Pokémon Reveals First Look at Huge New 3-Volume 30th Anniversary Art Book Collection
Image by Charlotte DavisPokémon has officially revealed the cover designs for a huge new three-volume art book collection celebrating 30 years of the video game series, bringing together everything from the pixel art of Red and Green to the 3DCG visuals of Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
Titled “Pokémon Visual Art Book: 30th Anniversary Art Book of Pokémon Video Games developed by GAME FREAK,” the collection contains around 1,500 pages of artwork created by Game Freak across three decades of Pokémon games.
The newly revealed covers reflect the different generations contained within each book, bringing together Pokémon, protagonists, rivals and other imagery associated with the games covered by the respective volume.
That chronological approach is carried throughout the books themselves, allowing the series’ visuals to move from the small pixel sprites and comparatively simple environments of the Game Boy era through increasingly detailed illustrations and eventually the fully 3D worlds of the modern games.
The material goes much further than finished character artwork, with the collection also including game packaging, title-screen imagery, Pokémon, characters, locations, memorable scenes, and promotional illustrations.
Previously unreleased development and setting materials are also included, providing a look at artwork that has not previously been made publicly available alongside familiar images from the finished games.
Each volume is expected to run to around 500 full-color B5 pages, making the complete three-book collection one of the largest official visual archives produced for the Pokémon video games.
The books divide the series into three broad periods, with each volume covering the following games:
- BOOK 1
The first volume begins with Pokémon Red and Green before covering Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver, Crystal, Ruby and Sapphire, FireRed and LeafGreen, Emerald, Diamond and Pearl, Platinum, and HeartGold and SoulSilver.
This gives the opening book the biggest span of the early franchise, charting Pokémon’s transition from monochrome Game Boy sprites through the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance eras before reaching the more detailed Nintendo DS games.
- BOOK 2
The second book covers Pokémon Black and White, Black 2 and White 2, X and Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Sun and Moon, and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
Its games capture another major shift in the series’ presentation, beginning with the animated sprite work and more elaborate environments of Unova before moving into the fully 3D Pokémon and characters introduced with X and Y.
- BOOK 3
The final volume brings the collection into the modern era with Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, Sword and Shield and its Expansion Pass, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Scarlet and Violet and The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Mega Dimension.
As a result, the final book covers some of Game Freak’s biggest changes to the traditional Pokémon formula, including larger 3D environments, open-world exploration, and the different visual approaches used for the Legends titles.
Each volume will also end with a special long-form interview featuring Game Freak creators, adding development insight alongside the artwork and previously unreleased production material.
The entire project is supervised by The Pokémon Company and Game Freak, with longtime Pokémon book editor Hidenori Motomiya serving as editor-in-chief.
Publisher Overlap has already marked Pokémon’s 30th anniversary with another major reference book, releasing the “Pokémon Official National Pokédex 1996-2026” earlier this summer.
That 448-page book brings all 1,025 Pokémon together in National Pokédex order, with large official illustrations, evolutionary relationships, abilities, Pokédex descriptions, and official English names included alongside the Japanese information.
Where that release concentrates on the Pokémon themselves, the new art books shift the focus toward the games that introduced them and the changing artwork, characters, and worlds created by Game Freak over the last three decades.
All three volumes of “Pokémon Visual Art Book: 30th Anniversary Art Book of Pokémon Video Games developed by GAME FREAK” will be released simultaneously in Japan on December 18, 2026.
BOOK 1, BOOK 2, and BOOK 3 will be sold separately for ¥5,500 each (approximately $35 USD / £26 GBP), with reservations currently available through Japanese booksellers.
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