Several hundred pixel artists recently collaborated to recreate the Kanto region from Pokemon Red & Blue. The group in question, Retro Redrawn, is all about “remakes and demakes of your favorite games by a gathering of pixel artists!” These basically consist of modern reimaginings of a given game world, made fully explorable through any “WebGL compatible browsers.” Players are able to “pan and zoom the map the same you would on sites like Google Maps.”In addition to the Kanto region, Retro Redrawn offers a version of Hyrule from The Legend of Zelda and the Johto Region from Pokemon Gold & Silver.“Kanto Redrawn is a collaborative art project by a group of passionate pixel artists from across the world,” Retro Redrawn explains. “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.” The group however points out how “this is a fan art project. It is in no way affiliated with or authorized by the original rights holders and not a functional game map.”Pokemon Red and Blue came out back in 1996 for GameBoy. Similar to later entries in the franchise, they were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. The games received a release in Japan as Pokemon Red and Green before launching in the United States and Canada as Pokemon Red and Blue in 1998. These are both widely considered to be among the greatest games ever made.
According to Retro Redrawn, “over a hundred pixel artists came together to recreate the first ever Pokemon region, Kanto.” The group notes that players are now able to explore the game world at their own pace, delighting fans of the franchise. Players have been commenting on a variety of different social media platforms, commending the pixel artists for all of their hard work and dedication.