's a problem that only ever gets harder, because more and more Pokemon are always getting added. Consider that just in terms of the Pokemon alone, every single one that's in the game must not only have their battle animations, but also must now be able to move around and emote in an open space that sells them as being living creatures because of this Wild Area or whatever they call it. They also have to be moving around in the town areas with very different animations, like the one that played hop-scotch or whatever. The "lazy" thing would have been to say "to hell with all of that" and keep using still images of Pokemon with increasingly flashy battle effects to sell it. It is because they aren't lazy that they weren't able to get all of the Pokemon in the game.

[@typhoon_abm5691]

@@josueayala1249 *FINALLY SOMEONE WHO HAS A BRAIN*

[@sketcher445]

Vindilax I think that the pokemon company needs to give game freak more than a year for each game, and also for gamefreak to put more money into their games

[@typhoon_abm5691]

@@sketcher445 Yeah it really makes me sad buying a new pokemon title only to get a year out of it until whole new series comes

[@anythingagency8516]

@@choconatic I think it's more like they just can't. They weren't give enough resources or time, which is pretty silly considering its pokemon.

[@DerekTriForce]

Ah, I remember when Platinum added Trainer animations. I was like "WOAH YOU CAN DO THAT AWESOME!". Although not explicitly for battles I feel that Pokeball Seals could've been given a mention as they added some custom effects to the initial opening of the Pokeball furthering the uniqueness of your Pokemon and the opponents. To bad, it hasn't returned yet. Oh yes, in addition to not being a 'battle animation' Generation 7 added custom "throw Pokeball" styles that added more personality to the characters as well. Also, that snip of the female trainer walking in the grass is sooo nice! The slight zoom in then the sudden shockwave really sets the bar of "surprise" Pokemon.

[@1Thunderfire]

Yeah, I loved those Battle Seals. It's a shame they've never appeared again. :p

[@KennedyFarner]

I just want Blastoise to actually shoot water out of his cannons

[@LenKirin]

Same here, I wish GF actually categorized/organized them to give Pokemon like Blastoise unique animations. Meanwhile, Dragapult gets to shoot Dreepy's out of its head with Dragon Darts :( that felt like a spit to the face (still cool tho nevertheless).

[@itsyaboi3951]

Then you should play pokemon stadium

[@Cringe89563]

He does for the gmax move but not the regular moves

[@yesno3396]

Gmax gave blastoise the power of being competent, now we’re really in trouble!

[@Vilo24]

☻️

[@FlowUrbanFlow]

"They animate the moves, not the Pokemon. And Gamefreak would keep this trend for some time" Or forever

[@dimastha2929]

Not forever... Now days, they don't even bother in making good animations for Double Kick

[@Deses]

@@dimastha2929 Two little jumps, that will do.

[@Mopsspoof]

Allow me to introduce you to Pokemon: Legends Arceus.

[@builderbosc]

@@Mopsspoof I hope it’s good, but I have lost hope at this point

[@Cringe89563]

@@Mopsspoof the 5 frames a second makes me severely worried

[@BenjuKatchowee]

the Pokémon XD or Battle Revolution animations are epic they're quirky they're weird they're full of personality, just look at Vileplume flapping its petals

[@panchampangoro4999]

I miss Honchkrow’s fainting animation where he tipped his “hat” at the last second

[@SaberToothPortilla]

Yeah, all of the ones that aren't attack animations are actually pretty detailed. Especially for the Pokémon that actually mattered.

[@JessDenhul]

what I loved about Battle Revolution was pokemon walking up to each other for certain attacks

[@Aego384]

I wish Sword and Shield used those animations and graphics

[@mastermarkus5307]

@@Aego384 Animations? Sure, some could work. Graphics? Are you crazy!?

[@TheFadedShade]

Gamefreak: makes 5000 unique animations spread across all pokemon Player: *battle scene off* Gamefreak: Am I a joke to you?

