Pokemonfans love to share their love ofPokemonin creative ways, regardless of the medium. Plus, since there are so many Pokemon, there are endless ways to express that love of the franchise. So when Microsoft announced that it’s bringing back its Xbox Design Labs platform, allowing fans to customize their own Xbox Series X/S controllers as they please, it was really only a matter of time beforePokemonfans starting creating color combinations for their favorite Pokemon.
Redditor mandoo12345 beat otherPokemonfans to the punch in a post that climbed to the top of the /r/XboxOne subreddit. Their post features 20 different customXbox Series X/S controllercombinations made through the Xbox Design Labs website. Each combination is intended to pair with a different Pokemon, matching their respective color schemes. ForPokemonfans who have a favorite Pokemon, it’s a great opportunity to match an Xbox accessory.
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Not every Xbox Series X/S color combination that mandoo12345 has put together matches perfectly. For example, the color scheme of Litten, Abomasnow, and others doesn’t carry over due to theXbox Design Labs' available colors. Others just don’t have particularly attractive color combinations in the first place, like the pink and yellow Galarian Slowpoke, the blue and yellow Pachirisu, or Abomasnow again. Overall, some of the color patterns simply look better on the Pokemon than on the Xbox controller.
Other controller designs, however, look incredible. For example, the combination of Zest Orange and Mineral Blue is immediately recognizable as aCharizard-themed controller. Gengar’s Regal Purple controller with Carbon Black and Deep Pink accents is also excellent. Other controllers may not immediately draw a connection to a Pokemon, but still look aesthetically pleasing, like Emolga’s and Galarian Darmanitan’s.
Finding a balance between looking good and also creating a recognizable connection to the reference Pokemon is clearly no simple task. Still, it’s a testament to Xbox’s impressive Design Labs platform that these combinations can be made in the first place, and equally so a testament to thesePokemons' designsthat they can translate so easily to a controller’s design just combining so many colors.
There is some irony in creatingPokemoncontrollersfor an Xbox platform given the franchise’s history on Nintendo platforms. But the love of games andPokemontranscends platforms. Odds are, mandoo12345’s post will only drive morePokemonfans to the Xbox Design Labs website where they can experiment with creating their own custom controller based on any of the hundreds of otherPokemonthat exist.
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