The release date for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl, the Gen 4 remake titles, is drawing ever closer. Some creative fans are using this time to craft interesting tributes to the games--or to fix perceived problems with them. One modder recently put their hand to building a mod that restores Wailord's shrunken character model to its correct size in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Wailord is an enormous Pokemon based on a blue whale, introduced in the Gen 3 games as an inhabitant of the Hoenn region. It evolves from the slightly smaller Wailmer at level 40. This isn't the first time Wailord has been put under a spotlight--in fact, the Pokemon's enormous size recently led to a proposed Wailord figure being canceled by The Pokemon Company due to concerns about possible costs.
Twitter user GhostsSoup shared screenshots of a Pokemon mod designed to show Wailord at its actual size in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. This is noteworthy because the Wailord model is set to 0.18 scale in the overworld and 0.24 scale in battle by default. GhostsSoup's mod sets the model scale to 1 and reveals that a full-size Wailord on the overmap is bigger than a house, and in battle, Wailord is so massive that its opponent is barely even visible.
https://mobile.twitter.com/GhostsSoup/status/1459689201553838089
The screenshots highlight the fact that Wailord's default model in the game is massively scaled-down, being about four times the length of the player character. The full-size Wailord model is so long that its body doesn't fit in the screen when following the player on the overmap. In the battle screen, Wailord looks more like a blimp than a living creature, an image which is helped by the Pokemon's inexplicable floating. Most water Pokemon have been shown floating in battle screens throughout the Pokemon series' history, whether or not they actually possess the ability. If the full-size Wailord was shown in motion, it would probably resemble a Zeppelin.
https://mobile.twitter.com/S117Oracle/status/1459923007334408195
As of writing, it appears that other fans are intrigued by the idea of having life-size Pokemon in the games. One user noted that the only Pokemon game to display Wailord at its proper size was Pokemon Battle Revolution, in which Wailord utterly swarfed Legendaries like Groudon and Rayquaza. Other users began debating whether GhostsSoup's mod was evidence that all Pokemon should be shown in their actual sizes on the overmap or evidence that they should all be scaled up or down for player convenience.
https://mobile.twitter.com/GhostsSoup/status/1459773983008735236
Yet another user asked GhostSoup how he'd already gotten his hands on the game, at which point GhostSoup replied that he didn't have the game--someone who does is testing his mods for him.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl launch for the Switch on November 19th, 2021.