Well, I haven't posted here in what, a year now? This thing hasn't been dead, I just haven't had things I'm interested in talking about. There were like 4 draft articles I had in the works (still have them, actually) but not one felt right to finish and publish for varying reasons. I may eventually release the WIPs and call it a day if there's interest. Oh, and I've been slowly accruing more responsibilities on Smogon, so that's a thing. However, I've been working on some stuff with The Cutting Room Floor, and with the scans finally finished, I'm able to cover them properly. Fans of the first generation's history may recognize this sprite sheet. It's from the November 1996 issue of Corocoro Magazine. This was the first look players had at the title, which would be up for mail order in October of that year. I go over bits of it here. However, some of the sprites are not what you would see in the final release, implying there were some revisions before or after the press release provided to Corocoro. I'm leaning towards after. For a very long time, we didn't have very good scans of these, mostly relying on photographs from zoidsland. This wasn't a bad thing - it was better than nothing - but the quality was...not great. So we have a collection of sprite scans that aren't of the best quality, to the point you can't even recreate them. How do you solve it when upscaling isn't really an option? Go out and buy the magazine yourself and scan it, of course! Well, erm, that's what I ended up doing on a whim. Why? Because seeing things like this ridiculously low-res Persian made me want to slash my eyes out, hahaha! Not all of them were like this, mind you, it was just...inconsistent. For the sake of clarity and because I don't want any random price increases, these magazines cost me almost nothing. The November 1996 issue cost me around £10 before postage, as did the December 1996 issue. Despite it taking a while for me to find someone with them, I do not believe these are actually rare in Japan considering the prices I saw them go for. The new scansWell, no more beating around the bush: you're here for the scans, yeah? For those wanting to see 1200 DPI scans of the sprites, you can use the following links to download them. The file size packs a punch of its own, so don't say I didn't warn you! I used an EPSON Stylus SX400 Printer-Scanner to do the deed, for those interested. It's nothing too extravagant, the printing part doesn't even work on it. But it scans japanese magazines from the 90s, which is all I need it for, eh? Anyway, here's a poorly-put-together compilation of the unique sprites for those who don't want to stare at those pages until their eyes melt out of their sockets. It's in JPG format so the quality isn't that great either. It'll do for the purpose, anyway. Some of these sprites are simply unrefined versions of the final;
RhydonRhydon's Blue JP sprite is very unique, and serves as a bridge between Rhydon's Green and Blue designs. Many tout Rhydon as a Pokemon near-unchanged since its inception, but this couldn't be further from the truth: it's actually very inconsistent. I've attached a timeline above that sums up these inconsistencies over time. There's more I haven't noted - including sprites - but at that point I'm really nitpicking. I'm not sure if Yellow truly removed the secondary horn as a part at the top of the head looks like it, but in that case, it was moved to god-knows-where...the perspective is really weird. Curiously, the Rhydon sprite from our little magazine has a breastplate akin to Yellow's, rather than RG's, though the eyes and secondary horn are clearly derived from the latter. On the flip side, the teeth are much like RB's. This is a very interesting intermittent design stage; you can look at this for ages and probably notice something else. RaticateThe Raticate sprite is quite clearly a less refined version of the RB sprite, but it's interesting for multiple reasons. It seems the Raticate sprite looked a bit smaller than the final, and the ears are drawn differently. Furthermore, the final Raticate sprite shrinks the middle whiskers, linking them with the upper row. But, there's an elephant in the room... There's a weird cowlick-like hair on its head, seemingly implying an unshaven appearance. This is shown on the GSC Scratchpad as well, only in a more pronounced fashion, implying that these designs are linked in some way. With this in mind, I believe that the Scratchpad Sprite is actually from the same time period as the early Blue JP one, considering that this design is never seen in any other material after the final game. It's not too difficult to make the assumption - the hands are near-identical among other uncanny design similarities - but that little hair really does it for me, at least. AlakazamAlakazam's sprite has a bit of history tied to it, and it's a bit difficult to present efficiently. I apologize if it isn't coherent enough... In Red and Green, Alakazam had a star on its forehead, which some say looks like (or outright is) the Star of David, making it a point of contention. Anyway, that could be worth its own article when thinking about the Abra line's history of weird controversies. Alakazam had this star removed by the time Corocoro Magazine dropped its December 1996 issue. Some may draw parallels to Uri Geller's accusations of antisemitism and unauthorized use of his