What I think would be nice is if they could carry over what they did in Legends Arceus, where they have separate animations for standing in the world VS standing in battle. Luxray is the prime example, standing straight when placed in the overworld but actively crouching down ready to pounce when used in a fight. It'd be a lot of work to implement, but I like to think it would help.
The problem is, of course, that there are a thousand pokemon. Even if the next generation only uses half of them, adding one animation to every pokemon means adding _several hundred animations,_ with a limited ability to share animations between pokemon because so many of them have unique body plans or distinctive appendages which need to be animated. And pokemon need multiple animations for each kind of thing the devs want them to do. Playing around the campfire? At least one animation for each kind of toy, one for running around, maybe one for play-fighting other 'mons, definitely one for nuzzling against the player character. Battle animations include idle loops, hit reacts, attacks, transitions between the idle loop and other animations, etc. This is an entirely self-inflicted problem, but that doesn't make it _not_ a problem.
@@timothymclean Yeah I was thinking about this exact thing. It would be so so so much work, so much that I doubt it would ever happen. Which really sucks because it was great in LA.
Typhlosion is also a great example. Out of battle, its flames are off, but in battle they're always on, not just when it attacks compared to previous game.
The funny thing is, blastoise has never fired hydro pump out of its cannons, it’s just that you don’t notice in 2d because it’s inherently a much more abstract form
“Stiff” remains the best way to describe so many 3D Pokemon. Even static sprites had this sense of dynamism that gets lost when they become head-bobbing default poses
@@captainmega6310 i reiterate the point of being idle is that they stand there waiting on a command. He'll technically they do have more animations when they're idle we just never see them because the videos never actually show them.
They need more battle animations as all, it makes sense than their default standing there pose wouldnr have them like... standing on one leg or some other wacky poses the sprites had
One thing I've noticed with a lot of the sprites is that they're a lot more vibrant than the models. And I think that kind of helps carry the whimsical charm of some pokemon
Exactly. The first time I played X & Y, I was wondering why the older Pokemon looked so washed out. And Pokemon do have animations they do while idle in battle...but it takes so long for them to play and the camera spun around so much it was hard to notice.
@@mjangelvortexthe official sugimori art is also incorrect due to faulty scans. Not too long ago we got proper scans of the art and they were far more vibrant. And even then I feel like every pokemon that was initially concieved as a 2D sprite got washed out in 3D, which encompasses pokemon outside of the classic sugimori style
some sprites were updated in scarlet and violet, blastoise included and it at least has more dynamic attacks, it actually shoots water out of its cannons now
@@Laterose15it really isn’t the bottom of the barrel, if they had to go through and make custom animations, even just for specific moves, on every Pokémon, the games would never come out, which is something they cannot do. That is why dexit happened, it takes so much work to make even this level of animation quality that it would be near impossible to do it with over double the pokemon
@@Laterose15 scraping the bottom of the barrel is when SV are their 3rd best performing games ever Granted yes I do agree the graphic quality of the games should be significantly better, my point is that if we're judging whether pokemon look better in 3d, we should use the SV models, like imo Charizard is so much better in SV than it was previously. What I do want to say is that it's not game freaks fault btw, they're a surprisingly small studio with so many projects to do, really it's the pokemon company itself that doesn't give the devs enough time to do anything, as we saw with SV, it forced them to give production of the diamond and pearl remakes to a third party and those games were really mediocre. But yes the quality should be significantly better for the highest grossing media franchise of all time, they've given them a lot of time to work on legends ZA so hopefully we see results
Funny enough, an energetic Pokemon will move it's centre of gravity as a flex that it's strong and agile. And the turtle in 3d looks like an actual slow turtle instead of the cheeta and giant judo sumo wrestler vibes it had
I really enjoy the fact that Gamefreak has updated the models a touch to add more style and character. Not all are created equal but the Scarlet and Violet Kanto starters got new models and in the case of Blastoise/Charizard, new animations since Charizard no longer floats forever, as well as new poses for many Pokémon in battle and out of battle.
