The Pokémon-like Steam hit becomes, well, just Pokémon
If the accusations ofPalworldpeeking at Pokémon’s homework for its catchable monster designs weren’t already rife enough, a modder has decided to take theGarth Marenghi approachand remove any possible question by turning Palworld’s Pokémon-a-likes into just straight-up Pokémon.
The overhaul mod shared by YouTube ToastedShoes swaps Palworld’s Pals for their Pokémon equivalents, meaning that the Pokémon-like creatures wielding guns and labouring away in mines and factories become actual Pokémon wielding guns and labouring away. Among the Pokémon visible in the brief gameplay clips are first-gen icons like Pikachu and Oddish, plus later additions such as Piplup, Hoothoot and Torchic.
The mod goes a step further, too, by changing the player character model into Pokémon anime protagonist Ash Ketchum and swapping out Palworld NPCs for Ash’s reformed gym-leader companions Brock and Misty, the latter of whom is shown carrying a shotgun. Meanwhile, Palworld’s first boss encounter against Zoe and the Electabuzz-like Grizzbolt becomes a face-off against Team Rocket’s Jessie and actual Electabuzz.
Palworld already has a Pokemon modFull video on my YouTube tomorrow!pic.twitter.com/X1ohT6mJiT
While Palworld itselfmay ultimately skirt around breaking actual copyright lawdue to its similar-but-not-the-same designs - though questions over its monsters’ in-game models’ closeness to those in the Pokémon games have complicated the discussion - the Pokémon mod obviously draws the line even more directly between the two. Even if Palworld doesn’t quite draw the ire of Nintendo, a mod that literally hands actual Pikachu a machine gun may well finally step over that line.
