The Importance of Good Monster Design In Pokemon, Digimon and Other Games

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Original Article: One of the eternal fights among nerd groups is Pokemon vs Digimon, which had better anime, games, and of course monster design. I’m probably not the only person growing up who heard newly announced Pokemon being described as looking “too much like Digimon” but that always made me wonder, what makes a Pokemon look too much like a Digimon?

Both Pokemon and Digimon are very distinct in how they are designed and if you were to put the two next to each other I think it’d be pretty easy to tell which monsters came from where.

In fact most RPG series and video game series in general put a lot of emphasis on their monster designs, making for some of the most memorable characters in any game. So for this article, I thought it’d be fun to look at Pokemon, Digimon, and a few series and how they use their creature designs to enhance their titles.

Pokemon Designs

Being the biggest media franchise of all time Pokemon designs have changed a lot over the years but I find have mostly remained consistent in design methods. There have been a number of artists who have designed Pokemon however the creatures are mainly overseen and illustrated by Ken Sugimori. He noted that one of the main design choices for Pokemon was to not make them too “cool”.

“The technique I often use when finishing up designs for Pokémon is to “keep the balance.” I might try adding something uncool to a Pokémon that is too cool, or I might add something cheerful to a Pokémon that is too serious. I spoke about making friendly designs earlier, but what I actually do is take something cool and make it less cool. [laughs]”.

“As Pokémon that are being sent out to the world, we want them to always remain memorable; however, I feel that in order to do so you have to add a touch to it. For example, look at Oshawott’s cheeks. It has three freckles, and if you take them away Oshawott becomes cuter. However, taking them away makes its’ face less memorable”.

This makes sense when you consider the place of Pokemon in their universe. The Pocket Monsters are meant to be regular animals and as much as we love our cats or pet fish, they’re not perfectly cool animals. They all have strange features that make them less conventionally cool but do keep them interesting and therefore memorable.

In a previous article, I noted that the basic idea of Pokemon designs seems to be to take a basic theme and exaggerate it in a cartoon-like fashion. Using Oshawott as an example, it’s an otter who are known for breaking open shells while lying on their backs. From here, it’s not too much of a stretch that one could use said shell as a weapon in a battle. This method helps the Pokemon feel unique yet natural to the world around them. A similar technique is used by Digimon but that series takes a very different spin on its monster design.

Digimon Designs

Digimon are designed primarily by Kenji Watanabe and they certainly have a different feel from Pokemon’s more straightforward designs. The digital monsters have a much wider range of design types from cute mascot animals, to humanoid warriors, to large gruesome demon-looking creatures, all with the potential to be covered in belts, knives, tattoos, and guns.

This was because Digimon was heavily inspired by “American comics” in the 90s which meant a lot of emphasis on violence, straps, and ragged clothes. It works however as the Digimon feel very different from creatures in other monster collectors. Like Pokemon, each Digimon seems to be based on a specific theme or creature which is exaggerated through the illustration but Watanabe is able to make them all feel so gross and ferocious.

I think my favorite example of this is Vademon. It’s supposed to be based on classic 50s-style space aliens and that’s clear from the design yet there are just so many weird touches that help it stick out. That giant brain-like head with wires hanging off it, the skinny build with beefy arms. It looks like something out of this world yet clearly still a Digimon.

The use of armor and weaponry also makes sense when you consider what makes Digimon so distinct. Unlike other monster collectors, Digimon are not just wild animals with superpowers. They are fully intelligent beings capable of speaking, higher thinking, forming communities, and creating new technology.

Being able to use weapons not only keeps the Digimon feeling consistent with each other but builds up what fans can expect from Digimon, a surreal world of monsters that are both dangerous but still capable of reason, at least to some extent.

Other RPGs

Monster designs are obviously important to series like Pokemon and Digimon since that is the entire point of them but I’ve noticed that many popular RPGs put heavy emphasis on the monsters you fight and how they help shape the tone of the game. This is especially important as most RPGs have standalone entries, new worlds, and new casts of characters but with the same enemies and monsters.

Other monster collectors like Shin Megami Tensei and Yokai Watch likewise have the various demons and spirits front and center as part of their identity. Megami Tensei artists Kazuma Kaneko and Masayuki Doi in particular, put a lot of work into keeping each god or demon faithful to their original mythology while also adding elements of pop culture and modern interpretations to make them feel at home in the post-apocalyptic setting of the game. Some demons can be very minimalist while others can be an actual giant green…organ (Mara) but it all works under Atlus’ pantheon.

This also applies even to non-monster-collecting RPGs. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest both are known for their iconic bestiaries with creatures like The Slimes, Chocobos, and Cactaurs making for some of the most iconic creatures in the genre. The cartoon smiles of the Dragon Quest enemies get players prepared for lighthearted adventure while the larger-than-life beasts of Final Fantasy really sell the “Fantasy” part of the title.

The upcoming Final Fantasy XVI seems to be putting even more emphasis on the series’ classic monsters with a spotlight on the summons, recurring monsters throughout the series that truly embody the interactive epics that the franchise wants to create. It’s no wonder that both FF and DQ as well as series like Monster Hunter have all made monster-collecting spin-off games. People love these creatures and a big part of the excitement in each new entry is seeing where they pop up and what part they play in the story.

The Importance of Monsters

I think the importance of good monster design in RPGs, or most games really, is pretty simple. From the start to the finish of the series, these are the things you’ll be fighting and seeing throughout most of the adventure.

They are the creatures that inhabit the world whether that’d be the happy world of Pokemon to the grim apocalypse of SMT, they are what sets the tone you expect from that world and continue to do so through each new iteration and sequel.

Monster Design in games is important because it sets the tone of the game and helps shape the series’ identity through their recurring appearances. Many games change over time but more often than not, it is the monsters and beasts you meet along the way that will always welcome you back. The better the designs. the better they’ll be at doing that.

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