1st Gen Best & worst gen 1 sprites

Let's get old school, and take a walk back to Gen 1, the place where it all began! From introducing the wondrous universe, and many of pokemon that remain iconic to this day, to the simplicity, nostalgia, freedom to explore and nutty mechanics it offers, Gen 1 has it's fair share of reasons to love it. It's got it's issues of course too, and a lot of players will pine for the gameplay and mechanical improvements of subsequent generations, the old Gameboy graphics particularly being an obstacle for some. The 90s art doesn't stop me personally from enjoying the games, I appreciate them for what they are, a product of their time, and still like Kanto, and can even have a good laugh over some of the more awkward visuals.

I thought for fun I would include all the sprites from Pokemon Green, Red Blue and Yellow.

Which ones are the worst? Can you find some that you like in here too among all the craziness?

Let's start with Pokemon Green.

https://www.pokencyclopedia.info/en/index.php?id=sprites/gen1/spr_green_supergb

Of the ones I think they pulled off, I would say the sprite of Snorlax is very solid, like it is in mostly every gen. Charizard is kinda cool, Blastoise looks tough. Tauros I like, it seems intense and focused, they managed to capture some detail of the three tails whipping around and being lively. They got Kingler's big claw right. I like Goldeen's proud attitude. I guess Dewgong fine. Nidorino's still iconic. I don't mind Ninetales, it was probably not easy to squeeze in all of those tails, and have it breathing fire and howling, but they basically made it happen. I don't really see anything wrong with Clefable either. Cubone is detailed. Zapdos is about right.

Those that stood out to me as not working so great would be Geodude. His expression is too pouty, and arms are too short. I don't know why the Jigglypuff line has lazy eyes, and no comment on Hitmonchan, it's already a meme. Disappointed by how skinny Dragonite is. Farfetch'd looks a bit maniacal, and Poor Mew is a rat.

Here goes Red/Blue. Which do you think are the best and the worst?

https://www.pokencyclopedia.info/en/index.php?id=sprites/gen1/spr_red-blue_supergb

I think Clefairy looks lovely, Meowth and Persian are good, more personality is beginning to shine through, and Arcanine I think is beautiful. Gyarados looks like he means business, and they also capture the grace anf gentleness of Lapras. Aerodactyl looks very fierce. Sandshrew is cute, if more realistic-looking. Slowpoke also cute, and appropriately chill. Kabutops is fearsome.

Geodude still needs some help, arms are spaghetti noodles and why the hitchhiking thumb? Machoke's facial expression looks really strained.

And at last we come to Yellow.

https://www.pokencyclopedia.info/en/index.php?id=sprites/gen1/spr_yellow_gbc

I actually like all the front sprites Yellow introduced, and have no complaints on these, so can't pick a favorite. I just wish that they had made new back sprites too.

Looking at the Gen I sprites now, all these years later, I still find myself looking at most of them fondly. For their very first iteration, considering what the official art was like at the time, a lot of them are actually really good depictions. There are outliers - Mankey looks terrible because of its arms, Ekans just looks weird, Koffing is thoroughly messed-up, and don't even get me started on Mew in Green, good lord - but you can tell what most of them are, and Yellow improved on them all pretty significantly, partly because of the added variations in colour so you can more readily distinguish what type they're supposed to be, but also because the poses are more dynamic or otherwise interesting, and the proportions aren't quite so messed-up...I mean, I don't HATE Slowbro's original sprite or anything, but how the hell did that Shellder on its tail get THAT big?!

I almost forgot how incredibly fugly Green's Mew sprite is. Like I know it was kind of a last minute edition but holy shit why was that what made it in

Overall I like Yellow's the best. Probably because of the more vibrant coloring, though they also had the benefit of having a couple of years to refine the sprites a bit

I love the attitude of Tentacruel.



Captures the feeling of being fished up by a 10 year old kid.

...I guess for those I dislike, I'll agree with the above post about Mew.

I kinda like how much bigger Venusaur's flower looks in it's Green sprite. The Chansey's pose is also really adorable.
Green's Machamp looks creepy as all heck, wth.

The Exeggcute have an overlord in Blue/Green xD Snorlax has some nice attitude here =3
Pidgeot looks really dang weird tbh.

Yellow's Persian looks pretty good! nice and sassy =3
Why the heck does Porygon have those colors in yellow 0.0

I like Red/Blue's Gyarados and Blastoise spite. Even Venusaur looks pretty alright. Charizard on the other hand is a little bit goofy, imo.

for me atleast, the yellow sprites are probably the best gen 1 sprites, my personal favorite is Eevee, since its really cute, and on r\g\b i also really like the eeveelutions, i also love how Mewtwo design there, its iconic. Also love the Gengar and Rapidash sprites.

now, i think the Machoke's red sprite is weird? it kinda looks goofy.
and Poliwrath without making a angry expression is also ood.

From Green, Clefable looks absolutely lovely.



Put that next to Wigglytuff and there is a big difference... Clefable looks so much better haha. I almost always like its sprite in gen 1 games!

Meowth's maneki neko pose is also adorable:



Some others are pretty cute too, like Magnemite and Koffing, but the starters are honestly pretty underwhelming. Overall though, I almost forgot how decent Green's sprites were - my memory is of them being pretty bad.

RB of course took it up a notch. There's Clefairy, Ponyta, Psyduck, Nidoqueen, Mew..



Some of my favorites from these games.

Yellow though, they're so much more colorful and I love them! Some favorites are Squirtle, Raichu, Clefable, Ninetales, Psyduck, Arcanine, Kingler, Chansey, Seadra, Flareon..



Honestly I can go on forever about how good Yellow sprites were. They're so lively!

Not sure I have many worst ones. Sandslash in Green + RB though, poor thing wasn't done justice imo.

Green:
- Good: Slowbro (good expression) and Fearow (good shadows)
- Bad: Ekans (that mouth), Wigglytuff (wildly different eye sizes), Golbat (the expression), Mew (its head), and Drowzee + Hypno (the squinty eyes). Mentions Eevee for the strangely angry expression.

Complains about a lumpier heads in this version.

Red/Blue:
- Good: Nidoking, Arcanine, Hitmonchan, and Hitmonlee for the pose. Chuckles at Tentacruel for the tentacles crossed "are you done yet?" expression/pose. Likes the spookier look of Haunter and Gengar.
- Bad: Golbat (now with tongue), Wigglytuff (very hexagonal), and Dragonair (mistakes the orb for a mouth).

Improved from Green. Fixed most of the bodies.

Yellow:
- Good: Blastoise and Rapidash (excellent poses)
- Bad: Electrode (Cannot easily discern its mouth from a white spot.)

Mentions far fewer good and bad here. Looks the most like the Pokemon of today, though, barring color oddities like Starmie, Growlithe, and Jigglypuff. Wins the overall award. Preferred the angles for most of Red/Blue, however.

Favorite from all: Blastoise (Yellow)
Least favorite from all: Golbat (Red/Blue). Was tempted to say its Green sprite too.