Lost Pokemon of the Day: Beta Wartortle Evolution

First revealed when Gen 1 beta assets leaked in February 2019, this Pokemon was the original evolution of Wartortle — in Gen 1's beta, Blastoise was unrelated.

(Photo descriptions & more info continued in thread below) (1/4)



(2/4) 1990 concept art shows Blastoise was designed by Ken Sugimori, and was one of the earliest Pokemon ever created (pictured below).

However, Squirtle & Wartortle were created much later by Atsuko Nishida — the female designer who also created Pikachu, Bulbasaur & Charmander.

Lost Pokemon of the Day: Twinz

First revealed when Gold & Silver's 1997 demo leaked in 2018, Twinz was a pair of conjoined twin ghosts originally created as Girafarig's pre-evolution -- back when Beta Girafarig still had two heads.

(More info continued in thread below) (1/4)



(2/4) In Japanese, Tsuinzu means "Twins," so fans have given him the English nickname Twinz.

In Gold & Silver's 1997 demo, Twinz and Girafarig were both dual-type Dark & Normal. Twinz ended up getting cut from G&S's final build, while Girafarig was revised to Normal & Psychic.

Lost Pokemon of the Day:

Beta sprites for the early Poliwrath family's were first revealed on Game Freak's official Japanese website in 1997. Game Freak also explained WHY Poliwrath was revised, and we can see for ourselves where his crown went.

(Thread below) (1/4)



(2/4) According to Pikachu's creator Atsuko Nishida, Poliwrath was revised because he looked too weak:

“Poliwag’s final evolution [didn't] look very tough, and players wouldn't be happy if they'd worked so hard to evolve their Pokémon only to have its final form appear weak."

Lost Gen 3 Game:

A few days ago Did You Know Gaming put up a video about Pokemon Garden. A lotta folks asked for sprites, assets, that kinda thing. Here's a thread of locations from the game, converted into GIF/MP4 format so they'll work on Twitter. Starting with the Lobby (1/7) (2/7) I'll tweet a Dropbox of absolutely everything that's been collected so far in a few days, just gotta get everything together. All credit goes to Mvit, Hisby, and their merry band of preservationists. Here's the tournament arena (roof)

Satoshi Tajiri Translation Collection:

Till recently, the entire internet's only had 1 interview with Pokemon's creator translated into English — a Time interview from 1999. Over the last year or two I've had 4 more interviews translated (~30 pages). They're all linked below 🧵 (1/4) This one was published in a 1996 Japanese book called Pokedex. It's an 8 page interview with Satoshi Tajiri and every other developer who helped make Gen 1. They mostly talk about inspirations and development, you can read it on my website here: lavacutcontent.com/satoshi-tajiri…

Lost Pokemon of the Day:

While not technically a "Lost Pokemon" in the traditional sense, Shadow Lugia's been missing from the series for the past 16 years. It only appeared in Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, the 2005 Gamecube game... and can't ever escape.

(Thread below) (1/4) (2/4) Shadow Lugia was corrupted by the criminal organization Cipher, and is considered the ULTIMATE Shadow Pokemon. It's also the only Shadow in Gale of Darkness with a unique design.

The game's opening cutscene shows Shadow Lugia and Cipher stealing a ship full of Pokemon.

Lost Pokemon of the Day: Kotora family

These electric tigers were created during Gen 1's development, but ended up getting cut. A few years later, they were planned to return in Gen 2... but sadly, got cut again.

(Photo descriptions & more info continued in thread below) (1/5) (2/5) Kotora and his evolution Raitora were first revealed when Gold & Silver's 1997 demo leaked in 2018.

Both pure Electric-types, Kotora translates to "baby tiger," and Raitora translates to "thunder tiger." In G&S's 1997 demo, Kotora evolved into Raitora at level 35.

Lost Pokemon History of the Day: Deleted Tweets

In December I searched through Pokemon art director James Turner's entire Twitter history to extract development info. But as soon as I started sharing this info... James deleted ALL those tweets.

(More info in thread below) (1/4) (2/4) James' tweets, made between 2017 and 2019, revealed information about Pokemon design inspirations, development details, and more insider info. Clearly, Game Freak didn't want this info made public -- so they deleted it all off Twitter the day after I shared the first quote.

Lost Pokemon of the Day: the Rinrin family

First revealed when Gold & Silver's 1997 demo leaked in 2018, Rinrin & Berurun were a bell-themed family of Dark type felines... but they didn't make the final cut.

(Photo descriptions & more info continued in thread below) (1/4) (2/4) Rinrin was female-only and evolved into Berurun at level 28. "Rinrin" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a ringing bell, while "Berurun" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for cheerful humming.

An onomatopoeia is a word that represents a sound -- like "BOOM" for an bomb exploding.