Pikachu Once Had a Second Evolution Called Gorochu?

As you likely know, Pikachu only has one evolution in the Pokemon series. Oh sure, it has a pre-evolution in the form of Pichu and an Alolan variant for its evolution, but the evolutionary line stops at Raichu, regardless of what some clueless scientist on Cinnabar Island might say in the original games.

However, did you know it didn’t used to be that way?

Yeah, you heard us right. At one point in Pokémon’s development, Pikachu was actually the first stage of a three-part evolutionary line, with Raichu having an evolution of its own.

This is confirmed by a recent interview in Yomiuri where Pokemon series artist Atsuko Nishida mentions a scrapped second evolution for the iconic electric mouse. This second evolution would have it become an unknown Pokemon called Gorochu, described as a fiercer looking creature with fangs and a pair of horns. Here’s the quote about it straight from the original article:

In the game Pikachu only evolves to Raichu, but I hear that at first there was three stages. Why did it end up being only two stages? (Or one evolution)

Nishida: Yes. It was “Pika(chu),” “Rai(chu),” and “Goro(chu).” The Pokémon known as Gorochu bared fangs and even had a pair of horns.

It’s certainly an interesting thing to think about, isn’t it?

After all, the horns and fangs suggest a more menacing final form than Raichu turned out to be, with elements of a demonic motif potentially being present there.

Above: Though maybe it could have looked more like this hoax from back in 2013…

And that’s not all. Oh no, remember that as a rule, elemental stone evolutions tend not to evolve again afterwards in the main Pokemon series. There may be the odd exception in future, but in general, the elemental stone tends to activate a Pokémon’s last evolutionary form.

However, Raichu was only the second form in this shortened line. This raises the question of whether it was originally going to evolve some other way, or whether the rule of elemental stone evolutions not evolving afterwards wasn’t decided then.

Which in turn leads to questions about the anime or Pokemon Yellow could have worked as well. Okay, they weren’t really things anyone was thinking about at this point, but… picture it for a second. If Pikachu didn’t require a Thunder Stone, that would completely change the mechanics for both of these adaptations, and likely mean they’d go in totally different directions from what we actually got.

So, in that sense, cutting Gorochu may have been instrumental to the direction of almost every part of the Pokemon franchise. For want of a nail indeed!

However, as interesting as that thought experiment aspect may be, it’s not the only intriguing thing brought to light in the interview.

Oh no, quite a few other details about Pikachu’s design and character development were mentioned there too. For instance, Pikachu wasn’t actually a mouse in the game’s early development either.

Nope, back then it was actually meant to be a squirrel. In fact, the red cheeks Pikachu is partially known for are a holdover from this, with the idea of it having cheek pouches for electricity coming from how squirrels store food in their cheeks:

Nishida: Since it was an electric-type, I thought it would be nice to have it store electricity in its cheek pouches. At the time I was really into squirrels, and since squirrels store food in their cheeks I thought about giving it cheek pouches. Also, squirrel tails are cute so I gave it a tail as well. However, I did want to give it some kind of “lightning” part to it, so I gave it the lightning-shaped tail.

And that’s still not all. Nope, before it was even meant to be a squirrel, Pikachu was actually envisioned as a daifuku. As in, it was originally based on a certain type of Japanese cake with ears, with the name ‘Pikachu’ being part of why it was eventually turned into a mouse.

Add to this how its original concept was created as a way to add ‘cute’ Pokemon to a series that didn’t yet feature them or how its rarity in game was driven in part by its creators wanting to keep it to themselves, and it becomes clear that every element of the electric mouse’s creation stemmed from pure serendipity. Kind of like many other Nintendo characters and their origins when you think about it…

So yeah, go and read the full translation from Silicon Era if you want to know more. There’s quite a lot of interesting stuff there, and you’ll get quite the glimpse of Pokémon’s development process while you’re at it.

As for now? Well, give us your thoughts on the scrapped Pikachu evolution or its design in the comments below! Would you have wanted to see Raichu evolve into a more powerful Pokemon, or Pikachu with a squirrel inspired design?

Source:

Pikachu Originally Had A Second Evolution Called ‘Gorochu’ With Large Fangs And Two Horns (Silicon Era)

Has Nintendo Just Hinted at a New Video Game System?

Earlier today, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts held the Bafta Games Awards. These awards turned out pretty well for Nintendo, with the company’s products being nominated for nearly every category and winning quite a few of them with titles like Super Mario Odyssey and the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.

However, what really got people’s attention was not the ceremony. Oh no, it was the follow up interview the BBC held afterwards.

That’s because in that video, Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi made reference to a new system that Nintendo was supposedly working on. Here’s his original comment from the interview, as translated by a nearby interpreter:

Nintendo constantly works on hardware, so we have been doing research and development. You may see the new system sometime in the future.

As you can tell, it’s certainly an interesting hint towards an unannounced system. But is it really a big deal?

Well, to be honest it’s hard to know.

Because you see, Nintendo is always working on new hardware. Seriously, that’s how the company operates. Whenever one system comes out, they start work on its successor shortly after. Same with their games, with each Mario and Zelda title usually starting developing not long after the previous one wraps up.

Yet that doesn’t mean said new games and systems are coming ‘soon’. It just means they’re in development right now.

And nothing in the video contradicts that. Indeed, Mr Takahashi doesn’t say the system is coming in the ‘near future’, nor does it say it’s coming ‘soon’. Heck, he doesn’t even give a timeframe from when it might be announced.

Just that you ‘may see the new system sometime in the future’.

And well, given that Nintendo’s always working on new things (and that they’ll inevitably be releasing new games and systems in the future), that quote really just reaffirms what we already know.

So don’t panic about it, okay? Relax, and remember that Nintendo is always working on new products, even many years before they’re due to be released.

Thank you.

Source:

Nintendo Celebrates Bafta Hat Trick (BBC News)