I remember as a kid saying “my Pokémon look stupid when I battle them” but didn’t care to much about it because I was simply caught up in the amazing game!
I wouldn't use Pokémon that had stupid looking back sprites. I couldn't stand it because I picked Pokémon based on how cool they looked. Obviously if their back sprites were ugly then they weren't too cool looking. It sucked though cause I always wanted to use Arcanine. When I was finally able to get one, it's back sprite was so goofy that I wasn't able to make myself use it. That's one of the most disappointing things ever. Now that I'm older I could probably power through knowing how strong each Pokémon is and if their stupid looking sprite would be worth it or not. Arcanine definitely would be. On the other hand - finding out your favorite Pokémon have awesome sprites is a really sweet feeling. Hello Zangoose, Golduck and Flygon. Pretty sure Golduck had a bad sprite in the earlier games, but not the one where I leveled him to 100 and beat the elite 4 with. Also did that with Zangoose and soloed the elite 4.
The backsprites are 28×28 pixels, half the size as the front sprites. That's why. In addition, you could have mentioned that the back sprites actually do accurately match the Red and Green front sprites specifically. Primeape, Slowbro, and Kingler are good examples. That would have been interesting.
I like the og front sprites the best. (Out of any gen) They had an intimidating look to them. But the back sprites... nah. Pretty junk. But at least it gave a semi 3d feel to a 2d world.
Some back sprites were OK back then. Then some were so bad they were intolerable. I hated it when I thought a Pokémon was super cool; just to catch it and be unable to use it because it's back sprite looked like a botched Picasso painting made out of diarrhea and scrambled eggs! It was always the worst feeling because I couldn't overcome the ugly look. I would choose my Pokémon largely based off of a mixture of appearance + typing. So if they didn't look cool enough (or sometimes, if they just didn't look TOO stupid) then I wouldn't be able to make myself use them. It never made sense to me how they could take an awesome looking creature design and ruin it because they couldn't re imagine the Pokémon from a different angle. It's still baffles me to this day! Some of those old back sprites are so bad that they almost aren't even convincing enough to make believe it's the Pokémon they claim it to be! Now that's pathetic! Im so glad that some of my favorite Pokémon had good sprites in at least some of the early(ish) games. Maybe not gen 1 exactly. But maybe 2 or 3. Like Golduck, Zangoose, Rhydon. Tentacruel, Ampharos among others. Then there was Arcananine - a Pokémon that was epic and that I always wanted. Just to end up catching and realizing it looked utterly stupid. Not cool, tough and strong like the other images made him look. Smfh I guess that's enough ranting lol.
Not a single Sprite in the Gen 1 games looked broken to me until the newer games came out with better detailed ones. As far as I knew when I was a kid that's just what the Pokemon look like.
i am currently a game developer and i can't 3d model very well but my pixel art and programming skills are even better than anyone who's ever taught me before hearing that part from 7:00 made me really happy
@@Lunar994 lol I left that comment as I was playing LeafGreen, the front of the sprites were great. But the backs, when they were on your team...oof I was so excited to have Gengar, but all I ever got to see of him was legit just a purple squiggle.
you actually don't need to start over from the beginning of SMB if you game over. the manual never tells you you can do this but if you hold A and then press Start after game overing you start at the beginning of a world.
In red, blue and green you only get one starter per play through. If you only had one game, and couldnt trade, you would have to play the game three times to see all three. However, in Yellow, you can obtain all three in one play through.
i am a collector of the games and other stuff of pokemon. can you tell me how did you find those brochuers/magazines of the old promotions that you show at 4:06?
Pokemon was huge in 1995-1999. This content was everywhere during the time. Random magazines, Nintendo mag, and even posters that were available inside boxed booster packs. One of those images is from the official pokemon red players guide. The prints are more rare now, due to collectors and what not, but you can still find some on ebay and Japan second hand online shops. Here is a set of rare cards found in a very popular magazine that circulated a lot of pokemon back in the day. pokeboon.com/ranking-of-corocoro-promos-summarized-about-the-pokemon-card-values/
@@hipojoe i know all about those cards but thanks. i understand that those promos that show case the giveaway of mew is corocoro mag? you got idea of what issue are they? tried multiple searches in ebay to no availe
@@dror843 dogasu.bulbagarden.net/features/pokemon_in_1996.html that should have a pretty complete list Here is a place to buy them order.mandarake.co.jp/order/listPage/list?categoryCode=10020402&lang=en
On gen 2... I encountered my first legendary Entei on an off chance. I panicked and threw the masterball... Then went to use it... And it looked like a mf hotdog.
