The former art director of Pokémon Sword & Shield James Turner is working on new pastures right now, developing the rather wonderful-looking The Plucky Squire. But that doesn’t mean Pokémon is in the rearview mirror for the artist, and over the past few days on Twitter, he’s confirmed that he designed two Pokémon for Scarlet & Violet.
Interestingly, the two Pokémon Turner has (so far) revealed he worked on are heavily associated with each other — Tatsugiri, the sushi fish Pokémon, and Dondozo, the huge catfish-like creature. Tatsugiri is known to play dead to attract prey, and once it’s in sight, it commands Dondozo to attack. Tatsugiri often lives inside Dondozo’s mouth. You can find both of these Pokémon at Casseroya Lake.
Tatsugiri comes in three different forms — Curly (orange), Droopy (red), and Stretchy (yellow) — and is known as the Mimicry Pokémon. But it’s a cute little piece of sushi to us! It’s also Dragon/Water-type
Dodozo, however, is anything but little. A pure Water-type Big Catfish Pokémon, Dondozo is most effective in Double Battles with Tatsugiri. The little fish can use its unique Commander ability, which means it will sit in Dondozo’s mouth. Then, if Tastugiri uses the move Order Up, it will gain a stat boost based on Tastugiri’s form.
Turner’s designs for both of these Pokémon are lovely — both of them stood out to us when we played through the game. He also confirmed on Twitter that he got to pick the shiny colours for his Pokémon designs.
James Turner didn’t just design Pokémon for Scarlet & Violet, though. A few months ago, he confirmed that he designed the Pokémon professors of the generation — Professor Sada and Turo.
