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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Yay, Plague von Karma is back!
Alright alright, you're probably wondering where I was. I've been labbing Smash Ultimate recently with a bunch of friends, it's tied my hands a lot. However, I have come back with some stuff from the Asset Leak after chatting with friends about it. So I've updated my MissingNo. Identification Sheet with the new beta Pokemon and also moved Gyaoon to its Asset Leak Index. You can find it here. So, what was different between my original and latest research?
And some new facts:
I may cover some of this in more detail at some point. 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! 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! The Satoshi Taijiri Manga is pretty famous among us beta researchers, and really, it's a goldmine for information. So let's talk about some Beta Pokemon from it, and in this case, unmasking a MissingNo. Index. Now anyone who has read my research page for the Internal Pokedex Order in Gen 1 matches the Popularity Poll. In fact, it's almost a one to one match. And here, it's no different. The Beta Deer - literally called "Deer" - still has its spot in the data. It's just...blank. Technically it's not in the game, as MissingNo. takes its place. If you try to encounter it through the Mew Glitch with a Special Stat of 56, like with every other MissingNo., the game crashes since it's trying to load blank data. So, what could Deer have been, and has it ever been reused anywhere? Deer, to me, could have inspired Stantler and Sawsbuck. In fact, Sawsbuck feels like a re-imagining of the concept of a grass deer. Here's my typical poorly made MS Paint representation for you all to see the comparison. I'd say it's more of indirect inspiration. The idea of a deer Pokemon makes a lot of sense really, so it may have not inspired it at all. However, I can't help but think that Deer - the Pokemon - was most likely used as inspiration for Sawsbuck. Both clear Grass Type Pokemon, possibly Grass/Normal on Deer even.
For those interested in seeing how Deer could have looked and played in Pokemon, there's a ROM Hack of Red that significantly improves the game! It also has a version with the Taijiri Manga Pokemon in it! You can find it here, it's really good! If you want to simply see the Pokemon, there's a Dex Test here. I'll be covering Crocky and other Taijiri Manga Pokemon in separate pieces to give more elaborate opinions. Ahh, MissingNo.. An age old topic that has had tons of controversy, conspiracies and numerous urban legends whizzing around it. Obviously these days we see it as nothing more than an item duplicator to steamroll Giovanni and the Elite Four in the International Versions of Pokemon Red and Blue, but there's more to it than just that. So, recently, Helix Chamber unmasked MissingNo. Index Numbers 159 and 160 as the Kotora Line from the Spaceworld Demo, thanks to an interview segment with Satoshi Taijiri. There is also implications that Steelix may be a part of this as well, but attempts to uncover it beyond a shadow of a doubt have been fruitless. Inspired by this, I compiled an Index List that you can find in the About Section on this Blog, along with my other research papers that I'm using to create these Blog Posts (since discussion at length gives me something to do). Now, what is this curious "Index Number 181"? Well, it's a curious one that came up during mine and Helix Chamber's individual research ventures. You see, Charmander and Squirtle were added VERY late into development, as were Wartortle and Charmeleon. Then there was Charizard. However, the index number after is simply a MissingNo.. Just what is this? You see, Blastoise was added super early, and no evolutions were even considered until what was clearly years later. Hell, Blastoise was originally cannonless back in the Capsule Monster Days (yes, it goes back that far, all the way to 1989). Venusaur was originally Ivysaur, not having an evolution line decided until a lot later. Thus the Pokemon Red and Green Sprites being so similar. But that's unrelated, and chances are it'll have its own article eventually. There was a pattern with Charmander and Squirtle. It was Charmander, Squirtle, Charmeleon, Wartortle, Charizard, then MissingNo.. Anyway, you're probably screaming for me to get to the point. So this table just puts into perspective what I'm saying. After this, we have the three MissingNo. "forms" the game uses to show the fossils in Pewter Museum of Science, and the Ghosts in Lavender Tower, then the Oddish and Bellsprout Lines. So what is this MissingNo. for? Well, the theories need to be spoken about now.
The first derives from the Kotora Line in the Spaceworld Demo. This theory blends the MissingNo. in question and the Kabutops Form into a 2 Tier Evolution Line, and then the Aerodactyl and Ghost Forms into another. This is because after Kotora in the Spaceworld Demo and in RBYG as MissingNo.s Hex 159 and 160, there are exactly the same number of 2 Tier Evolution Lines. These being the Norowara Line, Houndour Line and Urufuman Line. However, RBYG has four of what would be 2 Tier Evolution Lines, so this theory falls through in that regard. That and it's extremely circumstantial. The releases of Red and Green, and the date of Spaceworld 1997 are also quite close, so such a quick change of plan for Spaceworld would be the only way this is valid. The second is much easier to believe: an Alternate Blastoise. So before they settled on Blastoise, this would have been Squirtle's Final Evolution. What it looked like or what it even was, nobody knows. Mainly because this is just guesswork. Given that the Reused MissingNo. afterwards were used together while this one wasn't, it could be said that 181 was the Final Evolution while 182-184 were a 3 Tier Evolution Line. This theory is much more common sense and doesn't rely on circumstantial evidence, so overall I would say this is quite true. Now, what could this #AltBlastoise be? Once again, nobody knows. Maybe it looked more like Wartortle? The fluffy tail disappearing for Blastoise was always quite weird to me, same with the lack of fluffy ears. The evolution even feels wrong when you think about it that way: from bubbles and fluffy stuff to water Bowser with Digimon Cannons on its back? The design change even makes sense when you think about it like that. This was definitely last minute. So why would this change have be done? Saving storage space, less Non-Evolving Pokemon, convenience, and having two turtles would be weird. Then again, we have tons of bipedal dinosaur Pokemon in the game, so two turtles would sort of make sense? Perhaps they could have made it quadrupedal instead? Maybe it was, and then reused for the development of Torterra? Really, it could be anyone's guess on what it would have been, Given the winged ears on Wartortle I hope it was like those flying buzzy beetles from Super Mario Bros. 3. Those fuckers were cute as hell and I love them. If anything were to happen to one, I would destroy the world in response. Anyway, there's nothing more to really say here. Until we see the full copy of Satoshi Taijiri's Pocket Monsters Kaiju Zukan, or possibly the full Popularity Poll from the start of development (which chances are, won't go that high in number due to being from 1992-1993), we will never see what Pokemon this once was. |
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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