Development:Pokémon Crystal

This page details development materials of Pokémon Crystal.

This page or section details content from the October 2024 Game Freak Leak. Check the October 2024 Game Freak Leak category for more pages also sourced from this material.

Material from Crystal's development, found in the October 2024 Game Freak leak in HaveSomeFun__RandomFromBoxEnt, under the POCKET MONSTER CRYSTAL directory.

Pokémon Animations

One of the main new features in Crystal was each Pokémon having a unique animation when encountered. The CGX folder has raw scratchpads for, strangely, only the odd-numbered Pokémon (with the exception of Gengar and Wobbuffett). Many of these have varying numbers of animation frames that weren't implemented into the final game.

CGX

Filename	Pokémon	Animation	Extra Frames	Notes
PM2F_009.cg7	Blastoise			Nearly identical to frame 3 from the CGX's main frames, but with slightly less polish on the arms. Arms would later receive more polish.
PM2F_015.cg7	Beedrill			Alternate animation set with no head tilt during the wing flaps and very slight differences on the wings.
PM2F_019.cg5	Ratatta			Alternate animation set with tail motion and no narrowed eyes.
PM2F_021.cg5	Spearow			Alternate animation set that has it turning its head to the side, opening its wing higher then tilting its head up. The broken palette may indicate that it was built directly from Gold's sprite, whose colors were altered for Crystal's final sprite.
PM2F_023.cg5	Ekans			Alternate animation set that is a less polished version of the final animation.
PM2F_025.cg5	Pikachu			Various small arm and cheek parts.
PM2F_027.cg5	Sandshrew			Tail wagging.
PM2F_035.cg5	Clefairy			Has the body of frame 2 with the ear position of frame 1. Likely meant as a middle frame between the two. Foot pad would later be corrected.
PM2F_041.cg5	Zubat			Alternate animation set. Has an extra wing position, but the base frame lacks its open mouth variation, suggesting the wing flapping would've remained in two frames before returning to the base pose.
PM2F_047.cg7	Parasect			Position of the claw may suggest it was intended as a middle frame between frame 1 and frame 2 of the final sprite.
PM2F_061.cg7	Poliwhirl			Duplicates of frame 1 and 5 with different belly proportions. Most likely WIP leftovers from when the sprite was being redrawn from Gold's sprite.
PM2F_071.cg7	Victreebel			Eyes blinking.
PM2F_093.cg6	Haunter			Disappearing hands.
PM2F_094.cg6	Gengar			Stomping around and shrugging its shoulders.
PM2F_095.cg7	Onix			Unique pose with the head in profile view.
PM2F_099.cg7	Kingler			At a lower angle.
PM2F_101.cg5	Electrode			Extra winking pose, somewhat reminiscent of the Yellow sprite.
PM2F_103.cg7	Exeggutor			Alternate animation set with twice the frames but lacking the head turn.
PM2F_105.cg6	Marowak			Alternate animation set lacking the bone spin and leg motion in favor of motion for the left arm. Last frame curiously lacks its pupil. Head shape more closely resembles Gold's sprite.
PM2F_109.cg6	Koffing			First frame matches Gold's sprite with the fog removed, only lacks a few tweaks to match final. Second frame also lacks these polishes and may have been intended as a middle frame between frame 1 and the full smile seen in the final animation.
PM2F_111.cg7	Rhyhorn			Contains both Gold's sprite and Silver's sprite, as well as a WIP sprite seemingly trying to merge elements of the two into one. Likely to serve as a base for the animation.
PM2F_113.cg6	Chansey			Includes Silver's sprite, despite the animation using Gold's as base. May stem from an early attempt of combining the two in the same animation. Rightmost frame is a duplicate of frame 2 from the final sprite with a stray pixel on the side.
PM2F_115.cg7	Kangaskhan			Alternate animation set. Includes some isolated frames for the baby. The two bottom-most frames are identical, and completely match Gold's sprite.
PM2F_119.cg7	Seaking			Alternate animation set with the caudal fins swaying further.
PM2F_121.cg6	Starmie			Extra smear frames.
PM2F_129.cg6	Magikarp			Lower eye position while slapping its tail.
PM2F_131.cg7	Lapras			Gold's sprite, which served as a base for the animation.
PM2F_137.cg6	Porygon			Has a transition for its body gradually becoming wireframe.
PM2F_141.cg6	Kabutops			Alternate frames with raised scythes.
PM2F_143.cg7	Snorlax			Duplicates of frame 1 and 4 with very minor alterations on the right paw and behind the left arm.
PM2F_145.cg7	Zapdos			Alternate WIP animation set. The animation appears to show Zapdos pulling its head back, then closing its wings before thrusting forward with its beak. First frame is Silver's sprite unaltered.
PM2F_149.cg7	Dragonite			Arms down to the sides.
PM2F_151.cg5	Mew			Many different ideas, mostly with Mew glowing.
PM2F_153.cg6	Bayleef			Happier facial expression.
PM2F_157.cg7	Typhlosion			Includes an apparently unfinished frame of Typhlosion facing more toward the screen. Its eyes seem to have not been drawn in, giving it a rather creepy appearance.
PM2F_159.cg6	Croconaw
PM2F_163.cg5	Hoothoot			Tail wagging.
PM2F_165.cg6	Ledyba
PM2F_167.cg5	Spinarak			Head tilt.
PM2F_173.cg5	Cleffa
PM2F_175.cg5	Togepi			Foot raised.
PM2F_183.cg5	Marill
PM2F_181.cg7	Ampharos			Tail wagging.
PM2F_189.cg7	Jumpluff
PM2F_199.cg7	Slowking			Extra in-betweens for blinking and head tilting.
PM2F_207.cg6	Gligar			Its cropped lower half with the stinger facing forward.
PM2F_209.cg6	Snubbull			Head turns and mouths.
PM2F_213.cg5	Shuckle			Peeps its head out from behind its shell.
PM2F_217.cg7	Ursaring			Has its arms up, which look particularly unrefined and crude.
PM2F_221.cg7	Piloswine			Frame of its tusks down while revealing its mouth.
PM2F_227.cg7	Skarmory
PM2F_233.cg6	Porygon2
PM2F_235.cg7	Smeargle			A tiny chunk of its tail at a different angle. When applied to the third frame, it looks like this.
PM2F_237.cg7	Hitmontop			Has more smear frames of it spinning.
PM2F_241.cg6	Miltank			An extra frame with its arms lacking highlights.
PM2F_243.cg7	Raikou			Face is miscolored.

