This page is for major Lewtwo project updates, related to YouTube, the site, or general archival efforts. All posts are written by me -- Lewtwo.
2024
Pokémon Green Manual Restoration
The full manual may be found here.
We've restored the original Pokémon Green manual, some of the first officially printed material for the Pokémon series. This 40-page manual included with the original Pokémon Green box contains basic instructions on how to play the game, with a variety of Pokémon and character illustrations throughout, mostly by Ken Sugimori.
All RAW scans were initially offered by PokémonHound, and subsequently uploaded to archive.org, with all pages scanned at 1200DPI. Restoration efforts (by me) include; acute color-correction applied to shift the colors away from a slight yellowing tint, to more neutral colors reflective of the original intent; level adjustments in order to properly correct the white and black-balance; and proper cropping to the very edge of the paper for each page.
Most notably, all tears, creases, and paper damage caused by age (it's 28!) were healed by-hand in order to make it appear as close to an official digital upload, as if it were scanned at the same quality in 1996. A comparison between it and the RAW can seen below!
This book contains several pieces of art that weren't released elsewhere at the time, including the Kanto Gym Leaders, as well as various items:
File:Red RG-2 Sugimori Style.pngFile:Red RG-3 Sugimori Style.png
File:Blaine RG Manual Sugimori Style.png
Unfortunately, some of the art in the manual has strangely shifted line-art, which makes a handful of pieces unfit for general preservation. Interestingly, the doodles on both covers feature design revisions that barely made it into the final game, such as Mewtwo's shoulder plates.