Crossover fan art is always interesting because it allows the artist to highlight their favorite video game franchises and what they think makes each special. One artist, however, crossed three different gaming staples together and made them intoPokemonstarters as well as showcasing the entirety of their evolutionary lines.
Posted to Twitter, user @caseysguts shared theirPokemoncrossover forMario,Sonic, andThe Legend of Zeldaby turning each series' lead into aPokemonstarter: fire for Mario, water for Sonic, and grass for Link. It doesn’t just stop there, however, as @caseysguts made three different Pokemon for each character showing the monsters' developments as they level up and evolve.
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Each “Pokemon” name is a play on something related to the character without being too on the nose. For example, the second evolution of the Sonic Pokemon is named “Gagofas,” a clear allusion to the “gotta go fast” meme that stemmed from theSonic Xintro music. Other references include the Mario starter “Tanuee” being a reference to the Tanooki suit featured in the games and Link’s final evolved form “Hylink” referencesthe land of Hyrulewhere manyZeldagames are set.
In addition to designing and naming each new Pokemon, @caseysguts also assigned their elemental types. Since they’re three starter Pokemon, they all start as monotypes, fire, water, and grass as mentioned above, but grow into dualtypes as they evolve. To reflect the flight aspects of theTanooki suit inSuper Mario 3, the Mario-inspired Pokemon eventually evolve into being Fire-Flying. The final evolution of the Link Pokemon ends up as grass-steel to accommodate for the Master Sword and Hylian shield and the Sonic Pokemon eventually turn into water-electric to power the shields that are often featured inSonicgames.
The art really shows some excellent creativity, but it also highlights the fact that there’s a lot on the horizon for the Nintendo Switch in 2022. So far, three of the four franchises included in the crossover have games coming out withPokemon Legends: Arceuskicking off the year with a late January release date. NeitherSonic Frontiersnor the currently untitledLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildsequel have specific release dates yet, but they’re both expected to be coming at some point down the line.
Given the fact that there hasn’t been a new, mainlineMariotitle sinceSuper Mario Odysseyin 2017, many fans feel like 2022 might be the year when the next game releases. There isn’t much to suggest that’s the case just yet, but there’s still plenty of time for Nintendo to make an announcement.
