Also, consider the concept of local versions. Alolan Rattata is an updated version of the classic gen 1 which hadn't changed since the first game while also keeping the vanilla version in the game. I'm expecting we'll probably see some Galar versions of classic pokemons.
@@brandongalvan6603 But mega evolutions don't alter the normal evolution line. It just adds an extra step to an already existing branch, where localized variants split the evolution line to into alternate forms while not touching the original.
It's ' your ' and not ' you're ', and I'm not telling you to be rude or criticize you, but rather make sure you make 1 less mistake when you'll post such good comments, I'm aware that we're all human and everyone makes mistakes :)
@@venusalt4111 that's fair, but it was probably just a typo since I also didn't capitalize the I before that, in any case I've got grammarly installed nowadays, thanks for the heads up!
Merlijn Tuttel I’m totally seconding this! After Dingo sent me over here, I cannot help but wonder how on earth I haven’t known about this excellent boi earlier! Glad to be here!
I wish People would stop calling it uncreative. Its shape looks nothing like anything Ive ever seen in real world. Its made of normal Materials, but its not a Bird, a Insect, a Plain, a Human shape, its completly new and I apreciate that.
@@Sunaki1000 I always thought Voltorb wasn't made of steel, but pure dense electrons. Sort of 'physical' electromagnet pushback/ Star Trek forcefields/numb pressure. Considering it's a pure electric type known for exploding, maybe it really is a subatomic-particles kami?
@@JoshSweetvale For me, hes a fusion of an Fake Item, something like the Mimics from Dark Souls, and an Negative Electron. He looks angry, Electrode looks happy. Positive and negative. And was I the only one who thought Rotom was the Evolution of Voltorb, what got so powerfull what his Body turned into plasma?
Gamefreak making Sobble 'Hmmmm this water lizard is great, but its missing something....' *how about extreme anxiety?* 'PERFRCT!! That seems to be exactly what it needed!'
Well the thing Is sonic has a perfect design. Sonic is instantly likable, fits in its universe, understand his gimmick and is so simple a child can draw it. It's perfect in every way.
meanwhile Digimon: "Hello, this is Beelzemon, my young nephew helped design him, as you can see he's a, uh.. cool dragon man with leather clothes, spiked boots and a motorcycle. Also a pair of guns" [everyone at the conference proceeds to clap and promote him so hard he ascends to a higher plane of consciousness]
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Alolan variants. They're a new spin on older designs, whilst still keeping (most of) the original ideas. And Dugtrio's hair. Can't forget about that.
Alola in general had some pretty great Pókemon designs. Best since Hoenn, imo. In fact I actually prefer some Alolan forms like Raichu and Vulpix/Ninetails. Maybe slowly introducing variants of older Pokémon in newer regions while keeping the originals is the way to go for these games.
It's weird how round its face is in some of the modern artwork. It's obviously a way to make it easier for kids to draw Pikachu, which I understand but do not like as someone who was a kid when Pokemon first came to North America
“There is beauty in simplicity.” If they were to change the looks of the Pokémon going forward, they would look like they don’t fit in the universe. It’s a design of the overall world rather than the individual character. The design of Pokémon and the limits set make them look like they are part of the universe. Legendaries seem to have more detail to male them look powerful. I feel like this is on purpose just to show the evolution of the artists.
Honestly, I don't think the newer pokemon live in the same universe already. I love wandering in cool environments and seeing all the elemental forms of life adapted to living there. Seeing a bunch of bipedal characters with ears that are definitely sapient and use tools makes me wonder where their parents are, not how they use their adaptations to survive. I just want to leave society and visit the animals, not visit societies of people that we refuse to consider people.
Probably not the case. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that nobody working on either Pokémon or Digimon could have seen these franchises lasting over twenty years each--what kids' franchise pulls that off?
eh considering how wildly the designs vary, how complex they have gotten, and how a lot of people do not feel they stuck with how they should look it didn't work ( also there are no overdesigned early digimon)
@@maximillionchaoswolf there are certainly patterns the average one follows, but i wouldn't call them so much of rules since there's so many exceptions. Like, it can range from, cute little dinosaur creature to giant gun that carries guns with guns on top of them. Maybe the one rule is to have some form of facial feature, but i'm sure there's also some exceptions to that.
Digimon is a lawless place with a Darwinistic approach. They just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. If there's rules at all, I'm assuming they only apply to the 'main' line that are attached to the protagonists in each series.
Nah, at least not for the evolutions. Its gotta be either super edgy with muscles and lots of sharp features, occasionally with guns or straight out fanservice lol
11:53 I'm convinced they did Druddigon dirty. Its CLEARLY supposed to be a gargoyle with its spikes, wings, long-forelimbs & the fact it can't learn fly. If they fixed the face a bit & redid the colors, it would be way better.
frankly it doesn't even need to be way better. it's one of the few pokemon that hugely benefited from moving to 3d, because a lot of the bleh-iness of its design stems from the fact that they have some weird compulsion to draw its head from one of its worst angles whenever it's drawn in 2d the only thing is could really use is better defined wings. they look a lot better when the artists actually shade them in such a way that shows their actual shape instead of just making them look as flat as cardboard, but even then it's more than a little awkward how there's no lines or color changes to accentuate their shape. esp. when every pokemon i can think of has _both_
It should just be the entire dance with a silhouetted JoCat, no actual clothes changing, then at the end it goes "SAILO-" and Jo just grabs the head on that shelf behind him and plops it on like a helmet.
Jo, this is so clean and concise and you have SUCH a good line of thought, and it travels extremely well throughout the whole video. Animation is clean as HELL, and it’s nice to hear these sweet dulcet tone talking about that sweet sweet character design. I really love this video essay format you have, and how consistently you out do yourself, and how you’re constantly surprising me. This was DEFINITELY and excellent topic to cover, and I think you did an amazing job covering all of the bases. Especially when you’re discussing League, Pokémon, and World of Warcraft, somethings I’ve been deeply invested in, and really taking a critical eye to how ambitious and tedious it would be for a game studio (even if it is a monolith like game freak) to redesign/update the characters. This video is such incredible quality, and I’m glad to hear your thoughts on things like this! Keep on trucking uwu
Me: wait yes, I've always wanted a big Pokémon game, a GOOD game (so not Sword/Shield) with less Pokémon available, like most spin-offs I believe What they ended up doing: a bad game, the worst story of any Pokémon game and turns out they're hiding the old Pokémon behind a paywall, with at least the first DLC being what should've been the "free" postgame and not cost half the game's price. It was fun liking Sword and Shield *before* they were released.
Here's my take. The new designs follow the same formula, but something is off about them, and some are just weird, like the car key pokemon. Scrap making new pokemon, scrap making new pokemon designs, stick to the settings and pokemon you already have and begin a cohesive story set in the old and new regions together. Have new takes where you can travel between regions, maybe have one where you live in a random town and have a few pokeballs for catching the first pokemon you see, add some lore, etc.
I really like the style that the artists who draw Pokemon have perfected, they do a really good job of mixing the complex and simple designs to such a level that it has become a staple for the franchise.
@@mushymcmushington7176 Correction; Geese aren't perfect. They act territorial like swans, but they aren't nearly bulky enough to pull it off. And this is coming from a Canadian, if they weren't our equivalent of American Eagles I'd kick those little fuckers right in their toothpick throats.