Honestly... I like the 1st gen sprites. Even more than 2nd gen sprites. It feels different... Good video man ;) PD: Kadabra looks like he has a vaccum cleaner XD
There was the leaked Space World 97 build of Pokemon Gold/Silver that had updated sprites of the 151 Pokemon with that Pokemon Blue (jp) look to the back, even using some front sprites Blue used like Ratatta. It was all done around the time Blue was in developement so they both definitely shared things with each other They did redraw the front AND back sprties, but didn't use the back ones at all weirdly enough
People complain about back sprites, OK I didn’t like many such ad Dragonite, the Nidos or Arcanine but what about the front sprites? One of my favorite (Gen1) Pokémon has always been Persian and aside from Yellow all front sprites for Persian EVER looked absolutely horrible, especially in red and blue. Blastoise looked crippled and I always hated Raticate‘s mouth even though once again, it was one of my favorites. The Eevees look crappy with the exception of Flareon. Charmander, Fearow, Pidgeotto and Poliwrath, Rhyhorn and Pikachu also always felt off to me back in the day and we’re still talking front sprites. I hated the Pokes with whacky front sprites and loved the ones with beautiful front sprites like Charizard, the Nidos, Gyarados, Lapras, Kangaskhan, Alakazam, Sandslash, Hitmons, Porygon, Mew/two and so on.
That was very interesting to see. But you're kinda missing a point when you go on about how people today "expect the best graphics": they released a third whole new game on a new console without updating the pokemon art/animation! Can you imagine if pokemon Ruby and Sapphire came out on the Gameboy Advance still using pokemon red/blue sprites, just maybe recolored a bit? Oh, and not to forget, while also cost cutting and removing a large chunk of pokemon which could not even be brought over from previous games.
I agree with your points. Yes, GameFreak has the money to higher all that work to be done externally, they could do much more than they have with including pokemon and things like that. But, my point was; none of that should be the determining factor in a 'good game'. However, more and more in today's time, it is. Did they reuse assets? Yes. Did they cut corners? Yes. Was all of this to save a buck and possibly slap an 'pay for extra pokemon in this bonus pack' a few months/year down the line? Yes. But, at the end of the day, does it matter if the game was a success? Think of it like this. Mario 64 was just release again on the switch. Its a great game. However, if 2020 was its first appearance, in exactly the same state, would it still be considered a 'great game'? Personally, I think it would be ridiculed just for the above mentioned topics.
@@hipojoe I, a lot of others I feel, have very specific reasoning for criticizing Sword and Shield's lack of graphical quality. The games themselves, even ignoring graphics, sound, and and all that aesthetic stuff just aren't very fun to a lot of us. Many of the things that made the old Pokemon games great have been stripped down and simplified, and a lot of corners have been cut. The reasoning that Gamefreak themselves gave for these cutbacks were so that they could focus on making the models, animation, and art in general look great. That would be understandable, but they didn't do that. They promised us great graphics at the sacrifice of important game-play features, and didn't deliver on either front. It's reasons like this that you'll find the Let's Go games are actually a lot better received. They have some of the same compromises made to Sword and Shield; the graphics aren't up to par with what they could do, the number of Pokemon was drastically limited, and they even got rid of wild battles which not even Sword/Shield had the gull to do. Despite all that, the Let's Go games have more meat to them. More fun. More heart and soul. They aren't the hollow, lifeless, over-simplified, boring shells of a Pokemon game that I feel Sword and Shield are. Yes, there are still people who will complain just because a game doesn't look amazing, but the simple truth is that we're not in 2010 anymore. Those people have fallen into the minority by now, most gamers are actually willing to look past that and try to enjoy the game for what it is. If a game is fun, that's what matters to most of us. That's why Minecraft is the most successful game in the world, despite looking very much like it came out in the late nineties. That's why so many indie-games today are successful in spite of their limited art direction. That's why when a game that's released is going to be made actively less fun because of a stated focus on the presentation, but then we don't even get the bare minimum we were promised, we're disappointed because we have something that's both not fun *and* looks worse than it should have. Sword and Shield sold very well, but selling well doesn't make it of good quality. A truly good game stands up in spite of its sales, and in most cases it'll sell even better than it would have if it sucked. The point is, Sword and Shield have lost a lot of what made Pokemon special. It's not alone, either. It's another step in the same inferior direction that's been being walked since X and Y. I love Pokemon. I love video games. Graphics don't matter to me so much if the game is fun. Sword and Shield weren't fun. The experience was closer to that of watching a movie with a bit of button mashing, and the movie wasn't very good either. I really want to love these games, and I do love many aspects of them, but they failed in the aspects that were either most important or most promised. I don't think that they're bad games, but Gamefreak could have done better. They could, and have done, a lot better. Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, for me, are the true generation eight. In almost every way imaginable for me, they're ten times the game that Sword and Shield ever were. All that aside, I must say I adored your video as well. It was a great speculative analysis of the behind-the-scenes involved in creating an old game a lot of us love. I really enjoyed the deep-dive provided here. Props to you.
