One dedicated Pokémon has released a “HD-2D” remake of the original games in the series built in Unreal Engine 5.
The Pokémon series is one of the most popular franchises in all of gaming, and it’s one that continues to get lots of praise from fans today.
While most Pokémon games now play with 3D movement and graphics, a lot of fans still have nostalgia for the 2D games that used to be released on Game Boy and Nintendo DS.
Pokémon fans can now feast their eyes on a new HD-2D remake of the original Pokémon games, showing what modern graphics could look like in a classic game.
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YouTube channel FIONX has shared a video demonstrating this, showing about 36 minutes of gameplay of the character exploring Kanto. The video explores various towns and locations within Kanto, with places like Viridian City, Lavender Town, and Vermilion City.
It doesn’t feature any additional mechanics such as Pokémon battles or NPC dialogue, instead you’re only able to explore Kanto.
Still though, it’s rather impressive for what we’ve got. The towns seem rather busy with all the different NPCs going about their day, and you can even see different Pokémon wandering around in the countryside, which is pretty cool.
The “HD-2D” graphics as seen in the video resemble similar visuals seen in various recent 2D Square Enix JRPGs like the Octopath Traveller series, Triangle Strategy, or the upcoming The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.
The remake is certainly a good proof-of-concept for a new Pokémon game made in the style of the original titles, while still retaining a modern coat of paint.
Next year marks the 30th anniversary of Pokémon, and a remake done in this way might be the right project for The Pokémon Company to commemorate the occasion.
It’d hopefully mean we could at least get Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue on modern hardware. Nintendo, please.
Despite the fact that Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 support Game Boy games via the classics catalogue on Nintendo Switch Online, classic Pokémon games have yet to appear on the service.
The reason as to why is because of ownership and distribution rights of the series. Nintendo shares the rights to the series with Game Freak and Creatures Inc., with The Pokémon Company overseeing all brand management of the series. So that might be what’s holding them up from appearing on the subscription service.