I know this video is almost a year old but I’d argue they do update their design philosophy while also sticking to the basics. New Pokémon use much softer lines and simpler shapes, compare Scatterbug and Caterpie, or Toucannon and Fearow. Also it’s noticeable how the designs get more creative because they have the technology to do so, for example Rhydon has a very large head because they needed to show it on a small Gameboy screen, Aggron, a similar Pokémon, has a smaller head comparetively thanks to GBA’s higher resolution. Newer Pokémon like Stonejourner wouldn’t make sense on a Gameboy screen, it would look like a bunch of rectangles. But higher resolution and the ability to animate the designs let them make a Pokémon like that. Another example is Inteleon, it has really thin arms and when transferred to a 3DS they are literally 1px wide during battle. Also notice how most gen1 and gen2 Pokémon use very limited color schemes? Archeops or A-Muk wouldn’t be possible on a Gameboy Color. Regional forms are also a good showcase of how their design philosophy changed, Galarian Rapidash has smoother lines, larger eyes and doesn’t stick to a realistic horse bone structure like classic Rapidash does. Same applies to Alolan and regular Persian, or alolan and regular Raticate
Hi, Jo! ✨ I loved the video. Nice take on Pokemon designs. Regarding the design creep talk in comparison with LoL, Pokemon company already tried redesigning stuff to their new standards with Alolan versions of Pokemon and Mega Evolutions. Again, as you I don't work at Game Freak, but I imagine that they took the chance to introduce these re designs for that same reason you mention here. And yet again, some hate them, some love them, and some spam the crap out of them (Mega Venusaur FOR THE WIN) Great video and late HB!
"They can't all be as good as Mimikyu" Yes they can and I will prove it! *goes into Sprite editor and throws cloth over all of the sprites* Ha! Toldyaso!
i recently joined the pokemon train and discussion. i also share your point and think that they release non-core games to test stuff and it is surprising that this keeps going on.
Wait, you're that -Scary Monsters- dinosaur headed dude who makes crap guides for D&D? Wow... you actually look and sound nice...not insane, like I thought you were.
I need so many more of these. I recommend watching Overly Sarcastic Reviews, specifically Red's Trope talk and Blues history summarised videos; this style is very similar and maybe it'll spark some inspiration. Loving this channel, can't wait to see what else you come up with!
Hey, JoCat. I just wanted to say I know you may be feeling some anxiety about the content being different from what you normally put out, but I really enjoyed the video and it was also informative. I got to learn about how many of my favorite game characters are designed. It's also cool to see you getting to flex your design knowledge on the rest of us, haha! I would love to see more content like this. Keep up the good work!
This video was an interesting look into some of the elements of design that make for a cohesive look in the Pokemon games. It's especially interesting to consider how they handle the complexity of their characters, and that reminds me of a similar game franchise: Spectrobes. Another channel called Subjectively took a look at the design in the Spectrobes games a little while ago, and I think it's very interesting to compare the monsters in that franchise to the ones in Pokemon. I know that Spectrobes has far fewer designs to create, but they seem to stick to a mythological background for theirs as well, which I also think is interesting because Pokemon seems to vary so much in where they draw inspiration from. Thanks for reading my monologue - A Chronic Lurker P.S. I like your room scene and the slight changes you made to it.
Nice to hear interesting thoughts from a designer’s perspective! I just watched a Game Informer interview with James Turner, an Art Director at The Pokémon Company International (not sure if he still works there, interview was from 2020). Every time the interviewer asked about surface level design elements that “define” Pokémon (ie. templates), James pushed back a bit. He explained that the design concepts making up a Pokémon should be cohesive, but the art style is meant to be flexible. Basically, the ideas behind a Pokémon should make sense in the world- in the context of “would this Pokémon befriend me.” Can you see yourself going on an adventure with the creature throughout the world of Pokémon? These ideas really stuck out to me. Sounds like The Pokémon Company wants the art style to be flexible, so it can be adapted across various media (ie. Pokémon Evolutions: The Series, psychedelic TCG art by Tomokazu Komiya). I almost think of it like the various, stylized multiverses from Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
loved this. also, one way they’re slyly doing the “updating” is through megas, dynamax forms, regional forms, etc.. twists the standard design, but not permanently. it’s a cool solution.
Ive been working on a fakedex for a long LONG time and ive definitely had problems with design creep as i continue to grow as a designer so goodness was its cool to hear about it hhaha.
That New Frame Plus logo on top of the shelf, hell yeah!! Awesome video btw, came right from Dan's animation video, I wanna show this it to all my Pokemon fan friends and try making our own
8:08 I'm currently developing my own Fantasy/Sci-Fi TTRPG for my friends and I to play and I've been working on it for about a year now. One of the first things I did was the races. Not only do I keep adding new ones as time goes on (I'm currently at 11) but I also keep re-designing the earlier concepts. My friends love them but they just look out of place to me... It's a struggle
I think the biggest difference between new and old Pokemon is the basic elements used. Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle all have odd head-shapes, archway eyes, big bodies, thick arms that thin at the bottom with claws on the end, one large indicator of type beyond color (bulb, flame, shell), and one or two indicators of pattern (spots, underbelly, shell/tail). Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble all have the same head shape, round eyes, small bodies and big heads, a small or no indicator of type beyond color (twig in hair, nothing, fin I guess), and several indicators of pattern (eye mask/leaf hair/muzzle and hands/ears and tail, fluff/red coloring/bandaids, cheeks/tail/face and underbelly/fin). The new pokemon are overdesigned, and they put less emphasis on the more unique bodies and more emphasis on the identically-shaped heads. That’s just my take on the issue.
I see your point with the indicator of type thing but I see it from another perspective. Let's use as examples Charmander and Scorbunny. The first games used unmoving sprites so it makes sense for Charmander to have a visible flame. Now, the sprites are always moving, they're animated, which means they can simply have visible abilities regarding they're type, such as Scorbunny creating fire when his feet touch the ground. Please don't be offended, it's just my point of view.
There has also been complaints that the newer Pokemon look too "cartoony." Older pokemon physique seem to be more tied to real life animals, so they seem more realistic. Take for example Vulpix, the design looks rooted in reality, the head looks proportion to its body and it looks like it could possible be a real animal. Meanwhile look at Keldo, or Jangmo-o , their heads look way to big for their bodies, making them look less like animals and more like cartoon. This make pokemons feel more like your running around catching cartoon characters and less like your catching actual animals to train. This is just my opinion.
@@sshan8736 the franchise moving from realism is not a bad thing honestly. Hunting fictional animals and forcefully remove them from their habitat to make them fight eachother at your stake and enjoyment? I don't know, kinda sounds like animal cruelty to me. Not exactly the perfect game-morality to teach to a 6 years old.