Just shows that there isn't close to enough work being put into the 3d animations of pokemon. They really have to work on that big time for the next games
@@MrMettwurst96 I really don't get why they just couldn't keep on using those models if gen 6 had been for Wii U not only would the Wii U maybe have been a success but they could keep reusing the models from Battle Revolution just adding gen 5 and 6 Pokemon
He’s looking at the laziest 3D incarnations of Pokémon and proclaiming adding an extra dimension is largely detrimental. It’s kind of like me looking at R/B/G sprites and declaring that 2D Pokémon look bad. Furthermore if you’re going to determine what is quality mostly through how lively a Pokémon is, 3D has much more potential than 2D. There’s a lot more personality portrayed in the 3D games like Colosseum than there was in the Pokémon sprites in the GBA games, conveniently this is never mentioned by pro pixel art fans.
@@protocetid I mean, he's looking at the newest and thus most relevant 3d versions. But yea since the premise of the series is "can 3d pokemon look good" you're right to point that out
Scarlet and Violet actually added a bit more to make Blastoise one of the better 3d models. Its arms are no longer stuck forward and it has some great animations when traversing and in battle. One of the few that became pretty good over time
Worst offender of the 2D-3D stiffening imo was one of my favorite Pokémon- Hippowdon. The sprites show it aggressive, swimming through sand, snapping its jaws and ready for battle. The 3D models have it standing, mouth closed, slightly shifting weight
Ok but the updates Blastoise model is AMAZING, the shape language and definition is beautiful and the small details in the texturing like scratches on its shell make the design for me. I love the way it looks in 3D, especially the move animations
I feel like, if Blastoise splayed out his fingers, he'd immediately look better. The 3D stance feels like he doesn't know what to do with his hands, and having him extend them would give so much more purpose even if it's superficial.
I agree on Wartortle when it comes to its DPP sprite. The sideways pose gives it a lot of personality and shows off it's defining features (It's wind ears and fluffy cloud tail) perfectly in a way that the 3d sprite just doesn't
“Look how they massacared my boy” perfectly sums up the 3D transition There’s a few very rare exceptions but for the most part they all lose their personality. Its a real shame too, because 3D pokemon is in theory such a good idea
So glad when Blastoise was brought in Scarlet and Violet, it fixed every issue that its 3D model had and added some extra cool details such as the canons working with Hydro Pump and its swimming animation reminds me of that part in New Snap where it uses water jets from the holes where its legs come out.
I think its easy to miss whats good about the 3D sprites from a single view-the dynamic camera and the movement varieties. A 3D pokemon isnt only its standby pose, its a larger variety than its combat entry
They actually improve upon the models for all of the Kanto starters in Scarlet and Violet. Charizard and Venasaur get way better faces, while Blastoise got a better body shape. It’s really nice
I'm pretty sure that at least the Blastoise model if not all of these aren't the most recent ones. Gen 9 updated quite a lot of them and Blastoise no longer keeps his arms up like that.
I also really love how the tail on wartortle in the sprites, makes it look like its hydroplaning or surfing. with the tail being the water trailing behind
Love these shorts and the love they give to old sprites. Was wondering if you'd consider looking at some of the 3d glow ups that scarlet and violet gave some mons. The environments may be sub par but the pokemon models, when they load lol, are in my opinion the best 3d pokemon have looked. Adding texture and reshaping some pokemon's features really helped them look better. The final evo Kanto starters had a major glow up, I love what they did to the shape of venusaur's and charizard's faces
@@TBSkyenShorts Depends. A lot of Kanto pokemon got newer models, not exactly substantial. However the 3 starts I would argue look substantially better. Venusaur has a different expression, and more frog like animations. Charazard has a better face, and a standing battle animation alongside a flying one. Blastoise no longer looks stiff and awkward, plus his cannons now actually shoot water. Also all pokemon have better textures in S/V.
A problem I’m noticing with this series is it’s only really looking at the worst of the 3D without holding the same standard to 2D. Whilst I agree with much of what he’s saying, he’s only looking at a Pokémon’s idle animation but showcasing the sprite work when a Pokémon enters battle alongside its static pose after. Like, this would’ve been where we address the misuse of Hydro Pump until very recently, which is a much better conversation point then “they look boring when they just stand there”. Instead, we’ve decided to discuss a universal topic that kind of gets established will be the same answer going forward in only episode 3 out of whatever triple digit number is appropriate nowadays. And if we already know the conversation is only going to go one direction, why have it at all?
