The Incredible Pixel Art of Pokemon Trading Card Game

[@Lyra]

I always thought the Pokémon TCG GB game art was fantastic as a kid. Replaying the game as an adult, the amount of care and detail that went into recreating the original cards is ridiculous! It manages to be both faithful to the original art yet super readable on the GB/GBC. In my opinion, adding an outline to the Pokémon does a lot of the work and is the smartest decision they made. Thank you very much for going deep into this topic. Turns out, they went even further than I thought! This was a great video on a great game :'D

[@DeltaSeeker]

Wow thanks so much! I've been a fan of yours for a long time and love your videos!!

[@robertbeisert3315]

It was so well done that I never noticed there were only ever 4 colors on the cards.

[@TourFaint]

Both of the tcg games are easily in the top 10 gameboy games ever, the level of quality and hard work put into them is insane.

[@RyanonBasss]

Both?!

[@TourFaint]

@@RyanonBasss well the second one is better, because it has the expansions, but yeah, both are great.

[@mjdxp5688]

A little known fact: Pokémon Gold and Silver actually are compatible with the Super Game Boy. It works more like Pokémon Red and Blue did, with areas being given the same color palette rather than the more colorful Game Boy Color graphics. Also, at night, everything turns a dark shade of cyan/teal, which looks really unique. It's a really interesting and unique way to play, and I definitely recommend it to everyone. Edit: A lot of people are talking about how they want to see this for themselves, but they don't have a Super Game Boy to try it with. Most Game Boy emulators are able to emulate the Super Game Boy pallette, so you might want to try that.

[@sofiacalado8836]

Huh that's neat, even though it would make sense it works because it's a GB game, i never thought of that

[@dragon-id5uj]

yeh that's how we hadto emulate it with only the first percent of dialog translated back in the day (prior to the English cartridge dropping)... ahh memories... of not knowing WTF I'm clicking

[@jeancarlodelaluz6415]

Now I need a super game boy lol

[@MishKoz]

I love the look of Gold/Silver on the Super Gameboy. Sadly, there's barely any footage of it on KZbin, at least compared to the amount of footage of it being played on the Gameboy Color.

[@garrettlee9511]

I'd love to be able to see that some day.

[@JC20XX]

I _really_ like this video. Retro art that actually used hardware limitations is always more interesting to me than just regular pixel art. Would love to see another video about this kind of thing.

[@Turabbo]

Dude that wasn't all over the place at all, that was an incredible video. You're such a great explainer, and you made such great explanatory graphics through the whole thing. This must've been a ton of work, and I learned a bunch of cool stuff!

[@Whitepawprint]

The pixel art from this game is so nostalgic and gorgeous to me, that I've been painstakingly physically cross stitching them for the past two years. It's a long process, but they look incredible all put together and it just warms my heart looking at them

[@Fuzmonster59]

You got somewhere we see that? Sounds quiet cool!

[@gorescale3151]

Yeah you can't just tease us with that, show us the goods!

[@chairwood]

Pls show cross stitch???

[@Maverick274]

Adding to list of people that wanna see 👀

[@taylordcraig]

Me 5.

[@oliviastork1811]

I've been making my own GBC game from scratch and boy, I can imagine how difficult that yugioh art must have been to put together. I have so much more appreciation for these games now!

[@Zengar_Arcanos]

Sick break down of the pixel art in these games! Pokemon TCG was probably the first game that really had me admiring pixel art, so it's cool to see what goes into it

[@HellaKetchup]

Really glad I was recommended this video. I love the artwork in the TCG game and this made me appreciate it even more. Thanks for getting right to the content and not wasting any time with an intro or outro.

[@LightningCrabz]

I'm amazed that KZbin managed to recommend such a cool video to me. Thanks for making this! It was a very fun and interesting watch!

[@kylespevak6781]

I never thought about how insane this was. I think I didn't understand tech enough at that age

[@luckycat2398]

That was an awesome video 😃. I never really thought or knew about those limitations. Makes me appreciate retro graphics so much more.

