Game Freak originally wanted Pokemon to have over 65,000 unique versions
The original pitch for the entire concept of Pokemon unique versions included more than two! Tens of thousands were in the cards, actually. Through unearthed documents and interviews, Did You Know Gaming made a discovery of their own recently: the original pitch for Pokemon involved exactly 65,535 different versions of the same fundamental game. Let’s break this down.
Originally, Game Freak wanted each and every copy of the game (in the initial run at least) to feel special. As such, games would ship with a unique version of what became known as Pokemon Red/Blue [Green], with tens of thousands of variations. That means different Pokemon (which forces more trades), or apparently (and this is partially what led to the downfall of the mechanic) variations of map layouts. So why 65,535 exactly? Well it’s simple: that’s the highest value the Game Boy could take before there were significant issues with the cartridge.
It didn’t make the cut because legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto himself put a stop to it! That’s actually how the color system of the games became a thing: out of the desire to more simply communicate which “version” you’re playing. Since users couldn’t identify which version out of 65,535 they owned (alongside of manufacturing complications), the “two editions” layout was adopted.
According to a set of those same interviews, battling “made it in at the last minute because Nintendo demanded it.” Originally you simply watched the Pokemon fight on their own, but Nintendo dubbed the system “boring.”
To take this concept of streamlining even further, “HP bars were almost cut,” alongside of most player information altogether. Instead, there were going to be vague notifications like “that was a big hit [that
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