The original 151 species are set in Pokemon history. They could have been much different though, as a leak has revealed.
Believe it or not the original plan was to have 200 species in Pokemon Red and Blue. “We designed more than 200 Pokemon for the first games, then whittled them down to 150,” Satoshi Tajiri shared in a 2018 interview with Yomiuri Newspaper.
The Pokemon Company had to cut the Pokedex down to 150 because there wasn’t enough memory on the Game Boy cartridges. This is despite each Pokemon entry reportedly taking up less than 50 bytes of space!
An interesting story reveals why Mew was sneakily added to Red and Blue at the last minute. Sneaking in Pokemon and worrying about space isn’t something developers have to worry about these days, however.
Let’s take a look at some of the Pokemon that missed the cut then. All of these come from Dr Lava who routinely shares fascinating Pokemon facts.
Gyaoon
Gyaoon and Rhydon are supposedly the first Pokemon ever designed. It looks like a small Tyrannosaurus Rex and looks like it would have fit right in with the franchise.
Little else is known about it. We don’t expect Gyaoon to be added any time soon either!
Crocky Jaggu and Barunda
Crocky, Jaggu and Barunda were found in a 2018 Japanese manga magazine called Satoshi Tajiri (yes the same one as above). Each of them were part of a poll where people who worked on the game would vote if they’d make it in.
Evidently none of them did and we may never know the full reasons. According to Bulbapedia, Barunda’s cry was put into the final game but remained unused.
Kotora and Raitora
Two other Pokemon found in footage from a Japanese TV show in 2004. These were Kotora and its evolved form Raitora.
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It isn’t clear whether these Tiger Pokemon were designed for Gen 1 or for Gen 2, though. They were both found in the Pokemon Gold and Silver beta Pokedex.
Kotora and Raitora look the type of Pokemon who would be popular today. Who knows, maybe the Pokemon Company will dive into their archives and resurrect them one day.
Baby Pokemon
Many Pokemon fans will be aware of the fact that the Johto region introduced various baby forms, or pre-evolutions, of those in the original 151. This suggests they were designed to appear in Kanto but were shelved due to the memory issues.
These include Cleffa, Elekid, Igglypuff, Magby, Pichu, Smoochum and Tyrogue. As it turned out, their addition in Gen 2 helped bridge the gap between the two generations.
There were other Baby Pokemon that were never released. Among these were baby forms of Doduo, Growlithe, Magikarp, Meowth, Paras, Ponyta, Tangela and Vulpix.
Now, who knows, they could be released at a later point but we’re betting had they been already, they would have all been very popular.
It looks like if the developers for future Pokemon games are struggling for ideas that they have plenty to fall back on. You can watch the video discussing these lost Pokemon and other interesting bits of information in the video above.
