The Search For The Oldest Pokémon Artwork (Newly Discovered Official Illustration)

[@jnak974]

I will forever be a Pokémon fan. I was bullied in elementary and met my first friend because she moved to the US from Japan and had a pikachu keychain. This was before anyone in the US even heard of Pokémon. I was so fixated on the fact that her keychain could light up. I owe so much to this franchise, it literally brought people into my life just through common interest.

[@macuser7048]

my introduction to it were those Ty beanies that was at a fast food restaurant. I still have the Zubat one.

[@EduardoMonforte]

That’s a really heartwarming story, I’m really glad you got to meet your first friend through the franchise. 😊

[@CESkootchy]

Was it the one that had a button that lit up Pikachu's cheeks with a red glow?

[@jnak974]

@@CESkootchy yes!!!

[@CESkootchy]

@@jnak974 I bought mine new way back when and it came attached to a wand by a chain. Somehow I never thought to use it as a keychain, I just kinda bounced him around, lol

[@EternalStudios343]

Gotta miss those old water colour illustrations. Great video by the way!

[@TheMissingLink2]

Yeah, seems like a totally different world than what's going in today.

[@DutchDread]

Yeah, somehow it just feels more real.

[@Vulpas]

Way better

[@brycevo]

I love the old Sugimori art

[@macuser7048]

1992 was Yoshi on NES so that explains the card. lol

[@vantum1975]

It's like the o.g. designer of Star wars you just know it when you see i

[@TsukentoX]

Bit of a correction - the "out of Japan" art was not made for the localizations. The art was made with Japan's Blue version, which also included a different set of sprites from Red and Green.

[@StarlingKnight]

Exactly. Western Red/Blue are based on the 3rd japanese version aka. Blue Version. The game itself had updated graphics, especially sprites and many glitches etc. removed

[@Diwasho]

I don't know why they bothered with a whole new set of 151 unique artworks just for a third version that was available only via mail order for the entirety of Gen 1 and was aesthetically and thematically the same as the base two versions anyway, it's not like Blue's existence outdated the original illustrations. It would have made more sense to do this for Yellow (aka Pikachu Edition in Japan) because that game remixed the content of the base games quite a bit and significantly upped the quality and style of battle sprites to closer match the anime, yet that game received no new artworks for the Pokémon themselves. Also, Blastoise's artwork from that Blue set doesn't match the box art of the game for some reason.

[@MiguelGarcia-vj7oo]

​@@Diwashoyour thinking too hard..... Fact check me, but I heard somewhere that Suigimori just wanted to artistically make some differences on the monsters design. That's it, it was just his artistic urge. Unfortunately gamefreak would retract those designs and move back to the red and green designs from gen 3 onward. Blue Version Nidoking for example is super badass looking compared to the clunky red green one.

[@pigglypoof]

I grew up with these designs and I really wished they continued this type of aesthetic This is what made Pokémon look like Pokémon. This is what made it stand out from other monster games

[@killaknight12]

Seriously, a 2D Pokemon game fully watercolor style and old aesthetics would be fire. Maybe it could even work in 3D similar to Okami.

[@DutchDread]

Agreed, they looked like real animal, rather than random cartoon shapes with other random cartoon shapes added on.

[@theactualliaa]

@@DutchDreadThat’s why i like gen 1 Pokémon, they felt real.

[@SpaceWolf21]

I loved the old illustrations. Pokemon looked cooler back then and oval pikachu was cuter too

[@NinjaKingAce]

The white-belly Pikachu is most likely based on the in-game sprites for Red, Green, and/or Blue, as they share a similar design, that differs from the official art

[@LucyKosaki]

9:40 I think the girl is supposed to be Blue's sister. Even though it was hard to tell just by her sprite in gen1, in the remakes it matches her sprite and her full body view in the frame checker almost identically. Early Green illustrations looked more different.

[@flaviotzn9606]

He said "blue or green" reffering to Gary, and yeah, she looks like daisy

[@nudrattashfia4060]

​@@tlst94 Not Much

[@exeledusprince9165]

I had no idea this channel existed! I love Pokemon AND Halo!!!

