Tag: The Pokémon Company

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Ed Sheeran teams up with The Pokémon Company on ‘Celestial’ song

Ed Sheeran has partnered with The Pokémon Company to release a new song inspired by the massively popular monster-catching franchise.

On Twitter, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter confirmed that a new Pokémon-themed single, “Celestial,” will drop on September 29th. When Sheeran collaborated with The Pokémon Company last year on a special Pokémon Go performance, it was focused on existing, non-Pokémon-related songs. “Celestial,” however, directly leans into Sheeran’s love of the series.

He briefly teased “Celestial” earlier this week in a social media video offering a glimpse at his large Pokémon plushie collection. He also got a Squirtle tattoo in celebration of the song. As one Twitter user pointed out, Sheeran has even been publicly professing his love for Pokémon since at least 2011 when he described Pokémon Black as “wicked.”

It’s unclear exactly how Pokémon will factor into the song, but Sheeran did share a doodle of himself with a Pikachu on his shoulder in his tweet. Presumably, the music video will feature Pokémon visuals and other inspired flourishes, which is what we saw in previous Pokémon collab songs from the likes of Katy Perry and Post Malone.

Outside of Sheeran’s upcoming single, The Pokémon Company is gearing up for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which will launch on the Nintendo Switch on November 18th, 2022.

Image credit: @edsheeran

Source: @edsheeran

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Pokémon fans reimagine the Pokémon Red and Blue I’ve always wanted

A small group of fans have reimagined Pokémon Red and Blue. The team took the original game’s artwork and ran with it, fully realizing the world with a modern vision.

A Twitter account under the guide @Pokeyugami posted a short clip of its remake of the Gen-1 games. The account claims that the group is comprised of those “creating fan art with the theme of Pokémon in [a] space-time different from ours.” In a post, the account shows a brief look at a reimagined Viridian forest, an early location in the game.

Pokémon Red and Blue features a sprite-heavy art design when exploring the world and navigating from town to town. However, when in battles, the game transitions to a beautiful art style, showcasing each Pokémon. Pokeyugami took that aspect and blends it with a 3D-inspired design. The result is a painted art style that maintains the original look of each Pokémon.

The short 17-second clips show us Weedle, Caterpie, and Pikachu, who at the time had a slightly different design. Even the look of the Bug Catcher trainer is maintained yet updated.

While I certainly love the attention to detail and care put into the project, it is an unofficial fan’s piece of work. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have no ties to this remake. With that in mind, my dreams of playing this remake are very slim.

That said, The Pokémon Company has been experimenting with various art styles in recent years. Pokémon Let’s Go Pickachu and Eevee incorporate some heavy use of 3D models and environments. This trend continued in Pokémon Sword and Shield. Additionally, Pokémon Legends Arceus takes a very different route and delivers on an open-world vision. Finally, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl incorporate a Chibi-style design into their world.

While I don’t expect Pokémon games to ever adopt an art style like this, I can appreciate there are those who value the original art style first brought to light in 1996.

Image credit: @Pokeyugami

Source: @Pokeyugami Via: IGN

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Nintendo scrubs Pokémon FPS videos from the internet

All footage of a Pokémon first-person shooter fan project is being wiped from digital existence.

Video of the game appeared on Reddit weeks ago and garnered an explosive fan response. But as is usually the case with Nintendo-owned IP being used without its permission, the Big N is scrubbing all evidence of the game online.

Video of the Pokémon x FPS blew up on YouTube and Twitter in recent days as fans got a taste of what it would be like to slay their favourite little Pocket Monsters. Reddit-user and developer of the game, Dragon_GameDev2 originally posted footage of the project on Reddit, and his initial post is one of the only places online where you can still get a glimpse of the title.

The video that was pulled featured players wielding various weapons to take down Pokémon like Articuno, Nidoking, and even the eternally-adorable Pikachu. It is a bloody take on the franchise that rarely strays beyond its usual family-friendly fare.

While most companies are fairly stringent when it comes to the use of their IP and brands, Nintendo is one of the harshest. In recent years the Japanese gaming giant has had gamers up in arms for their treatments of projects such as this.

One of the biggest criticisms lobbied their way is the inability to discern the difference between a fan project (that will likely be released for free) and something using their IP for commercial gain.

Nintendo has yet to publicly comment on the Pokémon FPS project and is unlikely to do so with Pokémon Legends Arceus coming out later this week.

Image credit: Reddit ‘Dragon_GameDev2’ (screenshot)

Via: IGN