A Look Back at Pokémon Back Sprites
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- Before the days of 3D models, Pokémon were displayed in game through two-dimensional images known as sprites! These pixel-art graphics are still what many fans think of when they think of Pokémon. We're all familiar with their front sprites, but their back sprites are where things got really interesting. In this video we'll journey through the first few generations and marvel at the good, bad, and absurd Pokémon back sprites.
Check out all the early Pokémon sprites here!
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I never even considered the fact that the back sprites were meant to match the front in terms of pose. it genuinely never crossed my mind
and I used an unevolved Pikachu in Platinum and thought it looking back to wave at me was adorable
How did you miss how bad venusaurs gen 1 backsprite is, to this day i cant even make out what im looking at o_O
It's on screen at 1:49! You might have missed it because you can't tell what the hell it is 0_o
it's a salad
Same yo
What would've changed about Gen 1 if Sugimori made official artworks first before sprites?
The original Venusaur design had its flower pointed forward like a cannon, and its body was much flatter
I don't see why it would be an issue if the Pokemon's front and back sprites don't 'match'. It's just the Pokemon adopting a different pose and imo it makes it less monotonous than if it was the exact same pose, but from the back.
exactly. they aren’t like an artist turnaround, they don’t have to match. they’re supposed to be living animals with static sprites and ive never been bothered by them not “matching”
You missed the entire part where the backsprites were made for the japanese versions of Red and Green, which also had different frontsprites. Many cases, like Cloyster, are explained when you see the Red/Green original sprites
That's true, but only partially. Some of the back sprites match their front sprites from the japanese versions, but Pokemon like Alakazam, Machoke, and Hitmonlee are still inconsistent. I also wanted to save the japanese games because they're an entire rabbit hole to go down.
EDIT: Now my question is why they would go through the effort of changing the front sprites between Red/Green, Red/Blue, and Yellow, but not change any of the back sprites outside of minor color updates. Just another situation where I would love to be in the room where these conversations took place.
@@shepskydad the gold/silver 1997 demo revealed that some front sprites from the blue version had matching back sprites, but they were in a different size format, 48x48 pixels, so they couldn't backport these back sprites to the 28x28 pixel 2x upscaled format that red/green use. (it is possible, modders have done it, game freak could have done it too but my theory is that they kept the red/green back sprite format to prevent desyncs in the battle engine when blue or yellow is linked with red/green due to having to load larger sprites)
@@CyanSixFour Don't forget that Japanese Red, Green, and Blue were half the ROM size of later versions and could barely fit in the data they had, so larger sprites may have turned out to not be an option yet.
I REMEMBER JETIX! I thought it was a fever dream. Here in Brazil it was after Fox Kids and before Disney XD (as you said). I'm the only person that I know that remembers that channel.
Porra eu lembro quando trocou de fox kids pra jetix e eu crianço todo confuso "não vai passar mais Digimon então?"
BR à vontade curtindo o comentário, todo mundo aqui que é 30 ou 35+ lembra kkkk
jetix was goated af
I remember watching power rangers constantly on it in latin america
Big Yin Yang Yo fan here
Can't believe you missed the part where if you took apart your gameboy and looked the screen from the inside, you'd see the Pokemon's front sprite
Underrated comedy Gold right here
@@abrarkadabrar7829Comedy Gold version and Comedy Silver version
yeah i'm genuinely surprised they added that much attention to detail.
@@abrarkadabrar7829 predictable cringe tbh
@@bearzdlc2172your reply? yeah
4:40 I actually know what happened with Sneasel’s color palette! Sneasel underwent a very drastic last minute design change from being… well, a pretty generic weasel with a blue and brown coloring, to the Sneasel we know and love within the last few weeks of development. It’s likely in their rush, they either didn’t have time to or neglected to change sneasel’s color palette from the original brown and blue to the new black and red.
I'm gonna be a hot take. I prefer the brown with blue feathers. I wish that they updated the shiny to look like that as an homage
@@ArthurTRead Shiny hisuian sneasel and sneasler have very similar colors to the og colors of sneasel
I'd like to point out that Sneasel's color if you look at the officially art it actually kept the blue technically. Sneasel's fur is closer to blue-black or navy blue than to full on black.
the blue fur looked like ice so I like that color pallette as well
Swampert's back sprite will never not be funny to me. My boy really needs to get its arm checked, stat.
