If any of you have read my previous articles, you would know that there are some details of Pokemon Red and Green's development history dating back to Late 1989 Early 1990. Though very difficult to find, it does exist. Luckily, Helix Chamber documents even the most obscure details, so we have access to this information at any time. The Taijiri Manga Article has some details on a certain sprite sheet near the end, for example. I decided to order the Sprite Sheet by Index Number, to match with my Index Number Research Paper. This makes life a bit easier. Original piece is here as well, just in case some want it. So as you can see, there are 17 sprites here if we include Rhydon, who is Number 0. There are 16 designs who got in: notice Gyaoon being here in Rhydon's eventually spot. I'm assuming Gyaoon got cut during the Popularity Poll, since it's the only area where it makes sense: there is no MissingNo. at the start of the index numbers. Unless Gyaoon wound up inhabiting Index 21, which would become Mew. That would confirm the data filler that Game Freak talked about, which has so far been impossible to verify. For those who have read my Tyranitar Article, you'll know that Gyaoon later either inspired or became Tyranitar.
Anyway, you've probably seen a Pokemon I have labelled Spearow. Yes, it doesn't look very much like Spearow at all, although you can see the resemblance in areas. It kind of looks like Farfetch'd in areas, but it's definitely Spearow due to matching index numbers. Index Number 0 was pretty much completely erased in the final game, although MissingNo. does claim to have it in the game (he's lying). This design sort of explains "Kenya" the Spearow you can get via trading in GSC. Now for Clefairy, who also has some weird dev history. It didn't exactly look like the cute Fairy Type who evolves into The Queen of Gen 6, does it? Anyway, the sprite was changed later obviously, and then scaled down when Clefable was added at Index Number 142. At least it wasn't cut, and instead refined into one of the most iconic and cute Pokemon in the series! As you can see, Nidoking has what seems to be a Back Sprite here. I believe this may link into the early battle system sketches which you can find in the Tyranitar Article. When the concept for a Godzilla-like Pokemon was in vogue, they left a strong hint as to what the battle system would have looked like aesthetically. Possibly like Telefang's, with how they only had front sprites. This may have refined the concept to have back sprites, but overall remain the same. Anyway, if only we got those sprites... Ivysaur actually used Venusaur's design early in development. Venusaur and Bulbasaur were added around the 150 mark, which is where Ivysaur's design changed. Very unusual history that I definitely want to go over in a later article. Gengar looked quite different, not quite having that smile or those quills that we've come to know and love. He was a bit sheepish, no? Not much else to say here: he changed a lot, much like many of the others. Exeggcute and Exeggutor didn't change much at all, and were pretty much done. Only a few tweaks on the eyes and the shading were done. All in all, they were the most complete. Rhydon didn't have the drill horn that has since defined the line, but apart from that only changed the eyes. Slowbro has its arm poses tweaked for the final game but apart from that didn't change either. So yeah, that's the first 16. Not much else to say about the rest, but this is some interesting history that I do want to preserve.
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About meSo I really, really like researching Prototype Pokemon information. That's about it. I also do things on Smogon, I guess. Archives
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