Pokemon designs that were ruined by 3D models

Welcome to my thread. Here, we discuss about Pokemon, that looked better in their 2D sprites, rather than in newer games. You may also point out the Pokemon that accualy got better with 3D models, if you want. So I'll start it off with Excadrill. In gen 5, he looked fearsome and intimidating. When in gen 6/7 he just looks so lame and boring. Now's your turn. Feel free to share your opinion and please respect other's. Enjoy.

 

Eelektross got absolutely screwed over. It went from an intimidating land electric eel to a more realistic depiction of a desperate sea creature flopping on land. Imo the 5th gen version was one of the best Unovian Pokémon. Then I saw the 3D version.
It makes him look like he accualy levitites, but I kinda understand you
 
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Welcome to my thread. Here, we discuss about Pokemon, that looked better in their 2D sprites, rather than in newer games. You may also point out the Pokemon that accualy got better with 3D models, if you want. So I'll start it off with Excadrill. In gen 5, he looked fearsome and intimidating. When in gen 6/7 he just looks so lame and boring. Now's your turn. Feel free to share your opinion and please respect other's. Enjoy.

tbh i actually think 3d exca looks better. it's bw sprite looks like someone's fat drunk dad that sits on the couch and watches Oprah reruns all day and gets asthma attacks complaining about infomercials. 3d exca's slimmed down and actually looks intimidating.
 

Cretacerus

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The single most disappointing transition for me was that of Tropius. Admittedly, many of the gliding animations introduced by Gen VI for sky battles didn't really suit the Pokemon in question, but I feel like Tropius suffered the most from this change since it completely undermines its otherwise great design. Tropius was for a large part inspired by the thought that dinosaurs might have survived in the uncharted depths of the jungle, and yet the new animation takes away so much from that cool dinosaur aspect.


After breeding a Tropius for in-game use in my Y version, I unfortunately had to learn that its backsprite is even worse by a large margin, since the perspective and pose basically removed everything unique and charming about the design: the fruits, leafy helmet and the long neck are mostly covered, the leafy cape is barely visible, and the rear leaves look useless and out of place even when gliding. This is especially disappointing considering how perfect the Gen V sprites and animations were.

 
The single most disappointing transition for me was that of Tropius. Admittedly, many of the gliding animations introduced by Gen VI for sky battles didn't really suit the Pokemon in question, but I feel like Tropius suffered the most from this change since it completely undermines its otherwise great design. Tropius was for a large part inspired by the thought that dinosaurs might have survived in the uncharted depths of the jungle, and yet the new animation takes away so much from that cool dinosaur aspect.


After breeding a Tropius for in-game use in my Y version, I unfortunately had to learn that its backsprite is even worse by a large margin, since the perspective and pose basically removed everything unique and charming about the design: the fruits, leafy helmet and the long neck are mostly covered, the leafy cape is barely visible, and the rear leaves look useless and out of place even when gliding. This is especially disappointing considering how perfect the Gen V sprites and animations were.

Most of sky drifting models
The single most disappointing transition for me was that of Tropius. Admittedly, many of the gliding animations introduced by Gen VI for sky battles didn't really suit the Pokemon in question, but I feel like Tropius suffered the most from this change since it completely undermines its otherwise great design. Tropius was for a large part inspired by the thought that dinosaurs might have survived in the uncharted depths of the jungle, and yet the new animation takes away so much from that cool dinosaur aspect.


After breeding a Tropius for in-game use in my Y version, I unfortunately had to learn that its backsprite is even worse by a large margin, since the perspective and pose basically removed everything unique and charming about the design: the fruits, leafy helmet and the long neck are mostly covered, the leafy cape is barely visible, and the rear leaves look useless and out of place even when gliding. This is especially disappointing considering how perfect the Gen V sprites and animations were.

I hate how some of flying types like Swellow, M-Pigeot and Tropious are somehow drifting the air while staying in the same position. It looks just wierd and akward. I know that GF wanted to show them of accualy like a Flying types, but Toucannon is staying on the ground and he's still Flying type, so that kind of animation was realy unnecessery.
 
I don'y actually mind the flying animations, but considering how many people do I wonder why Gamefreak doesn't use some slightly modified versions of their grounded pokemon Amie/Refresh models?
 

