Pokemon TCG2 GBC Sprite Project

[Derpkip]

Forgive me for the terrible title, I'm awful at naming things.

Hello! Back in about November of 2011, a user named Starturds / Plino / Indigo Jeans created a thread on this forum with the intention of creating sprites in the style of the Japan-exclusive Pokemon game "Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!" which was a sequel to the original Gameboy game "Pokemon Trading Card Game." You can find the original thread from TVGR here, and another version of the thread on SmashBoards.

While I myself have never really played the TCG, I've always had a huge soft spot for the artwork. The reason they started making sprites for the sequel as opposed to the original is because the palette restrictions are a bit looser for the GBC. This means it's easier to add clearer, crisper details. I assume that's at least partially the reason, anyway.

The color limit per sprite is about 8 colors--that's the aesthetic I'm going for here, anyway--and there's technically a limit of 4 colors per 8x8 tile in the sprite, but as you're about to see, I (and apparently people from the project 10 years ago) said "fuck it," and just stuck to keeping it at 8 colors or fewer.

The project originally wanted to finish the remaining two Gen 1 sets, as well as a few of the Gen 2 sets. Eventually everyone's submissions just went all over the place and people started contributing sprites from a lot of different expansions. While it was really cool to see more modern TCG artwork in this 8-bit style, I'd like to keep things that way (as in, gen 1 and 2 expansions only) in this thread for consistency and structure's sake.

Each sprite is 64x48 pixels, has a color restriction of 8 colors, a 1 px "black" border around the inside edges, and usually a "white" border around the Pokemon itself. I've made a few examples as you can see here:


I don't mind if I'm the only one submitting sprites to this, really. Honestly I don't even have any concrete plans with making sprites like this; I just genuinely enjoy making them. If someone wants to make a game out of them, awesome. If not, no worries. However, I would still absolutely love to see if anyone here would be interested in contributing a bit, as I think it would be a lot of fun!

I have a couple of spreadsheets with the cards and original artists listed.

Gen 1 Expansions (Just Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge)
Gen 2 Expansions

Unfortunately I myself haven't really made anything within these expansions as of yet, but I do plan to once I post this thread. I've mainly just been working with original artwork that I find pretty. I think someone else on DeviantART has finished most of the sprites for Gym Heroes, and they're all listed on that spreadsheet. Sadly I had all of Starturds / Plino's sprites saved before the photobucket purge, but since then an update crashed my OS and I lost all of my data. :\ the sprites are all in JPEG and/or have a gross watermark despite them all being phenomenal, so I'm not sure if they should be remade or what. They seemed to be active on TVGR back in December, so I sent them a PM. I guess time will tell if they receive it. If they don't want me to include their sprites in the spreadsheet, I'd be happy to oblige. But until then, they'll just stay on the sheet since I don't exactly have them saved / archived anywhere else.

I also have a short tutorial made up in case anyone is interested in giving it a shot but isn't sure where to start.

Spoiler

Here's the original image we're going to use, to start off. These sprites are primarily pixel-overs, but as you'll see in a bit, don't let that fact fool you. It can be a bit tricky to compress all these details into a small space depending on how detailed the original art is. When we go to resize this down to 64x48 px--make sure to keep the aspect ratio intact when you resize it--we'll see that it can only be resized down to 64x44 or 70x48. What we need to do is trim the sides down bit by bit until we can get the aspect ratio at that sweet, sweet 64x48 canvas size. The reason why keeping the aspect ratio intact is so important is for two reasons:
First of all, you don't want the sprite to look stretched or squished.
Second, so that the Pokemon is large enough on the canvas so that you can fit more detail in. The Pokemon is the focal point of the sprite, after all.




Much better. You might want to save this image and keep it nearby as a reference, because you'll probably be needing it later on.




This is what we'll be working with. In my program, I'm able to create multiple layers and change the alpha / opacity, so it might help to have that.




Start by distinguishing the line art of the Pokemon. the Pokemon is the focal part of the piece, therefore most of your focus should be used on it. Even if there is no line art in the original art, blocking in the shapes will work fine. Whichever you prefer, as long as the end result looks to be in a similar style to the original art. You might need to compress certain details to make sure the sprite is readable. You'll probably want to frequently reference off of the original artwork, as stated before.




At this point, you can try to figure out what you want to do with limiting the palette, but I honestly just judge it as I go. I'll be combining and/or getting rid of a lot of these colors, but for now it helps me differentiate the different pixel clusters and get an idea for how I want the shading to look. Speaking of which, do your best to make the most out of dithering! It helps to blend colors.




