a pokémon created during the development of the third-generation ruby and sapphire games could have evolved into any other pokémon but ultimately went unused, new details discovered in leaked private documents earlier this week reveal.
the august hacking of japanese developer game freak recently opened the digital floodgates on previously unknown pokémon information, and thirsty fans online are soaking it up. this so-called “teraleak” includes confidential details on past and future pokémon video games, the animated television series, and movies, not to mention over 2,600 items revealing the personal information of employees and contractors.
a spreadsheet of pokémon designs from beta builds of ruby and sapphire contained listings for a unique specimen known internally as both エボロット (roughly “eborotto” in english) and ピッパー (roughly “pipper” in english). this pokémon, which fans have dubbed “evolotto” after the former, would have apparently had the ability to evolve into any other pokémon from the third generation, though it’s unclear if this would have happened at random or could have possibly been influenced by player actions.
rough evolotto sprite work and pokédex entries were also found alongside the above concept art, but there’s no indication as of yet the pokémon was ever implemented in a playable build. still, it’s fun to imagine ruby and sapphire giving players a shot at obtaining a legendary or being able to fill out an entry in their pokédex with a pokémon not found in their version of the game.
if you followed the “gigaleak” of nintendo info back in 2020, you might recognize similarities between evolotto and an unused prototype design for arceus, a mythical pokémon introduced in the fourth-generation diamond and pearl games. arceus is the closest thing the pokémon universe has to a god, but early on the arguably over-designed deity was just as featureless as evolotto. this has led some fans to draw theoretical connections between the amorphous pair.
although a lot of attention is being paid to the semi-official myths surrounding pokémon-human sex and possible info about upcoming games from the teraleak, i can’t help but be obsessed with evolotto. i’ll never cheat on koffing, my all-time and forever favorite pokémon, but there’s something about evolotto‘s simplistic, doughball design and boundless evolution potential that makes me happy. just look at it! what a great little guy.
here’s hoping game freak finds a way to recycle evolotto‘s concepts in future projects and doesn’t just give up on pokémon development entirely in response to this massive data breach.
tell them i died 