5th Gen In battles, sprites were always animated.

[Palamon]

Generation V started sprites being constantly animated in battle at all times. What did you think of this?

 

[DarkFireOfRadiation]

Personally, I kinda liked it, but that might just be my nostalgia, since my first Pokemon game was Pokemon Black.

 

[Janp]

That was the best feature in the whole franchise. Those sprites gave each Pokémon their unique soul and energy, something I feel 3D models never accomplished.

 

[FeraligatrMaster]

Gen 5 had the best Pokemon sprites, with a few exceptions (Pikachu and Whismur). Shame they went on to 3D models for the 3DS games.

 

[Sydian]

really enjoyed it. hadn't seen sprites with so much uniqueness and personality since gen II at that point. the animated sprites in gen 5 just really add to gen V's aesthetic and make it one of the most memorable in the series for visuals alone. the 3D models from gen 6 and onward just don't have the same charm to them imo, even if it's nice to see my faves in HD with gen 8. i watched one of my old gen 5 videos the other night and seeing the sprites alone sparked an urge to play. like just seeing how cool the pokemon looked, that alone made me want to play the games again.

 

[_pheebee]

It was a huge thing, and still is.
This is why Gen 5 is my favourite, they didn't have to do all these animations.
And then in the sequels they did smooth animations for trainers as well, and it was amazing.

 

[Amore]

Overall I enjoyed it. Some of them seemed pretty naff, like I wouldn't have minded if they'd done the same animation in the EDPPtHGSS style, but on the other hand I really enjoy Ferroseed, Reshiram and Zekrom's animations.

 

[Rivvon]

I remember originally thinking Ferroseed was boring, until I saw one in-game and it started spinning like a death metal doom top of doom. Now though? I can't imagine anyone whose first impression of Ferroseed is from the 3D games liking it at all when all it does is clunk into the ground, stiff and cold.

The animated sprites of gen 5 weren't just animated in the literal sense, but in the figurative sense. Snivy crossing its arms and sticking its chin out at the opponent, Ducklett bopping around and waving "hello," Garbodor chomping down with a trash-compactor-esque mouth... The sprites really gave each of the Pokémon a personality.

 

[Lunar]

I thought it was quite a cool little feature to be honest, another example of how Gen V added stuff to make our playing experience more immersive and enjoyable. It's little things like this that show how this generation was really bridging the gap between the DS and 3DS, and was definitely an improvement on just the static sprites!

 

[Sheep]

I miss it, it gave life to a lot of mons. Not the biggest fan of things like Sudowoodo being almost entirely still now in the 3D games, though I definitely understand it makes sense. Maybe it's my nostalgia speaking too lol.

 

[TwilightBlade]

I really miss it. The BW animated sprites gave so much life and personality to Pokémon that seems to be missing from the Switch models. They did Typhlosion dirty (I used the shiny sprite because the normal one didn't seem to work for me).

 

[Pokedream.su]

Generation V started sprites being constantly animated in battle at all times. What did you think of this?

Its honestly my gold standard for fights in Pokemon games. After gen V, all of the sprites looked so lifeless, and before it feels antiquated. Before gen 6, it seemed almost standard to use them everywhere, I have good memories of playing gen 1 on Showdown simulator with gen V sprites.

 

[Lordecoxinha]

Although I agree with everyone here, I have a major problem with Gen 5 sprites in the way they were done. Now, I understand it's way too unrealistic to want 650 Pokémon fully hand-animated, but having some few sprite changes and then spinning or moving the pieces around results in pixels distorting and sometimes that felt kinda awkward imo.

In my perfect world, Pokémon games would use Gen 5 sprites and the entry-only animations they used until Gen 4. I feel they added personality without evoking this distorted and weird feeling.

Also, Gen 5's Salamence sprite is imo the peak of Pokémon graphics.

 

[Roni]

best era of Pokemon sprites bar none. still prefer that style over the 3D whatevers we have going on right now.

 

[Lysander]

Certainly preferred these sprites to the 3D animations they've been using since X and Y

 

[ngoomie]

I always kinda had mixed feelings on it, they're fun and definitely do add more character to Pokemon sprites when compared to either having just unmoving sprites or the 3D models we've had since X and Y, but at the same time I find the specific way it was done kind of ugly, just moving around and distorting parts of the sprites instead of having them fully animated. Like Lordecoxinha though I definitely understand that hand animating all of them would've been really difficult.

 

[ninestarryskies]

I loved the animated gen V sprites to bits! I remember getting really excited when I first saw footage of not only a full, constantly animated battle sprite, but also the back sprite was animated, full body instead of half cut off, and the shadows were actually the shape of the Pokemon instead of generic circles! I can see why they didn't keep that up,naturally,but the 3D models are mostly fine.I feel like a lot of the colors are drained in some of them,the sprites are so much brighter and more lifelike to me,if that makes sense!

 

[Vagabond+]

To this day I think Gen 5 is able to get away with having very few features beyond battles BECAUSE the sprite style is so good. I think they are the most pleasing to play, but I also love battling the most in pokemon games so making that as refreshing as possible is welcome. No other generation has nearly as much life in the mons, it's a golden standard.

I was surprised when I first heard some people don't like how it looks, but I can understand some aspects looking rough or not following traditional design people have gotten acquainted with.

 

[Megan]

It is peak sprite design but it is only peak sprite design because they moved on to 3D models in the generation afterwards. Who knows what they would have pulled of if they kept that direction. It may not have been the smartest decision to stick with 2D sprites beyond gen 5 but looking at how pretty much nothing happened with the models in the last 3 generations that made them look more alive maybe it would have been?

 

[भाग्य ज्योति]

The best thing of Pokemon BW is the sprites and that's what makes it unique among other games. Personally speaking, Nintendo should have continued this trend instead of switching to 3D sprites, and we all know how worse were USUM models.