Welcome to our third celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Pokémon games we tribute with our art collaborations now since 2016!

You can find all Pokémon from the third Generation: Sapphire, Ruby, and Emerald illustrated twice by artists from the Game-Art-HQ community while they are performing their attacks, moves, abilities.

You can also learn a bit about the Pokémon and the illustrated moves since they are accompanied with the official Pokedex descriptions as well as our own ones, please have a lot of fun and enjoy this Project that features over 250 artworks!

 

Welcome now also to Hoenn, the land of adventure, trumpets and “too much water”.
Or more accurately, welcome to Generation III of Pokémon – the generation which made big leaps and achieved great things, but also proved to be the start of division between the fans.

So, to start off, let us talk about Generation III in general. Obviously, the biggest change was switching over to a newer system – the Gameboy Advance, which meant a whole new quality to both the appearance and possibilities.

The other really big thing was that this generation not only had Ruby & Sapphire with their own new region of Hoenn, but also includes remakes of the very first generation with Fire Red and Leaf Green which took us back to the nostalgic region of Kanto.

This allowed people to not only relive their memories (and let’s not forget there is a 6 year gap between the English release of Red/Blue and Fire Red/Leaf Green) but several changes and improvements that Generations II and III brought made the adventure feel fresh even for series veterans.

 

We sorted the Hoenn Region Pokémon after the official National Pokédex:

#252

Treecko

#253

Grovyle

#254

Sceptile

#255

Torchic

#256

Combusken

#257

Blaziken

#258

Mudkip

#259

Marshtomp

#260

Swampert

#261

Poochyena

#262

Mightyena

#263

Zigzagoon

#264

Linoone

#265

Wurmple

#266

 Silcoon

#267

Beautifly

#268

Cascoon

#269

Dustox

#270

Lotad

#271

Lombre

#272

Ludicolo

#273

Seedot

#274

Nuzleaf

#275

Shiftry

#276

Taillow

#277

Swellow

#278

Wingull

 

The most obvious new addition is the new 135 Pokémon you can catch and train, including a huge addition to the Ghost, Dragon, Steel, and Dark types, which had very little critters in the last two generations.

It also brought new attacks and items, including a very nice buff for Fire-types, which were nigh useless in the last two generations (including the fabled “most picked” Charmander, which only got relevant starting with Gen. III).

It also brought abilities; a new feature inspired by “Pokemon Powers” from the Pokémon Trading Card Game, they made a huge impact on battling, giving a whole new asset to many underused mons as well as adding a certain quirk to others.

Best examples being Slaking, an ultra-powerful Pokémon with stats on the same level as legendaries but is terribly crippled by its Truant ability, or Shedinja, with not very impressive stats and a single 1HP but with Wonder Guard that makes it invincible to all attacks but ones it’s weak to. It was really fun to experiment with new mons.

 

#279

Pelipper

#280

Ralts

#281

Kirlia

 #282

Gardevoir

#283

Surskit

#284

Masquerain

#285

Shroomish

#286

Breloom

#287

Slakoth

#288

Vigoroth

#289

Slaking

#290

Nincada

#291

Ninjask

#292

Shedinja

#293

Whismur

#294

Loudred

#295

Exploud

#296

Makuhita

#297

Hariyama

#298

Azurill

#299

Nosepass

#300

Skitty

#301

Delcatty

#302

Sableye

#303

Mawile

#304

Aron

#305

Lairon

 

Moving on to Ruby and Sapphire themselves, as expected, they were very amazing and successful games.  But sadly, not all was as colorful as the graphics; they were what you could call a “double-edged sword” with many things that worked and backfired at the same time.


For starters, we have the graphics. The newer software with obviously better graphics made it possible to include some really impressive locations, each of them beautifully done, which is why it’s not really that strange when people were mildly disappointed to spend a huge chunk of the game with a blue void of “too much water” instead of all those beautiful environments.

