We’d play this if it was real (pic: YouTube)
A fan has recreated the original Pokémon game with the graphics from Octopath Traveler and it looks very impressive.
There are plenty of indie games, and even a few releases from bigger publishers, that try to look like retro games even though they’re brand new, but Square Enix’s HD-2D tech is different: it looks like a 16-bit retro game but mixed with 3D models and modern texture and lighting effects.
It’s been used in a number of games so far, including the two Octopath Traveler games, Triangle Strategy, and the remake of Live A Live.
Lots more are on their way, including a remake of Dragon Quest 3, but one clever fan has created a gameplay video showing what a Pokémon Red and Blue remake would look like if it was made in HD-2D.
As you can see, everything looks very authentic, although the video does underline the downside of HD-2D, in that everything looks very dark and miserable, which has always been a flaw of the graphics engine.
The video is by a 3D graphics artist known only as Dott and shows the main character walking around Pallett town from the start of the game.
Everything is laid out as it was in the 1996 Game Boy originals, but there’s no sign of what a Pokémon battle might look like – although considering HD-2D games still use 2D sprites for their characters probably not as different as walking around the overworld.
Although Nintendo always strikes down anyone making fan games based on their properties they seem to have left this one alone for now, as it’s very short and it is just a video.
There have already been two official remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue, with FireRed and LeafGreen for the Game Boy Advance and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! for the Nintendo Switch.
Neither looked anything like this video though and since another remake is probably inevitable at some point this fan creation may well end up inspiring future games.
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A fan has recreated the original Pokémon game with the graphics from Octopath Traveler and it looks very impressive.