Hmm I don't recall first seeing it on Serebii.. I can't really remember though. This is a trend in ~2007 though, lol! :3
Me, making tutorials? Ogod those always seemed like a hassle. XD
Yeah, might as well make things easy by not using the mini-sprites. The template is easy enough. It's just different backgrounds, black lines, and cropped Pokemon. :P
If I increase the amount frames, it'll increase the file size but not so much. It's about 1/5 file size of what's allowed in sigs. I think that should tackle the choppiness. Right now it's scrolling at 0.1 seconds though, lol.