Hm I am wondering did gamefreak only revamp everything because of falling sales? I would have thought they would be sprites4lyfe but it looks like someone kicked them in the butt to get them to start doing 3d. Granted BW sold @ 14 million now but it is still below the other gens. BW2 is also at 6.7 million. Both will probably stay near these ranges since XY is coming out. Tbh though the changes actually brings me back to the games which it would not have if it was just another sprite/rehash fest.

Or maybe they really just wanted to freshen things up.