Pokemon fan reimagines Gen 1 in stunning HD-2D artstyle

One skilled Pokemon fan designed an HD-2D remake of the Gen 1 games similar to Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler.

With the past few Pokemon titles, some players have criticized the franchise’s direction in artstyle. Specifically, the chibi graphics in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. In addition to the unfamiliar style, the Gen 4 remakes were overall underwhelming in terms of difficulty.

Considering the divided opinion on featured illustrations, RPG enthusiasts wondered what the Pokemon games could have looked like with HD-2D graphics. One Square Enix fan fulfilled their dreams with his Gen 1 HD-2D remake.

Pokemon fan creates a beautiful HD-2D remake of Gen 1

3D pixel artist Dott has taken his love for RPGs to the next level by developing an HD-2D Pokemon game using Unreal Engine. As seen in the video, Dott reimagines Vermillion City as a lovely seaside town straight out of Octopath Traveler or Triangle Strategy.

In another clip, the designer depicts Pokemon Red’s Pallet Town complete with a look inside the protagonist’s house. Each version is topped off with orchestral arrangements of nostalgic tracks from the Pokemon Game Boy titles.

Many Pokemon fans praised Dott’s HD-2D reimagining in the comment section – wishing Game Freak would have gone with this artstyle instead. “HD-2D seems like the more appropriate graphical leap for Pokemon instead of 3D,” ㄥ6ƃuᴉʞuosɯᴉɹƆ wrote. “Too bad we’ll never get anything official like this.”

Others hoped Game Freak would employ HD-2D graphics sometime in the future. “I’m hoping bw/bw2 remake do this since it was the first of the Pokemon games to try to mix both 2d and 3d kinda like a beta HD-2D,” Chocolate Jake wished. “It would definitely make it stand out from even the 3d Pokemon games.”

Dott has also recreated games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Check out his YouTube channel for additional videos.