Gen 7 Development Repository Leak Discussion

[Hematite]

BTW, a final note, Eclipse_tt is trying to push that the Ultra Beasts were meant to appear in XY or at least their sequels. There is no proof of this in the leaked code, they're using flimsy evidence and reasoning to connect dots that are miles away from one another. Tomorrow they plan on posting the theory that XY's plot was supposed to be about aliens, a theory which was re-posted here on Smogon on the "Mystery & Conspiracy" thread by Hematite. While it's certainly a fun read, there's little to no proof it's nothing more than just a creative reimagining of how the elements of XY fit together to "reveal" a "scrapped" storyline.

Minor, but yeah, this is actually something that was really bothering me - I am a huge fan of the theory and really want it to be true, and I would love if some future leak did actually confirm it, but what Eclipse_tt has been saying is incredibly misleading both in terms of the amount of proof (seriously? tagging two well-known dataminers who aren't even a part of this leak, not even to ask but just declaring "You can confirm this, so it's true!" when they have said nothing of the sort??) and in terms of how much of SM might have been meant for XY and how much might have been fleshed out specifically for Alola, even if it were true that some of it was derived from scrapped concepts for Gen VI.
I appreciate you tagging me and giving me the opportunity to weigh in! and thanks for sharing my breakdown of it! I totally agree with your take - I'm annoyed that they're handling it this way, especially now that they know they have such a wide audience with little prior knowledge of the idea.

That aside, this is fascinating - honestly, as small as it is, I think my favorite part is seeing stuff about how Wishiwashi was changed over time and seeing that Deoxys isn't considered a Mythical in Game Freak's repository not least because of how passionate I was that it shouldn't be about five years ago - I have no idea why I cared so much, but I feel so vindicated right now. Wishiwashi gives us a look into how Game Freak goes about balancing the campaign - aside from the full HP requirement (I wonder - if they had kept that, would it have had significantly different stats?), the change in level is something that wouldn't have affected competitive play at all, so that was purely an in-game choice (really interesting thought about Lana's Trial having been moved around in the order!!) - and Deoxys gives us a look at how they meant for the terminology to be used and how that has changed over time.

I also love the bit about the Elite Four theme almost being uniquely remixed for each one! I remember Game Freak actually shared a work-in-progress version of the theme waaay before the games came out or we knew what it was for, and people were making speculative remixes and sharing ideas for what it might be (usually as either the Champion's theme or the villainous team leader's theme). It was actually a cool surprise to hear it in-game for the first time because I recognized it instantly, and the final version really is so good! But I wonder whether that was actually meant for a specific one of the Elite Four even then, before they did away with the idea!

 

[Unown Lord]

If Deoxys isn't available via Crown Tundra alongside all the legednaries, then it's still a mythical in my book. They already excluded it from USUM even though it would have been an easy choice for Ultra Space.

Also, these placeholder version index numbers already existed in ORAS. It was pretty obvious that they were meant for Kalos games, but that doesn't mean Game Freak put more than a moment's thought into them. Reminder that the Strange Souvenir was always a strong indicator that the 3DS would accommodate another generation, and Masuda all but deconfirmed Kalos games in late 2014 (for some reason very few people took him seriously because Zygarde trumped all or something).

 

[SadisticMystic]

I'm more hung up on "WAZAPP Upcount" and "Nade Power"? Also Coolness is called "Style" in the code, and when did they ever use the "hair gloss" counter for?

"WAZA" is Japanese for "move", so that first one is meant to be parsed as "move PP Up count". There's no mention of "Nade Power" per se, but several mentions of "Nadenade", which means "pat" or "rub" (such as in the Eevee March). That gets translated to the name of the "Enjoyment" field (the music note meter in Pokemon Refresh) in English.

 

[R_N]

4. It was at one point considered to give each Elite Four member their own theme variation.

Bit of a shame they didn't go through with it, its a pretty intense theme and would have been itneresting to see what each member brought to it.

Also finally I see these codenames. I t was bugging me for years wondering why everyone kept calling the lusamine/nihilego fight "The Mother Beast" with such unified certainty and now I see its because of the music names.