So I just got membership to get ahead because this is fascinating. The question of whether pokemon looks better 2D or 3D was a big one when it first happened and to this day there are still arguments about how Pokemon should of stayed in 2D. With that in mind going through each of the pokemon one by one is fascinating, and while won't tell the full picture will give a interesting indicator. So far it looks like most pokemon have come up worse, with a few exceptions. I have being trying to find similarities to the pokemon who did well in the transition and right now? I have nothing, it seems weirdly random? At first I thought maybe it could be something to do with size, the larger pokemon seeming to do better (Charzard and Pigieot both come to mind) however venusaur and Blastoise seem to counter that.
I think that it should have stayed in 2d for quality reasons, but Nintendo would never have allowed that, and neither would the community tbh. They had to switch for the thing literally called the 3DS, which inevitably resulted in more complaints from the same people who would have complained had it stayed in 2d
I really appreciate your videos and I thoroughly enjoy your channel. Your media literacy is inspirational, as a fledgling 3D artist, I pick up on a lot of things from watching you and you help me figure out how to put the things that seeing a piece of media makes me feel into words. Keep it up, love your work. :)
Best Gen 1 starter. One think I'm surprised you didn't mention about Wartortle is how desaturated he becomes in 3d. Making him lose that uniqueness he had in Gen 3 and 4. The whole line is like 3 shades paler and it makes them look sick
I think the issue isn’t so much that they’re in 3D as much as they’re under-animated. They’re stuck in permanent idle stances instead of given little characterizing animations. The 3D models genuinely look fine to me, it’s just the fact that they desperately need to move more.
Something i think could be good to compare it to is the Pokken model of Blastoise, which had its arms lengthened to allow its arms to actually bend, and it makes it look so much better
One Pokémon who looks amazing in 3D to me is Cradily. I adore that fossil and have for years, and they look amazing in 3D to me. Their idle animations and battle pose could be a bit more dynamic, but otherwise they look great to me
I think Blastoise should revert to being a quadruped stance. Sometimes it gets on all 4s to attack, but something about Blastoise being a big bulky tank of a tortoise is exactly how his 3D model should look. But then there’s 2 quadrupeds in the Kanto trio and that might not make sense-cause the final Stage Starters/ *FIRST PARTNERS* embody pets, monsters, AND transportation. Frogasaur-I mean “Venusaur”-is to travel by land, and is a frog dinosaur. Chorizo-zard is to travel by flight, and its base forms are simple salamanders/lizards, common pets. Blastoise is a tortoise, and Squirtle is a turtle-almost every kid’s first pet-most times by accident rather than an actual choice. But Blastoise is to travel by water-surfing, diving, or even simply swimming.
Wanted to wait until i saw a recent vid from this series from you, but have you considered looking at the HAL Laboratory 3D models from Stadium? HAL does a good job of breathing life into each Pokémon and id love to hear your thoughts on it.
Actually seeing the wartortle model next to his black and white sprite, the two look very similar. But I totally agree, gen 3 and 4 had it down really well
I think what might actually help is a crevice where the limbs meet the shell. Atm it looks like the arms are completely stuck within the holes without any range of motion from the shoulders, rather than the holes being openings for the limbs. Try and imagine 3D blastoise stretching its arms into a T-Pose
Thankfully, the did some quality of life update to the model, textures and animation of Blastoise in Scarlet & Violet, best of all, it finally uses its cannons when attacking. As it should be.
I think the weirdest part is that the 3D models all look really flat, when I was under the impression that Blastoise had a huge, round body thanks to its shell.
I love Blastoise, but I think it could use a slight design tweak, one that takes a page from actual turtles shells. Specifically, give it one opening in its shell for the head and arms and one for the tail and legs, as opposed to the current one hole for each of them. It worked pretty well for Gamera, and would largely fix that stiffness problem.
Fun series! Loving it so far. Recommendation to do one on Braviary. Big leap from the Kanto starters I know, and a lot fewer sprites to consider of course, but it's so drastic. It would be my favorite pokemon but going from this intimidating, head-down, brawling eagle to "I'm a tall birb and I go flap flap" really ruins it. They basically tripled the size of its body and neck and made it look so unthreatening imo.
honestly, I think the simplest way to fix all these problems is just giving them a pose when in battle, simply put the model a bit sideways instead of front looking and they could be way better
Blastoise in 3D suffers in a similar way to Venusaur, its most distinctive feature is on its back-the giant water canons, and that’s very difficult to capture in 3D. 2D sprites let the animators and artists “cheat” the pose, by contorting Blastoise’s body in unnatural ways to frame those canons front and center. Much harder to do with a 3D model and a panning camera where it becomes clear that they’re doing that.
