As Australians, we constantly feel like the forgotten continent of the world when it comes to gaming. Nobody ever seems to want to set a game here, despite our country’s overflowing beauty and danger.
But with the release of Pokémon Sword and Shield, Twitter user VivinkArt has taken it upon themselves to show their take on fully-fledged Australian Pokémon versions: Pokémon Yeah and Pokémon Nah.
Introducing Bruce (Bazza) and Shella (Shazza), the protagonists of Pokemon Yeah and Pokemon Nah.
They're customizable, of course! I'll post up concepts of them later. pic.twitter.com/WTbmGbjCsP— VivinkArt (@VivinkArt) November 14, 2019
The art and amount of detail that has been put into this is absolutely brilliant – not only does it match Pokémon’s art style so closely, the effort that has gone into developing player characters, regional Pokémon and even the region itself could almost fool you into thinking these were real games. Set in the region of Straya, players can choose between Bruce and Shella (or Bazza and Shazza) and pick one of three very Australian-looking starter Pokémon. You can catch a very Sydney-esque bin chicken with Ibin, and there’s even monsters based on Australian lore, such as Dropbare.
Now for the Pokemon of the Straya Region, here's the bin chicken, Ibin!
But it's not all it seems, this thing evolves into a 2m tall nightmare called Huntsmare that truly gives the horrifying wildlife in Australia justice. It's based off a real spider, I swear. pic.twitter.com/od4liW7cmW
— VivinkArt (@VivinkArt) November 14, 2019
The effort that has gone into this makes me wish that this was real, and I hope that Nintendo and Game Freak take notes!
You can check out the full thread on Twitter at @VivinkArt here.