[@thatguyGuswho]

I can feel the savagery from here.

[@Eduar6996]

TBH, moves don’t feel as impactful as 2nd or 3rd gen. I would point mainly to sound design, as well as some pokémon being subject to uniformity making some of its gimmicks useless (Like Blastoise’s cannons, which were used at least on both Stadium games.) Also, Forest’s Curse was horrifically mangled on gen 7: From an eerie 3D scenario with the camera pointing skywards to the Pokémon to a circle of *generic_tree_branches* moving towards the Pokémon, which is pathetic. But, both Gen 6 & 7 have high performers as well as steamers, the former having more of the first ones.

[@LeafpenguinReturns]

Hey faded =)

[@noticias6111]

Much of what could be done in terms of animation could be settled by a 'true' successor to 'Pokemon snap' not like 'Pokemon GO'.'

[@ShadowDarkrai002]

I feel called out.

[@ehbtsincedayoneish]

I’ve never thought about any of this but am very VERY impressed with this video and level of effort put into it. Mate, you’re a legend thanks.

[@EnderHeart5911]

Having started with Gen 5, I never realized how much I took the animation for granted.

[@sirwolfy9372]

I'm somehow oddly and hyped/excited to know your personal opinion about the recent reveal about the decisions on gen 8

[@matteste]

Basically, he ignored it's problems and put it among his top best animated games, basing his judgement solely on the cut-scenes (the animated ones) and signature moves ignoring everything else.

[@RayoMcQueen95990]

matteste so basically IGN

[@N12015]

@Pokémon & FF fan It's not difficult to cherrypick since there's a lot of mediocre animations.

[@Metroid4ever]

Also, one point of interest: GF already has walk and run cycles for all 800 Pokemon. They were datamined out of SM/USUM. So everything is there, waiting to be used. And we can already see this in SwSh with overworld Pokemon. ...and yet we can't have following Pokemon. Or a national dex. Or return of triples/rotations. Kinda wish you also mentioned the frame drop issues the 3DS began to experience. Triple battle with 6 Moltres on the field at once, anyone?

[@mparagames]

I'm not going to argue with you, but do you really think triple and rotations battles are needed to come back again? Although gen 5 is my favorite generation of all time, I find triple and rotation battles to be kinda "gimmicky". Doubles are actually relevant and different enough from singles, though.

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

@@mparagames They were nice ideas and I think it's kind of sad that they have been dropped immedeatly after gen 5. There could've even been Tripple-Multi-Battles, who knows.

[@donnawander7710]

I remember having to turn off the 3d effect for doubles in the Battle Tree because of the stuttering.

[@shadycactus8669]

Gazelle_ Diamond There are few Triple Battles in gen 6 games

[@nebulous9280]

Rotation battles were interesting, but at least for younger me who only cared about my Samurott, it was basically just a 1v3.

[@HalfafanD]

It’s also kinda fitting that XY started the leap to 3D just as its anime counterpart did. Doing 3D CGI backgrounds and just animating the Pokémon and characters in it while shifting the camera. Making killer cinematography for truly dynamic battles. The XY anime had some of the most beautifully animated fights I had ever seen from Pokémon up to that point (movies notwithstanding). Before then it was always the same static color backdrop or painted scenery.

[@dandyspacedandy]

Give them more development time and don't focus on improving the models too much. I'm sure there'll be people who disagree, but personally, I feel like we can live with the models as is. What I'd like them to focus on more is improving the animation, and maybe adding 1 or 2 more for each pokemon in battle. Heck given how they're the biggest franchise in the world its not like they couldn't afford to outsource it or anything if they're low on manpower for the job.

[@Jalterable]

Looks like Game Freak is taking this opportunity to temporarily remove Pokemon and still have the same underwhelming animations. The worst of both worlds YAY.

[@greylepoard]

it's not temporary. going forward, this is the way they want to do it for every game.

