Toby Fox's Deltarune has a Pokemon connection: the RPG's recent Chapter 5 features a character designed by artist Hitoshi Ariga, who created painfully cute Ogerpon, among other fan-favorite pocket monsters. However, Fox edited Ariga's notably Grass-type idea before letting it loose in the game.
Fox explains in a new blog post sharing his "Chapter 5 thoughts" and elaborating on Deltarune's newest characters and mechanics, like the bouncy platforming system. He also shares more information about Chapter 5's Netskie enemies capable of assuming the approximate shape and grin of a tricky fox. Deltarune fans knew Ariga helped design the mischievous creatures since he appears in the game's credits as a guest character designer, but Fox elaborates on the extent.
The developer writes in his blog, "Hitoshi Ariga is a Japanese artist who's most well-known for drawing the manga Rockman Megamix and designing a number of Pokemon, including the recently beloved Sneasler, Flutter Mane, and Ogerpon. However, did you know that he also drew the character sprites for many classic games, including Illusion of Gaia?!"
Ariga is indeed an accomplished artist – the designer has been involved in a range of video games since the early '90s, with titles like the ARPG Illusion of Gaia, as Fox noted, and Streets of Rage 2 for the Sega Genesis. He's been creating Pokemon since Pokemon X and Y in 2013, developing fan-favorite monsters like Aegislash since Generation 6, though he's been a Pokemon Trading Card Game illustrator since 2011.
"Anyway, he drew a bit of a fox character," Fox continues, "and then I made some modifications to it for the game."
The character sketch Fox attaches looks more than a little different from Deltarune Chapter 5's actual Netskie enemies, which are rooted to the ground and take the shape of an orange fox with a spread of nine violet tails.
Ariga's original design is much more of a Grass-type baby than that; its body lacks detail other than a few straight lines of wood grain, which scratch out a pair of slitted eyes and a mouth, and its ears and tail are made up of springy green leaves. I think you can sense Ariga's history with Pokemon in his character art – his Netskie would get along well with Leafeon and Deerling and their elegant forested bodies.
But Fox seemed to think this version of a Netskie was better suited for a brighter universe, as Deltarune accommodates dull neon hauntings best.