No lie, it took YEARS for me to see Swampert the way they intended. I always saw him as a chonk.
Gen 3? Yeah, I guess I also thought he was chonky too. But I guess I chalked it up to him being the more defensive of the Gen 3 starters.
Friendly reminder the oddities for gen 1 back sprites has to do with the Japanese Red and Green front sprites being what they used for the back sprites!
The one fang on your dog mascot being transparent is throwing me off LOL
then it has done its job
I don't think it's an issue when a pokemon has a different position from it's front to back sprites. Different proportion? Yeah that's an issue, but pokemon are meant to be living things that move. Not statues. It makes sense they'd take multiple poses.
i agree. i never made the assumption that they’re holding the same pose consistently, just that it’s supposed to resemble well.. the back of the pokemon, obviously. it’d feel pretty weird too if i were fighting a pikachu with my own pikachu and both were standing identically
I thought that I was weird for thinking that Exeggutor had 6 heads, but now I'm learning that it actually did used to!
I always appreciated that Gamefreak gave a promising design in Mawile, with the Pokemon theoretically looking normal and more visible from the back, and just following through on that promise. Gen 3's back-sprite for Mawile still satisfies me to this day.
I remembered Jetix! That's where I would watch Digimon growing up.
i liked the compilation of bird pokemon screaming at the top of their lungs. typical bird behavior
I remember, when I was a kid, catching a new pokemon and going to the pokedex to look at the back sprite was always a highlight. I liked imagining using them in battle, even if I was actually just going to leave them in the PC box. I actually like when it's different from the front sprite, it's like it goes from menacing to waiting for your command, it's always fun noticing the differences.
Anyways, thank you for reminding me of that!
8:27 "Huntail, which... ... is high out of it's mind" Hey cmon now that's just what he always looks like 😂
To make it even worse I specifically DIDN'T blame Cherubi for how it looked. Sorry Huntail!
It's kind of nuts how good Crystal's sprites are across the board when you consider they only had 2 colors per sprite (4 total, but 2 are always black and white). Glad they got to fix some of the funny GS mistakes like with Raikou and Entei's designs and the funny brain Forretress thing.
I think that’s part of the reason people love having the newer mons put into older roms. It’s such an appealing art style.
Hey Shayy, fancy seeing you here.
And yeah, I agree.
Surprised seeing you here shayy
@@shepskydad You’re a mook😒
Surprised you didn't mention the fact that all (or at least most) of the Gen 1 and 2 mons reused the same backsprites from GSC in RSE
When I was a kid, my friend let me borrow their old Red version. I was too dumb to know how to check the party screen.
I went into battle and threw out an orange blob with a white spike on its head.
I had no idea what pokemon "Bear" was.
now I'm curious as to which one that is lmao
@@alecrutz956 Sounds like Charmeleon's gen I back sprite to me.
1:40 gen 1 specifically had all of its back sprites made for their first vision(s) in Red/Green. There's a whole sheet of front view sprites unique to the games that you may find better match their respective backsides. This idea is apparently maintained in the spaceworld demo - patterns like these lead me to believe there were several different graphic artists between games but I wouldn't know
Gen 5’s animations is always the best ever for me, according to it was my first time when I saw Pokemon can move for entire battle that was so impressive ☺️
I always have PTSD when I see the 3rd gen Feraligatr sprite... I started with Gold and that was my favorite pokemon, I didn't have Colosseum so much effort went in getting it on Emerald with help from people with the other games for exclusives...
My heart sank after it evolved and I peeped dat ass.
Anyone who saw it would laugh. How could they let that get by?!
I love pokemon back shots!
Im pretty sure the Gen 2 sprite changes are because G/S could be played on GB so they changed the palletes to be visible on GB but since crystal was only on GBC they could use the intended colors
Dude I thought I was in the Twilight Zone for years. Palkia is CLEARLY phallic. And I can't believe I never saw anyone mention it before this LOL
Damn. I haven't thought about Jetix in about a decade and a half. It was amazing. Watched a lot of Digimon, American Dragon: Jake long, Jackie Chan Adventures, Oban Star Racers, and more. Lots of great memories there.
