The explosion of Nintendo source code leaks has yielded strange SNES game prototypes, the existence of Luigi in Super Mario 64, and, allegedly, plans for a hybrid PC / Game Boy Advance Pokémon MMO from iQue Ltd. The Chinese iQue was co-founded by Nintendo and Wei Yen to localize Nintendo products for China, and a presentation detailing plans for an “Online Pokémon Project” have apparently leaked online. The project would have used features from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen as a foundation.
The hybrid PC / Game Boy Advance Pokémon MMO that could have been
According to the presentation, the Pokémon MMO was aiming to release in July / August 2005 with online and offline play all available via Game Boy Advance. February / March 2006 would have brought an Online Tournament mode where Game Boy Advance is used for controls but a PC is used for the display screen, and July / August 2006 would have brought similar functionality but for capturing Pokémon in a new map. The game would have been playable offline but with a maximum of only 36 Pokémon being able to be contained by players in that case.
Strikingly, player regional information and IP address would have affected the distribution of Pokémon on the map, as well as affect in-game weather. The effects even were to extend to Pokémon hatching. Below is a sampling of the presentation with some additional details on iQue’s allegedly proposed Pokémon MMO. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this project ever went beyond the planning phase.
El juego se podría jugar offline, con un mapa basado en FR/LG pic.twitter.com/nmBvUsXuRA
— Centro Pokémon (@CentroPokemon) July 24, 2020
Características online: un nuevo sistema de crianza, un Centro Pokémon mejorado y un modo de torneo. Además de mapas específicos para búsqueda de tesoros. pic.twitter.com/jotgzlflTj
— Centro Pokémon (@CentroPokemon) July 24, 2020
El nuevo sistema de crianza: el juego se iba a conectar a un servidor para decidir qué tipo de Pokémon saldría del huevo. Se utilizarían variables como la hora, el clima y Pokémon cercanos. pic.twitter.com/xsdoyU9VLY
— Centro Pokémon (@CentroPokemon) July 24, 2020
With these leaks, it’s important to remember that game developers and publishers have so many plans that ultimately never materialize in a product, and we can’t possibly imagine how many extraordinary ideas like this have been proposed and later tossed over the years. This PC / Game Boy Advance Pokémon MMO concept may just be one of the few that has actually come to light. So don’t get any hard feelings over this one particular project never coming to fruition.
[Source]