NEW CGX

To do: Ideally these should be animated. The LIST and NEW LIST folders has animation data. Can these be played to see the unrevised sprites in action?

The NEW CGX folder has a handful of revised sprites, with the ones in the CGX folder not actually finalized.

Filename	Pokémon	CGX	NEW CGX	Notes
PM2F_009.cg7	Blastoise			Fingers and tail adjusted. Its muzzle and lower jaw on the open-mouth frames were redrawn slightly.
PM2F_033.cg6	Nidorino			Mouth opens wider. The timing on the right foreleg pawing at the ground and blinking were adjusted.
PM2F_035.cg5	Clefairy			Pad underfoot was removed.
PM2F_049.cg7	Venomoth			Different abdomen design and coloring, seemingly lifted straight from Gold's sprite, which served as base for Crystal's sprite. A frame with an unfinalized body pattern is also present in the NEW CGX file.
PM2F_051.cg7	Dugtrio			Eight keyframe added.
PM2F_055.cg7	Golduck			Alternate animation set without the arm thrust, but with an extra frame for opening the mouth and a frame with the leg raised.
PM2F_059.cg7	Arcanine			Its mane was further refined and an extra frame as added.
PM2F_061.cg6	Poliwhirl			Its animation appeared to have it slap its belly.
PM2F_067.cg7	Machoke			Fist was redrawn.
PM2F_073.cg6	Tentacruel			Alternative animation set based directly on Gold's sprite and its front-reaching tentacle, even retaining the red tint on the black parts of the body that were removed in final. Front-reaching tentacle would end up getting removed in favor of a more neutral pose and animation.
PM2F_081.cg5	Magnemite			A shadow was added to the right magnet and one frame was omitted.
PM2F_085.cg7	Dodrio			Fifth keyframe added.
PM2F_094.cg6	Gengar			Its legs disappearing was added to the animation.
PM2F_095.cg7	Onix			Rocks and head redrawn, and four new frames added.
PM2F_099.cg7	Kingler			One less frame, with more motion added to the claw.
PM2F_107.cg6	Hitmonchan			Highlight on right foot in 6th frame fixed.
PM2F_111.cg7	Rhyhorn			Foot positions adjusted.
PM2F_113.cg6	Chansey			The hairs at the sides of its head looked as if one was missing. Also added is a note about its tail.
PM2F_127.cg6	Pinsir			Claw movement added to three frames. Two extra unused frames are also present that weren't before.
PM2F_129.cg6	Magikarp			Forehead was given a white highlight.
PM2F_135.cg6	Jolteon			Minor collar and leg adjustments.
PM2F_139.cg6	Omastar			Tentacles were slightly widened.
PM2F_141.cg6	Kabutops			Animation was changed to it crossing its scythes.
PM2F_149.cg7	Dragonite			One extra frame added.
PM2F_153.cg6	Bayleef			Leaf and toes slightly adjusted.
PM2F_197.cg6	Umbreon			Paws and ears adjusted.
PM2F_225.cg6	Delibird			Two extra frames were added.
PM2F_227.cg7	Skarmory			Neck was recolored black.
PM2F_243.cg7	Raikou			Face color corrected, head shifted forward.

Miscellaneous

The following are in the NEW CGX folder, but are identical graphics-wise to their CGX counterparts.

Filename	Pokémon
PM2F_015.cg7	Beedrill
PM2F_023.cg5	Ekans
PM2F_047.cg7	Parasect
PM2F_115.cg7	Kangaskhan
PM2F_117.cg6	Seadra
PM2F_123.cg7	Scyther
PM2F_165.cg6	Ledyba

Intro Logo Screen

This page or section details content from the April 2020 Nintendo Leak. Check the April 2020 Nintendo Leak category for more pages also sourced from this material.

Early	Final

Found under TESTMETA.DAT in the April 2020 Nintendo Leak is a work-in-progress version of the Game Freak logo animation from Pokémon Crystal, whose earliest backup dates back to October 24, 2000. It is unsurprisingly a fair bit rougher, with Ditto looking way more uncomfortable, and with its initial bounce sprites featuring its face rather than being bare.