This is very likely to be the last time I cover this magazine until someone translates the Hideo Kojima area of the magazine (someone is doing it for me, next week seems promising). Also, apologies for my inconsistent uploading of articles, I like to keep it spaced out but it gets a bit much sometimes. I have covered parts of "Hitmontop" before, but never actually went in depth or put it all in one place. So, it feels correct to put it here. Given the turtle has no real thoughts on it, I don't think it warrants an article (Unless I need filler...heh). This article is mainly to compile my thoughts, and to clear up any misinformation regarding this thing. So, let's begin this with what is the speculative history of Hitmontop. All the images here will be recycled from my previous articles, since there's no point in redoing them: they're fine! One thing I questioned in my initial research of the Spaceworld 1997 Demo back in June-July times, the biggest thing I questioned was the drastic difference in design. The only similarity was the concept of a spinning top, but even then it is quite the reach. Now, let's bring up the interview retranslation that Obskyr did. It has been agreed upon that the designs were never intended to be canon from the beginning: notice that Tyranitar wasn't in the Spaceworld Demo. It wasn't intended to exist up until after Spaceworld when the designs were looked over again. I believe that as a result, we can say the same for "Hitmontop", who I don't think is Hitmontop at all. Thinking about it, the only way that we can really explain the drastic design difference and the existence of Hitmontop in the Spaceworld Demo is that this Pokemon is not actually a beta Hitmontop. It never was. Hitmontop is based on a practitioner of Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art. Got to commend Game Freak for researching such an obscure thing tbh, pretty cool. Hell, the Japanese name is a homage to it. Anyway, getting off track. This weird Pokemon doesn't feature any implications of any kind of fighting style, and is simply a spinning top. If anything, I really think it looks like Clefairy. Here's an image I put together using my HQ scanned images of it; Ken Sugimori stated in the interview with the writers of the magazine, that he had the idea of a parallel universe when designing these Pokemon. They were not meant to be canon, but obviously Tyranitar really complicated this when Ken looked back at his old designs and thought "hey let's contradict this for a laugh".
So really, this Pokemon was never meant to be used from the beginning. As I said in my previous articles, this Pokemon was a throwaway design, just like the turtle and Tyranitar (god it still feels weird saying that). All in all, the most this Pokemon could have done is indirectly contribute to Hitmontop's inception: the concept of a spinning top, that evolved from there thanks to the drug-fueled beings that are Pokemon's designers. So, not Hitmontop. It's about as irrelevant as the turtle Pokemon that may or may not have become Tirtouga.
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After I got myself a copy of the magazine and scanned it all, I decided to take all this a bit further. With access to the best possible quality images of it, I couldn't just leave it at that. Given we only had a very poor translation of the page, I got Obskyr from Team Spaceworld to retranslate the page for us. So now, we have an improved translation erasing any grey areas that we initially had. Due to my PNG Copy being 16.3 MB I couldn't get it on here, but you can view it here. To compensate and for a more streamlined experience for you all, there's a JPEG version below. So overall, this translation has some key differences thanks to the kanji being legible: firstly, it confirms that Tyranitar was a throwaway design. I went over this in two articles, which you can see here and here. However, the latter is thrown into question. You see, Sugimori states here that these were original designs, made for a parallel universe of sorts. A separate world, in his words. Thus, these designs were never intended to be canon at all. This is more of a practice go or something, although the motivation is not mentioned. Thus, that's speculation. In regards to my Tyranitar Dev History Article being thrown into question, it's mainly because I claimed that Ken Sugimori likely polished Gyaoon to make Tyranitar. While Question 3 does support this, Question 1 does not. In fact, Question 1 could outright deconfirm this: Ken Sugimori claims they are original. However, polishing an old design and using it could also be just as good as an original. It could be a final hurrah for a Pokemon Design he had a kinship with. Or, he revived the concept of a Godzilla-like Pokemon as I said. It could mean anything, and sadly this is the one question we'll leave with: was Tyranitar a revived concept, or an original throwaway design before its inception in the final game? I believe this also confirms that Hitmontop was never, ever a part of this. From this I infer that this is simply a non-canon design (as stated in the original interview) that was taken from the Clefairy formula. They feel sort of similar. Possibly a Clefairy in a parallel universe as he claimed? Now for the turtle design. I agree with the masses that this could well have indirectly inspired Tirtouga. There are some very strong similarities between the two, although there are some differences between them that are natural with age. Now, I believe that the Clefairy-Hitmontop mishmash was laid to bed quickly after this magazine was published. I think Ken Sugimori did what he did in Question 3 to bring Tyranitar into being: looked back at the magazine, liked the idea, and pitched it. The turtle, I believe, was redesigned across multiple generations to eventually become Tirtouga.
