Ever since the Pokemon Presents on Feburary 27, fans have been talking almost non-stop about the announcement of Pokemon's ninth generation. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are set to release later this year, and the current trailer has made it look rather promising. As part of the announcement, the new generation's starters were revealed, and one fan has decided to make a sprite of the grass-type creature in the style of Generation 5's pixel art.
Pokemon started on the Game Boy back in 1996, and as a result, a majority of the series used sprites and pixel art as its way of showcasing the world and creatures. With every installment of the series, the level of detail seemed to grow as games like Pokemon Gold and Silver added color, and Pokemon Crystal made it the norm that the 3rd game in a set would have animated sprites. The fifth-generation, Pokemon Black and White, made sprites that consistently moved, which was rather charming to a lot of fans.
One pixel artist by the name of Olechandserif has shared their recent work to Reddit, which features Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's grass-type starter, Sprigatito, in an animated loop similar to those seen in Generation 5. The little grass cat-like creature bobs on its feet, and even occasionally meows at the end of the loop.
The post's comments are covered with praise for the level of detail Olechandserif put into the little animation, as well as general talk about the franchise. Many Sprigatito fans mention how much they love the grass-type, as well as some mentioning how much they want Sprigatito to stay on all fours once evolving. Others are finding themselves nostalgic over the days when Pokemon used to use sprites. Some seem to be wishing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would use pixel art over the 3D models seen in current games.
Even though Generation 5 brought in fully animated sprites to the series, it also marked the end of the series' use of pixel art primarily as Generation 6 switched to 3D models. While Pokemon Stadium fans loved seeing the creatures in 3D more frequently, some fans still miss the sprite style in older Pokemon games.
However, Game Freak using 3D models for the creatures seemingly made tackling the use of the National Dex easier on the games' development cycles. Even removing the National Dex in future Pokemon titles has shown an increase in quality as balancing the game across what now sits at over 900 Pokemon isn't taking so much time during development. Pokemon Legends: Arceus served to be a statement as to what can be done with a limited Pokedex in future games, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet so far looks to be following in Legends: Arceus' footsteps in the same way.
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet are due to release late 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.