#pokemon johto demo

[devi-nyx-elsword-theorist]

Hear me out, this is a far stretched idea. what if we get Johto remakes, but we get the unreleased Spaceworld demo Pokemon to fill the Johto dex.

Make the Johto Pokemon, MORE available in Johto instead of locking them to National Dex.

Increase the wild Pokemon level's in Kanto because mind you, those level gaps were abysmal.

The idea is how many Pokemon in the Johto dex from Johto is available.

So we can maybe have a few pokemon that evolved or had recently gotten a new typing in Gen 2 still be available in Gen 2, the Baby Pokemon who were available in Gen 2 as well So we'd get

Scyther, Onix, Magnemite,, Bellsprout (because of the Tower) Pikachu, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Zubat, Golbat, Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Slowpoke, Slowbro, Eevee, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Magmar, Electabuzz, Jynx, Oddish, Chansey, Porygon, Horsea, Seadra, I'll still leave in Magikarp for the Red Gyarados. and Dragonite (Because Lance and Claire has that line tho one uses Dragonairs but you get the picture.) and the fossils, I'll leave in Gengar line.

So the Dex is around 154 (Celebi is still a Johto mon) and still has some Kanto mon's. but if we split them we'd also get 47 Kanto Pokemon!

now to make sure this Johto dex is still a Johto Dex, is 107 Johto Pokemon now let's rank up that number.

We need the scrapped solo pokemon that was attached to Slowbro, make it a Water/Steel type.

the unreleased "branch" evolution of Weepinbell. it still a Grass/Poison

the Seal with a fireball. I like to see it being a mirror of Seel.

we need Kotora and Raitora they're cute electric types.

Norowara and Kyonpan these two would be fun for Morty being a Ghost type gym leader as he doesn't really use ANY Johto pokemon the first time not even a Misdreavus! also, GIVE HIM A MISDREAVUS!

Urufuman and Waaurufu, they're actually cute looking Yeti? I see a yeti in it, and it's an Ice type, so Pryce would definitely have these.

I also would like to add the unreleased 2 Starters making them become freely available but but! there's a better idea, if you visit Celebi's shrine there should be a Kimono wearing NPC who often visits the Ilex Forest Shrine and they simply challenge you with both of these Pokemon, and then they exclaim that after the battle they give you a choice of the 2 pokemon saying that " They're old Pokemon I've recently found, and I assure you would want to show them the world outside of my home, I'll give you a choice. The Fire Bear (Honooguma) or The Mystery Water Pokemon (Kurusu). " but there will be a reward where if you're a champion and you come back to the shrine, you will find a Pokeball, of the other Pokemon that you didn't choose but the NPC is gone, we won't know where they went.

These can be bred for multiples but this is to show us not only a little nod to the demo, but they're returning.

And if we go this route if we have a Chikorita line, and we visit the shrine with it, we get an event where Chikorita finds a mysterious Pokeball that has a Hanamogura. (the demo version before it was changed to be Bayleef) but it get's a second evolution since it will have around 415 BST, I know it's a little too high, but let me explain the evolution will have 552 BST.

Okay without counting the Kanto Pokedex that's still involved is 124 (even though Weepinbell branched evolution is a maybe but if we dont count it, its 123.)

the Pokedex now has 171 Pokemon in Johto when we add back the Kanto Pokemon.

Unless I miscounted so maybe around 170-174.

Edit!!!

there was more Pokemon that were cut I may of skipped over, so back at 124 Johto Pokedex.

So we have a ghost pokemon with a Hitaikakushi this one could represent well enough in Johto

A ball looking rabbit? could be interesting,

Gargoyle

the Drill looking Squid,

A literal Squirrel Ninja

the flaming Tanuki

there's a odd looking skeleton Pokemon so I guess we can have it as an "exclusively" rare fossil Johto Pokemon.

a Pokemon that is apparently a Flying Fish but with bird wings and legs.

the Scarecrow pokemon, I would like to say it scares off or taunts Murkrows.

a plant pokemon that's a ball? then it says here to evolve to Ball Sprout, with branched evolutions?

so 136 Johto Pokemon, add that, now we have 183 of a completed Dex, not counting Kanto if we didn't unlock Kanto, with Kanto unlocked

[team-headcanons-2]

Pokemon teams for each mercenary plus Pauling bc I can and i also don't explain anything:

Soldier - braviary, bisharp, johto zigzagoon, dragapult, mismagius, galaran zigzagoon. If given a mythical/legendary: marshadow or zapdos.

