Pokémon is huge in every way. From its apps to its original games to its anime, Pokémon has become a staple of entertainment for people of all ages.
However, all big things start out small. Before it became Pokémon, its idea was originally pitched as Capsule Monsters. A booklet with drawings and concepts by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori was presented to Nintendo in 1990. Looking at the images of the book really puts the journey of the development of Pokémon into perspective.
Here are ten images from the concept book that was presented to Nintendo in 1990.
10 Book Cover
The cover of the book shows a battle between two Pokémon. There are different theories about what they are. They could be Gengar versus Nidorino like the battle in the opening credits of the original games, or they could be trashed concepts. Another possibility is that they are some other kind of Pokémon that later went through a lot of development. One of them looks like it could have turned into Charizard.
9 Exploring A Cave
Caves have always been a major part of a Pokémon adventure. In those caves, players went through having to learn moves like Flash, Strength, and Rock Smash while being tackled by hundreds of Zubats. Players would buy many repels for such occasions.
As for the Pokémon in this concept art, it is Rhydon! That should be no surprise to major fans, as Rhydon was the first Pokémon to ever be thought up by the game creators.
8 Kanto Map
Even for those players who journeyed through Kanto numerous times, this map probably doesn't look so familiar. However, it is the concept of Kanto! It just went through a ton of changes. A lot of the deserts, lakes, and rivers were later scrapped. However, there are some locations that may seem familiar.
As for the text above the image, translated has shown that it actually is discussing how a trading cable would work with gameplay. So the text actually has nothing to do with the map.
7 Lapras
This is obviously Lapras in its early concept stages. Along with Rhydon, Lapras was one of the first Pokémon to be conceptualized. Immediately, creators wanted Pokémon to have certain roles in society. So a water taxi like Lapras was a great start to that idea.
Lapras would later gain some ears, move its horn up to its forehead, and have a little less dinosaur resemblance.
6 Shopping
This picture actually reveals a very interesting concept that was dropped: purchasing Pokémon!
Sure, you can sometimes buy one in the games but this drawing shows that it was originally planned to be a normal part of the journey. The translation of the Japanese actually reveals a conversation between the trainer and the shopkeeper. The trainer says, "Hey, Mister, I’ll take this one, please," and the man replies “Lapras . . . I dunno if you’re tough enough to handle it yet, kid."
5 Battle
Battles were always part of the plan. Here we have a Ghastly fighting a Slowbro and a Blastoise fighting a Staryu.
What is interesting is that Ghastly's trainer has a whip. Perhaps an early concept was to use a more hands-on approach to battling? Whips aren't ever used by the protagonist but some sprites in the games have them such as Tamers, Rockets, and Gym Leader Sabrina.
4 Pokéball
An interesting fact about Pokéballs is that they are inspired by "Gatchapon." They are capsule machines that are very popular in Japan that contain all sorts of toys, figurines, and accessories. They can be quite addicting, which is probably part of the idea for creating Pokémon.
This is also why the concept was originally called "Capsule Monsters."
3 Sprite Sheet
Here are some of the first sprites ever created for Pokémon. The first one is Rhydon. The second seems to have been one that was dropped. The third is obviously Kangaskan. Nidoran can be seen in the third row. The second one of the last row is actually a very old concept for Clefairy. The first on the fourth row is another old design for Fearow.
Gengar is in the third row, second column, and that is real evidence of how much concepts can change over time until they hit the final product.
2 More Sprites
Here is another page of early sprite concepts. Cubone, Lapras, Blastoise, Staryu, Ghastly, Pinscer, Tangela, and some others are plainly recognizable. However, there are a few that are quite unfamiliar as well. Once again, they could be scrapped ideas or ones that developed into something totally different.
1 Hotel
Here we have what appears to be the concept idea of hotels. Hotels are a constant of the series, however, you do not typically use them. What usually happens is players explore hotels and chat with the NPCs inside.
It is possible that hotels were once going to play a larger role for the players.