Worst Pokemon Sprites?

[Kyuzeth]

HGSS Gen I Eeveelutions

Vaporeon's head looks huge compared to the rest of its body, Flareon's pose is really awkward and Jolteon's...ugh, don't get me started. What a trainwreck.

DP sprites

I think DP had a pretty low sprite standard, overall. A lot of the sprites either lack detail (I only found out Magmortar retained its tail in the PBR models), have bland poses (Rhyperior) or lifeless coloring (Torterra). This goes for many sprites and is one of the reasons why I'll never play DP again.

Pt Quagsire

Platinum has had some awesome sprites, but WHAT IS THIS? Agh, my eyes...

Many, many FRLG sprites

Lord Mega Rayquaza above are some of these sprites just godawful. I get that they wanted to go with a simple style for the FRLG sprites to reawaken that nostalgic feeling of simplicity that RGBY had, but that plan really backfired... I've seen people harp on the RSE sprites and I'll give that some of them are indeed kinda bad, but I feel like RSE mostly did a far better job in the sprite department, what with the lively poses and vibrant colors. Here are a few examples to compare:

Comparisons

The FRLG sprite may have more accurate colors, but there's almost no detail to it at all, the lineart is crap and the tail fur is discolored. The RSE Tauros looks like it's ready to charge at whatever's in front of it, which is compounded by the bright colors to make it livelier.

FRLG Charizard is boring. It's all "Mwahahahaha I'm Charizard!", but the colors are dull and the eyes look lifeless. The RSE one, one the other hand, has a fittingly maniacal expression that screams "You want some o' this?!"; the Emerald animation makes this absolutely hilarious by adding a layer that's all "THEN COME AND GET SOME!". I dunno, that RSE Charizard just works so well.

Nidoking is in a similar scenario to Charizard. The FRLG one looks menacing, but nothing beyond that. I can only imagine it grunting, that's all. RSE Nidoking has an almost psychotic look in its eyes and the Emerald animation makes it look like it's roaring at its enemy. Really good. Also, the spikes on RSE actually look sharp, in contrast to those on FRLG.

Bleh. That is all I can say about FRLG Muk. This sprite is so fucking boring. RSE Muk looks like a goddamn rapper and I imagine it'd be a WAY better one than Lil' Wayne, 2Chainz, Drake or any other of those scumbags. Made even better by the fact that Muk can hold Nuggets and Big Nuggets in Gen V; this guy knows he's got bling and ain't afraid to show it.

The FRLG Articuno just looks kind of awkward. Due to the pose it's in, it kinda looks out of proportion, since its body looks so small compared to its other body parts. Again, it has bland coloring and as a result just doesn't give that regal vibe that the RSE one possesses. That sprite is absolutely gorgeous and they've made excellent use of the 64x64 canvas by posing it like that. It's just like it's flying by and noticing its opponent.

I may be somewhat biased towards RSE, but as I've said, I know RSE has some bad sprites as well. Still, I believe FRLG has some of the very worst altogether.

 

[Kurona]

There's just something so out of place about this sprite to me, especially among the other GSC ones. It sort of looks like some cheap little picture stuck on a nursery wall; just put the words "Sunny the Sunflower" under it and you're done.

 

[Empoleon_master]

Finally have this looking right, yay!

Bad? You want BAD?!!?
Do you know what PMDMuk spells backwards? Shite, utter shite!

I am warning you now you may experience eye burning inflammation or sudden combustion of the eyes upon looking at the following image.

And it stayed that way UNTIL FOREVER!
I didn't even know this quite literal POS even had two arms until I looked it up on serebii when I was 7!

And here's little Grimer WHICH LOOSES AN ARM UPON EVOLUTION IN PMD!

eye bleach is required before viewing

And here it is in pokemon rumble blast!

my eyes! The goggles do nothing!

Now for what THAT THING "evolves" into.

Surgeon Generals warning you may suddenly throw your computer into a pit of fire

Oh right, that's not muk, that's just a grimer that's given up on life and is slowly awaiting the great Sewer Godess to end its pain.