Pyro - galarian rapidash, Kanto rapidash, flareon, hisuian typhlosion, charizard, torchic. If given a mythical/legendary: moltres or victini.

Scout - boltund, cinderace, pachirisu, tyrogue, kricketot, probably has a shiny applin Ms Pauling rejected. If given a mythical/legendary: it would be absolutely hilarious if he was given Arceus bc of the God thing in the comics.

Demo - shiny aegislash, masquerain, electrode, forretress, chatot, blacephalon. If given a legendary/mythical: zacian or zamazenta

Heavy - beartic, ursaluna, shiny crabominable, fletchling, hitmonchan, conkeldurr. If given a legendary/mythical: urshifu

Engie - klinklang, garbador, torchic, mudsdale, rotom, steelix. If given a legendary/mythical: magearna, eternatus, or melmetal.

Medic - shiny aromatisse, midnight lycanroc, altaria, naganedel, blissey, unfezant. If given a mythical/legendary: Xerneas, Yveltal, or giratina bc of the Satan thing

Spy - zoruark, corviknight, Ditto, kecleon, thievul, ninjask. If given a legendary or mythical: my mind said hoopa for some reason

Sniper - inteleon, noctowl, decidueye, krookodile, komala, doduo. If given a legendary/mythical: this was hard, but I'm gonna say galarian zapdos.

Pauling - purugly, gothitelle. And then that's like. It. If given a legendary/mythical: my heart says diance. But like in this au diance is orange and australium filled.

[pkmnomegaverse]

Me once again going down the beta builds for Pokemon rabbit hole always gets me like this

Like I can feel it building. I’m always torn on if I should revamp a lot of my Kanto/Johto stuff to fit in beta lore more or not. Since on one hand, had I known about it at the time, would def have used it more. Alternatively though, I don’t like to retcon established things unless I have a solid vision for the change. And all of this is more just fun facts vs information I can do much with. As with everything beta related, it tends to be speculation which I then further extrapolate on (aka I’m making things up). But here are some notes (compiling this for myself mostly) of beta themed lore to consider.

- Ethan having an older brother 3 years his senior in the beta build for Gen 2. I think I’ve talked about this one before but I really would have made Gold his older brother had I known about this at the time. But at this point, I feel it complicates things too much and surly if Ethan had an older brother, would his brother not have stepped in to help once Ethan was having all his drama with Lance’s family? Regardless, idea that came to me is he is Ethan’s long lost brother on a quest to find Kris, who’s always been MIA/abducted in this verse (because I never knew how to implement her/I didn’t want to retcon things in Johto to give her a connection to Ethan/Lyra/Silver). I still would be unlikely to add him (since again, I think he would help out Ethan more and that goes against my story for why Ethan ends up in the place he does) but I think making him a Red-like character could be interesting. Disappeared and people unsure on where he is. Perhaps that was a possible idea for him before Red ended up filling that role??? Ignoring the obvious idea he probably was just straight up Red at one point in development.

- Silver having a sister in the 1997 Spaceworld demo. Aka, the revelation that spawned me doing research again. Which it’s kind of interesting both Ethan and Silver had older siblings originally. I don’t think I’ll do anything with this (since I’m forever fighting making Mars his older sister, just doesn’t fit in my head, although with this revelation…). But an interesting beta fact to consider! Since certainly implications here. Also this got me thinking it was almost certainly canon that Silver was Giovanni’s son even back in the original Gen 2 games. The manga had to get the idea from somewhere (and there’s indication PokeSpe implemented other cut content, like Gold using a skateboard, which the demo proved that was canon before it got re-replaced with a bike down the line). So since Gen 4 was reusing cut ideas from the Gen 2 games….again, implications here.

- Jasmine likely being a ghost type user originally and having a connection to Agatha. This coming from her prototype design likely being the Gym Leader of a gym that seems pretty clearly ghost themed (the Gym Leader is surrounded by graves) and Agatha appearing in this same town. Meaning she’s possibly proto-Jasmine’s grandmother or perhaps her mentor (I lean towards grandmother due to the multiple cut family members in Gen 2 and also it would parallel Oak better). Which on one hand, could flip things so Agatha is related to Morty. But since Jasmine does have a relation to Sinnoh in some way (other fun fact about proto-Jasmine is she’s the Gym Leader of a city near what was the equivalent of Sinnoh in the Spaceworld demo, thus why Gen 4 probably kept that connection to Sinnoh with her) and I do like the Bertha and Agatha are sisters theory, Jasmine being related to them in some way still holds up. Just who is her grandmother and who is her great-aunt could go either way. Would probably keep it Agatha just to keep the original intention though.

