With any new generation comes a whole new boatload of Pokémon to catch, and that was exactly the case when Pokémon Sword and Shield landed on Switch back in 2019.
Despite being the newest games in the series, though, a super-talented artist named Pat Ackerman has reimagined each and every new monster from the game as if they had appeared on Game Boy. Everyone from Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble, right through to the likes of Calyrex and the new Galarian forms of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres make an appearance:
What is this feeling? Nostalgia, but new nostalgia?
A pretty cracking effort, isn't it? Let us know which designs are your favourites in the comments below.
[source twitter.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 38
Scorbunny looks so cute.
In before, they look better then the Sword and shield ones.
Wow those look really nice, I almost feel like they look too good to even be Gameboy sprites but you can definitely tell if you look at em closer
They look higher resolution than Game Boy sprites would have been. But still neat.
Say what you will about Sword and Shield, but this is great!
Cramorant spitting a Goldeen was a nice touch.
Cramorant is great
I'm sure someone will put these in a rom hack at some point
They do look great, they have so much retro charm.
@johnvboy I actually think they do not gonna lie.
@Heavyarms55 Nope, those appear to be 64 by 64 (at least based on the one I just pixel counted) which is Gen 1-3 sprite size.
@link3710 Wow. I am impressed
they look better than the Sword and shield ones
They look good. Really at home in the sprite aesthetic. Guess it kind of speaks to that hard to explain charm of what makes a Pokémon a Pokémon
@Yosher,
Not sure what you mean.
@Aerona,
You had to bait me, I must admit they have more colour depth.
I'd love to play a G1 SwSh 😆
Not gonna lie, those are making me want to play Sw/Sh demakes.
The three final starters evolutions really look COOL.
I also love how Ponyta, Rapidash are reminiscent of the originals, and also like Sandaconda.
@johnvboy That they look better than the Sword and Shield models.
At least these sprites have a lot of personality!
@Yosher,
Your first comment did not make sense, and I did not think anybody in their right mind could think these Pokemon models looked better then the current ones, guess I was wrong.
Yep, these are pretty neat.
They all look great, but I especially love Grookey (my gen 8 starter), as well as it's evolutionary line.
@johnvboy Guess I should add that I'm counting the animations towards how they look!
Back then on the Game Boy, you only had these static sprites to look at- and they always looked full of personality.
But the 3D models used in Sword/Shield, while looking better at first glance, come out bland with the way they are animated.
Now if they were animated more in the style how the Stadium games, up to Pokémon Colosseum, animated them, then I would've gone for the 3D models, but that's not the case.
Of course, when looking at the sprites/models purely at face value, then the 3D models win. But these models don't truly come alive until they're animated, which they didn't do that impressive of a job at, while these sprites are designed to be looked at completely static and they're already very interesting to look at just as they are.
Of course this will differ depending on who you ask, but this is just one fool's opinion. Perhaps my opinion is augmented due to those sweet nostalgia goggles that I have, having grown up with the series since the very first generations, but it's my opinion regardless. And everyone else is free to voice their own all the same and may disagree with me completely. In fact, most people probably disagree with me. And that's fine.
They look amazing. I wish they also start making DEmasters
@Yosher,
I agree they look good for the tech, but you can't compare them to the modern ones, and they have gone for a more cartoon look with the models in Sword and shield, personally I like it.
We all have a pair of those nostalgia goggles, I still think Super Star Wars is the best looking Star Wars game.
look better than the 3d
This is absolutely perfect! I like how the colors and pixels are done.👍 10/10
Ah memories from old Pokèmon games
This would never happen, but I would actually be OK if the mainline pokemon release for the 25th was actually a gen 1-3 remake with all the pokemon ever released in a similar sprite style.
With everything I dislike about Sw/Sh, the Pokemon designs weren't on that list. Several very great designs that I hope get a better life in a bigger better game someday.
Beautiful, really great work
Incidentally, I'm still disappointed that they didn't include the "complete" versions of the fossil Pokémon in some form, even if they had to be event legendaries.
I love the abominations, but I want to see the real halves too.
I'd like to point out that this is an artist working on Monster Crown! They do great stuff!
This would be cool, but some of the first forms are too large. If you look at some sprites of smaller Pokémon in actual Game Boy titles, they take up much less space than larger Pokémon, which actually told you how big they were compared to each other (roughly).
Other than that, awesome work.
Would love enamel pins with these guys on them
I came into this comments section expecting arguments about Pokemon games and I was not disappointed. Thanks, Nintendo Life!
Perfect. Really caught the spirit of the original sprites well.
this is way better the 3D models Pokémon Sword e Shield received(Game Freak proved they are unable to make convincing and well made 3D models and animations for it Pokemon.
These look fantastic!
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