 

[Kurona]

And now, because I generally love to waste my time, A history of Skarmory Sprites
godfuck where is my life

Alright, we all know and love our Skarmory. It was Smogon's bird before Smogonbird was Smogonbird and is one of the few Pokémon good enough to consistently be OU.
And even aside from competitive it's just been a general fan favourite. Everyone loves it, it's a cool steel bird valkyrie thing. Now one of it's key attributes to it's fan favouritism is of course how it looks. Sleek, elegant, dangerous... obviously to get this across it's debut had to have some very cool spriWHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

JESUS these are hideous. Between the almost comedic curve on it's beak, the bad, cartoony proportions on it's legs and wings, and... whatever the fuck the second sprite is doing, it's pretty obvious GS were not out of the hilariously bad sprite hell the wonders of Red and Green had brought us.
Thankfully, by the time RS rolled around, we got a great sprite showing Skarmory in all it's glory.

Correct proportions, a colour palette with wonderful shading, and a proud, strong, wonderful pose that gets across it's greatest attributes.
Now let's repeat that exact same sprite for 6 years.

Emerald

FRLG

DP

Platinum

Come the fuck on, Game Freak, be a bit more original. I understand keeping the same pose between the Gen 3 games like every non-kanto pokemon and keeping the pose between DP and Platinum like every non-sinnoh dex pokemon, but... why the exact same pose in Gen 4 ripped straight from Gen 3? I'm not even kidding or exaggeration, it's the exact same pose, with every single body part in the exact same place. Oh sure they updated the colour palette, and I think the head spike is a little longer or thinner or something, but is there really nothing else you can do with this aesthetic? Absolutely nothing at all for a long-time fan favourite, especially with this gen trying so hard to make gen 2 cooler and better with all these buffs and evolutions and a whole remake?
Talking of said remake...

Huh. You done good, GF. Done good. Still a great, dynamic pose showcasing Skarmory in all it's glory and giving a lot of personality, as well as finally making use of it's mouth. Kept this for Gen 5 too, thankfully.
Now onto backsprites.

Where do I start.
Alright, this is as good a time as any to bring up a problem I have with Gen 3's sprites in general -- every single backsprite of a Gen 1/2 Pokémon is taken directly from GS and only reshaded or expanded a little at the bottom. That's it. The only ones I've seen break this rule are the starters but only in FRLG for obvious reasons, and Feraligatr who now doesn't hang it's arm up which was the only good thing about it's backsprite in Gen 2. At least it now has a nice ass. But I digress, this is just downright lazy. I don't know if they were on time constraints or whatever, but it's generally boring and shoddy when you see the exact same sprites in a GBA game as in a GBC game.
As for this particular sprite itself... it's awful. Just completely awful. The body is done alright as well as the head, but that wing... why is it so curved and balloon-like? Skarmory's signature wings which are so sharp and rigid to be used as swords are turned into this weird inflated mess?
Oh, and got to love the dead inside eyes. No pupils. I loved using Skarmory in Emerald but it always felt like I was using a corpse.
But hey, at least they fixed this for Diamond and Peare you kidding me

Why is Skarmory still a corpse? No, really, why are there still no pupils? It's so robotic and dead and... ugh. At least they fixed it for Platinum.
And that was my complete analysis of shitty Skarmory sprites throughout the ages. A massive waste of time and energy, but at least these were all problems with art. Now we have 3D models, there's no real way they can mess up the design and concept of Skarmory so I don't have to

Oh fuck off

 

[Gamma Vector]

HGSS Gen I Eeveelutions

Vaporeon's head looks huge compared to the rest of its body, Flareon's pose is really awkward and Jolteon's...ugh, don't get me started. What a trainwreck.

I actually really like Flareon's sprite. Vaporean is a little off, but not too bad. But sweet baby Jesus, what is wrong with Jolteon??? Its eyes, man. It's freaking eyes.

