Article: Spaceworld 1997 demo for Pokemon Gold leaked and datamined

https://reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/8ngme5/the_spaceworld_1997_demo_for_pokemon_gold_was/

I haven't seen anyone here talking about this which is really surprising. It's so cool, I'm still reeling from all the nuggets of information they found in the demo.

If you haven't clicked the link, apparently there was a demo of Pokemon Gold shown off at some event called "Spaceworld" and somebody finally got a hold of the rom and datamined it.....and found a whole bunch of interesting things. Like how Pokemon like Vulpix, Growlithe, Goldeen, Paras etc had baby pre evolutions...or how Farfetch'd and Ditto had evolutions....or how there was going to be a voodoo doll pokemon.

I'm surprised nobody is talking about this here. I think it deserves a mention on the Daily News section. It's huge.

Sabrewulf238 said:

I'm surprised nobody is talking about this here. I think it deserves a mention on the Daily News section. It's huge.

Click to expand...

Have spent the last few hours making an article, between going nuts over all this information, haha. https://daily.pokecommunity.com/2018/05/31/pokemon-gold-and-silver-beta-emerges-after-20-years/

I'd link this thread as the comment thread but cannot do it myself atm when I am not the OP. Waiting on an admin to do it. But if you're around try thread tools --> edit thread, select the article from the dropdown menu and hit the tick. I am not sure members have the permissions for it but worth a shot...

I'm pretty glad that they reduce the number of baby Pokemon. I don't think it was necessary to have baby Grimer, Ponyta, Goldeen, Vuplix and Growlithe. I kinda of wish they kept the idea of Pinsir's evolution since it seemed unfair that Scyther evolves but not Pinsir. I also like the idea/design of Girafarig pre-evolution. I wish they stayed.

That being said, I notice that some of the sprites that they use for the Gen 1 Pokemon are the same as their Pokemon Red(international) Blue and Yellow spites. It makes sense since the Japanese version of Pokemon Blue and Yellow were probably in development at the same time they were developing Gold and Sliver. If you actually look at Yellow's Exeggutor's sprite, it's the same as it's Gold sprite.

Some of these are so good. I see they reused some of these designs (the qwilfish evolution became whiscash, and I also see a prototype sharpedo, Swanna, Gorebyss, sunny castform, leafeon and mienfoo. This makes me hope we'll see other designs make a comeback. I really like that alternate banana bellsprout evo, and I really really would love a mega noctowl based on the sleek prototype.
Also, are those other eevolutions I see?

In SGB color palette:

Ah man, we could have gotten some more cool Gen 2 pokemon outside of the 100 original ones. Damn. I'm fine with how the region turned out to be though, I like Johto.

So at first I wasn't sure if this was 100% confirmed not fake... I mean I'm sure the folks at The Cutting Room Floor would know if it was...but there's a few things that strike me as ...odd...like how some of the sprites look more detailed and almost like their final versions while others look like Gen1 levels of sloppy...and how Tyranitar isn't present, despite being featured in artwork prior to the demo's release...However, I completely am sure of its authenticity after watching compilation videos from several months ago featuring scenes from the demo at SpaceWorld 97, in which the exact same SGB border and even the same beta Hoppip sprite could be seen. So wow...this is crazy

What's funny is that Tyranitar may have been planned for Gen1 (as a pokemon with a very similar sprite can be almost seen in that beta Gen1 image that was released a month ago), then scrapped...then planned for Gen2...then scrapped prior to the beta demo's release, then finally implemented in the final release version...if all of that is correct, that is.

Also, we almost had an anchor/shark Pokemon in Gen1, then in Gen2, then when we finally got a shark pokemon in Gen3 with Sharpedo, the whole anchor aesthetic was dropped.

This is quite the discovery, I'll say!

As for the Pokémon sprites, some of the Pokémon sprites, especially for those Pokémon designs that did make it into the released Gold/Silver, look like they would have if those "new" Pokémon actually did appear in Red, Green, and Blue (particularly Phanpy, Noctowl, Togepi, among many others).

Wow, there's a lot to unpack here.

