Hundreds of pixel artists have recreated Pokémon’s Kanto region from the Red and Blue games in a fully interactive map online.
The group in question, Retro Redrawn, creates “remakes and demakes” of classic games, and so far has already done The Legend of Zelda’s Hyrule as well as Johto from the Pokémon Gold and Silver games.
Their latest offering is Kanto from the original Pokémon Red and Blue games, with the fully interactive map housing plenty of secrets and surprises.
Taking a stroll through the world, which includes an automated “tour”, leads viewers through a modern reimagining of the classic world. Any “WebGL compatible browser” is capable of panning and zooming the map in a similar fashion to Google Maps.
Over a hundred pixel artists came together to recreate the first ever Pokémon region: Kanto
Now you can explore the region at your own pace on our dedicated website! https://t.co/xI3LWgRseT pic.twitter.com/vadhnrDU7o— Kanto Redrawn (@PokemonRedrawn) August 26, 2022
Retro Redrawn explains that “the goal was to visually represent the Kanto region in a way the original developers could never have achieved with the technical restrictions of the original hardware” although it points out that this is a “fan art project” and is no way “affiliated with or authorised by the original rights holders”.
Zooming in on various areas of the map reveals a bodybuilding competition between several Caterpie and a Pikachu in Viridian Forest as well as a Psyduck party on Route 24. Bill’s Lighthouse also reveals an ominous Dragonite looming from the shadows as well as a confused-looking Professor Oak.
“Over a hundred pixel artists” joined together to recreate Pokémon’s first region, and their dedication has been met with positive reception from fans on multiple social media platforms.
Pokémon’s first generation was first released in 1996 in Japan for the Game Boy before coming to the West in 1998, and remains one of the best-selling games of all time.
In other news, the Arcade Paradise designer has said that developers that choose not to implement cheats in their games are “cowards”.
