Friday, October 11, 2013

Paper Pokémon

Screw Paper Mario. Thanks to that series' last two entries, I've lost a lot of interest in the IP. (That said, if Nintendo can return it to its former brilliance--say, with a Wii U-based sequel that picks up where The Thousand Year Door left off--I probably could be swayed to give it another chance.)

I've far from lost interest in the idea of Nintendo games that feature a paper-y aesthetic, though. I'd love to see a The Legend of Zelda spin-off that stars characters and locales that look as though they're pieces of origami, for instance.

Would I like to play a Pokémon game that uses some sort of Paper Mario-esque art style? Until fairly recently, I would've responded to that question with a resounding, "Hell no!" Now that I've seen this deviantart gallery, though, I'm not so sure.

After all, artist Paprik-a's creations are as awesome as they are unique--or at least that's my opinion of them. Case in point: his take on Pokémon X/Y's Chesnaught.


His Delphox is pretty sweet, too:


As is his Greninja:


To see more of Paprik-a's inventive Pokémon portraits, check out paprik-a.deviantart.com or paprik--a.tumblr.com.

Speaking of Pokémon X and Y, by the way: which starter are those of you who are picking up one or both of these titles this weekend (or at some point in the future) planning to select?

Ever since I decided to buy a copy of Pokémon X, I've been leaning toward Fennekin as my starter (and Bulbasaur as my Red/Green/Blue starter).

A few days ago, though, I changed my mind and decided Froakie and Bulbasaur may be better picks--what with a special version of Torchic being made available to early-ish adopters.

Will any of you be taking a similar route, or will you be going with a different duo of starters?

14 comments:

Nightmare Bruce said...

I decided as soon as I first saw the starters--Froakie supremacy all the way. If I can choose a Gen1 starter too (haven't really read much on the game) I'd go with Bulbasaur as well, since he's the first starter I ever got back in Blue. Since then I've always gone with water type though.



Those paper characters are great. I used to try to make them, but my brain can't plan them out correctly. They're a lot harder than they look, it turns out!

thegaygamer.com said...

You get to choose a Gen1 starter at some point in the game, Michael, although I don't know when.


I think I chose Squirtle back in the day, but I can't remember. Regardless, I hold no allegiances in this game, so this time around I'm going with Bulbasaur just because I think he's cute.


As for these creations: I can't tell if they're actually made out of paper or just made to look like they're made out of paper (so, illustrations). The artist doesn't really explain things on his deviantart page.

Zaphod65 said...

I always choose the grass starter, so Team Chespin all the way; however, I'm buying both games and a 2DS... so I'll probably have all three starters pretty fast.

Justin Difazzio said...

I've been in love with Chespin since I first saw him. And...as far as the other one...Charmander? Maybe?

thegaygamer.com said...

It's funny/interesting to me how we all glom onto different starter Pokemon for different reasons, Justin. What was it about Chespin that called out to you, BTW?


I'd say Fennekin's always been my favorite when it comes to X/Y starters, although I've always liked Froakie, too.


Really, all three are cute, so it doesn't much matter to me which I go with. For whatever reason, though, I usually prefer water and fire Pokemon to the other varieties...

thegaygamer.com said...

Well, there you go, Terry! Which color 2DS are you getting, BTW? Or is the red-and-white one the only one available in your neck of the woods?

Zaphod65 said...

I have a red XL, so I chose the blue 2DS. My vacation starts tomorrow, so I imagine it'll get a lot of use from my nieces and nephews... the target age bracket. lol

thegaygamer.com said...

Ah, makes sense to me! Also, have fun getting to know the game this weekend. I won't get my copy for a while yet, I imagine. Oh, well, more time to spend with Luigi's Mansion, I guess :)

Javadoze the swift said...

While I REALLY like all three starters this time around and wanted to go with Fennekin seeing as I never choose a fire starter, I'm going with a Chespin/Charmander combo.

I wasn't too enthused about Chespin actually until I saw its final evolution combined with this artwork http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/278/4/1/41103699a526a3657fa8464fedd995ce-d6pe708.jpg

thegaygamer.com said...

That is a nice piece of art, Javadoze--despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan of Chespin's final evolution.


Of course, I'm not much of a fan of evolved Pokemon, period, so I guess that shouldn't be too surprising :)

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

Well I not one of these people, some might consider this post a spoiler since I don't think Nintendo's shown off the final evolution starters yet.



Also it Nintendo seems to be really advertising Charizard lately. They brought him back in the anime, there're giving 2 mega evolutions while Venasaur and Blastoise just get 1, and Red chose Charmander as his starter and evolved him in Pokemon Origins. Also I'm guessing based off of other comments you made that Mega Evolution isn't really doing it for you is it Bryan?

thegaygamer.com said...

Yeah, I thought about that before publishing the post, Sam, but I decided to go with it anyway because: 1) they're just representations of the final evos and 2) there weren't many other X/Y depictions I could have used instead.


Still, sorry to anyone who feels spoiled by this post. That wasn't my intention!


As for this entry's Mega Evolutions not doing it for me: no, not really. Like I've said before, I'm one of those weird eggs who would prefer to leave all of my Pokemon in their original form.


What can I say? I like cute Pokemon! And most of the evolved ones are pretty mean/ugly.


What are your thoughts on the Mega Evolutions, BTW?

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I think that mega evos might help shake up battle startiges since you'll need to consider which Pokemon you want to mega evolve and when you want to mega evolve it. I also think people are over reacting when they call it a Digimon ripoff (which by the way is not a ripoff of Pokemon, the only thing the Anime for both had in common is they both received crappy censored English dubs with new theme songs for the dubs).


I also don't blame you for liking cute pokemon. I want to try pokemon-amie because it looks like it could end up being a cute distraction from the main game.

thegaygamer.com said...

Yeah, it'll definitely be interesting to see how the Megas play out in the end--if people wind up loving them, hating them, etc.


As for Pokemon-amie: I don't know enough about it yet to say if I'll be spending much time with it. It certainly looks ... interesting.