One Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fan decided to bring the newest Pokemon back to the Gen 2 sprite style. They took several Gen 9 Pokemon and recreated them in the in-game art style for a retro Pokemon Scarlet and Violet look.
The Pokemon game series began in 1996 when Gen 1 was released in Japan, and later came to the US in 1998, and has been hugely popular ever since. With the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the well-loved series has reached Gen 9, and brought with it 103 new Pokemon, although apparently, only one Gen 9 Pokemon is in the top 5 competitive Pokemon so far. Despite that, a lot of fans are pretty happy with the variety of new Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet.
LimitIV posted their image to the Pokemon subreddit, showing off 12 Gen 9 Pokemon reimagined in the classic Gen 2 style. As the starters for Gen 9, Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly were first in the image, followed by Smoliv, a small olive-shaped Grass-type. The next row featured adorable twin mice Pokemon Tandemaus, then canine Fidough and its evolution Dachsbun. The row finished with the rock salt Pokemon Nacli. The final row is composed of the dual-type Poison/Ground Clodsire, small Grass-type Capsakid, cute hamster Pawmi, and the hammer-wielding Tinkatuff. While some fans have found a few of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Gen 9 Pokemon designs quite funny looking, LimitIV's Gen 2 recreations received a lot of praise in the subreddit.
LimitIV definitely nailed the old-school sprite style of Pokemon Gold and Silver with their fan art, and the Pokemon fans commenting on the post enjoyed seeing what the newer Pokemon could look like if they were ported into the Gen 2 games. It's no surprise that fans enjoyed these fan-made sprites since the Gen 2 remakes Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver helped Nintendo dominate sales charts in March 2010, with almost 2 million sales between the two of them. There are clearly a lot of Pokemon players who hold the Gen 2 games and Pokemon in high regard.
Of course, there are no doubt plenty of Pokemon players who enjoy the more modern graphics and art style of the newer games in the series. They do allow for more cinematic battles, and players can really admire how good some of the new Pokemon look. While it is nostalgic, the older Pokemon sprites are much less detailed than newer designs are. Still, players continue to make old-school versions of new Pokemon, like one fan's Koraidon art in the Pokemon Gold and Silver style. Maybe Game Freak should look into making a new retro-style Pokemon game for players who want to revisit the graphics style of previous games.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.