8:06 Pchal would like a word with you from the nuzlocke community.
When talking about the Generation 1 sprites, they were clearly designed to be parallel with the Red and Green sprites and then unchanged thereafter. A lot of the problem sprites actually make more sense when viewed through that lens.
Jetix is something I do vaguely remember, like it was Toon Disney as it's own block if I remember right. It was hard to beat Toonami though, lol.
I never considered "inconsistent" back sprites to be a thing, at all. Why would they need to have the same pose as the front sprite? For clarity, sure, but it isn't outright a mistake or oversight.
You’re right! It’s just a man on the internet being nitpicky 😅
@@shepskydadoh hey, now that you're here and I saw the whole video, I do wanna commend you on the interesting topic choice, smooth editing and easygoing script 👍 I definitely do miss how engaging it was sending out a Pokemon for the first time and being introduced to a whole new depiction of it.
2:26 First, wow Oddish's Gen 1 back sprite is creepy. Second, this bit about the eyes got me way harder than it should have.
I always knew back sprites in Pokémon could be,,, weird. But I'd actually forgotten how unsettling some of them could be. Thanks(?) for the reminder lmao. But glad to see Cubone being a cutie regardless of generation.
Cubone’s sprite makes all the time spent looking at Jynx worth it.
I really don’t see how inconsistencies between front and back sprites matter. A Pokémon is a moving creature and would have different poses.
Great video tho!
The Gen 1 Scyther backsprite is not grinning, the line is his nose/snout edge detail he also has in the frontsprite. The backsprite actually has its mouth open if you look closely
I'm surprised you didn't mention Sizor. WHY DID THEY COMPLETELY OMIT HIS WINGS!? It legitimately irks and frustrates me from wanting to use him because he's missing his heckin' wings! 😢
Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow back spirtes are related to the front sprites of japanese Green/Red versions.
That's why Geodude got its arms this way seen from back, or Ekans.
Gen 1 Rattata’s back sprite still haunts me to this day
I always chose my pokemon based on their back sprite, and i genuinely never heard anyone else say this
I mean, a lot of the back sprites, MOST of them, are because they're reflective of Red and Green.....
I also have to wonder about sneasel's colour change. It actually looks more like an ice type with the original colouration, so why it would be updated to have its feathers changed to a warm colour is beyond me.
How do you make a video about about Pokémon back sprites and don't acknowledge that front sprites were redone in gen 1 when releasing outside Japan but the back sprites WERE NOT? That's the reason why some back sprites don't respect the pose in the front sprite, they used the original Japanese back sprites from the moment they released Red and Green in Japan all the way till Yellow.
I'm willing to be the backsprites having a different pose from the front sprites is so it doesn't look odd battling the same Pokemon. Two Alakazam looking at each other with their spoons up would just look weird
I remember Lugia's gen 4 back sprite spooked me a bit when I was younger. He's so angry. Also find it odd his gen 5 back sprite has no eye.
You’re insane for liking shaded Cherrim more than Cherubi. The little face is so cute, bro is just vibing
I like certain examples of the 'big guy with a cropped out backsprite' like Donphan, I think it makes them feel much bigger. Its not a perfect illusion, but having a prim little donphan that fit primly into the corner of the screen wouldn't sell it for me.
You unlocked a core memory for me with that Jetix reference
So why It take too long like 10 years for a mainline Pokémon game to get a 3D game? And why did people get mad when the xy models came out? And why since legends Arceus and Scarlet and Violet the models were completly changed?
The Pokémon company is the poster child for having their priorities out of line
Because the XY models are animated horribly. And the colors are super desaturated. It completely lacks all of the life and energy that the gen 5 sprites had.
I’m not trashing on the modern models as most of them are fine but you also have to remember that 3D Pokémon were already a thing in games like Stadium 1&2, Colosseum and Battle Revolution. The models in those games had more personality and animations to them.
Keep in mind all the back sprites in gen1 where made for the red and green front sprites not the red and blue or yellow sprites
Also any colour at all was an after thought
Yeah. I mean they admittedly were still inconsistent, but they definitely match the look, form, and... quality... of the front sprites from the original.
You unlocked long lost memories with that Pucca mention.
