Favorite Attack Animation

[sunshinesan]

I am overall impressed with the work GF put into the animations. This is the first generation in which I did not turn them off (well, also gen I, hyper beam was a beast). We've seen 3D done before, i.e. the stadium games, but I noticed X and Y's were way superior and much more interesting. The only gripe I have is that sometimes the pokemons' attack animation don't mix with the attacks' animation themselves. But this rarely happens and I'm actually surprised by that.

I really like Focus blast, the camera work for the attack makes it look really devastating and rewarding when it lands on a lucky day.
Brave bird is also absurd, it really accentuate the power behind the move.
Any other ones?

 

[Red G]

Farfetch'd using Fly is hilarious. He sticks the leek into his mouth and just drops, *beak-first* onto the opponent.

Besides that, Water Shuriken has a really cool animation that actually makes sense for the move it represents.

 

[Shiruba]

fly is amazing. sometimes i'm like KAMIKAZEEEEEEEE just because it looks so hilarious.

for "awesome" factor, though, i'd say earthquake. really seeing the ground shake and split open - having the whole terrain change, and not just the screen shake - so awesome. even battle revolution didn't do it as well as xy did.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

Retaliate looks misleadingly epic. Brave Bird is also very cool.

 

[CJorex]

Flare Blitz is pretty cool

 

[DHR-107]

Retaliate looks misleadingly epic. Brave Bird is also very cool.

Retaliate's animation is really really cool for some reason. Brave Bird's is absolutely stunning. The whole animation form start to finish is glorious in how the model moves and then smacks into the foe. Got to say the old Hyper Beam noise is great to have back (even though you can't really hear it).

Worst moves have to be either Body Slam or Smack Down... Just squashing the opponents into the ground looks really terrible. Oh and Wood Hammer looks shockingly crap too.

Can we have some reasons why you like the move animations you like rather than just "X is cool".

 

[Lord Jesseus]

Oh and Wood Hammer looks shockingly crap too.

Wood Hammer looks bad because for some reason the Pokemon using it is wierdly static. The whole rotated slightly, but otherwise entirely immobile. Compare say, Hammer Arm, where Chesnaut (the Pokemon I used with Wood Hammer) does a big downward punching animation.
I think this might actually be a mistake, it just looks so wrong. Surely it was supposed to have an actual movement along with the rotation.

 

[meddle]

Flame Charge looks pretty great. So fiery. Like Retaliate and a bunch of other moves, the animation is a bit more epic than the actual move itself.

Waterfall got a nice animation. It actually makes sense as an attack now rather than "oh heres sum water on ur face" like in previous gens.

Light Screen/Reflect also got some nice upgraded animations. They look pretty similar but for some reason I prefer the disc shape of the barrier over the rectangular one that has always existed until now.

Agreed with DHR that Body Slam has probably the crappiest animation of all time... that texture they used... so bad!

 

[thelaytonmobile]

Add my vote for Body Slam and Wood Hammer looking terrible. You'd think that a recoil move such as Wood Hammer would look a bit less tame...

On another note, I really like certain Pokemons' attack animations. Delphox's wand and Hawlucha's lucha moves being standouts.

And Flash Cannon actually looks pretty cool... it charges up for a moment, and the poor victim is seemingly frozen in pain as intense light seems to pierce them... the flinch animation of the opponent is what makes this one I suppose.

 

[Flamer]

My favourite animations this gen would have to be Close Combat and Brave Bird. The camera angles used and the "explosion" that occurs are absolutely awesome. Brave Birds animation actually coveys the power behind it and makes it look like a life risking tackle. This is probably the first gen where battling AI doesn't feel like a chore because of these animations.

 

[Limi]

aside from the aforementioned brave bird and retaliate, i also enjoy chip away and power whip, which both have retaliate-style animations. chip away is a bit toned down from retaliate, but nonetheless pretty badass, and power whip's green background (combined with silhouettes of the models, if memory doesn't fail me?) is simply amazing.

 

[blarajan]

WATER SHURIKEN

 

[Kirbyofthestars]

In game, I was nearly OHKO'd once by Brave Bird (accidentally picked Water Shuriken instead of Surf), but I was so amazed at the animation. I agree that this and Earthquake are some of my favorites.

