Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Leak Reveals More Than 100 Scrapped Designs, Including Unseen Creatures and Missing Evolutions

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl fans are celebrating the unofficial uncover of much than 100 previously-unseen designs, including aboriginal drafts of known creatures, galore scrapped species, and chopped evolutions.

Evidence of a discarded Delibird and Kecleon evolutions, Stantler and Lapras pre-evolutions, positive what look similar a babe Plusle and Minun are each concisely seen. Completely chopped Pokémon see creatures based connected a crane, crickets, snails, molluscs, goats, mice, a platypus, and a swordfish tin besides beryllium seen, arsenic good arsenic plants specified arsenic beansprouts and clover. There's adjacent antithetic designs for the region's starter Pokémon, specified arsenic a foam-headed Water-type dog, and a Grass-type wolf.

The root of these designs is simply a long-lost documentary made by Pokémon developer Game Freak that has ne'er antecedently been seen successful public. Made for the game's ain unit arsenic a grounds of their work, the movie was primitively handed retired to employees connected DVDs, who were sworn to keeping it private.

Now, 20 years later, the documentary has yet been obtained, and painstakingly sifted done by a squad of fans — with the champion archive of the worldly recovered connected Lewtwo. The afloat documentary itself tin besides present beryllium seen connected YouTube (for now) and much permanently via the Internet Archive.

Scrapped Delibird improvement pic.twitter.com/CyGP2thilM

— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) July 22, 2026

Scrapped Water Starter Pokémon pic.twitter.com/1OO5j0VD7B

— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) July 22, 2026

EVEN MORE NEVER BEFORE SEEN BETA POKÉMON pic.twitter.com/i8PXnoYwnl

— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) July 22, 2026

As you mightiness expect, instrumentality excitement astir the documentary's contents is immense — acknowledgment to information that the movie was made primitively for Game Freak staff, and is wholly unfiltered successful the contented it shows. Game Freak guards its Pokémon plan process with tremendous secrecy, and it's improbable this documentary would adjacent beryllium made today.

For galore fans, the instauration of games specified arsenic Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is thing to beryllium explored and celebrated, arsenic a portion of gaming's past that they privation to spot preserved. Of course, there's earthy involvement successful the many, galore Pokémon designs that person been near connected the cutting country floor, but besides a peek down the curtain astatine the series' development. The documentary includes astir an hr of footage changeable wrong Game Freak's offices, showing employees alternately moving and goofing around, and the process utilized to plan the Sinnoh portion — from sketches to insubstantial maps to real-world models made utilizing blocks.

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With specified tremendous secrecy astir the instauration of caller Pokémon games, chances to get a peek down the curtain are fewer and acold between. The lone merchandise of scrapped Pokémon details to rival this successful caller years has been the infamous Pokémon Teraleak, which originated successful an amerciable hack of information from Game Freak's interior servers.

Even 20 years on, there's adjacent clues to Pokémon that whitethorn diagnostic successful future. New Pokémon generations person regularly featured updated versions of previously-cut designs (and indeed, the documentary shows creatures that powerfully lucifer the finished looks of Rowlet and Sandygast, yet released years later). One peculiar plan present catches the oculus — a yellowish Shellos. This is simply a carnal fans expect to popular up successful adjacent year's Pokémon Winds and Waves for Switch 2, aft notation of it successful this year's Pokémon Pokopia.

Yellow Shellos pic.twitter.com/IiU8Dm8ZKm

— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) July 22, 2026

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social