The Pokemon Battle Revolution fan taking matters into their own hands and making their own remake of the 17-year-old spin-off title has now confirmed that it's "100% possible" to add the iconic voiced commentator to the game, something which they initially thought might not work.
Pokemon Battle Revolution is basically the Nintendo Wii version of Pokemon Stadium, and allows players to pit their beloved 'mons against each other on a home console game with glorious 3D visuals (which was extremely cool at a time when the main series games were still 2D). The dynamic battle animations still hold up really well to this day, but there's no doubt that the spin-off's most iconic feature, like Stadium and Stadium 2 before it, is the fully voiced and ever-enthusiastic announcer, there to offer live commentary for each fight. In the English speaking version, he's voiced by Rodger Parsons, who you might recognise as one of the narrators in the Pokemon anime, which in itself is really neat for fans of the show.
However, when modder Yisuno (@TheYisusOne) announced their plans to remake Battle Revolution last month, they were unsure if they could actually make the announcer work in a meaningful way. While they said if they found "a way to add it in any way, I'll do it," they explained: "The main issue is how [to make] it more 'random' and not just 'play X voice in X sequence' to not make it feel repetitive." Now though, it seems they've made meaningful progress in making it a reality.
"I can now confidently say that recreating Pokemon Battle Revolution in Pokemon BDSP with the announcer is 100% possible," Yisuno says, sharing a short in-progress clip of the project, in which the Spanish announcer can be heard providing perfect commentary for the battle.
I can now confidently say that recreating Pokemon Battle Revolution in Pokemon BDSP with the announcer is 100% possible pic.twitter.com/NpQnagwsFdJune 28, 2024
Yisuno is working with the Spanish version since "It's the version I grew up with," but they say the "English version will most probably be dubbed by people who wanna participate in a future contest for it," something which they suggested after receiving "an absurd amount of requests for voicing the narrator."
As for the wider plans for the project, Yisuno has now explained that it'll essentially function like "a full revamp" for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's battle system, complete "with new animations." Right now, it's not clear if their remake will end up including Pokemon introduced beyond Diamond, Pearl and Platinum (who weren't included in the original Battle Revolution or BDSP), as they explain: "The plan is making this functional with base BDSP first. That's already quite some work."
The developer hasn't stated how long they expect the remake might take to develop, but considering they only just announced it last month, it seems it's still early days. However, they've already shared plenty of updates over on their Twitter page, so if you're interested in keeping up with the project, that's a great place to look.
You can also check out our ranking of the best Pokemon games to see where your favorite ranks.
