Ever since thePokemonPresents on Feburary 27, fans have been talking almost non-stop about the announcement ofPokemon’sninth generation.Pokemon ScarletandVioletare set to release later this year, and the current trailer has made it look rather promising. As part of the announcement, the new generation’s starters were revealed, and one fan has decided to make a sprite of the grass-type creaturein the style of Generation 5’s pixel art.
Pokemonstarted on the Game Boyback in 1996, and as a result, a majority of the series used sprites and pixel art as its way of showcasing the world and creatures. With every installment of the series, the level of detail seemed to grow as games likePokemon GoldandSilveradded color, andPokemon Crystalmade it the norm that the 3rd game in a set would have animated sprites. The fifth-generation,Pokemon BlackandWhite, made sprites that consistently moved, which was rather charming to a lot of fans.
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One pixel artist by the name of Olechandserif has shared their recent work to Reddit, which featuresPokemon ScarletandViolet’sgrass-type starter, Sprigatito, in an animated loop similar to those seen in Generation 5. The little grass cat-like creature bobs on its feet, and even occasionally meows at the end of the loop.
The post’s comments are covered with praise for the level of detail Olechandserif put into the little animation, as well as general talk about the franchise. Many Sprigatito fans mention how much they love the grass-type, as well as some mentioning how muchthey want Sprigatito to stay on all foursonce evolving. Others are finding themselves nostalgic over the days whenPokemonused to use sprites. Some seem to be wishingPokemon ScarletandVioletwould use pixel art over the 3D models seen in current games.
Even though Generation 5 brought in fully animated sprites to the series, it also marked the end of the series' use of pixel art primarily as Generation 6 switched to 3D models. WhilePokemon Stadiumfans loved seeing the creatures in 3D more frequently, some fans still miss the sprite style in olderPokemongames.
However, Game Freak using 3D models for the creatures seemingly made tackling the use of the National Dex easier on the games' development cycles. Even removing the National Dex in futurePokemontitles has shown an increase in quality as balancing the game across what now sits at over 900 Pokemon isn’t taking so much time during development.Pokemon Legends: Arceusserved to be a statementas to what can be done with a limited Pokedex in future games, andPokemon ScarletandVioletso far looks to be following inLegends: Arceus’footsteps in the same way.
Pokemon ScarletandPokemon Violetare due to release late 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.
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