Pokemon Fan Imagines Cut Beta Sprites As Modern 3D Models

thegamer.com:

There are over 900 Pokemon out there, and when Scarlet & Violet arrives, it’ll be over 1,000. However, it could have been a lot more. There are dozens, perhaps even hundreds of Pokemon that have never made it into a Pokemon game, either cut from generational rosters or their designs evolved into something completely different.

Concept art and sprites have made it around the internet, but it's extremely rare for a beta Pokemon’s design to get far enough along for a 3D render. Thankfully, Blender artist Niall Stenson (@Vertex_arcade on Twitter) has given these cut Pokemon the animated 3D models they never deserved.

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For those looking for an explanation, we don't know the full story about all of these cut Pokemon, but we can at least take a stab at most of them. Animon is thought to be an evolution of Ditto that would have required it to hold a Metal Coat item. It would have made it a Steel/Normal-type Pokemon, but like all of these 'Mons, it never came to be.

There's a ton of pre-evolution forms like Monja (a pre-evolution of Tangela), Konya (a pre-evolution of Meowth), and Baby Paras, which apparently didn't even get far enough in development to warrant its own name. Some Pokemon eventually became others, such as Ikari being reworked in Sharpedo in Gen III and Kotora inspiring the likes of Dedenne.

But others were just outright cut. Norowara was displaced by Misdreavus in Gen II, while Akueria was replaced by Feraligatr as the Water-type starter. Porygon 2 was too much of a departure from what it eventually came to be, and Girafarig was originally two conjoined giraffes.

Fans on TikTok are wishing at least a few of these designs would come back in future