List of unused Pokémon and character designs
These are Pokémon and characters that were just a few of many different designs that Game Freak created. Only a few were added, and even those often went through redesigns before making it into the final product.
Unreleased Pokémon
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This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Mega Flygon; see talk page |
Capsule Monsters designs
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| Nothing is known about this creature other than its number, #124, the same as Jynx's. This number is also the index number of Caterpie. It also resembles a cat. | ||
| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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| Nothing is known about this creature other than its number, #211, the same as Qwilfish's. | ||
| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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| Nothing is known about Godzillante. It is shown to be breathing fire. As its name implies, it may have been based on Godzilla. Godzillante shares a resemblance to a fake Pokémon toy shown in the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga Volume 1 (p. 107).
Nothing is known about Gorillaimo. Its hat could be a reference to the character Ninten from the Ape Inc. game, Mother. It also resembles the Nintendo character Donkey Kong. Gorillaimo could also be based on King Kong. Later generations have introduced many ape-based Pokémon. | ||
| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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Pokémon designs
| Kurusu | ||
| The only known information about this creature is its name and image. In the playable alpha demo of Gold and Silver, its National Pokédex number was 212 and knew the moves Growl, Water Gun, and Tackle. Despite its Pokédex numbering, it was the Water-type starter in said demo. Since it resembles a seal, some fans believe it may have inspired Spheal's design, but they are no more similar than either of them is to Seel. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Honōguma | ||
| Like Kurusu above, its name and image are all that is known about it. While not confirmed, its name, a combination of 炎 honō (flame) and 熊 kuma (bear) heavily suggests that it was a Fire-type Pokémon. In the alpha, it was the Fire-type starter and knew the moves Ember, Scratch, and Leer. Given its name refers to it as a bear, some fans believe it could have been an early version of the Teddiursa evolution family. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Unnamed creature | ||
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| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Unnamed turtle | ||
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| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Debut | Game Freak interview | |
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| A Pokémon based upon a rabbit with a flower on its nose was designed by Hironobu Yoshida, but was scrapped due to it not making sense in its environment. It was revealed in an interview with Nintendo Life. | ||
| Debut | Game Freak interview | |
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| Flygon has had the potential to have a Mega Evolution since XY, but GameFreak was unable to complete a design and so it was dropped from consideration. It was revealed in an interview conducted by the magazine Nintendo Dream. An English translation was provided by PokéBeach. | ||
| Debut | Game Freak interview | |
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Altered Pokémon
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An early version of Gengar and a creature with traits of Nidorino, Gyarados, and Feraligatr. | ||
| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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An early version of Weedle. This was one of several Pokémon sprites shown on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Red and Green beta | |
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| The evolution of Kokana. This was one of several Pokémon sprites shown on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997. It was replaced by Kakuna, although they share few similarities. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Red and Green beta | |
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| The evolution of Kasanagi. This was one of several Pokémon sprites shown on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997, labelled "undecided". Like its pre-evolution, it was replaced by Beedrill, but it somewhat resembles Ledian and a cockroach. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Red and Green beta | |
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An early version of Poliwag. This was one of several Pokémon sprites shown on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Red and Green Beta | |
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An early version of Poliwrath. This was one of several Pokémon sprites shown on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997. Notably it is wearing a crown, similar to the King's Rock necessary to evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Red and Green Beta | |
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| Debut | Game Freak interview | |
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An early version of Dragonair. This was one of several Pokémon sprites shown on Game Freak's official Japanese website circa 1997. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Red and Green Beta | |
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| Happa | ||
Happa's name is "leaf" in Japanese. Happa is the early version of Chikorita. Happa resembles Chikorita without its body and legs. In the alpha, its Pokédex number was 152 and it knew the moves Leech Seed, Tackle, and an unknown move called "Serene". | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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An early version of Ledyba. Unlike the final design, its abdomen is black rather than cream-colored, it only has four limbs, and it appears to be headless, with its eyes and antennae attached to its body. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Marill | ||
An early version of Marill. While they are recognizably similar, they are visually quite different. The pink/purple color is the main difference as well as the notably missing large ears. It also sports a thinner body, more resembling a rodent, but does not sport Marill's erratic tail pattern, though with this being a concept art, small details were most likely not a concern at the time. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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This concept art of Girafarig shows the original design featured two full-sized giraffe heads. It is unknown why the design was changed, but overall it remains mostly similar outside of some coloring differences (though, because this is concept art, specific coloring details were most likely not considered at the time). This design might be a reference to Girafarig's name being a palindrome. It also bears a resemblance to a pushmi-pullyu. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Bukū | ||
Bukū's name is derived from fugu, the Japanese word for blowfish. It is most likely an early version of Qwilfish. Notable differences between Qwilfish and this pre-release version are the colors, and shape of the tail. Notably, the shape of the tail does appear slightly similar to the length of the tail in Qwilfish's Generation II back sprite. However, this was just an error and no other generation shows Qwilfish's tail that short. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Raikou / Suicune | ||
This artwork resembles Raikou and Suicune. It was illustrated by Muneo Saitō, who was also the designer of the legendary beasts, including Entei. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Debut | Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire beta | |
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Sometimes referred to as Latiaziken or Latiken by fans, this early image from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire depicts a creature with traits of both Latias and Blaziken. In appearance, it more closely resembles Blaziken, but some features are more similar to Latias, such as its size. Some features resemble neither Pokémon, such as the hands. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire beta | |