image, with him citing its depiction in the Pokemon TCG. However, that controversy only started in 1999, and as such, Uri Geller's intervention had no bearing on this design change, which makes it more plausible to assume this was an attempt to simplify Alakazam's already complex design. It's not uncommon to see Game Freak alter Pokemon designs and remove features that made them difficult for children to take in. This especially applied in the early days when there was just a small Game Boy screen and a limited amount of pixels. Another thing I find interesting here is how Alakazam's RG and early Blue JP sprites have very similar artstyles, while the final design is very different in that regard. Not only is it more refined, the eyes are drawn in a much more pronounced fashion and everything is much easier to take in. Furthermore, the feet lack claws, something that is featured in every other Alakazam interpretation to date. It is also the first Alakazam interpretation to feature two toes, which is something that's now commonplace for it. Overall, this a very good example of how Game Freak refines their designs during development, often with the intent to simplify it. ConclusionWhile I could go on about these sprites, the rest would be more nitpicky and just draw out the length of this article. Besides, I'm sure everyone else would love to scrutinize these sprites further and provide their perspectives. I'm very happy to own both magazines and seeing these sprites finally have scans that give them justice is a fantastic bonus.
Unlike MicroGroup Game Review Vol.14, I've not scanned the rest of the magazine due to its sheer size and lower-quality scans generally doing them justice anyway. I got the magazines to scan the sprites, and I think it's all that's necessary of me. Better-cropped sprites and more comprehensive reviews will be on The Cutting Room Floor, so keep your eyes peeled for that! I'm sure they'll do it better than my caveman-quality MS Paint diagrams, anyway. I also have a friend looking to recreate the sprites as well, since you can make out the individual pixels perfectly, which should be very interesting. If that project is finished, I'll either update this article or write up a new one.
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But what do you mean, Papa Plague? We got Pokemon Blue! Hold your horses there, pardner. Because that Pokemon Green you keep talking about? You already played that, it's Pokemon Blue International bar the sprites. Yeah, as you can tell, this will be a very complicated article. So, let's talk about Gen 1 some more. I like Gen 1, you probably know it for the hilarious glitches. But did you know that we never got the definitive experience? Pokemon Blue JP, as I call it, is the Japanese Pokemon Blue. You see, we never actually got Blue: we got Green. I have a lot to talk about here, since there are also some sprites that never got released too. I was going to do this in 2 articles, but the sprites are pretty minor overall, and I didn't enjoy writing that small Game Boy Camera article. So as you can see, Corocoro has a small oddity going about. You see, Blue JP was initially released through there on October 15th 1996, a while after Red and Green were released that same year. However, in the two later magazines - November and December - show entirely different sprites. I have not seen a copy of Blue JP with these sprites, so I am assuming that there is an error here. However, this could also imply the existence of copies of Blue JP with these sprites. I cannot clarify this however. What we do know, however, is that Mewtwo was packing some SASS in that beta sprite.
Anyway, what's this about Blue JP being a different game? Well, it's quite the interesting debacle. You see, Blue JP (as said in that research image), was used for the scripts in Red and Blue International. Thus, we got those trades implied. You know, the Raichu and Poliwhirl evolving and such? This is because Blue JP was essentially a 3rd version, with different in-game trades to boot. Those version differences you see between Red and Blue, well, there were more in Blue JP. Ditto in Rock Tunnel, Rapidash in Cerulean Cave, Golem can be obtained via In-Game Trade, etc. There are many, but Bulbapedia sums it up quite well. I'd say that Blue JP is among the most friendly games to players. You can get Tauros, Golem, Gengar and Kangaskhan via In-Game Trade, all of which are amazing Pokemon. Hell, Tauros, Golem and Gengar can form a very good Gen 1 OU Team on their own. Kangaskhan was even nicknamed Rodan: a Godzilla reference! This is also the only way you can get a Lickitung in the wild: via the Safari Zone. Jynx can also be found in the Seafoam Islands. It is among the most complete of the Gen 1 Games, with only the Arbok Line, Ninetales Line, Primeape Line, Victreebell Line, and Magmar and Electabuzz missing. Nidoran wasn't available early game though (and Mankey completely gone), so have fun killing Brock with Charmander. Not too shabby, really. Hell, Porygon was cheaper in the Game Corner. It also fixed some minor glitches, such as Sabrina Skip. There is a patch available replicating the version differences, but I'm not sure if it patches out the glitches Blue JP did. No translation patch is directly available, however. Anyway, if you're interested in the version differences across the board, Papa Plague can provide!
