A lot goes into making a Pokémon design what it is. Fans often take to criticizing certain Pokémon in each generation, with a consensus of which have the stronger and weaker designs being reached over time. The reality is that Game Freak artists come up with a number of different designs throughout the development process, with many either being reworked or scrapped altogether as the games come along.
While plenty of beta designs have never seen the light of day, fans have discovered a plethora of unused Pokémon over the years. Most of them were never used, however there are some that were reworked and made into one of the 800 plus Pokémon out there today. With many of these beta designs, the resemblance to the final product is somewhat obvious, but still different enough to look like its own thing.
10 Unnamed Creature
This Pokémon was first created for a magazine unrelated to the series around the time of the Gold & Silver beta, and was also featured alongside an early version of what would become Tyranitar.
Simply known as Unnamed Creature, this beta Pokémon resembles a baby version of Hitmontop, with some resemblance to Clefairy as well. With its size it seems unlikely that it was part of the Tyrogue evolution line, and was most likely either the original baby Pokémon in that line, or a different Pokémon altogether.
9 Kabiin
Looking at the design for Kabiin, it resembles a doodle much more than it does an actual Pokémon. The very crude design suggests that it was most likely a placeholder for something else at the time.
It bears a resemblance to series designer Koji Nishino, and its round body and humanoid features somewhat resemble Snorlax. Its name, Kabiin, is also similar to Snorlax’s Japanese name, Kabigon. Therefore, there’s a good chance that this early design inspired some aspects of Snorlax’s final look in some way.
8 Dragon4
Yet another crude sketch, Dragon4 likely served as more of an outline during early development more than anything else. However, fans will notice a rather striking resemblance to one of the series’ most popular Pokémon with its outline and general look.
Though it’s not the most detailed design, Dragon4 closely resembles Charizard in both its frame and overall look. The short arms, wide wings and pointed head all seem to be early concepts that would eventually be put together in a more completed state with the Charizard design.
7 Unnamed turtle
Yet another Pokémon that was featured in a magazine, this time heavily resembling a turtle thus the name. This Pokémon was included in the Gold & Silver Beta but was phased out in the final versions.
Though it doesn’t resemble any Gen II Pokémon, its design is fairly similar to Gen V’s Tirtouga. The overall design is similar enough, though its head is somewhat rounder and its shell looks to be farly larger than its Gen V counterpart.
6 Kurusu
Featured as part of the Spaceworld 1997 Gold & Silver Beta, not much is known about this Pokémon other than it was used as the Water-starter during the playable demo. The only bit of information fans have been able to gather about it is that it knows Growl, Water Gun, and Tackle.
Kurusu’s design heavily resembles Gen I’s Seel. Though whether or not the two designs were conceived at a similar time is unknown. It also bears a resemblance to Gen III’s Spheal, though whether or not it inspired either design is unconfirmed.
5 Beta Groudon
Plenty of Pokémon go through changes as the development process goes on. While some look fairly close to their finalized designs, others took a while to get where they needed to be. One of the more notable cases of the latter is the Beta Groudon design.
The overall body shape is more or less the same, but what really stands out is how different its face is. The eyes are wider and its face somewhat more sullen. For the most part, the two designs are reminiscent of the other, with the final design looking like a more touched-up version of the beta one.
4 Raikou / Suicune
Not often does a beta design get split into two finalized ones. But that’s exactly what happened with this unnamed Pokémon. Yet another beta design that debuted in the Gold & Silver Beta, this strange Pokémon bears a close resemblance to Raikou and Suicune.
It was designed by Muneo Saito, who is responsible for designing all the Legendary Beast Pokémon. Though it doesn’t explicitly resemble either Raikou or Suicune, this unused design shares some prominent characteristics with both that look to have been applied to the final design.
3 Latiaziken
Yet another example of a beta design resembling two different Pokémon of the same generation, this time a mixture of Latios and Blaziken. Dubbed Latiaziken by fans, it looks to be an interesting combination of both designs.
The overall design of the body resembles Latios, with the color scheme looking like a mixture of both Latios’ and Blaziken’s final designs. The fur and claws – most of the lower body actually – look a lot like what Blaziken’s final design came out to be.
2 Honoguma
Yet another Pokémon featured in the Gold & Silver Beta, Kurusu resembles a Fire-type Pikachu. Only playable in the Spaceworld 1997 demo, Kurusu seemed to be the initial Fire-type starter design.
It looks nothing like Cyndaquil, so it’s likely that the overall design was completely scrapped, with nothing except the Fire-type starter concept remaining. Its name is a combination of flame and bear in Japanese.
1 Gengar & Nidorino
These two beta designs come from a very early stage of development, when the games were still going by the Capsule Monsters moniker. The image above is reminiscent of the opening sequence featuring Gengar and Nidorino, and the two Pokémon do share some qualities with both.
The Pokémon on the left seems to be a rough design of what would eventually be Gengard, given the body shape. While the one on the left looks to be an early design of Nidorino that shred visual traits with Gyarados and Feraligatr.
NEXT: 10 Pokémon In Need Of A Pre-Evolution