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Prototype back sprites of Shellos and Gastrodon show another form for each. These forms are possibly leftovers from when Shellos and Gastrodon were planned to be in Generation III. Shellos's sprite is pink, like its West Sea variation, and seems to combine the western variation's head with the eastern variation's body. Gastrodon's sprite is brown and looks like its Western variation, but with more rock-like protrusions on its body. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire beta | |
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 Ken Sugimori: "Deino, Zweilous, Hydreigon. At first, these incorporated an army tank motif, and the marks that look like a conveyor belt on the upper part of Zweilous's legs are the remnants of that. Initially, they didn't work as designs and were basically 'put to sleep', however, a three-stage powerful Dragon-type family was ordered and they were resurrected." | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Black and White beta | |
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Minor alterations
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In this early depiction of a battle, Blastoise is shown without its signature water cannons. Originally, this picture was captioned "Karabajio VS. Mimii", which are not the names of any known Pokémon. | ||
| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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This early version of Lapras is recognizably similar, but visually quite different. Lapras's curly ears are not present, and the underbelly coloration ends under the lower jaw instead of including it. There are also no visible appendages or tail, but that may be due to the water. However, it bears a striking resemblance to its Generation I back sprite. Also in the sketch is an early design of Red. | ||
| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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| Debut | Pocket Monsters Carddass Trading Cards | |
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Both early artwork of Bellossom and its Gold and Silver artwork show that it was originally to be a similar color to its other evolutionary relatives. This might have been changed to avoid another racial controversy, as the original Bellossom design appears similar to traditional Polynesian dress. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Tyranitar | ||
This early version of Tyranitar is nearly identical to the design seen in the finalized Gold and Silver versions. It was shown alongside two unnamed Pokémon (seen in the section above) on the cover of a Japanese gaming magazine, where it was the only early design to become a released Pokémon. It has very few differences compared to the final version. Of these differences, the early Tyranitar design is more heavy-set, has a tan, rather than indigo, belly, has arms more reminiscent of Nidoking, and dozens of short spikes upon its back rather than a few long ones. It seems peculiar that Tyranitar was nearly completed at the time, but the other two featured Pokémon were never seen in their original designs. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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Concept art of Treecko shows numerous designs for the creature before the final one was decided. Many of these early sketches more closely resemble real geckos than the final product, which would later gain a more elongated head shape and a rounder nose. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire beta | |
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In its early design, its eyes were shaped differently, the positioning of the spikes on its body was slightly different, its overall shapes are much less sharp, its head details became much more elongated in the final version, and the weather trio's signature body patterns are not present. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire beta | |
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In Excadrill's first appearance in a promotional video, its body was violet and its markings were mirrored and a different shade of red. However, it was changed to its current appearance in the next video it appeared in. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Black and White beta | |
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According to interviews with Ken Sugimori in Nintendo Dream, during development, Sawk and Throh both had horns to look more like oni. However, these were replaced with eyebrows so as not to clash with Tornadus and Thundurus, who were originally designed to be red and blue, like Throh and Sawk. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Black and White beta | |
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Stunfisk was originally designed with an anglerfish in mind, but became more like a flounder. It was also a Water/Electric type, but was changed to Ground/Electric to balance out the type spread of Pokémon. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Black and White beta | |
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Unreleased characters
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| Early Capsule Monsters artwork was shown in the book Satoshi Tajiri: A Man Who Created Pokémon, revealing an unnamed male character running a shop, or what would possibly become an early version of the Poké Mart. The character is almost bald, has long eyebrows and appears to be overweight. He is presented in a similar art style to the sumo enemies from Game Freak's debut title, Quinty (localized as Mendel Palace).
Revamped and enlarged versions of Mendel Palace's sumo sprites also appear in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald as overworld sprites which are believed to be unused. | ||
| Debut | Capsule Monsters | |
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This art of a female character (with Squirtle) was featured on the cover artwork for the official strategy guide for Red and Green, as published by Shogakukan. A similar character appears several times in manga-styled instructions illustrated by Emiko Yoshino included in Pokémon papercraft sets (bottom). When Red and Green were later remade, players finally got the chance to use a female player character who was possibly based on this character. In the Pokémon Adventures manga, a similar artwork appeared at the end of Volume 3 (right). The design of the character Green seems to have drawn inspiration from this unknown female character. After the release of FireRed and LeafGreen, Green donned the same outfit as the female player character in the fifth chapter of the manga. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Red and Green beta | |
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| Female Trainer | ||
| This unnamed female Trainer art was revealed in a magazine prior to Generation II but never officially released. It is unclear who this Trainer was supposed to represent, be it a main character, a supporting character, or just an NPC. Visually, she has similarities to multiple Trainer classes. Her age and appearance make her appear similar to a Beauty or Cool Trainer, but her outfit is similar to a Lass or Picnicker. There is an object on her shirt that looks like what could have been a Gym Badge. This Badge has a rain drop on it, meaning she could have been a Water-type Gym Leader. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Male Trainer | ||
| Hiding in the background of the same magazine as the female Trainer above was a male Trainer that was never used. As with the female Trainer, it is unclear If he was designed as a main character, or supporting character, or was simply representing a Trainer class. He has hints of multiple classes, such as a Tamer, Psychic, Juggler, Burglar, PokéManiac, Gambler and a male Rocket Executive. There is an object on his bandanna that looks like what could have been a Gym Badge. This Badge has a red diamond on it. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Gold and Silver beta | |
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| Debut | Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire beta | |
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