Nintendo fan makes their own version of Pokemon Legends: Arceus with all 898 Pokemon

Pokemon
(Image credit: Avatar Nick, Nintendo)

A Nintendo fan has made their own version of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, featuring every one of the series' 898 Pokemon.

YouTuber Avatar Nick outlined their attempt to speed up their wait for the upcoming title by simply making it themselves in Unity. While Nintendo hasn't outlined how many, or indeed exactly which, Pokemon will be making their way to its historic version of Sinnoh, Avatar Nick's take includes working versions of every single 'mon that have ever featured in the game. You know, just to be sure.

The project started with a Pokemon trainer. Rather than the characters we've seen in Pokemon Legends: Arceus trailers, however, Nick uses a version of Gen 1's Red, using 3D modelling tool blender to grant basic movement, as well as jumping, crouching, rolling, and throwing animations.

Getting a trainer working seemed relatively simple, but to include every Pokemon, Nick would need not only models but animations - an impossible task for with 900 different creatures to rig up. Fortunately, those models exist online, but the animations could be accessed via the Nintendo 3DS. It took a week to extract them, but eventually Nick had every Pokemon ready to go. From there, they could be randomly added to the game via spawn points, ready to populate the Sinnoh region.

From there, Nick had to introduce a combat system using every Pokemon's stats and moves (as well as visual effects to outline different move-types), fights with those very scary wild Pokemon, and a way to ride Pokemon around their world. The final touch was the Sinnoh region's iconic Spear Pillar, which sits atop Mount Coronet. Up there, you'll need to capture the legendary Dialga and Palkia before moving on to the final boss fight with Arceus itself.

Understandably, Avatar Nick can't actually release his version of the game, but thankfully we won't have too long to wait for the real thing. The Pokemon Legends: Arceus release date is January 28, 2022, so we'll get to see how accurate this version of the Hisui region really is.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus changes up the battle system for the first time in the series' history.

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.