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The Pokémon Gold and Silver Space World demo is an early build of the games Pokémon Gold and Silver shown at Nintendo Space World '97 from November 21 to 23, 1997. At the time, the final game was estimated to be about 80 percent complete and was set to be released for the original Game Boy, as the Game Boy Color had not yet been announced, in late March of the following year. [1][2] As with the final games, the demo used the Japanese Pokémon Blue as its basis for development. However, due to a variety of delays, including a complete overhaul to the game, it would not be released until November 21, 1999.
Up until 2018, little information was known about this demo, due to the limited release of the demo. Only a few photographs were taken, and most of the information known comes from testimony and interviews of attendees. On May 26, 2018, however, ROM files of both the Gold and Silver versions of the Space World demos were anonymously posted online, including versions with debug menus, allowing players to explore data that was blocked off at Space World.
The demo begins with a monologue from Professor Oak, similar to the final game, the player character is a boy named Satoshi (サトシ). The demo covers the first portion of the game, traveling through the starting town, Silent Hills (サイレントヒルズ), and the first route which contains a small forest named Silent Hill (しずかなおか). The player begins in their room with a random first partner Pokémon from the new games and will already have 3000$ and eight badges, although the Gym Leader portraits on the Trainer Card are hidden. The player also has five different items available to them in the backpack: 5 Poké Balls, 10 Potions, 10 Full Heals, and two held items that weren't in the final game release, an Irritable Orb (しげきだま) which prevents a Pokémon from sleeping and a Fighting Spirit Bullet (きあいだま) which prevents a Pokémon from being fainting.
As this game was meant to be publicly played at Space World '97, there were several restrictions put in place to make sure the game could not lock up or be set up to not work for other players. The only options available at the start screen are "ポケモンを あそぶ" (Play Pokémon) and "せっていを かえる" (Change Settings). There is no Continue option as the player is not able to save in the demo build. The demo will end in one of two ways, when the player reaches the end of Route 1 and encounters their rival, a boy named Shigeru (シゲル), or if the player's team blacks out during battle. The Pokémon Center is not accessible in the demo and PCs are also not able to be used. First partner Pokémon and wild Pokémon evolution was disabled and when an NPC loses, their losing dialog is not present.
Surprisingly, the player does have access to the Pokédex. Generation I Pokédex entries were carried over as placeholders for Pokémon. All Pokédex entries for Generation II Pokémon use the same placeholder text:「はっけんされた ばかりの ポケモン げんざい ちょうさちゅう。」 ("Now investigating this newly discovered Pokémon.") In an odd occurrence, it was also possible to battle wild Pokémon twice in a row on the same tile by rotating.
There are three overworld locations available to the player in the demo. Silent Hills which is the home town of the player and their rival, it has exits to the west, north, and east; however, the northern and eastern exits are blocked to prevent the player from accessing unfinished areas. A Pokémon Center which the player can enter is present in the town, but all of its functions are unavailable. Silent Hills also has a laboratory, but it cannot be entered. The western exit leads through to Route 1, where the player finds a few patches of tall grass where wild Pokémon may appear, there is also a small inaccessible area (blocked by a Cut tree) to the south which connects to the northern part of the Route. Between the two halves lies Silent Hill, a small area similar to Viridian Forest where the player encounters their first Trainers. Upon exiting this area there is a direct path to the Gate which presumably would lead to the next city, however, approaching it the player will encounter the rival who ends the demo.
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
Trivia
Although the English translations for both サイレントヒルズ and しずかなおか are the same, they are written differently in Japanese: the town is a transliteration of the English term "Silent Hills" in katakana, and the dungeon area in Route 1 is the Japanese native translation for "Silent Hill," written in hiragana.
The majority of the Trainers in this demo are named after staff members at Game Freak.
