xta / pokesprite

Database project of box and inventory sprites from the Pokémon core series games

PokéSprite

This is a collection of the box sprites of every Pokémon from the main game series, and the sprites for every collectable and bag item. Also included are custom shiny versions of the box sprites that are not available in-game.

Some examples of the sprites:

These sprites can be used as individual files, or accessed programmatically using the included sprite database files.

Sprites and metadata

This project contains both Pokémon box sprites and item sprites. For Pokémon, both the old style sprites from Pokémon Sun/Moon (Gen 7) and the new style sprites from Pokémon Sword/Shield (Gen 8), including the DLC, are included, as well as a number of unofficial sprites for Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Item sprites are available with Gen 8 style white outlines and without.

Directory	Example	Size	Type	Description
/pokemon‑gen7x		68×56	Pokémon	Gen 7 sprites, updated to Gen 8 size and contrast
/pokemon‑gen8		68×56	Pokémon	Gen 8 sprites (plus older Gen 7 sprites where needed)
/items		32×32	Items	Gen 3–8 inventory items
/items‑outline		32×32	Items	Gen 3–8 inventory items with Sword/Shield style outline
/misc		Varies	Misc.	Miscellaneous sprites from multiple gens

The item and miscellaneous sprites are separated by type in subdirectories (e.g. "berry", "evo-item", "valuable-item", "ribbon", etc).

Previous generations of games (Gen 1–2 and Gen 3–4) had their own collections of sprites, but these are not included in this project. The original 40×30 Pokémon sprites from Gen 6–7 are kept for legacy purposes in the /icons directory.

See the Pokémon sprite overview page for a full list of sprites.

Data files

Developers who want to use these sprites programmatically might want to look at the /data/pokemon.json and /data/item-map.json files; the former contains a list of all Pokémon and their associated sprites, and the latter links all sprites in the repo to their internal IDs used in-game.

Pokémon sprite list

Each entry in the dex.json file contains the following data (example):

// ...
{
  "idx": "006",
  "name": {
    "eng": "Charizard",
    "jpn": "リザードン",
    "jpn_ro": "Lizardon"
  },
  "slug": {
    "eng": "charizard",
    "jpn": "riza-don",
    "jpn_ro": "lizardon"
  },
  "gen-7": {
    "forms": {
      "$": {
        "has_female": false,
        "has_right": false
      },
      "mega-x": {
        "has_female": false,
        "has_right": false
      },
      "mega-y": {
        "has_female": false,
        "has_right": false
      }
    }
  },
  "gen-8": {
    "forms": {
      "$": {
        "is_prev_gen_icon": false
      },
      "gmax": {
        "is_prev_gen_icon": false
      },
      "mega-x": {
        "is_prev_gen_icon": true
      },
      "mega-y": {
        "is_prev_gen_icon": true
      }
    }
  }
},
// ...

The name and slug objects contain the Pokémon's name in various languages, including a romanized version of the Japanese name. The jpn_ro item contains GAME FREAK's official rōmaji names that are mainly used in merchandise. For example, for カメール (Wartortle), the jpn slug is "kame-ru", while the jpn_ro slug is "kameil".

The forms object contains a list of all sprites pertaining to a Pokémon. It always contains at least a "$" (dollar sign) value, which means the regular form or default sprite. Each form object can contain the following details:

Key	Meaning
is_alias_of	This form uses the sprite of another form and does not have its own image
is_unofficial_icon	This sprite is not a verbatim original and has been edited in some way (e.g. Pumpkaboo and Gourgeist)†
is_unofficial_legacy_icon	As above, but only for the smaller legacy 40×30 sprites (only used for Melmetal)
is_prev_gen_icon	This sprite is actually from an earlier generation
has_right	A unique right-facing sprite is available (e.g. Roselia—only for Gen 7 Pokémon)
has_female	This Pokémon has visible gender differences (e.g. Unfezant)
has_unofficial_female_icon	The female version of this Pokémon's sprite was custom made (e.g. Pikachu)

_{†: only applies to non-shiny sprites, as shiny sprites are always unofficial.}

There are a few cases where a Pokémon's shiny design changed in an update. For example, Minior's shiny form was originally gray but became colorized with the release of Pokémon HOME. This project always uses the latest designs, with the old ones renamed to their gen of origin.

Inventory items list

Several files are available for processing the sprites for inventory items:

• /data/item-map.json – a 1:1 map of item IDs and sprite files, e.g. "item_0017": "medicine/potion"
• /data/item-unlinked.json – all inventory sprites not linked to an item ID—these are mostly duplicates (e.g. the Metal Coat sprite is in both "hold-item" and "evo-item", and so one goes unused) and legacy files
• /data/item-legacy.json – a list of old item sprites from previous gen games

See the inventory overview page for a list of items.

Miscellaneous sprites

For all other sprites that are neither Pokémon nor inventory items, see /data/misc.json. Notably, the ribbons can be found there. Each group of miscellaneous sprites has its own unique data format. See the miscellaneous overview page for all included images.

Sprite dimensions

Since Gen 8, the Pokémon box sprites have become 68×56 (up from 40×30 in Gen 7) to accommodate larger sprite designs.

   

Most Pokémon did not get a new sprite as of Gen 8, meaning their old sprite was padded to the new size. Sprites were padded from below, with one extra pixel of space on the bottom (see left).

Since most Pokémon take up a very small amount of pixels of the allotted space, they'll look far more spaced apart than in Gen 7 if they're displayed adjacent to each other. This effect is especially noticeable for not-fully-evolved Pokémon.

To somewhat mitigate this, the sprites can be made to overlap each other. In nearly all cases, only the empty space around the sprite will overlap—if there are multiple large sprites next to each other (like several Gigantamax forms) the sprites themselves will overlap, but only a little.

The recommended overlap is -24px left and -16px top, which is a compromise between bringing the smaller sprites closer together and not letting the larger sprites overlap. Here's an example of what that looks like:

With this setup, the larger sprites are quite close together but not uncomfortably so, and the smaller sprites are not too far away from each other. There is some small overlap for the largest sprites (the special Gigantamax forms), but not excessively so, and in most cases it should be rare to see multiple Gigantamax forms next to one another since it's not a permanent form.

For a better example of what many adjacent sprites look like with this setup, see the banner image at the top of the readme, which also uses the same amount of spacing.

Related projects

Projects using PokéSprite:

• PKHeX – Pokémon save file editor
• PokéSprite spritesheet – spritesheet of all Pokémon box sprites and inventory items for use in websites
• PikaSprite – a different interface for PokéSprite sprites
• DexTool – management tools for a Pokémon living Dex, shiny hunting and streaming
• Spinda Painter – proof of concept for displaying accurate Spinda spots on its box sprite
• pokemonsay – version of cowsay with Pokémon sprites
• pokemonshow – another project that shows Pokémon in the terminal
• Random Pokémon Generator – generates Pokémon teams by a given list of filters
• Pokémon Type Swap Generator – a Pokémon type swapping app
• Many Google Sheets used by Pokémon traders

If your project uses PokéSprite and you'd like to be added to this list, feel free to open an issue to request it.

Other Pokémon artwork related links:

• Project Pokémon - Animated 3D sprites index
• Bulbapedia - List of game sprites – contains many other graphics and icons not included in this project
• PokéDings – webfont and SVG icons of special characters used in Pokémon nicknames
• PokéResources – Various Pokémon image resources

License

The sprite images are © Nintendo/Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK Inc.

Everything else, and the programming code, is governed by the MIT license.

This project couldn't have been made without the help of numerous contributions from the community. See the contributors file for further information and full credits.