[@franciscoe7633]

@Why are you always crying? if you were a true fan, you shouldve seen this as a problem and not worth praising about. By the end of the day we know that pokemon s and s will sell good but the problem is that unlike pokemon the games arent evolving.

[@sylvierose2799]

@@franciscoe7633 TRUE and NON-toxic fans want to see their beloved franchise evolve and improve, not the inverse. They are clearly reusing the same 3D assets from two gens ago, in a Switch, a system capable of much more. And they are cutting mons, something that they never did before, any fan would be upset. We aren't guilible sheeps that eat everything. We want actual qualiity and that is normal for ANY consumer, fans and non-fans.

[@franciscoe7633]

@@sylvierose2799 good point. Sorry i kinda sounded arrogant there. 5 months til launch. If the battle animations are the same, i kinda wonder why did they cut off mons. Eh only time will tell

[@MrThecupcakeman]

Yeah, I don't care honestly. The 400 pokemon that get removed are 400 pokemon I'll never use in those games anyway.

[@WhereIFall]

If i remember correctly, running animations for all pokemon were in sun and moon even though they were never used

[@MajoraZ]

Great video, but I think this could have beenfited from being an hour long: Actually talking about the stylistic differences between the Pokemon sprites and attack animation graphics per gen. For istance, gen 2's heavy use of dithering and limited color palletes, or gen 4's attack animnations having less blatently pixelated/lower resolution graphical; elements, with fire, smoke, water, etc looking more volumetric, etc. Also, Gen 6/Sun and Moon had Follower Pokemon animations for the overworld as well, they just went unused.

[@gengarisnotinsmash...]

Watching this 3 years later, that similar energy thing really fits. Like even if you were to give some pokemon less animation to give others more it could help a lot. Look at ferrothorn. This is literally just a spiky seed pod, designed to be the ultimate wall. So why does it feel like it has the same energy as something like haxourous, a behemoth physical attacker who overwhelms with brute force? It would absolutely make sense for ferrothorn to be less bouncy if it meant more time to make haxourous look like it was trying to rip you in two. Even when being hit, walls like ferrothorn reacting less than something more fragile like, idk, Jolteon would not only make the animations feel more unique but would also give gameplay hints as to how different pokemon should be used beyond appearance.

[@joel7342]

Gen 5 is one of the most revolutionary games in the series.

[@kitz3691]

Nope, I think that gen 7 was

[@blackdot105]

@@kitz3691 heh na, it was definitely Gen 5

[@Jdudec367]

guys that can be both gen 5 and gen 7 but gen 6 was pretty important to

[@MeatEatingVegan777]

I love gen 4, and it's my favorite generation, but i'm warming up to generation 5. With how much personality a pokemon showed in their animations, the inclusion of difficulty modes as well. It really seems like gamefreak cared alot about gen 5.

[@blackdot105]

@@MeatEatingVegan777 Sad to see the follow ups. I don't blame 'em tho. After the initial push back from gen 5, they played it safe - and have been since then.

[@YeoYeo]

8:13 "It's just fainting ... because of all the fun it's having." That made me laugh so much XD

[@MarySmith-ih7qs]

Definitely not dogfighting

[@itsnotpaul8548]

That happened to my brother once for real not fighting

[@chrono4998]

Lopunny's back sprite animation is single handedly what made me keep him on my platinum team. HE TURNS HIS HEAD BACK TO YOU, AND SMILES, it's the most adorable thing

[@Xenomorthian]

I was concerned until he ( unless you swing that way )

[@anonymousanonymous8216]

@@Xenomorthian the notion that you see lopunny, an animal, as a sex object is the most concerning thing here

[@WisdomAkpan211]

@@anonymousanonymous8216 80% of the pokemon fan base shares his opinion 🤣 Lopunny and gardevoir have the highest r34 activity. Blame the devs

[@anonymousanonymous8216]

@@WisdomAkpan211 im definitely blaming y'all for being attracted to animals

[@Apotheosister]

​@@WisdomAkpan211 I know I'm late and I'm genuinely curious, no judgement as I've seen way, way worse but are you part of that 80%?

