So, this is my first Blog Post for this new thing. I was suggested to do this by a moderator on Helix Chamber, and hopefully this will last more than a week. My first topic will be Venomoth, a Pokemon that has an interesting development history. It was added at Index Number 119 in Pokemon RBYG, so around the middle of development as an evolution to Venonat. So, neither late nor early. So, what's the history? Well, Venomoth has a history of having its design switched around in Pokemon Games. When I say switched around, I mean flipped like a light switch. You see, in earlier iterations of Venomoth, it had some yellow spots on the back of its wings. Early artwork by Ken Sugimori proves this. Hell, it was even released as "Sabrina's Venomoth" when the Gym Heroes Expansion in the TCG dropped, Number 34/134. Now, what does this mean and why is it even important? Well, as we all know, Venomoth did not have this sprite in RBYG. In fact, the sprites were pretty awful. However, we never see this specific art in the game. Unlike with Kakuna, who we see with the arms in Red and Blue International but not in Red JP and Green for some reason. Nobody knows why he has arms, nor why there was so much promotional work showing it, but hey, you do you. Now, this would be where Venomoth's almost meaningless design change ends. However, the Spaceworld Demo has reignited this weird tale, since it actually uses the old design. As you can see, the sprites for RBG do not use the design. Nor does Yellow. Nor does GSC. But, the Spaceworld Demo tells us that not only did they intend to keep the derpy eyes, but it also wanted to keep the back wings from the beta design. It doesn't end there though, since the Back Sprite didn't have the back wing design while the Front Sprite did. The sprite was completely different and clearly quite complete and ready for shipment. Obviously this didn't happen, and the game was rebuilt the following year.
So now the question: what the hell was going on with Venomoth's design? Well, it seems they were torn between making it a moth and making it not a moth. Sadly, the latter won and now Venomoth is barely a moth at all. Nobody really knows why the design changed, nor why they were bringing it back for Generation 2 multiple years later. However, this sprite does pin down some development history dates for the Spaceworld Demo: it quite clearly started development in 1996. Early Planning began in 1995, as we can see that the MissingNo. removed had a relation to the Unused Kotora Line thanks to Helix Chamber's discovery. It can also be pinned down because the game was first revealed on 5th August 1996 in the Corocoro Magazine with a number of reasonably complete Pokemon: it took years for the RBYG Roster to be completed. Venomoth's early design was made in 1996 for Pokemon Red and Green's promotion, so all in all it is quite easy to see when this sprite was made. Thanks, Venomoth! But there is more on Venomoth, specifically with the Pre Evolution Venonat. Some believe that it is meant to be Butterfree's long lost Pre Evolution. Just going to say this is false. You see, Venonat was added very, very early as Index Number 65. It was originally not even going to evolve into or from anything, and it had a very big sprite to prove it. However, Venomoth was added at the aforementioned Index Number 119. That is why it was downsized for RBG. The Butterfree Line was added AFTER both of these Pokemon together. Caterpie is Index Number 123, Metapod is 124, and Butterfree is 125. As a result of this, it is impossible to say Venonat was ever meant to evolve into Butterfree: it was clearly intended to be in the Caterpie line from the very beginning. Thus, the relation between these two lines is purely coincidental. It's a real shame we never got the older design of Venomoth though. It looked really cool, and a lot more like the genus it is based on: Morpho. The spots gave it a bit more character and generally made it more interesting, y'know? Now, if only it got a Bug/Psychic Mega Evolution...
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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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