 

[ghostbandit]

HGSS Gen I Eeveelutions

Vaporeon's head looks huge compared to the rest of its body, Flareon's pose is really awkward and Jolteon's...ugh, don't get me started. What a trainwreck.

DP sprites

I think DP had a pretty low sprite standard, overall. A lot of the sprites either lack detail (I only found out Magmortar retained its tail in the PBR models), have bland poses (Rhyperior) or lifeless coloring (Torterra). This goes for many sprites and is one of the reasons why I'll never play DP again.

Pt Quagsire

Platinum has had some awesome sprites, but WHAT IS THIS? Agh, my eyes...

Many, many FRLG sprites

Lord Mega Rayquaza above are some of these sprites just godawful. I get that they wanted to go with a simple style for the FRLG sprites to reawaken that nostalgic feeling of simplicity that RGBY had, but that plan really backfired... I've seen people harp on the RSE sprites and I'll give that some of them are indeed kinda bad, but I feel like RSE mostly did a far better job in the sprite department, what with the lively poses and vibrant colors. Here are a few examples to compare:

Comparisons

The FRLG sprite may have more accurate colors, but there's almost no detail to it at all, the lineart is crap and the tail fur is discolored. The RSE Tauros looks like it's ready to charge at whatever's in front of it, which is compounded by the bright colors to make it livelier.

FRLG Charizard is boring. It's all "Mwahahahaha I'm Charizard!", but the colors are dull and the eyes look lifeless. The RSE one, one the other hand, has a fittingly maniacal expression that screams "You want some o' this?!"; the Emerald animation makes this absolutely hilarious by adding a layer that's all "THEN COME AND GET SOME!". I dunno, that RSE Charizard just works so well.

Nidoking is in a similar scenario to Charizard. The FRLG one looks menacing, but nothing beyond that. I can only imagine it grunting, that's all. RSE Nidoking has an almost psychotic look in its eyes and the Emerald animation makes it look like it's roaring at its enemy. Really good. Also, the spikes on RSE actually look sharp, in contrast to those on FRLG.

Bleh. That is all I can say about FRLG Muk. This sprite is so fucking boring. RSE Muk looks like a goddamn rapper and I imagine it'd be a WAY better one than Lil' Wayne, 2Chainz, Drake or any other of those scumbags. Made even better by the fact that Muk can hold Nuggets and Big Nuggets in Gen V; this guy knows he's got bling and ain't afraid to show it.

The FRLG Articuno just looks kind of awkward. Due to the pose it's in, it kinda looks out of proportion, since its body looks so small compared to its other body parts. Again, it has bland coloring and as a result just doesn't give that regal vibe that the RSE one possesses. That sprite is absolutely gorgeous and they've made excellent use of the 64x64 canvas by posing it like that. It's just like it's flying by and noticing its opponent.

I may be somewhat biased towards RSE, but as I've said, I know RSE has some bad sprites as well. Still, I believe FRLG has some of the very worst altogether.

personally I love the 3 eeveelutions and i don't think there is anything wrong with them. vaporeon looks so darn cute!

 

[Kyuzeth]

personally I love the 3 eeveelutions and i don't think there is anything wrong with them. vaporeon looks so darn cute!

It's not about the Pokémon, but the sprites themselves. How can you look at that Jolteon sprite and say it's good?

 

[Kurona]

It's not about the Pokémon, but the sprites themselves. How can you look at that Jolteon sprite and say it's good?

Maybe I'm looking at it wrong but nothing's immediately sticking out to me as inherently bad.

 

[Norne]

Maybe I'm looking at it wrong but nothing's immediately sticking out to me as inherently bad.

jolteon looks derpy and vaporeon neck snaped, but they aren't bad...i mean you have to look very hard to complain about it. Unlike no eyes skarmory or gen 1 moltres back sprite.

 

[DoomOvDoom]

HGSS Gen I Eeveelutions

Vaporeon's head looks huge compared to the rest of its body, Flareon's pose is really awkward and Jolteon's...ugh, don't get me started. What a trainwreck.

