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!
1 Comment
nitwit
30/8/2018 08:47:43 pm
I think I may have seen that guy before in the anime as well. He could be that blonde guy from Pokemon Gen 3 anime. I'm not sure? It's been awhile since I've seen that anime.
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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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