[@mettatonsagent7541]

I think the strangest sprite transition was ferroseed’s. My man went from spinning all the time to being motionless in the floor.

[@luke4502]

I was always incredibly annoyed with the gen 6 models after the masterwork of the animated gen 5 sprites. I wish we could get a new 2D Pokemon so bad

[@Next-xm2dh]

I hope we get atleast more games with a Smaller pokemon roster so we can Get those Extra animations

[@arbeen2k02]

@@Next-xm2dh Acurate comment

[@bunabobby]

Next About that...

[@angelsighting]

i feel like the fact that all the animations have the same tempo MUST be a deliberate design choice and it does have that calm energy of still sprite battles without making the 3d models look dull

[@darrellkiely91]

It's probably to allow the attack animations to play at the right time without needing to adjust the timing per pokemon.

[@mitch_universe4058]

I would really love to see another one of these videos with the addition of Legends Arceus. I know there isn’t too much change with the animation but there are very small details that could very easily be missed, such as Pokémon actually having proper turning animations, the turning of the head when you throw a pokeball, etc.

[@somerandompeep7017]

19:57 can we just talk about how gentle onix is being here?

[@kalejuice5701]

One issue with the change to 3D is how the sprites feel comparatively stiff to Gen 5's approach even though there's technically more animation at play. I think the visuals for Sword and Shield show that the switch to 3D might pay off, but we haven't seen much of the "improved animations" that were mentioned in response to the Dex cut.

[@RD-um9dy]

In sword and shield I just wanted standing still animations to have more personality

[@soiyavnz]

3d models made them dead and emotionless

[@bashfulbreloom9294]

This aged like milk. Gamefreak couldn't even put all the pokemon.

[@fariskhalid8200]

@@soiyavnz in my opinion i think it’s the opposite since the 3D animations make them look more real (IN MY OPINION DO NOT GET MAD AND WRITE A 50 LINE ESSAY ABOUT IT THIS IS AN OPINIONATED SUBJECT)

[@Ember-Rodriguez]

@@fariskhalid8200 ~~~ ~~~ ~~~x50

[@insertmemenamehere8206]

@@fariskhalid8200 Don’t post your opinion if you’re not ready to hear contrasting ones.

[@ItIsYeCat]

Gen 2's Crystal had a longer animation frame in the status window. So the battle animations weren't a complete waste as they were reused and slightly expanded on.

[@laggianput]

Ugh. Yeah sword and shield might be ok but claiming to use new battlr animations when they dont and they just add more particles while still somehow deleting half the pokemon is an issue. Either say you will and do it or dont say you will and keep everything

[@1ledluverjlp]

they never claimed they would be any new battle animations they simply gave the generalized statement of high quality animations.

[@Aizaia5]

Only reason all the pokemon weren't in the game is so they could sell you the rest in dlc

[@RayoMcQueen95990]

Aizaia __ yes. And heck, they were planning that BEFORE the games were released

[@BillyBob-dq7sc]

@Pokémon & FF fan No they aren’t ever heard of the isle of armor?

[@soiyavnz]

@Pokémon & FF fan lul, you need to pay for the dlc and they marked as supposed to be replacement to the 'third game' ver.

[@Pirsqed]

Including MissingNo in the list of gen 1 Pokemon was a nice touch, Dan.

[@maggieent3215]

He included Kabutops twice.

[@KaiJason]

@@maggieent3215Pretty sure the last 4 are Fossil and ghost MissingNo.

[@maggieent3215]

@@KaiJason this was confirmed in let's go eevee/pikachu. the two skeletons are kabutops and aerodactyl. MissingNo is a void- missing is in it's name.