So there we go! The Sugimori Interview has been retranslated and we have answers! Well, I bought a copy of MicroGroup Game Review Vol.14. It wasn't as difficult to find as one would expect, there's 3 copies on Amazon right now. However, since I bought it, the price sort of...doubled. Came almost a week early, and ironically on what would have been Michael Jackson's 60th Birthday...with Michael Jackson's Moonwalker featured. That shook me a bit, haha. Anyway, using my printer to scan the entire book, I uploaded everything to Imgur. So, it's all online now, no more questions or anything to ask. It's all there now. So, what's in this fabled magazine? Not much relating to Pokemon, actually. In fact, it was only a page and a small segment even related to it. There was the Ken Sugimori Interview (which we can now see in high quality), and a small segment on what I assume to be PokeFever. It has Satoshi Taijri's Birth Year written, so it may be on the development. Without a translation available I'm not really sure what to think. Honestly, there really isn't much to see in the thing apart from what we already know. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't anything uninteresting in the magazine. There is some content relating to what I think is Hideo Kojima's aim to merge films and gaming together. There's also content on Takeshi's Challenge, something that also really shocked me due to the controversy behind Beat Takeshi at the time. There is also an 8 page feature on Intelligent Qube, which you can find on the "uploaded everything" link for the album. All in all though, we've at least got high quality images of the thing online. I benefited too of course, this thing looks great on my wall. Plus, once translated, there may be some interesting info on Hideo Kojima, and maybe even Takeshi's Challenge. If this does happen, it will get some special attention on this blog due to being related to the magazine.
My previous articles on this will give some additional details on this magazine. Specifically, the look over on the Ken Sugimori Interview, and the Tyranitar Dev History. For any future updates, there is a category for this specific magazine as well. I intend to do something on Hitmontop, and possibly some design comparisons on Tirtouga in the future. 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. One of the things that hurt my brain the most during my Spaceworld 1997 Analysis was this one magazine that was already a source of skepticism. However, with another look, I have think I have solved the mystery. MicroGroup Game Review Volume 14 was released in April 1997. It contained an interview with Ken Sugimori, a very notable artist in the Pokemon sphere for designing a majority of the cast and trading cards. However, few people actually look at the contents of this interview, and more fuss over the cover...and for good reason, because it is truly odd. Now, clearly you can see that this is a very unusual cover. Two of these Pokemon are never seen anywhere in GSC, and the trainers are definitely nonexistent as well. However, Tyranitar is featured with a slightly more modest design. Unlike many, many people who speculate on this, I do know the contents of the magazine. I am seeking to obtain a copy for myself to see if there is anything other than what is currently documented, although the price is slightly steeper than I expected. For any interested, Amazon has a good few copies going for ~£60 GBP. Anyway, enough about that. Let's get to the point. Firstly, let's look at the cover before we go on about the contents. So people speculate that the turtle is what would later become Tirtouga. Personally, I agree! I see the resemblance, and many Pokemon get redesigned during development anyway. Tyranitar is likely one of the cut Gen 1 Pokemon (specifically, Gyaoon). Then there's the Hitmontop-like thing, which I'll get to in a bit. One thing that strikes me as odd here is that, well, not one of these are even featured in the Spaceworld 1997 Demo, which was sent out to said event on November 21st 1997. Not even a single MissingNo. can be found, although there are two Glitch Pokemon: an egg and a block. They resemble the glitches other than said MissingNo., such as The Q Glitch or 3TrainerPoke $. So they would be garbage data, in my opinion. Regardless, none of these Pokemon from the cover are in the game at all. Now, some say that these are simply throwaway designs made for promotion. Now, this is partly true given Ken Sugimori designed the cover himself. While the theory is definitely something worth considering, the fact Tyranitar is even here and in the final game is a problem. But why isn't it in the demo? Was it a throwaway design? It couldn't be though, especially since it was considered in Gen 1 as Gyaoon, and in Capsule Monsters as "Godzilliante". Hell, this was the second Pokemon designed. These can't simply be throwaway designs. The two trainers are never seen again in any capacity, although there is space to theorize that the female trainer could be Misty. This is solely based on the Water Patch on her arm, although this also falls flat given the radical design change, the fact she is a member of the Elite Four in the Prototype and how Misty never had a proper sprite in the Spaceworld Prototype anyway. The male trainer? Some say it's Morty, but he had white hair and no headwear at all in the prototype. Beta Rival? He had his design from the beginning. These are either throwaway trainer designs or something simply put down shortly after the cover was made. Now for this...creature, the thing that gets people talking about this. Personally, I think that the designs on the cover were initially designed to be throwaway designs, specifically from one quote in the transcript (included Japanese since it's there); Q1.今回のイラストのコンセプトを教えて下さい。 Q1. Tell us about the concept behind your recent work. A1.普段着の人々が、格好良くて可愛いモンスター達と共存しているという「ポケモン」の世界観でオリジナルキャラクターを描いてみました。「ポケモン」のようで「ポケモン」ではない、アナザーワールドです。 A1. I’ve tried to create some original characters using the [same] Pokemon worldview, in which everyday people coexist with cool and cute monsters. It’s another world... like Pokemon but not Pokemon. The context was that the interviewer was questioning Ken Sugimori about his "recent work", which was the cover. It seems the interviewers were overjoyed at him making that cover. The website that archived the interview has gone down, but luckily some amazing person archived it all on Wayback Machine. Seriously, that website is an absolute blessing, otherwise so many pieces of the GSC Dev History would be gone. So it appears that Ken Sugimori was designing Pokemon in a "parallel universe" sort of sense. Thus "like Pokemon, but not Pokemon". It's hard to actually get your head around given the lack of detail, but oh well. Maybe one day someone will ask the man himself about the whole thing, who knows? It would be helpful. Anyway, if we look at this quote alone, it is easy to assume that these were throwaway designs. However, I feel there is more. Tyranitar, for example, got in afterwards with almost no change. It seems the spinning top idea got reused for Hitmontop. So what gives? I believe another question in this transcript tells us exactly what happened! Q3.また、そいうった創作のイメージはどういったところから得られているのですか。 Q3. Where do you get the ideas for those designs? A3.過去の自分の絵を、ハズカシさをこらえて見つめ直し「うわー! こりゃだめだ」と猛反省するところから。 A3. From an unflinching reconsideration and reexamination of my own past designs, no matter how embarrassing, no matter how much I feel like yelling, “Whoa! This is BAD!” It was in front of us all along. Ken Sugimori used the MicroGroup Game Review Vol.14 Cover as inspiration later on. There's no other way that this entire thing can be explained, especially with the Spaceworld 1997 Prototype in hand. Tirtouga, too, must have been reused in this fashion.
This would explain the radical design change on Hitmontop, and in such a short time. It was really bad, let's be real. He polished it until it sparkled as the annoying Doubles Pokemon we know today! Truly, Fake Out + Intimidate was a mistake. Look at Incineroar over there, eclipsing Landorus-T in usage. I don't think that this design was directly built off of, though: it's too different. I believe the spinning top concept was used, and the it eventually became Hitmontop over the course of the year. This would explain the primitive design of it in the Spaceworld Prototype: it wasn't finished, obviously. Naturally, this also explains how Tyranitar got in by extension. It all falls into place quite easily: they were not initially intended to be reused, but a second look was all it took to get them implemented. To think that at one point, we never were going to get Tyranitar. Now THAT would have shook the Gen 3 Metagame. A world without Sand Stream? A world without TSS- actually, that sounds alright. So, what about those trainers? Well, looks like they're in Game Freak's archives of scrapped designs, awaiting another look. I do think that the Male Trainer was reused in the anime, but I just can't remember where. I'm certain that I've seen something like that before, but I just can't find it. It's been bugging me for months. This is just how Ken Sugimori does things: he never wastes a single design. He will always look at his old works, and reuse them accordingly. The cover art is just another, more notable and visible, case of it. Now, if only some of those Spaceworld Designs could see some reuse... Anyway, that's all I have. Hopefully this is closure on the whole thing! |
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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