Eelektross got absolutely screwed over. It went from an intimidating land electric eel to a more realistic depiction of a desperate sea creature flopping on land. Imo the 5th gen version was one of the best Unovian Pokémon. Then I saw the 3D version.
I think you meant to say that Eelektross went from a supposedly intimidating lamprey/eel that is doing a silly dance for no reason whatsoever to a floating lamprey/eel. It's far more mundane, but I personally prefer the 3D animation, as the BW one makes no sense at all.

I don'y actually mind the flying animations, but considering how many people do I wonder why Gamefreak doesn't use some slightly modified versions of their grounded pokemon Amie/Refresh models?
A lot of idle Amie/Refresh animations for flying Pokemon are better than the ones used in battles (such as Skarmory or the aforementioned Tropius). I agree in that they should be used in non-flying battles.

Some of them are good, though. Say, Yveltal, with that dramatic slow flapping.
 
Empoleon has always been one of my favorite starters, and when I first saw his form in DPP, I loved how it actually looked like "royalty" who was commanding its kin.



The new one... Empoleon went from a conquering Pokémon to a penguin who looks as if it ate too many PokeDogs and would rather watch the PokeHistory Channel than make History. That, and doesn't it look just... unmotivated to battle for you? I don't know, GF.

 
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Empoleon has always been one of my favorite starters, and when I first saw his form in DPP, I loved how it actually looked like "royalty" who was commanding its kin.



The new one... Empoleon went from a conquering Pokémon to a penguin who looks as if it ate too many PokeDogs and would rather watch the PokeHistory Channel than make History. That, and doesn't it look just... unmotivated to battle for you? I don't know, GF.

But that's part of the Empoleon line's charm! They're so proud that battling is disdainfully beneath them unless their pride has been sullied, in which case Arceus help the target of Empoleon's ire.
 

Deleted User 400951

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Oh god this is gonna be one huge thread. Let's start with an obvious one: Arcehops.
Look at how cool this guy was:

And now...:


Bisharp also used to look sooooooo cool:

But now... it's not bad, but it's just not as badass:

Another one: Dugtrio. It wasn't ruined but in a similar vein to Bisharp it's not as cool anymore. It doesn't look as fierce.

It looked pretty fierce to me. But now...

It's now just more of a regular mole.

I'll update with more later.

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Now, that's a legit issue.

One wonders if Gen VI and VII are actually centered around ghosts because the Pokemon look so pale and washed-up in some cases...
Yeah, I think the Gen V Eelektross one looks ridiculous and the 3D one is an improvement. There are some awkward poses, but the biggest issue is how some colorings have dulled. As seen in the post above, Dugtrio, Bisharp and Archeops are all, to varying degrees, examples of this, and there are seemingly countless others. I don't know anything about graphics, but I always figured there must be a technical reason for this.
It has to do with 3D modeling. I don't believe the 3DS is able to draw the models and use that many colors. It's not really all that powerful and then you force this much onto it... I wish it did have crisper color but sadly I know it's impossible.
Speaking of technical limitations, it's sure gonna suck playing USUM on my old 3DS. I can already imagine the lag and damn it's scary.
There are going to be a lot of these, but here's one that bothers me in particular among the flying sprites





Now, Salamence's flying pose looks stupid in its own right, but compare it as well to its original sprite. The sprite looks imposing, gives it weight standing on all fours with that huge tail and very angular head in profile, like you're hoping this thing doesn't turn and notice you. The flying model takes away that sense of strength by having it look like it's just suspended in mid-air, takes away a significant part of its mass by hiding the tail, underlines how those wings really shouldn't lift it (even if we know they wouldn't, it's more pronounced when it's constantly hovering in a way where even proper wings wouldn't work), and makes the head spikes look so much thinner and takes away their menace making them look more like "thorns" than spikes. And maybe this particular part is just me, but the expression looks tired, rather than vicious with the top one open and baring fangs.
I've had this problem with the dragons in general, not just flying mons. Garchomp in particular stuck out to me. It looks really cool in Gen 5:

And Gen 4 also looked really cool:

But the Gen 6 one wasn't really great. It didn't have the same badass vibe:


Haxorus also has that same problem. Look at that badass pose in Gen 5:

And now it's just bland:
 
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Yeah, I think the Gen V Eelektross one looks ridiculous and the 3D one is an improvement. There are some awkward poses, but the biggest issue is how some colorings have dulled. As seen in the post above, Dugtrio, Bisharp and Archeops are all, to varying degrees, examples of this, and there are seemingly countless others. I don't know anything about graphics, but I always figured there must be a technical reason for this.
 