SPEAKING OF CODENAMES! We got the one for all the Gen VII Pokemon!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1317642698199863298

Some of the more interesting ones (a reminder, the codename is used for the whole family, they'd just put a number on the end when they're referring to the middle (2) or final (3) stage):

• Pikipek is "Beak", makes sense though just funny how blunt it feels.
• Type: Null's is a bit confusing. In Japanese it's "Guripusu". Eclipse_tt relates it to a Gundum and Yu-Gi-Oh monster which name is "Gryps". After a quick check, I found a more simple translation: "Griffin". Makes sense, it is a chimera-like monster.
• Now we already discussed the codenames for the original Ultra Beasts (though their actual codenames one uses the first letter of the word instead of the whole word), but apparently the Ultra Beasts added in USUM also had a theme to their first letters of their Japanese name. Poipole was "Doku" ("Poison"), Stakataka was "Ishigaki" ("Stone Wall"), and Blacephalon was "Hanabi" ("Fireworks"). If you put the first letters of their Japanese backwards (BTW the "Ish" in "Ishigaki" counts as an "s") to get HSD: Hue, Saturation, & Darkness.

Calling pikipek "beak" is kind of interesting since it implies the main design philosophy was, indeed, the beak rather than the bird. Normal woodpecker beak, bugle beak, cannon beak. I wonder if any point in the design process they were all completely different birds. Might have even had some radically diferent designs of various toucans and woodpeckers.

Griffin for Type Null makes some sense. Got the beak, the feather motif, the claws.

Hue Saturation Darkness makes some sense. The original 7 UBs related to the light spectrum, the new UBs would related to shades/intensity of light.

 

[DaWoblefet]

Haven't seen it posted here yet - there were two scrapped Terrains, an AQUA and ICE Terrain. There's not much data associated with them, but it could indicate different Tapus and islands were in debate during development. Thank GOODNESS we didn't get some kind of rain-boosted Aqua-terrain boosted thing.

In AQUA Terrain:

• Camouflage turns the user into a Water-type
• Nature Power turns into Hydro Pump
• Resets Terrain (it has a comment that the effect does not exist / is unfinished)

In ICE Terrain:

• Camouflage turns the user into an Ice-type
• Nature Power turns into Ice Beam
• Doesn't have any other mentions in the code

In general, this leak is a regular cornucopia of mechanics information. It could take months to process it all.

 

[R_N]

Haven't seen it posted here yet - there were two scrapped Terrains, an AQUA and ICE Terrain. There's not much data associated with them, but it could indicate different Tapus and islands were in debate during development. Thank GOODNESS we didn't get some kind of rain-boosted Aqua-terrain boosted thing.

In AQUA Terrain:

• Camouflage turns the user into a Water-type
• Nature Power turns into Hydro Pump
• Resets Terrain (it has a comment that the effect does not exist / is unfinished)

In ICE Terrain:

• Camouflage turns the user into an Ice-type
• Nature Power turns into Ice Beam
• Doesn't have any other mentions in the code

In general, this leak is a regular cornucopia of mechanics information. It could take months to process it all.

This sounds familiar and I think we actually knew this from the demo? Or at least, just the name. It's really ringing some bells for me.

 

[Samtendo09]

Haven't seen it posted here yet - there were two scrapped Terrains, an AQUA and ICE Terrain. There's not much data associated with them, but it could indicate different Tapus and islands were in debate during development. Thank GOODNESS we didn't get some kind of rain-boosted Aqua-terrain boosted thing.

In AQUA Terrain:

• Camouflage turns the user into a Water-type
• Nature Power turns into Hydro Pump
• Resets Terrain (it has a comment that the effect does not exist / is unfinished)

In ICE Terrain:

• Camouflage turns the user into an Ice-type
• Nature Power turns into Ice Beam
• Doesn't have any other mentions in the code

In general, this leak is a regular cornucopia of mechanics information. It could take months to process it all.

This sounds familiar and I think we actually knew this from the demo? Or at least, just the name. It's really ringing some bells for me.

Well an Aqua Terrain and Ice Terrain would be redundant anyway. Sure, Hail does not boost Ice-type power but do we need another Ice-type field changing effect? Same for especially the Water-type, already a strong type as is.

