A talented Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fan created Gen 5 sprites for Walking Wake and Iron Leaves. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were part of the Pokemon Day 2023 celebrations, where Game Freak revealed new content for the franchise. Among the announcements was the introduction of more Pokemon to the Gen 9 games, and two names on the list are familiar to fans.
New Paradox Pokemon have been added to Gen 9 of Pokemon games. One of them is Walking Wake, a Water/Dragon-type that is the Paradox form of Suicune. Originally a Water-type Legendary Pokemon introduced in Gen 2, Suicune Legendary beasts with Raikou and Entei. The second new Paradox Pokemon is Iron Leaves, the Grass/Psychic-type that is the Paradox form of Virizion. Introduced in Gen 5, Virizion is a Grass/Fighting-type Legendary Pokemon and a member of the quartet known as Swords of Justice.
While Pokemon Black and White remakes are still not real, Reddit user Jordanos11 created sprites showing what it would look like if Walking Wake and Iron Leaves belonged in Gen 5. Jordanos11 displays detailed work with beautiful pixel art, where the Pokemon appear at various angles. The most eye-catching part is that the user has also created sprites with shiny versions for the two Paradox Pokemon. Walking Wake keeps its original body color and its long mane changes from purple to blue. Shiny Iron Leaves, on the other hand, curiously reinforces the fact that it is a Future Paradox Pokemon, as the silver color could easily be associated with metal.
Jordanos11's post received thousands of upvotes on the Pokemon subreddit, with several users praising the Walking Wake and Iron Leaves sprites. One user, in particular, expressed their desire to see a main series game that would once again use Gen 5 graphics, and other Redditors agreed with the idea. A second user commented that they would like the possibility of showing Pokemon as the 2D sprites created by Jordanos11. The only detail missing, however, is the fact that the sprites were not animated, which would have shown what the Gen 5 version of Paradox Pokemon would look like in motion.
Pokemon fans continue to express their adoration for the franchise in different ways, including creating Gen 5 sprites for Pokemon other than Walking Wake and Iron Leaves. This shows that although the Pokemon series has decided to stick with 3D graphics, there is still room in fans' hearts to fondly remember the graphics of the older games.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available for the Nintendo Switch.