The crap graphics was expected back then because we didn't have any better. In this day & age though its inexcusable to make crap animation & graphics. We have the technology its just lazy to not make your game look & feel good.
5:53 Even if I don't think SWSH Is the best example of this, Because even if they are far from bad games they are definatly below average. This didn't stoped me haveing Fun playing theam of course, but What you Sad it's very true. This days I feel like evry new game needs to be the next BOTW otherwise it's worthless. Sure now the avrege price for a game Is 60 dolars/euros when back thean was 20ish. But more and more games start to pile up with the story and sidequests and extra stuff, than I Just don't want to do because multiple games are asking me to give theam the same amount of time and Energy, and I don't want to speedrun My way thought theam Because thean I'll miss out on all that stuff. Thta's why I think thean you sometimes need to find a good inde title to relax and complete something than dosen't want from you weeks of your Life. I also feel like this also One of the reasons Why Many people are moveing on to games like Fortnite, Among Us, Roblox.... Because they are Both Easy to pick and to drop, and you'll never feel like you've missed something by not Putting 1000 hours in to It.
Pokemans haven’t been the same since gen 1 fr, every gen after is terrible and u need to know math. Back in my day we’d beat up kids and steal their poketrons. Gen one is the best ever and every other gen is for gay kids
Bullshit! The back sprites were a major issue for me! There were Pokémon that I loved and wanted to use, but had such stupid ass looking back sprites that I would refuse to use them. I think Arcanine was one of them. Arcanine is cool as hell, but not when you had him on your team. It looked downright goofy. A major factor of what Pokémon I would use back then was their appearance. That meant their look in general and how they looked when in battle. If they looked to stupid in battle I would ditch them. It sucked having to that, but I couldn't stand it. Anyways - decent video. However, you make too many smacking/clicking noises with your mouth and tongue and it's annoying af. I can't stand it when people do that. It's disgusting.
The crap graphics was expected back then because we didn't have any better. In this day & age though its inexcusable to make crap animation & graphics. We have the technology its just lazy to not make your game look & feel good.
>Highly specific technical question as the subject of the video
>But first let me tell you the entire history of video games
Yep ;)
Gotta get that time in! UA-cam alg.
I remember as a kid saying “my Pokémon look stupid when I battle them” but didn’t care to much about it because I was simply caught up in the amazing game!
Completely agree!
I wouldn't use Pokémon that had stupid looking back sprites. I couldn't stand it because I picked Pokémon based on how cool they looked. Obviously if their back sprites were ugly then they weren't too cool looking. It sucked though cause I always wanted to use Arcanine. When I was finally able to get one, it's back sprite was so goofy that I wasn't able to make myself use it. That's one of the most disappointing things ever. Now that I'm older I could probably power through knowing how strong each Pokémon is and if their stupid looking sprite would be worth it or not. Arcanine definitely would be. On the other hand - finding out your favorite Pokémon have awesome sprites is a really sweet feeling. Hello Zangoose, Golduck and Flygon. Pretty sure Golduck had a bad sprite in the earlier games, but not the one where I leveled him to 100 and beat the elite 4 with. Also did that with Zangoose and soloed the elite 4.
