In continuation of the Pokemon 25th Anniversary celebration, we crack open the Game Freak rough-draft repository to look at the origins of some of our favorite Pokemon. Many beloved Pokemon went through changes before adopting the shape and form that many know and love today.
Many of these early sketches and sprites have come to light thanks to dedicated Pokemon archivists such as Dr. Lava and other hardcore fans. Game Freak clearly considered the design of every Pokemon carefully before settling on a final product. Here are a few favorites.
10 Marill
First up is a decidedly non-water-type-looking prototype Marill. This is perhaps the most abstract image of a redesigned Pokemon, since it isn't official media from the game in which it was shown, but is instead fan art from an unknown player who had tried a beta version of Gold or Silver.
9 Ivysaur
This early iteration of Ivysaur is one of the easier redesign choices to understand on this list. The short, squat, spider-like Ivysaur is quite unlike the final version that everyone is familiar with now, and the earlier version doesn't really fit with the theme of the Bulbasaur family.
A full-color sketch would make it easier to evaluate proto-Ivysaur, but with what's available now this design looks more befitting of a bug-type instead of a grass-type Pokemon. The tall, flowering tree on its back is also unusual considering the logical progression from bulb, to bud, to flower that's represented with the final designs for Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur. When this early concept was in use did proto-Venusaur have a fully-grown, ravenous fly trap on its back? On second though, maybe they should have stuck with this version.
8 Octillary
With Ivysaur in one hand, the "clearly this design needed to cook a bit longer" hand, Octillary is in the other. Personally, this is the experimental Pokemon on this list that most deserved to make it into the final version of the Johto games.
This sprite is both more octopus-esque and more aggressive, befitting the portmanteau of "octopus" and "artillery." The army helmet inclusion is perfect, but perhaps the art team thought this design looked too much like a chicken egg and scrapped it for the more apparent octopus design.
7 Bellossom
Another redesign for the "good call, Game Freak" pile. The most famous case of a Pokemon being altered after its release is easily that of generation one Jynx, whose first design clearly evoked associations with racist symbolism, specifically blackface. What's less well known among fans, however, is that Jynx wasn't the only Pokemon that needed to be revised due to this visual linkage.
The first iteration of Bellossom also evoked associations with blackface. While Nintendo explained that these associations were unintentional, its clear to see that the changes were necessary, especially since the two Pokemon involved were more anthropomorphized than any other (save for Mr. Mime) at the time.
6 Legendary Beasts
In a prior list we looked at "Latiken," a fan nickname given to the winged beast that resembled a fused together Latias and Blaziken which was seemingly split into not just two, but three separate Pokemon (including Latios). Here we see another hybrid Pokemon that appears to have split into Suicune and Raikou.
Not much is known about this precursor legendary beast, the lightning bolt makes it clear the one of its types was meant to be electric, but does the blue fur as indicate that water or ice would have been a secondary type?
5 Hitmontop
Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan were some of the... less creative Pokemon introduced within the original 151, but they're icons of the classic gen-one crew just the same. With Hitmontop the artists took the chance to spice up the "Hitmon" family line, though they may have flown to close to the sun on their first attempt.
Prototype Hitmontop was definitely a look, but fans are split on whether or not this look was good. Even Shakespeare understood the value of a good rough draft though, and while the three-eyed (and three-footed?) Hitmontop ancestor was certainly garish, it eventually yielded the break-dancing brawler we know and love.
4 Kakuna
Like Jynx, Kakuna was also technically edited after its debut, though apparently it wasn't supposed to be. While early Pokedex entries do describe the animated cocoon as having arms, apparently it wasn't supposed to be able to use them, instead keeping them tucked against its thorax.
The original Red/Blue sprites show the Zerg-like design with Kakuna's arms outstretched like sickles. Later iterations showed the familiar cylindrical Kakuna, apparently the way it was also meant to be.
3 Tangrowth
Sifting through lists of cancelled and redesigned Pokemon reveals just how many monsters actually were planned for release, often as additional evolutionary stages, and then scrapped last minute, likely due to the strict memory limits the early games had to navigate.
If the duotone sprite palette wasn't enough of a clue, Tangrowth was actually planned as an evolution of Tangela all the way back in generation one, and, in my personal opinion the one we got instead was a bit of a downgrade. Nonetheless, we love our Pokemon Cousin It clone.
2 Noctowl
How do you know when Noctowl means business? When it puts its foot down... I'll show myself out.
It's surprising to see that this design was scrapped ahead of the Johto series, because if it wasn't going to be used for Noctowl, it certainly could have made for a fitting intermediate stage between Hoot-Hoot and Noctowl. Although this design is a perfect halfway point between the first evolution and the last, perhaps it was cancelled because it also looks a bit too much like Pidgeotto.
1 Rayquaza
In one of the more subtle and stranger creative choices, the King of the uber-tier, Rayquaza, was originally designed with a blue mouth instead of the more natural looking flesh-colored mouth present on his final design.
It's difficult to guess what would have motivated this decision? Perhaps the blue accent, coupled with his red racing stripes on his leading edges, is meant to signify his role as the intermediary between the warring Kyogre and Groudon.