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A fan has recreated the Pokémon intro just with stock footage, and it’s glorious

This slightly surreal YouTube experiment has seen the animations of the iconic intro replaced by their best-fit stock footage alternatives.

If, like me, you grew up watching the Pokémon anime TV series religiously every morning, then you’ll remember that rush of excitement as soon as the upbeat theme song came on. But while I sat transfixed by the recognisable cartoon creatures I’d spent hours trying to catch on my GameBoy Color, this new YouTube video gives you something very different to feast your eyes upon…

YouTuber Matthew Highton has recreated the Pokémon introduction video using just stock footage from publicly-available sources. Needless to say, there’s not much existing footage of strange creatures such as those in the Japapanese anime series, so he’s had to make do with the tools at hand. That can only explain why Pikachu is now a spaniel pup, Pokéballs are just plain tennis balls, and Onyx is… well, just a plain old rock. 

The determination and creativity to have made this has to be admired, and there are some clips that are good value for a laugh, especially when Ash Ketchum riding a sea-roaming Lapras is replaced by a swan-shaped inflatable dinghy.

Surprisingly, this is not even the first time this year that we’ve seen creative Pokémon devotees bringing their beloved franchise to life in a wacky and slightly uncanny way. Back in January, a fan made their Twitter profile picture a playable version of the classic game Pokemon Red, which took its commands from the most popular comments beneath the post.

Meanwhile, official Pokémon merchandise also released earlier this year gave us nightmares rather than nostalgia; this product took the form of a Gengar roll-up bed, replete with a five-and-a-half-foot long tongue, and a pillow with giant fangs. Maybe the franchise should just leave things to its creative-minded community from now on…

 

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