[@elninogordo]

wtf same here haha literally the only two games i can play endlessly

[@yuio9239]

Me too

[@jackiediamondz2747]

Agreed

[@evanwilliams6406]

I never knew that Pokemon artwork had gone so far back as 1992. I'm sure that Game Freak never knew back then that the series would take off as much as it has. But with some of these artworks, you can tell why some of the earlier Pokemon sprites looked like what they did.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

@@tlst94 Companion games on Super NES?

[@FrogmaskMusic]

A chunk of designs were designed *first* as sprites, then reinterpreted as actual artwork, getting revised according to a constantly changing design philosophy. The Gen 1 sprites honestly make so much sense in the context of that crazy workflow

[@Trazynn]

The old art still looks so modern.

[@maganhassan2627]

How

[@pikachuwithabellypatch]

I happen to like white belly pikachu more then the actual pikachu everyone knows, its the little things that draw you in

[@mrtrollnator123]

It looks like a mini raichu especially with the brown limbs 😂

[@BJGvideos]

Oh I have a ton of those Topsun cards somewhere. Also, white-bellied Pikachu was used not only for Gigantamax Pikachu but also in the Detective Pikachu movie!

[@CallMeFreakFujiko]

Marowak had a third evolution that was cut. There's only a back sprite of it that's been released but it does include a baby, skulless Cubone that did look a lot like a baby Kangaskhan. (As far as I can tell, anyway.)

[@macuser7048]

Which would explain why the ghost in Gen 1 is a Marowak also. It must have been the idea that the Pokemon would start as Cubone after being abandoned and fully grow into a Marowak only to have the process repeat itself when that Marowak dies and leaves behind it's own Cubone. Maybe.

[@macuser7048]

@@tlst94 Wouldn't matter since Ash never caught those Ghost types. They would disobey him anyway. lol

[@macuser7048]

@@tlst94 Yeah but Butterfree can't learn any Bug type moves. It's all Grass type, Poison type, and Psychic type. Still that could work if Butterfree relies on status effecting moves like Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, or Supersonic. I've heard that something like Beedrill can use PIn Missle, but Beedrill is half Poison type and is vulnerable to Psychic. You'd have to have Jolteon use Pin Missle instead. Then again Ash's Bulbasaur can use freaking Whirlwind so what do I know? The anime makes up it's own rules. lol

[@macuser7048]

@@tlst94 Like what sort of moves? I never played later gens beyond gen 3.

[@macuser7048]

@@tlst94 Gen 4 onward turned me off. Actually I wasn't even that crazy about gen 3. The art style got worse, the music got worse, the story got worse, heck even gen 3 ruined the whole rival thing. It just SUCKS.

[@VegettoBlack]

In the 92 post cards, are we seeing a super early hooh

[@Super_Top_Secret_Area]

We can go even further, to a point when Pokémon as a project didn't exist yet. Some of those early designs may have been thought up by Game Freak even before the idea of Capsule Monsters came to be and, who knows, they could have been drawn in a piece of paper that was lost to time. If what Morimoto said in the Alola games is true, that would mean that at some point in time, the first would-be Pokémon was drawn by a little kid. With that kid being Morimoto himself and said Pokémon being Diglett, hypothetically predating Rhydon as the first Pokémon.

[@dallisjohnson662]

I love this content. Now I need to find all the Cardass (spelling?) Images and download them. The fact that these hit my nostalgia perfectly while also being new, is incredible.

[@ponchopi]

*nostalgia

[@dallisjohnson662]

Yes, that.

[@AshtonHutchinson]

Can someone please find out what those cards are called?

[@crypticcolleague1693]

@@AshtonHutchinson I can't remember the name of the set off the top of my head, but I believe they were made by bandai? Interestingly enough, the set that was shown in the video is actually the third part in a three part set.

[@GiggaN8EX]

Someone in another comment said Topsun.