Seviper really does have one of the best backsprites ever. It always stuck with me.
something you didn't mention is how RS has a lot of back sprites directly grabbed from gen 2, recolored and slightly expanded
What I like about this sort of videos is how it opens your eyes to stuff you'd never notice on your own. Those gen 2 Donphan, Kingler and Piloswine sprites never felt weird before, but I'll never look at them the same. It's funny how when you're a kid your imagination fills in so many gaps in design.
Gen 1 back sprites are from the Japanese red and green
American Red and Blue were based on Japanese Blue which had new front sprites similar to Yellow
But that’s why the front sprites don’t match up very well
Now THIS is the niche pokemon topic i NEED
I appreciate a video like this. Back sprites don't get much love. They can arguably be much harder to pull off.
One additional reason why Gen 1 backsprites look horrible is that they used 2x2 blocks of pixels which cut down the amount of possible detail in half. It's supposed to make the sprites look like they're closer but I never liked the way it looked. It just results in a blocky mess.
The problem with a Pokémon like Wailord is that the sprites are only ever cut from bottom. They can't crop from other directions since they're not connected to the UI like the bottom is. This in turn means that they didn't have a good way of utilizing the top half of the available space due to the width of the Pokémon. Trying to fit it more vertically would make it look even worse.
It was hype at 1st, but I think most people agree that 5th gen has the best looking sprites. Fully animated with lots of personality. Like 50% of 3d sprites are just like 😐
Gotta give a some love to Lopunny for looking back at its trainer for reaching that annoying friendship evolution.
To me personally Gen 5 has the best overall in battle sprites, I really liked the repetitive movement and with Gen 6 they kind of killed a number of in battle sprites like Typhlosion
The reason for Sneasel's color change was that it was finished just barely before release and still using the colors from a previous design that was a more "realistic" cat/weasel thing
UNIRONICALLY, BETA SNEASEL STUCK FOR LIKE 3 YEARS AND SUDDENLY CHANGED.
Man chill really nice video congrats
in the case of frlg's wartortle and similar cases: my headcanon is subtle regional variants!!
I think with sneasles case, the one in gold/silver technically wasn’t finished yet, so when they got to crystal, the finalized it
9:43 whoa that's some thick-ass outlines on that hand
I hate to admit but as a kid if a Pokémon had an ugly back sprite or one that didn’t show them off well I would not want to use them on my team as much lol
Venomoth looking like he just caught a glimpse of Fernaligator
Even though you didn't like it, thank you for including Gold/Silver Sneasel. Its such a cool, underrated, colour scheme and I'll never understand why they decided to drop that instead of the "neon" shiny.
Broo…… you put into words my whole childhood focus on using those whose back sprites looked the best! Agree 100% on all what you said… jeez subscribed. I had seldom heard anyone acknowledge the changes in back sprites from gold to crystal
Seeing the clip at 6:35 used out of context is strangely funny to me.
Other noteworthy terrible backstprites
Gen 1 Charizard - It looks like a Donkey
Gen 1 Charmelon - Looks like its constipated while holding its breath
Gen 1 Venasuar - Looks like a Frog peaking its head out of a salad bowl
Gen 1 Oddish - Looks like a child with bad bed head on a weekend morning
Gen 1 Mr. Mime - Looks like he wants you to turn off the light after a hang over
Gen 1 Kabuto - Looks like the hood of a car
Gen 1 Mewtwo - He looks like a bully that wants revenge
Gen 1 Snorlax - Looks like he's sucking a Lolipop
Gen 1 Gengar - And overweight guy
Gen 2 Wobbufett - No Comment
Gen 2 Ho Oh - Looks like a turkey singing opera
Gen 2 Delibird - It wants to slap you after you stood them up on a date
Gen 3 Feraligatr - Dat Ass
Gen 3 Combusken - (Not a bad one, but the pose look like a popular girl with sass)
Despite how much people love to hate the 3d models we have nowadays, the backsprites in particular are the reason I will always prefer 3D over sprites. I hated situations like when I'd painstakingly train a scissor beacause it looked cool from the front, only to have it look underwhelming from the back--you know--the perspective from which I'll be looking at it for the rest of my playthrough. It got so bad to the point where I would look up a Pokemon's backsprite BEFORE I would catch it and this issue of all things would limit my party options...sigh. The sprites have their charm but the 3D models are just way more consistent while the dynamic camera means you aren't just stuck with one perspective of your Pokemon the entire playthrough, and I for one prefer it that way.