This is the one I’m most likely to use out of all of these, since there’s something here. Mostly just need to think about the implications with what that means for Lynn. Part of me is feeling silly enough at the moment I’m like “watch out Lynn, new step-dad approaching or even retconning your bio-dad” (it’s Crasher Wake). But I think it might be interesting to make Lynn have a connection to ghost Pokemon as an homage to all this. Also congrats Rosette, your two closest people are connected to ghosts in some way! Other idea is to kind of base Lynn’s design a tiny bit off prototype Jasmine. Just a bit in the hair.

- 1997 Spaceworld Busgy was originally the Gym Leader for the equivalent of Goldenrod. Presumably this could be related to why there’s the Bug Catching Contest in that area. For sure can’t do anything with this fact, but I was amused by the idea of a fankid using roughly the design of prototype Bugsy who could be the son of Whitney/Bugsy. Never gonna retcon those fams since Rosette especially is near and dear to my heart, but I thought it was an interesting connection. Perhaps an idea I could use if I ever do anything more with Whitney or Bugsy in ChampionVerse? His prototype design for ref, back when he was the “Goldenrod” Gym Leader

- HGSS Morty is just his prototype design and final design in Gen 2 smashed together. Watched a YouTube video that pointed this out and thought it was funny. So throwing it here to remind myself. Also the YouTube video for those curious, which is worth a watch and also goes over a fair amount of what I have in this post.

Also HonorShipping real since prototype Falkner has a headband which Morty steals that design idea in his final look. Whereas Falkner gets the kinda swoopy emo bang. Cause yes, that’s how far I’m reaching. Did say I was feeling like the conspiracy theory man image! Like idk, Falkner just kinda looks like if you combined the two beta designs. It’s the hair that’s doing it for me. There’s a connection here! And the connection is that they’re in love!

[antirepurp]

i can't help but to find the attempts at making creepypastas and the like out of mario and sonic games kinda funny like, these are just little guys running around and doing platforming in colorful and lively worlds. one of them's a italian dude hanging out with his friends and the other is a little animal dude who likes to run around (and fight gods sometimes). like there's nothing inherently scary or creepy about either of these and i never found them to translate well into the real of spooky spaghetti because of that

now POKEMON on the other hand is primed for the pasta because the first gen games have wonky art, a million glitches and convoluted legendaries the game doesn't tell you about, they were ridden with playground rumors and feature a whole town centered around death and ghosts and shit. we even have massive regional differences between red/green and red/blue! and what about the delays that happened for gold and silver? a whole demo that featured a drastically different johto from what we got in the end? these games were meant to be mangled into creepypasta are you kidding me

[shoppncarticles]

BONUS: Gen 2 Beta

Game development is anything but a streamlined process, and it’s rare for a game to be created without a few hiccups in development, and seeing quite a few features and pieces of its design getting tossed during the process. This is probably fairly obvious to anyone who’s played a game, let alone anyone who’s created anything, but I need these articles to start somewhere y’know.

One particular case of this is the development of Pokemon Gold (and Silver), the sequels to the original Pokemon Red and Blue games. Following such a massive success, Game Freak had quite the task ahead of them, and part of that involved making a whole new set of Pokemon. Now, they did have some designs lying around already, but they still needed to recapture the magic of the first Gen with even more wacky Pokemon creatures. We all know that they succeeded and ended up releasing a second pair of games with 100 new creatures, obviously, but what about the ones that were lost along the way?

Thankfully, a few years back, the playable demo of Pokemon Gold from SpaceWorld 1997 (a gaming convention that preceded E3) leaked online, and all the implemented Pokemon of that build were revealed to the public. A fair number of the final Johto designs did show up among the roster... but an even larger amount were designs which fans had never seen before. Since there’s such a plethora of these unseen designs, and this demo is the most documented of any of Pokemon’s found betas, I decided to dedicate some time to talking about some of these missing critters. I won’t be covering every single lost ‘mon, but there are still plenty I think are worth mentioning.