The best 3d pokemon models are from super smash bros ultimate in my option. They get the design and lively movement down perfectly when standing still! I know its not a pokemon game per se but it still nailed the designs
To be fair, there’s no reason they have to animate via strict adherence to 3d spatial rules, there is some precedence for stylization in 3d animation translating tropes and elements of 2d animation (the mask being the most obvious example)
I kinda think it's a lil unfair to not show their attacking animations. Maybe just in the ones that have great animations or sum notable. Love ur vids skyen
I have a pretty soft spot for Squirtle. Mostly because the first ever Pokémon game I ever played was Pokémon Fire Red and my dad suggested I used Squirtle because it was one of his favorites.
What I think would be nice is if they could carry over what they did in Legends Arceus, where they have separate animations for standing in the world VS standing in battle. Luxray is the prime example, standing straight when placed in the overworld but actively crouching down ready to pounce when used in a fight. It'd be a lot of work to implement, but I like to think it would help.
The problem is, of course, that there are a thousand pokemon. Even if the next generation only uses half of them, adding one animation to every pokemon means adding _several hundred animations,_ with a limited ability to share animations between pokemon because so many of them have unique body plans or distinctive appendages which need to be animated.
And pokemon need multiple animations for each kind of thing the devs want them to do. Playing around the campfire? At least one animation for each kind of toy, one for running around, maybe one for play-fighting other 'mons, definitely one for nuzzling against the player character. Battle animations include idle loops, hit reacts, attacks, transitions between the idle loop and other animations, etc.
This is an entirely self-inflicted problem, but that doesn't make it _not_ a problem.
@@timothymclean Yeah I was thinking about this exact thing. It would be so so so much work, so much that I doubt it would ever happen. Which really sucks because it was great in LA.
@@rubyamateurtactician4354it’s the highest grossing media franshise in the world. I think they can afford to outsource some work if they need to.
Typhlosion is also a great example. Out of battle, its flames are off, but in battle they're always on, not just when it attacks compared to previous game.
It would be nice if they did what they did in SV, you mean?
At the very least, Blastoise once again uses his cannons in 3d and his hydro pumps don’t come out of his forehead anymore.
Hydro sweat
Blastoise's swimming animations also don't look half bad in SV.
Pokémon fans when they’re given the bare minimum of effort:
The funny thing is, blastoise has never fired hydro pump out of its cannons, it’s just that you don’t notice in 2d because it’s inherently a much more abstract form
@@umezonorsit isn’t the bare minimum, you’re just wrong
“Stiff” remains the best way to describe so many 3D Pokemon. Even static sprites had this sense of dynamism that gets lost when they become head-bobbing default poses
Bro, it's an idle animation for a rpg.
I guess you want all the models ro be doing the stick bug instead?
@@DJPrimeAmvsThey could do SOMETHING, man.
@@captainmega6310 i reiterate the point of being idle is that they stand there waiting on a command. He'll technically they do have more animations when they're idle we just never see them because the videos never actually show them.
They need more battle animations as all, it makes sense than their default standing there pose wouldnr have them like... standing on one leg or some other wacky poses the sprites had
There is a thing being tooo static as well. At least in some of earlier 3d pokemon games they gave life to them even in their idles.@@DJPrimeAmvs
One thing I've noticed with a lot of the sprites is that they're a lot more vibrant than the models. And I think that kind of helps carry the whimsical charm of some pokemon
Exactly. The first time I played X & Y, I was wondering why the older Pokemon looked so washed out. And Pokemon do have animations they do while idle in battle...but it takes so long for them to play and the camera spun around so much it was hard to notice.
Yeah, the majority of games after going 3D have had severely washed out colors. I have no idea why.
@@danielquinlan2457 They seem to match the official Sugimori art colorwise a bit more so that might have been why they did that.
