Pokemon Gold 1997 Prototype discovered: Many scrapped pokemon designs within

I'd go more with the fact that, given how dramatically different this beta is from the finished game, the game was just going to be made in the same engine as Red and Green instead of an improved version.

The sprites? Probably placeholders until they would be replaced. Perhaps if there's some video of the gameplay that was showcased back in 1997 and we don't see any of the recycled sprites, then there's the answer - we weren't supposed to see them in the first place. Kinda like the Sun and Moon demo where Game Freak wised up and replaced every Pokemon that was not going to be seen with Pikachu (though they left the Dex sprites...)

Or perhaps just laziness. It's not like we've not seen Game Freak recycle sprites across multiple generations.
I wouldn’t say Laziness, as they wouldn’t be the only ones from back then to have used a previous game as a base for a sequel. (a very early build of Sonic 2 was found that used Sonic 1 level names and music for a lot of things) so it may have been/is still a fairly common thing.

EDIT: A list of all Color Sprites and Shinies have been found, here's an image of all of the Gen 2 ones from the beta. Interestingly, Marill's original Shiny coloration was light blue (due to the limited pallets)
 
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EDIT: A list of all Color Sprites and Shinies have been found, here's an image of all of the Gen 2 ones from the beta. Interestingly, Marill's original Shiny coloration was light blue (due to the limited pallets)
That's actually interesting.

I thought each shiny would just reuse one of the existing colors, but apparently each color has its own shiny variant so the shiny colors are distributed the same way that the regular colors are.

Neat.
 

Matleo

Banned deucer.
Hmm. The Ditto evolution (the blob next to Skarmory on the sprite sheet) is really interesting. I tried using it on debug mode in the demo, and it's basically just a Ditto with better stats. I wonder if Gamefreak had anything more planned for it.
maybe instead of transforming into charmander when battling one it could transform into the evolved form?
Or you could transform it into one of your own teamates by using the move transform?

that 3 stage dragon line would be a cool water/dragon line actually.

That angel and demon bird, could be a flying/fairy type that transform into a ghost/dark type actually by move and ability would be pretty cool.

That politoed sprite would make actually a good mega water punck rock Politoed.
 
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New stuffs unearthed now. Still new stuffs currently dug up.
https://gssource.neocities.org/sprites.html
Thanks to Blitz who brought it on Discord's OI server.

We got a LOT of new things like beta Fennekin, ninja bunny, beta ninja Emolga, Indian Elephant / beta Copperajah, Xatu mid Evo, beta Celebi, and so on....

This is cool....


Personal assumption is, this is 3rd legendary aside Lugia and Houou. Lugia here looks like a boat, so this represents Land Sea Sky before Houen legendaries.
 
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New stuffs unearthed now. Still new stuffs currently dug up.
https://gssource.neocities.org/sprites.html
Thanks to Blitz who brought it on Discord's OI server.

We got a LOT of new things like beta Fennekin, ninja bunny, beta ninja Emolga, Indian Elephant / beta Copperajah, Xatu mid Evo, beta Celebi, and so on....

This is cool....


Personal assumption is, this is 3rd legendary aside Lugia and Houou. Lugia here looks like a boat, so this represents Land Sea Sky before Houen legendaries.
I don't think the viking ship is lugia. I've seen a few others digging around and it doesnt seem like Lugia is reference at all. Whatever this is, it was likely unrelated.
I'm not sure if any of these pre-spaceworld (?) pokemon even have names? I havent seen them at least.
 

breh

強いだね
yeah I was laughing my ass off at the larvitar; I almost want to believe that there's no way that this is real and that it's an elaborate ruse, but if it's not, it's actually hilarious. you can tell where its evolution gets that dark type from with how damn mischevous it looks.

beta celebi is horrifying and apparently the "plant pokemon" rather than "time traveling pokemon" as in the final. dex entry is totally different, appx:

>Nobody knows details about its rumored existence. Currently under thorough investigation.

I bet a fair chunk of the dex entries differ but I am far, far too lazy to look through every single gen 2 mon's dex entry to see which ones are different... yet.

