Some of the best Pokemon sprites

[Jerry the great]

This was approved by Codraroll. Sorry if the further text is out of size, I'm not used to going from mini to normal text.

Hello! We had a thread of some of the worst Pokemon sprites. We also had 2 threads on little things you like about Pokemon, and vice versa. However, there is no some of the best Pokemon sprites thread. But now there is! In this thread, we will discuss some of the sprites that you really like, from any generation! I'd love to see some cool sprites Game Freak has made these 21 (23 if you count Japan) years!

Sorry it was kind of short of an intro, I really cannot think of much to say until I see some sprites.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I guess we should start things off with Disco Omastar.

Nothing really needs to be said about this sprite, as it's already made a name for itself.

I've always thought Phanpy was one of the cutest Pokemon in the game, and a big part of that is the way it's posed in sprites.

In Emerald, it does a little dance.

And in DPP, it's sitting there with its little forelegs waving in the air.

Finally, while it isn't a sprite, I have to mention its main official artwork.

Hidden because the image is huge

If any of y'all remember the story of The Saggy Baggy Elephant, Phanpy looks like it's doing Saggy's famous one-two-three-kick dance. Plus, just look at that smile!

 

[Jerry the great]

Wow, thanks for reminding me of Phanpy's sprites, they are so loveable! And yeah, that Omastar sprite is so amazing!
Might as well knew I'd reply to the first reply, especially if it has loveable sprites like those.

 

[pulsar512b]

awww

 

[BP]

Huge fan of how Dynamic the Pokemon Conquest sprites look.

Obviously, with the Generation 6 3D sprites, we lost a lot of emotion in the Pokemon. For example, look at this fuck. He just stares forward and moves a bit. Very disappointing.

On the flip side, I'm a big fan of the 3D Pokedex pro sprites. I'm not really sure why but I just like them. I think it's because they look so statue-like and at the same time real.

 

[Jerry the great]

Huge fan of how Dynamic the Pokemon Conquest sprites look.

Obviously, with the Generation 6 3D sprites, we lost a lot of emotion in the Pokemon. For example, look at this fuck. He just stares forward and moves a bit. Very disappointing.

True, got to love those poses. Gyrados does the scary look I love, Bisharp is doing an amazing pose, Quag looks kind of relaxed, and so on.
It is true though, Marshstomp and many other 3D sprites do have lame movement. They may move an arm or 2, or open their mouths widely, but that's it honestly.

 

[Siggu]

Obviously, with the Generation 6 3D sprites, we lost a lot of emotion in the Pokemon. For example, look at this fuck. He just stares forward and moves a bit. Very disappointing.

On the flip side, I'm a big fan of the 3D Pokedex pro sprites. I'm not really sure why but I just like them. I think it's because they look so statue-like and at the same time real.

I'm pretty sure the Pokédex Pro models are the same ones used in XY forward, just with different shading.

 

[Nelson Tangela]

The original Pokémon Red and Green Clefable sprite is still the pinnacle of Clefable sprites over 20 years later.

No idea how this sprite even made it into the original games. Pretty much every other sprite from that era was either meme-tier, nightmare-tier or both.


This one is my favorite sprite of my favorite Pokémon. Crystal Gengar.

 

[Jerry the great]

The original Pokémon Red and Green Clefable sprite is still the pinnacle of Clefable sprites over 20 years later.

No idea how this sprite even made it into the original games. Pretty much every other sprite from that era was either meme-tier, nightmare-tier or both.


This one is my favorite sprite of my favorite Pokémon. Crystal Gengar.

Crystal Gengar? I love that thing! It is true though that Clefable is vastly different from the other sprites at the time.

 

[GiygasDCU]

Cleafairy was meant to be the Mascot. It is obvious that it and its evolution would be better than everything else.

Also checking the sprites of my favorite pokemon... could candidate 3D cherrim, given that it gains a depth to its petals in the Sunshine form but its BW animations looks like its body parts are separated from one another, and the Shiny is barely different... and i found my candidate!

Behold: adorableness condensed in a starter!

Yes, Chikorita is wagging its tail and doing a little hop. Chikorita is now your favorite starter.

Also Prototype Noctowl has a strange foot, but is otherwise coolness pokemonified.

