With the rising popularity of the HD-2D remake - seen in titles such as Star Ocean: Second Story R, the criminally underappreciated Octopath Traveler 2, and the upcoming Dragon Quest 3 remake - Pokemon fans are looking on and wondering what they have to do to try and make Game Freak do something similar with its older titles.

After years of the studio refusing to deliver, while creating some rather lackluster remakes itself, fans have been trying to make their own HD-2D remakes for quite some time, with one fan having remade Pokemon Red back in 2023. It now seems to be Pokemon Black & White's turn in the spotlight, as a YouTuber called Shemne has spent the last year giving the title an Octopath Traveler-inspired remake (thanks GamesRadar).

Of course, one person completely remaking the entirety of Pokemon Black & White with the same art style as Octopath Traveler within the space of a single year would have been a monumental task, so Shemne's video showcasing their project only includes the starting town of Nuvema Town, along with Route 1 and the Striaton City gym. Shemne even got the game's battle engine working pretty much perfectly, giving us a true glimpse at what a Pokemon Black & White HD-2D remake could look like.

What makes this entire project even more impressive is that Shemne was a complete game development newbie at the start of their project, doing research and using Unreal Engine and Blender tutorials to get better. Throughout their project, they managed to learn how to create pixel art, how to do landscaping, and how to model 3D objects. It's enough to make you want to pick up Unreal Engine and try some game development for yourself.

Hopefully, someone at Game Freak sees Shemne's work and is hit with some diving inspiration, though that may be wishful thinking on my part. We know that Pokemon Black & White is the next title in the chain of remakes, despite the fact that some of us may not even want one after Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

Thankfully, we have Pokemon Legends: Z-A to look forward to before then, which should deliver some of that great gameplay we got from Legends: Arceus, along with the long-awaited return of Mega Evolutions. After that, it's likely we'll get our Pokemon Black & White remakes, so at least there's some time before Game Freak breaks our hearts once again.



Posted: Jul 18, 2024 12:06 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-black-white-fan-makes-hd-2d-remake/