Pokémon Red & Blue mod turns the classic RPG into a sick 3D voxel game

Pokémon remakes tend to modernize old visuals, but what if Game Freak spruced up the old pixel art instead? As the recent Pokémon Diamond and Pearl documentary leak proved, 3D pixel art totally works. A recent overhaul mod of the original Pokémon games runs with this idea, and the results are spectacular.

The mod introduces a number of new features, like 60 frames-per-second, widescreen support, ambient occlusion, dynamic shadows, and multiple camera angles. The 2.5D fights take place directly on the 3D map, which is a nice touch. There’s even an option that makes the mod adopt an Animal Crossing-style rolling world curvature. You can play the games in color, or you can turn on a filter that applies the classic Game Boy green monochrome palette.

It’s similar to a 3D diorama where the sprites look like leaning slabs. “A shadow map throws real cast shadows across whatever they land on, and an optional tilt-shift pass sells the miniature-model look,” reads the GitHub mod description.

Battles are depicted with an over-the-shoulder perspective “with a slow parallax drift” behind the monsters and a “depth-of-field pass that keeps both of them sharp,” it says.

The project is not a ROM nor does it emulate the Game Boy. “A canonical US Poke Red or Blue ROM is the only game content input,” the readme file says. “The ROM is verified, used during import, then released from memory.”

The project, which has received multiple updates over the last couple of weeks, seems well-supported. The nine-minute gameplay footage provided by the creators covers the beginning of the game, when the player receives their starter in Pallet Town. I only needed a few seconds to be sold on the concept, though!