Some of the names are wrong (beta wooper is under Madam's name), but mildly amusing are the names of the hoppip line, which are... different.

From SW97, they were apparently Haneko / Poponeko / Wataneko (and, fitting with their name, based loosely on cats).

From final GS release, they are Hanekko / Poponekko / Watanekko (nekko meaning root and cat theme dropped, more or less).

Here?

We have Hanebouzu, Popobouzu, and... Wataneko. What???

So somewhere in the middle, they decided to nix the name theme for the first two Pokemon in the line and replace it with bouzu (坊主; literally "monk" but also used in the sense of "boy" as well as people that are bald / shaved really close to the head (as monks are)). I... don't know why they didn't change Jumpluff if they were going to get rid of the name gimmick entirely, but apparently the name gimmick is that the first two are bald and Jumpluff finally grows hair!
 
yeah I was laughing my ass off at the larvitar; I almost want to believe that there's no way that this is real and that it's an elaborate ruse, but if it's not, it's actually hilarious. you can tell where its evolution gets that dark type from with how damn mischevous it looks.

beta celebi is horrifying and apparently the "plant pokemon" rather than "time traveling pokemon" as in the final. dex entry is totally different, appx:

>Nobody knows details about its rumored existence. Currently under thorough investigation.

I bet a fair chunk of the dex entries differ but I am far, far too lazy to look through every single gen 2 mon's dex entry to see which ones are different... yet.

Some of the names are wrong (beta wooper is under Madam's name), but mildly amusing are the names of the hoppip line, which are... different.

From SW97, they were apparently Haneko / Poponeko / Wataneko (and, fitting with their name, based loosely on cats).

From final GS release, they are Hanekko / Poponekko / Watanekko (nekko meaning root and cat theme dropped, more or less).

Here?

We have Hanebouzu, Popobouzu, and... Wataneko. What???

So somewhere in the middle, they decided to nix the name theme for the first two Pokemon in the line and replace it with bouzu (坊主; literally "monk" but also used in the sense of "boy" as well as people that are bald / shaved really close to the head (as monks are)). I... don't know why they didn't change Jumpluff if they were going to get rid of the name gimmick entirely, but apparently the name gimmick is that the first two are bald and Jumpluff finally grows hair!
Most likely they were still in the process of shuffling the pokedex order and finalizing designs & names so Jumpluff just didn't get its name changed. That'd also be why someone like Wooper is still called by madam & presumably has Madam's footprint.

likewise i would bet thaaaat..

proto-fortress here is "Plux", the beta pinsir evolution in terms of name & footprint. Judging by its heavy placeholder sprite, it's possible it even still has Plux's dex entry?
 

breh

強いだね
It has a proto-forretress dex entry; appx:

>It eats all kinds of tree bark. It sticks the leftovers onto its shell and makes its shell sturdy. (p-Silver)

>It has layered tree bark and made a sturdy shell, but the shell is heavy and it practically cannot move. (p-Gold)

The reason I mentioned the Hoppip line is because unlike others where the name is objectively wrong, these ones were clearly the same pokemon, albeit changed.
 
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Ariados seems to have gone through a pumpkin phase during development. Can someone translate its name and dex to see if the resemblance is mentioned? A Bug-type Pokemon that's also a pumpkin would literally be my dream Pokemon.
 

breh

強いだね
too lazy to check which is which; left first then right:

>It starts to eat after emitting [thread or a thread] from its mouth and its rear and restraining its prey.

>It can emit [thread or a thread] from not only its rear, but also its mouth, so judging only by appearances, it is difficult to tell which is its head.

One is the same (the second one) as the final version, but the other is different.
 

Spaceworld Igglybuff was perfectly round but here it seems they toyed with the idea of the little hair puff starting out as a balloon's tie point (does that have an actual name...?)

You know I've thought for a few months now that Ballonda, as a concept, might've been reworked into Igglybuff. Perfectly round "balloon" pokemon and all, it was Igglybuff's defining feature in spaceworld and now it's got a more concrete balloon signifier.