I imagine Tapu Fini's original terrain summon would be Aqua instead of Misty Terrain. Tapu Fini was the odd one out to have a terrain summon regarding the Tapu's Fairy-type instead of its other type in the released version.

 

[Hematite]

Well an Aqua Terrain and Ice Terrain would be redundant anyway. Sure, Hail does not boost Ice-type power but do we need another Ice-type field changing effect? Same for especially the Water-type, already a strong type as is.

I imagine Tapu Fini's original terrain summon would be Aqua instead of Misty Terrain. Tapu Fini was the odd one out to have a terrain summon regarding the Tapu's Fairy-type instead of its other type in the released version.

To be fair, we already have one terrain that doesn't boost damage for any type. There's no reason Aqua Terrain couldn't have been planned to be strictly defensive and type-neutral in the same way as Misty Terrain, just associated more strongly with Water as a type for flavor reasons (and perhaps the idea of having two primarily defensive, type-neutral terrains was even what got it cut for redundancy - not redundancy with rain but redundancy with Misty Terrain, which is why Tapu Fini just sets that instead).
I definitely wouldn't have expected it to be an offensive boost to Water moves even if it did exist. I know you guys like to complain when Game Freak makes decisions that don't make immediate sense, but I'm positive they know better than to do that.
(The choice to make Nature Power into Hydro Pump rather than, say, Aqua Tail or Surf also sort of speaks to this in my eyes. I can't imagine it calling that much stronger a move than the other Nature Powers if it were still boosted like the other terrains and also stacked with rain.)

On that note, I don't actually see anything wrong with having an offensive Ice Terrain as something distinct from hail. They could very easily be completely non-overlapping effects for a type that absolutely needs that kind of help. Mostly this makes me really curious to know what kind of Pokémon might have had a Surge Ability for it - whether it was a scrapped tapu design or something else entirely, or if it wouldn't have had an autosetter at its debut.
I personally think a buff to hail would be more helpful to Ice specifically - most terrains are type-neutral other than the attacks they modify, so anything Ice-types got from this would probably be just as useful to non-Ice-types with Ice-type moves - but I'm curious to know where they would have gone with its effect and I absolutely disagree that there was no room to explore it.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I appreciate you tagging me and giving me the opportunity to weigh in!

Credit where credit is due. Plus I figured you'd be interested and curious what you thought of someone trying to push the theory. Heck, for all we know they may change around the theory to fit into their narrative the Ultra Beasts were meant to be in XY so it's good to have what the actual theory said and someone's detailed breakdown of it.

I think my favorite part is seeing stuff about how Wishiwashi was changed over time and seeing that Deoxys isn't considered a Mythical in Game Freak's repository not least because of how passionate I was that it shouldn't be about five years ago - I have no idea why I cared so much, but I feel so vindicated right now.

I'm curious if this is because at the time GF was considering removing its Mythical status or it has to do with internal data stuff and they can't classify it as an event Pokemon because you can get it in ORAS (thus it would have an in-game catch location instead of being "a special encounter"). Even if they were considering it for SM, by USUM they've decided it was still a Mythical as it was not catchable along with all the other Legendaries.

For a long while I've been thinking they should de-mythicalize several Mythicals. My personal picks would be Deoxys, Darkrai, Manaphy, Keldeo, Diancie, Volcanion, Marshadow, & Zeraora (as of right now, though Meltan/Melmetal and Zarude I think will also be going on the list). It's fine for them to be Mythicals for the gen they're released, but afterwards the Mythical status is like a chain-and-ball.

I also love the bit about the Elite Four theme almost being uniquely remixed for each one!

Bit of a shame they didn't go through with it, its a pretty intense theme and would have been itneresting to see what each member brought to it.

Well, while it hasn't happened in the main series yet, Pokemon Masters recently did just that with their version of the Kanto Elite Four. I know a few don't like the remixes in Masters, but I give them credit for at least going through the effort and now for making these variations of the same theme for different members of a group (they also made different versions of Hoenn's Champion theme for Steven and Wallace).

Actually, they did sort of do this one for the main series even before XY: BW2 had a different version of the Gym theme for each of the Gym Leader which was really neat as it helped with giving each Gym their own unique aesthetic and sad they didn't continue doing this for future games.

