These Pokemon look better as 2D sprites and could use a 3D upgrade

At the time of writing, it’s been well over ten years since every single Pokemon received its first main series 3D model. As the first 3D game in the series, Pokemon X and Y fully converted every single one of its creatures to three dimensions, and some of them translated better than others. So today, we’re looking at Pokemon who looked better as 2D sprites, and how you could fix their 3D models to give them more personality and charm. In many cases, it’s actually the animations that need to be improved – the base 3D models are generally fine, with a few small exceptions here and there.

To be perfectly clear here, creating 3D models for every single Pokemon had to be a herculean task during X and Y’s development. With new games nowadays, somewhere between 60 and 140 new Pokemon need models created for them. Pokemon X and Y only introduced around 70 new Pokemon, but all 721 Pokemon that existed at the end of Generation 6 also needed 3D models created during the game’s development cycle – and that doesn’t even count different forms, many of which have their own separate appearances. Given how many models Game Freak had to make during a fairly short time, it’s easy to see how some wound up so much better than others. If you’ve seen this topic discussed before, you probably know all about Typhlosion’s lack of fire (until Scarlet and Violet) and how flying Pokemon never touch the ground thanks to Sky Battles. We could talk about these animations at length, but to keep things interesting, we’re going to prioritize Pokemon whose 3D appearances aren’t discussed quite as often.

First up, we’ve got a few Pokemon from Unova. When it debuted in Pokemon Black and White, Purrloin’s appearance had it sitting down like a cat. That makes sense. But from X and Y onward, Purrloin now stands up at all times, which feels odd considering Liepard is still on all fours (and it should stay that way, by the way). Purrloin has stood on two legs in the anime, but making it act more like a regular mischievous cat would make it feel more lovable. Then, we have Zekrom – and you might be thinking “Zekrom’s 3D model is fine!”. That’s fair, but take a look at its 3D model versus its 2D sprite and you’ll notice a big difference. In 2D, Zekrom has a striking pitch-black color with bright blue bursts on its tail. In 3D, its body is now a much lighter gray, and its tail doesn’t light up outside of attacks. The same goes for Reshiram here, but to a lesser extent – the fact that its tail doesn’t light up regularly makes it feel much, much less intimidating than in its debut game.

Let’s start off with a good one: Hippowdon. This one is definitely not the most popular Pokemon, but it’s one that’s been very much hurt by the introduction of 3D models. If you take a look at Hippowdon’s official art and its 2D sprites, it’s always seen sitting in a pile of sand, and that’s very important to maintaining its overall appearance. From Pokemon X and Y onward, Hippowdon always appears standing up without any sand nearby, which makes it feel plain and out of place. Furthermore, Hippowdon’s appearance in Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Black, and White has its mouth wide open, showing all of its teeth. This is not the case in its 3D model, which always had its mouth closed. If Hippowdon’s 3D model allowed its mouth to fully open more often during its idle animations, it’d be much more well-liked. It isn’t really possible to have Hippowdon swim around in sand, but maybe some of its pores could spray clouds of sand every so often? Or maybe that’s going too far.

Another Pokemon who had a rough transition to 3D was Steelix. Though its model is fine, its animation doesn’t do it justice. For its idle animation, it just sort of stands there and props itself up. But it’d be so much more interesting if it rotated its segments a little bit like in its Black and White idle animation. This makes Steelix feel stiff and much less intimidating – a lot of a Pokemon’s intimidation factor comes from the way they move, which is why so many 3D models don’t feel super threatening when they’re just standing there in front of you. There are a few more models with minor issues – for one, Ponyta’s 3D model makes it feel a bit more like a realistic horse than a cartoony one. In Pokemon Black and White, Ponyta has big, cutesy eyes, but then its face and facial features are trimmed down significantly from X and Y onward. In Pokemon X and Y, Blastoise’s new 3D model made it look very stiff – its idle animations made its arms stick out, and its face looks scrunched up and its eyes too close together. Thankfully, Blastoise received a completely new model in Scarlet and Violet, which fixes just about all of these issues. That just goes to show you that Game Freak is indeed willing to remodel Pokemon – Lugia, Ho-Oh, Mewtwo, Venusaur, and Charizard all received new models in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, in fact. Charizard’s new model is a huge improvement, with a much better-structured face, plus its new idle animation has it looking directly at its opponent rather than awkwardly looking down at the floor.

Persian is another Kanto Pokemon that looks odd in 3D model form. Its design is rather plain, but it does look fine in 2D sprite form. Starting in X and Y, however, Persian’s signature yellow fur has been heavily desaturated and its head is now far too small for its body, which has huge arms, legs, and paws. In general it just looks completely out of proportion in Pokemon X, Y, Sun, Moon, Sword, and Shield. Persian actually received a completely new model in Scarlet and Violet as well, with more defined cat eyes, thinner whiskers, and a much more proportionate body. It’s still not perfect, in my opinion, but it’s much better – its arms and legs still feel like they’re a little bit too long. Persian’s face, now being more realistic, also makes Kantonian Persian look very odd compared to Alolan Persian, whose face is strikingly cartoonish in comparison. Persian brings up a good point, though – a lot of Pokemon have lost their color over the years, slowly becoming more and more washed out. Pokemon Legends: Z-A has brightened the colors of each Pokemon, though, so they generally look brighter and more vibrant than ever, which is great to see.

One commonly-criticized 3D model is Eelektross. In Pokemon Black and White, it stands on two legs for the entire game. Starting in X and Y, however, it floats. Some players would rather Eelektross stand upright, and I get that – but personally, I think its floating animation better conveys that it has the Levitate Ability and isn’t affected by Ground-type moves. Not to mention, its floating animation looks very similar to Koinobori, which are fish-shaped kites of sorts (called windsocks). These can wind up looking like eels, which appears to be exactly what Eelektross is based on – its new Mega Evolution further supports this by adding an additional Eelektrik on each side of its body. Of course, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, the one game that doesn’t have abilities, does have Eelektross walking around upright sometimes. Go figure!

Finally, we’re going to revisit the subject of flying Pokemon. Of course, we all know that they don’t look very good in terms of animation – they were all made for Sky Battles in Pokemon X and Y in such a way that they don’t touch the ground at any point. This results in Pokemon like Tropius, Skarmory, and Xatu gliding in the air without even flapping their wings, which looks awkward, to say the least. My biggest gripe here, though, is that flying Pokemon slow down their animations at half health. Every Pokemon does that, but with flying ones, it’s very odd that suddenly they’re levitating in the air flapping their wings at half speed. It’d be a huge improvement if flying Pokemon actually landed on the ground at half health – you’d keep their immunity to Ground-type moves, of course, but that would give so many Pokemon so much more character.

What are your favorite and least favorite 3D models in Pokemon? If you can think of one that translated especially well or especially poorly that wasn’t on this list, feel free to share in the comments down below. Pokemon will certainly continue to make improvements to their 3D models in future titles – hopefully they don’t do something crazy like make Pikachu’s head perfectly circular, like in its merchandise appearances! That would be going too far.