Pokemon Generation 2 - Nihon (aka The Spaceworld '97 Build)
Pokermon Gold and Silver began life as 'Pokemon 2' and was scheduled to release Late-1997/Early-1998. However, due to the 'Pokemon Shock' incident (i'll go into that another time), the Anime was put on hold for a few months, and by extension, the Games.
Thanks to the delay, Game Freak had more time to improve the Games.
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Initially, Generation 2 was to have 351 Pokemon, the Original 151 and 200 New ones. Most of the New Pokemon were cut down to just 101 much later in development, likely due to the lack of cart space.
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There was gonna be a Sheep Pokemon based on Dolly the Sheep (look her up), but this was deemed too controversial, so the Mareep Line was created in it's place.
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During This stage in development The Region was called 'Nihon' and was based on the Entirety of Japan....complete with a "Downsized" Kanto.
Other areas include a High Tech City, a Desert Town,a couple of Japanese-Style Cities, a Snowy Island, a Wintery City, and More. There was also an Aquarium in one of these cities. And some caves were gonna have mine carts.
Oh, and New Bark Town was called Silent Hills and had a blocked off path that led to Victory Road.
I'll talk more in detail about these Towns another time.
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The Story was a bit different during this era of development. 1 Year after the events of Red/Green/Blue, Prof. Oak moved to the Player's home town and settled in as the Professor (so no Prof. Elm) Assisting Oak was Green/Blue, who was now more humble.
Oak secretly moved to the Player's Home Town to study the New Pokemon.
And Silver, the Rival, was the Player's hot-blooded competitive friend with ZERO relation or connection to Giovanni. This is a sharp contrast to Final!Silver.
Team Rocket was more involved in the Story and even had an Imposter Prof. Oak. Plus, Giovanni was gonna lead them once again.
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Instead of the Bike,the Player was gonna get a Skateboard instead.
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Gym Leaders Falkner, Jasmine, Bugsy (who was Gym Leader #3 )and Morty looked different. Whitney was the 2nd Gym Leader,Pryce was called Okera and had no unique Sprite yet. Red was a Gym Leader,instead of a Super Boss. And Clair was called Gama and,like with Pryce, had no unique Sprite yet.
As for the Elite 4, It consisted of Bruno, Misty,and Lorelei,and.... Giovanni?!!! Yes, Giovanni. Why and How was he a member of the Elite 4 is a mystery, as in this build, he was Still part of Team Rocket as their Leader.
Lorelei,who was absent in the final games, was the Leader of the Elite 4 and Lance was the Champion (like he is in the final games)
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Kurt the Pokeball Maker was once intended to be battled. Plus, Agatha was set to return, but was scrapped before the final build.
Imakuni (based on Tomoaki Imakuni) , was intended to host a radio show at the Radio Tower.
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There were many Pokemon in this build that never made it to the final game, some had different designs, while others from the final game were absent.
Now, I won't list them all, but here are the notable ones.
Chikorita evolved into a disturbing Plant Monster instead of Bayleef. The Cyndaquil and Totodile Lines were replaced by a family of Fire Bears and Plesiosaurs respectively.
Tangela not only had a Pre-Evolution but also an Evolution. Girafarig had a Pre-Evolution that resembled Twin Ghosts. Speaking of, Girafarig was gonna have another Giraffe Head, this one looking sinister. This head was modified into the Chain-Chomp head it has in the final.
Kotora and Raitora from the Gen 1 Beta was set to return, but was scrapped once again. There were More Ghost-Types in the game. One was a Cursed Straw Doll with a Nail stuck in it. There was also a Panda that was based on a Jiangshi, a Chinese Hopping Vampire, which often acts Zombie-like.
Speaking of Disturbing, Hitmontop's design at this stage in development would've been an unnerving sight if encountered. The Shell on Slowbro's tail was once it's own Pokemon. It's relation to Shellder would've been explained in full, had it not been cut.
Sneasel had a completely different design, as did Politoad and Noctowl. There were 2 Pokemon who were covered in furs, with their True forms being unknown. They were both Ice-Types.
Remoraid and Octillary resembled a Revolver and a Tank respectively. Ladiba had a different Evolution.
Their were also a buncha scrapped Baby Pokemon too, other than Tengala's. Baby Forms of Ponyta, Growlith, Vulpix, Doduo, Meowth, Mr. Mime, Grimer, and Goldeen were all cut. Though Mr. Mime's Pre-Evo Was revived for Generation 4.
The Baby Pokemon that Did make it in had different designs. Those Mon were Pichu, Smoochum, Elekid (known here as elebaby), and Magby.
Farfetch'd, Pinser, were intended to get Evolutions. Likitung would get an Evo in Gen 4, Pinser would get a Mega-Evo in Gen 6, and Farfetch'd (at least a regional variant) would get an Evo in Gen 8.
There was also 2 scrapped nocturnal Cat Pokemon, with a Bell gimmick, A Shark with an Anchor attached to it, and a Blowfish with a Lightning Bolt on it's head.
