The very first Pokemon games were released for Nintendo's Game Boy handheld, a relatively weak device that had at that point been on the market for a whopping seven years. This meant that all the Pokemon in the game were represented by sprites, which is something that continued for Pokemon Gold and Silver, Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl, and finally, Black and White. Pokemon X and Y on the Nintendo 3DS marked a significant shift in the franchise's art style, featuring 3D animated Pokemon instead of sprites.
Sprites have not been a part of the Pokemon franchise since Generation 5, and so Pokemon introduced in the generations after that only have 3D models for their official forms. Some Pokemon fans like to imagine what these newer Pokemon would have looked like had they released during older Pokemon generations. This includes Reddit user SpritersBlock, who recently recreated some of the new Pokemon from the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games with Gen 5-style sprites.
The latest Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trailer introduced the world to five new Pokemon, increasing the total number of new Pokemon revealed for the new games to eight so far. The new Pokemon including the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet box art legendaries, but they also included some smaller Pokemon that players will presumably encounter fairly early on in their adventures.
Lechonk, Pawmi, and Smoliv were all revealed to Pokemon fans in the latest Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trailer. SpritersBlock remade all three of those Pokemon with Generation 5 sprites, showing what they would have looked like had they debuted during the Pokemon Black and White era. The designs are cute and reflect their official models quite well, and it would be interesting to see other Pokemon Scarlet and Violet get old-school makeovers like this.
Out of all the new Pokemon revealed for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet so far, the one that appears to be running away with the popularity contest is Lechonk. Lechonk is a Normal-type Pokemon that resembles a chubby pig, and it has spawned countless pieces of fan art and other tributes since it was revealed. There will likely be many more new Pokemon revealed for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet before the games' release date later this year, so it will be interesting to see if anything is revealed that eclipses Lechonk's popularity.
The Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release date isn't too far off, and so fans should be treated to more trailers and other reveals about the games sooner rather than later.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launch November 18, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.