More than 100 previously-unseen Pokémon designs have been revealed from a long-lost Game Freak documentary that has never been seen in public until now. The documentary, originally made for Game Freak staff, includes evidence of scrapped Pokémon designs such as a discarded Delibird evolution, Kecleon evolutions, Stantler and Lapras pre-evolutions, and a baby Plusle and Minun.
The documentary also showcases different designs for the region’s starter Pokémon, featuring a foam-headed Water-type dog and a Grass-type wolf. Game Freak distributed the documentary on DVDs to employees who were sworn to keep the contents private.
A team of fans obtained and sifted through the documentary, with the best archive found on Lewtwo. The full documentary is now available on YouTube and the Internet Archive, allowing fans to explore its content for the first time.
The documentary includes almost an hour of footage shot within Game Freak’s offices, showing employees at work and during casual moments. It provides insight into the design process used to create the Pokémon series, specifically the Sinnoh region, highlighting sketches, paper maps, and real-world models.
This documentary was mentioned by Pokémon lead Junichi Masuda in a blog post over 19 years ago. Earlier this year, an auction listing for a copy of the DVD appeared before being purchased. Another copy of the DVD has since been obtained and its contents shared.
Looking ahead, the next Pokémon games, titled “Pokémon Winds and Waves,” are set to release sometime next year on the Switch 2. Additionally, the Pokémon game “Pokémon Pokopia” will receive a free update and paid DLC next month.
