HG/SS Notable Sprites

Warning! 

This report contains spoilers from a video game that yet been released in the US.

(at the time of writing)

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver is now released in Japan, although copies of it were leaked as early as three days before, according to Bulbanews. Being such a hugh fan of Pokémon and an aspiring character designer, I am excited to know what were the changes made.

First of all, the graphics are now updated to match the Generation IV standards, especially for boss battles such as gym, Elite Four and Team Rocket battles. Each of them has a special VS closeup portrait when you battle them, as you can see above, similar to the ones found in Platinum.

Also, like in Platinum, gym leaders and Elite Four trainer sprites are also redesigned and animated.

The Rocket Executive found in Gold/Silver/Crystal has been updated as well, and instead of just updating the original two, Game Freak created another two meaning there are four unique Rocket Executive sprites! They are sadly, not animated, unlike other boss. They do receive their own VS portrait though.

My favorite of all the boss trainer sprite would be Blue. Maybe that is because all the sprites in general are just too awesome that I have a hard time choosing! Regardless, you wouldn't be disappointed in many areas of this remake, be it the artistic side, the music, or game play.

Out of all the gym leaders redesign though, I dislike Misty and Sabrina's design, partly because they look way too different from the original. For Pokémon sprite, I don't have much complain, except for Pikachu, it looks so ugly now! I feel that this Pikachu design, like in LeafGreen/FireRed, did not manage to capture the essence of what make us fall in love with this electric mouse in the first place.

It might be interesting to note that unlike FR/LG is to R/S/E during the GBA era, some of the trainer sprites are recycled from D/P/Pt. I guess Game Freak did that to speed up the production time, still, it would have been nice to at least provide minor editing.

Please note that I did not rip these sprites as I just taken them directly from Bulbapedia. So if you would like to see more HG/SS sprites, do feel free to visit the website. You can also check out Serebii for more images and information on the sixteen gym leaders!