Pokémon Gold and Silver beta
Pokémon Gold and Silver (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 金・銀 Pocket Monsters Gold and Silver) were the first Generation II games to be released — November 21, 1999 in Japan and October 11, 2000 in the US. However, they had been in development for at least 2 years before then.
1997: Introducing Pocket Monsters 2 Gold & Silver
In 1997, Nintendo put the first details and screenshots of their next Pocket Monsters game online. It was initially named "Pocket Monsters 2 Gold & Silver", and was developed for GameBoy and Super GameBoy and was planned for release at the end of the same year.
One of the main points posted was the addition of a skateboard as a secondary transportation method besides the bicycle from the previous games. It was said that the skateboard would allow the player to go to unusual and unexpected places. Also mentioned were the integrated RTC (Real Time Clock), additional evolutions for Red/Green/Blue Pokémon, breeding and Pokémon eggs, 100 new Pokémon boosting the total amount to 250 (or 251 including Mew), new technical and hidden machines, meaning new attacks, better in-battle graphics and the game's communication abilities (trading and fighting between each version and trading with R/G/B).
Following is the first batch of media released on the Pocket Monsters 2 website:
The initial logo of Pokémon 2, pretty different from the two seperate logos of the final Pokémon G/S. The only thing implying two versions of the game, besides the text on the site, is the logo's background sporting two colors, yellow and grey or gold and silver.
This is the first picture that reveals some of Pokémon 2's new monsters in form of four pieces of artwork and three Super GameBoy sprites. From the left, the Pokémon are Donfan (Donphan), Denryuu (Ampharos), Yadoking (Slowking) and Houou (Ho-oh).
Screenshots of Pocket Monsters 2
Next up are the first four screenshots of Pokémon 2 and some of my own speculation and observations about them:
The first one of Pokémon 2's initial screenshots. This shot shows a completly removed or at least entirely reconstructed city. Note the more Asian-looking buildings and the limited Super GameBoy color palette. The final version's standard town graphic set still retains some of this early one (ex. doors and windows).
Second known screenshot of the game. Again, this city was either completly scrapped or totally rebuild. Apparently, this build of the game uses a newer graphic set then the build of the first screenshot: The sign graphics are the same as in the final release, compared to the birdhouse-like signs of the first screenshot. This is also the first time we see the new water look, as well as the first sighting of a NPC character.
Third known Pokémon 2 screenshot. As before, a removed or totally rebuild city. Here we can either see another change in the graphic set OR the first sighting of a secondary one for towns. When comparing the roof visible on the right side of the shot with the roofs in the screenshot above, you will notice a slightly different pattern on them. Anyway, here we have another graphic element that made its way into the final game - the brick pattern on the wall of the top building.
The last one of the first four screenshots. This time we have an area where you could say that it either partially survived into the final version or at least inspired an area in it. Replace the water with trees and fences and open a path to the right. What do you get? A simplified version of Route 35 and the National Park's southern entrance.
Here's another screenshot that I recently found. It somewhat resembles the Goldenrod Radio Tower.
1998: The 2 is dropped - Pokémon Gold & Silver
Pocket Monsters 2 was not released in the end of 1997 as originally stated. The expected release date was removed. The title was changed to Pocket Monsters Gold & Silver, dropping the 2.
1999 - New information
After about a year of silence on Nintendo's website it was finally overhauled completely, reflecting the state of development: Nintendo settled on the two final logos for Gold and Silver, the release date was set to June 1999, and the game was targeted with the then to-be-released GameBoy Color system in mind, but still compatible with the old monochrome GameBoys.
Artwork for Yadoking (Slowking), Marill, Kireihana (Bellossom) and Hoho (Hoothoot) were released.
- 1999 art yado1.gif
- 1999 art cara 1.gif
- 1999 art cara 2.gif
- 1999 art cara 3.gif
The first screenshots of the Pokémon G/S battle system, most prominently featuring several Pokémon in their new full color GBC graphics, were also released.
- 1999 shot p2.gif
Lv.42 Butterfree vs. Lv.38 Fushigibana (Venusaur)
- 1999 shot p3.gif
Player vs. Girl Scout Kanami
The battle screens are very similar to the final ones, but note the absence of gender markers. As Pokémon breeding and as such different genders were already mentioned back in 1997 for Pokémon 2, this little feature of being able to see the enemy's gender before catching was added later for convenience.
The attack stats window, which tells you the remaining and total PP of each attack and its type is missing at this point.
The new Pokédex is still missing a few features - the Pokémon's number is not displayed beneath its picture and the footprint in the top right corner is missing, as are the three options near the bottom of the screen - location, cry and print.
- 1999 shot p5.gif
Route 30
- 1999 shot p6.gif
Route 32
- 1999 shot p7.gif
Route 45
National Park
- 1999 shot p8.gif
PokéMart
Graphically, the first three screenshots aren't too far off from what we have in the final game. The white paths now have some darker patches applied to them, the water was for some reason reverted to its original design from R/G/B instead of the one that was already used in the 1997 shots (which is seemingly also the base of the final version's water) and the mountain edges in the third screenshot have a green grass tile in the corner instead of a brown mountain one. One the other hand, the Pokémon shop's interior graphics are very different from the final version, looking more like colorized variants of R/G/B's shop graphic set. For comparison, here are screenshots of final G/S' and R/G/B's first shops:
Here are two more screenshots, coming from IGN GameBoy, that feature areas also shown in the trailer video mentioned above but having much higher quality then my video file.
Screenshot one is obviously a mountain area but I'm again unsure about the location. Judging from the sequence in the trailer it could be Route 45 & 46, Blackthorn City to New Bark Town. Screenshot two clearly shows the National Park, slightly differing from the final one in graphics and placements. For example, the decorative borders are bigger and arranged differently, a trash can in the top left, normally next to two benches, is missing and the people around the scene are differently placed as well.
Pokémon Gold and Silver Beta 1.4
Pokémon Gold and Silver Beta 1.5
Pokémon Gold and Silver Beta 1.6
References
- Pokémon GS Pre-Release Images
- Pokémon Gold & Silver - Development Reconstruction
- IGN Pocket
- Pkmn.co.uk Pokémon GS Beta Information
- Pkmn.co.uk Lost Pokémon!
- Pkmn.co.uk GS Beta Maps
- Pokefor.tk Pokémon GS Pre-Release (Wayback)
- Different archived versions of Nintendo of Japan's and IGN's GameBoy website.
