Uncovered Pokémon Diamond & Pearl footage showcases a wealth of never-before-seen Pokémon designs.
A fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary for Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl has surfaced, providing fans with fresh insights into the development of this classic Nintendo DS title, including previously unseen early monster designs.
Titled Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Behind the Scenes DVD — Make All, this documentary was originally intended solely for the developers at Game Freak. It chronicles the creation process of the two games, but a copy has been obtained by fans, extracted, and made available online.
The documentary showcases a variety of early Pokémon designs, featuring starters like Turtwig, Piplup, and Chimchar, who initially had flaming-red rear ends. Turtwig appears to have started as an armadillo-like creature before being transformed into the tortoise we know today. Interestingly, it seems Empoleon, based on its color scheme, might have originally been envisioned as a dual Water- and Ice-type instead of its final Water- and Steel-type form.
Among the intriguing content are images of a discarded “Foam Dog” water starter, a gnome-like evolution of Delibird, and an early concept of Sandyghast. Fans on various forums have been eagerly analyzing these new images, searching for designs that could have inspired future Pokémon, such as a creature resembling Scarlet and Violet’s Chien-Pao or a black woodpecker that might have evolved into Starly.
Pokémon archivist Lewtwo highlights that there are numerous early designs from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, some of which evolved into beloved Pokémon, others that were revisited in sequels, and some that were ultimately scrapped. Lewtwo provides a detailed breakdown of these findings in a video.
The 43-minute documentary can be viewed on a specific YouTube channel, though it is entirely in Japanese. Alternatively, fans can find a copy for personal viewing on the Internet Archive.
Lewtwo also offers a comprehensive overview of Make All on his own channel while the documentary plays. He notes that Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Behind the Scenes DVD — Make All was largely unknown until it appeared on a Japanese auction site and was purchased by a dedicated user. Another copy was acquired by Pokémon collector Neos, who collaborated with Lewtwo and other archivists to share the documentary publicly.
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were first released nearly 20 years ago in September 2006 in Japan, with a North American launch following in April 2007 for the Nintendo DS. The games were later remade for the Nintendo Switch in 2021 as Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
