There was a lot of exciting information that came out of last week’s Pokemon Presents, however, one fan noticed something that might be changing Pokemon games forever. Based on the presentation, it looks like Pokemon Legends: Arceus as well as both Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be dropping the classic Pokemon sprites when viewing them through the in-game menus.
Pointed out by Twitter user @Mattyoukhana_, it looks as if sprite work might be leaving the series for good with the newest entries in the Pokemon franchise. As they show in the tweet, not only have the sprites for each individual Pokemon been replaced but the sprites for Poke Balls and all other in-game items are gone as well.
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Instead of the dedicated sprites for each Pokemon, Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be replacing them with 3D renders of a close-up of each monster’s face. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s replacements are closer to the spite work of games past, as they feature full-body renders of each Pokemon, but are still noticeably different than older games in the series.
Similar replacements have been made to items in each game with Legends: Arceus using official artwork for its trainers’ inventory. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are also using official art for in-game items, however, as the Pokeballs don’t have any major design changes, like the one seen in Legends: Arceus, they still look pretty similar to their sprite counterparts.
Pokemon fans in the comments of the tweet by @Mattyoukhana_ seem to have mixed feelings about the change to the series. Some think that while the shift away from sprites makes the games lose a certain level of charm, it does make for a cleaner design overall, while others argue that Pokemon’s historic roots are being forgotten. A change like this is bound to divide some fans, however, it seems like the Pokemon Company is doubling down on it as both of the mainline Pokemon entries that it showed off during the presentation look to be dropping sprites for good.
The change to the series’ traditional sprite work isn’t the only thing that Pokemon Legends: Arceus is changing up, however. Many fans were disappointed with the lack of new features in Pokemon Sword and Shield, and it seems like Legends: Arceus is a good look at what the future of Pokemon will look like. The game looks like it’s putting a much heavier emphasis on the nature of wild Pokemon, making the player engage with the world much more in ways never before seen in a Pokemon title. That among other things has fans excited to experience the game and see what’s in store for Pokemon’s future.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus will launch exlusively on the Nintendo Switch on January 28th, 2022.
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