It has a proto-forretress dex entry; appx:

>It can eat anything, even the bark of trees. It likely sticks the leftovers onto its shell and makes its shell sturdy.
Oh interesting! Thank you for looking at it.
I would hazard a follow up guess that at this point the idea of it being steel type wasn't thought of yet. Obviously the place holder sprite seems to be more about bark and it seems like a natural escalation of Pineco's (Final) dex entry.
The reason I mentioned the Hoppip line is because unlike others where the name is objectively wrong, these ones were clearly the same pokemon, albeit changed.
So at a curious glance, do you see any other different names like hoppip around? LIke excusing ones where they're obviously mismatched.
 

breh

強いだね
Will attempt to slowly compile dex differences in this post. Starting with silver because more of the gold ones may be identical. Given that some pokemon are still very different in this stage, though, this may not be true.

Unless noted otherwise, the name is the same as in the final version of GS.

Take translations with a grain of salt since I'm nonnative.

Silver

Chikorita: Its nice-smelling leaf has the ability to probe its surroundings.
Bayleef: Smelling the pleasant, spice-like aroma that emanates from around its neck causes one to feel hungry.
Quagsire: same
Sunkern: Asserted as fact rather than "it is said"
Sunflora: When the sun goes down, it closes its petals and stands still. Without light, it is not active.
Sentret: same
Lanturn: same (wrong name here)
Aipom: Lives high up in trees. When it jumps from branch to branch, it deftly uses its tail to keep its balance.
Wooper: When on land, a poison-infused mucous membrane is excreted. (wrong name here)
Espeon: By utilizing its 4 ears, even with its eyes closed, it knows all that occurs around it. // this is fuckin badass and the final version is hella watered down
Umbreon: same
Furret: It digs through the ground and makes a tight nest that only it can enter. It goes in tail-first.
Murkrow: same
Slowking: same
Misdreavus: When it feels as if the hair on the back of your head is being pulled, a Norowara has appeared behind you. // Still named Norowara, which apparently turned into Misdreavus, since this is very similar to the Silver Dex entry. Neat.
Unown: same
Wobbuffet: It hides away in dark places. It doesn't make attacks on its own, but when counterattacking, it returns damage threefold. // Still called Twinz. "Shadow Pokemon". Wow, Wobbuffet (body and tail) started out from a Girafarig prevo?
Girafarig: same
Pineco: same
Shuckle: At some point, it works its way into a pot. What its true body is like is unknown. // lmao"potpot" is literally a pokemon in a pot. Did not notice til a week later, but its species name is literally the "Earthenware Pokemon", specifically the fired kind. Very silly.
Dunsparce: It is very persistent. Once it decides on a target, it follows it to the ends of the earth. // fuckin badass
Steelix: Compressed by the weight of the ground, it has come to possesses a hardness that far surpasses that of diamond. // similar to gold final
Gligar: same
Snubbull: same
Granbull: If it senses a smell that it has not smelled before, it lets out a low roar.
Qwilfish: In an instant, it can swallow 10 liters of water to expand its stomach and appear larger. // "Pukuu"
Scizor: Due to its fondness for shores, it is thought to be a species close to those like Krabby. // ??? lol
Forretress: It eats all kinds of tree bark. It sticks the leftovers onto its shell and makes its shell sturdy. (wrong name here) // also "bagworm pokemon" like pineco above
Heracross: same
Sneasel: same // here "weasel pokemon"
Teddiursa: It's skilled at climbing trees. It picks berries in high places and eats them before they fall down.
Ursaring: It is unsurpassed in its ability to discern smells and is always walking around while having its nose stuck out.
Magcargo: It has a lava-like body, but, for some reason, when it basks in the sun, its skin hardens.
Corsola: In order to protect the carefully-raised tip of its head from being eaten by Staryu, it lives in groups.
Swinub: same