Yeah, I think the Gen V Eelektross one looks ridiculous and the 3D one is an improvement. There are some awkward poses, but the biggest issue is how some colorings have dulled. As seen in the post above, Dugtrio, Bisharp and Archeops are all, to varying degrees, examples of this, and there are seemingly countless others. I don't know anything about graphics, but I always figured there must be a technical reason for this.
Now, that's a legit issue.

One wonders if Gen VI and VII are actually centered around ghosts because the Pokemon look so pale and washed-up in some cases...
 
There are going to be a lot of these, but here's one that bothers me in particular among the flying sprites





Now, Salamence's flying pose looks stupid in its own right, but compare it as well to its original sprite. The sprite looks imposing, gives it weight standing on all fours with that huge tail and very angular head in profile, like you're hoping this thing doesn't turn and notice you. The flying model takes away that sense of strength by having it look like it's just suspended in mid-air, takes away a significant part of its mass by hiding the tail, underlines how those wings really shouldn't lift it (even if we know they wouldn't, it's more pronounced when it's constantly hovering in a way where even proper wings wouldn't work), and makes the head spikes look so much thinner and takes away their menace making them look more like "thorns" than spikes. And maybe this particular part is just me, but the expression looks tired, rather than vicious with the top one open and baring fangs.
 
I think proportions have changed in the 3D models? Bisharps legs look fatter and its shoulders less broad. Haxorus looks 'off', too.

I disagree about Garchomp, I still think it looks like you shouldn't mess with it.

Couldn't agree more about flying poses.

Archeops, I used to love. I can't use it now. It's that bad.

And Dugtrio, how the heads seem to glide against each other, like they've been oiled up... makes me think of that picture which shows what Dugtrio's body really looks like. Every time.

I use Dugtrio a lot.
 
None of the designs were ruined by the 3D models IMO. True, some aren't ideal, (notably Xatu and Stunfisk) but the sprites had to try and look a bit action-y or flow into a neat little looping animation for gen 5 while the models by default are meant to appear idle. Why would Bisharp want to keep its arm raised all the time? Haxorus is usually pretty docile unless provoked, and Garchomp still looks like it wants to take a bite out of something. Archeops makes sense considering it's supposed to be a very clumsy flier, being supposedly one of the first bird Pokemon.

That doesn't mean I love them all, mind you. Most of the flying Pokemon look rather dumb with their wings just still, all for the Sky Battles that one could only participate in a handful of times and outright dropped by OR/AS. And of course Sun and Moon weren't going to totally revamp the models. I don't believe USUM will either, but maybe the Switch Pokemon games will?
 
I've had this problem with the dragons in general, not just flying mons. Garchomp in particular stuck out to me. It looks really cool in Gen 5:

And Gen 4 also looked really cool:

But the Gen 6 one wasn't really great. It didn't have the same badass vibe:
If anything the 3D model makes Garchomp look imposing.
 

Deleted User 400951

Banned deucer.
I think proportions have changed in the 3D models? Bisharps legs look fatter and its shoulders less broad. Haxorus looks 'off', too.

I disagree about Garchomp, I still think it looks like you shouldn't mess with it.

Couldn't agree more about flying poses.

Archeops, I used to love. I can't use it now. It's that bad.

And Dugtrio, how the heads seem to glide against each other, like they've been oiled up... makes me think of that picture which shows what Dugtrio's body really looks like. Every time.

I use Dugtrio a lot.
If anything the 3D model makes Garchomp look imposing.
I mean, it's not exactly the worst model in the game. Oh dear no. However, I felt that the older sprites were more intimidating and lively, like it's ready to fight and show off how good it is. The new one looks more mature to me but at the loss of some of the badass heart and appeal.
 

