New Look At 'Pokemon's Prototype 'Capsule Monsters' Surfaces

Pokemon stands as one of the top franchises in the world, but it had some growing pains to get where it is now. Way before fans met Pikachu, creator Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori had a different take on their pocket monsters. Now, a new look at the prototype design has surfaced, and fans can learn a bit more about all the Capsule Monsters who could've been.

Thanks to Helix Chamber, several pages of Capsule Monsters' 1990 pitch have gone live. A slew of familiar faces can be seen in its pages, but there are some not-so-familiar creatures seen as well.

For those curious, these pages went gone live thanks to Tajiri and his latest manga outing. A slew of pitch papers were added to the release, giving fans hope that Game Freak may other pages to the Pokemon manga.

We've finally managed to re-scan and restore all the available pages of Capsule Monsters, the original 1990 Pokémon pitch by Tajiri and Sugimori. Check out our site to see more familiar (and unfamiliar) faces! //t.co/d47A7yAIuZ pic.twitter.com/YtzSOEnlsL

— Helix Chamber (@helixchamber) September 11, 2018

For those unaware of Capsule Monsters, the series was the one which Tajiri and Sugimori made up in early 1990. The pair drew up a booklet pitching a story concept where people lived in a world filled with creatures the real world has never known. As you can see here, Helix Chamber has found plenty of prototype drawings from Capsule Monsters' early days, giving them a look at Grimer and Rhydon in their earliest stages. Even Genger can be seen looking like his ghostly self, but other sprites are seen which fans won't recognize.

According to reports, these designs were formally put into place after Tajiri met Sugimori, but the former had been crafting these pocket monsters since he was a kid. Their series pitch went over well with Nintendo, and the game developer was ready to bring the series to life. However, Tajiri ran into a lot of issues trademarking the name Capsule Monsters, an issue which forced him to change its name to Pocket Monsters — or Pokemon — for short.

What do you make of this long-hidden prototype? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!