The Nintendo 3DS era of Pokémon games has ended, but there is still one Pokémon buried within their files that cannot be caught by players. Eternal Flower Floette, who is capable of some impressive Fairy-type attacks, still remains undistributed to this day.

The Pokémon games gained infamy during the early days of the Internet when it was discovered that there was a Pokémon buried within the files of Pokémon Red & Blue that couldn't be obtained through normal means. The existence of Mew sparked a number of urban legends, as people claimed there were ways to capture the first Mythical Pokémon. In truth, the only legitimate way to capture Mew was to attend an event where one was being distributed or through trade.

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The popularity of Mew led to other Mythical Pokémon being created for future entries in the Pokémon series, including Celebi in Pokémon Gold & Silver and Jirachi in Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire. Game Freak started to include all kinds of secret Pokémon that could only be given away through special means, yet there is one Pokémon from the days of the Nintendo 3DS that remains buried in the codes of Pokémon X & Y, Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, Pokémon Sun & Moon, and Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. 

According to The Cutting Room Floora unique Pokémon called Eternal Flower Floette is buried within the files of every mainline Generation VI/VII Pokémon game. This Pokémon is part of the story of Pokémon X & Y, as AZ was once friends with a blue and red Floette. The Floette died during a great war and AZ created a machine to bring it back to life, but he then used the same machine to wipe out both sides fighting the war. The Floette abandoned AZ, but the two are reunited at the end of the story.

It seems that the intention was for Game Freak to distribute Eternal Flower Floette, either at real-life events or by giving it away online. Eternal Flower Floette has a unique cry and a special move called Light of Ruin, which is one of the strongest Fairy-type attacks in the game. It's clear that a lot of work went into designing Eternal Flower Floette, but it was never released to the public.

It's unclear why Game Freak would go through the work of designing Eternal Flower Floette and never distributing it. It makes sense why it would exist in the files of all of the Gen VI/VII Pokémon games, as this is a way of preventing the game from crashing if someone is able to hack one into their game, for the same reason that Shiny variants exist for shiny-locked Pokémon. It feels as if it would be easy enough to release this Pokémon as part of an event, yet Game Freak never bothered giving it away.

Eternal Flower Floette isn't the only element of a Pokémon game that was coded but never released. There is an entire event involving Arceus that cannot be accessed in Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, while an item called the Lock Capsule was intended to be traded between Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver and Pokémon Black & White. It's clear that Game Freak likes to change its mind at a late stage in development, and the powers that be decided that Eternal Flower Floette should remain buried in the code of the Nintendo 3DS Pokémon games.

Source: The Cutting Room Floor

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