In the games, most Pokemon in the sprite have a light-colored (whatever the palette's equivalent of white is) 1 px thick border. You usually wanna add that. I made it yellow here just so I can distinguish it from the background I'm gonna be adding.




For the background, you'll generally want to block in pixel clusters of different colors; try to mimic what you see and reference back to the artwork as needed in order to make sense out of specific details. Here, I made the ice crystals have more prominent outlines so it's clear as to what they're supposed to be.




Now, time for color reduction! We seem to have a problem: This consists of 11 colors. With the program I use, I'm able to see exactly how many colors I've used for a sprite, and I can even see exactly what those colors are. This is a hugely helpful tool to have. First of all, I combined the yellow and light orange together. One color down, 2 to go.




Second thing we can probably do is combine the dark blue and black. As a result, I also had to even out the contrast on the other blues by making them darker. I also combined the base red with the shading on the white spots too.
Last but not least, you need to make a 1px border around the edges of the canvas (or whatever your equivalent to black is in your palette, for me it's navy blue).

Finishing touches, then it's done.

Thanks for your time! When this thread was posted by Plino back in 2011, it was in the Game Dev section. I found it more appropriate to post it here as opposed to there since I don't have any concrete plans to make a game out of these. Regardless, if this is in the wrong section, please don't hesitate to redirect me. Also, I'll be working on Neo Genesis's Spinarak (#75) to start off with, as of me making this post.
If anyone would like to work on one, feel free to claim it in advance and I'll write it on the spreadsheet.  You can find very high quality card scans here on pkmncards.com. It's quite a valuable resource, especially since Pokebeach took down most of their scans, and Bulbapedia's have never been all that great.

Edit 6/2/21: I forgot to mention. In some expansions (especially gen 2 expansions), some star rarity cards have two versions: a holo and a regular one. You're free to choose whichever, especially if you think the background on a certain card deserves to be shown. This is the reason that Neo Discovery's sheet has a really off number. My apologies, I'm going to fix that. If you want to make a holo version of a card that's been done or vice versa, it's probably more efficient to just change the background of the one that already exists.

[SmithyGCN]

Your sprites look really good!

Unfortunately, I tend to stick to my own IPs, but I'm sure someone will pitch in.

[striker212]

I'll be more than happy to help wherever I can! This looks amazing!

Btw, is there any list of cards that have yet to be sprited? I don't want to end up creating something that already exists...

[Derpkip]

I'll be more than happy to help wherever I can! This looks amazing!

Btw, is there any list of cards that have yet to be sprited? I don't want to end up creating something that already exists...

Oh yeah, just check the spreadsheets I linked in the OP. :] That'd be awesome, I look forward to seeing what you submit.

And thanks for your kind words, Smithy. 



I'm using an RNG, but coincidentally enough: next one from me will be Ledyba from Neo Genesis, 63 / 111



Alrighty, next will be Neo Genesis Slowking, 14 / 111!
And ofc, I'm always very receptive to constructive feedback. Even if you find a single pixel or two out of place, please don't hesitate to point it out. It'll appease my perfectionistic tendencies lol

Slowking's also done, and all the things about it I was dissatisfied about have been fixed.


Next is Neo Genesis Girafarig, 58 / 111!


Lol, I'm just gonna keep editing this post. I don't really see a need to make another, plus I'm unsure how exactly this forum feels about thread bumping in gallery posts, so...Neo Genesis Sentret is next.

Boom.


Next is Neo Genesis Onix, Card no. 69

[Derpkip]

The rules are a little bit vague in regards to bumping gallery posts, but I've seen others do it without any major repercussions. Apologies if this isn't allowed, lemme know if it's not. I figured since it's been a few days, I'd go ahead and make a new post.


Chinchou from Neo Genesis is next


Next is again, Neo Genesis, except this time Super Energy Retrieval

[Acfusion]

This project sounds like a fun to do on the side I might do a few on the side while on break.
Just leting you know I'm currently working on Lt.Surge Electabuzz .

[Derpkip]

Hey, thank you! I appreciate your interest in helping, but if you check the spreadsheet, I think you'll see that both of those cards have already been completed. In the future, just check the sheet if you're unsure.

Edit: looks like the image isn't showing up in the sheet. I just now fixed that. All Gym Heroes Pokemon (with the exception of trainer cards) have been finished, but Gym Challenge is still free game for the most part.

