History WhatCouldHaveBeen / PokemonRedAndBlue

* Concept art shows that Erika was originally the fifth gym leader. Her early design shows her wearing a funeral style kimono, along with her Poké ball mysteriously floating suggests that she may have originally been a ghost trainer.

* A Bird type was originally planned and still exists in the final game data. It may have been replaced with Flying, or cut for being redundant (the four bird families in the game all ended up as normal/flying). NPC's still refer to them as Bird Pokémon instead of Flying.

* The source code for ''Yellow'' mentions a ''Pokémon Pink'' that was never released.

* The earliest map design for Pallet Town does not have Professor Oak's lab. He's also refereed to as a teacher in the files, meaning he may have originally been involved with Viridian's school.

* The early designs of the gyms were all built off the same template with minor differences. Internally they are refereed to as "Dojos" and seem to have focused more on the player defeating trainers in order to challenge the leader.

* In an interview Satoshi Tajiri said that at an early point in development, the team decided they were not satisfied with the games' story. He then spent about six months completely rewriting it by himself. Exactly what this original storyline was and why the development team did not like it is unknown.

* In an interview Satoshi Tajiri said that at an early point in development, the team decided they were not satisfied with the games story. He then spent about six months completely rewriting it by himself. Exactly what this original storyline was and why the development team did not like it is unknown.

** "Gyaoon" (originally called "Gyaasu") looks a lot like Tyranitar. It originally had Ivysaur's cry. There's also a Pokémon that seems to be its pre-evolution, and bears some resemblance to the iconic substitute doll.

* ''Capsule Monsters'' concept art shows an unused cat Pokémon, a Godzilla-based Pokémon called "Godzillante", a gorilla Pokémon called "Gorillaimo", a dragon Pokémon that is likely an early version of Charizard, and a weird round Pokémon called "Kabiin". There's also concept art of an early Rhydon with a spiked shell on its back, a Lapras without its ears (and a horn on its nose), a Blastoise without cannons, a more {{kirin}}-looking Arcanine with hooves, and a prototypical Gyarados that looks like a giant eyeless worm.

* [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:RGB_guidebook.jpg Early promotional art]] suggests that a female player character was supposed to be available in the games. Her character design was similar to Green's (Blue in Japan) from the ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' manga. She ended up redesigned for ''[=FireRed=] and [=LeafGreen=]'' as the female protagonist "Leaf" and as "Green" in ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee''.

* According to a 1996 Japan-exclusive handbook called the ''Pokédex'', the ''Pokémon'' games were originally going to be set on an alternate version of Earth -- hence the reference to real-world events and animals like Indian elephants. The early episodes anime occasionally make references to the handbook, such as including a descendant of one of the first scientists to study Pokémon.

* The "glitch Pokémon" Missingno exists 39 times in the code for the original games. Missingo is actually the remnant of 39 cut Pokémon. An interview with the designer of Ho-oh reveals that there were originally meant to be 190 Pokémon in the original games. The same people who discovered this information also discovered that the series was meant to end after ''Gold and Silver''. Most of these Pokémon have been discovered, but three are still unknown.

* Moltres was going to have its own optional fire dungeon, but it was cut and moved to Victory Road. There it was going to have its own separate room, which also ended up getting cut.

* Giovanni was originally a Flying-type trainer, which is why the Earth badge looks like a feather. He also originally wasn't a gym leader.

* According to old map designs, Celadon was going to have the harbor and Vermilion would have had the department store.

* ''[=LeafGreen=]'' was originally considered to be retitled to "[=WaterBlue=]" for the international releases to match how ''Red and Blue'' were the versions released outside of Japan instead of ''Red and Green''. However, it was ultimately decided that the international releases would be titled the same as the Japanese release, as the ''Leaf'' in the title was supposed to symbolize peace in a world of friendly competition, and they also did not feel like redesigning the box art.

* Concept art shows that Erika was originally the fifth gym leader.

* Trainer battles were originally going to trigger ''every time'' you entered line-of-sight instead of just the first time. Future games have this feature but only with certain trainer classes (such as Breeders).

** It seems that the developers originally had a more railroaded path in mind for going through Kanto. After defeating Surge and getting the Thunder Badge (enabling Fly), players would take the S.S. Anne to Celadon (Getting HM 02). Take the bike path to Fuchsia (Getting HM 03 Surf, the Good Rod and the Soul Badge), trek up to Lavender Town (Facing Erika here instead of Celadon for Strength activation, picking up the Super Rod along the way), then backing to Fuchsia (HM 04), Surfing to Cinnabar, then finally ending at Saffron.

* There was going to be a charisma stat tied to the player which would determine if they would be able to capture/recruit wild Pokemon.

* Giovanni was originally a Flying-type trainer. He also originally wasn't a gym leader.

* The signature OneGameForThePriceOfTwo mechanic was originally going to be One Game for the Price of ''[[UsefulNotes/PowersOfTwoMinusOne 65535]]'', as the game world and available {{Mons}} would be procedurally generated based on the player's Trainer ID number. This proved far too difficult to program with the knowledge and technology of the time, and executives worried that it'd be difficult to convey the gimmick to potential buyers, so it was retooled into the well-known two predesigned versions signaled by the color of the Game Pak. Even after dropping the procedural generation, there was a brief period where five to seven color versions were considered, but the cartridge manufacturers were resistant to the idea of making so many minor variants on what they saw as essentially the same product.