Gyopin is a curious little blighter who always seems to find its ways into leaks about Generations 1 and 2. However, I have never covered this little thing! Gyopin is a pre-evolution to Goldeen - a Baby Pokemon - whose first recorded appearance is in the Pokemon Red and Green Asset Leak. It was positioned at Index No.156, meaning that if you tried encountering it now you would find a MissingNo. in its place. Yes, this is an unmasked MissingNo.! However, it had no known name from that point in time, but these days we call it Gyopin due to its later appearances. The asset leak was released in February 2019, but held for an undetermined amount of time. We only have a back sprite of this little guy, and only in black and white too. However, I have taken it upon myself to make a speculative back sprite using the final Red and Green Goldeen's palette. This was with Bulbapedia's sprite. As a result, we wind up with this; The then-unnamed fish also had a learnset, but I have yet to translate these. I will however provide what I have;
This unnamed fish would later appear as Gyopin in the Spaceworld 1997 Demo leak that happened in 2018, released by the same person. This time, with far more completion; including a front sprite, a palette to actually look at, and a full learnset. (Credit: The Cutting Room Floor) Gyopin was Pure Water Type, with no stats (as in they were all dummied to 50), and a 50% chance to hold a Berry and a 5% chance to hold the old Mystic Water, the Wet Horn. It evolved more quickly than its Gen 1 counterpart, evolving at Level 16. As for learnset, here we are. Sourcing it from Team Spaceworld's research spreadsheet that I saved a copy of, before it was taken down. I use it for personal research records now. It's essentially Final Goldeen's, with no different moves from there. Levels are a bit different. Demo Goldeen learns moves more slowly by virtue of being a Stage 1 evolution. Gyopin is however a source of confusion for some, due to its design being a bit different to Goldeen. This, is a misconception. Goldeen originally had a spiral horn, which began being changed when Pokemon Yellow was released in September 1998. As a result, considering this fact, Gyopin's design actually makes perfect sense. Pokemon were often proposed in groups, meaning Gyopin was likely intended as a member of the Goldeen line from the very beginning. It just...got removed in the end. (Sprite Credit: The Cutting Room Floor - Gyopin, Bulbapedia - Goldeen) It gets a bit weird though. In all of Goldeen's official artwork from the era - even the Cardass art - I cannot for the life of me find anything showing Goldeen with a spiral horn. In fact, I couldn't find it for Seaking either, despite having the exact same spiral horn trait in Red and Green, and Blue JP. The closest I got to any reference was on some Cardass artwork for Seaking, but it's a bit of a reach. So, what does this mean? The spiral horn sprites for Goldeen and Seaking represent an intermittent design stage, like Gold and Silver's designs for Meganium, Spinarak and the Legendary Beasts being changed for Crystal. I believe that the artwork for Goldeen and Seaking must have been made after their in-game sprites were already finished, thus why their spiral horns were removed in Yellow and later just erased from existence. And, well, I think I can date this as well. I believe it must have happened during - and after - Spaceworld. Pokemon Yellow was released in September 1998, almost a year after Spaceworld. We have sprites showing the spiral horn in the demo, which was changed in the final. I also have a bit of a smoking gun, and that's Seaking's Spaceworld sprites. (Sprite Credit: The Cutting Room Floor) Notice the front sprite's horn: there's no spiral. They were in the middle of the redesign right as Spaceworld was going on. This leads me to believe that perhaps Gyopin and Goldeen have versions of their Spaceworld sprites without the spiral horn being featured as well somewhere, but...that's a reach, I feel. Well, why would they remove such an awesome looking design? I believe the anime must have been using the Red and Green artwork as a basis, as Goldeen had already been shown without a spiral horn. The first appearance was in Pokemon Emergency. In fact, this was its most iconic appearance that even led to Goldeen being featured in Super Smash Bros. doing the exact same thing: flopping on the floor. Thus, they must have changed it for consistency reasons. When did this air? April 8th 1997 in Japan, around the same time as when MicroGroup Game Review Vol.14 was released, doing commentary on the first episode of the anime: there was a lot of promotion going on. I believe Gyopin was removed for several reasons. It would have been extremely weak, and left Goldeen as one of the weakest middle evolutions of all time. Most Baby Pokemon reduce all the older form's stats by around 20, meaning its defenses would have been absolutely pitiful.
