Do you think Pokemon should get a graphical redesign?

[CoolKid575]

I've been playing Super Mario Wonder a lot these past few days and I absolutely love how they redid Mario's design; they realized the NSMB style had overstayed its welcome and went in a completely different direction. It got me thinking about about whether Pokemon should attempt something similar; not necessarily going to HD2D as some threads have suggested. More getting rid of the albatross that is the 3DS-era models and giving the newer games more of their own visual identity. I thought Gen 7 actually did a good job with this; having a unique "look" to them. But Gens 8 and 9 feel generic to me. What do you guys think? Is Pokemon's current look fine, or is it time for a refresh?

 

[MVs.C Fan]

Yeah, i think it's time for a new and fresh graphic design for newer Pokémon games. Maybe we could get a region with more "movement" (i don't know how to say this) and expressive characters (saying this, i mean the characters should show more emmotions, like an animated series). Also, interactions with Pokémon could be more like how it's show in Anime and Manga.

I'm not good with my immagination, so i say whatever that comes to my head

 

[Devalue]

Maybe? Sounds good in theory. Found the 3D models acceptable at first, with X/Y. Avoided the blockiness of early 3D that befell Golden Sun and N64 games. Prefers the old 2D models over 3D, however. Doubts them returning to that. Does not mesh with the 3D world Pokemon is in now.

Mainly worries about getting the Detective Pikachu (movie) treatment. Looked wrong (based on still images). Picks the current models over those any day.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

They still are making these games like they were for handhelds. They dont just need graphics they need to finally get that triple A game

 

[ReKoil]

I think the Pokemon themselves look good, maybe even better than ever with some of the changes to the models they made in SV (like certain Steel types actually looking like they are made of some type of metal, for example).

The environment/world in the games however.... let's just say I preferred the style Sword/Shield had over SV's. Whenever I load up SV and play for a bit it just feels... like a generic open world game, I guess? Nothing really stands out or has a distinct recognizable style that says I'm playing a Pokemon game to me... which is an effect SwSh did have for me.
Perhaps the DLC does that better in SV, but I haven't played that yet.

 

[Setsuna]

Maybe? Sounds good in theory.

This statement sums it up for me.

I think it'd be a great idea and could potentially breathe new life into some designs people aren't as fond of, but... people are going to complain, unfortunately. People are already so against the change to 3D models that it'd be a really risky change for them to make. I'd like to see it, maybe just for a single game, but it's a thing I don't think they'd ever do. Would love to be proven wrong, though.

 

[GameBunnyAdvance]

I think it would be nice if Pokemon had its own distinct visual style, preferably one a bit more minimalistic that doesn't tax the hardware or Game Freak's painfully limited design capabilities. I think less of a focus on "high quality visuals" would allow them to focus on other elements - perhaps writing an original narrative, rather than recycling the same one from the previous generations, and fleshing out the characters - and make the most of their unnecessarily limited development time. When I look at Rescue Team DX I can't help but feel the visuals in that game feel more suited to Pokemon than what was presented in the eighth and ninth generation titles; the colour palette was generally more vibrant and the models were more expressive, if less textured. If we can't have a return to sprites or something akin to the upscaled "HD sprite" visual style of the likes of Nexomon, I think that'd be an acceptable compromise.

 

[Zeostar]

I wouldn't even mind seeing them try to experiment with a unique art style. I couldn't even describe what's going on now but it's not holding up to modern standards. A game can look beautiful without going for realism. (Okami, Paper Mario, Wind Waker). Maybe Pokemon should find this too.

 

[Sheep]

What Zeo said! I agree. I like me some nice-looking realistic or 3D games as much as the next person but I like memorable visuals even more. Pokémon seems to have kind of lost that over time. I wish they'd experiment a little more - the series will probably sell incredibly well regardless when main series are concerned, so I think it's a risk they can take. I'm not too thrilled about the graphical direction the mainline games have taken.

 

[Harmonie]

A unique artstyle might be neat.

HD2D? No. Please, no. That style makes my eyes burn. (I know you didn't suggest it, but I just had to comment lol) I actually like the current 3D models of Pokemon, and I think that the designs of the Pokemon are actually the best thing graphically about the Switch games. It's everything else (including the animations of Pokemon) that could use a lot of work.