Looks like I also need to fix the image for Gym Challenge Erika's Venusaur
I...broke the image for Giovanni's Gyarados. Oops. Guess I can't edit sheets on mobile worth a damn. I'll just do it after work lol

[Acfusion]

Wish I saw the message before I already complete it, but yeah I can just focus on the gym leader cards since I don't see a image in any of them yet unless its the same case with the Lt.Surge Electabuzz card if not I then I just focus on the Gym Challenge cards.

[Derpkip]

Wish I saw the message before I already complete it, but yeah I can just focus on the gym leader cards since I don't see a image in any of them yet unless its the same case with the Lt.Surge Electabuzz card if not I then I just focus on the Gym Challenge cards.

Sorry about that, if I were awake at the time I would have been quicker to respond. Yeah, I just added the image for Lt. Surge's Electabuzz a little while ago. It used an old DeviantART image url (before they were bought out), so that might explain why it was broken. Regardless I'm very glad you managed to indirectly bring it to my attention! In a few hours I'm also going to check over the gen 2 sheets to make sure there are no broken images there. I'd say though, it's a safe bet to assume it's been done already if there's an artist credited.

Finished Super Energy Retrieval. Not exactly the most proud of it, but eh. Gets the job done I suppose.


Next is Ecogym from Neo Genesis

I really like how the anti-aliasing turned out here. Up next: Neo Genesis Sneasel! Oh and I fixed the spreadsheets a couple hours ago so we should be good there.


Next up: Neo Genesis Totodile, 81/111

[Acfusion]

I'm finished with Eritka from Gym heroes for now but I might make some changes later 100/132
   

I'm going to focus on Misty and the other Eritka card next.

[Derpkip]

I'm finished with Eritka from Gym heroes for now but I might make some changes later 100/132


I'm going to focus on Misty and the other Eritka card next.

Looks fantastic! Just two things I would fix up:
Her skin might be better off being just a little bit more pale, since her skin tone is pretty fair in the original art
I think you forgot to get rid of the purple outline around her hair that you were probably using to get the lineart down lol, it brings the color count to 9.

That's all, I think!




Neo Genesis Pikachu 70/111 is next from me!


Neo genesis miracle berry trainer card is next

[Acfusion]

I would do that but the problem was I couldn't find a color that reflect her skin tone in the palette right now though that would change if I find a better color. Also my bad for the color count because I forgot Aseprite counts the first color as zero I go fix that right away.

Edit :
I decided to remove the black and replace it with dark purple since that was more easier to do and I thought either color can work on their own.

   

[Derpkip]

I would do that but the problem was I couldn't find a color that reflect her skin tone in the palette right now though that would change if I find a better color. Also my bad for the color count because I forgot Aseprite counts the first color as zero I go fix that right away.

Edit :
I decided to remove the black and replace it with dark purple since that was more easier to do and I thought either color can work on their own.

Oh? Fortunately you aren't terribly restricted to a palette. You could use an 8-bit palette for authenticity's sake if you'd like, but iirc I'm pretty sure any color with its RGB values at a multiple of 8 are valid? Don't quote me on that but I've heard that quite a bit.

Oh no worries! I get that lol, my program always likes to count pure white in a layer even when it's not actually present in the image. GG's kinda glitchy. Anyway, looks great, I'll add it to the sheet! Thank you

[Acfusion]

The palette I used are from the card sprites in both games and its literality just me using different colors from different cards thats what I meant by finding a color.

[Derpkip]

The palette I used are from the card sprites in both games and its literality just me using different colors from different cards thats what I meant by finding a color.

Ah, that's understandable. I would say don't limit yourself too much, but at the end of the day I understand if that's how you prefer to do things. Regardless, don't be afraid to use a different color if none of the in-game colors work for you!

Hello to all 3 people that have been looking at this thread! Actually I have no idea, I pulled that number out of my ass lmao

Anyway, sorry for not updating recently. I've been helping my boyfriend with a PvZ project he's been working on so I haven't had much time to do these. I'm planning on working on a few of them during the weekend, so that's exciting. To me, anyway.


This one was tricky for me, and I fear the readability could be better. I'm definitely open to feedback on this one especially.

Neo Genesis 40/111 Magmar


66/111 Marill is next!



Up next: i'm actually going to compile a palette based on the colors used in the sprites from the official game. Just if anyone would like to use it.