The ongoign discussion regarding the animations of SRW has way too many things to consider. I would focus on how fluid animation should be. Thats a keypoint that is _completly_ lost in recent SRWs. Granvang in SRWV is a particular example of an animation style that looks amazing on still frames, but terrible in motion. And understanding of how an animation should flow is key when you want to make everything around it, the sense of speed, of hit impact, of resistance ... etc.
People still look up to Alpha2/3 (despite some glaring examples) because of how every attack felt fluid, every hit had impact, ever beam caused resistance upon hitting... etc. There's still some amazing animations on recent games, but I think that the close cut-ins are simply not enough to justify an attack. I mean, not every unit is Godmars, right?