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.
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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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