Over the last few weeks, Pokemon fans have gotten an unprecedented look behind the curtain. A major leak at Game Freak has revealed a lot of information that was never made available to the public, including actual Pokemon designs. Interestingly enough, we’ve gotten to see some concepts that later got modified, including one for Mega Gengar. While many of the final aspects of Mega Gengar’s design were present in the early version, there were some notable tweaks made before the release of Pokemon X and Y. To put it bluntly, we kind of dodged a bullet!
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A leaked image of Mega Gengar’s original design was shared on Bluesky by user Raichu Noticias, and can be found in the post embedded below.
As we can see from the image, Mega Gengar’s third eye was present from the early stages, and didn’t change in any noticeable ways. The purple and pinkish red color scheme was also present. However, the initial design is far too close to Gengar’s standard appearance; it barely would have changed! Notably, its hands lack the spikiness of the final design, and Mega Gengar would have remained on its feet, rather than moving on its hands. Presumably the tail would have also been less spiky, but the image makes it hard to tell, as the Pokemon’s back can’t be seen. On the whole, the design is also a lot less intimidating, with eyes and teeth that don’t appear nearly as foreboding as they do in the game itself.
Mega Gengar is often held up as one of the best Mega Evolutions in the franchise, and that likely would not be the case had Game Freak gone with its initial design. It’s unclear what made them go back to the drawing table on this one; there are actually plenty of Mega Evolutions that don’t look much different from their normal designs (Mega Ampharos springs to mind). Whatever the case might be, it was definitely the right call, and Pokemon X and Y was all the better for it.
It’s been more than a decade since Pokemon X and Y‘s release. In that time, Mega Evolution has largely taken a backseat to other features, including Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Terastallization. However, Mega Evolution remains incredibly popular with the Pokemon fan base, arguably more so than any other mainline “gimmick.” A big part of that comes down to the strength of the designs, and that popularity is probably what prompted The Pokemon Company to bring the feature back in games like Pokemon Sun and Moon and Pokemon: Let’s Go. Mega Evolutions will once again return when Pokemon Legends: Z-A launches, but we don’t know in what capacity. Hopefully the game will feature some compelling new designs on par with Mega Gengar!
How do you feel about this early design for Mega Gengar? Do you think The Pokemon Company made the right call retooling this one? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky atย @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