[@Whiskeredtoro]

“...without having to change the animation those assets are attached to. MORE ON THAT LATER” Oh i bet there’s more considering gen 8 “And reuse that library they did.” Mmmmmhmmm Honestly one of the problems is the 3d models aren’t dynamic enough, and the colors aren’t saturated enough. The move animations need to be updated to flow more naturally

[@LenKirin]

I believe they should also use the running animations for certain moves and not just in the overworld so that the pokemon can make contact with their target (or even just walk around in the 3d space of the fight dynamically, that'd be pretty cool too). For example, with Boltund and the move Crunch, they could move the camera in front of Boltund as Boltund runs up towards it, then play the Crunch animation on the enemy Pokemon with Boltund out of site. They did smt like that for Colusseum and I was so absorbed in it, I didn't even get to analyze what happened the first time haha. I find this method of manipulation in the 3D space really clever and I hope GF picks up on it.

[@djroscurro9859]

Worst part about this is that they can do it, but they choose not to.

[@mr.preston1632]

@person person Not fully, but yes, they did make a good effort to fix it, the lighting is what saves them

[@TheChildofAuraReborn]

The desaturation of the models bugged me to no end, the only time I’ve seen the proper color palette is in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX. The vibrant colors in that game are just lovely.

[@Whiskeredtoro]

@@TheChildofAuraReborn I really liked what they did there. The commitment to a storybook aesthetic was great and i loved it

[@JunniEnriquez]

And also Pichu... Damn Daniel, Throwing pichu some shade XD

[@Data3rror]

Hey, Dan and Team! With the games' actual release, what are the odds that you'll do a follow-up / addendum on what Generation 8 brings to the table and chooses to trade for it? I think that it invites a more open and honest look at what the new games are doing to compensate for their inbuilt scope problem and how home-console-level fidelity continues to work for and against so many varied monsters.

[@katz7786]

Gotta admit, when the littleroot town theme music started playing at the end there I teared up a bit.

[@mechajay3358]

Really good video. As someone who played since the first games, seeing the evolution of Pixelated 2D to fully 3D was kinda cool. Though I have to say that Gen 5 was when they truly reach the pinnacle of animations with 2D Pixels.

[@tenacityxl]

I was introduced to pokemon through Gen 5 and I was SOOOO glad that I started with that. It was easily the most fun I’ve had on the DS, and it’s still my favorite game in the series!

[@JOCoStudio1]

The gen 5 games are still some of the most feature complete ever produced. Since then the continuous addition and removal of features has reached a two step forwards one step back level of frustration.

[@1Thunderfire]

@@JOCoStudio1 What frustrates me is that Back 2 and White 2 had a lot of extra features such as Black Tower/White Forest and the places in Nimbasa where you could actually refight Trainers with teams of Pokémon not only for money but for good experience which you really want when trying to raise new Pokémon. You had the musical place and movie creation as well and they were so cool. Then come the next games and all that vanished. I just want a good post-game area where I can battle Trainers for money and experience repeatedly.

[@OH-tj4qn]

