Back in July, a never-released documentary about the making of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl resurfaced online. Thanks to the work of archivists, Pokemon fans now have access to behind-the-scenes footage from the making of Gen 4. That includes a look at concept art for several Pokemon designs that never saw the light of day. While some of them clearly inspired Pokemon we’ve met in the decades since, others have yet to make it into the world of Pokemon. And in some cases, that’s a real shame.
Next year will finally bring us the 10th generation of Pokemon. But so far, we’ve seen just a few of the brand-new Pokemon that will arrive in Pokemon Winds and Waves. Sure, the starters are cute, but they’re hardly going to be the only new Pokemon in this whole new region. While we’re waiting for any official reveals, it’s fun to imagine what a game centered on the wind and the waves could bring us. And it’s a fresh opportunity for Game Freak to bring some of its scrapped Pokemon designs from Gen 4 to life. These 5 Pokemon concepts absolutely deserve to be revisited for Winds and Waves.
I immediately fell in love with this lil beta snail pokemon from the newly uncovered DP development documentary!
im gonna call him Zenmaimai for now pic.twitter.com/Ys2rsB45gU
For the majority of this list, I tried to stick with the game’s theme of Winds and Waves. However, I’ll admit that in the case of this abandoned design, it’s mostly here because I just think it’s really cute. Given that it already has fan art as shown above, I’m not the only one. According to records at Lewtwo, who helped archive the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl documentary, this Pokemon never got far enough along for a real name. But it deserves one, because it’s a very cute concept.
The design shows a small snail with a green shell and fern-like antennae. Its cheeks have a red spiral design that matches the shell and gives it the appearance of blushing. We do have a handful of Pokemon snail designs already, including Shellos and the moss-covered Legendary Wo-Chien. But I think there’s room for more, especially a Grass-type rendition like this design likely would be.
Im so sad this got scrapped pic.twitter.com/r1UtA6Oo43
This apparent Grass-type is one of my personal favorite scrapped designs. From the looks of it, Hoozukin likely inspired the Gen 5’s Petilil line. After all, it’s got a similar adorable, vaguely round design. But it’s just different enough I think it could certainly work as its own Pokemon. We don’t know much about this early concept, even though it got far enough to have a name.
Hoozukin seems to be inspired by Little Red Riding Hood and the Alkekengi plant, better known as a bladder cherry. Honestly, the lore for a Grass-type like this kind of writes itself. And I could see a plant Pokemon that floats on the wind fitting into the Winds and Waves lore quite well, even if it’s not an explicit Flying- or Water-type design. Some tweaks might be needed to better differentiate it from some of the similar Pokemon we’ve seen since this concept, but personally, I’m here for Hoozukin’s big return.
Lapras is a classic, dating back to Gen 1. And from the looks of it, Game Freak almost introduced a new, earlier stage for its evolution line in Gen 4. I’m often not a fan of early-stage evolutions coming to Pokemon after the fact. It just doesn’t make sense that we’d never see a baby Pokemon in earlier games if such a being existed. But I’d be willing to make an exception for Lapras, which I’ve long wished had additional evolutions or forms.
The concept art for the earlier stage Lapras is a bit hard to see in the documentary footage. The reconstructed version archived by Lewtwo makes it a bit clearer, but not by much. It seems to show a smaller Lapras that hadn’t quite grown into its fins yet, with a flatter, less prominent shell. I would love to see more of this design, brought to life. And it basically begs to be a version exclusive for a game with Waves in the name, making it all the more perfect for Gen 10.
Meet Tsutsukuma, Maichō and an evolution! The original Regional Bird Pokémon scrapped from Diamond and Pearl! pic.twitter.com/asH3kBqzwc
We get a new bird Pokemon in pretty much every generation. It’s always possible Gen 10 will break that trend, but with Winds right there in the name, I kind of doubt it. And while I do adore Gen 4’s Starly, I do feel a bit put out that we never got to see this adorable woodpecker-inspired Pokemon or its evolutionary line. Justice for Tsutsukuma in Gen 10, please and thank you.
The leading theory is that this design eventually evolved into the bird Pokemon we got in Diamond and Pearl, Starly. That could well be the case, but I do think this original concept is different enough that it deserves to be reborn in Pokemon Winds and Waves. I love how it stands on its tail, and the whole cloak thing its second-stage evolution has going on could be fun. The original concept would need some tweaks, but I can already see a Pokemon like this one being perfectly at home alongside the likes of Pombon and Browt.
Here's Foam Dog, the newly discovered cut Water-type Starter Pokémon for Diamond and Pearl designed by Yusuke Ohmura! pic.twitter.com/BWZvnv7Ce6
Listen, I will never say no to another Pokemon doggo. Apparently, this was an early concept for a Water-type dog starter before it was stolen from us in favor of Piplup. No shade on the penguin, but I need this floofy dog Pokemon in my life. While we already have our starters for Gen 10, this Pokemon concept doesn’t need to be a starter to return for Winds and Waves. I’m hoping we’ll have plenty of new Water-types given the theme of it all, and I’d love to see a new version of this concept brought forward.
This Pokemon was apparently called Foam Dog in its early days, and that name definitely needs some work. But the fluffy cloud mane and unicorn horn do not. The design does bear a resemblance to some later Pokemon designs, most notably the similar cloud-like vibes we got in Gen 6’s Froakie. But I do think with a little tweaking, Game Freak could turn this into the new dog-like for Gen 10 to great effect.
