I love sprites. I'm glad they're sticking to having sprite models.
As for the maps, it looks like we get full 3D movement now, which actually supports the theory that it'll have 3DS enhancements, since the 3DS is supposed to have at least one analog. And we all know analog sticks are best for 3D movement.
Battle scenes appear to be fully animated now, by that shot of Zorua vs. Zoroark. The full-back image supports this because, really, that's the only reason you'd WANT to see the entire back side - so you can see them move and react. Additionally, the somewhat low-res sprites OF the battle Pokemon would support this, because I believe they'd up the quality significantly if they were keeping them the original style. Anyways, that's a LOT of animation, but it can actually be simplified a lot by animating them a certain way. You can go with two basic animations for each Pokemon for about 95% of the attacks in the game (one for physical attacks, one for special attacks), with minor edits to make them fit the specific attack (and those edits can actually be one animation, again, for each attack, just using an algorithm to place them in the appropriate spot in relation to the Pokemon).
Finally, the move to fully 3D environments also lends support to the concept of 3DS enhancements. People get used to seeing these games on the DS, but then they see what it can do on the 3DS and how much cooler it is, so they go out and buy a 3DS to enjoy the games more.
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