Lost Evolutions

First up are some evolutions (or pre-evolutions in the hatchlings’ case) of some Pokemon that I’ve already talked about, and then some. As a reminder, the evolutions are for Farfetch’d, Pinsir, and Tangela on the top row, with the nest of chicks on the bottom being a baby form for Doduo. Interestingly, the beta Pokedex also has what appears to be a Grass-type evolution for Eevee, and a new evolution for Lickitung, preceding Lickilicky in Gen 4. I find this pretty noteworthy since it reinforces that Game Freak isn’t completely opposed to revisiting their older ideas when designing for new generations, or at least they weren’t during Gen 4′s development.

Anyways, in terms of the first four designs here, you can check out what I said in their respective family articles. In summary, though, I find them all to be pretty interesting additions to their previous members’ designs, and usually taking things in a different, though unique direction. The baby Doduo is a bit odd, though, since not only does it have three heads as opposed to Doduo’s two, but Doduo also has pretty poor stats itself and doesn’t really warrant having a baby form.

The beta Leafeon and Lickilicky though, if you want to call them that, are quite strange given their belated entry to the series. Leafeon here looks a bit more inspired than what we ended up getting, since while parts of its body extend into leaves like the final design, its legs and feet are more gnarled and uneven, like tree roots rather than mammalian legs. This is a lot more creative to me, and helps strengthen its plant theming just a little bit. I’ve seen other people interpret the pattern on its body as being like the texturing of a tree or leaf too, which is a good touch.

Lickilicky, though, is pretty distant from the final design we got, and to me it feels like the designers were aware how much it likely would’ve clashed against Pokemon’s style and trimmed the thing down to fit better. Lickilicky’s turban-like shape on its head, mustache, and multiple rings around its body make it feel like some heavily stylized Japanese caricature, like something you’d see in the original Starfy games. In that respect, I think it’s a pretty charmingly goofy design, and I suppose works well to play up Lickitung’s sillier elements, but I do agree that it doesn’t really mesh with the rest of Pokemon’s style.

WIP Johto ‘Mons

Here’s a collection of beta designs for Johto ‘mons we did get that I already covered in their respective articles. Admittedly, the designs for beta Ariados and Mantine come from later demo builds rather than the SpaceWorld ‘97 one, evident by their more colorful sprites, but I still wanted to mention them again anyways. These designs are all pretty rad, and while I do like what we ended up getting for most of them, I still miss what we could’ve got too. Especially Ariados.

You can’t beat how silly straight-up-gun Remoraid is, too.

Beta Noctowl I also covered before but forgot to include in the set of six above. Oh well. You can’t make a clean set of rows for seven anyways.

Hanēi (Haneei)

Believe it or not, Haneei here was the very first implementation of Mantine in the game, or at least that’s what fans have decided on. It looks so different by comparison though, appearing as a much more feathery, angelic creature rather than the manta ray it ended up becoming. It’s still a Water/Flying type however, which is likely what makes people think it’s a Mantine progenitor.

What’s really special about Haneei though is that it has a completely dark false face on its backside. This too kind of strengthens its connections to Mantine, since its baby evolution Mantyke has a smiley face on its backside in a similar fashion to this. Haneei though seems to embody a sort of yin-yang dichotomy thing here, with its underbelly being all pure and fluffy while its backside is dark and ominous. That’s a really cool effect, and I’m surprised it’s been a relatively untapped idea given how popular intimidating eyespots are in the animal kingdom. Masquerain kind of takes up that mantle, off the top of my head.

Shibirefugu 

Would you look at that! As it turns out, Qwilfish was originally supposed to get an evolution, in this much dopey and nubbier pufferfish. Despite the lightning bolt mark on its head, Shibirefugu and Qwilfish itself in this beta remain as pure Water types. I really have to wonder why it ended up getting cut, though. Could Game Freak not decide on a way to fix up its design any further? Did they decide that they needed to add a clean 100 new Pokemon, and Shibirefugu was just unlucky enough to be on the chopping block? Why keep Qwilfish and not its evolution?? Truly a mystery for the ages.

The Manbō1 Family

A whole line of cut designs, the Manbō1 family (it is really called that) is a bit all over the place, but has the consistent theme of being fish, I guess. Manbo, the first form, seems to be some stylized for of an angelfish given its shape. It also resembles a line of beta designs for sunfish Pokemon from Gen 1, so perhaps this was Game Freak trying to reuse leftover designs they had laying around. It’s not bad as far as Pokemon fish go, but it is a bit silly just seeing this angelfish with anime eyes among the roster.