The release schedule of Gen 1 was so hilariously bad, that it forgot a whole game. How fantastic is that? So this is one of my bigger theories regarding the Spaceworld 1997 Demo for Pokemon Gold and Silver. For those of you who don't know, this was leaked quite recently. This is based on some facts from an old Corocoro Magazine that me and my friend translated when I was making an analysis of the whole thing. Jynx has a very interesting history as some of you may know, but I feel like there may have been a much bigger backpedal regarding it all. So, what's the theory? Well, I believe that Jynx may have played a role in the story of Pokemon Gold and Silver at some point. And trust me, I have plenty of evidence to support this. This specific Corocoro Issue (December 1997, shortly after Spaceworld happened at the end of November) has some hints dropped about it. I had a friend (credit to Sam Akechi on Facebook) translate segments of it after getting a clear enough image, and it says quite a few interesting things. For starters, the Kimono Girls were Jynx Trainers (which made some sense given they are based on Geisha Girls). The magazine drops a question stating something among the lines of Jynx being related to summoning Ho-Oh. Thus, given how the Kimono Girls help summon Ho-Oh in HeartGold and SoulSilver, we can see that there was definitely some kind of concept with it being summoned through forms of dance. Note that Jynx DOES hatch an Articuno Egg in Pokemon Snap: this concept was not new, and may well have been intended to be a cornerstone of the Pokemon's lore. Hell, the section of the magazine even shows Ho-Oh coming down as a result of a dance. Now, there is more to this than just Jynx being a dancer aiming to bring Ho-Oh down to earth. It also claims the city (Known as Old City in the Demo's Files and Debug Menu) is Kyoto-Like. Given we now have the demo available to us, there is much more to this phrase now than ever before. You see, the entire continent of the game is just like Japan, as you can see by an image I uploaded to TCRF right there. It's just at an angle. It is quite unusual, as even the Kanto Region was placed where the real-life Kanto Region would be. However, this is a theory for another blog post. Seriously, I have a LOT lined up for this blog. Obviously, Jynx had all but been swept under the carpet by the time the Final Game dropped due to the level of controversy spiraling from her face. Well, blackface to be exact. The controversy persists today, and for good reason: Japan does have a history of racist caricatures and that also persists to this day. Defenders say that she is based on a fashion trend, others say that she is a remnant of the racism of the Pre-2000s. Which is true? Well, that's not what this article is for, nor do I ever intend to go into it. Regardless, Jynx has been pretty much completely erased from the lore of the series, and chances are she ain't coming back...which is a shame, because I actually like the Pokemon. Fake Out and a decently strong Icy Wind does wonders in Doubles, y'know? Gotta end Landorus-T's life somehow. But Jynx had even more interesting Dev History in Pokemon Gold and Silver's timeline: she had a unique sprite in the Spaceworld Demo that was changed completely during development. Some sprites had changes like this, but few had entire aesthetics changed. The Venomoth Article I did before covered a change like this, but Jynx's changed her skin color to purple, much like how we see her today. The anime around 1999 had the same old black face, and the magazine still had Jynx with the black face. So clearly, this was a backpedal. So, is there anything else about Jynx that we can discuss here? Well, the level of backpedalling here is not to be underestimated. Hell, Sabrina's Jynx in the Gym Challenge TCG Set was even censored for international audiences due to the controversy.
Anything else to discuss here? Well, as of now I have nothing else to really say. However, if I do find more backpedal evidence I will make a Part 2 or Follow-Up Article to this. There is so much Dev History here, it's kind of crazy. To note, this is the article that brought The Jynx Controversy into the big news outlets, and also what made her get censored for years and years to come. |
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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