For Pokemon Emerald's 20th birthday, 130 artists grouped up and redrew all 386 Pokemon and put them all in a playable romhack

To celebrate the 20th anniversary since the Japan launch of Pokemon Emerald, a group of 130 artists has joined forces and redrawn all of the game's 386 Pokemon and put them into a romhack.

Pokemon Emerald is one of the most beloved Game Boy Advance games and fans generally consider its visuals timeless, but if you just want a new way to play a classic game, you might consider checking out Pokemon Emerald: ReSpirited, which swaps out all of the original Pokemon sprites with the newly drawn versions.

to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pokemon Emerald, 130 artists got together to redraw the sprites of all 386 Pokémon and put them all in a ROM hack! pic.twitter.com/Av5RhMVlukSeptember 16, 2024

There are two versions of Pokemon Emerald: ReSpirited. Vanilla is just the standard game but with the new sprites, and the other, called Plus, swaps the sprites and also makes all 386 Pokemon obtainable on one save file and makes edits to the trainers to represent the artists who contributed to the project.

Now, full disclosure, I had a peak at the Google Doc that shows off all of the new sprites, and I'll say the quality of the art is... inconsistent. Another way to say it is, it's very clear that some of the artists were just having fun and weren't taking anything too seriously. It seems that somewhere around half of the sprites are faithful and in some cases improved versions of the original art, and the other half are... less that. Just have a look for yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Still, if you're one of those Pokemon fans still playing Emerald after 20 years and just want a dang change of scenery, ReSpirited is certainly worth a look at the very least.

Otherwise, here are the best Pokemon games you can play right now.

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