You're never going to see Pokemon animations more polished or alive than this. I would be very surprised to see a Pokemon game that doesn't use the core X/Y animations until Nintendo releases their next console. The problem at this point is that the Pokemon franchise is a well-oiled machine. Game Freak has tight time and budget limits. They *have* to pump out a new generation every 3 years, because that's when the anime arc around that generation is expecting to end, the movie guys need to figure out what major next Pokemon is going to feature in the next major film, and the merchandise people need new designs to make toys and plushies out of. And they've established a precedent where each new generation is going to add at least 70 new Pokemon - by your conservative estimate, 490 new animations. Not to mention the entire rest of the, uh, game they have to make around that. Pokemon is in the common position that a lot of main franchises with serviceable (not bad, but not great) all-around quality have -way too much money on the line to risk a shift too major, way too little time to think through any really new ideas. Lots of people that have deep frustrations with the series (esp. post Gen 5) need to realize that at this point, the core games are simply a commodity in a broader global brand moreso than they are innovative works of art in their own right. Any employee of Game Freak that would suggest taking an extra 6 months to add personality and polish to their animations would be laughed out of the office. Fans act like they want this, but in reality, if Game Freak did it, anime fans would be pissed, movie fans would be pissed, and players of the game would end up expecting *way* larger of a shift in quality for the pitiful extra time they have to somehow make almost *1,000* different Pokemon have more of a personality and pizzazz. And as long as these games are moving 10-15 million units each generation, doing what they're doing, consistently ranking in the best selling games of their respective consoles - why bother? My dream is that Game Freak would say they're skipping a generation to work on a radically new kind of game. Take just one generation (probably going to be Kanto, but that's okay), and completely redo the models and animations for everything in it. Make the Pokemon way more expressive, alive, in motion, actually contact their foes in battle. I'm talking Pokken Tournament levels of animation quality. Greatly expand on the broader game design. Do the whole "Breath of the Wild of Pokemon" thing that fans keep asking for. Totally open world with a variety of ways to achieve your goal of beating the Elite Four (think Pokemon Crystal Clear). This alone would probably necessitate a massive team to work for about 5-6 years. Obviously they're never going to do that, for aforementioned reasons. My more reasonable request is just that they put the Battle Frontier back in the game. Game Freak pls.

[@OshawottLuke]

Underrated comment, I can tell this took maybe an hour of writing or more based on similar comments I've made on other videos. Maybe it didn't took you long but yeah, worked comments that don't have the recognition they deserve.

[@afish8883]

They could extend the time that an arc lasts

[@scdcanis]

Yeah, but your also burning out the animators and the fans. People generally watch the anime for a year, maybe two before they start getting bored and nitpicky. Animators struggle as they have to spice up the Pokemon and try their best to appeal to not only fans, but also management. Arc runs don't typically run much longer than that because they start running out of ideas. Animation takes a long freaking time- just to make a episode. You do have other people working on it, but they're all in different sections. Keyframes, doing the animation between those keyframes, checking, coloring, effects etc. Arc run time is gonna smother those animators- as they dont have much stock-piled, and if a few take a days break or so? Lord help the department. People are gonna get their pay cut, they'll have to frantically try to finish episodes on a even tighter schedule- maybe even reuse some animations to make ends meet. Its a option, but not one people want to make with how freaking stressful animation is. Especially for a big corporation like this? No way. Its too risky, and you could end up behind schedule. Someone could end up fired (though that is extreme) cause the game portion of the developers wanted to get fans of the game more interested, appeal more to them and give them a little trinket, a reward for sticking with them so long. What I'm trying to say is, if they don't do it soon, dont expect them to do it at all. They'd need another department on upgrading, make the Arc runtime about a year longer, Pokemon would suddenly have a "upgrade date" slapped onto them that could take YEARS to reach from their introduction. It'd be too much of a pain in the ass. They'd be better off fixing move animations for specific Pokemon than make whole new Pokemon animations for moves. Water Pulse on Blastoise fixed? Move the move animation. Maybe duplicate it. Blastoise on Water Pulse fixed? More animation. Think ahout the moves themselves rather than the Pokemon.

[@HS-mn6jc]

The debate at this point becomes whether it’s worth it. Yes, Pokémon will always and forever sell millions of copies with every generation. That’s a given. But... is it worth it to dumb down your games to the point of monotony just to get them *finished?* They’re sacrificing the fan base they’ve built up over the last 25 years for the sake of money, and a HELL of a lot of consumers take issue with that. Maybe not enough to make a sizable dent in their profits, but a large percentage indeed. I can see all this come crashing down within the next 10 years if they keep this trend going, and honestly it’s what I’m hoping for so that they’ll actually get their priorities straight for once