@@sshan8736 I mean, sure a moderate percentage looked like exaggerated reality, but then you have things like whatever the christ Lickitung is. You can also parade out the usual suspects (Magnemite, Grimer, etc.) but the point stands that arguing from a realism standpoint is shaky ground. I'm sure that there are people out there who are like "Ah, yes. Tauros! My favorite Pokémon because he's a BULL with two tails! How whimsically out of the norm!" but no one goes "Ah, Electabuzz! It's based on that thing I see all the time!" no. They go "I love Magmar! It's a fire guy who comes from the depths of a HELL VOLCANO! sssSSSSICK!"
okay rewatching this two years later and just wanted to say that they *have* updated the old ones. check their original artwork and compare it to what they look like now. the issue w/ new pokemon isn't on your checklist. it's that new designs are about the ~character~ of the pokemon. the gen 8 starters' designs and evolutions are about their concepts/personalities way more than normal pokemon. this new emphasis on their conceptual character traits are making lots of the new pokemon not feel like pokemon, and that's a huge issue for long term fans. they're less like stuff you could find in your backyard or on an adventure and more like they're supposed to be your relatives. so weird
Another Klonoa 2 type format! YES! This so deserves the traction to become another series! (Please talk more about your design experience, I live for this content)
"Sometimes new designes work perfectly" -> _Shows the H4 Master Chief armor which was made fun of for its body-builder V-shape and pretty much the whole community was happy when they saw it won't come back in H:infinite_ Oh boy! Luckily we're not on Waypoint right now! 😂
"dark blue cheek spots that resemble teardrops and tangible anxiety" gonna gatekeep a bit here and say you aren't a real independent creative if Sobble isn't your spirit animal
As a Game Designer who has dabbled in Game Concept Art Design, I agree with your opinion. Having to make a bunch of different designs for characters on a regular interval for new Pokemon games can be a really daunting task to make it all stand out and look great. After a while, you're gonna run out of steam and ideas and bad ones are bound to happen. You can't avoid that. Great video JoCat, really enjoyed it
Great video. I'd be totally down for some Pokemon redesigns. Only ones that need it though, someone like Gallade with their UFO hips or Jynx's...everything. Some shiny redesigns would also be welcome. Just imagine a white Pikachu with red eyes.
@@AguionStryke Counter-counterpoint: The challenge makes it better. Klefki has a huge hole, Geodude has a huge mouth and two hands, Ferroseed is literally a spiked buttplug (don't look them up). Furries find a way, yiff is eternal.
I'm definitely in the camp of not being bothered by the new designs either way. I really only care about generations giving me one solid team of pokemon to fit my personal tastes. That said, I feel like I learned a lot just now and really appreciate you tackling this topic from all, or at least as many sides as possible.
As someone who subscribed to your channel for your Crap guides. This video deserves more attention. I would love to see more of videos like this, especially about design.
This was a very informative video, and I do agree with a lot of the points. One box I would add to checklist of how Pokémon are designed is choosing certain mons to fit the theme/location of the region. My idea on the “design creep” is that I think it’s good certain Pokémon; for example, gen 1 keep a more simplistic design this, in a way, kinda diversifies Pokémon designs from being very simple while also having the ability to be complex.
You had me agreeing with the pokemon design guide up until the anime features got added to just about completely replace the animal features. I might be in the minority, but what I loved about Pokemon was how they all were supposed to be wild animals, it was an outright fantasy ecology. The designs seem to have gotten simpler, smoothed-out, and less natural-feeling as time went on. I can't quite put it to words, but there's a quality in that design which has changed, and it becomes even more pronounced the later you go in the pokemon generations. And that's what bothers me about the newer pokemon. For example, look at Scorbunny's legs and hands. Look at Sobble's entire limb structure and head/body ratio. Now compare that to the older pokemon. Only 1 of the new starters even has distinct fingers. There's a lot of little details in the older pokemon that simply aren't in the newer starters. When you compare them, it looks like the Design Creep you described, but in reverse. Like a lot of details were lost in the move to 3-D.
I think mega evolutions and alola forms were, in part, an effort from Game Freak to update old designs. Like, for example, you cannot change Charizard to make his design more complex, so instead give him an evolution so you can add complexity to his design. Of course there's marketing and nostalgia elements there too, but whatever. But I have to say, complexity is not always a good thing for a Pokemon. Not saying megas and forms were a bad idea, on the contrary, I think they were great most of them and a great idea overall, they are a breath of fresh air in many ways. I'm talking about completely new Pokemon, where I think Pokemon should keep a balance between simplicity and complexity, because part of what a Pokemon is, was defined in the first generations, for good or for bad. In the end, its better to have clever desings than complex ones that make no sense and just add detail for the sake of adding it. For example, generation 5 had some of the most complex designs but they had also some of the most criticised ones, not because they grow apart from old designs, but because they were unecesarily reutilizing old concepts instead of creating new ones, as well as not beign too smart about some of the new concepts they did introduce. And that is more evident the more Pokemon you add to said generation. In all generations, people were used to having some bad or let's say "weird" designs, but having that many at once as well as many of them not beign that original, at that time it made it seem like Pokemon designs were becoming stale and trying desesperately to look different, both at the same time and without much success in either field. As a result, with so many Pokemon introduced in 5 gen, there are a lot of great designs of course, but also a lot more than usual of those "weird" ones. Maybe they were too ambitious, or maybe they were just trying new things and trying to give more importance to other stuff like story elements rather than designs, I get it, I just don't think it should be only one way or the other. Story is something where I think Pokemon games could improve a lot too, but that's another topic so I'll leve it there. I would personally be fine with a "reboot" of the franchise, fixing bad designs across all generations instead of just updating old ones. In my opinion designs like Venusaur, Lapras, Sceptile or Metagross to name a few, are perfect, while others like Klingklang, Vanilluxe, Bewear, Electrode or Dewgong well... I'd have them completely redesigned or deleted, or maybe changed to their core. Some need more modifications than others. Don't even get me started on what I would do to the Ultra Beasts. But I know its impossible to do that, because there are very few that think like me and because Pokemon is just too big to do that kind of stuff nowadays, I'm just explaining my point of view. I feel there's also a lot of missed potential in some designs like Emboar or Incineroar, were it seems like Game Freak were desesperately trying to grab onto some old ideas like "all fire starters must be bipedal" instead of trying to make good and original designs. Or maybe they just wanted to make them more marketeable and thought that bipedal designs are better for that... who knows. By the way I'm not saying that they should never be bipedal, I don't have a problem with all the other fire starters for instance, I'm just saying that it gets repetitive and unoriginal, as well as these two in particular not being very creative and having a bad design execution (Incineroar is just a plain muscular dude with a tiger head, come on).
7:03 Yokai Watch ?! 😲 (5 seconds later) Aaaawh no love for Yokai watch? 😢 But no joke, the design of the yokai in Yokai watch is also unique and diverse. If you havent, check it out 🤗
It’s so strange to go from his hyperloud/superconfident crap guide series to my favorite college professor with animations that are way too smooth to not get him an amazing job
Also it was a contrast in itself when in the Druid video he put up a disclaimer for sticks to snakes and put at the end “thanks for reading this” and it was so odd because of how unapologetic his wiggler form is
I actually kinda like how different generations have distinct differences. Like, you know how you're in high school and you're the batch of 2010, but you see the batch of 2008, 2009,etc. and how each person of one batch seems to look funny with a different batch. You know in the future you're gonna be cool like them as well and that feeling is so satisfying.
Could you explain the general differences in design philosophy between Pokémon and Digimon, especially regarding how evolutions build on the design of previous stages? I’ve never seen anybody be able to quite articulate this into words.
Digimon doesn't design evolutions to flow into each other as much, so each design kind of has to be it's own thing and communicate a thematic concept more than a supposed real animal. The evolutions are tied together by their themes and concepts instead of there appearances. As a result designs are more abstract, and often include artificial-looking bits to remind you that this is a digital creature.
I stand by the opinion regional variants is the best idea they've come up with in years. It shows love to lesser known/appreciated Pokemon that older fans would enjoy, but introduces a new concept for newer fans.
Yes and no really. I absolutely adore Alolan Sandslash and Marowak, but I would be heartbroken if they replaced the originals. They are good designs, but I wouldn't want to feel like I'm losing something. They're doing the right thing now, and I don't think Pokemon needs to make any huge stylistic changes to please everyone. They still regularly make great designs with their current method. These starters kinda miss the mark for me, but just one gen ago we had starters that I really loved, so I don't think it's the design philosophy becoming outdated. Heck, gen 7 was overall fantastic design wise.