Piloswine: Both of its eyes are covered in fur, but, relying on sound, it acquires its target and rams towards it in a beeline. // "pig boar pokemon" like swinub
Slugma: same
Remoraid: same, but it mentions Mantine by current name of Hane'ei // both are "Jet Pokemon"; final game has "funsha (Jet, but in Japanese and not a transliteration) Pokemon"
Octillery: very close, but "crawls into" rather than "steals"
Hoothoot: same
Delibird: same
Mantine: uses slightly different word for ocean (おおうなばら vs. final ひろい うみ) but otherwise same // "Hane'ei"
Skarmory: Because its nest is located in a high-up area where violent wind rages, its skin has steadily become harder. // "Yoroidori"
Houndour: Pokemon that hear its ominous cry shake and return to their nests as fast as they can. // used for Houndoom in final
Houndoom: Parts of its skin are hardened and almost appear as if its bones have been flipped out.
Noctowl: same
Kingdra: Because it surrounds its body with ink it emits from the water in order to conceal itself, its appearance is hard to determine.
Phanpy: It can move its long upper jaw more freely than its limbs and it uses it to ward off enemies. // "Paon"; why this is called an upper jaw and not a trunk is absolutely beyond me
Donphan: same
Meganium: same
Porygon: same as final gold
Stantler: same
Smeargle: same
Tyrogue: same // "Gong"
HItmontop: same // it has eyes now instead of the horrifying pseudo-claydol in SW97
Smoochum: // Named Kisskiss! Differs from both SW97 and final!
Elekid: On days with poor weather, blueish-white electrical current flows in the gap between its horns.
Magby: same
Miltank: same
Blissey: same
Raikou: same // "Rai"
Entei: same // "En"
Suicune: very slightly different wording (みせる vs. final あらわした) but otherwise same // "Sui"; "Milky Way Pokemon"
Larvitar: Its soft body can absorb the shock from any attack and then relax. // It's actually supposed to look like a fucking mischevous blob lmao
Pupitar: Although it is in a pupal state, it can move unrestricted. It comes charging with its hard shell. // "charge" may literally be the move "Take Down"
Tyranitar: Its forehead is said to be the hardest thing on land. Charging with its forehead, there is nothing it cannot break. // Did you know? Tyranitar = Rampardos. same point on "charge" as above
Lugia: same
Ho-oh: same
Celebi: Nobody knows details about its rumored existence. Currently under thorough investigation. // "Plant Pokemon". Seems time travelling was not its gimmick yet.
Ledyba: same
Ledian: specifically mentions that it has 7 stars and is called "7 Star Pokemon". seems it went through a lot of different star numbers - 3 in SW, 7 here, 5 in final, go figure. Ledian == Marshadow?????
Spinarak: If suddenly attacked, it raises its back and shows the face pattern on it; while the enemy is surprised, it flees.
Ariados: It starts to eat after emitting a thread from its mouth and its rear and restraining its prey. // Named "Ariadne", which is different form both SW97 / final
Cyndaquil: same
Crobat: same
Quilava: The fur that covers its body does not burn in any fire. It is fine even in lava. // very similar
Yanma: same
Chinchou: same
Pichu: same
Cleffa: same
Typhlosion: same
Igglybuff: same
Togepi: same
Togetic: Flying floatily, it looks for a kind person that seems like they will grant it happiness.
Natu: same
Xatu: same
Totodile: Thrashes about more than one would imagine from its size. Teeth it loses from biting grow in one after the other. // same first sentence as final, same second sentence as first sentence of final Croconaw
Mareep: same
Croconaw: It spends most of its day with just its eyes and snout above the water's surface.
Flaafy: same
Ampharos: slightly different; "The bright light on its tail can be seen far away. It has been treasured since ancient times in place of a beacon."
Bellossom: same
Marill: same
Azumarill: same as final gold version
Feraligatr: same // "It is hard for it to support its own weight out of water, so it gets down on all fours. But it moves fast. " then why the fuck is it standing on two legs in every appearance???
Sudowoodo: same
Politoed: same
Hoppip: same
Skiploom: same
Jumpluff: same

before I sleep I don't want to do the whole of gold so I'll just do the ones I think are different