So there you have it: Gyopin, the Goldeen line's long lost baby, and part of one of many Generation 1 redesigns. What do you think? Personally, I wish that horn stayed, it adds a lot more personality to this line of Pokemon. Many often call Goldeen and Seaking basic, mundane and/or unimaginative. Personally I absolutely love Seaking, given my love for the more regal kinds of goldfish. Shoutout to Game Freak for giving it Swords Dance again in Sword and Shield after being deprived of it for 2 decades by the way. That was a Gen 2 event move, one of the most unfortunate casualties of the move to Gen 3. Left me super miffed. But anyway, that marks another mystery solved about not just Gyopin, but the entire Goldeen line!
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With the emergence of the Pokemon Index List, the Capsule Monsters concepts, and so much more, many theories have been arising about Gen 1's development. From what Beta Pokemon became what to whether Magby and Elekid were in the game at some point. But none would be more backed up than the belief Blastoise was originally a standalone Pokemon. Sounds weird, doesn't it? But worry not, Papa Plague has you covered with all the information, continuing from an article I made a while ago. I originally thought that MissingNo. Index 181 could be two things: an unused evolution line from Spaceworld or an alternate Blastoise. Let's just say the prior theory was blown completely out the water. You see, I was originally kind of confused about Mew's placement in the index, as the last 3 MissingNo. in the Index were used for sprites in Lavender Tower and the Pewter Museum of Science. I initially believed they could have been reused, but what if they were intended for this all along? We could simply come to that conclusion and it all makes a lot of sense. As for Spaceworld, well, I did say it was circumstantial in that original article. So now, we arrive at the #AltBlastoise theory, with my old image to guide us through. We actually came across some very useful information to help validate this entire thing now too! For starters, let's bring up the main points from before;
But now, we have a new point. You see, thanks to the NHK broadcast showing that sprite sheet, we have confirmation that Blastoise used Cry No.30, which corresponds to Index Number 181: MissingNo. Hex B5. Weird coincidence, is it not? Suddenly we have some extremely strong evidence that Blastoise would have been separate from the Squirtle line at some point, backed up by design differences and general oddities spanning years. Next article will be going into Omega in more detail, the Pokemon which Mew replaced in the final game! Given how much history there is on Shellder and Cloyster at this point, I decided it would be fitting to discuss the entire history of the two lines. Linked by the claims of a "Spiral Shellder" being attached to Slowpoke so it becomes Slowbro, there's a lot to take in here. So, let's take a trip down memory lane to witness the development of some of Kanto's most interesting Pokemon! Funnily enough, both Cloyster and Slowbro existed in the Capsule Monsters sprite sheets. These sheets were taken at rather different times, but are nevertheless significant in devising the history of the two lines.
Slowbro was the 4th Pokemon conceived in Capsule Monsters going by the sheet, although it sits at Index Number 8 in the final game. Thus, the idea of a Shellder latching onto it is likely an afterthought or something. This also means that Tārban technically had its design made at this time, and could well have been saved for later as well. This is a bit of a reach, however. Cloyster, as it turns out, thanks to the NHK report that was unearthed, was also made during this time period. But this is where it gets weird: it was named Shellder, not Cloyster. This could partially explain why the thing on Slowbro's tail is called a "Spiral Shellder" in Pokedex Entries nowadays, but it's still a bit odd. It gets weirder though, as in the final game, the Shellder we know fills the index number Cloyster should be at; Cloyster is actually Index Number 139 in the final game. This could explain why Shellder's sprite was downsized during development. On a side note, Shellder held Scyther's index number for a period during development, before Scyther was moved to Index Number 26. This is reflected in the Popularity Poll (note that Scyther uses Index Number 23). As for how long and when this started, well, is hard to tell. What these facts mean, well, there are a few theories and facts that can be derived from this.
