Paper Pokémon

Screw Paper Mario. Thanks to that series' last two entries, I've lost a lot of interest in the IP. (That said, if Nintendo can return it to its former brilliance--say, with a Wii U-based sequel that picks up where The Thousand Year Door left off--I probably could be swayed to give it another chance.)

I've far from lost interest in the idea of Nintendo games that feature a paper-y aesthetic, though. I'd love to see a The Legend of Zelda spin-off that stars characters and locales that look as though they're pieces of origami, for instance.

Would I like to play a Pokémon game that uses some sort of Paper Mario-esque art style? Until fairly recently, I would've responded to that question with a resounding, "Hell no!" Now that I've seen this deviantart gallery, though, I'm not so sure.

After all, artist Paprik-a's creations are as awesome as they are unique--or at least that's my opinion of them. Case in point: his take on Pokémon X/Y's Chesnaught.

His Delphox is pretty sweet, too:

As is his Greninja:

To see more of Paprik-a's inventive Pokémon portraits, check out paprik-a.deviantart.com or paprik--a.tumblr.com.

Speaking of Pokémon X and Y, by the way: which starter are those of you who are picking up one or both of these titles this weekend (or at some point in the future) planning to select?

Ever since I decided to buy a copy of Pokémon X, I've been leaning toward Fennekin as my starter (and Bulbasaur as my Red/Green/Blue starter).

A few days ago, though, I changed my mind and decided Froakie and Bulbasaur may be better picks--what with a special version of Torchic being made available to early-ish adopters.

Will any of you be taking a similar route, or will you be going with a different duo of starters?

So, what do you think of Pokémon X/Y?

Anyone who's even a smidge interested in Nintendo's Pokémon series woke up to a semi-surprise yesterday (no, not that kind of surprise)--with that surprise being the announcement of a new pair of mainline games known as Pokémon X and Pokémon Y.

The most interesting and relevant details that were revealed about these 3DS-based Pokémon titles during the latest Nintendo Direct broadcast:

* Everything in the game--including characters and environments--appears to be rendered using polygons. In other words: so long, sprites, and hello, fully three-dimensional towns, fields and battles.

* Three new starters will be made available to folks who decide to pick up and play copies of Pokémon X or Y: Chespin (grass), Fennekin (fire) and Froakie (water).

* Two new "legendaries" will make their debut in these titles, too--one of which is some sort of stag and the other of which is a bird.

* For the first time ever, these Pokémon games will be released in Australia, Europe, Japan and North America simultaneously (this coming October).

Given all of the above, what do I think of this announcement? I'm intrigued, no question. Although I wasn't exactly blown away by the first few seconds of gameplay footage shown during the Nintendo Direct broadcast, once the action switched to the title's battle sequences I was suitably impressed.

As such, the main questions that are now bouncing around in my mind are: which version do I buy, and which starter do I select? (At the moment, I'm thinking I'll go with Y and with Fennekin, but don't quote me on that.)

Speaking of questions: how do all of you feel about Pokémon X and Y? Are you excited about them or not? And are you planning to pick up one version or the other (or even both) upon their release?