Released on Nintendo Switch back in 2019, Pokémon Sword and Shield are currently the latest entries in Pokémon's mainline series of games. Of course, plenty of Sword and Shield players will have been with the franchise from the very beginning, and while the new games are great fun in their own way, nostalgia means that the original Red and Blue on Game Boy will always be pretty special, too.
But what if you could somehow blend the two? Well, while that's pretty much impossible for the majority of us, Japanese YouTube user ハヤテ京雲寺 has reimagined the new games in the style of the Game Boy classics. "I was listening to the BGM of the town of Sword & Shield [and] I wanted to listen to Game Boy style!" ハヤテ京雲寺 says. "I couldn't find it when I looked for it, so I made it myself!"
A whole lot of work later, and the video below was born. After a nice little introduction and a quick reimagining of Pokémon Red and Blue's opening, the video dives into locations and songs from Sword and Shield, all de-made Game Boy style. You'll spot familiar locations like Wedgehurst and Motostoke, all accompanied by chiptune versions of the songs from the new titles. It's impressive stuff.
It was only a month-or-so ago that we also stumbled across a great piece of work from an artist named Pat Ackerman, who reimagined every new Pokémon from Sword and Shield in Game Boy-style sprite form. Perhaps this is becoming a (very welcome) trend?
[source youtube.com, via dualshockers.com]
Comments 28
Honestly, I would have preferred Pokémon stayed with the 2D look.
It's pretty clear they weren't ready to embrace 3D yet with the mainline games.
ha ha this looks cool. Almost better than the originals!
This could be DLC.
I wasn't able to sit through the whole video, but this definitely makes me miss the older games.
Eh, give it another few years, and someone will make a whole SS hack from RBY, mark my words. The Pokemon hacking scene is probably one of the most talented out there.
This is good stuff, though I can't quite figure if this is authentic to the Game Boy's sound capabilities or not.
I'm loving this soundtrack!!
I feel like something like this shows up once a month, lol. I wouldn't actually mind a return to the 2D look, maybe something akin to Octopath.
@Kalmaro I’ve seen this sentiment a lot, but I don’t think that it’s the 3D that’s a problem. It’s not the decision to go 3D that’s made the newer art direction feel a bit soulless, just the lack of animation (compare the static GBA sprites to the animated gen 5 sprites to see how much more expressive the animations make them). The 3D models don’t have to be this way, and if animated in a way GameFreak/Creatures are more than capable of doing, they could potentially look better than the 2D sprites. It’s just that for 3 gens in a row, they’ve intentionally chosen not to.
I always found Pokemon spritework to be amazing, especially in the DS games. 3D is nice, but I'll always treasure the sprites most of all.
Ouch! Right in the nostalgia. I don't dislike the 3D models in newer games, but I still think the pinnacle of the series's look was reached with the 2.5D sprites and worlds seen in Gens 4 and 5.
This looks so good. Makes me want to play the GB games so badly.
@Munchlax That's a fair point and I would argue that them not doing the aninations or being prepared for it shows that they just weren't ready for 3D.
They put more effort into the animations of colosseum than the newer games. It's kinda sad.
Immediate improvement. I would agree that 3D itself isn't the issue with Pokémon, Stadium 1 and 2 show that they can be just as soulful in 3D as the original 2D style. It's the way they've gone about the 3D games in recent years that's the real issue, from character to game and level design. The character design difference is made most obvious in a case like this where new 3D-only Pokémon are shown in sprite form. You can see that the new Pokémon, when viewed in sprite form, aren't quite as well-defined or memorable in comparison with original 2D designs, and that's not a slight on the fan who produced sprites for the new Pokémon. Their designs in many to even most cases are simply too complicated, overproduced, abstract or unnatural for the eye to pick up on it as well in low resolution sprite form (which makes sense when considering how challenging it can be to guess the name of a Pokémon from newer generations based on its silhouette). This is a design challenge, as characters that can be identified in silhouette or even miniature form at low resolutions are good benchmarks to aspire to that have been sorely missed for several generations (cartoonists sometimes use this technique, see the Simpsons or Hey Arnold).
Wow, that must have been hard to make! Congrats to the creator.
Omg, this looks amazing!
Seeing as rom hacks of pokemon games are fairly popular it is only a matter of time until someone will actually make a demake of these games or something very similar as there are already ones out there with most modern battle mechanics even gigantamax. Mainly GBA games but there are a few notable gen 1 and 2 from hacks that are exceptional.
You’re supposed to make things better not worse only people with nostalgia glasses might find this appealing
Beautiful sound! Great work
I would actually play this if it were real
I would have actually preferred this if I’m being honest 🤷🏽♂️
This is the game we would have gotten 23 years ago if Nintendo weren't so greedy and evil.
@RupeeClock I'm unsure if the "demake" audio files actually really reach the Gameboy level or anything... But I think the Gameboy was quite capable in terms of music. If you havn't played Pokemon TCG on Gameboy check out this track for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucQ6rLeRxyg
This is... how to put that with my English abilities... uhm... Well, when you listen to Gameboy music you notice that they often loop pretty early. But this track here is kinda long (around 2:40) before it loops. Before that you're waiting for the loop but instead the Gameboy is just throwing other "instruments" into the mix, and it just gets more and really impressive because you didn't expect it at all. Who would have thought the Gameboy can do that? Even back then as a kid I was actually quite impressed.
@Kalmaro The thing is... The GameCube games havn't been from GameFreak. They have been from Genius Sonority. Wish they would do another game... I loved XD so much... VIRTUAL CONSOLE, WHEN??
I feel like it will take GameFreak still at least a decade, before they reach the level of the GameCube games... Imagine XD didn't came for GameCube but instead brand new these days, with everything the Switch is capable of doing. It would be simply epic and a masterpiece, and would clearly show how far behind and boring in comparison GameFreak actually is...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius_Sonority
@Altina Really now?
Now I'm even more sure gamestop wasn't ready for 3D
They've always been inept at programming and other junk.
@Altina
Oh sure, the Game Boy had some really capable sound output. All I was saying is I wasn't sure if the compositions from the video could be played back on real hardware.
http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=GBS
Particularly, if the Sword & Shield compositions here respected the limited number of channels. A lot of "retro" compositions ignore this rule, sometimes made excusable by the use of special hardware in some games that allowed for extra channels like Gimmick! for the NES.
As far as citing examples of more impressive Game Boy audio, I'd consider "Catch 'Em & Evolution Mode" from Pokémon Pinball (which is actually just a rendition of the anime's Japanese main theme).
https://youtu.be/FktMlfSBeL0
As well as the entire Shantae GBC soundtrack.
https://youtu.be/bEp6GFqSgDY?list=PL66ADC40BC396091E
@RupeeClock Hmm. Yes, then I misread your comment. Sorry.
It's amazing how people can compose bomb diggity music with such limited hardware like the Game Boy.
And since we're sharing...
https://youtu.be/J1rUrU8GBnA
https://youtu.be/owcK5eQQqnc
https://youtu.be/-KHJD5dxvLE
These songs blew my mind as a kid.
It's as if the game stepped back in time. Pure bliss.
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