I like how these old designs give a bit more insight into the design process. For example, Aipom seems to have been initially based more directly on an ahuizotl, without any monkey influences, and the proto-Sneasel looks more like an actual weasel. With the Pinsir and Weepinbell evolutions, it looks like Game Freak was intending to make Scyther/Pinsir and Bellsprout/Oddish even closer counterparts than they already were.

Aside from the proliferation of baby Pokémon (which I can see why they cut down on), the most shocking things to me are the original designs for the legendary beasts, namely how different they are from the final designs. However, they do look suspiciously similar to the silhouettes of the original beasts from Pokémon Generations, that died in the fire were later resurrected by Ho-Oh. I can't help but wonder if that was intentional on the part of the Pokémon Company when animating that episode, as an inside joke/reference to how drastically the beasts were redesigned between the beta and the actual game.

I do wish they hadn't scrapped some of the original Pokémon families, though. I would have loved to see the electric tiger or the monster wearing a wolf skin in a real Pokémon game, even if they had to postpone the designs to generation three or four. And Farfetch'd really, really needs that evolution.

Neat! My fave beta Pokemon are Meowsy and Rinring!

It's pretty awesome seeing all these old, forgotten Pokemon designs. Baby Meowth is adorable, wish it had made the cut (though I guess Persian needs an evolution more that a pre-evolution).

Anyway, I was playing with the debug, and found this:

Can't help but wonder how many of the maps sitting unused in the final G/S are present in their original, intended way here.

Meowsy is so fucking adorable I swear.

Exploring the beta is so exhausting, but some of the scrapped maps are so awful yet cool.

Note how the Shellder that is attached to Slowbro and Slowking is its own Pokémon. Perhaps a side evolution if a Slowpoke tail is given to Shellder?

Noctowl's design is great. And Farfetch'd has a swan evolution.

Kingdra had a much more draconian design, which I prefer.

It seems that the electric tiger was eventually adapted into Raikou. As for that Porygon2 and Bayleef design? Good riddance.

Thanks a lot, couldn't find a full image of them all in one pic.

LusoTrainer said:

Note how the Shellder that is attached to Slowbro and Slowking is its own Pokémon. Perhaps a side evolution if a Slowpoke tail is given to Shellder?

Click to expand...

According to the datamine, the Slowbro/Slowking shell is an entirely different Pokemon unrelated to Shellder or Cloyster(On a related note, it seems that Slowking was originally the evolution of Slowbro rather than a branched evolution of Slowpoke)

Dunsparce said:

According to the datamine, the Slowbro/Slowking shell is an entirely different Pokemon unrelated to Shellder or Cloyster

Click to expand...

I'm aware. As far as data goes, a lot of Pokémon have no relation to others in that beta rom, but that doesn't mean there was no intended connection. It was a work in progress.

Having some time to think more about these leaks.

I'm really considering doing a drawing of Kurstraw and Pangshi, I feel bad that they never became official Pokemon. They're so good. I bet I would have had a Pangshi on my team back then if it had been available. (Another reason I feel bad is that they were ghost types, which were pretty lacking in gen 2. Misdreavus was our only new ghost type)

Not like it would happen, but I wouldn't be mad if they just brought these Pokemon (particularly the ones unrelated to existing Pokemon) back in gen 8. (and also give Farfetch'd and Quilfish evolutions) Even if they did influence future Pokemon designs, I think all of them can still stand on their own as original Pokemon.

On another note, it's crazy to think about how other generations might have changed during their development if this is any indication. Which Pokemon were created early? Which were created late? Which Pokemon had completely different evolutions or prevolutions? Was Alomomola actually a Luvdisc evolution at some point?

It's really amazing we're able to see some of the work-in-progress sprites here. Fortunately, the changes mostly only improved the Pokémon, though I have to admit I kinda like the old Girafarig design a lot as well.

A shame we had to miss out on so many Pokémon though. It's a bit unfair to Pinsir and Weepinbell their evolutions got scrapped, whereas Scyther and Gloom could keep them. The lightning cats, the anchor shark and the alternative Shellder look really great too!

This is soo cool, I've been fiddling with this for hours.
Just exploring all the maps.

I wonder if ROM Hackers could do anything with this?
Like make it a 100% playable Pokémon game.
That'd be awesome.