As much as I love the sprites, I think the animation goes a long way in making the polygonal Pokemon seem cuter.

Fennekin is the cutest starter on Earth.

The models in this game look fantastic, especially the rounder pokemon like snorelax or slowpoke, and yep cute pokemon are looking cute.

Fuck, I have to buy Pokemon Black/White/2 if I want to transfer my Pokemon up into X/Y? Eurgh.

The animation is really what does it. They can really bring out the cuteness. Azurill in particular has a design that I always thought was sort of dumb, but which totally works for me when animated. Since this amount of animation would be darn near impossible with sprites, I think the move to polygonal graphics was the right choice.

@scrawnto: Zigzagoon's animation is amazeballs.

Definitely. Just wait 'til you get that new Eevee evolution if you haven't already. I spoil that thing rotten.

Pretty much.

Yes. But as said earlier, the animations is what really does it.

it's the animation as well as the graphics, but in addition to that I think that they really made sure to make the pokemon feel more like creatures in this game, especially with stuff like Pokemon-amie allowing you to pet/feed them.

@flappy: Bulbasaur disagrees.

Yes. A thousand times, yes. FENNEKIN IS SO DAMN CUTE.

@krataur: Bulbasaur doesn't have adorable ear hair! Fennekin wins!

The 3D models are definitely far better than the sprites, especially with the cel shaded look to them.

I never knew Zubat flapped so fast haha

Absolutely. As others have said, if the old sprites were more heavily animated there might be some competition, but as it stands, there isn't.

I particularly like how the new graphical style actually lets you see your own pokemon, rather than just having that really awkward back-of-the-head sprite to stare at.

Wait really? Well now I'm pissed off...

Only in X/Y. Just about every other 3D rendition of Pokemon until now has pretty much looked like garbage.

Although, weren't most of the pokemon (Gen III and below) Given polygonal models for the gamecube games? I've foudn them to be very similar. I don't think they looked like garbage, but they're okay.

Although in general I prefer sprites to polygons any day of the week. Man, if Pokemon got some mode 7...

The real difference comes down to the animations. From a pure graphics standpoint you might say they look similar, but actually watching the game in action everything feels completely soulless and lifeless.

At least according to the FAQ for the PokémonBank thing they're releasing in December. http://www.pokemonxy.com/en-us/strategy/

Also a $5 annual fee lol

Did you read that right? It included Black and White as well as 2. The $5 fee sucks but I guess it's more of a trade tax for those who regularly switch their crew from one game to the newer one.

@colourful_hippie: Sorry, when I typed Black/White/2 I meant Black and White and 2. I fell off after Diamond/Pearl. The reason the annual fee seems kinda silly to me is because these games don't even come out on an annual basis. At least not yet.

@starvinggamer said:

It could be a monthly fee instead. Since you can store Pokemon in the bank indefinitely it wouldn't have surprised me if it had been.

I remember being baffled when Black and White screens began to emerge and the battles were still sprite-based, but now, remembering how dicey some 3D games looked on the DS and seeing how good these polygonal pokemon look on the 3DS, I'm really glad they waited. I think this was the perfect edition for the transition. They've really done the designs justice with the cel-shaded look.

I will say, though, that not all previous 3D renditions of pokemon have been hot garbage: popped pokemon stadium into my N64 relatively recently for a nostalgia trip, and I'm still pretty impressed with how that game looks.