[@zadayaz]

i agree with a lot of what this comment says, when swsh came out a lot of people accused the devs of being lazy when the problem almost definitely lies with the sheer amount of pokemon needing to be animated, and higher up decisions about how much time and budget the devs are allowed. SwSh has its issues even on the animation side but i do enjoy a few things about it, particularly that the human characters are more animated when that was pretty limited in prior gens. for an example, look at how the gym leaders/kahunas intro animations usually involve moving into a singular dramatic poses, vs swsh where the gym leaders have a few dedicated cutscenes during their encounters that show off a lot more personality. The pokecamp stuff is also definitely where a lot of the animation budget went, each pokemon has several unique animations for stuff like sitting, sleeping, eating, joy, annoyance, etc. Its not as obvious because you have to spend a lot of time in the camp to see all of them, but i do think its a great addition, i love seeing animations for my favorite pokemon that are specific to their personalities (the second the first expac came out i transfered in as many of my favorites as i could just to see what their animations were) Personally I can’t really see any other alternative to the limited dex other than. crunching employees to death or several year waits between release (which i would honestly prefer but the pokemon company would probably never allow). Honestly i hope that the latter happens considering the uproar made about the dex, i would love to see a mainline 3d pokemon to get the time and treatment it needs. There were many things in swsh that i enjoyed but several aspects definitely felt undeveloped and the devs being like “this is the best we can do with the deadline we have” ie most of the plot points being rushed, or the routes in the game being pretty dry and linear compared to the wild area

[@zjzr08]

So it seems some of the solutions on animation overload include, lowering animation frames and increasing movement focus, hiring more people to "assemble" animation (as the images and rigs are already in place), prioritizing Pokemon animation over non-Pokemon (which will probably allow more Pokémon to be available captured in-game so they would not be wasted), and exploring other techniques in order to "do more with less". I say 1000+ base Pokémon in a Switch game is feasible, as long as they have the workforce, time and creativity to actually implement them -- in short, as much as I like the open world they're showing us now, I feel a Let's Go! type of visual presentation with more depth in content is enough to satisfy at this moment. They may had bit more off than they could chew at the moment and probably didn't expect it, IMO.

[@lionzcrown1702]

the only reason for the cut is, apparently, for animations in features as the camps or curry, and apparently there is many more feautres in the game we havent see to give life to this world like never before. personally, idc about the national dex if the game as a whole utilizes enough features to feel more alive and magical. if it doesnt then....well...rip.lets hope they arent lying about features

[@Zaldentheinvincible]

My two favorite content creators covering my childhood, and collaborating with each other, has absolutely made my day. Keep it up, you're both great!

[@josephattwell1006]

This scope problem has finally come to ahead, as Game Freak won't be bringing in all the legacy Pokemon into Sword and shield.

[@ericclemente2060]

BOOOOOOO MY POKÉMON BOOOOOO oh asking them to work hard on a game to be bought by the masses

[@sylvierose2799]

@@ericclemente2060 ?????

[@matteste]

And they still didn't fix the animations. Oh, and trees look like they are straight out of an N64 game.

[@SkatemeRockme]

@@matteste They improved the trees graphics and also they have at least shown one completely reworked animation (Flame Charge) which can be found from the demo gameplay videos. (that animation looked great, exactly what he was talking about)

[@johnwarosa2905]

@Adam Thompson but its also an issue that if they continued we'd soon have over 1500 pokemon. At some its just enough and you HAVE to make a cut

[@shadix2026]

I'm surprised you didn't bring up that, in gen 5, a pokemon's animation would slow down when at low health or during a status ailment, or that they eyes close when they're asleep

[@treymtz]

Gen5 had some of the best pixel animation art in all of history

[@RoboEpic]

Agreed and it was amazing for the DS

[@Drstrange3000]

Ever since the jump to 3D the animation the limited animation didn't seem to work. BW/BW2 was my favorite. Beautiful sprites and Pokemon were lively. Compared to Pokemon Battle Revolution, it is hard to appreciate the animation. I would be okay with them just using Pokemon from its current gen as long as it had 150+ Pokemon and better animation.