 

[Wukong]

Platinum Infernape is my favorite sprite. I love its fighting stance and fiery hair flowing. The red crest on its forehead angled downward also gives it an intimidating look. Perfect depiction of it in terms of personality:

In general I also think Gold's sprites are excellent, and not just for their time. For example, the Kanto starter trio's sprites from Gold are still their best looks in my opinion. I love that older Sugimori-esque art style of the sprites that look water colored, yet still have colors vibrant enough to jump off the screen:

 

[DrPumpkinz]

In general I also think Gold's sprites are excellent, and not just for their time. For example, the Kanto starter trio's sprites from Gold are still their best looks in my opinion. I love that older Sugimori-esque art style of the sprites that look water colored, yet still have colors vibrant enough to jump off the screen:

View attachment 361092 View attachment 361093 View attachment 361094

I've said before that I think Crystal specifically has the best animated sprites in the series, but gen 2's art style in general is incredibly appealing. Bold colors, smart use of dithering and pure white to provide highlights, it all looks so nice.

 

[R_N]

The gameboy color era of sprite work is a real master class, in general. Games in that era were just very visually pleasing

 

[The Mind Electric]

HG/SS Gyarados has always stood out as a great sprite to me. I like the colors, and it looks intimidating. I'm not a fan of the other 2D Gyarados sprites where it's floating in the air, they always look weird to me for some reason.

 

[Wukong]

HG/SS Gyarados has always stood out as a great sprite to me. I like the colors, and it looks intimidating. I'm not a fan of the other 2D Gyarados sprites where it's floating in the air, they always look weird to me for some reason.

I like Gyarados floating because it lends credence to its Flying type, which is otherwise kind of hard to justify over a Dragon secondary typing.

I think DP has the best Gyarados sprite. It looks colorful, majestic, yet threatening:

Interestingly, Gyarados has one of the best RB sprites in my opinion. Like Infernape, it also has a crest on its forehead angled downward making it look like it's looking down on its opponent menacingly, fitting its personality well. Really nice sprite actually, might be my second favorite after DP:

 

[The Mind Electric]

I really like the colors on these. Two of the best shiny sprites IMO.

 

[PokePoindexter]

Behold the Shiny that transitioned from Sprite to 3D the worst:

<- More like DERP-ion.

Back in gens 4 and 5, Drapion had one of my favorite Shiny sprites, and I'd prefer it over its regular variant any day (albeit the original is still awesome as well). In gen 6 onwards? Give me the regular version any day. Its sprites have an ominous blood red shade that makes it look even more destructive and vicious. It honestly feels like a Dark-type Pokemon now. But its 3D model throws all of that out the window. Now it just looks like a severely watered-down rendition of a regular Drapion but without any of the intimidation the sprites' colors provided.

 

[The Mind Electric]

Behold the Shiny that transitioned from Sprite to 3D the worst:

<- More like DERP-ion.

Back in gens 4 and 5, Drapion had one of my favorite Shiny sprites, and I'd prefer it over its regular variant any day (albeit the original is still awesome as well). In gen 6 onwards? Give me the regular version any day. Its sprites have an ominous blood red shade that makes it look even more destructive and vicious. It honestly feels like a Dark-type Pokemon now. But its 3D model throws all of that out the window. Now it just looks like a severely watered-down rendition of a regular Drapion but without any of the intimidation the sprites' colors provided.

Gotta say, not a fan of the colors on this one, but it's still lame that the 3d version looks so watered-down.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Thanks for bumping this thread. I have wanted to post some of my favorite sprites somewhere for a while, but couldn't find anywhere to do so. I didn't even know this thread existed. It is very sad to see that this thread only has one page while the worst sprites thread has 43 pages. Oh well. Time for some positivity!

Nidoqueen and Lapras are two of my favorites from R/B since they actually look just like the Pokémon they are supposed to be (mostly). I also like Kingler because the design here is wrong (the claws are equally big) which I prefer over Kingler's official design where one of its claws is bigger than the other.

Yellow is way better than R/B in the sprite department, though now that I look back at the Yellow sprites, I feel that a lot of them are trying too hard to be in cool or "edgy" poses which doesn't always work that well. I prefer the more neutral ones, notably Weepinbell, Exeggutor and Dratini. Pikachu is also excellent, good to see that they got the game mascot right.

