Groundbreaking Leak Reveals Unused Gen 1 Pokemon Designs, Including Gorochu!

A priceless treasure trove of Pokemon history has been unearthed! Assets from an early build of Pokemon Red and Green have been released by a private game collector and posted by the folks over at Helix Chamber, revealing unusued Pokemon designs, an early version of the Kanto map, beta attack lists, and an exciting look into the history of our favorite franchise (which was originally named Capsule Monsters).

Last year, a similar situation occurred when a beta demo of Pokemon Gold and Silver was leaked by a private collector. He or she managed to obtain the demo from an old Japanese trade show where the games were on display before their release.

This time, the folks at Helix Chamber were unable to secure the full version of the beta. However, they were able to negotiate with the collector to receive some of its assets. The collector refused to release the Pokemon’s front sprites, so we only have their back sprites to go off. They reveal…

• Gorochu (Raichu’s evolution), as you can see to the right. It has one large horn and its ears are spiky. The existence of Gorochu was first revealed last year by Gamefreak.
• Blastoise and Wartortle were originally two different turtle lines. Wartortle still evolved from Squirtle but had its own evolution that more resembled it. Squirtle and Wartortle originally had more Fighting-type moves, so their line may have been more martial. Blastoise had its own pre-evolution that looks nothing like any of them. The two turtle lines were eventually merged into the Blastoise line we know today.
• The pre-evolutions of Meowth, Vulpix, and Ponyta were going to be in the first generation from the start. Their existence was first revealed to the fandom in last year’s Gold & Silver demo leak.
• Similar to a Kangaskhan with its baby, a Pokemon resembling Marowak would have apparently adopted the orphaned Cubone. You can see it holding Cubone in its sprite.
• Jynx had a male counterpart that resembled a yeti. This explains why the Jynx today is more feminine.
• Psyduck and Golduck originally had a middle evolution.
• A beta version of either Magnemite, Magneton, or possibly a middle evolution was revealed.
• A beta version of Zubat or a possible pre-evolution was revealed.
• Many other unused Pokemon designs were revealed, or are clearer looks at the beta designs revealed last year.

In terms of human tidbits:

• Red originally carried a whip.
• There was a Trainer who was a literal robot.
• We see a clearer look at the original Viridian City Gym Leader, a child, who was eventually replaced by Giovanni (as we learned last year from Ken Sugimori’s Twitter). He owned a Lickitung and may have been meant to introduce players to Status Conditions early in the game.
• Brock originally had a completely different design.
• Your rival / Blue / Gary originally had a younger brother.

Be sure to read the full breakdown from Helix Chamber here!