Ikari, the first evolution, is extremely interesting, and another great loss in my book. It seems completely unrelated to Manbo before it though, which is likely part of the reason it was ultimately cut. This Water/Steel type is, for whatever reason, the head of a shark chained to an anchor. I don’t know exactly where the idea of this thing came from, but if you know anything about me you’d know that I would’ve LOVED to use this thing if given the chance. The shark head looks perfectly scummy and gnarly, and the chipped dorsal fin it has is a great touch to its design. Alas, the closest we have in Pokemon is Sharpedo, which keeps the sort of shark head idea, but sadly drops the anchor.

The final evolution though is Gurotesu. It seems like a combination of an anglerfish with its little lure and a gulper eel with its body shape and large jaw. It too is a Water/Steel type, though the Steel part seems kind of removed from its design. Given its resemblance to abyssal predators, people have speculated that the Manbō1 family were the precursors to Chinchou. That’s not an impossibility, since nothing else resembling Chinchou is in the SpaceWorld demo. Gurotesu makes a much better evolution than Lanturn in my mind, since it plays up the goofiness of deep sea fish much better than its final design does. Its overall design would be revisited in Huntail in Gen 3, kind of, but no dopey big-chinned eel like this has ever been seen in Pokemon again, sadly. We’ve got a crucially untapped market here, Game Freak!

Animon

Ditto, surprisingly, was slated to get an evolution too. Why, I couldn’t tell you, because I don’t know what Ditto would apparently be doing once it evolved since it’s supposed to only do one thing.

That thing could very well be screaming, since Animon here is just. Screaming at all times, I guess. Since Ditto is so simplistic in terms of both visual and mechanical design, it’s hard to say what Animon could’ve done, besides maybe the fact that it evolved with used of a Metal Powder item - the precursor to the Metal Coat. While Animon remains a pure Normal type, maybe it could’ve incorporated Steel into its attacks or transformation process?

The Rinrin Family

These two have no clear parallel in the final game, being a pair of Dark-type cats themed around little bells. Why they decided to drop these ones is beyond me, since they seem pretty interesting and make a nice addition to the new Dark type. A malicious little black cat would’ve also done well for the type. They’d likely be easily accessible early or mid game options too, something Johto is severely lacking.

Unfortunately they do also kind of suffer from another problem rampant in Gen 2′s design. The first form, Rinrin, is a cute and nicely put together little cat ‘mon, with a bell-ended tail and collar, with more little bells or baubles around its ears. It’s sufficiently cute, and I could see it being a marketable mascot for the Dark type if it made it in. The evolution, Berurun, is kind of flat and uninteresting by comparison. It plays things a lot more simply, which I suppose works well enough for a sleek, evil little cat design. The contrast between the two isn’t as bad as Meowth and Persian, nor Hoothoot and Noctowl, so they’ve got that at least. It’s not really bad by any significant means, though, since it at least has a proper theme going on that it keeps from the pre-evolution unlike Persian and Noctowl.

Tsubomitto 

Would you look at that, old Bellsprout was supposed to get a new evolution too! It makes sense, since Oddish and Bellsprout were originally meant to be version-exclusive counterparts, but Oddish went and got a new evolution in Gen 2 where Bellsprout did not. Y’know, even though Bellsprout got a whole tower temple dedicated to it in Johto too. Speaking of Bellossom, it was originally going to be Grass/Poison too, but the second type was dropped for whatever reason.

Anyways, Tsubomitto here also remains a Grass/Poison type, and is the result of exposing a Weepinbell to a new Sun Stone rather than a Leaf Stone. Unlike Bellossom, it actually still resembles Weepinbell, and most importantly Bellsprout quite a bit, returning to its bipedal plant route rather than sticking to just being a pitcher plant. Nothing else is really known about it besides that, though. I won’t lie... the design isn’t exactly the best. I mean, it’s great in that it returns to Bellsprout’s classic roots, but what else is it supposed to be exactly? Is it like, a Bellsprout that became a tree and is still hanging a pitcher plant from its branches? I think Tsubomitto could’ve used some work still, but axing the whole thing seems a bit mean.

