Thoughts on that early Gen 2 thing

Line starting Chikorita:

- Early Bayleef? Probably not Bayleef at all, although could have evolved into Meganium. Chikorita was likely designed earlier and Bayleef came later.
- A line of very fluffy fire starters. Last one has Flareon elements? Otherwise unique.
- A seal line that appears to end quite draconic. Looks to have inspired the present Popplio line, but not the Spheal line.

Line starting Hoothoot:
- Hoothoot looks similar to modern. Early Noctowl looks like a cross between Hoothoot and Pidgeot.
- Mareep line looks not too different to released
- Baby Vulpix? Cute as heck.
- Looks like Tangela was going to get a prevo and an evo, Roselia-style. The prevo has one eye showing, and the evo only has a big grin on display. This evo doesn't share much with modern Tangrowth apart from what was inherited from Tangela.
- This doesn't look related to anything (except maybe Togetic) but it's an incredibly cool concept. From the front, it looks angelic, but at the back, it looks demonic. Shame it was removed but I can kinda see why. Probably a planned dark type.
- Qwilfish looks no different but it looks to have been planned to have an evo. Said evo looks dumb as hell... has power buttons for eyes and a lightning bolt on its head gee i wonder what type it was planned to be
- Early versions of Pichu, Cleffa, and Igglybuff. All kinda geometric and very different to released.
- Quagsire. No Wooper? Perhaps Wooper came later. Quagsire isn't too different from released but has a different back pattern
- Natu, again not different to released.

Line starting Xatu:
- Xatu seems to be holding a cat?
- Baby Goldeen? An odd choice.
- Early Marill. Marill was kinda the Gen 2 mascot of sorts, but it's still an early design.
- An angler fish line that I'm guessing became the Chinchou line. Looks like it forks, giving you the choice between anchor shark and big mouth eel. The first one is pretty cute but doesn't look similar to any modern poke. The middle one is a shark with an anchor on its tail which is a very cool idea, but it doesn't look too similar to future sharks like Sharpedo. The last one probably became Huntail.
- Crobat isn't too different from release.
- Baby Paras? Another odd choice.
- Early versions of Spinarak and Ariados. Ariados looks particularly different with a cuter face and an evil face on the abdomen. Strangely, the backsprite has the mouth shut.
- Skarmory doesn't look too different from release.
- Some kind of blob with two small eyes and teeth. Possibly baby Ditto? May have inspired Larvitar.
- It looked like a monster at first but it actually resembles a nest of baby birds with legs. Baby Doduo? A very neat concept.
- Sunflora's cheeks are fatter than release, and it's embedded in the ground. No sign of Sunkern.
- Early Phanphy and Donphan. They're not too different but Phanphy has bigger eyes than release.

Line starting ghost duo:
- Yeah, ghost duo! Maybe a fork from Haunter? Looks very neat. Maybe fighting/ghost?
- Early Girafarig. Although other early designs have been shown, they had both sides identical. Here, the back half is far more evil than the front. Maybe dark type was planned for it?
- Smeargle isn't too different from release.
- A trio of cute cats. It's theorised that these three might not be all one line, and that the first may be a Meowth prevo, but it's hard to say for sure. It has to be noted that Gen 2 was the only gen that didn't introduce a line of cats of some kind. They are adorable and it's a shame they were removed for release. They also look like they could have been ghost type, which would explain the lack of Gen 2 ghosts.
- Early Politoed looks a lot more like a frog than release. Slowking, on the other hand, is barely different.
- Ledyba is basically unchanged, but Ledian looks like an angry ladybug with stars on its back. Not too threatening and actually looks smaller than Ledyba, so I can see why they changed.
- Baby Ponyta? Fire foal! It's adorable.
- Espeon and Umbreon. Looks somewhat different to release - Espeon's tail splits sooner and they seem to have a third eye. Umbreon has much more evil eyes. They really went ham on dark types initially it seems.
- Okay, here's an interesting one. Whereas the games have mentioned Shellder, this shell looks far more like the one that bit the tails and heads of Slowpokes. Pretty neat, but I see why it was ditched.
- Baby grimer? Looks kinda cute.
- Remoraid looks a lot more like a gun than in release.

