The Pokemon-like Steam hit becomes, well, just Pokemon
If the accusations ofPalworldpeeking at Pokemons homework for its catchable monster designs werent already rife enough, a modder has decided to take theGarth Marenghi approachand remove any possible question by turning Palworlds Pokemon-a-likes into just straight-up Pokemon.
The overhaul mod shared by YouTube ToastedShoes swaps Palworlds Pals for their Pokemon equivalents, meaning that the Pokemon-like creatures wielding guns and labouring away in mines and factories become actual Pokemon wielding guns and labouring away.
Among the Pokemon 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 Pokemon anime protagonist Ash Ketchum and swapping out Palworld NPCs for Ashs reformed gym-leader companions Brock and Misty, the latter of whom is shown carrying a shotgun.
Meanwhile, Palworlds first boss encounter against Zoe and the Electabuzz-like Grizzbolt becomes a face-off against Team Rockets 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 Pokemon games have complicated the discussion - the Pokemon mod obviously draws the line even more directly between the two.
Even if Palworld doesnt quite draw the ire of Nintendo, a mod that literally hands actual Pikachu a machine gun may well finally step over that line.
For their part, Palworld developers Pocketpair have insisted that we have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies and assured that the game cleared all legal checks before blowing up Steam - andits own servers, for a while - with its lightning bolt-popularity last week.Success deserved or undeserved, it’s hard to ignore what’s likely the biggest game of 2024 so far.
