1st Gen Worst Gen 1 Sprite?

[JOBO]

These back sprites made me cry. RIP Charmeleon and Venusaur :'(

 

[Hands]

These back sprites made me cry. RIP Charmeleon and Venusaur :'(

All of the backsprites in gen 1 are pretty bad haha

 

[MyUglyOne]

Vaporeon's back sprite was pretty terrible. It looked like a shapeless glob.

 

[Hands]

I kinda nearly forgot this monstrosity until i played a bit of blue the other day

 

[Boynsy]

Charizard's back sprite. It is comfortable the worst thing I've ever seen, and is legitimately terrifying! It looks like a freakin skeleton angel thing!

 

[Hands]

Charizard's back sprite. It is comfortable the worst thing I've ever seen, and is legitimately terrifying! It looks like a freakin skeleton angel thing!

In fairness most of them are absolutely horrific

 

[LegendChu]

I really disliked these:-

Pika Pika :chu:

 

[Altairis]

Everything is so weird. I don't know how they were acceptable or why people really liked them, but compared to now they don't even look... remotely normal. My #1 pick? All of them. Not a single one of them looks relatively ok haha.

 

[Flowerchild]

I mean, they're all pretty terrible. Not only that, but some of the changes made between Green, Red/Blue, and Yellow are so funny.
Here's Krabby in Green.

Here he is in Red and Blue. Now he's upside down!

And finally, Yellow. Looks like they found a happy medium with him being sideways.

The shape of Sandslash's body, especially spikes, changes significantly in Yellow.

Seel gradually sticks his tongue out more with each release.

Aaaand Spearow changes a ton as well lmao.

 

[Imperator161]

For me, it's a toss-up between that terrible Mew sprite in the opening post (I couldn't figure out what it was the first time I saw a picture of it) and Golbat (who I find exceptionally creepy in its original form).

It's interesting how normal Mew looks in its Yellow sprite. I'm always amazed by how it transformed from RB to Y. That goes for some other sprites, too (some of which I like better in RB, some in Y).

There are also a lot of sprite in gen I that really don't look like their character art (e.g., Koffing's skull and bones in the wrong place), something that you don't see nearly as much of in later generations.

 

[Sektor]

Hahaha. I love Golbat, but geez come on!

 

[lilyc0ve]

Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff always gave me a giggle.

"We've seen some thiiiings, man"

 

[Lysander]

Mankey's back sprite:

Horrific

 

[Mawa]

Looking back at them, I won't criticize Gen 7 now :')

 

[Hands]

For me, it's a toss-up between that terrible Mew sprite in the opening post (I couldn't figure out what it was the first time I saw a picture of it) and Golbat (who I find exceptionally creepy in its original form).

It's interesting how normal Mew looks in its Yellow sprite. I'm always amazed by how it transformed from RB to Y. That goes for some other sprites, too (some of which I like better in RB, some in Y).

There are also a lot of sprite in gen I that really don't look like their character art (e.g., Koffing's skull and bones in the wrong place), something that you don't see nearly as much of in later generations.

In fairness a lot of those were based on their really early art seen in these cards

https://unrealitymag.com/video-games/the-lost-official-pokemon-art-that-no-one-ever-saw/

Which kinda explains why Mew looks so painful

 

[Gandhi Savage]

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WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING? IT'S LITERALLY A STICK MAN WITH ITS FACE ON IT BODY! IT'S LIKE HITMONLEE WITH A WEIRD SMILE AND FLOWER HAT. IT'S LIKE A LITTLE TEAPOT SHORT AND STOUT; THERE IS ITS HANDLE AND THERE IS ITS SPOUT! WTF?????????

secretly i love all the old sprites as bad as they are, they're all so charming haha​

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[Imperator161]

In fairness a lot of those were based on their really early art seen in these cards

https://unrealitymag.com/video-games/the-lost-official-pokemon-art-that-no-one-ever-saw/

Which kinda explains why Mew looks so painful

I hadn't realized that some of the sprites were based on alternate artwork, but some of those images do explain why the sprites might have turned out the way they did. I just figured the spriters only had a vague idea of what they were supposed to be creating, or the designs of the Pokemon were still in flux a little. Which I guess they were, if there were two sets of art made by Ken Sugimori. Any idea when the alternate art you linked to was designed vs. when the "classic" art we're familiar with was created?

 

[Hands]

I hadn't realized that some of the sprites were based on alternate artwork, but some of those images do explain why the sprites might have turned out the way they did. I just figured the spriters only had a vague idea of what they were supposed to be creating, or the designs of the Pokemon were still in flux a little. Which I guess they were, if there were two sets of art made by Ken Sugimori. Any idea when the alternate art you linked to was designed vs. when the "classic" art we're familiar with was created?

I'm not sure on exact dates, but they predate the official images we got as the games were released. You can tell because Pikachu, Kakuna, Poliwrath, Exeggscute and Charmander still have their beta designs. I;m guessing these were drawn late 95/very early 96

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Hahaha. I love Golbat, but geez come on!

I agree! It's probably my favorite actually.

As for the worst, if you don't say Moltres you are probably wrong 8D

 

[Boomerang Cutter]

Golbat and Exeggutor both had horrible sprites in Red/Blue. The latter especially because of how nightmare inducing it is.