Pokemon fans are divided over a contentious change Game Freak is seemingly making to the series with Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The point of contention was raised by a Pokemon fan over on Twitter, who noted that it appears the former games display Pokemon via 3D models while the latter is using mugshots. In other words, neither are using 2D sprites, which the series is primarily known for.
It’s unclear why Game Freak has decided to move away from 2D sprites, and it’s also unclear if this is a permanent direction or just for these specific releases. In fact, it’s worth noting that none of this may be relevant because the evidence below, the images, could simply be placeholders.
It looks as though BDSP and Legends are doing away with sprites completely, as Pokémon display stills of their 3D models (BDSP), mugshots (Legends), and official PGL artwork for items (both games).
Makes me a little sad because I love their sprite work, but I’m not surprised. pic.twitter.com/1CZHGk4oO0
— Matt (@mattyoukhana_) August 18, 2021
As noted, this change is serving as a point of contention, with some players unhappy with the change and others viewing it positively.
“I liked the sprites in Sword and Shield but I honestly like the change, it looks nice and clean to me,” said one fan of the change. “I’m sorta okay with this just because the sprites in Sword and Shield looked ugly because they didn’t scale very well with the Switch’s screen resolution so they looked weird and blurry,” added another fan, in partial agreement. Though I would have rather just had them fix that problem than do this, but I guess this is fine.”
“Oh, come one, that was like the one thing left that had to ruin! I love those little sprites, seeing them hop up and down when you had them highlighted with the cursor is nine kinds of adorable,” said a third fan, in complete disagreement. “Sigh. Pokemon games truly are dead.”
As always, we will be sure to update the story as it develops. In the meantime, feel free to hit the comments section with your thoughts or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. What do you think of this change?
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