Not all of them are improved designs. Yes, Alolan Ninetales, Sandslash, Marowak, and Muk are great, there are some stinkers like Alolan Persian and Raticate. Mega Evolutions are mostly amazing though, with the exception of Glalie's and Slowbro's.
I think both are very clever ways of going about improving/changing designs, they do so without making those changes permanent (megas) or in substitute of the original designs (alolan forms) Megas even help older Pokémon be more relevant in the competitive scene, and not have them go out of use or trampled by newer more powerful Pokémon
Ive heard a couple different parts of the design philosophy talked about before. The "cute" factor and anthropomorphization. There are certainly a lot more cutesy pokemon in modern games, and even cute pokemon in the og games had an edge to them that still made them monsters. But the modern ones dont, somehow. A lot of them are severely anthropomorphized, especially starters. I get that this video came before the final evo reveal, but the Sword and Shield starters all have this problem. Cinderace fits the best, being a soccer playing bunny, but even then its uncanny. Rillaboom, a drum playing gorilla, and Antellion who is literally a James Bond lizard. It feels gimmicky.
Jocat: also four years of design college *flex flex*
Jocat on the inside: please give me validation for going to college I'm in so much debt right now
Oslypsis Osmium hope it goes well!
Oslypsis Osmium good luck
That's like the mantra of all people who go to college.
I’m hopping right into the same boat.
Oof
But Nintendo _has_ redesigned some Pokemon.
Remember fat Pikachu?
Also, consider the concept of local versions. Alolan Rattata is an updated version of the classic gen 1 which hadn't changed since the first game while also keeping the vanilla version in the game. I'm expecting we'll probably see some Galar versions of classic pokemons.
@@drakkenmensch And don't forget about Mega Evolutions.
@@brandongalvan6603 But mega evolutions don't alter the normal evolution line. It just adds an extra step to an already existing branch, where localized variants split the evolution line to into alternate forms while not touching the original.
@@drakkenmensch Yeah, but it's basically the same schtick of revitalizing excitement over previously Pokemon.
Yo I commented that. Nice
Hey don't pick on Voltorb. You know he has self-destructive thoughts.
.... Lmao
Big Funnie
This made me giggle
Ba-dum-tss?
Bdum tss indeed
I'm gonna be honest, i think you're non-crap guide videos are waaaay too underappreciated
It's ' your ' and not ' you're ', and I'm not telling you to be rude or criticize you, but rather make sure you make 1 less mistake when you'll post such good comments, I'm aware that we're all human and everyone makes mistakes :)
@@venusalt4111 that's fair, but it was probably just a typo since I also didn't capitalize the I before that, in any case I've got grammarly installed nowadays, thanks for the heads up!
Merlijn Tuttel I’m totally seconding this! After Dingo sent me over here, I cannot help but wonder how on earth I haven’t known about this excellent boi earlier! Glad to be here!
F A C T S
both crap guide and this type of slower pace vid has its own charm! Love both of them!!!!
"We cant have just a magnet with a face..."
Voltorb: *explodes*
Subatomic particles.
Its based on a pokeball tho not a magnet
I wish People would stop calling it uncreative. Its shape looks nothing like anything Ive ever seen in real world.
Its made of normal Materials, but its not a Bird, a Insect, a Plain, a Human shape, its completly new and I apreciate that.
@@Sunaki1000 I always thought Voltorb wasn't made of steel, but pure dense electrons. Sort of 'physical' electromagnet pushback/ Star Trek forcefields/numb pressure.
Considering it's a pure electric type known for exploding, maybe it really is a subatomic-particles kami?
@@JoshSweetvale For me, hes a fusion of an Fake Item, something like the Mimics from Dark Souls, and an Negative Electron. He looks angry, Electrode looks happy. Positive and negative.
And was I the only one who thought Rotom was the Evolution of Voltorb, what got so powerfull what his Body turned into plasma?
Gamefreak making Sobble
'Hmmmm this water lizard is great, but its missing something....'
*how about extreme anxiety?*
'PERFRCT!! That seems to be exactly what it needed!'
Jazmyn Da Unicorn you have to appeal to the older generations somehow
@@boxfox4879 it's speaking to a spiritual level to all the millenials and gen Z
@@toninomatalone7323 WTF is this millenials Stuff, im a 90 Kid and i love Sobble too, so why evryone think he is so much better than kids after 2000.
It's what _we all_ needed
Suicidium Z
Let's take a moment to look at Sonic and wonder; do we really want "improvement" ?
How is it not a Water-type? It's blue! It constantly drowns when I put it in water even!
I never hated the Boom redesigns (loved the show even if the games were bland trash), and now it's clear that we didn't know how good we had it.
Well the thing Is sonic has a perfect design. Sonic is instantly likable, fits in its universe, understand his gimmick and is so simple a child can draw it. It's perfect in every way.
I think the issue with sonic is that they tried making him "realistic" and it was never, _ever,_ going to work.
@@BenoHourglass but it works for the sake of memes though
"They can't all be as perfect as Mimikyu"
Liked, favourited, subscribed and sending you my liver in the mail.
Don't forget a kidney
Give me your lungs
And a heart.
(cause I don’t have one >:’])
At least its your liver
But snom
meanwhile Digimon:
"Hello, this is Beelzemon, my young nephew helped design him, as you can see he's a, uh.. cool dragon man with leather clothes, spiked boots and a motorcycle. Also a pair of guns"
[everyone at the conference proceeds to clap and promote him so hard he ascends to a higher plane of consciousness]
omg, he does actually exist... I love him
I had to google if this was real and oh my it is.
I don't think I've yet seen a more Little Timmy's OC Donut Steel character ever.
Not to mention Phoenixmon compared to Birdramon
Why does everyone think Beelzemon is fake before they look it up
Honestly i thought he was about to mention Digimon as a good comparison but then he choose LoL instead for whatever reason.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Alolan variants. They're a new spin on older designs, whilst still keeping (most of) the original ideas.
And Dugtrio's hair. Can't forget about that.
Don't forget the mega evolutions
Alola in general had some pretty great Pókemon designs. Best since Hoenn, imo. In fact I actually prefer some Alolan forms like Raichu and Vulpix/Ninetails. Maybe slowly introducing variants of older Pokémon in newer regions while keeping the originals is the way to go for these games.
Fabulous
Alolan Dugtrio had fabulous hair.
While some alolan pokemon like nine tails and raichu were amazing some were just a mess like Persian
there is already division in the pokemon community about the progressive slimming of pikachu, redesigning old pokemon would be very dramatic
gen 20 pikachu is going to be a worm
It's weird how round its face is in some of the modern artwork. It's obviously a way to make it easier for kids to draw Pikachu, which I understand but do not like as someone who was a kid when Pokemon first came to North America
@@soridosuneku gen1 Pikachu looked like a bread
@@user-hq2mh4ec6r yeah and hes perfect wdym
"Sobble has blue dots under its eyes that resemble teardrops and tangible anxiety "
Mood
"Add facial features"
Unless the Pokemon name begins with "REGI-"
Reggie. *GASP.*
Add 7 dot
Its a rock!
With a... rock...
and its a just a pile of rocks with dots.
Reginator
*My body is ready!*
I think Mega evolution was game freak’s attempt at updating older Pokémon designs
...then just what were they trying with mega salamence?
Alejandro Vinasco the same thing they were trying with all the other megas
@@KuroeNezumi A frisbee. They were trying to make a frisbee pokemon.
