The best anime Pokemon Battles

[PokeMario]

Ash vs Jessie and James
This battle was really climatic. Ash fought their signature Arbok and Weezing, and eventually won this epic battle, and received the final badge in Kanto.
Iris vs Georgia
This well animated battle had the intimidating Excadrill fighting the laughably goofy looking, but powerful Beartic. Excadrill was somewhat wimpy during the battle, and got frozen, but Excadrill broke out of the freezing cold ice.
Red vs Mewtwo
WOW! The visuals in Pokemon Origins might be even better than the actual anime, and this battle proved just that. An anti-climatic scene were we saw the first anime Mega Evolution! And Red, just using a wimpy Ultra Ball on the all-powerful Mewtwo eventually caught him. This battle also showcased how much of a powerhouse Mega Charizard X is.
Ash vs Paul
This amazing battle lasted for two episodes. With Ash's entire Sinnoh team except for Gible, Ash struggled really hard to FINALLY beat Paul for the first time. And it all finished off with the epic battle of Infernape vs Electivire. Infernape, just at the brink of losing, activated his Blaze ability, and lost his temper big time, ultimately owning the intimidating Electivire!
Ash vs Trip
This battle is great just because how absurd it is. Ash's Pikachu loses to a wimpy Snivy, which will then evolve into a Serperior and trap Pikachu! Pikachu gets payback in their final battle, after regaining the ability to use electric attacks!
Ash vs Paul (Lake Acuity)
This battle is great since one of Ash's now strongest Sinnoh Pokemon evolved into a Monferno, learning Mach Punch. He lost at first, but won eventually. And here's some lyrics from the Johto Journeys theme: Each time, you try, you just get a little bit better. Those lyrics literally define what Ash did during this battle.
Ash vs Tobias
This battle. Ash's Torkoal, Heracross, and Gible lost to the almighty Darkrai, but when he released Sceptile, he just showed him what he's made of. Eventually defeating his undefeated Pokemon (Cheater. Legendary Pokemon aren't allowed in the league), he sent out his Action Replay Latios, and Ash, as you'd expect, lost.
Ash vs Gary
This battle was very climatic! Ash's Charizard winning against Blastoise despite the type disadvantage was epic. Ash wouldn't see his bullying rival until the DP series, where he was actually his friend. Gary assisted Rowan while Ash and the gang were fighting Team Galactic, and his fate almost arrived, until Ash saved the Sinnoh region, no, the world!
Ash vs Noland
When the Battle Frontier arc began in the Advanced Battle season, Ash's Charizard returned. Out of all of Noland's Pokemon, Ash chose Articuno to battle against Charizard.
Charizard, of course, won. Ash would see Charizard again in Gathering the Gang of Four!, then in the N arc in The Red Hot Fires of a Red Hot Reunion!.
Ash vs Guy
In the episode Exploud and Clear!, Ash fought against character of the day Guy and his Loudred, and Ash used Treecko. And then, an evolution happened in the same battle, and Ash's newly evolved Grovyle fought Guy's newly evolved Exploud. However, Exploud ran away, and Guy tried to make it come back.
Ash vs Harrison
Charizard battled against Blaziken, which was one of the Hoenn Pokemon previewed in the Johto seasons. And despite the resistances, Charizard won. The debuts of Wynaut and Kecleon were a year before RSE, their games came out. Fun fact. Oh. And Wailmer and Azurill. They were in Pikachu's Peekaboo.
Honorable Mentions:
Ash vs May
Ash vs Drake
Red vs Giovanni
Red vs Blue (Final Battle)
Ash vs Brandon
Mew vs Mewtwo
Deoxys vs Rayquaza (Destiny Deoxys Prologue)
Paul vs Cynthia
Ash vs Blaine
Ash vs Volkner
Ash vs Korrina
Ash vs Olympia
Dawn vs Zoey (Grand Festival)
Ash vs Tyson
Ash vs Ritchie
Ash vs Drake
Ash vs Palmer
Ash vs Greta


Feel free to say what your favorite Pokemon battles are, and explain why they're great.

