Pokémon Gold and Silver Beta Sprites Leak

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Overview

Pokémon Gold and Silver Beta Sprites Leak refers to a leak of several unused potential Pokémon from the second generation games of the series, Gold and Silver. The leak included scrapped new Pokémon, unused evolutionary forms, and original concepts for Pokémon that would be changed for the official release. After the leak, discussion of the unused sprites spread online, particularly in the Pokémon fandom, with some of the sprites appearing in fan art.

Background

On May 31st, 2018, The Cutting Room Floor^[1] posted about uncovering prototype files of Pokémon Gold and Silver. In addition to the leaked sprites, the files included removed or altered moves, maps, animations, and trainers. User ERAsaur posted analysis of the findings that day.^[2] The sprites would gain the most media attention, as publications focused on the unused Pokémon, notably the different starters and their evolutions (examples shown below).

Developments

The day of the leaks, Kotaku^[3] and Game Revolution,^[4] reported on the findings. The following day, US Gamer^[5] singled out ten of the unused Pokémon sprites, including a "satanic" Giraffarig and its unused pre-evolution, a cut Meowth pre-evolution (fan art shown below, left), a beta Pichu (fan art shown below, right), a Ditto evolution which was triggered with a Metal Coat item, and a lion-like Porygon 2. As of June 4th, 2018, The Cutting Room Floor team is working on translating all the files they uncovered.

Fan Reactions

Fan reaction to the unused sprites was strong, as social media users both joked and voiced their appreciation for the characters. Twitter user @MrClemps joked that the unused Ditto evolution sprite looked like a "giant screaming condom" (shown below, left). User @sanigo_ used the Reaction Guys to make a point about how much more exciting the news was than the announcement of Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee (shown below, right).

Fan Art was also popular in the Pokémon community, particularly on Twitter and Tumblr. User @Grind3h posted fan art of some of the sprites, gaining over 2,600 retweets (shown below, left). Tumblr user pinkgermy posted fan art of the cat Pokémon, gaining over 3,500 notes (shown below, right). The fan reactions were covered by Kotaku Australia.^[6]

Additionally, 4chan users noticed that the scrapped version of Politoed bore striking resemblance to the popular Fakémon Tentaquil (shown below).