For Gen 2, I think Gold and Crystal has better sprites than Silver overall. Ho-Oh is one of my favorites from Gold, they did once again get the game mascot right.

There are some that are notably better in Silver though. My favorite is Lugia, yet another game mascot sprite done right. Snorlax, Umbreon and Zapdos are great too, especially compared to their Gold sprites.

From the animated sprites in Crystal, one of my favorites is Porygon. The animation is simple but really cool.

Vaporeon is a Pokémon that is very hard to get correct in sprites, it seems. While some of the older ones are pretty good, like its sprites in Gen 3 and Platinum, I think it took them until Gen 5 before they absolutely nailed it. Everything about this Vaporeon sprite is perfect. It is not stuck in a silly pose, it doesn't look miserable, it looks happy and friendly, and all the important parts of its body are visible. I love it.

I wanted to post more sprites but this took longer than expected so I'll get back to this that another time. And now that I look back I have only featured Gen 1-2 Pokémon and mostly from the Gen 1-2 games, I feel like a former Pokémon fan lol. This was because I was planning to go through all generations in order, but I only did the first two and a little from Gen 5. There are a lot of great sprites from the newer generations too, though. But that's for another time.

 

[Wukong]

Thanks for bumping this thread. I have wanted to post some of my favorite sprites somewhere for a while, but couldn't find anywhere to do so. I didn't even know this thread existed. It is very sad to see that this thread only has one page while the worst sprites thread has 43 pages. Oh well. Time for some positivity!

View attachment 362224View attachment 362225View attachment 362226
Nidoqueen and Lapras are two of my favorites from R/B since they actually look just like the Pokémon they are supposed to be (mostly). I also like Kingler because the design here is wrong (the claws are equally big) which I prefer over Kingler's official design where one of its claws is bigger than the other.

View attachment 362227View attachment 362228View attachment 362229View attachment 362230
Yellow is way better than R/B in the sprite department, though now that I look back at the Yellow sprites, I feel that a lot of them are trying too hard to be in cool or "edgy" poses which doesn't always work that well. I prefer the more neutral ones, notably Weepinbell, Exeggutor and Dratini. Pikachu is also excellent, good to see that they got the game mascot right.

View attachment 362231
For Gen 2, I think Gold and Crystal has better sprites than Silver overall. Ho-Oh is one of my favorites from Gold, they did once again get the game mascot right.

View attachment 362232View attachment 362234View attachment 362235View attachment 362237
There are some that are notably better in Silver though. My favorite is Lugia, yet another game mascot sprite done right. Snorlax, Umbreon and Zapdos are great too, especially compared to their Gold sprites.

From the animated sprites in Crystal, one of my favorites is Porygon. The animation is simple but really cool.

View attachment 362236
Vaporeon is a Pokémon that is very hard to get correct in sprites, it seems. While some of the older ones are pretty good, like its sprites in Gen 3 and Platinum, I think it took them until Gen 5 before they absolutely nailed it. Everything about this Vaporeon sprite is perfect. It is not stuck in a silly pose, it doesn't look miserable, it looks happy and friendly, and all the important parts of its body are visible. I love it.

I wanted to post more sprites but this took longer than expected so I'll get back to this that another time. And now that I look back I have only featured Gen 1-2 Pokémon and mostly from the Gen 1-2 games, I feel like a former Pokémon fan lol. This was because I was planning to go through all generations in order, but I only did the first two and a little from Gen 5. There are a lot of great sprites from the newer generations too, though. But that's for another time.

Great choices. In particular RB Lapras might be its best sprite ever in my opinion. Really nails that calm, serene look that is perfectly on brand for it as a Pokémon. And while Kingler is wrong as you pointed out, it always looked very threatening to me as a kid.

On the topic of the Nido's, I really like Nidoking's RB sprite which gives Gyarados a run for its money as the best overall RB sprite in my opinion:

And I never noticed Porygon's Crystal animation. Probably because you never encounter it in battle or in the wild in that game as far as I recall. That's a fantastic touch for "The Virtual Pokémon".

