The original Pokémon sprites in Pokémon Red and Blue were so full of character. Unlike now, where everyone already knows what a Nidoking or a Haunter is all about, it was really up to the pixel artist to tell the whole story of a creature with one static image. That’s by no means an easy task. On Twitter, user @Cortoony (Cort) is keeping the memory of the original Pokémon sprites alive with amazing 3D renditions of that original art. Take a look at these utterly faithful renditions of Porygon, Nidoking, Dragonair, and Haunter, who now rotate in full 3D.
had a really difficult time with it but heres an attempt at nidoking pic.twitter.com/9buneZQZP3
— ?Cort? (@Cortoony) November 20, 2019
Haunter's pokemon red/blue sprite 3Dified pic.twitter.com/nQaTEwjx8W
— ?Cort? (@Cortoony) November 22, 2019
How did Cort achieve this? Through hard work and sophisticated understanding of 3D modeling, I presume. Or maybe black magic. In any case, I sure couldn’t do it. Cort has been delivering these 3Dified Pokémon sprites in a steady stream since Nov. 18, so perhaps more are still to follow.
I’d never imagined such a thing until now, but a new 3D Pokémon game that had a visual style exclusively dedicated to bringing Game Boy pixel art into 3D would be wild. It would almost be like Octopath Traveler in reverse, a whole new kind of retro gaming. Would you be down to play a game like this? Tell us what you think!
Update: Cort made Meowth!
Meowth's RB sprite in 3D pic.twitter.com/Mr58LmWoqn
— ?Cort? (@Cortoony) November 23, 2019
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