Pokemon used to have such a distinct artstyle. It’s shame that it’s fallen into the Japanese media trap of anime same face.
The second gen (not the remakes) was probably the closest we got to matching Ken Sugimori’s original watercolors in game
Having a meter on the general pokemon fandom, I know that if Gamefreak made a game like this, 70% would pan it for not being “Nintendo, hire this man!” unreal engine demo graphics in a Ubisoft open world.
“THE SAD STATE OF POKEMON: SURELY GAMEFREAK CAN DO BETTER THAN THESE OUTDATED GRAPHICS!”
Yes, exactly :this:, it happens every goddamn time, at least since Sword and Shield
Wow I’ve never thought about it but that would slap so hard. It’s honestly pathetic how little risk is taken with Pokémon as opposed to say, zelda, or to a lesser extent mario.
Those early Pokémon cards had some banger art.
If you didn’t know, your image actually comes from a series of animations - they look fantastic, I wish there was a pokemon game that looked like this https://twitter.com/pokeyugami/status/1527576053014618112
I really like the pokemon cards where it’s a little resin sculpture in nature. Or the wool ones. They’re so cute!
https://64.media.tumblr.com/45234c1c5c2a2ba043678cb6b08b7066/tumblr_pg814wGkfU1vw1ceco1_r1_1280.png
I love those early pokemon guides, and everything up to gen 2. It just had a different feel to it, more mystical, more obscure…
It’s probably part nostalgia but I also think the less clear-cut graphics left more to the imagination