2. Ivysaur

We were all scared of poison ivy as kids, right? Every time we walked through bushes, the fear was we’d trip or something and get a faceful of it. Well, imagine poison ivy could run up and bite you. Or strangle you with magically extendable, opposable vines. That’s Ivysaur in a nutshell. Scary stuff!

But I guess part of the challenge with Ivysaur is making her look like more than just an overgrown Bulbasaur. Some of these kind of fail at that. Like, I’m not sure what the Ruby and Sapphire sprite’s deal is. On the one hand, it’s sitting, as if for circle time in a Pokémon daycare. On the other hand, it looks pissed, like “What, you want me to stand for this?”

I also enjoy the facial expression on the Silver sprite: incredulous, one eye half squinting, it says “What the fuck is this??” Ivysaur’s pretty gangster, in case you didn’t know.

More recent sprites get a bit more boring and can’t seem to decide what color Ivysaur even is. Green? Blue? It alternates.

The Winner:

Yellow

It’s no coincidence my two favorite Ivysaur sprites are also the two tallest: Yellow’s and Diamond and Pearl’s. That’s because they pay so much pixel service to the big blooming flora on the thing’s back—you know, the stuff that sets Ivysaur apart and makes players anticipate its final evolution. D/P Ivysaur has a pretty dynamic shape and good shading, but something makes Yellow Ivysaur stick out. It’s got a sleekness… the pitch-black shadows beneath its leaves… and unlike all the other sprites, it doesn’t look merely angry or annoyed. It looks... mischievous. It’s narrowed eyes are almost uncomfortably sultry.

... I am not a furry, by the way, I just want to throw that out there.