Bomushika

Surprisingly a Fire/Water type, this seal would apparently juggle balls of molten rock on its snout before launching them at opposing Pokemon. The concept of a magma-dwelling seal that does that sort of thing is certainly quite interesting, but the rest of Bomushika’s design is rather flat and simple as a tradeoff. How come all the seals in Pokemon so far have to be so simplistic in design and color? The whole back-turned thing is cool though, and predates the inclusion of Turtonator by about 19 years or so, who also has that stance as a main gimmick. Good for you and your unique little traits, Bomushika.

The Kotora Family

Aww, talk about another big loss. These little Electric types also lack a clear parallel in the final game, since they exist alongside the Mareep family as simplistic mammalian Electric types in the demo. Thunder-powered tigers are a nifty little idea, given the cat’s iconic striped pattern, but making them be cute little balls of cartoony goofiness is something I wasn’t exactly expecting, but do welcome with open arms. Just look at how SILLY Kotora looks sitting their with its big smile. Adorable.

The two members of this family even have jagged lightning bolt-shaped tails, as if mimicking Pikachu’s style. I wonder if they were meant to sort of take Pikachu’s role in Johto, especially since the evolution is similarly named Raitora. Raitora isn’t nearly as dynamic of a change in evolution as Raichu was, though. The only major difference is its change in size and apparent new fangs.

Alas, though, Kotora and Raitora were dropped during development and nothing too similar has seen the light of day in the series since. A real shame, since a little staticky ball of a tiger would be a wonderful addition in my opinion.

The Norowara Family

An even GREATER loss, though, is that of Norowara and Kyonpan, two Ghost types in a Generation which sorely missed their additions. Norowara appears to be a little straw doll with a huge pin permanently stuck through it, clearly representing Pokemon’s version of a cursed voodoo doll. With the addition of the move Curse in Gen 2, I assume it was initially given to this pair as their signature move. Norowara also makes me a bit confused and bitter since it shows Game Freak were willing at one point to give their voodoo doll ‘mons big pins to carry around, and yet Banette has NOTHING. What GIVES, you guys.

For some reason, though, when Norowara evolves into Kyonpan, it goes from a voodoo doll to a... jiang-shi panda? Jiang-shi, for those unaware, are Chinese vampires struck by rigor mortis, unable to lower their arms which always stick out in front of them, and are usually hindered with a paper talisman stuck to their bodies. Kyonpan even has a little Chinese hat too to make the look even more apparent. It feels almost on the level of parody, really. I can definitely see why Kyonpan was dropped, it feels like the beta design for Lickilicky in that it’s more like a cartoon caricature rather than a Pocket Monster design.

The Urufuman (Wolfman) Family

Oh come ON. It’s not even FAIR at this point. Urufuman and Wāurufu, or Wolfman and Warwolf respectively, are believed to be distant precursors to Swinub and Piloswine, as they’re a two-stage family of Ice types. They lack a secondary typing though, and share nothing in common visually with the shaggy pigs. I do enjoy Swinub and Piloswine and all, but these two little freaks are simply divine. The pair are meant to be arctic-dwelling hunters wearing the shaggy skinned coats of beasts they’ve killed to both keep warm and camouflage. I suppose maybe in there lies the problem with this family, that Game Freak didn’t want to have little Pocket Monsters who were wearing the skinned pelts of other animals, but I don’t really see any harm in it.

There’s just something so charming about Wolfman, being a shaggy little ball of beastliness with the ever classic and appealing eyes-in-a-void type of design. Warwolf ain’t too bad either, since while it has normal anime eyes like a lot of Gen 1 Pokemon, it also has beastlier claws, a more intimidating pelt, and remains pretty round in shape, keeping a key part of Wolfman’s perfect design. It really bugs me, once again, that nothing similar to these designs have ever been included in the games since this demo. Farfetch’d and Tangela ended up getting evolutions eventually, Pinsir got a Mega Evolution, Sharpedo fills a similar niche to Ikari, several other mammalian Electric types play similar roles to Kotora, and Banette exists to parallel Norokawa, but Wolfman and Warwolf stand alone in the void of unused ideas without a clear reflection keeping their memory alive in the modern day. And that’s a damn shame. Even as ultimately simple as these two designs are, they’re just so effective in execution that I can’t help but stay bitter at their lack of inspirational presence in the series today.

On that note, I’ll wrap up this article on Gen 2′s beta designs. It is quite interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes during development, especially seeing on designs that did end up in the game started and how they ended up by comparison. Pokemon is no exception, and luckily similar beta leaks have been found for the Gen 1 and 4 games as well, so if you enjoyed seeing this collection I’d recommend checking those out online as well. Until next time, let’s all hope that Wolfman will find his way into a new Pokemon game someday.

