There are literally hundreds of Pokémon, including some that we can’t believe got the green light. So it’s always fun to see those that didn’t make the cut, especially from the series’ early days. A show on Japanese TV channel NHK recently aired illustrations of several Pokémon, including those that have never appeared in-game.

A lot of these original-gen monsters are recognizable, like Lapras and Blastoise. But these pieces of concept art also prove that most classic Pokémon went through some rough drafts too. I mean, just look at how strange Scyther (third from top left) originally looked:

And these Pokémon are predecessors to the Gengar and Nidorino that fight in the opening credits of Pokémon Red:

This is a much smaller collection of thrown-out art and Pokémon designs than those that turned up for the prototypes of Gold and Silver earlier this year. But we’ll take what we can get, because the history of Pokémon continues to fascinate us.

Update: OK, forgive my revisionist history. It was Nidorino in the opening of Red, and Jigglypuff in Blue, that took on Gengar.