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shoppncarticles · 1 year

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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]

#pokemon #pokemon review #pokemon gold beta

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