[@ImWithTheIdiotpilot]

What an excellent video. I appreciated you exploring the more technical aspects and limitations as well as the creative decisions. Can’t wait to see more!

[@robertcrist6059]

Great job. I couldn't begin to think how this process is done. The editing of this video, showing us all the examples must have taken a while. Thank you for the video, this was very neat.

[@ultiomos]

as both a gameboy dev hobbyist and a huge pokemon fan, i think this video was really well done! the explanation of how gb graphics work was really good. im glad you talked about gb2's art as well. i wasn't sure actually if they used the yugioh technique of sprites or just more bg palettes, so it's good to know now!

[@monster3339]

i love this game so much, both for the gameplay and the beautiful graphics. im happy to see it get the recognition it deserves!

[@hv433]

At 9:40, I thought of Dark Golbat and how it has a similar issue as Charmeleon, where colors of the Pokemon actually 'bleed out' into the background. Dark Golbat is a worse offender though, because it's purple and blue are very apparent unlike the Charmeleon's small zone of red pixels. Although I don't know a single player that would use Dark Golbat. It's such a bad card, and I don't think the AI uses it either.

[@deignt923]

And the soundtrack was absolute 🔥. The grand Master battle theme was so damn good

[@rzgbrmpf37]

The editing of this video is insane! Loved this video from start to end!

[@StarfieldDisarray]

Mystery Voltorb is a standout artwork from these games for me. It's so striking both in its limited color palette of GB1 and the more accurate color palette of GB2.

[@angelpardo1530]

Wow, I played both the different GB games of Yugioh and both games of TGC pokémon so I found the whole video very interesting. Now I understand why I felt there was something off/different with the second game of Pokémon in regards to the art of the cards. Also, I cannot believe that was the reason behind the attacking cards being face down in Yugioh the whole time! For a limitation of the game, it was an extremely clever way to overcome it. I would have never notice, it looks very like an artistic choice mostly.

[@smeegle]

the music on this game is some of the best the system has to offer

[@monkaeyes3417]

I feel like this guy sounds like he’s just inches away from going “number 15, Burger King foot lettuce”

[@hilariousskullnamedcatzo647]

I would like to see a video on the 3d renders in the pokemon cards, they've always been real eye catchers when next to the traditional hand drawn or sculpted card images, and the video could include interesting stuff like the first one made, how they are made and overall any interesting history (or any controversies if they exist)

[@pickler_pickler]

this is an incredible video. I've never seen such a concise and well explained video on 8 bit color graphics.

[@nickrousseau3552]

This is the best video I’ve seen on KZbin in a very long time

[@ATthemusician]

Pokemon TCG on Gameboy is one of my favorite games of all time, I just recently got a boxed copy of the Japanese exclusive sequel but I've owned the first since I was 5 or so

[@benellis8844]

Found this channel and omg so many amazing gems. Great videos. Love the indepth dives into old games

[@GGPool00]

I feel smarter learning this than math class

[@corazonfeathers8116]

Omg Dithering was/is used soooo much for Flipnotes and I never knew the name of that effect lol

[@BlackKraya]

This is one of my favourite gameboy games. Just a fantastic translation of the TCG into a video game.

[@ToweringToska]

This was so interesting! I had skipped the Pokémon TCG Gameboy game for a silly reason, "They're just cards in this one? If they're not 'real' Pokémon they won't have a story." Now I'll try to play it, I like looking at the pictures.

[@strawberrylemonadelioness]

I've always loved the art in Pokemon, both in game and on the cards

[@BiologyIsHot]

If you normally wear glasses and are watching this at night with one eye open like me the dithering honestly looks perfectly smooth unless you focus carefully lol.

[@nonanimeprofilepic]

that yugioh dss segmant blew my mind, very good job on making this video

[@lrgogo1517]

The visuals of this video do the visual techniques of this game justice 👍🏾

[@zalz]

Loved the first game and the infamous 2nd game which came with alot of nostalgia

[@uselessDM]

I played this game ever since it came out pretty much and I never really noticed that white outline the Pokemon have, very interesting.

