>>14101919All gens have good and bad designs.
With that said, as gen progresses, themes of a Pokemon design becomes more... "subtle" and organic to the Pokemon itself. I think the turning point is around Gen 3 which features that.
For instance, if Tyrantrum would be designed with early gen's style of themes, it would have a literal crown and cape. Compare to say now, where Tyrantrum has ridges that mimics a crown and the feather mane as well as its underbelly to mimic a coat.
