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ever since the start of the 3D era for
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Pokémon there has always been
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discussions about Pokémon games dropping
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in quality big drops in difficulty
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exploration being more linear you get
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the idea but the main thing that always
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gets mentioned in discussions of the
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modern entries and usually gets agreed
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upon is the dullness blandness and
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lifelessness of Pokémon in their 3D
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incarnations although recent games have
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finally started to give them more life
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so naturally conversations sparked about
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how the age of 2D Pokémon and Sprites
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were the peak for the franchise but what
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made the Sprite so close to our hearts
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in the first place to answer that let's
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take a look at the history of Pokémon
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Sprites and why they hold such a special
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place in the hearts of fans around the
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world
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[Music]
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to get a better understanding let's go
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to the beginning with the games that
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started at all Pokémon red and blue from
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the first time you witnessed the battle
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between Gengar and Nidorino in the
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opening picking your first starter or
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seeing someone else enjoying the game
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the experience of deciphering the
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creature on the screen was special for
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the each of us thanks to the limited
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black and white Sprites which let our
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creativity flow flourish by imagining
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how our favorite Pokémon would perform
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their moves Dodge attacks and many more
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scenarios that we fantasized about which
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made us more engaged and attached in the
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process after some time passing and
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thinking how could it get any better
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than this the definitive addition of the
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goli of Gen 2 Pokémon games for the time
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comes out being the least sold Mainline
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Pokémon game to this day Pokémon Crystal
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which polished up the 56x 56 Dimension
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creatures with a Charming intro
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animation that brought more excitement
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and personality to our pixelated
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companions gave us a new side of our
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favorites by giving us rare alterations
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with shinese but of course the regular
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mons also got to show their true colors
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better with the Game Boy Color bit on
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the nose there eh speaking of crystals
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why not talk about the true gems Pokémon
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Ruby Sapphire and emerald for some this
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was the true starting point for the
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series or like starting a new with the
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franchise anyways what was so special
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about the changes you may be asking well
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where do I even begin count along with
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me folks we got more colors bigger
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Dimensions better shading thanks to the
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bigger plet bigger variety of possible
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poses thanks to more space way better
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back Sprites but that doesn't make it
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okay to stare at for alligators behind
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greater battle backgrounds that enhance
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Sprites in the right settings using
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items gave us more interactions with the
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pals Dynamic animations and more varied
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actions in intro animations thanks to
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Emerald I could go on for longer but we
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should get a move on already I heard Gen
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4 is a SLO to get through now the trade
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and true tale of increased Dimensions
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color plates and improved semian
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animation still happens of course so as
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a wind up to the main source of the
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glistering generation changes let's do
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something that the first entries to the
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New Gen aren't familiar with quickly
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mentioning the new yet important changes
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and
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self-explanatory yet underutilized
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concept of gender differences couldn't
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get enough of your dear old wubble Fett
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well how about some lipstick didn't get
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enough of the new Pokemon heow on how
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does a mini heart attack caused by
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thinking the other gender is a shiny
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sound oh and what about torix single
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butt pixel actually I think I rather
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stay away from that just like game freak
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did with shifting away a much bigger
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version of this mechanic but anyways
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moving on with size differences the
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expected expansion of the dimensions
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finally was so great that creating more
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varied sizes was much more feasible and
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noticeable like look at this comparison
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between wh Lord and Skitty the Pokémon
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that definitely have no other
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connections between them except this
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comparison okay sure that may be not as
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special but we finally dragged through
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the main course now for the dessert and
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definition of Pokémon game greatness for
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many Pokémon hard gold and soul silver
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we could go on and on about stuff like
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revamp designs animations for first
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party member Pokémon entering battle but
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the main thing that brought us so much
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joy from such a simple mechanic
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following Pokémon if we couldn't already
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get enough Joy from our beloved
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creatures why not take it a step further
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and bring them out to travel alongside
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you and not only that game freak took it
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a step further and actually made it so
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we can get more and healthfully attached
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to our shinies by also being able to see
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them in the Overworld the following
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mechanic is the hero we didn't know we
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wanted but also became the thing we
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didn't deserve and as soon as it was
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here it left never seeing the same
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levels of heart and soul put into our
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Overworld bodies ever again but fret not
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I feel like everyone knows what's coming
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next
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[Music]
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[Music]
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without us knowing with Pokemon Black
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and White we headed into the last
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generation we would ever see the Beloved
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Sprite art style ever again so why not
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go out with a bang and thankfully
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accidental or not game freak had the
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same idea idea and what did they have in
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mind oh nothing except the most unique
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beautiful and lightly iterations of our
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favorite Pocket Monsters fully animated
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Sprites from the both sides now we all
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know some Sprites are JY and a fumbled
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mess like thin lines with the oxes and
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tangula and whatnot but personally I
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would choose them any day over the rest
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of them 2D 3D or whatnot the time and
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work that went into the
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649 Pokémon at the end was just insane
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so game Frey came up with a clever
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solution how about instead of making
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completely new frames for each part of
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the Pokémon animation we just make the
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body parts of the Sprite and when we get
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to animating it we could just put them
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together on separate layers and move
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them around individually of course a bit
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of quality was sacrificed but the amount
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of time saved for other parts of the
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game's development was just too much to
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just pass up and that's how we ended up
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with these bundles of Joy now of course
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the dimensions also were increased from
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80x 80 to 96x 96 to accommodate for this
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but the color amounts stay the same and
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also some Sprites for Pokémon were
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simplified to leave colors for mouth
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opening animations or to just make the
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animation process not that big of a
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hassle but aside from the big animation
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change not that that much else was
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changed but complaining about that would
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be way more ridiculous than a girl
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storing her Pokéballs in a bikini while
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swimming wait
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what now of course there are more
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variations and possible things that
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could be the reason for our love towards
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Sprites like the mous world of emotions
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that is Nostalgia getting used to the
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pixelated designs by playing Pokémon ROM
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hacks by the passionate fan base
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which even usually adapts the newest
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Pokémon to the classic genre art style
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but why gen free specifically well I
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would say it's a nice balanced area that
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usually comes up in a lot of
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conversations about people's first
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Pokémon game but more likely for the 99%
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of instances it's just that the Game Boy
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advanced entries have the biggest
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support and best variety of ROM hacks in
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the community as for the main games each
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new generation of the Pokémon games we
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usually could rely on the designs and
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Sprites for the Pokémon to be good
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thanks to the restrictiveness of the
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dimensions and smaller pettes which
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meant that the artist had to be more
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creative with their approach to the
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designs in result exuding the sense of
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passion and love that was put into the
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work and improving on the Sprites bit by
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bit with each technical Improvement the
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console provided due to the new
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challenge of adapting Pokémon to the 3D
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style a good majority suffered from the
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bigger task required to do which led to
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a good amount of Pokémon just being left
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as good enough some examples that could
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get the point better across are all of
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the flying types suspended in the air
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like Skarmory and swellow and let's not
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forget marom but I think he has suffered
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enough already so all in all although
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the Sprites were and are still a big
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part of the community
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the transition to frd was inevitable yet
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that does not make the Sprites any less
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important or special in fact the games
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with Sprite work in result got bundled
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in their own little time capsule if for
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long time Pokémon fans to remiss about
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the good old days or to learn about the
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franchises past that you keep hearing
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about being held in such high regard the
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artistic appearance of Pokémon Sprites
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that captured the essence and
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Imagination of the friend we made along
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the way in a charming and nostalgic way
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creating a bond between the Pokémon that
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we grew that we kept close to our hearts
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because of course to train them is our
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cause
