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The entire Pokémon Red and Blue Kanto region map, built as a 3-D diorama, looks amazing【Photos】

Casey Baseel Jul 16, 2022
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Crazy talented Pokémon fan accomplishes childhood dream, fills us all with childlike wonder.

Playing the original Pokémon Red and Green for the Game Boy was a memorable experience for a lot of gamers, and that’s especially true for Japanese fan and Twitter user @UMA_RABBIT. Even 20 years later, he still remembers the excitement of taking his first steps out of Pallet Town, heading north along Route 1 on his way to becoming a Pokémon Master.

But that’s not all ＠UMA_RABBIT remembers. Route 1 is a mountainous road, but like most RPGs of the era, Pokémon Red and Green (or Pokémon Red and Blue, the versions North America got) uses bit-mapped graphics in a partially angled overhead perspective. While the gameplay mechanics and 2-D art could communicate that ＠UMA_RABBIT was heading higher into the mountains as he travelled Route 1, he couldn’t help wondering what the original Pokémon world would look like in three-dimensional space.

Now, two decades later, he has his answer.

画用紙で作った
ポケモンのカントー地方

#あなたの好きがつまった作品が見たい pic.twitter.com/NU5LIMAOkf

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 14, 2022

Well, to put it more accurately, he’s made the answer. In June of 2020, ＠UMA_RABBIT started building a hand-crafted paper diorama of Pallet Town and Route 1.

ちょうど2年前の今日は1番道路を作っている途中でした。#ポケモンジオラマ pic.twitter.com/TLR2MxNhZt

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 4, 2022

After that, he just kept going, and going…

pic.twitter.com/FLUIizBAcW

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 3, 2022

…until he’d finished the entire Kanto region!

▼ A side-by-side comparison with the illustrated Kanto map

我ながら位置関係完璧に作ったな🤔 pic.twitter.com/vZQQcNgr75

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 10, 2022

The display looks equally awesome whether you’re taking it all in at once or from Pokémon Trainer’s eye-level, as shown here with the Route 4/Cerulean City/Route 24/Route 25 stretch.

#ホイップスペース
4番道路〜ハナダシティ〜24番25番道路 pic.twitter.com/SmBRuWr2mZ

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 1, 2022

Other sightseeing highlights include Vermillion City, with the S.S. Anne docked in its harbor…

#ホイップスペース
ヤマブキシティ〜6番道路〜クチバシティ pic.twitter.com/KEimppuNPc

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 1, 2022

…the dense forests of Route 2…

#ホイップスペース
2番道路 pic.twitter.com/DMNJfBl6AH

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 1, 2022

…and the both literal and figurative end of the road, the stately walls of the Pokémon League building atop the Indigo Plateau.

遂にカントー地方全MAP完成！ pic.twitter.com/LPNPeVzNur

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 3, 2022

In total, the diorama is 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) wide by 3.9 meters deep. For scale, here’s someone standing next to the project in a partially assembled state.

編集の終わりが見えないので今日は寝ます！皆さんおやすみなさい💤 pic.twitter.com/FJEERHCdi2

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 14, 2022

Oh, and we still haven’t gotten to two especially cool design details. First, the lights of the big cities can be turned on…

ヤマブキとタマムシは点灯できる様にしてます😂 pic.twitter.com/d5dB2AGEXA

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 1, 2022

…and second, the whole thing is modular, helping with storage and transportation.

全部積んでも消えませんでしたw pic.twitter.com/ry0NnbFBzT

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 11, 2022

If all this looks like not only an incredible display of Poké-passion, but also an incredible amount of work, you’re right. Even this super high-speed montage of roughly two dozen time-lapse videos isn’t enough to cover the whole planning and production process.

総集編の動画を編集してます👍
エモーショナル！！ pic.twitter.com/5Du3dYU91m

— うま（UMAのクラフトチャンネル） (@UMA_RABBIT) July 14, 2022

So, now that this 25-month labor of love is over, what’s ＠UMA_RABBIT going to do? He’s going to take a one-month break, and then in August he’ll be starting on a diorama of the Johto region, the map for Pokémon Red and Green’s sequel, Pokémon Gold and Silver.

Truly, a Pokémon Master’s journey is never done.

Source: Twitter/@UMA_RABBIT, IT Media
Top image: Twitter/@UMA_RABBIT
Insert images: Twitter/@UMA_RABBIT (1, 2)
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s happy to be a resident of the real-world Vermillion City.