Leaked source code suggests Nintendo canceled “Pokemon Pink”
Game FreakA new leak has revealed a possible companion piece to Pokemon Yellow dubbed “Pokemon Pink” was scrapped by Nintendo before it could see the light of day.
The newly-unearthed source code for the series’ original games was posted on 4chan’s /vp board. In the files, there’s a header that reads: “Pocket Monsters Pink & Yellow.”
Keep in mind that at the time, Yellow was the first companion game to be released, so it’s possible that Game Freak didn’t know how to approach the title yet, and that’s why they planned Pink to accompany it.
Pokemon Pink was apparently in development.Pokemon Yellow is more based on the anime and includes characters such as the show’s version of Team Rocket that were not featured in the original generation one titles.
Additionally, while the player can have the traditional starters of Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur join their party, the player starts out with Pikachu, hence the title of Yellow.
While it’s unclear who the “Pink” in the title refers to, it’s likely that the starter Pokemon would have been either Jigglypuff or Clefairy.
https://twitter.com/DrLavaYT/status/1249689315740798977
Jigglypuff did, after all, appear alongside Pikachu to represent Pokemon in the original Super Smash Bros game on the Nintendo 64, and was a recurring character in the anime.
Interestingly, in the sound folders, there is a “comprehensive set of audio files” from the Japanese anime, so it seems like some potential audio got scrapped and didn’t make it into the final product.
That’s not all the leaks either. Pokemon Historian Dr Lava explained on Twitter that the source code contained some of the early English names for Pokemon.
https://twitter.com/DrLavaYT/status/1249708275433529344
For instance, Vulpix had the name “Foxfire” while Ponyta was called “Gallop.”
Unfortunately, we may never know the true fate of Pokemon Pink or why Nintendo decided to cancel the product. Nonetheless, it’s very interesting to see this emerge so many years after Yellow’s release, so it’s possible there’s even more secrets yet to be discovered.