Id say Alolan forms are also this
@@KuroeNezumi You mean you AREN"T in love with the flying croissant pokemon? (Also the SW Rebel insignia)
“There is beauty in simplicity.” If they were to change the looks of the Pokémon going forward, they would look like they don’t fit in the universe. It’s a design of the overall world rather than the individual character. The design of Pokémon and the limits set make them look like they are part of the universe. Legendaries seem to have more detail to male them look powerful. I feel like this is on purpose just to show the evolution of the artists.
Honestly, I don't think the newer pokemon live in the same universe already. I love wandering in cool environments and seeing all the elemental forms of life adapted to living there. Seeing a bunch of bipedal characters with ears that are definitely sapient and use tools makes me wonder where their parents are, not how they use their adaptations to survive.
I just want to leave society and visit the animals, not visit societies of people that we refuse to consider people.
You know that there is already a new design its called alolian\galerian forms
You know, adding something like the fairy type would make older media loom weird even with an explanation
Maybe that’s why Kiraidon and Miraidon don’t feel legendary (that and they seem to just be given to you at the beginning as ride Pokémon)
your a designer.
YOU DON’T SAY YOU SMOOTH ANIMATED GORGEOUS MAN
I too am here from Dingo's channel.
Oh my gosh Jo that animation is soooo sleek!!! great work as usual aaaaa
I loved a lot of your animations, especially the ones from the Klonoa video. I also really liked your videos discussing character design!!
I agree
This is honestly the same sort of animation I need to try to aim for... But not rn-
"Now you know how to design Pokemon, you're welcome"
Looks like we got fakemons incoming
Now I understand why some early digimon looked overly designed, it was future proofing
Probably not the case. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that nobody working on either Pokémon or Digimon could have seen these franchises lasting over twenty years each--what kids' franchise pulls that off?
Levitz9 Lego And Hasbro.
eh considering how wildly the designs vary, how complex they have gotten, and how a lot of people do not feel they stuck with how they should look it didn't work ( also there are no overdesigned early digimon)
@@tenacityxl Hasbro is not a franchise, it's a toy/board game company.
@@toninomatalone7323 er... you do realize what a franchise is,right?
At step #2, I would go with "pick a theme or gimmick" instead of element, as the theme itself will decide it.
How to design a digimon:
Rule 1: There are no rules
there are some but its definitely not as constricted or consistant.
@@maximillionchaoswolf there are certainly patterns the average one follows, but i wouldn't call them so much of rules since there's so many exceptions. Like, it can range from, cute little dinosaur creature to giant gun that carries guns with guns on top of them.
Maybe the one rule is to have some form of facial feature, but i'm sure there's also some exceptions to that.
Digimon is a lawless place with a Darwinistic approach. They just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. If there's rules at all, I'm assuming they only apply to the 'main' line that are attached to the protagonists in each series.
3 days later...
Rules:
1: no nsfw
2: that's it
Nah, at least not for the evolutions. Its gotta be either super edgy with muscles and lots of sharp features, occasionally with guns or straight out fanservice lol
I was expecting a Crap Guide to Pokémon Design, but this is an enlightening guide! 😃
It's really not go watch his Klanoha video it's just sad that vid doesn't get enough love
It's actually a disguised Pokemon Character Creature Critique
Yer maybe a Crap Guide to Pokemon Types would be good sometime. It's a really nice change of video though so don't mind my suggestion either way 🙂
I love this style of video. It was great. Keep making what you want to make
Still room for a Crap Guide to Pokemon (hint hint)
Nah,Voltorb is trash
Look at Electrode,HE is a really well designed pokemon!
Trubbish is trash, voltorb is a trap.
@@petervilla5221 Amoongus is a trap, Voltorb is the bomb.
@@MrTendo0 VOLTORB USES SELF DESTRUCT
@@MrTendo0 they are both traps...one's a DND mimic the other is a mimic mushroom
*No suppper for youu*
*When will ypu learn?*
11:53
I'm convinced they did Druddigon dirty. Its CLEARLY supposed to be a gargoyle with its spikes, wings, long-forelimbs & the fact it can't learn fly. If they fixed the face a bit & redid the colors, it would be way better.
frankly it doesn't even need to be way better. it's one of the few pokemon that hugely benefited from moving to 3d, because a lot of the bleh-iness of its design stems from the fact that they have some weird compulsion to draw its head from one of its worst angles whenever it's drawn in 2d
the only thing is could really use is better defined wings. they look a lot better when the artists actually shade them in such a way that shows their actual shape instead of just making them look as flat as cardboard, but even then it's more than a little awkward how there's no lines or color changes to accentuate their shape. esp. when every pokemon i can think of has _both_
I think there's a real lizard that's coloured like that.
Can't remember what it's called though.
I didnt know that. I have a new appreciation for Druddigon now, not that I didnt like it already
I think it's a great design, just wish it had an evolution or prevolution or both.
if it's based upon a gargoyle, would a rock/dragon typing not be more fitting?
All I want now is JoCat sailor moon transforming into his Crap Guide Persona
Oh that be amazing
Please
This!
It should just be the entire dance with a silhouetted JoCat, no actual clothes changing, then at the end it goes "SAILO-" and Jo just grabs the head on that shelf behind him and plops it on like a helmet.
"And tangible anxiety"
Oh my god, stop, my poor baby
I mean there is a reason he goes through an emo phase :O
"So let's make it all anime-cute" Literally inflates its head like a god damn balloon
Now add chronic exophthalmos, a couple froofy bits, smash it in the face with a plank, and you've got your gen 7 upgrade!
@@TlalocTemporal I laughed so hard XD
Jo, this is so clean and concise and you have SUCH a good line of thought, and it travels extremely well throughout the whole video. Animation is clean as HELL, and it’s nice to hear these sweet dulcet tone talking about that sweet sweet character design. I really love this video essay format you have, and how consistently you out do yourself, and how you’re constantly surprising me. This was DEFINITELY and excellent topic to cover, and I think you did an amazing job covering all of the bases. Especially when you’re discussing League, Pokémon, and World of Warcraft, somethings I’ve been deeply invested in, and really taking a critical eye to how ambitious and tedious it would be for a game studio (even if it is a monolith like game freak) to redesign/update the characters. This video is such incredible quality, and I’m glad to hear your thoughts on things like this! Keep on trucking uwu
Game Freak: Hey! How about we just not bring back the old Pokémon? Can’t compare Pokémon visually if they’re not in the game!
Everyone: Wait no
Me: wait yes, I've always wanted a big Pokémon game, a GOOD game (so not Sword/Shield) with less Pokémon available, like most spin-offs I believe
What they ended up doing: a bad game, the worst story of any Pokémon game and turns out they're hiding the old Pokémon behind a paywall, with at least the first DLC being what should've been the "free" postgame and not cost half the game's price.
It was fun liking Sword and Shield *before* they were released.
Here's my take. The new designs follow the same formula, but something is off about them, and some are just weird, like the car key pokemon. Scrap making new pokemon, scrap making new pokemon designs, stick to the settings and pokemon you already have and begin a cohesive story set in the old and new regions together. Have new takes where you can travel between regions, maybe have one where you live in a random town and have a few pokeballs for catching the first pokemon you see, add some lore, etc.
i just love the details he puts in his character, like the way that when he moves his head his hair shakes.
I'm loving this format, reminds me of Trope Talk and Blue's videos on OverlySarcastic
TheLuckySpades yo u one of da osp squad
@@atotallyrealhuman8780 OSP is one of the best on this site!
Absolutely!
