>>545860181. The unique muted color palette of the GB played with no backlight. I like color palettes that are both colorful but also dark/muted, and playing with no backlight hits the nail on the head.
2. Character design changes (there's that one famous copypasta image comparing ethan in both games), I think Morty is also a victim here, his black/purple sprite looked super rad compared to his actual yellow/blue sweater look as well as the gay wicca boy design they gave him in hgss.
3. The overall Akira Toriyama esque style of the games is a huuuuge reason why I prefer them. This is especially emphasized in the limited sprite sizes, it gives everything these compact proportions that are very satisfying in a compositional way. The sharp lines and facial expression are another expression of this style.
4. The short, quick animations in Crystal are superior to all other generational animations. I like them because they are crisp like old anime. The sprite animations from gen iii onwards use this squash/stretch and sprite rotation effect that looks extremely cheap and corny, reminds me of a Dorkly cartoon. Gen V does it the most, the attack animations also follow this method of squash/stretch and sprite rotation.
5. The chiptune soundtrack has such a pure, wholesome atmosphere, whatever midi/vst the remakes use lose the childlike purity of the simple gameboy synth. Sounds best on the actual hardware.
The remakes have gameplay advantages of course, abilities were such a fun addition to gen iii, and the physical/special split deepens the gameplay. Walking pokemon was a great little touch. But overall I am more artistically inclined when playing games, so I prefer the originals.
Pic related is Pokemon Edelweiss btw, I think it's a decent example of gen 2 originals being expanded upon, not quite exactly how I would do it, but close.