[@bingomachine]

Man, I LOVE those 1995 Ken Sugimori watercolour illustrations. Makes me wanna sit down and do some Pokémon art myself. 😊😊

[@FatRecluseTV]

U should

[@johnyiannacopoulos639]

makes a lot of sense if you think about it because both those pokemon served as avatars in the menu!

[@nmercenary]

1:39 i don’t care how much other people bitch about scarlet and violet, 1:39 from the concept art to 2022 scarlet and violet is a dream come true. It’s almost 100% how child me imagined pokemon red to be. We are truly spoiled and in a golden age of video games.

[@eelmail]

That fact has been confusing homicide detectives for the last three decades.

[@ElbowStuff]

This is a really great video! I’ve been really interested in the older art

[@Gotsta]

bruh this actually opened my eyes and sent me down a rabbit hole its 4:20 AM still up hahah love it the old art is such a phenomenal point the series grew from its actually baffling

[@BadDubII]

Man, those watercolour designs are a million times better than the cards today. 3D computer generated cards are crappy.

[@CommanderWiggins]

A ton of the new cards use hand drawn art though?

[@abarette_]

Exeggutor and Kangaskhan, uh? those two are very early in the index (at ID10 and ID2 respectively)

[@sacriptex5870]

pokemon unique aesthetics still amazes me to this day

[@Polymathically]

The oldest piece of Pokemon memorabilia I own is a blue and white handkerchief. It has KAMEX printed on it, with the image of the Pokemon. It looks like the standard Kamex/Blastoise art with it having its back/shell turned to the viewer. But it looks like an earlier design; it's slightly more hunched over, the neck and tail are shorter, etc. Also, the lettering is in English despite having its Japanese name. Very odd. It also has Nintendo - CREATURES - GAMEFREAK - TV TOKYO printed in the corner. Somehow, it ended up being sold in a store here in California. I've kept it in its package ever since. I also collected lots of the original TCG when they were first released, especially the holographic ones. I've still got like half a dozen of the first gen booster packs down in storage. God, I feel old...

[@ianmcandrew7893]

I’m having a screaming bleeding diarrhea fart out, but having a chill Pokémon video to watch is getting me through!

[@Dmrb21]

I remember a advertisement of Pokemon in Nintendo power back in 89 it was called pocket monsters I always wanted to play it, at least at that time there was no pictures of the game more like it was a teaser to drum up the game maybe it was in the 90's but I could have sworn that it was in 89

[@macuser7048]

Not in the US. Not yet. 89 was the year Game Boy came out and the pitch was made in 1990. The game was released in late 95 so e3 would probably be the place to see it beforehand. Magazines did cover games from Japan back then. But by that time, Game Boy Pocket was a thing.

[@renatoduquetm]

Over 6 minutes into the video. Still wondering if they will eventually realise cardass was not key art for each pokémon, but for a pokémon plus a move. That's why it would never be the same.

[@emporer15]

Ok but who else thinks it's fitting the url for this vid ends with Oak?

[@infernaldaedra]

Didn't know this channel existed subbed

[@BuckeyeM80]

I’m subscribing cause you did a great job with this video!

[@Anonymous-oh4xw]

Me too.

[@Emily-lh6em]

Pokémon is my favorite games and I also love animal crossing so your channel is perfect. I hope you keep making videos on both series. 😄

[@xavierperes]

As a Pokémon fan, this is an amazing thing to see because I never seen any of this when I was a kid playing Pokémon red Maybe we will see all of the 450 cut Pokémon from Pokémon black and white development if the sources do find them too

[@kimfalleiro]

never heard of or seen those cards , really liked the design on them , now i will forever want to own them 😂

[@Oceanaryia]

i have a pokemon poster in my room that is from 1997 so i keep glancing at it and glancing back at the vid lol

[@teejaystechtips]

Awesome video. Subscribed

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

Well, now I do not regret clicking. I now know about High Res Pokemon.

[@Vulpas]

Extremely interesting

[@randydrew66]

cubone is a baby charmander though, the skull looks nothing like a kangaskan

[@damammoth2519]

Woah, you guys know Rocket Sloth? Awesome.