@@mjangelvortexthe official sugimori art is also incorrect due to faulty scans. Not too long ago we got proper scans of the art and they were far more vibrant. And even then I feel like every pokemon that was initially concieved as a 2D sprite got washed out in 3D, which encompasses pokemon outside of the classic sugimori style
I miss the data is sprites, even if those games are grinds. That was when people didn't have the attention span or time of a gnat
some sprites were updated in scarlet and violet, blastoise included and it at least has more dynamic attacks, it actually shoots water out of its cannons now
2024 and we're grateful that Blastoise actually shoots water from its cannons. Pokemon really is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
@@Laterose15it really isn’t the bottom of the barrel, if they had to go through and make custom animations, even just for specific moves, on every Pokémon, the games would never come out, which is something they cannot do. That is why dexit happened, it takes so much work to make even this level of animation quality that it would be near impossible to do it with over double the pokemon
We really should’ve NOT needed to wait this long.
@@kachosuffer7 no, but at least we got it finally
@@Laterose15 scraping the bottom of the barrel is when SV are their 3rd best performing games ever
Granted yes I do agree the graphic quality of the games should be significantly better, my point is that if we're judging whether pokemon look better in 3d, we should use the SV models, like imo Charizard is so much better in SV than it was previously.
What I do want to say is that it's not game freaks fault btw, they're a surprisingly small studio with so many projects to do, really it's the pokemon company itself that doesn't give the devs enough time to do anything, as we saw with SV, it forced them to give production of the diamond and pearl remakes to a third party and those games were really mediocre. But yes the quality should be significantly better for the highest grossing media franchise of all time, they've given them a lot of time to work on legends ZA so hopefully we see results
All 3 look like their centre of gravity is off
Thats the case with a lot of models
never thought about that wow
I'm not sure if I'm seeing that, it feels like at least for 1 and 2 the tail is balancing the forward lean out for the most part
Funny enough, an energetic Pokemon will move it's centre of gravity as a flex that it's strong and agile. And the turtle in 3d looks like an actual slow turtle instead of the cheeta and giant judo sumo wrestler vibes it had
I really enjoy the fact that Gamefreak has updated the models a touch to add more style and character. Not all are created equal but the Scarlet and Violet Kanto starters got new models and in the case of Blastoise/Charizard, new animations since Charizard no longer floats forever, as well as new poses for many Pokémon in battle and out of battle.
Squirtle's shell always felt a bit too flat for me in 3D
Same!
Compare it to the anime and it feels like some cartoon entity just threw an anvil at poor 3D squirte.
Well all Pokémon can look great in 3D if the battle simulators count
Just shows that there isn't close to enough work being put into the 3d animations of pokemon. They really have to work on that big time for the next games
@@MrMettwurst96 I really don't get why they just couldn't keep on using those models if gen 6 had been for Wii U not only would the Wii U maybe have been a success but they could keep reusing the models from Battle Revolution just adding gen 5 and 6 Pokemon
He’s looking at the laziest 3D incarnations of Pokémon and proclaiming adding an extra dimension is largely detrimental. It’s kind of like me looking at R/B/G sprites and declaring that 2D Pokémon look bad. Furthermore if you’re going to determine what is quality mostly through how lively a Pokémon is, 3D has much more potential than 2D. There’s a lot more personality portrayed in the 3D games like Colosseum than there was in the Pokémon sprites in the GBA games, conveniently this is never mentioned by pro pixel art fans.
@@protocetid I mean, he's looking at the newest and thus most relevant 3d versions. But yea since the premise of the series is "can 3d pokemon look good" you're right to point that out
@@MrMettwurst96 Those are not the Scarlet and Violet models.
Scarlet and Violet actually added a bit more to make Blastoise one of the better 3d models. Its arms are no longer stuck forward and it has some great animations when traversing and in battle. One of the few that became pretty good over time
Worst offender of the 2D-3D stiffening imo was one of my favorite Pokémon- Hippowdon. The sprites show it aggressive, swimming through sand, snapping its jaws and ready for battle. The 3D models have it standing, mouth closed, slightly shifting weight
Blastoise got a terribly short end of the stick. We're not even gonna talk about his cannon situation for like a decade.
Ok but the updates Blastoise model is AMAZING, the shape language and definition is beautiful and the small details in the texturing like scratches on its shell make the design for me. I love the way it looks in 3D, especially the move animations
3D blastoise definitely cant do sick kick flips like its yellow sprite can😂
I feel like this series is going to be less of 3d model fault and more like a fault of not having more than one idle animation.
