AI remake of Pokemon LeafGreen goes viral for “cursed” Bulbasaur & Squirtle

A solo developer known as Paulius used Claude AI to recreate the opening of Pokemon LeafGreen in 3D, producing distorted versions of Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle that went viral on X with over 1.6 million views. The AI-generated creatures were widely mocked as 'nightmare fuel' and a 'sleep paralysis demon,' though some praised the 15-hour effort for using no custom assets.

A solo dev recreated the opening to Pokemon LeafGreen in 3D using AI, and the results were absolute nightmare fuel. ‘Paulius’ used Claude AI to translate the opening sequence from the 2004 classic, which itself is a remake of Pokemon https://www.dexerto.com/pokemon/ Green from 1996, from 2D into 3D. It shows the player first choosing their starter Pokemon out of Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. However, these iconic monsters don’t look exactly how you remember them, with the dev himself admitting they’re pretty “disturbing.” Pokemon fans disturbed by 3D remake of LeafGreen While exploring the outdoors of Pallet Town in first-person, the remake actually looks good, with picturesque beaches and lush forests. However, once the player first meets their Pokemon, things start to unravel. Although the rough models and color schemes are relatively on point, the finer details don’t stack up to Nintendo’s version. The faces of each Pokemon, in particular, become more “cursed” the longer you look at them. The post quickly gained plenty of traction, racking up over 1.6 million views on X. The replies were full of fans roasting the AI’s creations, calling them “nightmare fuel” and comparing the Bulbasaur to a “sleep paralysis demon.” “I fully lost it when they showed the starters ahahahaha,” said one reply. “That Bulbasaur was a jump scare,” said another. While some fans were understandably freaked out by the creatures, others were impressed with what Claude had managed to produce. According to Paulius, this was achieved in just 15 hours with a relatively simple prompt and didn’t use any custom assets. LeafGreen is widely considered one of the best Pokemon games of all time https://www.dexerto.com/pokemon/top-13-best-pokemon-games-of-the-decade-ranked-1303340/ , so it’s no surprise that some fans are jumping at the idea of a modern remake.