Gorgeous animation! Also, love these kind of videos! Also, you sound much healthier. Good to hear you are doing better.
New best quote: "Flex Flex"
*squish squish*
I really like the style that the artists who draw Pokemon have perfected, they do a really good job of mixing the complex and simple designs to such a level that it has become a staple for the franchise.
"These Pokémon are just BIRDS."
--Pokémon Rusty
But they are my birds and I love them how they are.
Actually, every pokemon lays eggs so that makes them all birds
Which makes them perfect just the way they are.
@@Cottonmouth255 This is the correct answer. All birds are perfect creatures.
@@mushymcmushington7176 Correction; Geese aren't perfect. They act territorial like swans, but they aren't nearly bulky enough to pull it off.
And this is coming from a Canadian, if they weren't our equivalent of American Eagles I'd kick those little fuckers right in their toothpick throats.
"They can't be as perfect as Mimikyu."
I see that you, too, are a man of culture.
As someone who has zero idea or skill in graphic design, it's immensely interesting to listen to you talking about the subject :D Good stuff, Jo!
Jocat when holding just a sword "I feel naked need shield"
In before this gets copyrighted by Nintendo. Hah ahhh... Also holy heck that's some nice smooth animation for yourself.
Haven’t you heard? Nintendo is not at strict with copyright anymore, YAAAAAAAA
I know this video is almost a year old but I’d argue they do update their design philosophy while also sticking to the basics. New Pokémon use much softer lines and simpler shapes, compare Scatterbug and Caterpie, or Toucannon and Fearow. Also it’s noticeable how the designs get more creative because they have the technology to do so, for example Rhydon has a very large head because they needed to show it on a small Gameboy screen, Aggron, a similar Pokémon, has a smaller head comparetively thanks to GBA’s higher resolution. Newer Pokémon like Stonejourner wouldn’t make sense on a Gameboy screen, it would look like a bunch of rectangles. But higher resolution and the ability to animate the designs let them make a Pokémon like that. Another example is Inteleon, it has really thin arms and when transferred to a 3DS they are literally 1px wide during battle. Also notice how most gen1 and gen2 Pokémon use very limited color schemes? Archeops or A-Muk wouldn’t be possible on a Gameboy Color. Regional forms are also a good showcase of how their design philosophy changed, Galarian Rapidash has smoother lines, larger eyes and doesn’t stick to a realistic horse bone structure like classic Rapidash does. Same applies to Alolan and regular Persian, or alolan and regular Raticate
Color me impressed. Your animation/video setup is clean, easy to follow, and high quality. Excellent work man, keep it up!
Hi, Jo! ✨ I loved the video. Nice take on Pokemon designs. Regarding the design creep talk in comparison with LoL, Pokemon company already tried redesigning stuff to their new standards with Alolan versions of Pokemon and Mega Evolutions. Again, as you I don't work at Game Freak, but I imagine that they took the chance to introduce these re designs for that same reason you mention here. And yet again, some hate them, some love them, and some spam the crap out of them (Mega Venusaur FOR THE WIN)
Great video and late HB!
"They can't all be as good as Mimikyu" Yes they can and I will prove it!
*goes into Sprite editor and throws cloth over all of the sprites*
Ha! Toldyaso!
Smooth animation, good voice and pacing, an interesting subject… A great video!
I think that's why GameFreak made Alolan forms to see what people would think about them
The Alolan Forms also made pokemon like Ninetales better gameplay wise, without straight up buffing them.
i recently joined the pokemon train and discussion. i also share your point and think that they release non-core games to test stuff and it is surprising that this keeps going on.
Wait, you're that -Scary Monsters- dinosaur headed dude who makes crap guides for D&D?
Wow... you actually look and sound nice...not insane, like I thought you were.
Not having the Wiggler head firmly strapped on doesn't hurt
the wiggler hat is a path to powers many consider unnatural
When he puts on the Wiggler head, it takes over.
Yesss, more ChairCat please!
ChairCat?
ı'ٳٳ ŧąҠɛ ყơųř ɛŋŧıřɛ ŞŧơĆҠ!!!
MORE ANIMATED JOCAT?
AFTER I JUST WATCHED THE KLONOA VIDEO?!
HAHA GOODBYE SLEEP HELLO QUALITY CONTENT!
I need so many more of these. I recommend watching Overly Sarcastic Reviews, specifically Red's Trope talk and Blues history summarised videos; this style is very similar and maybe it'll spark some inspiration. Loving this channel, can't wait to see what else you come up with!
Look at this boi being animated and all. Amazing work, this was very entertaining! Keep it up!
Spheal is my favorite pokemon design ever, it's just an adorable spherical seal.
Spheal is best pokemon. Sold me some stuffs.
i thought it was a weird distorted business-casual manbeast
@@bnuuyes yea yea, best pokemon
@@bnuuyes don't forget when he goes on vacation his arms double their size
I want to punt one through the window of a fire-starter's house.
Hey, JoCat. I just wanted to say I know you may be feeling some anxiety about the content being different from what you normally put out, but I really enjoyed the video and it was also informative. I got to learn about how many of my favorite game characters are designed. It's also cool to see you getting to flex your design knowledge on the rest of us, haha!
I would love to see more content like this. Keep up the good work!
I actually really like this style of video. I wasn't expecting this but it's really a treat to watch.
Wait sobble is a chameleon
Edit: also whoa this was a very well done video, smooth animation, and also an amazing comment on that whole controversy.
the curled tail is a pretty dead give-away, and it was also camouflaged during the reveal trailer
Yea, that thing looks nothing like a chameleon. They made it way too round, and got rid of most of its distinctive characteristics.
A water chameleon? Okay? I thought it was based on a crested newt, but what do I know?
This video was an interesting look into some of the elements of design that make for a cohesive look in the Pokemon games. It's especially interesting to consider how they handle the complexity of their characters, and that reminds me of a similar game franchise: Spectrobes. Another channel called Subjectively took a look at the design in the Spectrobes games a little while ago, and I think it's very interesting to compare the monsters in that franchise to the ones in Pokemon. I know that Spectrobes has far fewer designs to create, but they seem to stick to a mythological background for theirs as well, which I also think is interesting because Pokemon seems to vary so much in where they draw inspiration from.
Thanks for reading my monologue
- A Chronic Lurker
P.S. I like your room scene and the slight changes you made to it.
The simplicity of Pokemon is what I love about it!
I really liked the video, but then you called Mimikyu perfect. Now I LOVE the video!
Nice to hear interesting thoughts from a designer’s perspective! I just watched a Game Informer interview with James Turner, an Art Director at The Pokémon Company International (not sure if he still works there, interview was from 2020). Every time the interviewer asked about surface level design elements that “define” Pokémon (ie. templates), James pushed back a bit. He explained that the design concepts making up a Pokémon should be cohesive, but the art style is meant to be flexible. Basically, the ideas behind a Pokémon should make sense in the world- in the context of “would this Pokémon befriend me.” Can you see yourself going on an adventure with the creature throughout the world of Pokémon?
These ideas really stuck out to me. Sounds like The Pokémon Company wants the art style to be flexible, so it can be adapted across various media (ie. Pokémon Evolutions: The Series, psychedelic TCG art by Tomokazu Komiya). I almost think of it like the various, stylized multiverses from Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
loved this. also, one way they’re slyly doing the “updating” is through megas, dynamax forms, regional forms, etc.. twists the standard design, but not permanently. it’s a cool solution.
Ive been working on a fakedex for a long LONG time and ive definitely had problems with design creep as i continue to grow as a designer so goodness was its cool to hear about it hhaha.
