It’s been over 26 years now since we first stepped foot into Pokémon Red and Blue’s iconic Kanto region, launching the series into the absolute behemoth that it is today. Although after all this time, Bulbasaur is still the very best ‘mon (I take no constructive criticism on this opinion, thanks), the series has changed a lot - the transition to 3D in 2013 was a biggie in and of itself, and now we’re finally getting the open-world adventures we’d dreamed of for years.
The first generation games have already seen multiple remakes over the years, with FireRed and LeafGreen on the GBA and the more recent Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee on the Switch, not to mention the inclusion of Kanto in Gold, Silver and Crystal (as well as HeartGold and SoulSilver). To be honest, dear reader, by the time Let’s Go rolled around, I felt very Kanto’d out. But after seeing this incredible fan-made project, I can wholeheartedly say that I’ve changed my mind - we need this new remake in our lives.
Fans are constantly reimagining Pokémon in loads of different ways - check out the creation of some brilliant realistic artworks below.
I’m not the only one who thinks that, either - as reported by Dexerto, this concept for a gorgeous reimagining of Red and Blue has been going viral. Made by @pokeyugami, it sees illustrator Ken Sugimori’s iconic watercolour art style, which long-term fans will recognise from the games’ original artwork, brought to life. Like in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, all the Pokémon appear right there on the overworld - the UI appears to take inspiration from that game, too.
Those who have spent far too much time in the world of Pokémon (this is a call-out for myself) will recognise the area in the video as Viridian Forest - complete with Bug Catchers ready to pounce, and wild Weedle, Caterpie and Pikachu populating the tall grass. While the clip is only 17 seconds long, I think we can all agree that we’ve seen more than enough to know that this needs to be an actual thing, pronto.
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Sadly of course, this isn’t an official game, but hopefully the devs over at Game Freak might take some inspiration from the project - if we ever do go back to Kanto again, it needs to be like this.
Featured Image Credit: @pokeyugami via Twitter, The Pokémon Company