DP sprites

I think DP had a pretty low sprite standard, overall. A lot of the sprites either lack detail (I only found out Magmortar retained its tail in the PBR models), have bland poses (Rhyperior) or lifeless coloring (Torterra). This goes for many sprites and is one of the reasons why I'll never play DP again.

Pt Quagsire

Platinum has had some awesome sprites, but WHAT IS THIS? Agh, my eyes...

Many, many FRLG sprites

Lord Mega Rayquaza above are some of these sprites just godawful. I get that they wanted to go with a simple style for the FRLG sprites to reawaken that nostalgic feeling of simplicity that RGBY had, but that plan really backfired... I've seen people harp on the RSE sprites and I'll give that some of them are indeed kinda bad, but I feel like RSE mostly did a far better job in the sprite department, what with the lively poses and vibrant colors. Here are a few examples to compare:

Comparisons

The FRLG sprite may have more accurate colors, but there's almost no detail to it at all, the lineart is crap and the tail fur is discolored. The RSE Tauros looks like it's ready to charge at whatever's in front of it, which is compounded by the bright colors to make it livelier.

FRLG Charizard is boring. It's all "Mwahahahaha I'm Charizard!", but the colors are dull and the eyes look lifeless. The RSE one, one the other hand, has a fittingly maniacal expression that screams "You want some o' this?!"; the Emerald animation makes this absolutely hilarious by adding a layer that's all "THEN COME AND GET SOME!". I dunno, that RSE Charizard just works so well.

Nidoking is in a similar scenario to Charizard. The FRLG one looks menacing, but nothing beyond that. I can only imagine it grunting, that's all. RSE Nidoking has an almost psychotic look in its eyes and the Emerald animation makes it look like it's roaring at its enemy. Really good. Also, the spikes on RSE actually look sharp, in contrast to those on FRLG.

Bleh. That is all I can say about FRLG Muk. This sprite is so fucking boring. RSE Muk looks like a goddamn rapper and I imagine it'd be a WAY better one than Lil' Wayne, 2Chainz, Drake or any other of those scumbags. Made even better by the fact that Muk can hold Nuggets and Big Nuggets in Gen V; this guy knows he's got bling and ain't afraid to show it.

The FRLG Articuno just looks kind of awkward. Due to the pose it's in, it kinda looks out of proportion, since its body looks so small compared to its other body parts. Again, it has bland coloring and as a result just doesn't give that regal vibe that the RSE one possesses. That sprite is absolutely gorgeous and they've made excellent use of the 64x64 canvas by posing it like that. It's just like it's flying by and noticing its opponent.

I may be somewhat biased towards RSE, but as I've said, I know RSE has some bad sprites as well. Still, I believe FRLG has some of the very worst altogether.

Sorry dude, I have to disagree with you on a couple of these. However, I don't mind wasting my time so let's do this:

First of all, I don't honestly see anything wrong with Vaporeon or Flareon, they're fine. Jolteon looks a bit... I don't know, weird? Yeah, I agree with you there.

Second, there's nothing wrong with Torterra, I don't understand what you mean by "lifeless coloring". Magmortar and Rhyperior both look bad, but that has nothing to do with their sprites. Their designs are horrendous.

Quagsire is quite bad, but that's not even the worst one.

Wow, talk about ruining a perfectly good design. You can't even see its tail, it's just a lifeless blob. That's fucking horrible.

Many of the RSE sprites that you praise look just really bad in my opinion. Let's take a look.

Comparisons

FRLG: "Come and get some you asshole", determined and ready to kick your ass.

RSE: "Whoa! Calm down dude, I wasn't serious!". Looks shocked and/or frightened, especially because of the way its arms are positioned. It looks like it's about to run away.

FRLG: "Does this look like the face of mercy?"

RSE: "Who the hell crapped in my corn flakes?"

However, both Articuno sprites are more or less bad.