Gold

Espeon: It has developed extrasensory power. It appears that, using its whole body, it can even sense things one would not otherwise know.
Misdreavus: slightly different; final version mentions it is specifically a prank / trick whereas original does not
Unown: same
Wobbuffet: When it takes in the sun, it slowly splits, so it hides in dark caves.
Shuckle: Berries stored in its pot-like shell seem to eventually turn into alcohol. // so this is why they banned berry juice in lc
Dunsparce: When attacking prey, it hits it with its head, violently and very hard, in order to knock it unconscious. // how it feels to get paraflinched to death in gamefreak lore
Qwilfish: In order to make its body look bigger, it quickly swallows a lot of water to expand its stomach.
Scizor: same
Forretress: It has layered tree bark and made a sturdy shell, but the shell is heavy and it practically cannot move.
Sneasel: Its long, crescent-shaped claws are usually hidden in its fingers.
Larvitar: same
Pupitar: same
Tyranitar: same
Celebi: same as above
Ledian: same
Ariados: same
Feraligatr: slightly different; final adds "into shreds"
 
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Bull Of Heaven

99 Pounders / 4'3" Feet
is a Pre-Contributor
There's a Cyndaquil among those 1997 sprites. Cyndaquil originally designed to not be a starter?

Dunsparce's transformation into its final design sure is something.

I don't know what anyone has or hasn't found out, but that boat sure does vaguely look like Lugia to me.
 
There's a Cyndaquil among those 1997 sprites. Cyndaquil originally designed to not be a starter?
Yeah seems like it was going to be its own thing. Common thought I'm seeing (& that I had myself at first) was that it might have been an ice type, but after seeing the backsprite I wonder if it might've jsut been a normal or even steel type.

Interestingly it seems the original firre starter was transformed into Teddiursa, you can see its remnant in the Gold sprite.
Dunsparce's transformation into its final design sure is something.

I don't know what anyone has or hasn't found out, but that boat sure does vaguely look like Lugia to me.
There are no names tied (at this poitn in time) to the unused 97 build pokemon & there's 0 references at all even in these new 97 builds (obviously Lugia is present in the 99 build) to Lugia.

I can see why people are making the connection but I dunno. To me this just seems like two wildly different ideas that happen to share a few small details. But watch now that I've said this watch us find its name and its like... "Rowgia" or something. And when it came time to design a counterpart they for some bizarre reason decided to go with this thing as the basis for their plans.





but hey let it not be said i'm immune to a conspiracy theory so here's mine: the inexplicable viking boat joke in the original first movie was at one point meant to be this thing instead. Then it got cut so they just changed it to the full viking reference. Movie was out in 98 but obviously it had to have been worked on throughout 97 so there was definitely a time where the movie was being worked on while rowboat here was in the game....
 

breh

強いだね
tl;dr of my post above:

-Misdreavus was apparently the concept evolution of the japanese straw voodoo doll / kyonshii Pokemon Norowara
-Espeon had 4 ears
-Wobbuffet was almost definitely once Girafarig's pre-evolution, Twinz, and eventually became its own totally unrelated concept. It's actually kind of crazy how obvious this connection is in hindsight. Its whole persona of hiding in caves, hating light, and, later, Shadow Tag is probably birthed from this original concept of take Twinz outside > turn into Girafarig. Wild.
-Shuckle once explicitly made alcohol and was explicitly a literal earthenware pot
-Dunsparce was way cooler. Headbutt makes more flavor sense
-Forretress was at some point more explicitly bagwormy and tree-y than in final
-Corsola was explicitly preyed on by Staryu
-Skarmory was hardened by wind, which makes absolutely zero sense
-Kingdra very specifically uses ink, which also ties into Seadra / Horsea getting Smokescreen
-Suicune is not the Aurora Pokemon at this point and is tied to the whole Milky Way instead.
-Larvitar is stupid
-Tyranitar is Rampardos
-Ledian is proto Marshadow (the twist nobody saw coming)
-Celebi was maybe not yet tied to time travelling at time of making. Ambiguously / lazily "Plant Pokemon" at this point.