Also, I'm not sure if this counts, but Greninja's pose when it uses a special attack (like Surf or Round).

 

[Codraroll]

When I first encountered a Sawk using Retaliate, I thought "Wow, I'm screwed". The move didn't do that much damage, but during the animation, it really looked like my whole team would be torn to bits by the blue guy in pajamas.

Petal Blizzard is also quite cool, with the whole wind-and-petals-and-shaking-screen-and-everything, and the powder moves now look better than ever before - a lot of research must have gone into figuring out how powder behaves when thrown (I picture a group of GameFreak animators throwing spoonfuls of flour at each other). Even Slam looks a tad better this generation, at least it is more than a generic tackle or hit move now. And even Calm Mind looks surprisingly badass, with that drop of water and sudden illumination of the user.

All-time favourite, though, if other games can be included (and since this is the XY subforum, I don't think they can, but anyway) is Colosseum Flamethrower. After all those games making the move look like the foe was gently sprayed with some fire, Pokémon Colosseum finally portrayed it as a white-hot stream of intense flame, hitting the foe hard enough to blast it backwards, and being so bright that the surroundings look dark in comparison. I was gutted to see XD change that glorious animation, back to the pathetic "gentle spray" style from the Stadium games.

 

[Aquaslash]

I was trying to teach my Smeargle moves and had someone use retaliate on it. Poor guy died like a boss. I've not seen Brave Bird, but Close Combat is...well DBZ is the only way to really describe it. Can't wait to have Meloetta P use that. Extreme Speed is also kinda slick and emphasizes the whole speedy aspect.

Another one I really like is Calm Mind, especially with Gardevoir. Clear the mind, and prepare for awesome. Special mention to Mewtwo's Aura Sphere. I could really only just stare in awe as he annihilated my entire party.

Personal favorite for now is Hi Jump Kick though. Jump 50 feet in the air, all of a sudden knee to the face! Same with Blaze Kick. I actually didn't wanna trade it for Flare Blitz, cause it was so awesome looking.

 

[aVocado]

Brave Bird looks awesome.

Wood Hammer is hilariously awful.

 

[boudouche]

Brave Bird / Nitro Charge / Calm Mind / Draco Meteor

 

[RotomPoison]

Has no one seen Dragon Pulse? Especially from a Lucario?

 

[Chaoswalker]

I love using Calm Mind. I don't know why it needs an extra power up aura at the end when there's the built in one, but the single drop of water in the ocean of tranquility is fantastic imagery to communicate visually just what happens in the head of a pokemon using the technique.

 

[Typhlito]

havent gotten that far in the game yet but so far I like how gust and my mothims movements match up perfecly. I want to see eruption though.

 

[boudouche]

Has no one seen Dragon Pulse? Especially from a Lucario?

yep, badass as fuck

 

[Typhlito]

oh yea seismic toss looks pretty cool going around the world too

 

[Jibaku]

I could go on and on about some of the greatest moves in this game, but the best I've encountered are:

- Calm Mind
- Retaliate
- Power Whip
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder
- Close Combat
- Oblivion Wing
- Dragon Pulse
- Brave Bird
- Seismic Toss

It's hard to choose a favorite out of that list. Some of them are even better than their PBR counterparts (Power Whip, Dragon Pulse, Calm Mind, Brave Bird). Can't wait to see the signature moves from the other legends~

 

[Arcticblast]

HYPER BEAM

Then again I might be biased - the GSC throwback sound and having my Aurorus use super effective Hyper Beams is just too much...

 

[ThePhalanx]

Had a Crustle use Shell Smash --> Rock Wrecker on me. Was expecting a crazy animation, but it seemed quite... underwhelming to me. Looked more like a Rock Throw than a Rock Wrecker tbh, even if it did OHKO my Gardevoir.

Now, for cool moves, I haven't seen that many, I think all the ones I've seen have been stated before.

Oblivion Wing makes me wonder what they did for as-of-right-now unavailable signature moves such as Spacial Rend and V-Create. Especially V-Create.