Holy shit this guy's animation is so clean. From him moving his arms, to his mouth forming the shapes of the sounds he's making.
This is so good! Thank you for more and higher quality content JoCat :D
Don't dis my voltorbs like that
*comforting six voltorbs*
That New Frame Plus logo on top of the shelf, hell yeah!! Awesome video btw, came right from Dan's animation video, I wanna show this it to all my Pokemon fan friends and try making our own
8:08 I'm currently developing my own Fantasy/Sci-Fi TTRPG for my friends and I to play and I've been working on it for about a year now. One of the first things I did was the races. Not only do I keep adding new ones as time goes on (I'm currently at 11) but I also keep re-designing the earlier concepts. My friends love them but they just look out of place to me... It's a struggle
I think the biggest difference between new and old Pokemon is the basic elements used.
Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle all have odd head-shapes, archway eyes, big bodies, thick arms that thin at the bottom with claws on the end, one large indicator of type beyond color (bulb, flame, shell), and one or two indicators of pattern (spots, underbelly, shell/tail).
Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble all have the same head shape, round eyes, small bodies and big heads, a small or no indicator of type beyond color (twig in hair, nothing, fin I guess), and several indicators of pattern (eye mask/leaf hair/muzzle and hands/ears and tail, fluff/red coloring/bandaids, cheeks/tail/face and underbelly/fin).
The new pokemon are overdesigned, and they put less emphasis on the more unique bodies and more emphasis on the identically-shaped heads.
That’s just my take on the issue.
Agree 100%, this video way oversimplified what constitutes a Pokemon's design, and conflated complex designs with "good designs".
I see your point with the indicator of type thing but I see it from another perspective. Let's use as examples Charmander and Scorbunny. The first games used unmoving sprites so it makes sense for Charmander to have a visible flame. Now, the sprites are always moving, they're animated, which means they can simply have visible abilities regarding they're type, such as Scorbunny creating fire when his feet touch the ground. Please don't be offended, it's just my point of view.
There has also been complaints that the newer Pokemon look too "cartoony." Older pokemon physique seem to be more tied to real life animals, so they seem more realistic. Take for example Vulpix, the design looks rooted in reality, the head looks proportion to its body and it looks like it could possible be a real animal. Meanwhile look at Keldo, or Jangmo-o
, their heads look way to big for their bodies, making them look less like animals and more like cartoon. This make pokemons feel more like your running around catching cartoon characters and less like your catching actual animals to train. This is just my opinion.
@@sshan8736 the franchise moving from realism is not a bad thing honestly. Hunting fictional animals and forcefully remove them from their habitat to make them fight eachother at your stake and enjoyment? I don't know, kinda sounds like animal cruelty to me.
Not exactly the perfect game-morality to teach to a 6 years old.
@@sshan8736 I mean, sure a moderate percentage looked like exaggerated reality, but then you have things like whatever the christ Lickitung is. You can also parade out the usual suspects (Magnemite, Grimer, etc.) but the point stands that arguing from a realism standpoint is shaky ground. I'm sure that there are people out there who are like "Ah, yes. Tauros! My favorite Pokémon because he's a BULL with two tails! How whimsically out of the norm!" but no one goes "Ah, Electabuzz! It's based on that thing I see all the time!" no. They go "I love Magmar! It's a fire guy who comes from the depths of a HELL VOLCANO! sssSSSSICK!"
okay rewatching this two years later and just wanted to say that they *have* updated the old ones. check their original artwork and compare it to what they look like now. the issue w/ new pokemon isn't on your checklist. it's that new designs are about the ~character~ of the pokemon. the gen 8 starters' designs and evolutions are about their concepts/personalities way more than normal pokemon. this new emphasis on their conceptual character traits are making lots of the new pokemon not feel like pokemon, and that's a huge issue for long term fans. they're less like stuff you could find in your backyard or on an adventure and more like they're supposed to be your relatives. so weird
Another Klonoa 2 type format! YES! This so deserves the traction to become another series!
(Please talk more about your design experience, I live for this content)
"Sometimes new designes work perfectly" -> _Shows the H4 Master Chief armor which was made fun of for its body-builder V-shape and pretty much the whole community was happy when they saw it won't come back in H:infinite_
Oh boy! Luckily we're not on Waypoint right now! 😂
i love how hard you went on the animation in this video. the lip-syncing! the smooth motions! plus it’s just really interesting content :)
I actually enjoy this more then the crap guides, which I like a lot
"dark blue cheek spots that resemble teardrops and tangible anxiety"
gonna gatekeep a bit here and say you aren't a real independent creative if Sobble isn't your spirit animal
Zanny devils advocate:
grookey bang stick. i bang pencil (stick). spirit link
Sobble is definitely a mood
As a Game Designer who has dabbled in Game Concept Art Design, I agree with your opinion. Having to make a bunch of different designs for characters on a regular interval for new Pokemon games can be a really daunting task to make it all stand out and look great. After a while, you're gonna run out of steam and ideas and bad ones are bound to happen. You can't avoid that. Great video JoCat, really enjoyed it
Celesteela looks like something that is design by my favorite author of manga. Ohh wait, haruko ichikawa WAS involved in gen7.
Great video. I'd be totally down for some Pokemon redesigns. Only ones that need it though, someone like Gallade with their UFO hips or Jynx's...everything.
Some shiny redesigns would also be welcome. Just imagine a white Pikachu with red eyes.
This was honestly really interesting to watch, awesome job on the video!
If he taught an art class i'd listen to him for hours I swear this is GOOD!
"How Do You Design a Pokemon?"
Step one: *Furry bait.*
Counterpoint: Klefki, Geodude, Ferroseed and other pokémon we can't easily make yiff of
In other words humanise them. Give them more human features, like tiddies.
@@AguionStryke Counter-counterpoint: The challenge makes it better. Klefki has a huge hole, Geodude has a huge mouth and two hands, Ferroseed is literally a spiked buttplug (don't look them up). Furries find a way, yiff is eternal.
@@Zirkalaritz That's fair, but the only boner I have for Klefki is the murder one
@@AguionStryke rule 34...
I'm definitely in the camp of not being bothered by the new designs either way. I really only care about generations giving me one solid team of pokemon to fit my personal tastes. That said, I feel like I learned a lot just now and really appreciate you tackling this topic from all, or at least as many sides as possible.
As someone who subscribed to your channel for your Crap guides.
This video deserves more attention.
I would love to see more of videos like this, especially about design.
Sonic and Yoshi are Pokemon, confirmed. They both totally follow these guidelines
Charles Harding well duh! Of course they are. They're in smash right?
Sonic even recently got an evolution...
Space Kangaroo don’t hurt me like this
This was a very informative video, and I do agree with a lot of the points. One box I would add to checklist of how Pokémon are designed is choosing certain mons to fit the theme/location of the region. My idea on the “design creep” is that I think it’s good certain Pokémon; for example, gen 1 keep a more simplistic design this, in a way, kinda diversifies Pokémon designs from being very simple while also having the ability to be complex.
Dan Prime of that symbol on your bookshelf next to the meme hat has sent us. We seek entertainment and knowledge
You had me agreeing with the pokemon design guide up until the anime features got added to just about completely replace the animal features. I might be in the minority, but what I loved about Pokemon was how they all were supposed to be wild animals, it was an outright fantasy ecology. The designs seem to have gotten simpler, smoothed-out, and less natural-feeling as time went on. I can't quite put it to words, but there's a quality in that design which has changed, and it becomes even more pronounced the later you go in the pokemon generations. And that's what bothers me about the newer pokemon.
