Characters That Were Cut From Pokemon Games And Nobody Noticed

A lot of work goes into making a Pokémon game, even more than most gamers prabably realize. Before you can catch 'em all, someone else has to design 'em all. Each new installment has many new concepts, which add up over the years. However, as with many other games, things also end up getting dropped during development. Over time, the Pokémon franchise has seen its fair share of changes in terms of gameplay and overall aesthetics; Pokémon have gained and lost Mega Evolutions, and the Let's Go series did away with the kind of randomized wild Pokémon battles that had become a series trademark.

What fans may not know is just how many characters and creatures have been removed from their favorite games before they were completed. Some of these were available in early builds of the game or were part of limited-time events sponsored by Nintendo, which occasionally resulted in incongruities between the games' marketing and the final products. It's time to look at some of these lost Pokémon characters.

In early 2019, Pokémon fan-site Helix Chamber came into possession of an early Japanese beta version of Capsule Monsters, the game that would become Pokémon Red and Green. Polygon's coverage of this find noted the presence of some of the game's "original NPC designs, including a robot-looking dude, the player's rival and his little brother, and a bratty gym leader." Even more exciting were the many unused monster designs contained in the beta. Some of these seemed like early versions of the eventual Gen 1 line-up, like Wartortle's original final form, Totartle. There were also some Pokémon that didn't resemble anything from the eventual games, like a Mechagodzilla-looking monster and one truly bizarre design that was a straight-up sentient balloon.

In possibly the leaked beta's most interesting detail, one of the unused Pokémon, dubbed Guardia by Helix Chamber, seemed to confirm a long-held fan theory about Gen 1 Pokémon Cubone. Though Guardia's sprite can only be seen from the back, it greatly resembles Cubone's evolved form, Marowak, holding some kind of smaller Pokémon in its arms. 

As Polygon goes on to explain, "Fans have long theorized that Cubone ... is actually [fellow Gen 1 Pokémon] Kangaskhan's baby all-grown-up, donning the skull of its dead mother to hide its tears." It's a morbid theory that has gained some traction over the years, but the general appearance of Guardia would seem to indicate that this connection may have been actually considered during the game's early development days.

Elsewhere in the Space World 1997 demo, tons of unused Pokémon sprites were found buried in the early build of what would eventually become Gold and Silver. Fans were excited and somewhat bummed to see all of these creatures that they never knew they missed out on, with one person making fan art of a few unused designs and demanding, "Oh Game Freak, why have you forsaken me?"

Among the many wholly unused Pokémon designs, Game Rant mentions, "Farfetch'd has an evolved form called Flygon, and there is a baby version of Meowth called Meowsy, along with a baby version of Vulpix called Trifox." While "Flygon" wouldn't be used as the name for a Pokémon until Gen 3, the concept of Baby Pokémon was first introduced in the second generation of the series. They were essentially pre-evolution versions of beloved monsters like Pikachu and Jigglypuff. These baby Pokémon would hatch from eggs that could be given to your character by NPCs or made the old-fashioned way, by dropping off two of your Pokémon at the Pokémon Day Care and letting nature run its course. 

(Come to think of it, Gen 2 taught many young gamers about the Birds and the Beedrils.)

One of Generation 1's story quests involved infiltrating the offices of SILPH Co. in Saffron City and rescuing the tech company's employees from the clutches of Team Rocket. After a battle with Team Rocket's Boss, Giovanni, the player is thanked by the President of SILPH. He awards the player with the Master Ball, the Poké Ball that catches any Pokémon without fail.

If this dropped character is any indication, though, the President of SILPH may have originally been in on Rocket's plans. There's not a ton to go on, but The Cutting Room Floor notes that a trainer character named SILPH's Chief is still present in Red and Blue's code, which implies that the character was meant to be battled at some point in the game. In fact, at one point, one of the Team Rocket Grunts in Celadon City is heard saying, "CHIEF! We just shipped 2000 POKéMON as slot prizes!" This remaining reference could be taken in one of two ways: either the Grunt is calling Giovanni "Chief" instead of the more common "Boss," or he's letting the SILPH President know that Rocket's plans are proceeding as scheduled. 

Why this character and its related battle were cut is unclear, but it was likely done in an attempt to streamline the plot of the game. Giovanni is already enough of a challenge without having to add a whole corporate conspiracy to the mix. 

Mew was the hardest of the original 151 Pokémon to catch. The only official way to get Mew during Gen 1 was through participating in special limited-time Nintendo events and having the character physically added to your game cartridge. Otherwise, players had to resort to using a GameShark or exploiting increasingly-complex glitches to unlock the character from inside the game's code. Mew's elusive nature didn't end with Gen 1, however.

When Pokémon Emerald was released, players could catch Mew on Faraway Island. There was just one major catch: this mysterious island could only be found using a key item called the Old Sea Map, which was only given to players during (you guessed it) a Japan-only event. Yet again, players in the US had to resort to cheats to participate in this secret battle. Otherwise, Mew would simply stay hidden within the game, present but inaccessible.

In a curious move, while Mew was included in Emerald, it was strangely absent from the actual Gen 1 remakes, Leaf Green and Fire Red. However, The Cutting Room Floor has uncovered an overworld sprite for Mew in the code of those games, along with sprites for a few other legendary Pokémon who aren't featured in Fire Red and Leaf Green. This would seem to indicate that, at some point in the remakes' development, Mew was intended to be encountered in a manner similar to the three Legendary birds of Gen 1.