Pokémon is the largest game franchise in the world. This Nintendo-published series has been having fans collect fun monsters since the mid-'90s. Much like Nintendo's flagship character Mario, though, not all Pokémon titles have made it to market. But unlike Mario, the amount we know about canceled Pokémon games is shockingly low.
It makes sense that we know so little about canceled Poképrojects. Nintendo would want to keep a lid on knowledge about their biggest cash cow. Pokémon does have several non-localized titles and well-known beta versions, but truly canceled projects are a rarity. But scouring the records, one does find evidence of a few strange oddities in Pikachu's backyard that never saw the light of day.
Pikachu: DS Tech Demo
Has anyone ever wanted to pull on Pikachu like it was Mario's face from Super Mario 64? Well in 2004's Pikachu: DS Tech Demo, players could do just that. This tech demo showed off as E3 had a lot in common with the game Hey You, Pikachu!. Eventually, a stripped-down version of the game was incorporated in Pokémon Dash's title screen.
But that title screen was missing most of the features. While Pokémon's Pikachu sadly couldn't do all the things he could in other spin-offs, there were some interesting things the developers added. The full version of the game had a drawing client and a minigame where Pikachu would fish up a Magikarp. It also featured instruments that Pikachu could play, like a guitar and a xylophone. This game had a lot more features than the version on Dash's title screen that only let you pull on Pikachu's cheeks and ears.
Generation VI Sequels
The Generation VI Pokémon titles are somewhat infamous for lacking follow-ups. While the generation did receive remakes of the Generation III titles, true successors to the mainline entries of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y never materialized. The hypothetical Pokémon Z became a cryptid for the fandom, as there was a legendary Pokémon that began with the letter Z. And indeed, thanks to leaks from last year, fans know sequels were at one point planned.
The leak reveals a gap in code where two possible games could be fit into. This suggests a situation closer to Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 than it does the hypothetical Pokémon Z. It's possible that these games were canceled for many reasons, such as the terrorist attacks on Paris around that time (and Kalos being a France ersatz). Nevertheless, Pokémon fans are still hopeful that one day, these sequels to come to light and bring the ideas and concepts of Generation VI to a conclusion.
Pocket Monsters RPG
The title of this canceled game might seem odd, as all Pokémon games are traditional RPGs. Perhaps that's due to its first mention being in an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, who didn't have a lot of hands-on experience with the Pokémon series. He claimed that this game was a traditional turn-based game that would be released on N64, but might not release in the west. This led some people to think it might've been for the Japanese exclusive Nintendo 64 DD.
However, fans don't have a lot of concrete details about Pocket Monsters RPG. Some people think it's possible that it turned into the Pokémon Stadium or Pokémon Colosseum games. But this seems unlikely given that its sole other mention in an IGN listing lists it alongside Stadium. In any case, it's no surprise this game ended up vanishing. In the interview with Miyamoto, he mentioned it had a very small team.
Pokémon Pink Version
Pokémon Pink is one of the most elusive games as it has never appeared in any official capacity whatsoever. Neither Game Freak nor Nintendo has ever officially acknowledged it. But fans did get a small glint into its existence in the 2020 leak of Nintendo source code. The code makes reference to a companion game of Pokémon Yellow that never existed called Pokémon Pink, breaking the pattern of the third companion game right at the beginning.
Pokémon Pink is thought to have had Clefairy as its signature Pokémon, as it was once considered as the mascot for the franchise. However, Jigglypuff was also possible due to its prevalence in funny scenes in the Pokémon anime. Ultimately, it's unknown why this game was scrapped, but it's possible that it was considered a waste of time and resources to make four games set on the same map. Whatever the reason ended up being, Pokémon surely would've been different if Pokémon Pink had been released.
Pokémon Gray/Trademarked Pokémon Titles
These are the most underground titles in the Pokémon library, bar none. That's because all fans know about these games, if they are even games, are their titles. It's possible, however, that most of these titles were trademarked not because they were in development, but so Game Freak could preemptively claim them if they decided to make them. These titles are Pokémon Topaz, Tourmaline, Moonstone, Brown, Gray, Vermilion, Purple, Crimson, and Scarlet.
Ironically, some Pokémon fan projects share names with some of these titles. But, undoubtedly, the most interesting is Pokémon Gray, which is thought to have possibly started development. Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 broke the mold when it came to sequel Pokémon titles and were originally suspected to have been one game titled Pokémon Gray. Pokémon Developer Junichi Masuda has even name-dropped Pokémon Gray when explaining why they decided to make two titles instead.
PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS
PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS was technically released, albeit only in Japan. But what makes it fit the criteria of unreleased games is how it was distributed. Players could acquire this game as a demo from kiosks at the PokéPark theme park. A demo of the game would be downloaded onto the player's DS and would be deleted once they turned off your DS. As such, no full version of this game ever existed.
This fishing game referred to itself as a demo. Despite that, it did seem somewhat feature-complete; featuring a river where you could fish up twenty-five different Pokémon. This game ended up being distributed at other locations than just the theme park, but it remained Pokémon's first completely digital game. Alas, no full version ever came, and fans can no longer download the demo anywhere.
Meowth's Party
Meowth's Party was a tech demo for the Gamecube revealed at Spaceworld 2000. Unlike many other tech demos, Meowth's Party was intended to become a full game. This makes sense, as it was one of the only interactive demos on display. However, it doesn't seem like development ever began on this title.
Meowth's Party featured the seventh anime ending theme which shared the name. Meowth is a very popular Pokémon in the anime, which is why it's surprising it hasn't headlined a game. The game featured a Meowth with a guitar being moved around a stage as he performed. A similar feature was included in the game Pokémon Channel. It's unknown whether or not this Pokémon Channel bonus was the ultimate fate of Meowth's Party.
Pokémon Picross
As per the typical definition of "Cancelled Game," Pokémon Picross is really the only Pokémon game to fit. This game is one of the only ones to be formally announced, and then later canceled. Announced in several gaming magazines in 1999, it featured several nonogram puzzles with Pokémon characters. It was set to release for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color but never materialized.
But in 2015, the same developer, Jupiter Corporation, released Pokémon Picross on the Nintendo 3DS. This game was free-to-play, featured 300 puzzles, and is regarded as one of the better Pokémon spin-off titles. It's incredible that sixteen years later, a picross game with Pokémon was finally released. However, the game is undoubtedly different from the old Game Boy version, which was set to be compatible with the Game Boy Camera. As such, that version remains its own separate game and one of the only truly canceled Pokémon games.