[@macuser7048]

Pokemon started in 1990 and finally released in Japan in 1995. Of course there's gonna be tons of art out there.

[@macuser7048]

@@tlst94 Sega worked with Game Freak too and released two Sega Genesis games by them. Imagine if Pokemon was released on Game Boy and Game Gear?

[@cesartejeira2876]

3:19 hello! where can i find these images? I love sugimori's style

[@wayupnorth1973]

Very interesting info... great video, thanks for sharing!!

[@OmegaVideoGameGod]

Cubone is in fact related to kangaskhan, what is even more wild, baby kangaskhan was suppose to be a Pokémon but was scrapped due to cartridge limits it’s index number was 135 in the original 190 where rhydon was the first

[@nintendonerdjoseph]

Good video, as usual!

[@JC-hi8fk]

The Pokémon Red/Blue Art actually came from Japanese Pokémon Blue.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, either here or on another of your videos, but Kangaskhan was originally part of a 3 stage evolution family - with Cubone and Marowak as the other two stages. so yes, they were originally intended to be related. One beta build of the game had Marowak's evolution target set to Kangaskhan's internal ID number but without a condition set. It would have been interesting to see how that would play out in later versions in the series - would only female Marowak evolve into Kangaskhan? Would it have been all-female? would there have been a male Kangaskhan variant added? But then gender differences (besides Nidoran) weren't introduced properly until Gen 3. Would that mean they'd be introduced in Gen 2? Or was this whole confusing situation what made them decide to cut the connection entirely? Pikachu also had the belly patch in its Pokémon Red/Green AND Red/Blue sprites. However, because the originals were in black and white, putting them into a Super Gameboy or Gameboy Color would show the belly as being vibrant yellow with the rest of it being mostly paler. So sometime between when Pikachu was being designed and when Ken Sugimori did the watercolor illustrations, they decided to change it. Heck, it may even be because Sugimori made changes to several Pokémon for the illustrations that became their definitive designs.

[@Krisipoke]

I'm sorry, but I was so annoyed the whole time you talked about the Carddass cards. The artworks all look different and weird because... all the Pokémon are using a specific move, not just standing around. And they are all listed right on the card. For example, Cubone is using Grown (なきごえ), Charizard is using Flamethrower (かえんほうしゃ), Wartortle is using Skull Bash (ロケットずつき), and Squirtle is using Withdraw (からにこもる). They are not different because they are "old, not finallized" artworks, but because the cards are showing off attacks as well as the Pokémon.

[@Jac735]

Whoever thought over 2 decades and counting pokemon will still be talked about it should go down in history as a stable everything pokemon involved back than crushed everything

[@guilladogui8259]

Any site to find all those images from old art?

[@KairuHakubi]

god i miss that old aesthetic, pokemon was so fun. so unique. not genericized and decided by committee and incredibly lazy like it became. I also just miss in general when art could vary, and wasn't just a few rigidly-enforced assets. merchandise could have ANYTHING on it, you never knew what you might get.. Mario suffers from this hard, nothing's allowed to be stylized or unique anymore.

[@jorgerosero8937]

Where can I find these illustrations?

[@nousukas]

Two things I have to say. 1. The Capsule monsters pitchbook is not "released" or readable online as far as I know. 2. Saying those 2 pictures to be the biggest thing since the stated pitchbook release is a big overstatement. There was the Gold/Silver Space world demo dumped to the internet afterall and also the back sprites of some beta pokemon desings for Red & Green. I had to watch the whole video of blabbing about some well known Ken Sugimori art, but I was pleased to see something I haven't seen, so the video wasn't completely pointless.

[@thegreat1007]

15.03..the FIRST two pokemon to ever exist

[@milqueto4st231]

"Poke-o-mon?"

[@IAMTHESTARMAN]

Cardass cards each show a different attack the Pokémon can perform.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

That alternate Pikachu has a very Ditto-esque face, so maybe it's not a real pikachu after all...

[@postmasterpez]

Can you link to thouse "cardes" cards?

[@postmasterpez]

Carddass Bandai?