[Gen 2 Archive]

[mountmortar]

Do you know anything about the rumored forbidden dark ending to the original GS? 👀 or maybe it isn’t a rumor, but I’ve heard whispers of it.

i don't think i've ever heard of any "dark" ending to the gs spaceworld demo, though i am aware of the theories about it regarding the unown and the nuclear bomb victims of hiroshima (among other things), but i AM aware of the original dark ending for the ANIME thought up by takeshi shudo which would have taken place around the time that anime gang was journeying through johto. the whole interview with him is here, but the specific part where he talks about The End is here:

"I thought about writing a fourth movie, but I couldn’t come up with any ideas.

If I wrote it, I would have used the story that I had planned for the final anime episode. The Pokémon would stage a rebellion much like Spartacus in ancient Rome. Although at first glance Pokémon appear to be friends with humans, they would realize they’re actually being used like slaves, which would lead to an uprising. Pikachu would become the leader of the revolt and end up fighting with Ash. Team Rocket, who are in possession of lots of sinister Pokemon (including Meowth, who can translate the Pokémon language into human speech) would try to mediate the conflict, but they’d do a poor job of interpreting and only make things worse…

That’s all I came up with. However, an episode like this would break the rules of the Pokémon world and make it impossible for the series to continue. Continuing into perpetuity is the series’ objective. If it could ever be produced, I think it would literally have to be the last episode ever.

I tried to think of a different plot, but I couldn’t."

other than that, if there was some supposed dark ending to the gs spaceworld demo, i can't say i've heard of it! but some of the stuff in the demo is already interesting enough in a dark sort of way (like beta remoraid and beta octillery's designs being based on a revolver and tank respectively) so i can maybe see why the two would get conflated if the aforementioned ending to the johto anime is what you might've been referring to. :)

[incarnateirony]

I've had to pause on my playthrough due to a major glitch until I can downgradepatch my game, but pokemon gold reborn has some seriously interesting shit. a handful of years ago the beta leaked and someone tweaked it to be functional using Crystal as a base.

For those that don't know, back in 1997, spaceworld did a demo for pokemon gold that was, summarily, almost entirely different. Only Chikorita was among the three starters, two other ones. Monsters that got deleted. Steel and dark type interacted entirely differently. Oh, and you're not in fucking Johto, you're in fucking Nihon. At that point the only way they could fit Kanto in was as a megacity on the map. But like.

There's??? Really good shit??? That disappeared??

Like man I was like four cities deep in the radio tower plotline (which... really the final Gold version the rocket radio thing is a side note at best) busting down their secret bases with my rival (? Silver was an ally, not the thief kid son of Giovanni? You were doing research for Oak and Gary still?) -- but like. Giovanni straight up pops out on you in a much larger radio tower showdown. It goes across multiple areas, it affects safari zones, I mean, it affected the entire game like an actual plot.

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy did they undo that?????????????????

[pikachowcat]

mareep and beta mareep, but they’re the shapes and colors of a friend!

love is stored in the mareep!

[csolarstorm]

The Season of Sinnoh: Reflecting on Diamond and Pearl

Tomorrow a lot of us get to play BrilliantDiamond and ShiningPearl, which kicks off a fun few months where we play our faithfully recreated ILCA renditions of Diamond and Pearl as we wait just mere months for GameFreak's love letter to Sinnoh, Legends: Arceus.

The Sinnoh games are special in more ways than one. They are the culmination of the Japan-based Pokemon games, sort of a capstone to an era before Black and White started the tradition of exploring the globe.

Arguably, Diamond and Pearl are the realization/completion of the region that encompassed all Japan from the 1998 Spaceworld Gold demo; after all in the demo there are several early concepts of later evolutions like Tangrowth, Lickylicky, Leafeon, and Mime Jr.. The demo also had the “Heart Stone” and the “Poison Stone”, which I theorize might be inspirations for the later Shiny Stone and Dusk Stone, mainly because Dark type Pokemon like Umbreon originally started out as more Poison types.

In the long run, HeartGold and Soul Silver cemented the connection between Johto and Sinnoh canonically.

