A new prototype build ofPokemon DiamondandPokemon Pearlhas surfaced online as part of the recent string ofNintendo leaksthat began in late July, and apparently this early build of the game featured some familiar faces for fans ofPokemon RedandPokemon Blue.
In late July, a massive number of prototypes for both released and canceled Nintendo games began to leak online. Now referred to as the Gigaleak, the veracity of the leaked information was initially in doubt, until one of the lead developers of the first fourStar Foxgames, Dylan Cuthbert, began answering questions about theStar FoxGigaleak on Twitter.
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The leaks have given Nintendo fans details on everything from source code for a canceled sequel toOcarina of Timeto acanceled PokemonMMO from 2004. And now, something curious has been found in an early prototype ofPokemon DiamondandPokemon Pearlregarding everyone’s favorite silent trainer fromRedandBlue.PokemonYouTuber Lewtwo has pointed out that Red was used as a judge inDiamondandPearl’s Super Contests.
While this might seem like a scrapped grand feature that developer Game Freak had planned for the game, it is more than likely just a coincidence. As Lewtwo points out, many features of the final game are only partially working or are entirely missing in this prototype, so it stands to reason that Game Freak just tossed Red’s sprite into the judge’s booth to fill the space and later replaced it with a new art asset.
After all, this prototype contains manyversions of sprites for the new Pokemonin the fourth-generation games that were later replaced with the sprites in the final game that players know and love, and it typically takes quite a while to finalize art assets in a game.
While the legality of how the leakers obtained this prototype version of the game is very much in question, this is still a fascinating peek behind the curtain at Game Freak’s process of developing Pokemon games. And only these leakers know if more interestingPokemontidbits will be revealed.
Pokemon DiamondandPokemon Pearlare available on the Nintendo DS.
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