[@hwade3037]

My guys, you gots to advertise on Rocket Sloth more

[@Stevenexpressfit]

Does Anyone Remember A Card Pokemon Game Where It Was Just A Regular Deck But With Pokemon On It. I Remember Flying Pikachu & Instead Of The Joker It Was Team Rocket

[@shaggytheshaman]

I just want a link to the newly discovered art... does anybody have one?

[@AzureCrook]

Capsule monsters was 90-92 if you wanna go deeper

[@elmanaro]

I’m salty because I picked Blastoise but these days it seems they forgot about Balstoise 😢

[@OmegaVideoGameGod]

Very nice

[@duraeusentenu]

I remembe rseeing so many of these illustration variants, too, not really giving any of it much thought at the time, just assuming it was the artists having fun with their art style and changing every time. Either way, I remember all these different illustrations, oddly enough, despite that I never physically possessed anything japanese. Odd....

[@GameParodiesPat64]

insane

[@Pao-vo8mf]

Banheiro na Balsa | Câmeras Escondidas (21/07/22)

[@jordanmynes2638]

Cardass

[@DarkbluesEXE25]

10:08, 11:25 - Pikachu Fat

[@AlhunAydin]

What you say "looks entirely different" actually "looks almost exactly the same" to me 😅

[@sacredgold1487]

9:41 Sorry Daisy, he didn't mention you.

[@etherus819]

Mr. Mime is Ash's dad.

[@TheNovaMuse]

i dont get it they all look the same to me

[@zahouda]

A non subject 😢

[@princessmaly]

Imagine still treating the fact that a cubone is just a baby kangaskhan whose mother died as if it was some kind of secret hidden conspiracy in 2022. Like yeah dude... we know. We've known since the late 90's. This is not news. The artwork stuff, however, IS news, and is also really cool.

[@ZombieBarioth]

The thing is though, its not. Marowak originally had an evolution that also had a baby alongside kangaskhan, however cubone itself doesn't have a beta sprite. While its possible, there's still no real proof. They could've been a split evolution, or simply just parental counterparts. It doesn't feel like Game Freak themselves were sure how to make their idea work.

[@TrvisXXIII]

Wish you spent more time actually showing the art

[@StrawhatDawn]

This is old news 👨🏼‍🦳

[@harvesterman5210]

i think this guy would like halo he could make a channel on it as well

[@Mnemoniforma9.00]

Early Pokemon had some Schrodinger's Cat shit going on, I swear. This video makes the year of 1995 look like The Dress. No wonder so many people invoke some kind of Mandela Effect business in respect to some of the things they remember about it. As if the Mew/"Pokegod" schoolyard rumors didn't already muddy the waters.

[@Another14-]

#pikablu

[@polvocorrupto]

KWAB

[@iRazenrak]

If anything, this makes me dislike Game Freak even more... Why hide all this stuff and keep it a secret?

[@SMCwasTaken]

They're not hiding it, they lost it

[@SMCwasTaken]

@@tlst94 bruh, in 1996 they wasn't usb drives or servers to archive things

[@DezzwallsNits]

Tattoos

[@MLPGamer44]

Based

[@TonyGuitarVideos]

Dude I cant believe you made a Pokémon channel, that is dope! My only complaint is your mispronunciation of "Pokémon". As weird as it feels, I think the "poke-ay-mon" pronunciation would give your videos more authenticity.

[@notsafef0rlife]

This is just how some people pronounce it. He's probably from the Midwest. We just say it this way

[@TonyGuitarVideos]

@@notsafef0rlife But it's incorrect. And saying it correctly would be good in case The Pokémon Company ever came along with an opportunity.

[@ChronicUnderachiever420]

@@TonyGuitarVideosit’s a accent/dialect difference. The only way to be truly correct by your standards is to pronounce it with a Japanese accent.

[@natetete1379]

You repeat so much. This video should be like 4 minutes lol.

[@huntman1412]

Without contacting GameFreak, this video is just a waste of time. Needs Japanese resources.

[@Anonymous-oh4xw]

Sub

[@stephthestar90]

@2:12 Poor Cubone 😭