Fan Artist Creates Impressive 2D Sprites of Pokemon From Various Generations

A Pokemon fan artist redesigned the evolutionary lines of Pikipek, Scatterbug, Carbink, Diancie, and a regional Poliwag line as 2D sprites from the series’ history. The Pokemon fan artist shared their handiwork on social media, and briefly explained the inspirations and references they used to recreate these Pokemon as 2D sprites.

For the first five generations of mainline Pokemon games, the titular creatures were depicted as 2D sprites based on the art of longtime series artist Ken Sugimori. The Pokemon sprites became more colorful and distinct as the series went from the Game Boy to the Game Boy Advance, as the latter handheld provided more tools for developers to use. In Pokemon Black and White for the DS, the Pokemon sprites were also animated, with various things such as wings, arms, legs, and eyes moving around. However, the advent of Pokemon X and Y on the 3DS saw Pokemon move from 2D sprites to 3D models with new cries and animations to go with their attacks. 2D Pokemon sprites remain mostly confined to the storage box feature of games such as Pokemon Sword and Shield.

On Reddit, a Pokemon fan artist named WishfulWren shared their latest work on the r/Pokemon subreddit, which depicted some Pokemon originally from the Kanto, Kalos, and Alola regions as 2D sprites. The Pokemon Scatterbug, Spewpa, and Vivillon are shown on the bottom right of WishfulWren’s screenshot. The Vivillon pattern that the artist went with was the Jungle pattern, which can be obtained in Pokemon GO from trainers on continents such as South America. Above the Vivillon line were the Alolan bird Pokemon Pikipek, Trumbeak, and Toucannon. The bird Pokemon sprites had their faces turned to the left side.

Pokemon Fan Artist Recreates Ten Creatures as Past Generation 2D Sprites

To the bottom left, the rock Pokemon Carbink and the mythical Diancie had their sprites turned forward. While Carbink cannot evolve into Diancie, the designs of both Pokemon share similarities. Finally, WishfulWren showed off two regional variants of Poliwag and Poliwhirl from another Pokemon fan project they were involved in. The new Poliwag had two green stripes on its chest instead of swirls, and Poliwhirl’s body was changed from blue to a mixture of red, green, and yellow. In the replies, WishfulWren stated they took official Pokemon art as a reference and had a 64×64 pixel space for redrawing each Pokemon.

Although the series has long since moved toward the 3D era, that has not stopped Pokemon fan artists from creating recent critters in different styles. With Pokemon Legends: Z-A in development, it remains to be seen which Pokemon will return to the series.

Pokemon

Pokemon is a franchise that needs no introduction. One of the most successful media empires in history, Pokemon spans games, television, films, manga, merchandise, music, and more.
 

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Satoshi Tajiri