Holy crap, someone just leaked what looks to be an internal Game Freak documentary covering the development of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and wow? Look at all these cool, scrapped designs?!
The documentary is available via Internet Archive here, and is 43 minutes long. It’s in Japanese, so until it’s translated, we unfortunately have no idea what anyone is saying. But we can see what’s in it, and it includes loads of images of scrapped Pokémon, as well as early designs of existing Pokémon that look significantly different from the ones we now know. There’s also what looks like some concept art of characters or scenes thrown in, and some clips of in-game areas in development. Neat!
I highly recommend skimming through the whole thing if you’re a giant Pokénerd like me, but here are some of my favorite bits:
Look at this nice, round concept art! I love how cute the character is.
Who are YOU?! Is this an early concept for a grass-type starter that later became Turtwig? Or is this like a Sandshrew variation?
Hehehehehehe.
Dang, the original design for Dialga was kinda freaky?
Around the 23:00 mark, there are two moments in which a series of concept images are briefly flashed on screen. I highly recommend checking the video out and moving second by second to see everything, but here are a few favorites I pulled out:
IS THAT A PROTO-BIDOOF?!
So…fluffy…
Loads going on here, including what looks like a yellow Gastrodon and a sick-looking bird, but I’m a big fan of that acorn thing on the right.
I am losing my GOSH DANG MIND over what looks like a Delibird evolution, fully Santa’d up. This is the best thing I’ve seen in weeks.
I can’t wait for this to be translated so I can understand everything the developers are saying in here. Beyond just seeing some cool, unused Pokémon designs, it’s fascinating to find out what went into the development of games like this, particularly given Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company’s penchant for secrecy on this franchise. Now Game Freak, if you’re reading this, instead of trying to get this documentary removed from the internet, please consider giving me that Delibird evolution instead.