Attack animations!

[Pendraflare]

When you use moves in-game, every one of them has their own animation that's used when it makes contact with the foe, or yourself if it's a self-targeting move. Some of them have rather basic animations, like Normal-type moves, but when we look at special moves mostly, they can have some pretty sick showings.

Do any in particular look especially cool to you when used? Which ones really stand out to you? Discuss.

 

[Sun]

I love Solar Beam and Thunderbolt from Gen III games, Outrage Flare Blitz is B2W2, Aura Sphere and Close Combat in Gen V, Energy Ball and Ice Beam in Gen VI, Bubble Beam, Body Slam from Gen I, Giga Drain from Gen II. Flamethrower and Hydro Pump in OrAs.

 

[Apollo]

I paid the most attention to the attack animations during Emerald, and I recalled that I liked the animations for Ice Beam, Blizzard, Defense Curl, Thunder and Silver Wind. Never really focused on the animations on the later games, unfortunately!

 

[Hikamaru]

Most of my fave animations for attacks come from 5th and 6th Gen for some reason. Notable ones for me include Flash Cannon (both 4th and 5th Gen), Surf in 3rd-5th Gen (which actually had a proper wave while 6th Gen didn't), Water Pulse in B2/W2, Aura Sphere in HG/SS, Psyshock in 6th Gen, Air Slash in 4th/5th Gen, and Dragon Rush, Draco Meteor, Retaliate and Calm Mind in 6th Gen. Then there's also Psybeam and Aurora Beam which I loved the animations of in 4th and 5th Gen, which I really loved the rainbow colours of.

 

[PageEmp]

Flash cannon for Ge4.

Hands down.

 

[Drayton]

Thunderbolt's animation is cool because it's not average thunder attack, Gen5/6 impress me with Flamethrower animation it just beautiful by animation flowing through it, Gen 6 Ice beam impress me again with the icing on top instead just hit and freeze, it shows with actual ice when the attack is cast or enemy is hit because the past gens the ice beam just a beam (I'm talking to you Gen1/2) while Gen3/4/5 was way impressive, but Gen3 just mimic gen2 with bit more flow.

 

[Pendraflare]

Outrage in B2W2 is one of my favorite animations EVER. Close Combat in Generation VI is pretty cool as well, and I like most Thunder animations too. In general, B2W2 had a LOT of attacks that got really cool scenes to them, like Flare Blitz, DynamicPunch, Superpower, and even Giga Impact. And i'll also give mention to Hydro Cannon and Blast Burn in Generations IV and VI as well.

 

[Frozen Lotus]

I really like the animation for Aurora Beam, especially the Generation V version. It's not a great move, but it's beautiful to look at.

 

[SleepyTrainer]

I LOVED Dark Pulse in Gen V and Ice Beam, Tho they changed how Dark Pulse sounds :/
but still one of my fave attacks. Energy Ball was pretty as well!

I mostly like Dark type or Ice type attacks. Or pokemon :D

 

[DraconianWing]

Eruption always looked cool in my eyes, regardless of generation. Gen 4 Hydro Pump, Gen5 Outrage and Gen 6 Fissure are awesome too.

 

[Hiatus]

Roar of Time from generation four.

Its effects seemed to have been very... out there, at least in my eyes, and as it's the signature move of Dialga--a legendary Pokémon--I believe Roar of Time
s animation suits itself pretty well.

Aside from that I'm also a fan of Flamethrower from generation six, as well as Giga Drain from gen five.

 

[Invertedartist]

The Legendary unique moves are always cool to look at but I think the way Retaliate looks in gen 6 is just awesome, I have no idea why, it just does XD

 

[Hikamaru]

Gen 6 Ice beam impress me again with the icing on top instead just hit and freeze, it shows with actual ice when the attack is cast or enemy is hit because the past gens the ice beam just a beam (I'm talking to you Gen1/2) while Gen3/4/5 was way impressive, but Gen3 just mimic gen2 with bit more flow.

