Did You Know Gaming released a video that showcased every canceled Pokemon Game, starting from Pokemon Pink to enhanced games for Pokemon on GBA. Learn more about these games, possible reasons for their cancellation, and more.
Did You Know Gaming Unveils New Information on Canceled Pokemon Games
Channel Focused on Trivias about Forgotten Games and Spin-offs
Did You Know Gaming, otherwise referred to as DYKG, is a video game-focused online series that contains trivia and facts about video games, as well as journalistic investigations into gaming's secrets and forgotten goods. Their work allows for Western audiences to learn about information that would’ve been essentially lost media, as they reach out to developers and dig through old interviews for interesting or relevant information.
On September 18, 2023, they produced a video on their YouTube channel discussing Pokemon games that were either canceled or completed but did not make it to the market. We’ve summarized what they revealed in their video, but highly encourage that you watch the video for more details, and visit their channel for similar content.
Canceled Pokemon Games
Pokemon Pink
Pokémon Pink was a planned Pokémon game that was scrapped early in development. It was thought to be initially intended to be released alongside Pokémon Yellow in 1998 but was never released.
There is evidence of Pokémon Pink in the source code of Pokemon Blue and Pokemon Yellow, and it is believed that the game would have starred Clefairy. It is also possible that the game would have followed the plot of the original Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga, which featured Trainer Red and his talking Clefairy.
Pokémon Pink was likely scrapped because the Pokemon Company decided that they did not want to keep making extensions of the original Pokémon games. Instead, they focused on developing new Pokémon games with features like Pokémon Gold and Silver.
Pokemon Picross
Pokemon Picross, a puzzle game for the Game Boy Color, was first revealed in Japanese magazines in 1999, along with some original art. The game was leaked online two decades after it was canceled. Despite being canceled, it is fully playable from beginning to end, including the credits.
Jupiter Corporation, the company that developed the Pokemon pinball spinoffs, developed this version of Pokemon Picross. Following the leak of Pokemon Picross, the community decided to publish a fan translation in English. The game had an original 23-piece soundtrack made for it, which you can hear in full in the game. The game also features several familiar characters, like Professor Oak Pikachu, Misty, and Team Rocket, as well as many locales throughout the Kanto region. As companion Pokemon, you can obtain Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, which change the puzzle border's color to green, red, and blue respectively. You can also get Clefairy and Jigglypuff as partners, transforming the frame to pink or purple. (If that isn't proof that Pokemon Pink and Purple existed, I don't know what is).
Chinese Edition of FireRed and LeafGreen
China implemented a nationwide ban on video game consoles in 2000 because it worried they were addictive. A few years later, Nintendo circumvented this by partnering with a Chinese national to form iQue, a Chinese company to make Chinese versions of Nintendo consoles and games.
iQue was hacked in 2020, and many of the documents were posted online. These documents included a plan to create upgraded, internet-focused Chinese versions of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, flush with new features like dynamic weather and real-life Pokémon locations.
The dynamic weather system would have replicated the player's local weather while the other planned feature was a dynamic Pokémon locating system that would change based on the player's location, akin to Pokemon Go.
The information from the leaks did not specify why enhanced versions of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen were never created. Still, it can be assumed that Nintendo was wary about piracy in China and did not want to give over the keys to their IP, especially if it could be seen as a potentially superior version to the original.
Pokemon Pinball
Pokemon Pinball of Game Boy was one of the franchise's earliest and most beloved spinoffs, and its GBA sequel got review scores on par with the mainline series. Unfortunately, its popularity died off soon after that. Unknown to the original publisher, a playable demo for a third entry on Nintendo DS was developed in secret. The Pokemon Company said it had the best graphics outside Japan, but the game was never finished.
Matthew Nightingale, one of the nine guys who worked on Pokemon Pinball DS, said it would've been more of an adventure game, similar to their take on Metroid Pinball. The Pokemon Company was impressed with the demo but, for some reason, never greenlit the project for full production. It was suspected that it came down to contract disputes.
Pokemon Gray and Pokemon Z
For the Nintendo DS in 2011, the widely predicted Pokémon Gray never saw the light of day. It was supposed to be the sequel to Pokémon Black and White, but seems to had been shelved in favor of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2.
The company wanted to make a game for the DS at the time, as there was a larger player base compared to 3DS, so they made sure new innovations were added. Instead of delivering Pokemon Gray, however, they came up with the idea of numbering, which went well with the idea that Black and White 2 took place two years after the end of its predecessors.
As for Pokemon Z, the company officially said there was never a plan to make the 3rd iteration of the game Pokemon X and Y.
Game Freak Director Junichi Masuda revealed in an interview from 2012 that they had never planned to create a third iteration of the game to surprise the fans. He said, "For example, after Black & White people thought Pokemon Gray was going to come next, we made Black & White 2 instead. And the same with X & Y. Instead, we made Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire. People thought Pokemon Z would come next, but because it's the 20th anniversary, we decided to deliver another surprise with Sun & Moon."
There are doubts whether this is truly the case, with many pointing to different clues that Pokemon Z had been in development. But those are based on unsubstantiated assumptions. Aside from this, it was also said that Game Freak used its resources to make games other than Pokemon by the time Z should be in production.
Pokemon Stars
Pokémon Stars was another rumored enhanced version of Pokémon Sun and Moon, notably planned for release on the Nintendo Switch in 2017. However, it was never released, and it is still a mystery as to why it wasn’t.
There may be evidence to suggest that Pokémon Stars was real. In 2016, Eurogamer reported that the game was in development, and that it would feature new Pokémon, dynamic weather, and dynamic Pokémon location systems. In 2017, Amazon UK put up a listing for pre-orders for the game. The Pokémon Company's website even briefly stated that Ultra Sun and Moon would be coming to the Switch later.
In the end, Pokémon Stars was never officially announced as a legitimate game by Game Freak. A 2017 post by Tom Phillips from Eurogamer outlined his theories about why the game was shelved. According to him, in the console's first year, Nintendo had initially intended to release its three most popular games—Zelda, Mario, and Pokémon—on the Switch. Nintendo wanted to concentrate on porting 3DS games to the Switch rather than creating new games at that time, but as the Switch gained a lot of traction, they rethought this strategy. This was due to Nintendo's struggles to produce enough Switches to meet demand and releasing a new Pokémon game would have only worsened the shortage.
To learn the entire history of these canceled games, check out Did You Know Gaming's Youtube Channel.
Sources:
Pokemon Executives' Interview About Pokemon Gold and Silver
Game Freak Executive Interview About Pokemon Gray
Did You Know Gaming Citation Compilation
