Lost Pokemon documentary reveals over 100 scrapped Diamond & Pearl designs
A private Game Freak documentary chronicling the development of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl has been released online, revealing more than 100 early and scrapped Pokemon designs that remained hidden for nearly two decades.
The internal documentary, titled Pokemon Diamond and Pearl: Behind the Scenes DVD MAKE ALL, followed the games’ two-year development from January 20, 2004. It was produced by Game Freak for its staff and documents everything from the creation of Sinnoh’s mythology to the challenges of developing the series’ first environments using 3D graphics.
For almost 20 years, the only public evidence that the documentary existed was a 2007 blog post from Diamond and Pearl director Junichi Masuda. According to the post, Game Freak employees watched it together during a Pokemon Day celebration.
A copy briefly appeared on Japanese marketplace Mercari in February 2026, where it sold for ¥82,000, roughly $500. Pokemon collector Neos later obtained another copy from a separate source in June, allowing a group of archivists led by Pokemon historian Lewtwo to preserve and publicly upload its contents on July 22.
Over 100 abandoned Pokemon designs uncovered
One section of the documentary shows dozens of Pokemon design sheets scattered across the floor of Game Freak’s offices.
Because the footage is low-resolution and many drawings are covered by other sheets of paper, Lewtwo and other researchers conducted a frame-by-frame analysis, combining different shots and adjusting the contrast to reconstruct the designs.
Some of the drawings are early versions of Pokemon that appeared in the finished games. Turtwig initially began as a Grass-type armadillo, while Infernape was originally a heavy-set baboon with a flaming tail. Piplup once wore a literal crown and a full parka, and an early Purugly looked far more like Glameow while retaining the coiled tail that would eventually form its collar.
Other Pokemon were abandoned completely. The documentary includes a planned Lapras pre-evolution, a Delibird evolution, a Stantler pre-evolution, a possible third evolution for Swellow, and what appear to be baby forms shared by Plusle and Minun.
Completely original concepts include a two-stage sandcastle family, a saber-toothed jackal with icicle fangs, a constantly sleeping bear named Yasuraguma, and a rocky Pokemon resembling a train. Some resemble ideas used in later generations, including Sandygast and Chien-Pao.
The preserved DVD also contains early gameplay, development footage, original Japanese commercials, and videos documenting the creation of the Underground and online features. A full English translation of the documentary is currently planned.
“Sinnoh will never be the same,” Lewtwo wrote when announcing the discovery.
