It’s hard to imagine how Nintendo and The Pokemon Company could have chosen any other mascot than Pikachu for the Pokemon franchise, but it’s been revealed that a localization team in the West attempted to give the iconic pocket monster a cat-like body and massive breasts. The Pokemon series has come across a number of controversies for various monster designs in the past, but the company has course-corrected this and made them more suitable for worldwide audiences. The most infamous Pokemon design belongs to Jynx, which many believed was originally a blatantly racist rendition of blackface.
While some aesthetics have changed for the better, some designs have been scrapped entirely. Designs for beta Pokemon in Silver and Gold Versions on the Game Boy have recently surfaced, giving gamers a look at what could have been. Many of these have been viewed by the Pokemon community as worthwhile, bringing with them the hope that they may resurface in some capacity down the road. While it’s easy to daydream about what could have been, some new information about a scrapped Pikachu redesign may have saved everyone a few nightmares.
According to an old interview with Satoshi Tajiri (the creator of Pokemon) and Tsunekazu Ishihara (the president of The Pokemon Company) on Nintendo.jp (as translated by Helix Chamber on Twitter), the American staff responsible for bringing Pokemon to the West had some bizarre pitches during the localization process. One of which, as Ishihara points out, was a complete redesign for “overly cute” Pokemon which included “a tabby cat-like humanized Pikachu with large breasts, like something out of Cats.“
Now, a reference to the musical Cats is enough alone to send some fans in the other direction, especially given the rather recent and infamous Hollywood take on the production. With that said, enough time has taken place between this supposed behind-closed-door redesign proposal and now that everyone can look back and laugh at the initial suggestion which (given the immense success of Pokemon) would have been a horrific misstep.
Currently, the Pokemon series is set to have a handful of major titles en route to Nintendo Switch – all of which will feature Pikachu. New Pokemon Snap is currently the most anticipated amongst core fans that played the original installment on Nintendo 64, while the initially divisive Pokemon UNITE will hopefully grow on fans after its release. Given the sheer number of games in the franchise being released, however, it’s clear that Mr. Ishihara made the right call in sticking with the original design for Pokemon‘s mascot.
Source: Nintendo.jp (via Helix Chamber – Twitter)