Pokemon Gold and Silver will always be a big stepping stone for the Pokemon franchise and recent leaks prove it. The original games include a bunch of different sprites for species that either got scrapped or made an appearance in later games. Do you want to see what Celebi looked like in the beginning? What about Pichu and Leafeon?
The Pokemon Gold and Silver Leak started back in 1999 when data miners found unused sprites for pokemon that didn’t exist. Now, that the franchise has expanded beyond our imagination, most of it makes sense. In a recent feature by Retbit, we get a look at what Celebi looked like at first, what species changed entirely, and more. Both the source and Dr. Lava have posted many of those sprites on Twitter.
In the gallery below, you can see some of the initial designs for Tentacool, Cleffa, Leafeon, Pichu, and Celebi. All of the original designs got revamped for their release. Especially with Leafeon, we’re glad that we got a more detailed design than its original. In addition to the changed species, we also have some scrapped ones, including a shark-like creature, a wolf that looks a lot like Seventails, and a skeletal dragon or dinosaur of sorts. Here are all the sprites:
It’s funny how Pokemon Gold and Silver leaks keep on popping up after decades. Even if we’re looking at the past and not some possible future species, it’s always nice to see where the franchise had its starting point. Right now, the closest you get to a high-end Pokemon title is Sword and Shield on Nintendo Switch. The game is getting its first content update through the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC. Fans are not that excited about the idea of getting locked out of content due to the existence of two versions but the DLC will introduce new Pokemon and bring back old ones, so we can’t be that mad.
