The Pokémon Company and Overlap Inc. have confirmed three simultaneous hardcover art books landing 18 December 2026: the Pocket Monsters Visual Art Book 30th Anniversary Art Book of Pokémon Video Games developed by GAME FREAK. Three volumes, roughly 500 pages each, covering thirty years of mainline game artwork from Red / Green all the way to Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A. That is approximately 1,500 pages of official Pokémon art in a single release — and it includes material that has never been published before.
What’s Inside the Three Volumes
Each volume covers a distinct era of the mainline series:
- Volume 1 — Red / Green through HeartGold / SoulSilver
- Volume 2 — Black / White through Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon
- Volume 3 — Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee! through Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A
The content goes well beyond a standard art collection. Alongside pixel art, 3DCG renders, promotional illustrations, and in-game setting artwork, each volume contains unreleased design documents from GAME FREAK’s archives — developmental material that has not appeared in any previous official publication. Each volume closes with a creator interview from inside GAME FREAK, making this as much a historical record of how the games were made as it is a gallery of the finished art.
Format: B5, full colour throughout. Supervised by Shusuke Motomiya of Overlap. Price: ¥5,500 per volume (tax included), sold individually — no bundle pricing is available. The announcement came from the official Overlap website and was simultaneously covered by 4Gamer, Dengeki Online, and Game Watch.
This Is Not the National Pokédex Book
If this sounds familiar, it is worth being precise: Overlap published a different Pokémon anniversary title earlier this month — the National Pokédex 1996–2026. That is a separate product. The visual art books announced today are a distinct set with a different scope, different content focus (game development artwork rather than Pokédex entries), and a December release date. Two big Pokémon books from Overlap this year, two different things.
Singapore: Import Route Is the Play
No English-language edition has been announced, and the 18 December release is Japan-only. For Singapore fans, the most reliable options are the usual suspects: Kinokuniya Singapore’s special-order counter handles Japanese artbooks well, and staff can place orders for titles not stocked on the floor. Direct-ship alternatives include CDJapan, Yesasia, and Rakuten Books if you prefer managing it yourself.
At ¥5,500 per volume — roughly S$55–60 at current exchange — each book is priced in line with other premium Japanese artbooks. Factor in shipping and you’re looking at somewhere in the S$70–80 range per volume imported, or around S$220–240 for the full set. Kinokuniya’s pricing would likely be similar to slightly higher after their import margin, but without the shipping uncertainty.
Given the scale of the Pokémon 30th anniversary licensing push globally, an English-language edition or regional printing would not be surprising — but nothing has been announced. We’ll update this post if that changes.