Later on we find the Slowpoke line getting more love, with Slowking being featured in Pokemon The Movie 2000 and being one of the first Pokemon revealed for Gold and Silver in June of 1996. Nothing really changes here. Later we see Tārban get added in the Spaceworld Demo as some bizarre...thing with only 3 moves. Incomplete, sadly it didn't get to fly and be seen in the final game. It answered so many questions and theories though, I'm glad we got closure in the end. I do think that the Slowpoke Line inspired Mantine's later design, going from a sea slug-inspired beast to a ray with a remoraid attached to it. Perhaps Tārban inspired the concept of a Mantyke with Remoraid in the party becoming Mantine! After all, Sinnoh appeared to use heavy inspiration from the Spaceworld Prototype. It's amazing to see how such an interesting line of Pokemon have such intricate history. While there are still mysteries to solve, it's cool to look at now and try to come up with theories to figure them out. Helix Chamber released some more info on Capsule Monsters Sprites after a shock report, featuring more early designs of the Pokemon. It confirms a multitude of theories, so I'm going to cover this with some speculation thrown in. Before we continue, these numbers on the paper are cry numbers, so you may want a list to gather an idea of how they sounded. From left to right, these are the Pokemon shown;
This is a very interesting sheet, as it not only shows a beta Pokemon, but it's a Beta Pokemon that has been bugging us historians for a while. You see, there's been a thing called "The Mystery O" among the thing, where we have a shred of a name of a Pokemon but nothing else. It just happened to be on this sheet! So here I just made a very poorly made reconstruction (using Helix Chamber's of the part as a basis) that I totally didn't make in 2 mins in MS Paint. Anyway, meet Omega, the ultimate E-Series Robot- wait, that's not it...I mean, the original user of Blastoise's cry! Yeah, this Pokemon looks pretty weird and early, much like the rest of the Pokemon there. It's not really much, just another Pokemon to add to the dinosaur list (likely why it was cut in my opinion). It's overall another Pokemon to go with the likes of Deer and Crocky, as it lived and died in exactly the same span of time. It's funny how this design didn't even get reused in the Spaceworld 1997 Demo. Seems they definitely did not like this Pokemon and killed it before it laid eggs. The name was so cool though! Next up we have Scyther, who I will say has the best sprite in the history of Pokemon in the Blue JP / Red and Blue Int games. I will die on this hill, you cannot prove me wrong. Anyway, we can agree that Scyther had very humble beginnings in Pokemon. Crappy sprite in Capumon, looked ugly in Green, had no Bug Moves and the only Flying STAB was 35 Base Power Wing Attack...yeah. Game Freak did not like this poor boy. To be honest, that initial sprite makes me think it was originally a Bug/Dragon Type, with the face and all. All speculation though. Gyarados was very different originally, seemed the original idea was to bring in something from Tremors or whatever. It may shock you, but yes, that name is Gyarados'. It looks a bit like Omanyte or Omastar, but a closer look will tell you that spiral is actually it dipping down or something. Hard to describe. But yeah, this explains why Magikarp is so far ahead at Index Number 133. The designs were originally very separate! Perhaps this inspired Eelektross at some point? It's all very interesting!
Now, the Cloyster thing is pretty weird, so bear with me. Index Number 23 has quite a bit of history to it now.