The backsprites are 28×28 pixels, half the size as the front sprites. That's why. In addition, you could have mentioned that the back sprites actually do accurately match the Red and Green front sprites specifically. Primeape, Slowbro, and Kingler are good examples. That would have been interesting.
This went from _"history of Gen 1 games"_ to _"what made old video games different/harder"_ and _"games aren't supposed to be perfect"_
*Wow*
During the time the video was made, UA-cam was only pushing videos that were 10 minutes long. Had to pad it out somehow ;)
@@hipojoe No no, it's fine. It was enternaining and, like they say it, "really made me think."
i always be grateful when pokemon silver and crystal came out. those game fix my sadness because the bad back sprites of pokemon gen 1
Luckily they fixed the sprites in yellow but they were so lazy about the back sprites
I like the og front sprites the best. (Out of any gen) They had an intimidating look to them. But the back sprites... nah. Pretty junk. But at least it gave a semi 3d feel to a 2d world.
Some back sprites were OK back then. Then some were so bad they were intolerable. I hated it when I thought a Pokémon was super cool; just to catch it and be unable to use it because it's back sprite looked like a botched Picasso painting made out of diarrhea and scrambled eggs! It was always the worst feeling because I couldn't overcome the ugly look. I would choose my Pokémon largely based off of a mixture of appearance + typing. So if they didn't look cool enough (or sometimes, if they just didn't look TOO stupid) then I wouldn't be able to make myself use them. It never made sense to me how they could take an awesome looking creature design and ruin it because they couldn't re imagine the Pokémon from a different angle. It's still baffles me to this day! Some of those old back sprites are so bad that they almost aren't even convincing enough to make believe it's the Pokémon they claim it to be! Now that's pathetic! Im so glad that some of my favorite Pokémon had good sprites in at least some of the early(ish) games. Maybe not gen 1 exactly. But maybe 2 or 3. Like Golduck, Zangoose, Rhydon. Tentacruel, Ampharos among others. Then there was Arcananine - a Pokémon that was epic and that I always wanted. Just to end up catching and realizing it looked utterly stupid. Not cool, tough and strong like the other images made him look. Smfh I guess that's enough ranting lol.
Not a single Sprite in the Gen 1 games looked broken to me until the newer games came out with better detailed ones. As far as I knew when I was a kid that's just what the Pokemon look like.
i am currently a game developer and i can't 3d model very well but my pixel art and programming skills are even better than anyone who's ever taught me before hearing that part from 7:00
made me really happy
Dude those sprites look better than they did on LeafGreen. They were more zoomed in so much farther, Gengar was just like a little squiggle of purple
What?! The GBA sprites were MILES better
@@Lunar994 lol I left that comment as I was playing LeafGreen, the front of the sprites were great. But the backs, when they were on your team...oof
I was so excited to have Gengar, but all I ever got to see of him was legit just a purple squiggle.
this explanation couldve been one minute long xD
Could have, but gotta get that 10 minute mark for the algorithm ;)
I remember Charmeleon, Venusaur or Pidgeot backsprite being kinda an issue for me as a kid :D
For me it was Arcanine. Loved the Pokémon in general. Hated it's back sprite so much that I refused to use it.
Charmeleon’s back sprite is hilarious
Yes, lol yes it is!
you actually don't need to start over from the beginning of SMB if you game over. the manual never tells you you can do this but if you hold A and then press Start after game overing you start at the beginning of a world.
What would you have to play 3 separate files to get all starter evolutions? Why not just evolve them in one playthrough?
In red, blue and green you only get one starter per play through. If you only had one game, and couldnt trade, you would have to play the game three times to see all three.
However, in Yellow, you can obtain all three in one play through.
i am a collector of the games and other stuff of pokemon. can you tell me how did you find those brochuers/magazines of the old promotions that you show at 4:06?
Pokemon was huge in 1995-1999. This content was everywhere during the time. Random magazines, Nintendo mag, and even posters that were available inside boxed booster packs.
One of those images is from the official pokemon red players guide.
The prints are more rare now, due to collectors and what not, but you can still find some on ebay and Japan second hand online shops.