 

[Linkachu]

I used to have a much broader answer for this question but, as of the Sinnoh League, nothing tops the Ash vs Paul league battle in my eyes. That battle on the whole was great but the climax of it was utterly brilliant. The atmosphere and tension during its final moments was amazing. Even if Paul wasn't Ash's original rival, that battle easily felt just as meaningful as any of his brawls with Gary - if not moreso due to Ash and Paul's ever weaving journeys through Sinnoh.

 

[glaman5266]

I haven't seen much of the anime after the Indigo League and a few movies, but the ones that stick out in my mind the most are Ash's battles with Lt. Surge. Just watching that Raichu exit the pokeball the first time and towering over Pikachu creates a huge sense of intimidation. Listening to Raichu's electric attacks REALLY makes me not wanna get zapped by that. Blowing out all the glass in the gym in their second match was pretty epic. I think that episode did a good job of demonstrating how powerful a Raichu can be. I also like the whole "little guy stands up to the big guy and wins" thing.

 

[Spooky Sploosh]

Ash vs Trip (Their first battle)


The amount of length, the emotion, the pure power you could feel throughout the entire battle is astronomical. It set the tone for how groundbreaking the Unova battles will be, and what better to start it off with Ash and his brand new rival, Trip. Trip's Snivy against Ash's Pikachu. A battle of wits, and raw power, this was something all fans could never forget...I...I remember where I was when I saw it. I was getting back into watching the anime, and saw this when it first aired...and I....I said...


"Are you f*cking kidding? Ash lost to a Snivy? I'm done with the anime, f*ck this sh*t."

Just kidding, this battle was stupid and just showed that Pikachu's power is unmeasurable.

 

[RLRL]

Georgia's Beartic vs Joltik

Definitely one of the most unfortunate instances in the anime, that joltik was kicking some serious butt. Then all the beartic had to do was fall over, and that was it. Poor joltik.

I would say that Ash vs Paul is possibly the best battle they've ever made in the anime, the 3 parter is just brilliant and should be released as a special or something. My biggest complaint is that the anime can't use the move earthquake, it's so annoying that torterra didn't just destroy that drapion, but still major props for the drapion being amazing =)

 

[Curtkid]

As you can probably tell by my profile pic, one of my all time favorite battles in the anime was Charizard VS Magmar. A one on one battle between two powerful Fire Pokemon clashing on top of an active volcano, I remember hardly being able to pay attention in school for almost a week after the episode aired because my mind kept thinking about that episode! Honestly, I think that episode alone it why a lot of people couldn't completely hate Ash's Charizard despite screwing him over in the Pokemon League.

Ash VS Drake is also one of my favorites, unlike most of my friends, I actually decided to stick with the anime into the Orange Island League (Tracey wasn't that bad of a character, but compared to Brock...well) and in my opinion, sticking with it payed off with the animes first "official" six on six Pokemon battle. Granted, there wasn't that much tension in reguards to the characters, but it was still just a straight up awesome battle. I thought it was awesome to see Ash doing things like putting types into consideration and swapping out Pokemon to fit the opponent, it almost felt like an actual battle you'd have in the game. Plus, Drakes Dragonite was freakin bad ass, maybe it's just because the Dratini line is my favorite Dragon-Type Pokemon, but I loved how Dragonite was built up as this borderline unstoppable monster, kinda like how it was way back in Red and Blue (and still kinda is now, thank-you Multi-Scale), and completely followed up on its hype. Plowing through Ash's Charizard, Squirtle, and Tauros, just before barely being brought down by Pikachu (which is a lot, if we're working off the animes logic). Honestly, I think that episode is what got me to fall in love with the big orange guy, I mean I alway's liked him, but that episode made me think "Holy crap, this thing is awesome!" Seriously, forget Iris' Dragonite, Drakes Dragonite will always be the best Dragonite ever to show up in the anime!