The art style of a title like Monster Hunter goes a long way to make the monsters and the world they inhabit feel unique, even up against the crowd of similar games. However, when it comes to fan art, sometimes artists will try to adapt well-known designs from these games into their own style or pull characters and creatures like Pokemon Diamond and Pearl's Garchomp into a whole other franchise.
This is exactly what artist Marcus Hii, also known as Xezeno online, did when transporting Garchomp from the anime-inspired Pokémon series into the more realistic style of Monster Hunter. In this case realistic specifically is pertaining to the level of detail on Monster Hunter's creatures and the influence in design from real-life creatures, not the fantastically sized weapons or living, breathing dinosaurs.
The artist's latest piece imagines Garchomp as a Diablos-like wyvern from Monster Hunter, replacing the Pokémon's normally smooth textures with jagged scales and pointed horns. A few key aspects and proportions did have to be changed to fit the Monster Hunter style, such as a longer tail and horns made of bone instead of just more purple skin. From the look of the design, this armored, purple monster would be as tough of a fight for hunters as it is for trainers when facing off against Garchomp in Cynthia's gym in Diamond and Pearl.
This also isn't the first time that Hii has taken creatures from the Pokémon series and transferred them specifically into the more brutal world of Monster Hunter. Another recent piece depicting Pokemon's Vaporeon in the same style has some fans rallying again to see underwater combat return to the Monster Hunter series at some point in the future. Then in the case of Garchomp specifically, Hii has previously transformed the Pokémon into a mecha version that could easily pass for a Gundam or creature from the Horizon series.
Fan art has a unique way of allowing things like Monster Hunter and Pokémon to interact in ways that might not otherwise be possible in any official capacity. No matter how much players ask to see Hii's Garchomp appear in Capcom's game, it would take a considerable amount of work between the developer and Nintendo to actually see a project like that through. Maybe more fans will add Garchomp as a skin through modding Monster Hunter Rise, but even then it's up to the passion of fans like Hii to realize some of these wishes, even just as art.
Monster Hunter Rise is available now for PC and Switch.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are available now for Switch.