Remembering The Ugliest Pokemon Gen 1 Sprites

thegamer.com:

One of the reasons Pokemon has endured for 25 years is how cute the little monsters look. Whether you want the next Pokemon game to have all new ‘mons or stick to the classics, the cuddly creatures are at the heart of why we all love Pokemon. Some of us even love them a little too much. Looking back at where it all started then, it’s a surprise they’re all so damn ugly.

We all know about Mew, with its malnourished body, curved spine, and spindly little tail flailing around, but Mew is often treated as the exception. As the one ugly little freak amongst the otherwise perfect line-up of cute and charismatic characters. But Mew isn’t the exception, it’s the rule.

Related: Please Stop Giving Gen 1 Pokemon Regional VariantsMost of the Pokemon back in Gen 1 were, in fact, as ugly as Mew. Back then, Pikachu was fat, but we also had Golbat with its horrific dripping tongue. Zubat, along with Tentacool, was the most annoying Pokemon in Gen 1, but looking back on the monstrous version of Golbat it evolved into, I’m surprised it’s evolution wasn’t higher up on the list of reasons I hated it. Speaking of Pokemon I hate, Koffing is upside down for some reason, and Weezing looks even more grotesque than usual. In some ways, this might be the truest version of Weezing, who was always supposed to represent the noxious deformity, but on the other hand, it’s butt-ugly.

The most notable ‘mons aren’t just ugly though, they’re straight up bad. Kingler, Kabutops, and Poliwrath, three Pokemon you’d never hear mentioned when discussing the Gen 1 sprites, all look like they’ve been drawn by five year olds. I know the sprites were restricted by the pixel limitations, as we see in the likes of Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise. The three starters