What Was Uncovered In The 'Game Freak Giga Leaks' Of October 2024? Memes About The 'Pokemon' Characters Skyla, Typhlosion, Slaking And Octillery Explained

Countless Pokémon fans are reeling from the TMI they received this past week that's dominated many circles of the internet since it dropped.

A leak regarding upcoming projects or even past Pokémon games is almost always welcomed by the community, but the lore stories revealed in the latest massive data leak from Game Freak, the unfortunately named video game developers behind the Pokémon franchise, have surpassed all expectations.

From unsavory lore about human-Pokémon relations of the past to hilarious tidbits about how game developers create new Pokémons and their trainers, there's a little bit for every Pokémon fan in the 2024 Game Freak Gigaleaks.

Here's a look at some of the highlights from the leak and how the internet reacted to the new revelations.

What Is Game Freak, And What Was The 'Gigaleak' In October 2024?

Game Freak is the Japanese video game developer that has been making Pokémon games since the '90s. Sometime in October 2024, murmurs about a data leak from the company began making the rounds online.

This isn't the first time that the company got hacked, as a series of leaks from 2019 to 2020 had previously revealed insider information about Nintendo, Wii and Pokémon. This time was no different — and possibly even worse.

Around October 12th, 2024, internet users and Pokémon fans, in particular, began discussing entire untranslated files that were emerging on 4chan and Discord.

These files contained everything from information about Nintendo's highly anticipated and rumored next-gen console, an unannounced 10th generation Pokémon game, as well as the upcoming Pokémon Legends Z-A game.

The leak reportedly indicated the name of the Game Freak employee responsible, with tech enthusiasts speculating that they may have been a victim of a phishing scam and accidentally put the private information of thousands of their coworkers at risk.

What Did The Game Freak GigaLeaks Reveal?

The first round of information from the leaks emerged online on October 12th, with X accounts, online communities and subreddits dedicated to discussing such leaks jumping into gear. The Twitter / X account @CentroLeaks began by posting beta versions of various Pokémon and their trainers, as well as concept art of Gen 3 Pokémon over the weekend.

On October 13th, however, the information revealed from the leak got a bit … strange.

People began diving into documents written by Game Freak employees and translating them into English. What they found were several unreleased stories exploring Pokémon lore, and some tales even touching on the game's creation myths. These are themes touched upon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but never fully fleshed out.

Some documents revealed information on how Game Freak employees come up with new character designs. Many fans got a real kick out of seeing that Skyla, a gym leader in Pokémon Black and White, was initially described as a "Sexy Pilot" with a photo of JLo for reference.

Other documents delved into even stranger Pokémon lore. For instance, one story talked about a man engaging in "relations" with an Octillery, a water-type Pokémon with a long tubular snout that resembles an octopus.

Another story talked about how a Typhlosion once made a human-Pokémon hybrid with a girl, which was similar to an additional viral tale of a Slaking having a child with a girl.

These tales read a lot like Greek myths and fables and spoke to how the creators of Pokémon were cooking up some mythology inspired by what tales exist in the real world.

How Did Pokémon Fans React To The News About The Game Freak GigaLeaks?

Pokémon fans reacted to the news as well as they could, which is not well at all. They had a whole day to fawn over concept and beta art, both cool and creepy, before they were forced to grapple with the more seedy lore the masterminds at Game Freak had been harboring all along.

Many fans got a real kick out of Skyla being described as a "Sexy Pilot" and Latina, joking about how the character prompts for other trainers were much less flattering.

Other fans could not get over the weird human-Pokémon mythos revealed in the leaks, with many internet artists posting jokes, memes and fan art about how Typhlosion is "not like us," and how The Deep probably came up with the Octillery story himself.

For the full history of the Game Freak Pokémon GigaLeak, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.