FRLG: "Surprise! Bet you didn't expect to see me here!"

RSE: "lol imma bird imma fly away now"

 

[Kyuzeth]

Sorry dude, I have to disagree with you on a couple of these. However, I don't mind wasting my time so let's do this:

First of all, I don't honestly see anything wrong with Vaporeon or Flareon, they're fine. Jolteon looks a bit... I don't know, weird? Yeah, I agree with you there.

Second, there's nothing wrong with Torterra, I don't understand what you mean by "lifeless coloring". Magmortar and Rhyperior both look bad, but that has nothing to do with their sprites. Their designs are horrendous.

Quagsire is quite bad, but that's not even the worst one.

Wow, talk about ruining a perfectly good design. You can't even see its tail, it's just a lifeless blob. That's fucking horrible.

Many of the RSE sprites that you praise look just really bad in my opinion. Let's take a look.

Comparisons

FRLG: "Come and get some you asshole", determined and ready to kick your ass.

RSE: "Whoa! Calm down dude, I wasn't serious!". Looks shocked and/or frightened, especially because of the way its arms are positioned. It looks like it's about to run away.

FRLG: "Does this look like the face of mercy?"

RSE: "Who the hell crapped in my corn flakes?"

However, both Articuno sprites are more or less bad.

FRLG: "Surprise! Bet you didn't expect to see me here!"

RSE: "lol imma bird imma fly away now"

Flareon may not be as bad as I made it out to be, I just don't like how you can't see one of its legs. I do like its second frame from HGSS, though, which has it lunging forward somewhat. That's pretty neat. My issue with Vaporeon is that its head looks too big compared to its body and its legs appear on the small side. Jolteon looks awful compared to its BW sprite, though. Its face is distorted as shit and overall, it just looks...disoriented. I know the spikes are supposed to look messy, but it's not really done well in the HGSS sprite to say the least, IMO.

Here you can clearly compare the HGSS sprite with the BW one.

I'll elaborate on what I meant with Torterra's DP sprite looking lifeless:

DP PtHGSS
Just compare the shading and outline on both Torterra. I should probably have done this from the get-go, but here's what I mean: DP Torterra barely has any noticeable shading on the tree, which, along with the wonky outline coloration, makes it look flat an awkward. The tree has far more perspective and depth in the PtHGSS sprite. The latter also uses comparably less black outline and shades the outlines (look at the legs), making the sprite brighter. The pose is the last thing I'd like to address. The DP sprite kinda looks like it's ready to charge, but in the PtHGSS one, it's raised its head; Torterra looks tough and proud.
I hope that gives you a better view on what I meant.

Secondly, I personally really like Magmortar and Rhyperior's designs, but all of Magmortar's later sprites (especially the PtHGSS one) look fucking awesome; the aforementioned sprite looks like it's gonna blast your ass at any given moment.

I dunno, I'm probably the only person in the entire community who likes Rhyperior and Magmortar's designs (heck, I like a lot of unappreciated designs, but that's just me).

In general, though, everyone's got different views and interpretations on things, sprites included. I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder.

 

[ghostbandit]

Maybe I'm looking at it wrong but nothing's immediately sticking out to me as inherently bad.

yes I agree. it is a little dis oriented, but nothing so bad like some of skatmory's

 

[Firebird101]

Maybe it is just me but I have always found the Red/Green sprite of Alakazam one of the most overlooked ugliest sprites ever.

Dear God, what did they do to you Zam!? I know the Blue sprite isn't gonna win any beauty contests but it somehow manages to look like an amazing improvement over the Red/Green sprite! And that is saying a lot!

 

[Kurona]

Ladies and gentlemen.

The best fucking sprite in Pokémon history.
I don't think I really have any words on this one. What can you even say about it? It speaks for itself. There's nothing to be said about it. Just look upon this glorious majesty and you will achieve enlightenment.

