Similar to the previously unearthed prototype designs for Pokémon Gold & Silver, further discoveries seem to have been made about original Pokémon Red & Blue monsters. A fresh batch of prototype assets has been published by Helix Chamber which includes clearer, better-quality versions of previously uncovered goodies.
The whole story surrounding the anonymous origins of these prototypes should have keen pokéstorians on their guard, as it did Helix Chamber when the fan group was first approached, but the authenticity of the sprites has been independently verified against other data – all these assets appear to be legitimate.
We already knew from previous documentation that an earlier name for the gotta catch ’em all game was ‘Capsule Monsters’, but now we get a much clearer picture of a prototype title screen which shows an early pokéball as the ‘O’ in ‘Monsters’.
Another picture shows an early version of what appears to be a Rhydon standing over the revised ‘Pocket Monsters’ logo:
There’s plenty more to check out: an entire folder’s worth of assets for fans to download and examine in detail, including an early Blastoise named ‘Totartle’ and analysis of the fabled Missingno – the well-known glitch that’s easily found in-game – plus a whole sheet of early designs.
Head over to Helix Chamber for the exhaustive lowdown.
Think Pokémon would have taken over the world under a different guise? Are any of these prototype ‘mon more interesting than Metapod? Drop us a line in the comments…