Random: One Of Pokemon’s First Prototype Designs Was A Godzilla Lookalike

Over the years, the Pokemon franchise has seen many new additions to its ever-growing roster of characters and creatures. However, not every idea the developers come up with make it into the final products, and numerous Pokemon ideas have been left on the cutting room floor.

Dr. Lava, a content creator who frequently discusses these lost Pokemon, recently brought one of the games’ earliest prototype designs back into the limelight. The Pokemon in question is called “Godzillante”, and first appeared in creator Satoshi Tajiri’s initial proposal for Pokemon (at the time called “Capsule Monsters”).

As you could probably tell by its name, Godzillante was likely intended as a reference to the iconic giant monster Godzilla. As noted by Dr. Lava, Godzillante was drawn by Game Freak’s Ken Sugimori as part of an illustration explaining Capsule Monsters’ mechanics.

In that illustration, it was pitted against another prototype monster called “Gorillaimo”, likely a reference to fellow giant monster King Kong. You can check out the original illustration below (via Bulbapedia).

Although Godzillante itself never made it into the games, its possible that elements of its concept were recycled to create Larvitar and Tyranitar, who also bear resemblance to Toho’s King of Monsters.

We can only wonder what other scrapped ideas Game Freak may be hiding behind closed doors, never to see the light of day…for now.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.