I feel like, if Blastoise splayed out his fingers, he'd immediately look better. The 3D stance feels like he doesn't know what to do with his hands, and having him extend them would give so much more purpose even if it's superficial.
I agree on Wartortle when it comes to its DPP sprite.
The sideways pose gives it a lot of personality and shows off it's defining features (It's wind ears and fluffy cloud tail) perfectly in a way that the 3d sprite just doesn't
Honestly I love Blastoise’s model in S/V
In fairness, a lot of the sprites got a huge glow-up in Scarlet and Violet, Blastoise being one of the more substantial.
“Look how they massacared my boy” perfectly sums up the 3D transition
There’s a few very rare exceptions but for the most part they all lose their personality.
Its a real shame too, because 3D pokemon is in theory such a good idea
So glad when Blastoise was brought in Scarlet and Violet, it fixed every issue that its 3D model had and added some extra cool details such as the canons working with Hydro Pump and its swimming animation reminds me of that part in New Snap where it uses water jets from the holes where its legs come out.
Always liked Ludicolo 3D. The idle gets me.
The new model they created for Scarlet and Violer is pretty sick tho
I think its easy to miss whats good about the 3D sprites from a single view-the dynamic camera and the movement varieties. A 3D pokemon isnt only its standby pose, its a larger variety than its combat entry
They fixed him in scarlet and violet actually! He now looks genuinely imposing and scary
Gen 1 Blastoise doing a shoulder charge is just so menacing
Blastoise's sumo stomp is literal perfection
As usual, the main flaw is that they look like they're waiting to cross the street instead of having a battle stance
They actually improve upon the models for all of the Kanto starters in Scarlet and Violet. Charizard and Venasaur get way better faces, while Blastoise got a better body shape. It’s really nice
I mean..its an idle animation....its waiting on a command. Thats kind of the point of the models looking "souless"
To be fair, Blastoise is very rarely shown to be able to do much with its arms
I'm pretty sure that at least the Blastoise model if not all of these aren't the most recent ones. Gen 9 updated quite a lot of them and Blastoise no longer keeps his arms up like that.
Blastoise be looking like a Minecraft zombie
I love Wartortle’s psychotic gaze when they are on your team in Pokémon Blue. Makes me want to name my next one Aries - The Tortle of War.
I also really love how the tail on wartortle in the sprites, makes it look like its hydroplaning or surfing. with the tail being the water trailing behind
Love these shorts and the love they give to old sprites. Was wondering if you'd consider looking at some of the 3d glow ups that scarlet and violet gave some mons. The environments may be sub par but the pokemon models, when they load lol, are in my opinion the best 3d pokemon have looked. Adding texture and reshaping some pokemon's features really helped them look better. The final evo Kanto starters had a major glow up, I love what they did to the shape of venusaur's and charizard's faces
Do you use any of the S/V models? The 3 starters have an updated model in those games.
Unfortunately, I don't have access to those models :/
Also, afaik they're not actually substantively different?
@@TBSkyenShorts
Depends. A lot of Kanto pokemon got newer models, not exactly substantial. However the 3 starts I would argue look substantially better.
Venusaur has a different expression, and more frog like animations.
Charazard has a better face, and a standing battle animation alongside a flying one.
Blastoise no longer looks stiff and awkward, plus his cannons now actually shoot water.
Also all pokemon have better textures in S/V.
I decided to look them up and wow the difference is actually night and day,
@@TBSkyenShortsSome of them are. Persian got a complete design overhaul compared to its XY model.
@@thecrabman2074mewtwo looks different too having its body lengthened a bit and it's shaved down to have better figure
Squirtle is the perfect Pokemon so it's hard to do it wrong
Scared violence fixed asstoys arms the best it could
Not even mentioning how every 3d Blastoise sprite shoots water out of its forehead.
If I'm not mistaken, it uses its cannons in Scarlet and Violet.
They really just need more idle animations
A problem I’m noticing with this series is it’s only really looking at the worst of the 3D without holding the same standard to 2D. Whilst I agree with much of what he’s saying, he’s only looking at a Pokémon’s idle animation but showcasing the sprite work when a Pokémon enters battle alongside its static pose after. Like, this would’ve been where we address the misuse of Hydro Pump until very recently, which is a much better conversation point then “they look boring when they just stand there”. Instead, we’ve decided to discuss a universal topic that kind of gets established will be the same answer going forward in only episode 3 out of whatever triple digit number is appropriate nowadays. And if we already know the conversation is only going to go one direction, why have it at all?
