Gen 3 had some of the most creative Pokemon in its roster. The legndaries were based on mythological creature but also represent hot vs cold. We have a dancing mexican pineapple duck thing, a cool ass sumo wrestler, a posses doll based on an actual thing, Trapinch evolving into a dragon being a reference to the actual thing, Lileep and Anorith being the most creative fossil yet considering their origins, a clever idea to represent cicada shells, a compass that looks like a maoi head, a mongoose vs snake rivalry, a MUAY THAI BOXER, among other things. Luvdisc is the only bad thing about that gen.
I am glad Gen 6 is finally bringing designs that rival the brilliance of gen 3's creativity. It's about time. Gen 4 was fine, but a lot of them were very plain. Gen 5 tried too hard. (Although Scrafty is god-tier.)