The best parts of the Pokémon Gold demo leaks are the early Pokémon designs Share All sharing options for: The best parts of the Pokémon Gold demo leaks are the early Pokémon designs Pokémon Gold and Silver was released in 1999, introducing us to the Johto region and a new set of lovable pocket monsters and trainers. But before the games’ official release, a demo version debuted at Space World ‘97, Nintendo’s trade show. Now, over 20 years later, the Space World demo has surfaced online after being uploaded by an anonymous user. The demo includes the original region map, some unseen story elements (the protagonist’s big brother is named Ken, apparently), removed moves, and other details that didn’t make it into the final cut. But arguably the best content to come out of this leak is the early, trashed designs of some of our favorite Pokémon. While some look like they were reused in later games, others just never quite made it. The full line-up features some never-before-seen designs, including pre-evolutions and evolutions. Among the originally planned pre-evolutions were baby Vulpix, Paras, Meowth, Doduo, Grimer, and Mr. Mime. There was also this vaguely terrifying pre-evolution of Girafarig, which only makes sense considering the original Girafarig design. Apparently, instead of being a cute giraffe Pokémon, Girafarig was supposed to have this vaguely creepy second shadow head. Both the Cyndaquil and Totodile lines were vastly different from their final versions. The Cyndaquil line appears to have originally been bear-inspired. While the original Cyndaquil line doesn’t look familiar (and they were called Honōguma, Volbear, and Dynabear), the Totodile line (Kurusu, Aqua, and Aquaria) looked vaguely reminiscent of Sun and Moon’s Popplio line. Another big revelation is that early Remoraid and early Octillery looked like a gun and a tank respectively, which makes infinitely more sense. The early legendary beasts looked more like scrapped Eeveelution designs. Their early names were also lackluster: Rai, En, and Sui. And then there were the awesome Pokémon that never made it into the game at all, including but not limited to: a sleek-looking dark kitty (possibly inspiration for the later-gen Liepard), a chubby tiger-esque creature, a well-dressed panda, and a fluffy wolf. Perhaps the best of the unused designs, however, is Porygon2’s initial look, which was completely different. Like, completely different. Instead of the sleek, rounded design we know, this Porygon2 looks like a little lion man. More info about the Pokémon Gold demo leak can be found on The Cutting Room Floor, including the original map of the region, unused moves, and the ROM itself.<doc-sep>Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor Pokémon Gold and Silver once had a bigger map, many more Pokémon, and even a skateboard, according to a new leak of a pre-release demo for the two 1999 Pokémon games. Advertisement First shown at the Nintendo Space World Convention in 1997, two years before the games’ release, this demo for what would become Gold and Silver would be the first glimpse anyone got at the sequels to the originals, Red and Blue, which had already become an international phenomenon. No one has seen hide nor hair of this demo since, until today, when a ROM was leaked to the public. Website The Cutting Room Floor, which is dedicated to unearthing cut and unused content from games, has released their spreadsheet containing all the information they’ve gleaned from the demo so far, which isn’t all on the wiki yet. In this demo, you see that Gold and Silver were originally envisioned as bigger games than the ones that we got. Notably, the game’s map seems to be based on the entirety of Japan, whereas Johto, the region we actually got to play, covers a lot less real-life ground. Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor What is most interesting is that according to ResetEra forum poster ERAsaur, who worked with the Cutting Room Floor to extract information from the demo, the Kanto region from Red and Blue are actually in this demo. That large town in the bottom right hand corner is a truncated version of the entire first game, somehow. Also returning from Red and Blue are a sprite for Blue, also known as your rival Gary, and Giovanni, who was a gym leader and head of Team Rocket. ERAsaur notes that Giovanni’s sprite was on the map at the top of the radio tower. In the released version of Gold and Silver, Team Rocket takes over the radio tower to send a broadcast out to Giovanni, who is hiding out in Tohjo Falls. