These scrapped mons were found on a leaked ROM file of an old Gold&Silver demo/beta known as the “Pokémon Gold/Silver Spaceworld 1997 Prototype”
The bottom half of this image is filled with sprites of pokemon that didn’t make the final cut, but many are obviously inspiration to the final designs of many Gen 2 mons we know and love, as well as some from even later generations.
Source: www.polygon.com/2018/5/31/17413826/pokemon-gold-demo-leak
*Pokémon Gold and Silver was released in 1999, introducing us to the Johto region and a new set of lovable pocket monsters and trainers. But before the games’ official release, a demo version debuted at Space World ‘97, Nintendo’s trade show. Now, over 20 years later, the Space World demo has surfaced online after being uploaded by an anonymous user.
The demo includes the original region map, some unseen story elements (the protagonist’s big brother is named Ken, apparently), removed moves, and other details that didn’t make it into the final cut. But arguably the best content to come out of this leak is the early, trashed designs of some of our favorite Pokémon. While some look like they were reused in later games, others just never quite made it.
The full line-up features some never-before-seen designs, including pre-evolutions and evolutions.*
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Got a source? Cool stuff.
I wish they kept with some of these designs. They should re-introduce some of these for the next generation.
Pokemon look too much like Digimon nowadays, I swear.
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Really awesome, looked like they planned an evolution for Pinser way back in the day. Poor Pinser not getting any love.
There are soo many more cool things about these sprites. Thanks for sharing
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I like how it looks like they also had an alternative evolution for the bellsprout line, right next to bellossom. Makes me wonder if “bellossom” was actually the name for the bellsprout line evo because it would make more sense if both of them were to exist.
This is so wild. You dream of stuff like this happening but never expect it to. Here we are, in the year of our Lord 2018, receiving such a blessing. I can’t wait for someone to make a fully fleshed out '97 Pokemon Gold ROM hack based on all this new information.
One thing to note about the sprites, some of the Gen 1 Pokemon re-use old sprites and others have completely new sprites that never made it to any game.
Here’s how the world would have looked:
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Looks like they had an evo for farfetch’d and quilfish, really wish they didn’t scrap those.
They also seem to have pre evos for Vulpix, Ponyta,Jynx, Meowth and Growlithe.
Those early 3 legendary dog designs are absolute trash, I am glad they evolved into what they finally became.
Im glad Porygon 2 didnt look like a “Little Lion Man”
Been messing around with this today. Worth downloading and having a tinker if you have a spare 20mins.
It looks like Heracross. I always thought Heracross was Pinser’s evolution. 
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No sir, Heracross is Pinsir’s gay cousin.
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Good point, I noticed it reminded me of mega heracross or something. Really shows their thoughts on the creation of pokemon!
Not that I have ever uset Girafarig, but if they would have kept that old design, it would have been the creepiest Pokemon to use in battle. #Creepystaredown
That Blastoise though, dope.