Favorite generation purely from a visual standpoint

[DedicatedOni]

Personally, I adore gen 5 and its more detailed take on 2d sprites, but I'm curious what everyone else's generation is in terms of graphics are.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

I honestly agree with you, while I wish that the Gen 5 games were a bit better optimised, (taking forever to watch EXP go up or heath to go down for example) they were easily my favorites from a pure design standpoint.

 

[Janp]

I really like Gen II style. It's full-blown nostalgia for me. It's like a clean version of Gen I design.

I also enjoy Gen VII style. It's so vibrant and colourful. And while 3D sprites are not as nice as 2D sprites, I love the 3D enviroments.

 

[ReKoil]

As I vastly prefer 3D models over the old sprite stuff; gen 6 and beyond. There is nothing in the old sprite art that appeals to me more than the 3D models do.
If I had to pick a single favorite I'd probably go with Sword/Shield for the overall look. The games look good and I prefer their art style over that of Scarlet/Violet. SV did add some nice details to Pokemon models as well as some changes to models though, but overall the game's art style just doesn't vibe with me all that much.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Gen III and gen IV. They're very iconic!

 

[Devalue]

Probably Generation 4, overall. Mentions Generation 2 as a close second. Mostly chose on the Pokemon sprites. Typically prefers 2D over 3D. Views the game space more clearly without worrying about awkward angles hiding something. Broke it down into three categories (kind of unnecessarily):

Sprites: Likes Generation 2 and 4 the most. Gave them good character. Drew the Pokemon sprites too bouncy in Generation 5. Describes some of the Generation 1 ones as strange-looking (Wigglytuff, for example). Rates Generation 3 as okay, no real complaints.

Overworld: Mostly indifferent on this one. Gains more varied scenery in later games.

User Interface: Dislikes Generation 3's user interface, for whatever reason. Feels...blocky? Perhaps out of place with the world around it? Shrugs. Kind of likes later generations on this for the color-coding of moves.

 

[CoolKid575]

Gen 7 is my favorite from a visual standpoint. They perfected the visual style from Gen 6 while having it's own unique flair; it also has the best UI IMO.

 

[Gruffin]

For 3D, I'm going to count Hisui as separate from the rest of Gen 8 for my own sake while answering this; I love Hisui's art direction, but Sword/Shield leaves something to be desired.

And for 2D, I'll echo the love for Gen V's sprite work, with IV being a close runner up.

 

[Sheep]

Unova was perfect. That's pretty much the perfect visual style for me and I'd love to see more of it. CGS comes close!

 

[Explorer of Time]

I'd say Gen 3 for the mainline games, since I quite like the 2D art and feel that the 3D background elements of the Sinnoh and especially Unova games tend to not look as consistent. (Gen 4 does have my favorite in-battle artstyle, though.)

Overall, I'd say: Gen 3 > Gen 4 > Gen 2 > Gen 6 > Gen 5 > Gen 1. (Haven't played 7/8/9 yet.)

However, if you count spinoff games, I'd go with Gen 4. The Ranger trilogy* has my absolute favorite artstyle across the whole series, and the Mystery Dungeon Explorers games are very very good as well. In addition, Battle Revolution did an excellent job with its 3D graphics, even though I'm not as much of a fan of 3D art as sprite art.

*I know the first Ranger was technically Gen 3, but it was a DS game and its non-Japanese release dates were after the Japanese release dates for Diamond and Pearl, so I kinda think of it as an honorary Gen 4 game.

 

[Palamon]

Probably generation v because they pulled off 2D 3D well, in my opinion.

 

[miragespot]

Kalos (X/Y, Gen 6) had my favorite graphics.

 

[Zeostar]

My favorite is gen 2. It looks like a coloring book placed into a video game.

 

[Lavender]

Gen 6! it's whole theme is beauty, the anistar crystal thingy, the fairy area was cool, and the pokemon league was stunning!