Game Freak’s established promotional pipeline for Pokémon games has the company using 3D renders, rather than hand-drawn art, to reveal new monsters ahead of each game’s launch. Anyone who cares about getting good assets of these new critters knows that this is the purgatory The Pokémon Company puts us through as we wait for the gorgeous illustrations we’ll get post-release, which resemble the old Ken Sugimori art that you see featured on database sites like Bulbapedia. Today, January 13, we finally got the art drop for Pokémon Legends: Z-A and its Mega Dimension DLC. And oh boy, there’s some beauts here.
Most of the art is of the several dozen new Mega Evolutions added in Legends: Z-A and its expansion, but it also includes official artwork of some of the major characters who show up later in the game and weren’t part of the initial marketing push. Notably, this includes Lysandre, Grisham, and Griselle, ex-members of the villainous Team Flare, some of the only truly “secret” characters who are crucial to some of the late game reveals. Lysandre in particular was kept under wraps, given he was long presumed dead after the events of Pokémon X and Y. I suppose The Pokémon Company is ripping that bandage off. You had three months to play the game, so the aged, immortal version of Lysandre we get in Z-A might start showing up in more marketing material now that he’s being acknowledged through official channels.
But the real treat is the good art we finally have of all the Mega Evolutions, including my boy Mega Raichu X, the meme king Mega Starmie, and some of the lesser-known transformations that debuted in the Mega Dimension DLC. Click through to see them all.
Yesterday, The Pokémon Company announced the official Pokémon x Lego collaboration models, including sets for Pikachu, Eevee, and a disgustingly expensive one of the Kanto starters. If you compare them to the Mega Bloks models, though, you might decide to buy those cheaper sets instead.
