Featured Image Credit: Game Freak
Topics: Pokemon, Game Freak, Nintendo
A fan artist has created a stunning reimaging of the Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver games in glorious 2D-HD.
Japanese artist and designer Dott, showcased a video depicting the Pokémon world of Johto from the generation II games in a 2D-HD style similar to games like the recent Octopath Traveller 2, and it's visually breath-taking.
The 2D-HD style takes classic 2D visuals that use a lot of pixel art and combines them with visual effects found in modern game engines, creating beautiful in-game art that’s complemented by superb lighting.
Dott’s demo takes place in Ecruteak City, a key area in the Gen II games for being the first time the player encounters four legendary Pokémon. It showcases gorgeous lighting and shadow effects, updated sprites, and a stunning art style combined with familiar music found in the original game.
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It’s truly overwhelming to see Johto look so incredible, while still retaining its familiarity with fans who played the original games. The Burned Tower and The Tin Tower in particular look glorious in the art style, being two of the key landmarks in Ecruteak City and where some of the key story events take place.
One thing missing from the demo is the Pokémon themselves. We get a tiny glimpse of a Stantler standing in the overworld but don’t see anything more than that. However, we’re sure that the Pokémon battles would have looked as equally gorgeous as the world they’d take place in.
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver released in 2009 for the Nintendo DS, being remakes of Pokémon Gold/Silver and Pokémon Crystal (the best one) which were originally released in 1999 for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color respectively. Many fans still believe Gen II was the pinnacle of the Pokémon series, largely due to its story, expanded Pokémon roster and including the whole Kanto area from Pokémon Red and Blue.
While the Gen II remakes are praised for their reimagining, this 2D-HD coat of paint completely blows them out of the water visually.
With many fans hoping to see re-remakes of the older Pokémon games, we can only hope that Game Freak adopts an art style similar to the HD-2D style, rather than the disappointing visuals seen in the Sinnoh remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.