[@naylunna]

Wow I love this video! To think about the work l they went thought to translate the original cards with such limitations and to see they work so well... This makes me feel even more passionated about pixelart and 8/16 bits sprites 😍

[@callanmoore787]

Where have you gone? Please resume the channel if you can, you are very talented at making videos and i have learnt more about the TCG in an hour than i knew in the last 2 years of collecting! :) When i started watching your videos, i assumed you had 100k+ Subs, that's where you will be soon if you carry on! Much love

[@poweradereal]

your channel is hella underrated!

[@_marshP]

Dithering is a skill that (at least for me) is hard to master but produces amazing results

[@F_C...]

I think you should make more videos the way you're doing. Content like this is of excellent quality and imo will really take off once the algorithm works in your favor. After watching this video I was surprised this wasn't a 200-400k subscriber channel.

[@gazkel6803]

this is one of my favorite games, thanks for making this video!! it's awesome :D

[@deadlineuniverse3189]

Well, still feeling nostalgic about my first Pokémon game ever

[@Weregoatee]

Amazing video tbh, I loved it! People are so inventive and talented.

[@JF.90]

im so happy to say i played the heck out of this game as a kid..

[@dannydevito4184]

Just binged all your vids. Hope you make more.

[@swarmofmudkipz]

Hey!! I just found your channel in recommendations. Pokemon TCG for the GB was the first pokemon game I ever got. I told everyone in my family I wanted a pokemon game for my Gameboy and they totally didn't coordinate. I got 3 copies lmao. Seeing anyone talk about the GB game always piques my interest. I love the ken sugimori/early TCG art and I'm glad to see such a tasteful analysis videos. I've seen a few of your other videos and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before more people find your amazing channel. The visual presentation and audio are so quality. Hope to see more from you!

[@FrigolitBAWS]

just binged all your videos, so good. eagerly waiting for more content hoping the algorithm blesses you soon enough

[@CLEANDrumCovers]

Great video. One of my favorite old GameBoy Color games.

[@LegendBegins]

Underrated channel. Top tier content, fantastic presentation and research!

[@potssnpanns8418]

Not sure if you mention this in the video because I'm commenting before watching but on top of the graphics pretty much everything about this game is great. It translates the card game to such a tiny screen without hindering your ability to see all the info you need to easily. The music is great, too. Especially that menu theme. A little niche, but for me, easily in the top 10 GameBoy games

[@CockroachMunchingKrabbyPatty]

Never seen such an abrupt end to a video, I thought my internet cut out lmao

[@edboi5354]

Absolutely stellar video only critique would be an outro just feels like the video ends abruptly

[@wallisbudge4022]

Very very fun video, I never played this game as a kid but I'll definitely have to try it out now.

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

great video! keep up the good work. btw what editing software do yo use for these? they're super well done

[@DeltaSeeker]

Thanks! I use pirated Adobe Premiere lol, but it's a real pain to position and animate all the pictures with. There may be better options but I don't know of any

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

@@DeltaSeeker Surf those seas, my friend and don't let anybody shame ya for doing otherwise. All that pain and annoyance working out, very well done stuff. Keep it up.

[@josephfusco7941]

PTCG was a great game, and I'd love to see an updated version of it. good video! As awesome as the graphics were, it was being able to use your favorite strats ingame that did it for me! I'd love to see an updated ai for the game, or even a re-release with new cards!

[@porterfielddynamics]

Keep making videos. They’re so good and I can definitely see you blowing up soon.

[@brysonmcfaull1218]

Such HIGH quality content *chef's kiss* Subscribed!

[@dreamweav3r367]

Yep, I still have my copy from childhood, and its probably my favorite Gameboy game. I remember the art standing out even compared to GBA games I had at the time. It blew my mind when I saw the Scyther promo as a reward card. Unsure if its nostalgia speaking but I think the music in this game is amazing too.

[@smergthedargon8974]

Oh hell yeah this is the kind of overly-specific analysis I crave

[@Tabletop_Epics]

This is a great video. You did an excellent job analyzing the the composition of these amazing images. Thank you. Also, I love this simple little Game Boy game. I wish the U.S. had received the sequel.

