Pokémon Art Academy

Pokémon Art Academy

North American box art
Developer(s) Headstrong Games
Publisher(s) The Pokémon Company
Director(s) Tancred Dyke-Wells
Producer(s) Alys Elwick
Keisuke Terasaki
Hitoshi Yamagami
Designer(s) Justin Cheadle
Programmer(s) Michael Jacobsen
Greg Booker
Callum Brighting
Ian Crowther
Matthew Downie
Nikolaos Papadopoulos
Django Verbaant
Artist(s) Jason Howard
Composer(s) Richard Wilkinson
Masaru Tajima
Archie Campbell
Series Pokémon
Platform(s) Nintendo 3DS
Release
  • JP: June 19, 2014 (2014-06-19)[1]
  • EU: July 4, 2014 (2014-07-04)[2]
  • AU: July 5, 2014[3]
  • NA: October 24, 2014 (2014-10-24)[4]
Genre(s) Drawing game
Mode(s) Single-player

Pokémon Art Academy is an educational drawing video game developed by Headstrong Games and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a spin-off of the Art Academy series featuring characters from the Pokémon media franchise, and was first released in Japan in June 2014, followed by English releases in Europe and Australia the following July, and North America in October. The game was made available as both a retail and downloadable release from the Nintendo eShop, and is the first 3DS title with built-in Miiverse support for sharing artwork.

Gameplay

Pokémon Art Academy is an educational art game designed to teach players how to draw various Pokémon characters through 40 advancing lessons. Players progress through three skill levels - Novice, Apprentice, and Graduate - while learning new techniques and art concepts, with additional tools such as pastel and paintbrush being unlocked along the way.[5] The Novice course begins with skills such as drawing head-on portraits, angles, and construction shapes, while later stages introduce shading, hatching, opacity, and freehand sketches. Each drawing can be transferred to a Pokémon Trading Card Game card border upon completion, with the option to add a background image.

The game also includes a Free Paint Mode that allows players to draw whatever they wish, with the option to load templates as reference, as well as Quick Sketch Mode, which requires making a simple drawing with limited tools. Additional templates can be obtained by progressing through lessons, or as downloadable content through special promotions over Nintendo Network. Pokémon Art Academy features Miiverse functionality that allows for drawings to be uploaded to Nintendo's Miiverse Community, as well as take part in art contests.[6] Unlike the main Art Academy series, this title feature non-traditional tools such as layers and an undo function. These digital art tools are usually avoided in past titles to encourage an authentic experience with traditional art, albeit on a digital medium. Since Pokémon Art Academy is rather focused to educate in drawing Pokémon characters, a series geared for very young children (albeit not specifically), this title has some lenient liberties with these digital tools.

Development

Pokémon Art Academy was first announced by Nintendo Japan on April 29, 2014, along with a Japanese release date set for the following June.[7] It was released officially in Japan on June 19, 2014.[8] English releases were confirmed a month later. It was released in Europe on July 4, 2014 [9] and New Zealand and Australia on July 5, 2014.[10] The title was originally set to launch in North America some time in the fall,[11] with a finalized October 2014 release date later confirmed for the region via a press release the following August.[12]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic76 / 100[13]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Famitsu31 / 40[14]
ONM77%[15]

Pokémon Art Academy entered the Japanese sales charts as the number-one selling title of its debut week with 31,080 copies,[16] and by the following August would go on to sell a total of 91,232 copies in the region before falling from the weekly top 20 software rankings.[17] It received a 31 out of 40 total from editors of Japanese Weekly Famitsu magazine based on individual scores of 7, 8, 7, and 9, earning the publication's Silver Award.[14]

The game met with a mostly positive response in Europe, earning a 77% score from aggregate review website GameRankings[18] and a 76 out of 100 average from Metacritic.[13] While Official Nintendo Magazine found the title to be "challenging, fun and educational in the best of ways", the reviewer remarked that the game's lessons advanced too drastically, going from "extremely simplistic" early stages to requiring advance drawing skills without explanation of proportions or expressions.[15] The magazine also felt that experienced artists may be put off by the lack of tools or layering options, but nonetheless called the game "lovely to play, never punishing you for imperfect work, encouraging and helping you to better your drawing."[15]

References

  1. ↑ Pitcher, Jenna (April 30, 2014). "Pokemon Art Academy for Nintendo 3DS hits Japan June 19". Polygon. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ Kubba, Sinan (May 12, 2014). "Pokemon Art Academy opens Euro branch in July [Update: NA this fall]". Joystiq. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Pokemon Art Academy". Nintendo. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Pokémon Art Academy for Nintendo 3DS - Nintendo Game Details". Nintendo of America. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Pokemon Art Academy - Lessons". Nintendo. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Pokemon Art Academy - Saving and Sharing". Nintendo. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  7. ↑ McMinn, Kevin (April 29, 2014). "Pokémon Art Academy Announced For Nintendo 3DS". Nintendo News. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  8. ↑ "ポケモンアートアカデミー" [Pokemon Art Academy] (in Japanese). Nintendo Japan. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Pokémon Art Academy". Nintendo of Europe. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Pokemon Art Academy". Nintendo. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  11. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (May 12, 2014). "Learn how to draw Pokemon on your 3DS this fall". Gamespot. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  12. ↑ Moser, Cassidee (August 22, 2014). "Pokemon Art Academy North American Release Date Revealed". IGN. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  13. 1 2 "Pokemon Art Academy for 3DS". Metacritic. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  14. 1 2 Romano, Sal (June 10, 2014). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1331". Gematsu. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 Gray, Kate (June 16, 2014). "3DS Review: Pokémon Art Academy review". Official Nintendo Magazine. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  16. ↑ Lamoreux, Ben (June 25, 2014). "Media Create Sales: Pokémon Art Academy Tops the Charts". GenGAME. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Weekly Top 50 Media Create Charts (August 11, 2014 – August 17, 2014)". NintendObserver. August 23, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Pokemon Art Academy for 3DS". GameRankings. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
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