A Battle Between Trainers

Title: Gousu vs. Yadon

Caption: Concept art depicting a battle scene, one of Pokémon’s unique perspectives.

Translator’s Notes

While the Japanese picture is titled Gousu (Gastly) vs. Yadon (Slowpoke), the scene depicts Gastly battling Yadoran (Slowbro). It seems that Slowbro was originally called Yadon and only later renamed Yadoran. This may be because when Slowpoke was created, it bumped Slowbro up an evolutionary notch and stole its name.

As you can see, Gastly’s trainer has a whip, perhaps indicating a more hands-on approach to participation in Pokémon battles. These whips are preserved in several trainer sprites in Red/Blue/Green, including the Cooltrainers, Rockets, Rockers, and Tamers, as well as Sabrina. Perhaps their designs are leftovers of the concept.

Sugimori: At one time, the protagonist would fight as well. But then we asked ourselves “If you can fight on your own, what’s the point of having Pokémon?”

Pokémon fist fights…? I wonder how that would have fared with the censors.

Index

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