And I like Vaporeon's Gen 5 sprite, especially its body facing away from you. But I prefer its Platinum sprite. I see Vaporeon as a calm rather than playful Pokémon, similar to Lapras, which is why I prefer its expressionless sprite in Platinum:

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Great choices. In particular RB Lapras might be its best sprite ever in my opinion. Really nails that calm, serene look that is perfectly on brand for it as a Pokémon. And while Kingler is wrong as you pointed out, it always looked very threatening to me as a kid.

On the topic of the Nido's, I really like Nidoking's RB sprite which gives Gyarados a run for its money as the best overall RB sprite in my opinion:

Thanks. And I agree about Nidoking in R/B, it is a really good sprite.

And I never noticed Porygon's Crystal animation. Probably because you never encounter it in battle or in the wild in that game as far as I recall. That's a fantastic touch for "The Virtual Pokémon".

Not sure if I ever saw it in the actual game either. 5555 coins, post-game only, and you are likely going to evolve it, so I guess it is easy to miss its animation.

And I like Vaporeon's Gen 5 sprite, especially its body facing away from you. But I prefer its Platinum sprite. I see Vaporeon as a calm rather than playful Pokémon, similar to Lapras, which is why I prefer its expressionless sprite in Platinum:

Fair enough. I prefer its Gen 5 sprite as said, but I agree that its Platinum sprite is really good as well, second best one IMO.

And now, time for some more of my favorite sprites. When looking up sprites I like, I often found it hard to draw the difference between sprites I like and Pokémon I just really like. But I tried my best to focus mostly on the actual sprites themselves, not on the Pokémon. There’s none from R/G, and that’s because I did honestly not found a single sprite from these games that I really liked. Sad as it is to say. But I guess it isn’t too surprising since the sprites of R/G are generally considered infamously bad, which I mostly agree with. There's none from D/P either, I guess I just prefer the Platinum sprites for the most part (and some from HG/SS too).

Anyway, here are some more sprites I like, mostly from Gen 3 and on this time.

Cubone is another one from R/B that is pretty good. The pose is a little weird, but other than that, I think it is great.

I really like Crystal Raikou. Partly because they fixed the wrong design it had in G/S, but even if we look past that, it is still a really good sprite. I like Hitmontop as well, especially the animation which creates an illusion of it spinning really fast, which is super cool.

Skitty is always super adorable, but I think its original sprite from Gen 3 is the cutest of them all.

From FR/LG, those are just two really good sprites if you ask me. Not much more to say here.

The Emerald animations were a bit more advanced than the ones in Crystal, but still quite simple. Though some of them were a bit more complicated. I really like the animation for Pidgeot, it does a quick spin in the air which is really cool. Gastly turns black, which is neat. I also like ones that flash, notably several Electric-types such as Magneton and Raikou. Milotic is similar since it turns blue. I also like Kecleon which turns invisible, it was neat since being able to turn invisible is one of Kecleon’s themes.

From Platinum, I really like the ones that have cool poses, notably several of the Sinnoh Pokémon. Infernape is excellent, as has been said before. But I think Staraptor, Garchomp and Magmortar are really great too, they all look so cool.

From HG/SS, Seel and Dragonite are my favorites. Seel is great just like in FR/LG (it even has the same pose) and is super adorable, which is very suitable since it is one of the very few cute Pokémon from Gen 1 IMO. Dragonite is just perfect, I think HG/SS has the best Dragonite sprite in the series.

I think Gen 5 has the best Suicune sprite in the series. While it was quite good in HG/SS as well, I think B/W made it even better. Gen 5 also gave new sprites to a majority of the Gen 3 Pokémon (which led some fans to believe that we would get a R/S remake in Gen 5), and I think most of the Gen 3 sprites in Gen 5 are excellent. Manectric, Salamence and Latias are three of my favorites (though I might be biased towards Latias since I just love Latias in general). I also think the sprite for Tyranitar in Gen 5 is its best sprite. While some of its previous sprites are solid too, notably in Gen 4, they really made it perfect in Gen 5.

Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I really liked the animated sprites in Gen 5. My favorites are those who really take advantage of constantly being in motion, notably several from Gen 5. I really like Spiritomb, it looks a lot better with its body constantly spinning. I’m glad this was kept in its 3D model as well. I really like Lilligant too, it is super cute (but I think Lilligant is always cute, so I might be biased). Cofagrigus is also great with how it is hiding and then coming back. I like the Klink line as well, they are great when they are always spinning (and I’m glad that they kept that in their 3D models too). Lastly, there’s Reshiram and Zekrom. The way they “light up” in their animations is just so amazing and I love it.