"WAZA" is Japanese for "move", so that first one is meant to be parsed as "move PP Up count". There's no mention of "Nade Power" per se, but several mentions of "Nadenade", which means "pat" or "rub" (such as in the Eevee March). That gets translated to the name of the "Enjoyment" field (the music note meter in Pokemon Refresh) in English.

Ah, thanks!

Normal woodpecker beak, bugle beak, cannon beak. I wonder if any point in the design process they were all completely different birds. Might have even had some radically diferent designs of various toucans and woodpeckers.

I wouldn't be surprised if they started with Toucannon (since Toucans are tropical birds and Alola is a tropical region), learned that toucans were related to woodpeckers (and through that the honeyguides as part of the Piciformes Order, which Pikipeck may possibly gets the first half of its name from). They figured why do one bird when they can do a whole batch at the same time, which is something they also did with Fletchling in XY and Rookidee in SwSh. It's why I'm now thinking a future game may a bird that goes Kiwi to Cassowary to Ostrich as they're all part of the same order of Ratite.

So some more datamine stuff:

More beta map stuff:
* Going down to the streets of "island_2" which has a lot of cars around.
* Basic designs of the Tide Song Hotel and a motel, with pictures of their concept art.
* Some more of beta Melemele.

Another Beta Trainer. Looks like a shorter red and there's two versions of this model: one with red hat/red shoes/black hair (like red) and one with blue hat/blue shoes/blonde hair. If I had to guess, the Red model is indeed a placeholder for the playable character and it's through manipulation of the Red model did they create at least the basic outline for the male playable character (Elio). It also should be noted that in the concept art of the Tide Song Hotel we see this version of Red talking with a Lillie-like girl.

 

[Marty]

There are several partially implemented moves that never made it into Sun and Moon or any game since. Here are pseudo translations for the move names and what they do from what I understand of the functionality attributed to them.

Ghost Pretend - turns Normal types into pure Ghost types
Resonance - copies the target's raw Attack and Special Attack without boosts (think Power Split but questionably balanced)
Mental Care - cures what seems like the ally team of anything Mental Herb would cure
Water Guard - not implemented at all
Tempt/Seduce - knocks out the target if it's asleep in hail (Froslass vibes)
Freezing Wave - after damage, causes -2 Speed in hail (AKA what Glaciate should have been)
Aim Punch - a punching move that looks like a precursor to Dragon Darts; if the target is protecting itself, it tries to target an opponent that isn't protecting itself instead

 

[R_N]

Ghost Pretend feels like a prototype version of Trick or Treat, which is weird since this is the gen 7 source code. Maybe that's why they got rid of it, a more niche version of an earlier move.


Tempt/Seduce definitely feels like a signature move for Froslass, yeah. Which, while random, let's not forget that gen 7 decided Heatmor should get a signature move too. And Heatmor isnt even in the alola dex.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Exploration of the beta map. One notable thing I could make out is that Iki Town originally had a well and I think the player's house (with the garage and side porch).

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1317936222015262721

 

[Zowayix]

Tempt/Seduce - knocks out the target if it's asleep in hail (Froslass vibes)

Since when does Pokemon ever make intentionally 100% accurate OHKO moves (regardless of activation conditions)

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Since when does Pokemon ever make intentionally 100% accurate OHKO moves (regardless of activation conditions)

Gardevoir did it once in the TCG.

 

[Ironmage]

I wonder if this is related to just how hard Dark Void got nerfed into the ground.

 

[Zowayix]

Gardevoir did it once in the TCG.

The TCG's had full-on "you win the game" abilities though. (lol imagine if the main series ever got such a move or ability)

 

[dodiabla]

Resonance - copies the target's raw Attack and Special Attack without boosts (think Power Split but questionably balanced)

If I’m reading and understanding this correctly, this would have pushed any fat Pokemon that got this into completely broken territory.

You switch out into your Lando-T/Zam on your opponent’s Chansey/Clefable/Toxapex

Chansey/Clefable/Toxapex use Resonance

Proceed to get swept by mon that never dies

I wonder if it would have been a signature move? Resonance evokes something related to sound to me, so maybe mons that incorporate that theme?