It's also not touching on the two other models that so many of these pokemon have. The Stadium and gen 9 models are pretty important too imo.
Maybe if this was a video? It's a short so maybe there wasn't enough time?
Oh hey there's what I was talking about!
A+ for having any animation at all, more than i can say about most 3d models
Zubat looks amazing in 3D, the frantic flapping of its wings is just great.
I like how ROUND Pokemon get in 3D. Like I just want to pet Gulpin all the time.
So I just got membership to get ahead because this is fascinating. The question of whether pokemon looks better 2D or 3D was a big one when it first happened and to this day there are still arguments about how Pokemon should of stayed in 2D.
With that in mind going through each of the pokemon one by one is fascinating, and while won't tell the full picture will give a interesting indicator. So far it looks like most pokemon have come up worse, with a few exceptions. I have being trying to find similarities to the pokemon who did well in the transition and right now? I have nothing, it seems weirdly random? At first I thought maybe it could be something to do with size, the larger pokemon seeming to do better (Charzard and Pigieot both come to mind) however venusaur and Blastoise seem to counter that.
I think that it should have stayed in 2d for quality reasons, but Nintendo would never have allowed that, and neither would the community tbh. They had to switch for the thing literally called the 3DS, which inevitably resulted in more complaints from the same people who would have complained had it stayed in 2d
I really appreciate your videos and I thoroughly enjoy your channel. Your media literacy is inspirational, as a fledgling 3D artist, I pick up on a lot of things from watching you and you help me figure out how to put the things that seeing a piece of media makes me feel into words. Keep it up, love your work. :)
Best Gen 1 starter. One think I'm surprised you didn't mention about Wartortle is how desaturated he becomes in 3d. Making him lose that uniqueness he had in Gen 3 and 4. The whole line is like 3 shades paler and it makes them look sick
If anything is going to look natural in a static pose, it’ll be a turtle
I think the issue isn’t so much that they’re in 3D as much as they’re under-animated. They’re stuck in permanent idle stances instead of given little characterizing animations. The 3D models genuinely look fine to me, it’s just the fact that they desperately need to move more.
They literally all look better. It's 3D. It's an improvement, bar none
Turtles and tortoises actually do bob their heads
Something i think could be good to compare it to is the Pokken model of Blastoise, which had its arms lengthened to allow its arms to actually bend, and it makes it look so much better
I'll be honest, I kinda love the stoicism blastoise has in 3d
Synchro mode Blastoise animations in scarlet and violet dlc are the bomb though especially swimming
Oh god the faded blue on Blastoise from sprite to 3d Still hurts the soul a decade later
One Pokémon who looks amazing in 3D to me is Cradily. I adore that fossil and have for years, and they look amazing in 3D to me. Their idle animations and battle pose could be a bit more dynamic, but otherwise they look great to me
I think Blastoise should revert to being a quadruped stance.
Sometimes it gets on all 4s to attack, but something about Blastoise being a big bulky tank of a tortoise is exactly how his 3D model should look.
But then there’s 2 quadrupeds in the Kanto trio and that might not make sense-cause the final Stage Starters/ *FIRST PARTNERS* embody pets, monsters, AND transportation.
Frogasaur-I mean “Venusaur”-is to travel by land, and is a frog dinosaur.
Chorizo-zard is to travel by flight, and its base forms are simple salamanders/lizards, common pets.
Blastoise is a tortoise, and Squirtle is a turtle-almost every kid’s first pet-most times by accident rather than an actual choice. But Blastoise is to travel by water-surfing, diving, or even simply swimming.
Poor blastoise haha. He started a t cycle and just never stopped
Imagine of Blastoise took a three point stance with one hand on the ground to aim the water cannons as a default pose
Wanted to wait until i saw a recent vid from this series from you, but have you considered looking at the HAL Laboratory 3D models from Stadium? HAL does a good job of breathing life into each Pokémon and id love to hear your thoughts on it.
You should have mentioned how pokken had to awkwardly stretch blastoises limbs out to actually have him walk and punch
Actually seeing the wartortle model next to his black and white sprite, the two look very similar. But I totally agree, gen 3 and 4 had it down really well
Boastoise's 3D model is stuck in a sweater
They had to release Turtonator to make up for the Blastoise slaughter
"Look how they massacred my boy"
Typlosion. . .