Here is a set of rare cards found in a very popular magazine that circulated a lot of pokemon back in the day.
pokeboon.com/ranking-of-corocoro-promos-summarized-about-the-pokemon-card-values/
@@hipojoe i know all about those cards but thanks. i understand that those promos that show case the giveaway of mew is corocoro mag? you got idea of what issue are they? tried multiple searches in ebay to no availe
@@dror843 dogasu.bulbagarden.net/features/pokemon_in_1996.html
that should have a pretty complete list
Here is a place to buy them
order.mandarake.co.jp/order/listPage/list?categoryCode=10020402&lang=en
@@hipojoe thank you
@@hipojoe unfourtently they are all sold out :(
I didn't know it was firstly a game and why pokemons in my pokemon red looked worse than in pokemon yellow
Thank you!
On gen 2... I encountered my first legendary Entei on an off chance. I panicked and threw the masterball...
Then went to use it... And it looked like a mf hotdog.
Honestly... I like the 1st gen sprites. Even more than 2nd gen sprites. It feels different...
Good video man ;)
PD: Kadabra looks like he has a vaccum cleaner XD
Lol! He totally does!
There was the leaked Space World 97 build of Pokemon Gold/Silver that had updated sprites of the 151 Pokemon with that Pokemon Blue (jp) look to the back, even using some front sprites Blue used like Ratatta. It was all done around the time Blue was in developement so they both definitely shared things with each other
They did redraw the front AND back sprties, but didn't use the back ones at all weirdly enough
Thanks for not explaining anything technical about the game and just making a simple comparison anyone could make
Glad you liked it!
People complain about back sprites, OK I didn’t like many such ad Dragonite, the Nidos or Arcanine but what about the front sprites?
One of my favorite (Gen1) Pokémon has always been Persian and aside from Yellow all front sprites for Persian EVER looked absolutely horrible, especially in red and blue. Blastoise looked crippled and I always hated Raticate‘s mouth even though once again, it was one of my favorites. The Eevees look crappy with the exception of Flareon. Charmander, Fearow, Pidgeotto and Poliwrath, Rhyhorn and Pikachu also always felt off to me back in the day and we’re still talking front sprites.
I hated the Pokes with whacky front sprites and loved the ones with beautiful front sprites like Charizard, the Nidos, Gyarados, Lapras, Kangaskhan, Alakazam, Sandslash, Hitmons, Porygon, Mew/two and so on.
That was very interesting to see. But you're kinda missing a point when you go on about how people today "expect the best graphics": they released a third whole new game on a new console without updating the pokemon art/animation! Can you imagine if pokemon Ruby and Sapphire came out on the Gameboy Advance still using pokemon red/blue sprites, just maybe recolored a bit?
Oh, and not to forget, while also cost cutting and removing a large chunk of pokemon which could not even be brought over from previous games.
I agree with your points. Yes, GameFreak has the money to higher all that work to be done externally, they could do much more than they have with including pokemon and things like that. But, my point was; none of that should be the determining factor in a 'good game'. However, more and more in today's time, it is.
Did they reuse assets? Yes. Did they cut corners? Yes. Was all of this to save a buck and possibly slap an 'pay for extra pokemon in this bonus pack' a few months/year down the line? Yes. But, at the end of the day, does it matter if the game was a success?
Think of it like this. Mario 64 was just release again on the switch. Its a great game. However, if 2020 was its first appearance, in exactly the same state, would it still be considered a 'great game'? Personally, I think it would be ridiculed just for the above mentioned topics.
@@hipojoe I, a lot of others I feel, have very specific reasoning for criticizing Sword and Shield's lack of graphical quality.
The games themselves, even ignoring graphics, sound, and and all that aesthetic stuff just aren't very fun to a lot of us. Many of the things that made the old Pokemon games great have been stripped down and simplified, and a lot of corners have been cut.
The reasoning that Gamefreak themselves gave for these cutbacks were so that they could focus on making the models, animation, and art in general look great. That would be understandable, but they didn't do that. They promised us great graphics at the sacrifice of important game-play features, and didn't deliver on either front.
It's reasons like this that you'll find the Let's Go games are actually a lot better received. They have some of the same compromises made to Sword and Shield; the graphics aren't up to par with what they could do, the number of Pokemon was drastically limited, and they even got rid of wild battles which not even Sword/Shield had the gull to do.
