Recently, known Youtuber and Pokémon archivist, Lewtwo was sent original artwork by Ken Sugimori, the designer for the early Pokémon games in the Gameboy era. This artwork is notable because they are the original scans of the original 251 Pokémon created by Sugimori, which have never been put into circulation.
Fans of the series have gotten used to the low-resolution artwork that has been out since the games’ release, which is why it is so surprising to see these pieces of art in a much clearer light. The artwork that has been out in circulation has always been low quality, which Lewtwo described as having “inaccurate colors, often misshapen, and VERY low quality.”
IGN adds to the comparison between one of the Pokémon shown through the tweet, Ivysaur. In the article, they note that Ivysaur’s look in low-quality renditions made Ivysaur look blue and orange, but in the cleaner version, it is closer to its actual color of green and pink. Diglett is another example of these changes, though with Diglett, there are more notable issues with the quality of the art, as the ground beneath it is not colored in and there is significantly less detail in the older version.
Lewtwo remarks in his tweet that these scans were given to him by Twitter user ExcaliburZero_Z and after a lot of cross-referencing, they were able to confirm the validity of the scans. While there is a level of nostalgia for the older versions, with a certain charm in the simplicity, it is important to the legacy of the game to have access to these original pieces of art as they were originally meant to be.
Now it is Lewtwo’s goal to spread these scans to other platforms in order to preserve the original image of the art, though they also mention that they will continue to preserve the older scans for the history and impact they have had on the wider community.