Second, the new Pokemon. With all the changes made in this new Generation, Game Freak really had fun not only in designing them but also in making them very unique with special skills and themes. Though at the same time, the total amount of existing Pokemon was too big to put into the games, so when fans couldn’t find many of the familiar mons, they were rather distressed that they couldn’t catch some of their favorites in this new, prettier game. 

Some even grew worried their beloved classic critters would be forgotten and less used in future games (which actually sparked the group we know as “Genwunners” today).

 

#306

Aggron

#307

Meditite

#308

Medicham

#309

Electrike

#310

Manectric

#311

Plusle

#312

Minun

#313

Volbeat

#314

Illumise

#315

Roselia

#316

Gulpin

#317

Swalot

#318

Carvanha

#319

Sharpedo

#320

Wailmer

#321

Wailord

#322

Numel

#323

Camerupt

#324

Torkoal

#325

Spoink

#326

Grumpig

#327

Spinda

#328

Trapinch

#329

Vibrava

#330

Flygon

#331

Cacnea

#332

Cacturne

 

And lastly, the features. The new region (and more importantly, new system) has meaty new features, some minor ones like leaving footsteps in the sand or having a reflection in the water, and some bigger ones, like the Pokemon Contests, Secret Bases or PokeNav.  But for some reason, the developers did not include the fan-favorite Day/Night cycle.

It’s said that was because they wanted this feature to be exclusive to Generation II, thus making it still relevant.  Yet understandably, all fans would rather see this particular one explored more in future games rather than abandoned in an older game.

Still, the games were very successful for a reason, despite certain flaws or mishaps.  What it did good, it did VERY good and is rightfully loved by the fanbase to this day.

 

#333

Swablu

#334

Altaria

#335

Zangoose

#336

Seviper

#337

Lunatone

#338

Solrock

#339

Barboach

#340

Whiscash

#341

Corphish

#342

Crawdaunt

#343

Baltoy

#344

Claydol

#345

Lileep

 #346

Cradily

#347

Anorith

#348

Armaldo

#349

Feebas

#350

Milotic

#351

Castform

#352

Kecleon

#353

Shuppet

#354

Banette

#355

Duskull

#356

Dusclops

#357

Tropius

#358

Chimecho

#359

Absol

#360

Wynaut

 #361

Snorunt

#362

Glalie

#363

Spheal

#364

Sealeo

#365

Walrein

#366

Clamperl

#367

Huntail

#368

Gorebyss

#369

Relicanth

#370

Luvdisc

#371

Bagon

#372

Shelgon

#373

Salamence

#374

Beldum

#375

Metang

#376

Metagross

#377

Regirock

#378

Regice

#379

Registeel

#380

Latias

#381

Latios

#382

Kyogre

 #383

Groudon

#384

Rayquaza

#385

Jirachi

#386

Deoxys

 
Thanks a ton at all participating artists, and the Pokemon fan community in general that made this project possible!
 

Some Trivia regarding our 3rd Pokemon Art Collaboration:

The first three Gen III Pokemon that were claimed for our art collaboration were:

Sceptile with Leaf Blade by Kiriko-Windgeist around 15 minutes
Seviper using Poison Tail by BlazeTBW 18 minutes 
Absol doing Night Slash by LukeTheRipper 20 minutes
…after the Blog post for our new project was online

The first three drawn and submitted Gen III Pokemon were:
Sceptile with Leaf Blade by Kiriko-Windgeist on the 1st January already
Pelipper using Hydro Pump by Yggdrassal  on the 1st January already as well
Delcatty using Water Pulse by AuroraLion on the 2nd January

The first Pokemon claimed by two artists was Spheal on the 1st January

Latias was the first Gen III Pokemon that got both artworks drawn for this collaboration.

The 2nd illustration was done on the 14th January.

35 Artists joined the Gen III Tribute on the 1st January 2018 already..the day we started this big project, however, it was difficult to get the last around 90 illustrations together.

Due to changes in my personal life, this took a lot longer to create than the previous Pokemon Generation Art Collaborations, I hope the Gen IV Tribute will be done faster again!