 

[rufus drumknott]

I'd have to say the one that wins an award for me is this one:

Why does Xatu's body look like some sort of cheap doll? Surely it has a tail instead of just a base with legs protruding out of it? They definitely should have just stuck to the whole totem thing ...

 

[Firebird101]

Yeah I really don't get why GF thought Xatu, Skarmory, Tailow and Tropius flying motionlessly in the air is supposed to look good, it just feels like they are hanging on a string and it looks stupid.

 

[Lady Vader]

Ladies and gentlemen.

The best fucking sprite in Pokémon history.
I don't think I really have any words on this one. What can you even say about it? It speaks for itself. There's nothing to be said about it. Just look upon this glorious majesty and you will achieve enlightenment.

In short, all hail Lord Helix!

Yeah I really don't get why GF thought Xatu, Skarmory, Tailow and Tropius flying motionlessly in the air is supposed to look good, it just feels like they are hanging on a string and it looks stupid.

Um...there's a giant fan that it is using to glide in place. Yeah.

 

[Firebird101]

Um...there's a giant fan that it is using to glide in place. Yeah.

Weee~

I believe I can fly~

 

[Antihaxxer]

Yeah I really don't get why GF thought Xatu, Skarmory, Tailow and Tropius flying motionlessly in the air is supposed to look good, it just feels like they are hanging on a string and it looks stupid.

Air battle probably. A totem flying ?

 

[Firebird101]

Air battle probably. A totem flying ?

Doesn't make them look any better when they don't even move, also I forgot but Mega Pidgeot is a new offender.

 

[Kittttten]

Awkward backsprite anyone?

 

[Thund91]

Sorry dude, I have to disagree with you on a couple of these. However, I don't mind wasting my time so let's do this:

First of all, I don't honestly see anything wrong with Vaporeon or Flareon, they're fine. Jolteon looks a bit... I don't know, weird? Yeah, I agree with you there.

Second, there's nothing wrong with Torterra, I don't understand what you mean by "lifeless coloring". Magmortar and Rhyperior both look bad, but that has nothing to do with their sprites. Their designs are horrendous.

Quagsire is quite bad, but that's not even the worst one.

Wow, talk about ruining a perfectly good design. You can't even see its tail, it's just a lifeless blob. That's fucking horrible.

Many of the RSE sprites that you praise look just really bad in my opinion. Let's take a look.

Comparisons

FRLG: "Come and get some you asshole", determined and ready to kick your ass.

RSE: "Whoa! Calm down dude, I wasn't serious!". Looks shocked and/or frightened, especially because of the way its arms are positioned. It looks like it's about to run away.

FRLG: "Does this look like the face of mercy?"

RSE: "Who the hell crapped in my corn flakes?"

However, both Articuno sprites are more or less bad.

FRLG: "Surprise! Bet you didn't expect to see me here!"

RSE: "lol imma bird imma fly away now"

I laughed a lot harder at this then I should have.

Imo the R/B/G sprites are the absolute worst, but that's a given considering the technology and they're the first games.

I will say, however, that it seems impossible for Arcanine and Rapidash to look bad, in any of the versions.


Rapidash:

Hide

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rapidash_(Pokémon)#Sprites

Arcanine:

Hide

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Arcanine_(Pokémon)#Sprites

D/P Jolteon actually beats Platinum by a mile imo.

Pt:

D/P:

DPP Venusaur looks absolutely horrid:

Luckily that was corrected in HG/SS and the 5th gen games:

/

 

[yoyoman337]

Honestly DPP had the worst back sprites even worse than RBG because they could have been so much better

 

[michaeloche]

Awkward backsprite anyone?

That looks like Kyogre and Sharpedo stayed in the day care together for too long...

 

[hypernova132]

Actually, thinking about it, THIS is the worst Pokémon sprite ever:

I mean, it's a glitchy Utah.

That was not even supposed to be in first gen games, that was compiled from a data dump of all the code they were going to used but ended up not using. Look it up on youtube Missing No. Pokemon. It showed up in yellow as well. It also really messed up your game.