So at a curious glance, do you see any other different names like hoppip around? LIke excusing ones where they're obviously mismatched.
I hopefully didn't miss anything, but the two differences outside of Hoppip / Skiploom are Smoochum ("Kisskiss") and Ariados ("Ariadne").
 
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I think that squid Pokemon in-between beta-Pichu and beta-Mantine might be a redesign/conglomeration of the two squid Pokemon from the RG prototype data. Considering what happened to Kotora/Raitora and a few baby Pokemon...

EDIT: ...aaaand it’s down. :c
 
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Ariados seems to have gone through a pumpkin phase during development. Can someone translate its name and dex to see if the resemblance is mentioned? A Bug-type Pokemon that's also a pumpkin would literally be my dream Pokemon.
Ariadne. IIRC, she's someone using thread to escape the labyrinth in Greek mythology.
... I'm not confusing her with the weaver who got cursed by Athena into a spider, did I?

Oh, and's it's down? :psysad:

tl;dr of my post above:

-Misdreavus was apparently the concept evolution of the japanese straw voodoo doll / kyonshii Pokemon Norowara
-Espeon had 4 ears
-Wobbuffet was almost definitely once Girafarig's pre-evolution, Twinz, and eventually became its own totally unrelated concept. It's actually kind of crazy how obvious this connection is in hindsight. Its whole persona of hiding in caves, hating light, and, later, Shadow Tag is probably birthed from this original concept of take Twinz outside > turn into Girafarig. Wild.
-Shuckle once explicitly made alcohol
-Dunsparce was way cooler. Headbutt makes more flavor sense
-Forretress was at some point more explicitly bagwormy and tree-y than in final
-Corsola was explicitly preyed on by Staryu
-Skarmory was hardened by wind, which makes absolutely zero sense
-Kingdra very specifically uses ink, which also ties into Seadra / Horsea getting Smokescreen
-Suicune is not the Aurora Pokemon at this point and is tied to the whole Milky Way instead.
-Larvitar is stupid
-Tyranitar is Rampardos
-Ledian is proto Marshadow (the twist nobody saw coming)
I hopefully didn't miss anything, but the two differences outside of Hoppip / Skiploom are Smoochum ("Kisskiss") and Ariados ("Ariadne").
I prefer this 2 ears Espe. Creepy 4 ears look like ear tumour. (Als, we got hypersensitive fur for that already).
Also, it seems to me that they mixed up the concepts with the modified or removed mon. Betawooper is named Madaam (previously known as the not-Sirfetch). This is because Misdreavus / Muuma looks nothing like Norowara.
The Twinz placeholder sprite definitely got developed into Wobbuffet tho....

Alas, Duncie's line got scrapped....
 
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Ariadne. IIRC, she's someone using thread to escape the labyrinth in Greek mythology.
... I'm not confusing her with the weaver who got cursed by Athena into a spider, did I?

Oh, and's it's down? :psysad:
Pretty close. She was the one who provided the thread to Theseus, who was the one actually in the labyrinth. The weaver cursed by Athena was Arachne, if you were wondering.
 
Ariadne. IIRC, she's someone using thread to escape the labyrinth in Greek mythology.
... I'm not confusing her with the weaver who got cursed by Athena into a spider, did I?

Oh, and's it's down? :psysad:
Yeah the guy hosting them removed them and all the other stuff to avoid getting nuked by Nintendo. I'm sure we'll see rehosts eventually
 

breh

強いだね
Also, it seems to me that they mixed up the concepts with the modified or removed mon. Betawooper is named Madaam (previously known as the not-Sirfetch). This is because Misdreavus / Muuma looks nothing like Norowara.
I wouldn't be so sure that Misdreavus isn't the concept progression of Norowara. Most of its appearance / name gimmick is gone, but it specifically mentions it by name, just like other dex entries of (ex.) Mantine. I don't know how names are handled in GS, though (are they handled as hard-coded text or #namehere-type tags). It's also still a Ghost-type, too.
 

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