1997 Pokemon Gold Space World demo leaks online – unused Pokemon, original map plans, more
After more than 20 years, the Pokemon Gold demo featured at the 1997 Space World event has been uncovered. Its full contents have been extracted, and a whole lot of noteworthy information has been detailed and preserved.
First, here’s a look at every Pokemon sprite:
As you can see, there are a number of unused Pokemon. Some designs are also early versions of Pokemon that would indeed make it into the final game.
Here’s a look at the world map, which shows that Game Freak originally wanted most of Japan to be the region in Gen 2 originally:
We can also see that the initial plan was to condense all of Kanto into just one town, which you can see below in the bottom right:
Next, here’s a look at some Trainers – who are largely unfinished:
Last but not least, here’s a rundown of how the game would have started, courtesy of The Shadow Knight:
The protagonist’s brother (named Ken) makes an appearance, ending the rumors that Gold’s brother was Red. You get an email from Professor Oak telling you to go to his lab, then your rival approaches you outside your house and asks you for what you call your mother (this was semi-unused in the final game, it’s used to prevent the Old Man glitch by storing names during Dude’s catching tutorial). You walk into the grass and Green stops you, bringing you to the lab like his grandfather did years prior. Green and Oak ask if you two want your starters, and then Oak takes you into the back room where the starters are located. You leave, talk to Green, and then Oak gives you and your rival Pokedexes. Your rival challenges you and unfortunately his team is missing so he challenges you with either garbage or things meant for demo trainers. If you somehow manage to beat him, you leave and your mother gives you 6 Pokeballs and the Pokegear.