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I wonder if it would have been a signature move? Resonance evokes something related to sound to me, so maybe mons that incorporate that theme?

Primarina? A starter getting two signature moves isn't unheard of, especially if one is a status move. Greninja (Mat Block), Incineroar (Throat Chop), and Cinderace (Court Change) all got secondary signature moves.

Also, it worth noting that in the next generation, Lapras would get a signature move called G-Max Resonance.

 

[Zowayix]

Also, it worth noting that in the next generation, Lapras would get a signature move called G-Max Resonance.

Going by G-Max Resonance's Japanese name, that looks like just a fluke of translation (unless one of the names got changed along the way or something).

 

[doipy hooves]

Ghost Pretend feels like a prototype version of Trick or Treat, which is weird since this is the gen 7 source code. Maybe that's why they got rid of it, a more niche version of an earlier move.

Those moves are present from the "initial" version of hand_waza.cpp, before any Gen 7 moves were added, so they probably originate from Gen 6 development. The file itself was apparently created for XY on January 20, 2011 according to the header.

Here's some more miscellaneous stuff to close the weekend. I clipped these rather haphazardly through the day so it's not that well documented, but I think most of the post is from the battle handler folder. At this point I'll call it a night and leave things for the time being.

misc

Hoopa and Volcanion are excluded from the Miiverse. This makes sense for XY or ORAS, but you couldn't even post to Miiverse from those games. Or these games even.

[modify] 森本さん要望：特性「ヒーリングシフト」による技優先度を＋３に変更

Morimoto apparently requested Triage to be +3 priority instead of +1, and was also responsible for Water Bubble's 2x power.
Water Bubble was originally conceived without the 2x Water effect, as the description would make you think.
He's also mentioned in some Battle Royal changes like setting Sun giving credit for a Solar Power kill.

Shore Up would originally heal 100% HP in Sand instead of 2/3 in final.

Rotation battle references were removed on July 23, 2015.
Triple battle references were removed on October 26, 2015.
Gale Wings was nerfed on December 1, 2015.

Dark Void was nerfed on April 27, 2016.

Destiny Bond's nerf was because of Mega Gengar. (May 20, 2016)

Z-moves were initially called aura moves, implemented in June 2015 and individually named in December 2015. They also went through a name change in February 2016, like "Ultimate Supernova" for Mew. I think this also shows that the generic 1BP physical and special Z-moves in the move list are differentiated by their flavour name and their plain type.

Silvally's Memories were called Chips.

Disguise is ignored when Transformed, because apparently after Transforming you would never actually change to the busted form.

Mind Blown was boosted by Reckless for a week in April 2017, and was reverted.

They tested Photon Geyser's effect with Water Gun once.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Shore Up would originally heal 100% HP in Sand instead of 2/3 in final.

That's an odd decision, feels like from the start it would just be a Sandstorm copy & paste of Morning Sun/Moonlight/Synthesis.

Rotation battle references were removed on July 23, 2015.
Triple battle references were removed on October 26, 2015.

RIP

Dark Void was nerfed on April 27, 2016.

Ugh, how about instead of being 80/50% on both targets, let it be 100% on a single target. Just a copy of Spore but unlike Spore it's not blocked by Grass-types, Overcoat, Safety Goggles, and whatever else they've introduced to stop Spore's reign of terror. Darkrai is a Legendary, I think it would be alright if we let it just be a tinsy bit powerful.

Silvally's Memories were called Chips.

FUN FACT: Genesect's "Drives" are actually called cassettes in Japan (which is also what they look like). Yes, the cybernetic enhanced revived super bug uses cassette tapes to alter the Type of its most powerful move.

Just amuses me sounds like they're going going to essentially do the same thing with Silvally but someone pointed out "hey, maybe we should be using modern day technology like compact discs instead of a cartridge". I'm also now imagining instead of a CD player attached to the side of Silvally's head it has a NES/SNES/Sega Genesis slot on its neck.

Mind Blown was boosted by Reckless for a week in April 2017, and was reverted.

Why bother? Blacephalon can only have Beast Boost.

They tested Photon Geyser's effect with Water Gun once.