Raikou GS IS FABULOUS!
Rhyhorn GS is more like a mecha really... or a Duroladon(I guess this is the name), but Rhyhorn C IS AN EVA! OR AN ANGEL AND YOU CANT CHANGE MY MIND!
8:36 I can vividly remember the announcement of the jetix and disney merger many many years ago as a kid. Thanks for the throwback!
the back sprites of gen 1 are inconsistent since game freak didnt update the back sprites for red and blue, unlike the front sprites
I wish the back sprites got updated in yellow not just the front sprites.
You forgot to mention many of the gen 1 and 2 pokemon sprites used in RSE were recycled from Gen 2.
Think of that as the polished versions?
I was notorious for over-caring about back-sprites as a kid, and I'm pretty sure my friend found me silly for it. It's good to be vindicated.
Something not mentioned is how the Gen 1 back sprites were made to resemble their original Red and Green front sprites, which are notoriously horrible. In those games, they actually mirror the front sprites. The front sprites were improved in the updated Blue version, which was used as the base for Red and Blue internationally. However, the back sprites (for reasons I can't fathom) remained the same.
As for the Gen 2 color discrepancies, I'm going to assume it stems from Gold and Silver originally being made for the Game Boy, as seen in their beta versions. It seems likely that the color added was artificial like the Super Game Boy, and that Crystal's were manually colored. Just a guess, however.
gen 2 pichu's backsprite is a fun one, it's cool to see the whole body in a sprite for once :p
Where the Jetix fan base at?
Gen 2 Mankey's sprite is hilarious. He is a pretty ballerina.
The gen 1 backsprites actually do look like the Green sprites, since those were the originals they were all designed for
A majority of the backsprites in FRLG were directly copied from Crystal, but updated with Gen 3's graphics. While I do like the backsprites in Gen 3 (for the most part) I always found this to be incredibly lazy.
I remember Jetix I used to watch Both YinYangYo! and Pucca on there all the time with my sister.
The red and blur front sprites the western world got were already reworked from red and green. The back sprites line up with those and were reused
I do remember jetix. They had A.T.O.M and Oban Star Racers. Good times.
I feel like the issue with many of the larger Pokemon is that a pokemon sprite can have a max of 80x80 pixel in size back in Gen 3.
Therefore it is not really possible to make a good Wailord sprite.
I still remember when Jetix turned into Disney XD. That was actually around the same time as when the gen 5 anime started airing in France iirc
They could have given Feraligatr a, you know, tail. But no. We needed him to have an extra 10 inches of height and a “ribbed back”
Scyther's gen 3 sprite is not only underwhelming, its arms don't work that way and it seems to be missing a pair of wings.. 8:23
Exeggutor's back sprite in FRLG makes me wish it stayed that way until Gen 4. It's just so fitting and simply perfect.
I remember JetX 😢 Get Ed was one of my favorite shows on it
I wholeheartedly approve of your puns
Gen 2 has my favourite sprites of the whole franchise. I especially love the small pokemon like oddish and togepi who basically has their whole body on the field.
I chose "Pokemon art development" as my topic for speech class. This video reminded me of another angle I can approach the topic from (literally).
(And I remember Jetix was a thing that existed, but I don't remember actually watching stuff from it.)
Sneasel's gold/silver sprites are way better than its Crystal sprites. That light blue gives you at least a _tiny_ hint that it's an Ice type, which you otherwise need to be explicitly told in text, and the brown looks nicer than the dark purple for the main body as well as somewhat vaguely matching a weasel. Which it supposedly is, somehow.
Of course, Sneasel's beta sprites were all vastly better than the finalized version.
11:28
The Honchkrow sprite looks fine to me.
This is absolutely my kind of Video
Someone once told me that scyther's gen 1 back sprite looks like a dinosaur holding a banana and I've never been able to unsee it since.
Gen5 is the most underrated and underappreciated generation ever. What GF did from Gen8 onwards is shameful, having half-baked games as the company's new policy.
YOOOO YIN YANG YO WAS MY ISH (I know this isn't related to the video but I never see it talk about ever)
Now THIS…. this is what I call content