Codraroll

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The problem with many of the 3D models seems to be that not much time was reserved to animate them. Sure, the models are top-notch, but the animators seem to have been put on a very short deadline, resulting in many Pokémon being given a default pose. Most of them just stand there, wagging their tail and bobbing their head. Most bipedal ones seem to be breathing heavily, but that's it. Of course, with some 800 models to animate, it's understandable that they couldn't spend days perfecting each one and tailoring movements to their personality.

Luckily, Pokémon has many talented fans. One of which is DJTHED, who has an (apparently inactive, sadly) art thread here on Smogon. He specialized in making new animations and poses for Pokémon 3D models ripped from the games. The result is glorious:

 
There are going to be a lot of these, but here's one that bothers me in particular among the flying sprites





Now, Salamence's flying pose looks stupid in its own right, but compare it as well to its original sprite. The sprite looks imposing, gives it weight standing on all fours with that huge tail and very angular head in profile, like you're hoping this thing doesn't turn and notice you. The flying model takes away that sense of strength by having it look like it's just suspended in mid-air, takes away a significant part of its mass by hiding the tail, underlines how those wings really shouldn't lift it (even if we know they wouldn't, it's more pronounced when it's constantly hovering in a way where even proper wings wouldn't work), and makes the head spikes look so much thinner and takes away their menace making them look more like "thorns" than spikes. And maybe this particular part is just me, but the expression looks tired, rather than vicious with the top one open and baring fangs.
Well let's compare it with it's inspiration



I think the biggestt issue it's that the base of the wings is not thick enough in the original design to begin with, the angle doesnt help either
 
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I believe it was in the Worst Pokemon Ever thread (possibly in the Little Things That Annoy You thread), but somebody posted Skarmory's rough road of getting the right sprite, culminating in the BW sprite where they finally seemed to hit the nail on the head. Then they threw it out the window in the soaring 3D model. You can't even see the eyes or the red parts of its wings in the stagnant pose.
As someone mentioned (I think), Xatu was hit hard by this too. You wouldn't even know what it represents if you've never seen it before.
 
I believe it was in the Worst Pokemon Ever thread (possibly in the Little Things That Annoy You thread), but somebody posted Skarmory's rough road of getting the right sprite, culminating in the BW sprite where they finally seemed to hit the nail on the head. Then they threw it out the window in the soaring 3D model. You can't even see the eyes or the red parts of its wings in the stagnant pose.
As someone mentioned (I think), Xatu was hit hard by this too. You wouldn't even know what it represents if you've never seen it before.
This thread seems to realy interest people, so what's the problem? It's cool if it was mentioned somewhere else, but it looks like people like the idea of seperate thread for this topic

Now instead of quoting everone back, I'll just one by one reply to all of your mentioned Pokemon

Eelektross: Looks like a wacky fish in 3D

Empoleon: I see nothing wrong with him

Garchomp: Same goes for him

Archeops: His 3D model is funny but fitting. With body proportion and wings like that is hard to proprely drift in the air

Bisharp: Both 2D and 3D seem OK for me

Haxorus: His knees seem to get a bit thinner due to 3D, it doesnt hurts me that much, but I wanted to mention that

Salamence: I never realy liked him, mostly because of that borring, drifting model (and he's overrated, for some reason

Dugtrio: He always seemed goofy for me, so I accualy prefer his 3D than 2D

MOD EDIT: Stop double posting!
 
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Typhlosion has to be the worst offender of the sprite->models change. Typh used to have those epic flames on him all the time, which made Typh look terrifying. Without them on constantly, it looks like Typh has been neutered and it looks too bland. Most other changes to other Pokemon that made them look worse you can just brush away. They aren't severe, and while they hurt the overall design, they didn't make the Pokemon look too bad, quirky at best. But Typh just looks bad now.

->
->

(Original Ken Sugimori art design, Gen 5 Sprite, and 3D Model versions)
 

Raidx

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Cant believe nobody mentioned Scizor! His transition from 2D to 3D is one of the worst imo. In his 2D animated sprites he looked fierce and ready to go to war, but in his 3D sprite he just stands there as if it doesnt even want to battle in the first place. Gamefreak really ruined a great model if you ask me.

Miles better than
 

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