An apparent leak of Pokémon’s generation one localisation data last week revealed some surprising facts about the Pokémon franchise. According to a Twitter account known for leaks, not only did the data unveil a cancelled game titled Pokémon: Pink, it also unveiled an early, much better name for Eevee.
This article has been updated since its original publication.
The source code leak was detailed by Dr. Lava’s Lost Pokemon, a Twitter account dedicated to reporting facts about the Pokémon franchise and widely considered legitimate. Kotaku Australia has not been able to verify the source code independently.
According to Dr. Lava, Eevee’s original name in early localisation efforts was ‘Eon’. While this name has been rumoured for some time, the data leak appears to confirm it.
The ‘Eon’ name would also line up perfectly with Eevee’s original evolutions — Jolteon, Vaporeon and Flareon. Instead of this naming convention, localisers went with ‘Eevee’, a name which means ‘life’. It’s unclear why this change was made.
In addition, a secondary Dr. Lava account unveiled a rare early poster for Pokémon, which was previously considered a fake due to spelling errors. Here, Eevee carries the ‘Eon’ name, lending credibility to some of the other names on the poster.
Like I mentioned yesterday, “Eon” was on a pre-release poster from the mid-90’s. I’ve never mentioned the poster before because I’m not sure where it comes from, and it appears to have spelling errors. But this leak seems to confirm it. Kudos to /vp’s Anon for this hi-res scan. pic.twitter.com/5KR8e4nM8k
— Doctor’s Note (@Dr_Lava_Notes) April 17, 2020
As you can see here, some names are correct, like Geodude — but others are completely different. Tentacool here is ‘Jilly’, while Tentacruel is ‘Manowar’ and Victreebel is shortened to ‘Victree’.
While no source for the poster is confirmed, Dr. Lava’s secondary account notes that it is a pre-release poster from the 90s. According to multiple Twitter users, many of the names on this poster match their Japanese equivalent — implying that these may have been the early, localised names of the first generation of Pokémon.
Other gems in this collection include Jigglypuff being called ‘Pudding’, Machop being simply known as ‘Karate’ and the Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam trio originally being named ‘Hocus’, ‘Pocus’ and ‘Alakaza’.
While the legitimacy of these names is yet to be confirmed, it’s strange to think of what might’ve been.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/02/best-pokemon-of-the-year/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/pokemon-of-the-year-410×231.png” title=”All The Pokémon That Should’ve Won ‘Best Of The Year’” excerpt=”According to official results released by Google on Friday, Greninja is the ‘Best Pokémon of the Year’ for 2020. Sure, Greninja is pretty cool, but there’s plenty of other, more deserving Pokémon that should’ve won. No, I’m not bitter.”]
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