‘Pokémon’ Fans Are Falling in Love With This 3D Mockup of the Original Game & Art Style
Hire this person and make it real, GameFreak.
In 2018, Nintendo released Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! on the Nintendo Switch. The games served as a 3D remake of the 1998 GameBoy Color game Pokémon Yellow, which itself was a revamped version of Pokémon Red and Blue, the OG Pokémon games (released 1996 in Japan and 1998 in the U.S.). Let’s Go, Pikachu! was a pure delight—especially for me, because my first Pokémon game was, indeed, Yellow, and it therefore holds a sacred place in my heart.
While Let’s Go, Pikachu! introduced such wonders as petting your Pikachu while it coos and putting hipster glasses on it and provided a graphical update, the game maintained the style of modern Pokémon games like Sword and Shield. But Pokémon fan artist @pokeyugami bravely asked the question: What if Red and Blue were remade in a 3D render of the series original art style?
Pokeyugami is a Japan-based group of fan artists. (I think? They use watashi-tachi in the bio, which usually means “we.”) Their art typically features Pokémon based in a different space and time from our own. (Their Twitter bio, which is in Japanese, asks people not to reproduce their images without permission.) Much of the art posted on Pokeyugami’s feed feels like a seamless continuation of Ken Sugimori’s original art for the Pokémon games. Sugimori illustrated the artwork for the first generation of games, created the concept art for all 151 first-gen Pokémon, and continues to work on illustrations for the card game and character designs.
Sugimori used watercolors and a distinct, light-feeling palette, rendering a classic look which, for those of us who got into Pokémon on the ground floor, is instantly nostalgic.
Pokeyugami has posted two videos of original animation, wondering what a modern, 3D remake of Red/Blue/Green would look like in Sugimori’s style. The results are positively breathtaking. Pokeyugami nails the art and animation, truly making it seem as if Sugimori’s drawings have simply come to life. The camera largely follows a rendering of Red, the Ash-like protagonist of the original games. (In the first video, the girl says to Red, “Hey, you! You looked at me, right?” In the second, the Bug Catcher says, “All right! You have Pokémon, don’t you!”) Cleverly, Pokeyugami also borrowed game mechanics from the most recent entry to the Pokémon series, Pokémon Legends Arceus. Notice the Arceus-style item interface on the lower right side, plus the map and Pokédex on the left.
The Pokémon internet—which can be surprisingly divisive and critical—is piling behind this with emphatic support. Both of Pokeyugami’s videos inspired fans from all around the world, in many languages, to gaggle and gush in awe and excitement. GameFreak needs to hire Pokeyugami and get this game made ASAP. Make. This. Real. Give us this berry-eating Chonk Pikachu BACK.
(featured image: The Pokémon Company)
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