In the early days of the Pokemon series, much of the promotional art for the franchise was provided by Game Freak's designer and Pulseman manga artist Ken Sugimori. He is responsible for the designs of the initial generations of Pocket Monsters. This includes all of the original 151 species from the first generation.
Quite a bit of Sugimori's work was seen in Pokemon's instruction manuals, box art, and official game guides. However, many of his renditions were never translated into high definition and remained in obscure locations like Game Freak's old website or printed material.
This appears to have changed, as the Twitter user and Pocket Monsters archivist @Lewchube announced that they had received high-quality scans of Sugimori's artwork for 251 species seen in Generations I-II.
In an accompanying GIF, @Lewchube remarked that the difference between the original scans and their high-quality counterparts was "insane."
Thanks to the new uploads provided to Lewchube, all of the documented Pokemon originating from the series' first two generations of games have been posted in vivid clarity.
Before this batch of images was provided, many of Sugimori's works found online via Lewchube and other outlets had incorrect coloration or inaccurate linework. This was likely due to the fact that they were scanned and uploaded back when the works were still regularly circulating in printed material, which would likely date to decades ago. Outlets such as Bulbapedia retain the old scans but will likely be uploading these new high-definition scans as well.
Some of Sugimori's artwork was salvaged and provided when Pokemon titles hit Nintendo's Virtual Console service for 3DS, Wii, and WiiU. However, many images are being seen in a completely new light, as this is likely the first time that the first two generations of creatures have been uploaded in their entirety.
Previously, fans would have to scour the internet and old clippings of printed material just to find off-color or faded iterations of the original artwork. While Lewchube uploaded the images, many Pokefans asked for specific renders of some of their favorite species.
Some Pokemon fans and content creators also asked if it was possible to use the newly-uploaded art in video thumbnails, which Lewchube agreed to. This makes sense since they aren't the copyright holder of the original art.
Other fans remarked on how incredible the detail was. They pointed to the dot matrixes present in the images, showing that the scans are incredibly high quality compared to the initial renders that likely lost some detail on the image scanners of the time.
Lewchube also confirmed that the process of uploading the artwork was ongoing and that all Pokemon pictures would be provided on Twitter and via their online archive once the process of level adjustments was complete.
For longtime fans of the Pokemon franchise, Ken Sugimori's artwork holds a very special place in their hearts. The advent of these high-resolution uploads is likely a huge event not only for fans but for the preservation of the game franchise's long history.
Sugimori continues to supervise the art direction of Game Freak where the Pocket Monsters series is concerned. However, the efforts of the community to preserve his older works are a huge win for both fans and Game Freak.
