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lordchompy · Feb 23, 2014

I haven't played a pokemon game in over twelve years and upon picking up X on 3DS, to relieve some of that Nintendo nostalgia, I realized just how much the art style has changed since Pokemon fell off my radar.

I have a lot of memories with the first two Pokemon games on the Game Boy, particularly Blue, and what I remember most is the art style of the original box and manual along with the Pokemon cards. In the newer games gone are the sharp contours of the pokemon and trainers, the watercolor highlighting and the hyper-real vibrancy. I know the original cartoon had a different art style than the first games, but even that was better than the sepia color motif of the 3DS games.

Anyone else miss this?

As opposed to this?

Holy Order Sol · Feb 23, 2014

I miss it not in the sense that the art sucks now, but I'm really curious to see what the newer Pokémon would look like.

UnluckyKate · Feb 23, 2014

I like Gen 1 & 2 design. I hate everything after that. Pokemons & characters

Daingurse · Feb 23, 2014

For some pokes I do. Mewtwo looked like a fucking boss.

Deleted member 231381 · Feb 23, 2014

I really, strongly agree. Sugimori's art peaked for Gold/Silver, now we just have some weird animu stuff that totally betrays the unique artistic legacy of the series.

kubus · Feb 23, 2014

New characters suffering from Sonic Leg Syndrome

.

Yeah the old style is awesome. Loved going through the "Trainer's Manual" (Red/Blue manual) back in the day, just to look at the awesome artwork.

FSLink · Feb 23, 2014

Holy Order Sol said:
I miss it not in the sense that the art sucks now, but I'm really curious to see what the newer Pokémon would look like.

Pretty much. I do wonder if some of the hate against the new designs is partly due to the new art style. Looking at the old Pokemon with the new art and the new Pokemon side by side they look like they fit in the same universe just fine to me imo.

Just imagine, haha.

linko9 · Feb 23, 2014

Yeah, I really liked it, it was very distinctive. Looks more generic now.

Newline · Feb 23, 2014

It's the watercolour, it's frigging amazing!

Kurita · Feb 23, 2014

UnluckyKate said:
I like Gen 1 & 2 design. I hate everything after that. Pokemons & characters

Literally everything?

As for myself I like the new style. Sugimori's old style really aged badly.

Kade · Feb 23, 2014

It was crude and imperfect in a way that made it charming and awesome at the same time. It was raw. Shit's too clean and web 2.0 for me now.

WrenchNinja · Feb 23, 2014

I liked the old art. The chunkiness reminded me of Dragon Ball. Things are too clean and slim now.

udivision · Feb 23, 2014

Any issues with PKMN have nothing to do with it's art or Pokemon designs so I can't say I care.

Play-Stay-Tion · Feb 23, 2014

Gen 1 and Gen 2 are the best. Anything after that is meh. This includes the seasons and the games.

Lijik · Feb 23, 2014

I think the way the art is drawn has improved over time, but i really miss the watercolor look. Pairing the modern lineart with the watercolor rendering would be ideal imo

Matt Attack · Feb 23, 2014

While I love most of the new Pokemon designs, I definitely prefer the previous art style. That Venasaur is beautiful.

FSLink · Feb 23, 2014

Crewnh said:
I liked the old art. The chunkiness reminded me of Dragon Ball. Things are too clean and slim now.

RIP Chubby Pikachu.

erpg · Feb 23, 2014

Yes. A thousand times, yes. I flip through the RB trainer's manual, and the water colour art is charming. Pokémon has changed, and it's left me behind. Buying and reading through the RBY manga reminded me of that.

Foshy · Feb 23, 2014

Pokemon Yellow had fucking amazing sprites, even with the limited color palette. I like the style more than all the generations after it. Shame they didn't upgrade the back sprites from R/B too.

Toxi · Feb 23, 2014

I miss the old Sugimori watercolor roughness in promotional artwork.

The actual games look better than ever. We've gone from this...

To this.

FSLink · Feb 23, 2014

Yeah but Yellow had pelvic thrust Mewtwo.

I always preferred Crystal myself for the sprites.

PAULINK · Feb 23, 2014

I miss fat pikachu too.

not this monstrosity it has turned into

Andrefpvs · Feb 23, 2014

Someone drew and painted the starters' Mega Evolutions in the classic Sugimori style:

Anth0ny · Feb 23, 2014

Old school Sugimori art is best Sugimori art.

Almost Toriyama-esque.

WrenchNinja · Feb 23, 2014

Andrefpvs said:
Someone drew and painted the starters' Mega Evolutions in the classic Sugimori style:

Wow this is amazing

SuperAndroid17 · Feb 23, 2014

Old Blastoise art.. so good.

1st gen best gen

Plywood · Feb 23, 2014

For the pokemon? I suppose some, for the people? Not at all.

Copenap · Feb 23, 2014

For me it's not necessarily the art direction as I think it is nice to have new interpretations each generation in this regard but the general Pokemon design has been a complete desaster. A Pokemon that is a key chain? Seriously?

PandaPandaPanda · Feb 23, 2014

UnluckyKate said:
I like Gen 1 & 2 design. I hate everything after that. Pokemons & characters

i'm pretty much in the same boat although I tolerate gen 3(only because of the remakes of red/blue)

but oh well i'm in the minority in that motion

SlowRevolution · Feb 23, 2014

the watercolor was great, it looks too clean and like everything else now.