[@yahRUCKyah]

Great video. Thanks for putting this together

[@Lotloxa]

This was very cool! Thank you for sharing and making this nicely polished video~

[@InsaneFirebat]

Never realized it until this video. Those cards do look oddly good for GB graphics, color or not.

[@KellyScout]

I like how abruptly the video ends

[@BloodyScythe666]

really nice video and nice animations!

[@JinwooYoon1217]

Excellent! Subbed at around 1.05k? Can't wait to see your growth!

[@607]

Wow, that was an extremely abrupt ending to the video! o_O Anyway: I've been playing Pokémon TCG quite a bit lately, and I agree that the art looks good. It's probably much more impressive if you know what the original cards look like, though, since they are emulated so well. I've owned a few Pokémon cards as a kid, but the only graphics that seems familiar to me are the energy cards and the Ponyta one. Nice video. It's a shame that the sequel didn't come out in English, and I'm also disappointed that there are no Pokémon TCG games for GBA, Switch or other handhelds.

[@realf8]

I love this game. Recently played it. Remembered it to be extremely difficult. Choose water deck to start. Breezed through the game, without major changes to deck. Apparently raindance blastoise is a banned deck 😅

[@Ashfold_Eberesche]

This is a wonderful video - incredibly informative, concise and great visuals. I'm honestly tempted to sub based on this vid alone. I'll definitely check out your other videos.

[@antugino136]

very interesting video, I played a lot of gb/gbc pokemon tcg back in the day

[@Strider73]

The music in this game is also master level

[@UltraMathi]

Incredibly well edited vidéo, I learned a lot ! Didnt know there was a difference between a Super Gameboy and a gameboy color, you probably had to dig for that footage. Congrats. I wanna play the gameboy color TCG now....

[@pokepress]

To be fair, this game does a pretty good job of hiding the difference, outside of the part where they didn’t seem to want to (the map).

[@placebo_yue]

very interesting. The pokemon TCG games are super underrated

[@KarmicXRestrictions]

I really want alters of cards using this pixel art

[@Frisey]

Really enjoyed this, thank you ✌️

[@dragonyoshi1]

wiggilytuff with crabby call for family to fill the bench is busted. Nidoran female also has it but it's call for family purity cost is higher and needs coin flips for damage.

[@worldsboss]

Very interesting! Shame they never revived this series for modern (non-PC) consoles.

[@Citizen_Nappa23]

Old video however irrelevant my favorite artwork of my favorite pokemon the OG TCG artwork! :)

[@adamPhoebe]

Hi! The dithering method is called Bayer Dithering!

[@Enraptored-]

I really love your videos ; they’re Quality content. Keep at what your doing, it’s brilliant!

[@LiveFromFetus]

very high quality content

[@DuploBone]

Quite interesting indeed! Cheers for sharing it all with us, mate. I learned quite a lot, and it was both informative as well as entertaining! 🙂

[@VictorGonzalez-vj6jy]

Just bought the game on the 3DS, hype!

[@TheGuzeinbuick]

Totally agree. I would love to make a Digimon rom hack of the Pokemon TCG.

[@johnadams6249]

omg the end caught me off guard

[@ccccjjjjeeee]

That was super interesting!

[@georgewha3691]

Damn, this was nostalgic. ❤❤

[@daskora2516]

imagine a pokemon game with 8bit took way more work then the actuall games that get released xD

[@brandonrobinson1603]

This was an incredible video!! So interesting, impressive and eye opening! Thank you!

[@Vulpas]

Very good video and well edited, except the ending was a bit sudden. I'm surprised you only have 7k subs instead of like 700k.

[@nameunavailable07]

Great vid. I highly recommend anyone play the second game, its easy to find a very well translated rom of it.

[@sp0pie928]

WOW super interesting really well done with the editing too. ending was a little abrup

[@dstinnettmusic]

It turns out, if you work with the resolution you have, you can make pretty pictures.

[@mana5673]

super interesting video, thanks!

[@JacobIsACheese]

i love how ur vidoes like just end

[@fontzz]

Great video!