Blastoise being shown here so early also shows it is even more likely that it wasn't meant to be an evolution for Wartortle, strengthened by its placement in the popularity poll and the MissingNo. entry coming after Wartortle (as shown in another one of my articles). I believe this is a very plausible theory now. So yeah, that's some crazy info that we have here now! I've also updated my research document with this new information, so feel free to check it out! 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. Tyranitar is a much loved Pokemon almost universally in the Pokemon Fandom, competitively and casually alike. Depicted as an engine of destruction in the anime and games alike, there really isn't much not to like about it. Well, maybe that Rock/Dark Typing that has started to bite it in the past few years is something to hate, but oh well. Let's get to the point. So, Tyranitar's Dev History. Turns out, this is probably one of the first Pokemon to have ever been thought of: only in a different name. You see, concept of a Godzilla-like Pokemon goes back as far as the original thoughts on Capsule Monsters, as Godzilliante. The other concept Pokemon here is Gorillaimo, which never got much further than this. Personally, I think that Tyranitar did not directly get derived from this. This is because this was the early days of development, and I doubt any of the characters were really thought about that much. This concept was to demonstrate the battle system more than anything else. However, I am not denying that this could have indirectly inspired Tyranitar. Anyway, onto the time where a Godzilla-like Pokemon actually got added into a game in some form: Gyaoon, also known to some as Gyarth. The name is onomatopoeia for Godzilla's roar. So here's our first sighting of the first solid idea for it. What we're looking at is the first Sprite Sheet printed of Pokemon in Capsule Monsters, circa 1990. Gyaoon is Index Number 1, which is next to Rhydon's beta design. We can see that it is very different to Tyranitar's final design, but it is clear that the concept of a Godzilla-like Pokemon was very much in vogue during development. We later see Gyaoon in the Satoshi Taijiri Manga, which goes over Pokemon Red and Green's Development. Only this time, with a new sprite. This happened in 1992-1993. The top of the image is purely a blur due to the way it was set up, but we can see that the sprite changed to show it leaning over roaring, rather than rearing its head. It looks similar to Croconaw and Feraligatr here, so maybe it indirectly inspired them in the future? It was Index Number "C", so most likely not fully decided on yet. I'm not sure what the letter means - nor does anyone else that I know of - but as we know, it was cut. Nobody has quite put together what the idea was for Gyaoon, but there are elements of the final product in there. From what I can see, it looks like it could have been a Dragon Type. However, this is purely speculation. However, Gyaoon was never seen again after this. Cut, and likely never implemented. Perhaps the Dev Team wasn't fully in favor? I mean, Exeggutor won that poll, so it's clear their opinions were pretty terrible. However, justice was soon to come for this Pokemon. Fast forward to April of 1997, and we see this cursed magazine: MicroGroup Game Review Vol.14. As I went over in a previous article, Ken Sugimori drew the Pokemon for this cover as simple throwaway designs. Tyranitar was on its knees at this point, ready to get cut. It wasn't in the Spaceworld Demo in November 1997, and it was not being shown anywhere but here.
However, thanks to Ken Sugimori's philosophy of polishing old designs as said in the Interview in that same magazine, Tyranitar got another shot. The Godzilla-like Pokemon idea that had been thrown around for 7 whole years finally came to fruition: Gyaoon may have failed, but Tyranitar came out of it...and boy was it a doozy. Rewarded for its wait, Tyranitar was introduced in Pokemon Gold and Silver in 1999-2000, as a Pseudo Legendary Pokemon that would dominate Smogon for many years to come. Maybe good things really do come to those who wait? The thought that Tyranitar may have never come to GSC is a real shocker to me personally. It's been a meta defining Pokemon in almost every main series game, and was pretty much "The King of Gen 3" by the end of it. Hell, it's one of my favorite Pokemon to use: I even have a plushie of that angry dinosaur. But god am I glad it got included at the end of that 7 year battle. In the end, it finally got justice. I'd like to thank Helix Chamber for their article on the Taijri Manga, since it allowed me to collect a lot of images I used to source the Capsule Monsters content. Having it all in one place is really helpful. |
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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