Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire beta
Several things were originally going to be added to Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire during their development. Some were dropped or changed, and some of the dropped concepts of the prototypes can still be found in the games' programming.
Gameplay
Prototype music
Generation II Music
Some remastered Generation II music exists, inaccessible in the coding of Ruby and Sapphire. Known pieces include:
- Background music used on Routes 38 and 39.
- Background music used in the Pokémon Communication Center.
- Background music used in Saffron City during Generation II.
- Background music used in battles with the legendary beasts in Pokémon Crystal.
- Team Rocket's theme.
All of these themes came from Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. These may either be early pieces of music used as stand-ins, or may have hinted at the developers having an intent to make a remake of Gold and Silver (which was later done in Generation IV) instead of or in addition to one of Red and Green, or even including Johto and/or Kanto, à la Gold, Silver, and Crystal. It is possible that this music was only for tests, as they appear in the game programming before the actual music played during the game.
Other music
The Contest theme, which plays during the appeals round, appears both as its whole variation in addition to four subtracks which combine to play the full tune. The subtracks are next to the normal music in the game's ROM, indicating that they were initially intended to be used, though with what purpose is unknown.
Another song in the programming is a variation of the Littleroot Town theme, which lacks the intro and instead goes straight to the loop point.
Abilities
An ability known as Cacophony was found within the games' programming; however, no Pokémon have it (unless they are hacked to have it). It is identical to Soundproof, another sound-based ability, and it allows the Pokémon to avoid all sound-based moves. Since it is identical to Soundproof (thus including it in the final version would have been redundant), some Pokémon with Soundproof may have originally been intended to have Cacophony instead, such as Whismur's evolutions Loudred and Exploud, well-known for their loudness.
If a Pokémon which was previously hacked to have the ability Cacophony is migrated to Generation IV, it will regain the ability it had before it was hacked.
Pokémon
In an interview in Nintendo Power, it was revealed that Shellos and Gastrodon were originally designed for Generation III instead of Generation IV. These are not the forms in the final versions however; Diamond and Pearl's programming code reveals a back sprite for both Pokémon, but no front sprite. 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, while Gastrodon's sprite is brown and looks like its western variation, but with more rock-like protrusions on its body.
Graphics
- Team Aqua sprite - An alternate, unused model of a member of Team Aqua has been discovered in the coding of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
- Pokédex sprite - What appears to be a prototype model of the sprite that is used for a Pokémon the player has not seen is two blocky, big and white question marks instead for the round and black one with a white circle and a white question mark.
- Tile-sets - There is data for an unused tile-set, which could have been intended for the Mossdeep City Gym or the Trick House.
- Poké Mart - In some photos, Poké Mart roofs are colored red instead of blue.
- HP Bar - There is an HP Bar that was different from the final version.
- Beta Pokémon Sprites - There are beta sprites of several Pokémon, including Shroomish, Duskull, Wailmer, Wynaut, and Sharpedo.
- Regi Dolls - The three Legendary Golems were originally intended to be available as Poké Dolls. Apparently they were going to be obtained through e-Reader. However, as this did not eventuate, there is no known way to obtain them short of cheating.
Limitations
Junichi Masuda stated that while developing Ruby and Sapphire, Game Freak was considering of changing the amount of Pokémon the player can have and the amount of moves a Pokémon can learn; however, the idea was later scrapped. It is currently unknown what sort of potential changes were to be made; as of Generation IV, no changes like this have been made to the series.
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This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games. |