This is not a sprite, but I’m including it anyway. I love Magikarp’s 3D model. Everything about it is perfect. It captures the essence of a weak, useless, pathetic fish so flawlessly, while also giving a relaxing feeling. That’s the third time I’m saying that here on the forums, but I guess it can’t be said too many times.

So yeah, those are some of the best sprites (and one model) IMO. There’s probably a lot more but this what I have for the moment at least. Might post here again later if I can come up with anything more.

 

[Wukong]

I posted about the Gen 1 starters' best looks, let me post Gen 2 and 3 starters' best looks in my opinion.

I think the Gen 2 trio's best sprites are from HGSS. HGSS's arguably biggest draw is its aesthetic and they revamped several DPPt sprites to look much better. Feraligatr looks terrific with the black mascara, nice teal color, and relatively slim physique. Meganium looks dignified and majestic. Typhlosion looks intimidating with its red eyes slanted down and long, spiky flame collar (though Silver gives this sprite a run for its money).

As for Gen 3 I find its starters' best sprites are spread across generations. Swampert's best sprite is from RSE in my opinion. I think the bipedal look is more intimidating and its expression isn't as vacant as its other sprites.



Sceptile looks its best in Gen 4 I think. In Gen 3 it has a bit of a blank expression with its closed mouth. It also has a strange glossy shading and its toes are a bit jarring. In Gen 5 it looks too thin in proportion to the tree on its tail. Gen 4 has a nice expression, especially its eyes, and an evenly proportioned physique along with the preferable lighter shade of green.



Lastly Blaziken. I'm not a big fan of Blaziken's design honestly but I think its best sprite is from Gen 5. In the other two Gens its eyes look very beady in black whereas at least that is fixed in Gen 5 (its official art has blue eyes). I don't like the color scheme of any of them so that's a wash I guess. The pose and facial expression in Gen 4 are pretty bad. I guess the eyes are mainly what give Gen 5 the edge over Gen 3 in my book.

 

[Codraroll]

Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I really liked the animated sprites in Gen 5. My favorites are those who really take advantage of constantly being in motion, notably several from Gen 5. I really like Spiritomb, it looks a lot better with its body constantly spinning. I’m glad this was kept in its 3D model as well. I really like Lilligant too, it is super cute (but I think Lilligant is always cute, so I might be biased). Cofagrigus is also great with how it is hiding and then coming back. I like the Klink line as well, they are great when they are always spinning (and I’m glad that they kept that in their 3D models too). Lastly, there’s Reshiram and Zekrom. The way they “light up” in their animations is just so amazing and I love it.

I really like Cofagrigus' sprite too, and I think something was lost in the transition to 3D there. Originally, Cofagrigus is like a monster hiding in a sarcophagus, suddenly springing forth when attacking. But in the 3D model, the monster is out at all times, so you never see it take advantage of its "camouflage".

 

[PyProd]

I really like Honchkrow's sprite in Platinum.

It has this essence that screams that he's the big boss. None of his other sprites have this, as it really stands out by its pose (the right wing being shown as if it were giving orders or showing you some big mansion or henchmen). This sprite perfectly captures what Honchkrow is supposed to be.

In the normal Gen 4 sprites (Diamond and Pearl), Honchkrow just looks like a glorified pigeon, while the gen 6 sprites just show him flapping his wings. They are really more generic. Too generic for a Pokémon such as Honchkrow.

 

[Daylight]

Probably one of my favorite things (maybe my favorite) about Sword & Shield was the update the menu minisprites got.

These are some of my favorites but they’re all really charming and fun and I really noticed the change from the previous menu sprites.

Those aside, I think Ninetales has had a particularly good run of 2d sprites.They’ve always managed to really capture its regal & vaguely threatening personality.

​

Also, while not exactly sprites, the 3D models from the Genius Sonority games are incredible and full of personality. My favorites are the dramatic but graceful and fluid Milotic, Ballerina Kirlia, and the super iconic Espeon. (Also shoutout to the I-can’t-be-bothered Delcatty and the so-done-with-this Roselia.)