Why not test Photon Geyser's effect with Photon Geyser?

 

[Siggu]

Water Bubble was originally conceived without the 2x Water effect, as the description would make you think.

This could explain the misleading description... when was the 2x damage for Water-type moves made?

Why not test Photon Geyser's effect with Photon Geyser?

Maybe the animation was incomplete?

 

[Hematite]

Why bother? Blacephalon can only have Beast Boost.

For what it's worth, Mind Blown was also setting the standard for special recoil moves in general.
Light of Ruin was never released, and no other special moves caused recoil at the time (actually, the only special recoil move we've ever had was pre-physical/special split Volt Tackle, and that was changed the very next Generation).
Meanwhile, Game Freak went on to make a widely distributed move with identical mechanics - Steel Beam - in the next Generation, so I think they knew their decision would have consequences beyond Blacephalon itself and planned on it being an effect they used more than once.
We still don't currently have any Reckless Pokémon with access to either of the special recoil moves, but it was definitely foreseeable that it might come up in the future.
Edit: it was also the first spread recoil move in the series, which is probably why they thought to change the mechanics in the first place! It's not necessarily a physical vs special thing now that I'm thinking about it more. Steel Beam shows that they don't necessarily want to limit this to spread moves, though.

Unrelated but Araquanid is mechanically fascinating and probably my favorite Pokémon to use and I REALLY respect Morimoto for making the decision to buff Water Bubble in that way
There's no way it would have been this cool without that

 

[Rarycaris]

Why bother? Blacephalon can only have Beast Boost.

In addition to what was said above, Skill Swap. There are quite a few things like this -- for instance, Origin Pulse is boosted by Mega Launcher despite being unique to Kyogre and will consequently benefit from Mega Launcher being passed to it.

 

[R_N]

Those moves are present from the "initial" version of hand_waza.cpp, before any Gen 7 moves were added, so they probably originate from Gen 6 development. The file itself was apparently created for XY on January 20, 2011 according to the header.

Ah so this definitely got reworked into Trick or Treat, then. That's a fun glimpse into XY's dev we got.

View attachment 282800
Hoopa and Volcanion are excluded from the Miiverse. This makes sense for XY or ORAS, but you couldn't even post to Miiverse from those games. Or these games even.

Now this I find really interesting because it confirms to me that they
1. wanted miiverse (which would especially go with the fact XY had a photo mode)
2. could not implement it for probably technical constraints.

It's always been a running theory considering well....everything else about those games, but this feels like the smoking gun. I wonder if it's a small miracle that the 3DS games don't use up all the 3DS' ram like Smash and Monster Hunter do.

View attachment 282830

Morimoto apparently requested Triage to be +3 priority instead of +1, and was also responsible for Water Bubble's 2x power.
Water Bubble was originally conceived without the 2x Water effect, as the description would make you think.

Morimoto.....thank you.

Rotation battle references were removed on July 23, 2015.
Triple battle references were removed on October 26, 2015.
Gale Wings was nerfed on December 1, 2015.
View attachment 282923
Dark Void was nerfed on April 27, 2016.

View attachment 282843Destiny Bond's nerf was because of Mega Gengar. (May 20, 2016)

ahhhh I really like that we got stuff like this too. These were a fun glimpse into timeline stuff with gen 2's development. I wonder if rotation & triples were just always set for removal but had to take it slow, or if they really thought they'd get the mwroking then just slowly removed them as they continued development.

Z-moves were initially called aura moves, implemented in June 2015 and individually named in December 2015. They also went through a name change in February 2016, like "Ultimate Supernova" for Mew. I think this also shows that the generic 1BP physical and special Z-moves in the move list are differentiated by their flavour name and their plain type.
View attachment 282918

Aura Moves would probably fit more considering totem's aura flares to life and the UBs getting auras and so on. I guess they changed them to Z(enith) Moves because it was more marketable (& maybe differeniated itself more from Lucario's aura shtick).
Has anyone translated the differences between move names?

Why not test Photon Geyser's effect with Photon Geyser?

They probably had an idea for what the effect would be but the move itself hadn't been implemented yet, so they tied the effect to another, already implemented, move just to test it out in the meantime.