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, the Gold and Silver remakes, it was revealed that Giovanni heard that broadcast, and you can fight him at his hideout. Maybe Giovanni’s presence in this demo is an early version of that plotline. Another interesting find was an item fans long thought was scrapped from the game, the skateboard. Like the bicycle, it gives you a much faster moving speed, but unlike the bicycle, you can ride it indoors. Advertisement Many Pokémon were scrapped for Gold and Silver, most of them baby forms of already existing Pokémon like Meowth or Vulpix. (Gold and Silver introduced to the series the mechanic of breeding and raising Pokémon eggs.) Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor Advertisement Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor There were also different fire and water starter Pokémon in this demo. The Cutting Room Floor notes that the scrapped water starter looks similar to Popplio, who showed up in Sun and Moon: Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor Advertisement Ditto also had a scrapped evolution in this demo, that was triggered by giving it the item Metal Coat: Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor Advertisement There were also some early versions of Pokémon in the game, like Girafarig, which began its life as a freaky looking two headed horse: Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor Advertisement This Pokémon, Twinz, was cut entirely, which is great, because it’s just fucking terrifying: Screenshot : The Cutting Room Floor Advertisement The Cutting Room Floor hasn’t finished translating the demo, which they say they hope to do. ERAsaur says there may also be a patch in the future that will restore the game’s original intro. While the Gold and Silver that we got to play were pretty great, I’m excited to see all the things that could have been.<doc-sep>
An early version of Pokémon Gold and Silver, featuring dozens of Pokémon cut from the final release, has been found by fans and posted online. The build comes from Nintendo's Space World promotional event all the way back in November 1997. Fans over at the The Cutting Room Floor have been poring over the discovery, and have found numerous unused designs still lingering in its code. The leak has astonished many Pokémon fans. The build includes alternate, unfinished versions of familiar locations and work-in-progress Pokémon designs kept under wraps for more than two decades by the famously secretive Pokémon Company. Notably, Pokémon's second generation of games would have boasted many more baby Pokémon, including unevolved forms of Generation 1 creatures such as Meowth, Vulpix, Ponyta, Tangela, Goldeen, Grimer, Growlithe, Paras and Doduo. From left to right, Baby designs for Vulpix, Tangela, Goldeen, Paras, Meowth, Grimer, Growlithe and Mr. Mime. Early versions of Tangela and Likitung evolutions Tangrowth and Lickilicky, and Mr. Mime baby Mime Jr. - all of which eventually turned up in Generation 4 - can be seen. Pinsir would have also gained an evolution, which looks similar to the Mega Evolution it finally gained in Gen 6. Evolutions for Ditto, Weepinbell, Farfetch'd, and Qwilfish are also in the code. These never made it into later games at all. Two of the game's starter Pokémon were also different. Instead of Cyndaquil, players would have had the choice of a fire-type bear which evolved from a cub to lion-like creature over its two evolutions. The game's original Water-type starter, meanwhile, looks like it was re-used years later for Pokémon Sun and Moon's Popplio. It would later be replaced by Totodile. Gold and Silver's original fire and water starter Pokémon and evolutions. Other, all-new Gen 2 species were canned completely. There was a bell-wearing cat Pokémon which would have evolved into a larger, fiercer form. It looks a little like Generation 3's Skitty/Delcatty. The shellfish-like creature now seen hanging onto Slowking's shell was designed to be its own separate Pokémon. There would have been a tiger/mouse Pokémon which looks look a little like Gen 6's Dedenne. Finally, a pair of panda-like Pokémon were planned. The latter looks a little like Gen 6's Pancham. You can view a fan-made spreadsheet - or see them all in one big image below. Note the earlier versions of existing Pokémon which did see the light of day. One detail I was surprised by is that Dark-type Eevee evolution Umbreon was originally designed to be Poison type, and evolved via a Poison Stone item. Every Pokémon from the Gold and Silver demo. Will any of these show up in Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu and Eevee? It's unlikely, as it looks like this year's Nintendo Switch Pokémon games are set to focus only on the series' original 151 creatures.