Lost Pokémon Diamond & Pearl documentary reveals more than 100 scrapped Pokémon designs

Newly recovered Game Freak documentary reveals over 100 unused Pokémon designs from Diamond & Pearl's development

A previously unseen Game Freak documentary chronicling the development of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl has surfaced online, revealing more than 100 early and scrapped Pokémon designs that had remained hidden for almost two decades.

The internal documentary, titled Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Behind the Scenes DVD MAKE ALL, follows the development of the Nintendo DS games over a two-year period beginning on January 20, 2004.

Produced for Game Freak staff, the film documents the creation of the Sinnoh region, the development of its mythology and the studio's work on incorporating 3D environments into the series for the first time.

For nearly 20 years, the documentary's existence was only known through a 2007 blog post by Diamond & Pearl director Junichi Masuda, who wrote that Game Freak employees watched it together during a Pokémon Day celebration.

According to the report, a copy of the DVD briefly appeared on the Japanese marketplace Mercari in February 2026, where it sold for ¥82,000, or roughly $500.

Pokémon collector Neos later acquired another copy from a different source, allowing a preservation group led by Pokémon historian Lewtwo to archive and publicly upload the documentary on July 22.

One section of the documentary shows numerous Pokémon concept sheets spread across the Game Freak office floor.

Because much of the footage is low resolution and many sketches overlap, researchers reportedly carried out a frame-by-frame analysis, combining multiple images and adjusting contrast to reconstruct the artwork.

The recovered concepts include early versions of familiar Pokémon, such as Turtwig, Infernape, Piplup and Purugly, alongside completely abandoned designs.

Among the unused concepts are a planned Lapras pre-evolution, a Delibird evolution, a Stantler pre-evolution, a possible third evolution for Swellow and what appear to be shared baby forms for Plusle and Minun.

The documentary also includes early gameplay footage, original Japanese commercials and development videos covering the Underground and online features.

Lewtwo said a full English translation of the documentary is planned, writing: "Sinnoh will never be the same."