For example, look at Scorbunny's legs and hands. Look at Sobble's entire limb structure and head/body ratio. Now compare that to the older pokemon. Only 1 of the new starters even has distinct fingers. There's a lot of little details in the older pokemon that simply aren't in the newer starters. When you compare them, it looks like the Design Creep you described, but in reverse. Like a lot of details were lost in the move to 3-D.
I loved this video! Thank you Jocat!
It was wonderful hearing the things that might go into the designs, and guess which pokemon you were referring to
I think mega evolutions and alola forms were, in part, an effort from Game Freak to update old designs. Like, for example, you cannot change Charizard to make his design more complex, so instead give him an evolution so you can add complexity to his design. Of course there's marketing and nostalgia elements there too, but whatever.
But I have to say, complexity is not always a good thing for a Pokemon. Not saying megas and forms were a bad idea, on the contrary, I think they were great most of them and a great idea overall, they are a breath of fresh air in many ways. I'm talking about completely new Pokemon, where I think Pokemon should keep a balance between simplicity and complexity, because part of what a Pokemon is, was defined in the first generations, for good or for bad. In the end, its better to have clever desings than complex ones that make no sense and just add detail for the sake of adding it. For example, generation 5 had some of the most complex designs but they had also some of the most criticised ones, not because they grow apart from old designs, but because they were unecesarily reutilizing old concepts instead of creating new ones, as well as not beign too smart about some of the new concepts they did introduce. And that is more evident the more Pokemon you add to said generation. In all generations, people were used to having some bad or let's say "weird" designs, but having that many at once as well as many of them not beign that original, at that time it made it seem like Pokemon designs were becoming stale and trying desesperately to look different, both at the same time and without much success in either field. As a result, with so many Pokemon introduced in 5 gen, there are a lot of great designs of course, but also a lot more than usual of those "weird" ones. Maybe they were too ambitious, or maybe they were just trying new things and trying to give more importance to other stuff like story elements rather than designs, I get it, I just don't think it should be only one way or the other. Story is something where I think Pokemon games could improve a lot too, but that's another topic so I'll leve it there.
I would personally be fine with a "reboot" of the franchise, fixing bad designs across all generations instead of just updating old ones. In my opinion designs like Venusaur, Lapras, Sceptile or Metagross to name a few, are perfect, while others like Klingklang, Vanilluxe, Bewear, Electrode or Dewgong well... I'd have them completely redesigned or deleted, or maybe changed to their core. Some need more modifications than others. Don't even get me started on what I would do to the Ultra Beasts. But I know its impossible to do that, because there are very few that think like me and because Pokemon is just too big to do that kind of stuff nowadays, I'm just explaining my point of view. I feel there's also a lot of missed potential in some designs like Emboar or Incineroar, were it seems like Game Freak were desesperately trying to grab onto some old ideas like "all fire starters must be bipedal" instead of trying to make good and original designs. Or maybe they just wanted to make them more marketeable and thought that bipedal designs are better for that... who knows. By the way I'm not saying that they should never be bipedal, I don't have a problem with all the other fire starters for instance, I'm just saying that it gets repetitive and unoriginal, as well as these two in particular not being very creative and having a bad design execution (Incineroar is just a plain muscular dude with a tiger head, come on).
7:03 Yokai Watch ?! 😲
(5 seconds later)
Aaaawh no love for Yokai watch? 😢
But no joke, the design of the yokai in Yokai watch is also unique and diverse. If you havent, check it out 🤗
And they actually changed the designs.c'mon,darkside's noko looks awesome
It's okay.
My thoughts actually!!
Even if it isn't the exact method it's still a cool breakdown into design and why or how things do work. I appreciate this.
It’s so strange to go from his hyperloud/superconfident crap guide series to my favorite college professor with animations that are way too smooth to not get him an amazing job
Also it was a contrast in itself when in the Druid video he put up a disclaimer for sticks to snakes and put at the end “thanks for reading this” and it was so odd because of how unapologetic his wiggler form is
@@MarrowSuccer I think that's the thing. We have to see the wiggler as a character in itself
I loved this video format it was interesting and entertaining.
I actually kinda like how different generations have distinct differences. Like, you know how you're in high school and you're the batch of 2010, but you see the batch of 2008, 2009,etc. and how each person of one batch seems to look funny with a different batch. You know in the future you're gonna be cool like them as well and that feeling is so satisfying.
You made couple small games?
Nice :]
Video is also nice.
Good material!
there a video about it on the channel
Could you explain the general differences in design philosophy between Pokémon and Digimon, especially regarding how evolutions build on the design of previous stages? I’ve never seen anybody be able to quite articulate this into words.
Digimon doesn't design evolutions to flow into each other as much, so each design kind of has to be it's own thing and communicate a thematic concept more than a supposed real animal. The evolutions are tied together by their themes and concepts instead of there appearances. As a result designs are more abstract, and often include artificial-looking bits to remind you that this is a digital creature.
pokemon: creature -> bigger fancier creature
digimon: creature -> bigger creature with gun
I stand by the opinion regional variants is the best idea they've come up with in years.
It shows love to lesser known/appreciated Pokemon that older fans would enjoy, but introduces a new concept for newer fans.
I feel that joecat should start doing videos to teach us his amazing smarts
When you forget his crap guide persona is a character lol still love the vid
Enjoyed this format man, keep doing what you enjoy! It shows when your enjoying yourself
Hmmm...to alll pokemon fans out there, could Alolan and Mega forms be that improved design to the characters that we are thinking off?
I think yes
Yes and no really. I absolutely adore Alolan Sandslash and Marowak, but I would be heartbroken if they replaced the originals. They are good designs, but I wouldn't want to feel like I'm losing something. They're doing the right thing now, and I don't think Pokemon needs to make any huge stylistic changes to please everyone. They still regularly make great designs with their current method. These starters kinda miss the mark for me, but just one gen ago we had starters that I really loved, so I don't think it's the design philosophy becoming outdated. Heck, gen 7 was overall fantastic design wise.
That's what I'm thinking. Alolan or new regional looks could give some splashes to older designs
calling Mega forms an improvement is a reach
Not all of them are improved designs. Yes, Alolan Ninetales, Sandslash, Marowak, and Muk are great, there are some stinkers like Alolan Persian and Raticate. Mega Evolutions are mostly amazing though, with the exception of Glalie's and Slowbro's.
I think both are very clever ways of going about improving/changing designs, they do so without making those changes permanent (megas) or in substitute of the original designs (alolan forms)
Megas even help older Pokémon be more relevant in the competitive scene, and not have them go out of use or trampled by newer more powerful Pokémon
Hey! What about the alolan versions of some of the OG 151? And mega evolutions? Maybe do a 2nd part about those implementations?!
Ive heard a couple different parts of the design philosophy talked about before. The "cute" factor and anthropomorphization. There are certainly a lot more cutesy pokemon in modern games, and even cute pokemon in the og games had an edge to them that still made them monsters. But the modern ones dont, somehow. A lot of them are severely anthropomorphized, especially starters. I get that this video came before the final evo reveal, but the Sword and Shield starters all have this problem. Cinderace fits the best, being a soccer playing bunny, but even then its uncanny. Rillaboom, a drum playing gorilla, and Antellion who is literally a James Bond lizard. It feels gimmicky.
Hold up, was that Articuno in the GRASS around 1:40 ??! Literally unwatchable!
Probably the roaming articuno in platinum
Ye that happened in platinum, the birds were roaming in that game
@@miles7043 wack