Beta Arceus

Submission 47,589

Part of a series on 2020 Nintendo Source Code Gigaleak. [View Related Entries]

About

Beta Arceus refers to a version of the Pokémon Arceus found in the 2020 Nintendo Source Code Gigaleaks. The Pokémon's unfinished design led to parodies which emphasized the clumsy look of the sprite, particularly compared with the grandeur of its final design befitting its legendary status as the possible creator of all Pokémon.

Origin

On July 24th, 2020, an anonymous 4chan user leaked a significant amount of data from Nintendo, including unused sprites from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.^[1] Included in these leaks was an unused beta sprite for Arceus, an event-only Legendary in the game and possibly the in-fiction creator of the Pokémon universe (shown below).^[2]

Spread

The design of Beta Arceus was quickly joked about on Twitter. On July 26th, Twitch streamer Kaitlyn Molinas hosted a stream where she was able to get Beta Arceus into the game and used it in the Pokémon contest feature (shown below).

The stream led others to create fan art of Beta Arceus participating in Pokémon contests. For example, Twitter user @RandomMinty^[3] posted art that gained over 1,000 retweets and 2,600 likes (shown below, left). User @Primarinart^[4] posted art that gained over 1,200 retweets and 2,700 likes (shown below, right).

Others created art that emphasized the Pokémon's creepy, ethereal potential considering its status as a "god." For example, Twitter user @AtelierNear^[5] posted art saying, "Y'know, in the right circumstances, I think Beta Arceus could be genuinely terrifying…," gaining over 1,600 retweets and 9,400 likes (shown below, left). User @Monica_bares^[6] posted art that gained over 500 retweets and 1,000 likes (shown below right). Art of Beta Arceus was covered by Polygon.^[7]