Umbreon was originally a Poison-Type (a remenent of this is seen in it's pokedex entry) . The Hoppip Line was more cat-like. Ditto had a Steel-Type Evolution.
And finally, The 3 Legendary Beasts were Elemental Dogs.
I'll go more into detail about these Monsters at another date.
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Pokemon Generation 2 - Kansai
From Late 1998 - Early 1999, Game Freak scrapped the concept of the region being based on the entirety of Japan and just decided to based it on just one region - The Kansai Region. The Graphics were all overhauled and match the final.
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Compared to the final, The Kansai Region is pretty different from Johto. Cherry Grove City was a bit bigger. Violet City's lay out was different with Sprout Tower being on the Bottom Left of the City. Azalia Town was smaller. Goldenrod City had a port.
Ecruteck City's Towers were in different places. Olivine City was a bit different and had more houses. Mahogany Town lacked a Gym at this point. The Lake of Rage had a heavily forested area that housed a Pagoda.
Blackthorn City had a hilly forest that lead to a Pagoda. This Pagoda was the Original Dragon's Den.
There was an Unused Town with a port and a Gym. And Mahogany Town didn't exist yet.
Route 26 had a Haunted House. And The path to Mt. Silver was to be a semi-haunted forest maze.
Kanto was more complete. The Safari Zone was being worked on at that point in time. The Cinnabar Lab and Mansion were accessible. In fact Cinnabar Island was Still standing. Veridian Forist was gonna be compact..but Still an actual "dungeon"
I'll go more into these towns and routes another time.
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Additional Pokemon were added to these Builds. Notable Mon are the scrapped Min-Stage Evo of Natu and Xatu, A Ninja Squirrel, a Monster Skeleton, and a Wind Dog, which may or may Not have been Silver's Original Box Art Legendary (Lugia was created very very late in this development era). .
Also, late in this development era, the Starter Pokemon line-up was finalized, as Bayleef, Totodile, Croconaw, Feraligater, Cyndaquill, Quilava, and Typhlosion were added in. Heracross replaced the Pinsir Evolution late in development.
Celebi was created later in development, had a different look and was a pure Grass-Type, instead of a Grass/Psychic-Type.
And finally, the Legendary Dogs become Legendary Beasts.
I'll be talking more about these Mon at a later date and time.
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The Gym Leaders and Elite 4 are the same as the final, except Bugsy and Whitney are still swapped.
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Lugia was Not created by Game Freak, nor Nintendo, but by the Pokemon Anime's head writer and chief creative, Takeshi Shudo, to be an Anime-exclusive Pokemon. But, it was eventually implemented into the games late in development.
Lugia was known as Pokemon X (not to be confused with the Gen 6 game) before it's name was officially chosen.
I'll talk more about Lugia's origins at a later time.
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Shuckle, Piloswine, and Yanma were gonna get Evolutions. Piloswine and Yanma would eventually get Evolutions in Generation 4.
Girafarig got a new Pre-Evo, which resembled the Pokemon more.. The Twin Ghosts were soon re-worked into Wobbafet.
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With some help from Satoru Iwata, Game Freak was able to create a compression code that allowed Kanto to be fully added to the game.
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Pokemon Generation 2 - Johto (aka The Final Build)
Starting with Gen 2 in the U.S.,Jynx's skin color was changed from black to purple. This was to end the controversy surrounding the Pokemon at the time (where jynx was compared to blackface).
This change was applied to the Japanese Games starting in Gen 3.
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The Final Game has some Kansai Town/City leftovers. The only main differences are that Mahogany Town now has a Gym and the Lake of Rage now has both a Town with a Gym. Also, Cianwood City was added very late in development.
Also,some of the Kanto areas had to be scrapped due to cart limitations. One such area was The Safari Zone, which was the last Kanto Area to be cut. And the Destroyed Cinnabar Island replaced the Original one.
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The Pharmacy was originally in Ecruteck City, instead of Cianwood City.
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There was a scrapped side-quest, where the Player would have to rescue a child trapped in the Burnt Tower.
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Pokemon Crystal was the first Pokemon Game that let the Player play as a Female Protagonist
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In the Japanese version, the Pokémon Center in Goldenrod City is replaced with the "Pokémon Communication Center", or PokéCom Center/PCC for short. This new area is meant to showcase the added gameplay features linked to the Mobile System GB. However, due to the accessory not being released overseas, the PCC was reverted back to a standard Pokémon Center, and so was the building's exterior.
One item the Player could get would've been a GS Ball, which when brought to the Shrine in the Iilex Forest,would allow the Player to capture Celebi.
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A Battle Tower was added West of Olivine City for Crystal.
And That is all the Gen 2 Facts I know of. I'll talk more about the Beta Content of both the Gen 2 And Gen 1 Games in the future. I also have some fun fan theories too.
Well, that's it for now. Stay Gold and Continue Resisting Modern Attitudes.
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