[@stanheylen3075]

well, u got what u wanted :)

[@Drstrange3000]

@@stanheylen3075 Haha, touche! Everything aside from the "Quality Animations." Lol.

[@Stratelier]

Remember what Dan said at @15:15 about the jump to 3D? Now take a glance at all the standardized Z-moves in Gen 7. Pokemon's battle animations have already hit their equivalent of the Uncanny Valley: the point where the overall visual presentation is realistic _enough_ that the viewer STOPS using their imagination to fill in the gaps, with said gaps suddenly being noticed as problems for the first time. If GF wants battles to be just as expressive as individual creature reactions in Amie/Refresh (Jolteon was already one of my favorite Pokemon, but seeing its reactions in Refresh was a completely new level), they need to contract a secondary team dedicated to producing just that. Yes the workload is a problem of scale in and of itself, but 2-3 "emotes" for all attacks just *isn't enough,* it should be an average of 4.

[@thesuperzfamilyvlog6607]

Well done, I really enjoy this. As a person that does some rigging and 3d art, I know a lot of time a effort go into making sprites and models. For me, I went from Red to stadium to silver to X, and i was blown away by X and loved how it changed by so much. .

[@BlueNip]

I would love to see them make the animation look like the anime where you can see Pokémon move around the battlefield and dodge attacks. Make the turns just be the Pokémon frozen in time waiting for the players next input. Would probably never happen but seeing a game where Pokémon move like the Pokémon in the anime would be amazing

[@koelee]

3:42 "When your opponent summons a Pokemon to the field" *_I SUMMON THE LEGENDARY BLUE EYES WHITE LUGIA IN ATTACK POSITION! GO LUGIA!_*

[@AuraStrikeAce]

Wouldn't Reshiram make more sense for this joke?

[@thatguyGuswho]

@@AuraStrikeAce I cannot agree with this more and I feel so sorry for op because of it lol

[@ExtremeAce]

I remember how I used to think that " This Pokemon is asleep. How the ehck can it's eyes be open?" But when X/Y actually recognized that and closed the Pokemon's eyes when they are asleep, I was really glad to see that!! That was also a very small but catchy improvement!

[@philipshin7016]

I believe that Black and White were the first games to add the closed eyes for sleeping

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

@bryan diaz varela But..... Snorlax always has his eyes closed....

[@GiRRAPHvideos]

To be fair, your call for a more character driven level of polish to certain pokémon has been done with Z-move cutscenes and certain signature moves. In Sun and Moon, they did that for a handful of moves that most players are near guaranteed to see. For example, decidueye, the final evolution of a starter pokémon that roughly 1/3 of the players will use, pulls out a feather and uses it as an arrow for its signature move, spirit shackle.

[@SEMIA123]

And then you have non-unique Z-moves where the Pokemon often won't leave their standing animation. See: supersonic skystrike on toucannon

[@davos4667]

I’m sorry but have you seen the Pokémon’s animation during certain Z-moves? They are the definition of stock and reused. I almost never want to use them because they look so bad.

[@ShouldOfStudiedForTheTest]

The individual animations are great, but what Dan means is that it is a shame (and likely a result of the fear of a budget too high), that fat from every Pokémon gets this treatment.

[@Rubyshedinja33]

Yeah but Snorlax z move

[@TheRicardobtc]

Up to this day I'm still questioning myself why the pokémon doesn't actually *run* towards the opponnent when using Breakneck Blitz. Remember: Running animations for every single pokémon exist in the game's coding, so animation was not the issue. They also have Jump/Falling animations (those are actualy used in the games when the pokémon is sent out) they could use with Supersonic Skystrike. But nope! Let the pokémon just stand on an invisible platform like nothing's happening.

[@qwertystop]

One interesting thing about Crystal's you didn't mention: Though there's a lot of frames, most of each frame is the same - a nose twitch, or a blink, or they wave their neck. That lowers the workload, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that the sprites are actually stored in quarters or overlays or something with the unchanging bits not duplicated.