^But you have to admit, there are gems in later generations as well, they're just spaced further apart in each generation. From Gen. II, I think we can safely say that Tyranitar made it into the "awesome"-category quite easily. Scizor also got a place in many people's hearts, as did Feraligatr and Heracross. Overall, the Gen. II Pokémon aren't too bad.
Gen III, you have to remember that Hoenn is a tropical place, mostly covered in jungle and forests. The Pokémon are adapted to that, with brighter (and more) colours. Metagross and Salamence are both nice here, and I like Swampert for some reason. Still, quite a few Pokémon shine through as horrible designing examples.
Gen IV, that's when the designers' laziness took over completely. Weavile is one of the few saving graces here. Porygon Z is, if not that original, also quite cool. It also saved many Pokémon from being obscure and useless forever, like Gligar, Yanma and Togetic.
Gen V better not be an aestethical nightmare. If we get more evolutions like the terrible Magmortar, then I'll....