Pokemon: 6 Evolutions That Were Cut Out Of The Games

By far the aspect fans look forward to the most in Pokemon games is all the new creatures they’ll encounter while adventuring through each region. While many Pokemon in each generation are brand-new, oftentimes Game Freak will also introduce new evolutions or forms for existing Pokemon. Other times, evolutions are left on the cutting room floor during a Pokemon’s design.

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These six Pokemon throughout the franchise’s history nearly had an additional or alternative evolutionary line. While some concepts may have been shelved for some time, others were altered enough to become entirely different Pokemon by the end. For two of them, there may always be the chance for Game Freak to bring them back in the future.

6 Gorochu

Raichu Had The Potential To Get Stronger

Before the existence of Pichu in Gen 2, the evolutionary line consisted only of Pikachu and Raichu. Naturally, the developers of the first Pokemon games experimented with a third evolutionary stage for the franchise’s eventual mascot, named “Gorochu.” However, the evolution was scrapped, as planner Koji Nishino described in an interview with Pokemon.com:

[In] the game specifications, Pikachu ended up being the kind of Pokémon that evolves only once.

Some fan artists have taken it upon themselves to imagine what Gorochu’s full design would’ve looked like, which supposedly had fangs and a horn. It’s unknown if it would’ve remained pure Electric type or if it would also have a dual-Fighting or Fire combination. Sadly, it’s unlikely this cut evolution will ever see the light of day unless it gets reinterpreted into a Mega Evolution.

5 Guardia

The Real Source Of Pokemon’s Darkest Theory

Cubone and Marowak are two of the most iconic Pokemon from the first generation, though in the beta for Pokemon Red & Green, they had an additional evolutionary stage known as “Guardia.” Like Gorochu, only its original back sprite has been seen online, but it reveals an interesting point in the development of the original 151 Pokedex.

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By the looks of Guardia’s design, the Marowak evolution would’ve been larger with a small Cubone in a pouch. Gen 1 fans will recognize similarities between this design and the final look of Kangaskhan. This could also lend credence to the theory about Cubone and Kangaskhan’s relation, with fans having speculated that Cubone’s “mother” was actually the Parent Pokemon. (Source: Polygon).

4 Bobo

Noctowl Originally Looked Very Different

Demo versions of Hoothoot and Noctowl in Pokemon G&S

In 2018, a scrapped prototype of Pokemon Gold from the 1997 SpaceWorld demo leaked online, causing online dataminers to reveal early designs for some second-generation Pokemon. One design that’s quite different from its final version is Noctowl, the evolution of Normal/Flying-type Hoothoot. As indicated by its prototype design, Noctowl’s design originally resembled the spherical shape of its pre-evolution.

Prior to their renaming, Hoothoot and Noctowl were called “Hoho” and “Bobo” in the Japanese beta. Bobo also has entirely different stats than Noctowl, giving it potential as an offensive wall rather than as a speedy special attacker. (Source: X).

3 “Latiken”

This Blaziken Design Seems Familiar

Blaziken's alternate design in R&S concept art

Originally, Blaziken looked very different compared to its final design. The Fire/Fighting-type starter’s concept art from the pre-alpha version of Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire has floated around online for years, depicting a Pokemon trainer riding Blaziken. While this was years before the addition of Mega Evolution, it also doesn’t even resemble Blaziken’s eventual stronger form.

Some other fans noticed a similarity between this unused Blaziken design, dubbed “Latiken,” as having similarities in design to the Legendary Pokemon Latios and Latias, who were also introduced in Ruby & Sapphire. Perhaps it was actually meant as an alternate form for Blaziken or the Legendary duo, but for now, we can only assume it was a scrapped evolution. (Source: X).

2 Mega Jynx

Dataminers Reveal Lots About This Pokemon’s Alternate Form

Nowadays, a word about cut Pokemon evolutions is quite rare, but oftentimes dataminers will find interesting information from scouring video game source codes. One such example of this is after the launch of Pokemon HOME, where an alternate cry was found for the Pokemon Jynx, with enough reverb to suggest it had a scrapped Mega Evolution at some point.

A collage of some Pokemon who should get Mega Evolutions in the upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A: Chesnaught, Flygon and Delphox.

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Little is known about the design or details of what Mega Jynx would’ve changed, but dataminers couldn’t even confirm its existence until a more recent update to Pokemon HOME. Perhaps this will become relevant again if/when Mega Evolution returns, as it’s been speculated to in the upcoming Pokemon Legends Z-A. (Source: X)

1 Mega Flygon

One Popular Pokemon Never Got A Mega

When Mega Evolutions were being revealed for Pokemon X & Y and Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, it seemed like a matter of when, not if, fans would get to see a Mega Flygon. Unfortunately, it never came to pass, despite fan outcries. As it turns out, there were indeed plans for Mega Flygon at one point, particularly in the Generation 3 remakes. As Ken Sugimori described in an interview with Nintendo Dream magazine (via Nintendo Life):

Flygon has had the potential to have a Mega Evolution since XY, but we were unable to complete a design and so it was dropped from consideration.

There’s little information known about what would’ve changed for Mega Flygon, but hopefully, fans will someday get to see something exciting happen with this fan-favorite Ground/Dragon-type.