Oh my god, Typhlosion... 😢
I miss pokemon stadium 1 & 2 animations, it breathed so much life in the pokemon.
Again I think gamefreak did a lot to help blastoise in scarlet and voilet, especially since he now actually shoots out of his cannons.
I think what might actually help is a crevice where the limbs meet the shell. Atm it looks like the arms are completely stuck within the holes without any range of motion from the shoulders, rather than the holes being openings for the limbs.
Try and imagine 3D blastoise stretching its arms into a T-Pose
Lol I thought he said "did any pokemon look good at 30" 😂
Wooper looks amazing in 3d
Using torchic in oras... When you use scratch it runs in a little circle and it melts my heart
The happy scientist guy getting only four years in jail for what he did is a travesty. He should be locked up for life
bro needs to look at the Gen 9 versions
Thankfully, the did some quality of life update to the model, textures and animation of Blastoise in Scarlet & Violet, best of all, it finally uses its cannons when attacking.
As it should be.
I think the weirdest part is that the 3D models all look really flat, when I was under the impression that Blastoise had a huge, round body thanks to its shell.
I love Blastoise, but I think it could use a slight design tweak, one that takes a page from actual turtles shells. Specifically, give it one opening in its shell for the head and arms and one for the tail and legs, as opposed to the current one hole for each of them. It worked pretty well for Gamera, and would largely fix that stiffness problem.
Fun series! Loving it so far.
Recommendation to do one on Braviary. Big leap from the Kanto starters I know, and a lot fewer sprites to consider of course, but it's so drastic. It would be my favorite pokemon but going from this intimidating, head-down, brawling eagle to "I'm a tall birb and I go flap flap" really ruins it. They basically tripled the size of its body and neck and made it look so unthreatening imo.
Tbf the stiffness makes sense. How dexterous is your average turtle? This isn't Dragon Ball!
No Pokémon’s 3D animations are as good as they were in Colosseum and XD. That’s a hill I will die on till the end of time.
The absolute refusal to have any of their 3D models emote in any way certainly drops them down by a lot.
the answer is wooper. he looks even derpier in 3D.
You didn't even mention those weirdly thin cannons Blastoise has.
The Blastoise with a boater hat in Pokemon Unite is pretty sweet though
honestly, I think the simplest way to fix all these problems is just giving them a pose when in battle, simply put the model a bit sideways instead of front looking and they could be way better
Ah yes, my first started allllll the way back in Pokemon Blue.
Honestly i will say that the update in SV with the new models is great
Pokken made Blastoise's arms longer, I think it looks a lot better
Honestly this whole line looks better back in pokemon stadium 1 and 2
Blastoise should absolutely be quadrupedal and no one can tell me otherwise
Blastoise in 3D suffers in a similar way to Venusaur, its most distinctive feature is on its back-the giant water canons, and that’s very difficult to capture in 3D.
2D sprites let the animators and artists “cheat” the pose, by contorting Blastoise’s body in unnatural ways to frame those canons front and center. Much harder to do with a 3D model and a panning camera where it becomes clear that they’re doing that.
I think you should talk about the updated models in scarlet and Violet they released for the three Kanto starters
I honestly like the pokemon yellow sprite for blastoise the best
i find it kinda funny that so far, its been the stage three evolutions that have looked good in 3D, while here its the opposite
You should try to include the scarlet/violet models too, Blastoise looks a hell of alot better now.
The best 3d pokemon models are from super smash bros ultimate in my option.
They get the design and lively movement down perfectly when standing still!
I know its not a pokemon game per se but it still nailed the designs
To be fair, there’s no reason they have to animate via strict adherence to 3d spatial rules, there is some precedence for stylization in 3d animation translating tropes and elements of 2d animation (the mask being the most obvious example)
I kinda think it's a lil unfair to not show their attacking animations. Maybe just in the ones that have great animations or sum notable. Love ur vids skyen
I have a pretty soft spot for Squirtle. Mostly because the first ever Pokémon game I ever played was Pokémon Fire Red and my dad suggested I used Squirtle because it was one of his favorites.
I only want a Squirtle with glasses in 3D. Please Game Freak