Copenap said:
For me it's not necessarily the art direction as I think it is nice to have new interpretations each generation in this regard but the general Pokemon design has been a complete desaster. A Pokemon that is a key chain? Seriously?

here we go!

linko9 · Feb 23, 2014

oops... wrong thread

I will say I don't think the problem with a lot of the new designs would be fixed by the old artstyle. I think gen 1 had a combination of that great style, and overall solid designs.

Copenap · Feb 23, 2014

SlowRevolution said:
here we go!

Urgh, is that a sensitive topic? Just recently finished Y after not playing Pokemon for quite some time.

khaaan · Feb 23, 2014

I don't mind the newer art direction, but I agree that the Sugimori stuff is awesome. I'm sure I'm in the minority but I also like the way the sprites looked in R/B.

HalfBakedProphet · Feb 23, 2014

this still, even all these years later, is the best and most badass iteration of Blastoise.

strangedopamine · Feb 23, 2014

The great thing about the older artstyle is that it made the Pokémon look like they were watercolour paintings that you would find in an old journal. If the Pokédex was more like a big old dusty book, the art in that style would fit right in!

Toxi · Feb 23, 2014

Copenap said:
For me it's not necessarily the art direction as I think it is nice to have new interpretations each generation in this regard but the general Pokemon design has been a complete desaster. A Pokemon that is a key chain? Seriously?

Pokemon have always had weird inspirations. It's part of what makes them so likeable; there's a Pokemon for every imaginable thing, even a cluster of eggs or a key chain.

Andrefpvs said:
Someone drew and painted the starters' Mega Evolutions in the classic Sugimori style:

Did it with some other Pokemon too.

metagross___old_s__style___youtube_link_by_tomycase-d6mtkdi.png

Link to the sauce

WrenchNinja · Feb 23, 2014

Copenap said:
For me it's not necessarily the art direction as I think it is nice to have new interpretations each generation in this regard but the general Pokemon design has been a complete desaster. A Pokemon that is a key chain? Seriously?

Klefki is based off the myth of fairies stealing keys and other bits and bobs. It's not that out there compared to the older Pokemon.

Deleted member 231381 · Feb 23, 2014

Those fan-arts are pretty good, but I think they exaggerate a bit too much - the originals aren't quite that washed out/colourless.

David___ · Feb 23, 2014

Copenap said:
For me it's not necessarily the art direction as I think it is nice to have new interpretations each generation in this regard but the general Pokemon design has been a complete desaster. A Pokemon that is a key chain? Seriously?

You say it like pokemon that are literally magnets and pokeballs are any better.

lordchompy · Feb 23, 2014

Anth0ny said:
Old school Sugimori art is best Sugimori art.

Almost Toriyama-esque.

Bravo, sir, you hit the nail on the head. Incidentally DBZ was one of my favorite cartoons growing up, and I generally disliked the other animes. Something about this style just speaks to my sensibilities.

The Wheel of Fortune · Feb 23, 2014

Serena's design is fine. The other guy's design is the one I dislike.

But yeah, as many have already said, I think we like the old style better because of the distinctive watercolor-like art.

lewisgone · Feb 23, 2014

So so much! It used to be so distinctive. I love Sugimori's art style. Nowadays it looks like it could have been drawn by anyone, there's no character to the art anymore.

Check out that Ditto! Nowadays it's just a standard pink blob. But back then, oh man. I treasure my Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Crystal instruction manuals because of artwork like this. The designs of most Pokemon are still usually good (wasn't a fan of most B/W Pokemon though) but I feel like the artsyle makes them a lot less lovable in their promotional art.

So good.

Gentle Rodriguez · Feb 23, 2014

Copenap said:
Urgh, is that a sensible topic? Just recently finished Y after not playing Pokemon for quite some time.

Do you mean sensitive? Then yes, you pointed out one Pokemon as evidence that newer Pokemon suck, either ignoring that there are plenty of gen 1/2 Pokemon that are awful or just forgetting it. Every gen has it's hits and misses, but then we eventually get to the "yeah but the gen 1/2 Pokemon had a certain charm that's missing in the new ones" argument. Every damn thread it's the same story.

StreetsAhead · Feb 23, 2014

lewisgn said:
Check out that Ditto! Nowadays it's just a standard pink blob. But back then, oh man.
So good.

Yeah, back then it was a standard pink blob that had a weird tail! What?

Josh7289 · Feb 23, 2014

I agree. The old watercolor art had a unique style. Like others have said, the modern digital flat color artwork looks more generic.

Anth0ny · Feb 23, 2014

look at this bad ass mother fucker:

Toa TAK · Feb 23, 2014

Anth0ny said:
look at this bad ass mother fucker:

My all time favorite.

SmackAttack · Feb 23, 2014

PAULINK said:
I miss fat pikachu too.

The GOAT.

WrenchNinja · Feb 23, 2014

Anth0ny said:
look at this bad ass mother fucker:

Gen 1 Mewtwo is definitely my favorite version. He looks so grotesque, appropriate for a creature that's been experimented on repeatedly.

Uno Venova · Feb 23, 2014

Anth0ny said:
look at this bad ass mother fucker:

this sprite makes him look so evil i love it

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