Good call I had forgotten about that. Jinn is indeed incredible with colors/rendering. I'd love to see some post-GB mockups with those sprites!

I think we should be looking at these sprites in the initial GB 4 color greys first, and then looking about how we can apply 4 color preset pallets to them efficiently. Just to kind of see how we would do it vs. how they did it.

I think looking from the green sprites to the red/blue we're more familiar with, we can see what kind of criticisms they received and how they tried to improve them. One interesting thing about the sprites is because of the limited room, they used perspective and foreshortening to fit some of their designs in place. While it adds depth, it can also cause readability issues, so it's a double edged sword. I really think it works for Sycther and Hitmonlee. Others like Machamp and Hitmonchan look more confusing at first glance.

They also look much more zany and cartoony in the green sprites, the poses are more dynamic, aggressive and tensed in the red/blue ones. Maybe they studied how composition works best either directly before or after the action. That's why those perspective ones look kind of out of place because it's somewhat during the action.

Look at green version Kabuto, from a design perspective, pretty readable. Compared to red/blue Kabuto, a bit more confusing, especially if you don't have the comparison, and are just going from the sprite. I remember playing the original and thinking how weird he was, I thought those 2 dots on his shell were his eyes. So changing the sprites to be more battle ready also created new issues I geuss. But look how well it works for green Porygon to r/b Porygon. One is like testing the waters to get comfortable with the design, the other pushes it into the 3rd dimension.

For the record I still don't know what's going on with Trainer Cuball's crotch protector.

I was thinking of red and blue when I made my first post. Even back in 09 I wanted to take a look at how the pokemon style has evolved. Especially with new res and tech they've maintained that blocky look with some success over the years.

I'd like to see some more commercial critiques. I know I have some ideas for some. Or more stuff like Helm's cluster study from Altered Beast, which was awesome.

Stability is one part of it. A big part. The other for me, would be that working in house thrusts you into an environment where other artists are doing the same thing as you, so you have a lot to learn/inspire from each other, and the camaraderie that comes with that.

Of course if all else fails, this site can  be a surrogate to supply some of that as well, but the in person interaction version of it can go a long way.