Line starting Octillery:
- Octillery, like Remoraid, looks more like a combination of a soldier and a tank. Looks like elements of this design split off into Shuckle.
- Early Tyrogue and Hitmontop. Tyrogue is very different to released with a more cartoony look. Hitmontop is also different but looks more wooden and symmetrical - it wouldn't surprise me if this design inspired the Baltoy line.
- A little dog! Probably baby Growlithe?
- The Hoppip line. They're similar in that they're still a growing flower, but at the same time they're very different to released, kinda resembling those bouncing catblobs.
- A baby Mr Mime, and early versions of Smoochum, Elekid, and Magby. The baby Mr Mime kinda looks like a garden gnome and doesn't share too many similarities to modern Mime Jr. Early Smoochum is literally a tiny version of Jynx. Early Elekid has no arms and has an odd halo instead of the released plug design. Early Magby has spiky hair instead of rounded hair and looks more dino-like.
- Early Bellossom isn't too different from modern, apart from the darker colouring. But what's more interesting is what immediately follows: a sunstone equivalent of Victreebel. Looks like some kind of tropical duck? I think elements of this inspired Cradily.
- Miltank isn't too different, but looks to have a fatter belly than released.
- A very majustic seal holding some kind of ball of fire on its nose. Or maybe the fireball is its nose? Although elements of balancing seals were introduced into Popplio I wouldn't say this inspired the design directly. The front and backsprites are also very similar.
- Early Delibird has a figure more resembling a penguin, a santa hat, and a less fluffy beard, but it still retains the Santa styling.

Line starting lightning tiger:
- Lightning tiger, that evolves into a bigger lightning tiger. Very cute, very round and very lightning. I recall a criticism being that it took a long time to get a tiger pokemon, but it looks like they were planned.
- That's a Farfetch'd evolution. I shit ye not. That is DEFINITELY a Farfetch'd evolution. This big duck with a big wing has a big stick, and also a masquerade mask of sorts? Despite resemblances I don't think this inspired Swanna or Ducklett. A shame we didn't get this one, it's a really cool concept.
- This is an odd pair. The first one seams to be a stuffed bear with a huge pin through it. The other one I'm not as sure of but it's also a bear with one of those tags on it? I think it's based on Japanese folklore? The first one may have inspired the Shuppet line, but they bear (ha!) little resemblance to any released bear, including Teddiursa and Ursaring.
- Early Murkrow is incredibly witchy. The hat is much more of a witch's hat, and the tail is more like a broomstick.
- Early Blissey, with a large heart on its head and not one but two egg pouches. Looks very cute. Although modern Blissey is somewhat different to this design, I feel like it inspired other designs like Audino or Togetic.
- Scizor is pretty much the same, except for the eyes on its claws being more pronounced. But what is the early Pinsir evo next to it? It looks like it has no eyes except for that tiny face on its torso. I can see why they ditched this. It may have inspired Heracross, and the inward-facing spikes are present on modern Mega Pinsir.
- Houndour and Houndoom don't look too different, although they are cuter.
- Another pair of potential Dark types? These two look very cute indeed, and look based on the phrase "wolf in sheep's clothing". Very fluffy and very adorable. The second of this line has sharp claws that may have inspired Sneasel. Again, it's a shame we didn't get these.
- Some sort of lion with balls around its face? Kinda looks like a toy. Maybe more Japanese folklore at play? May have inspired sun Castform.
- An early Lickitung evolution. Bears zero resemblence to modern Lickitung except for the tongue.
- Steelix looks unchanged from release.

Line starting early Kingdra:
- Early Kindra, again very different from release. Doesn't look that much bigger than Seadra but has much more of a draconic focus. I can see why this was changed - it's a very unthreatening third evo - but cute nonetheless.
- Early versions of the legendary dogs. Although they appear to be Raikou, Entei, and Suicune respectively, they bear little resemblance to the modern versions, with cartoony and simpler designs.
- Is that... Mienfoo? They're not like any Gen 2 poke but they definitely have similarities to the fighting weasels of Gen 5.
- Ho-oh is here, on their own. Doesn't look too different from release. No sign of Lugia.
- Togepi is here, of course. Kinda different from release, but nothing too significant.
- Early Snubbull is a little bit angrier than release. No sign of Granbull.
- Looks like an early version of Aipom. Has triangle ears instead of the round ones, and also is a quadruped.
- Perhaps a grass type Eeveelution? Doesn't bear much resemblance to modern Leafeon.

Notes regarding Gen 1 sprites:

- Some of these are very different in appearance to any other game.
- Looks like the sprites of Gastly were at different points in development. The frontsprite is no different to the Gold sprite, whereas the backsprite is based on the Gen 1 design.
- Rapidash has very poor spriting here - looks lower quality than any of their Gen 1 sprites.
- look at pidgeot ogling ratatta's ass i mean what

Further notes:

- Some other no-shows that haven't been mentioned include Misdreavus, Sudowoodo, the Swinub line, Gligar, Mantine, Dunsparce and Wobbuffet. Also missing is Celebi.
- Of the no-shows, Gligar, Mantine and the Teddiursa line are Gold exclusives, and their Silver counterparts are all shown here.