Adding to the series of the recent Nintendo leaks is an unreleased Pokémon game. The leaks of the Pokémon game was first seen on 4Chan. It is an anonymous imageboard.
A set of Game Boy games that never saw the light of the day were revealed. All of the games were complete and ready to launch. But they were never released due to one reason or another.
The leak includes multiple games. There is a Hello Kitty game compatible with the Game Boy Camera. Also, Mega Man-themed board game called Rockboard. The leak also showed fully-translated games that were never released in North America. Legend of the Sea King and Gargoyle’s Quest II are some examples in this category.
The new addition to the Nintendo gigaleak contains source codes of many Pokémon titles. A lot of the titles were for the Nintendo Game Boy and DS.
Pokémon Picross is a title on the list. Japanese gaming magazines advertised the game back in 1999. It was set to release on the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
It isn’t strange for games to not release. The world of video game industry has a list of games that never made it out to reach the public. Speculations in the Pokémon say that it is the only major Pokémon title to be revealed and then canceled.
In 2015, Pokémon Picross from the 3DS was released as a freemium game on its eShop. The game was developed by Jupiter Corporation.
There is a Twitter thread by Lewtwo. Lewtwo is a Pokémon YouTuber. He has documented his findings from the game on Twitter. And from what we have seen so far, the game holds true to the nostalgic, original element of Pokémon from the ’90s. The late ’90s era Pokémon is close to the heart of many who grew up with it.
Game Boy Leak Thread:
Pokemon Picross, the cancelled 1999 game has been found. Noteworthy for being the only(?) straight-up revealed then cancelled Pokemon game.
This thread will post updates surrounding the leak, which was posted on 4Chan earlier today. pic.twitter.com/db5qlKqFBY
— Lewtwo (@Lewchube) September 9, 2020
From Lewtwo’s thread, we can see that Picross’s title screen is a remix to the Pokémon Red and Blue theme. From what we know so far, the game is complete. It has a total of 150 stages, an original soundtrack, and many difficulty settings. The stages of the game can be viewed in the Pokédex after completion. There are even several easter eggs for leaving the game idle. The sprites on the game also look very beautiful. Pikachu is the main character in the game. It shouldn’t be a surprise as originally, this was set to release in 1999. A bunch of other first-generation creatures also make an appearance. Bulbasaur shows up in World 2. Poliwhirl, Parasect, Venonat were some that Lewtwo revealed.
However, we might never find out why these games were originally dropped. Since these leaks are all without any consent from Nintendo, it is likely that we may never know why. Maybe there were plans for a later release or some financial situation back in the day.
However, for the 90’s kids, the game is surely a dose of nostalgia. Fans can’t wait to get their hands on this piece of Pokémon history. Nintendo has brought back canceled games before. Star Fox 2 is one of the games that was dropped 20 years ago. But now, it is available on Nintendo Switch. Maybe, Pokémon Picross will get an official release too.