I can see where you are coming from here. I felt like most Ice Beam animations lacked something and 6th Gen made me finally work out what it was missing, which was those snowflakes that appeared when the attack is used. I also love Freeze-Dry in that it encases the target in a huge chunk of ice for a bit. 6th Gen Blizzard also looked cool because it was like a strong wind of snow and ice being blown towards the target. Icicle Crash also looks way more epic compared to its 5th Gen version, blowing ice up in to the air and then having the icicles come crashing down on the target.

Both of Kyurem's alternate formes' signature moves, Ice Burn and Freeze Shock have awesome animations as well. Seriously, Ice-type really has been given the epic treatment with move animations lately.

Outrage in B2W2 is one of my favorite animations EVER. Close Combat in Generation VI is pretty cool as well, and I like most Thunder animations too. In general, B2W2 had a LOT of attacks that got really cool scenes to them, like Flare Blitz, DynamicPunch, Superpower, and even Giga Impact. And i'll also give mention to Hydro Cannon and Blast Burn in Generations IV and VI as well.

I forgot about Outrage there, and I do agree with you on B2/W2's version with the flames and everything. I loved most of Thunder's animations as well, except for 4th Gen that is (I didn't like how fat the bolt looked on that one) but they all have that awesome scene of summoning a thundercloud with that bolt dropping down. I was also a fan of Overheat's animation in 5th and 6th Gen, particularly the former when you have steam coming out after the attack is used.

 

[Sopheria]

Thunder has always looked cool as heck to me in every generation. I thought it was a really cool touch in Gen 6 the way the camera pans up and shows the stormclouds. Really adds to the realism and makes it feel like a super powerful move.

Also, Spacial Rend is another favorite of mine. It's a cool attack to begin with, charging at an opponent so fast that it tears through space, but the animation really captures that quite well with the screen shattering effect ^^

I miss the Minimize animation from Gen 1, where the Pokemon actually becomes like, so small you can barely see it on your Gameboy screen, and stays like that for the whole battle :D I'm actually surprised they didn't bring that back, since it made sense because the effects of minimize persist until the Pokemon gets switched out (Stomp does double damage against a minimized Pokemon)

 

[CharBrothers]

I really liked Thunderbolt in Gen III. Although, that move has lower PP than the others. It is beautiful to look at. (Specially if you're opponent is Water-type) ;)

 

[Lycanthropy]

Thunder always has an awesome animation, even in the first, where cool animations were really rare. Many dragon type moves have great animations too, like Dragon Claw in Gen III and VI, Roar of Time in Gen IV and Twister in Gens IV, V, VI. The latter's animation implies a much stronger move than a boring power 40 dragon move.

 

[Drayton]

Both of Kyurem's alternate formes' signature moves, Ice Burn and Freeze Shock have awesome animations as well. Seriously, Ice-type really has been given the epic treatment with move animations lately.

I do agree, Ice animation needs to be cooler (pun) instead lack luster, simple, crappy and boring kinda way and Blizzard impress me again on gen6 with some serious moves.

 

[kingdenas]

I kind of forgot of some animations so I don't have a big list :/
I like the Water-Pulse move from B2/W2 ! Kind of shows an underwater environment which is very beautiful!
I looove the animation for Retaliate in X and Y (I don't think in ORAS is different though), OMG I just can't tell what I feel when I see this attack, it's so badass!

 

[Sopheria]

I kind of forgot of some animations so I don't have a big list :/
I like the Water-Pulse move from B2/W2 ! Kind of shows an underwater environment which is very beautiful!
I looove the animation for Retaliate in X and Y (I don't think in ORAS is different though), OMG I just can't tell what I feel when I see this attack, it's so badass!

Ohh yes! How could I forget about Retaliate? That's one of those moves I use all the time in-game simply because it's so cool to watch!

 

[Hikamaru]

I don't really pay too much attention to the animations anymore but Gen 6 has some really pretty animations. Was nice to see them put so much effort into them and make them look really nice.

You do have to admit we're on this together. The animations had tons more effort to make them look so glorious, no surprise given this was the first fully 3D game so it was natural to see the improvements to attacks visually as well.