Several never-before-seen Pokémon starters have surfaced online after a lost making-of documentary for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl was recently recovered. The rare footage has revealed over 120 unused Pokémon designs for the first time in 20 years, including a Lapras pre-evolution and a Santa Claus-inspired Delibird evolution.
New Pokémon Starters Are Revealed for the First Time
Following the launch of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl in 2006, Game Freak released a documentary covering the entire development process behind the Gen 4 RPGs. Up until this point, though, only a few copies of the video were known to exist, and they remained in private hands. However, a collector recently managed to buy the lost documentary from a Japanese auction site and upload its contents online in their entirety.
As a result, over 120 never-before-seen Pokémon designs have surfaced online for the first time. Popular Pokémon YouTuber Lewtwo archived the entire making-of documentary in a 56-minute video on his channel. Some of the most notable reveals are three new Pokémon starters that were ultimately scrapped. The trio appears to be the original starters planned for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. For your convenience, here are images of them:
Scrapped Sinnoh Water-Type Starter
Scrapped Sinnoh Water-Type Starter Revision 2
Scrapped Sinnoh Grass-Type Starter
Interestingly, it appears that Game Freak originally wanted the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl starters to be a wolf, an amphibious frog, and a sea-foam dog. Of course, they were eventually all replaced by Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup.
Over 100 Unused Pokémon Designs Surface Online
As if the new starters weren’t exciting enough, Lewtwo also revealed that over 120 unused Pokémon designs were uncovered after the making-of documentary was archived. One of the most notable standouts is a Lapras pre-evolution. Yes, the classic Gen 1 Kanto Pokémon almost got a new character added to its evolution line.
Fans also noticed a dragon Pokémon that looks awfully similar to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Ice/Dragon-type Baxcalibur. This is kind of crazy, as it could mean Game Freak reused the scrapped design over 20 years later. My personal favorite, though, is a Delibird evolution that would have turned the adorable Ice-type penguin into Santa Claus. No, you read that right. It even has a bag of toys as well.
Delibird Evolution
Lapras Pre-Evolution
Finally, the making-of Diamond and Pearl documentary reveals numerous early designs for Pokémon such as Arceus, Buneary, Bidoof, Cranidos, and many more. I highly recommend watching Lewtwo’s full video, as the Pokémon historian goes over the documentary’s biggest discoveries with incredible detail and historical analysis. For longtime fans, it offers a fascinating look at how different the Sinnoh region and its Pokémon could have been.