Paradoxically, Pokemon Pearl is both a really important game for me, and kind of a forgotten one. I was a Freshman in college when Pokemon Pearl came out, and it was perfect timing because I was studying historical symbolism and religious texts. At the time it came out in the west, my class was studying depictions of Hell, so I named my Empleon “Styx”. (It's a body of water, after all.) It...actually wasn't a great year for me. I was suffering depression from health problems, and as you can probably guess, Pokemon Pearl was a refuge for me. It's a tale as old as Pokemon.

That’s why I regret not doing the game more justice. I made the mistake of trading away my Palkia for a shiny Ponyta that my former best friend chained. I had never encountered a shiny before, and I loved blue Pokemon. But even though she was already going to release it, she would only only trade it for my Palkia. And to add insult to injury, she asked me change Palkia's name to “Charlie” after that old YouTube series Charlie the Unicorn. Our, um, friendship wasn't doing too good.

With my Pokemon transferred to Pokemon Black, I eventually sold Pearl, and that too was a really bad idea in retrospect. It was a different time. So ironically I’m kind of glad to have a “faithful remake” so I can have another chance to play Pearl. Back then I was so busy training older Pokemon from LeafGreen that I didn’t even train a lot of Sinnoh Pokemon besides Styx. There are so many Sinnoh and Hisui natives that I can’t wait to give attention to now.

It’s no secret that BrilliantDiamond and ShiningPearl struggle in the shadow of Legends: Arceus. Heck, BDSP weren’t even finished until the patch about a week ago. Even though we’re hyped for Legends: Arceus, it is technically a risky move for the Pokemon Company. It’s not the straightforward Sinnoh remake the older fans have been clamoring for, and a lot of the younger fans haven’t played Diamond and Pearl, so they don’t know the context for the prequel.

So as insurance, the Pokemon Company went to ILCA, the developer of Pokemon HOME, and hired them to develop a very safe, relatively cheaper Diamond and Pearl remake using the free Unity engine. In short: BrilliantDiamond and ShiningPearl probably wouldn't be around if the Pokemon Company didn't need safe alternatives to Legends: Arceus. If you’re disappointed with BDSP playing it safe, wait for the full experience of both games.

Regardless of why, it’s pretty cool that The Pokemon Company is celebrating Sinnoh with both a prequel AND a remake. It’s clear that Diamond and Pearl were important Pokemon games not just for us, but for GameFreak too. They close out the foundational first four generations of the Pokemon games, fulfill the promises that earlier Pokemon games couldn’t yet achieve, and brought fans across the world together with WiFi for the first time.

The Season of Sinnoh has started. Let’s have fun with our faithful remakes while we count down to a trip back in time, to the old region of Hisui.

[corsolanite]

☀️ Enjoy Summer with Pokémon ☀️

[sirensketches]

Gamefreak, why won't you let them be a family?

[billfrancois]

Oops more Beta Pokemon doodles cuz I cant stop thinking about them - Weepinbell`s alternate evo is..strange, looks like Bellsprout but bigger and yet it`s growing on me quickly - as for the kitties- SORRY PURRLOIN AND ALOLAN MEOWTH but these 2 would have made the best Black Cats

[studiovlinderdas]

Unreleased Potential!!

Kotora is one of the unreleased pokemon from the newly found Pokemon Gold Demo, such a round boy!!

Quick painting practice

[possumpirouette]

Ahh yes, the final post to the triple upload extravaganza. I'll try not to bombard you guys as much anymore, I just had to put some stuff here. Anyways, I'm late to posting to the whole Gold and Silver Spaceworld beta demos, but that was probably because I was fangirling my ass out. Gen 2 is my favourite, and I have been following this mystery for 4 years, so to see this piece of lost media dear to my heart finally be found has made me so ecstatic. Here are my favourite Pokemon to come from the demo, what are yours?

[axel0toole]

Bomushikaa GSC Sprites

An unreleased mon from the GS SpaceWorld '97 demo. Bomushikaa is Water + Fire type and number 224 in the beta GS Dex. Thought I'd try it with different colour schemes. Can't decide which I prefer. This demo's generated more hype than the Let's Go games lol.  Info on the demo can be found here: https://tcrf.net/Proto:Pokémon_Gold_and_Silver

Pokemon is copyright Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures Inc. These sprites are mine. They are free to use as long as I’m credited and you link back to my account. My deviantArt account: https://axel-comics.deviantart.com/

[elderstrolls]

unreleased gen 2 pokémon leaking one day after letsgo announcement and stealing all the hype is a power move