Despite all that, the Let's Go games have more meat to them. More fun. More heart and soul. They aren't the hollow, lifeless, over-simplified, boring shells of a Pokemon game that I feel Sword and Shield are.
Yes, there are still people who will complain just because a game doesn't look amazing, but the simple truth is that we're not in 2010 anymore. Those people have fallen into the minority by now, most gamers are actually willing to look past that and try to enjoy the game for what it is.
If a game is fun, that's what matters to most of us. That's why Minecraft is the most successful game in the world, despite looking very much like it came out in the late nineties.
That's why so many indie-games today are successful in spite of their limited art direction. That's why when a game that's released is going to be made actively less fun because of a stated focus on the presentation, but then we don't even get the bare minimum we were promised, we're disappointed because we have something that's both not fun *and* looks worse than it should have.
Sword and Shield sold very well, but selling well doesn't make it of good quality. A truly good game stands up in spite of its sales, and in most cases it'll sell even better than it would have if it sucked.
The point is, Sword and Shield have lost a lot of what made Pokemon special. It's not alone, either. It's another step in the same inferior direction that's been being walked since X and Y.
I love Pokemon. I love video games. Graphics don't matter to me so much if the game is fun. Sword and Shield weren't fun. The experience was closer to that of watching a movie with a bit of button mashing, and the movie wasn't very good either.
I really want to love these games, and I do love many aspects of them, but they failed in the aspects that were either most important or most promised. I don't think that they're bad games, but Gamefreak could have done better. They could, and have done, a lot better.
Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, for me, are the true generation eight. In almost every way imaginable for me, they're ten times the game that Sword and Shield ever were.
All that aside, I must say I adored your video as well. It was a great speculative analysis of the behind-the-scenes involved in creating an old game a lot of us love. I really enjoyed the deep-dive provided here. Props to you.
Interesting. But is that all I wonder?
the sprites on the back are from pokemon red and green jp
The crap graphics was expected back then because we didn't have any better. In this day & age though its inexcusable to make crap animation & graphics. We have the technology its just lazy to not make your game look & feel good.
5:53 Even if I don't think SWSH Is the best example of this, Because even if they are far from bad games they are definatly below average. This didn't stoped me haveing Fun playing theam of course, but What you Sad it's very true. This days I feel like evry new game needs to be the next BOTW otherwise it's worthless. Sure now the avrege price for a game Is 60 dolars/euros when back thean was 20ish. But more and more games start to pile up with the story and sidequests and extra stuff, than I Just don't want to do because multiple games are asking me to give theam the same amount of time and Energy, and I don't want to speedrun My way thought theam Because thean I'll miss out on all that stuff. Thta's why I think thean you sometimes need to find a good inde title to relax and complete something than dosen't want from you weeks of your Life. I also feel like this also One of the reasons Why Many people are moveing on to games like Fortnite, Among Us, Roblox.... Because they are Both Easy to pick and to drop, and you'll never feel like you've missed something by not Putting 1000 hours in to It.
You got it :)
Pokemans haven’t been the same since gen 1 fr, every gen after is terrible and u need to know math. Back in my day we’d beat up kids and steal their poketrons. Gen one is the best ever and every other gen is for gay kids
that's why they shouldn't give internet to the nostalgiafags
most normal genwunner:
Omg so complete your video
What do you mean?
@@hipojoe
I mean, your video have a lot of information and, is very complete. I like it :p
Victor thank you! I’m glad you liked it!
Bullshit! The back sprites were a major issue for me! There were Pokémon that I loved and wanted to use, but had such stupid ass looking back sprites that I would refuse to use them. I think Arcanine was one of them. Arcanine is cool as hell, but not when you had him on your team. It looked downright goofy. A major factor of what Pokémon I would use back then was their appearance. That meant their look in general and how they looked when in battle. If they looked to stupid in battle I would ditch them. It sucked having to that, but I couldn't stand it. Anyways - decent video. However, you make too many smacking/clicking noises with your mouth and tongue and it's annoying af. I can't stand it when people do that. It's disgusting.
The crap graphics was expected back then because we didn't have any better. In this day & age though its inexcusable to make crap animation & graphics. We have the technology its just lazy to not make your game look & feel good.