Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo

Pokémon Gold demo
Title screen of the Pokémon Gold demo
Pokémon Silver demo
Title screen of the Pokémon Silver demo
Basic info
Platform:	Game Boy (enhanced for the Super Game Boy)
Category:	RPG demo
Players:	1 player
Connectivity:	None
Developer:	Game Freak
Publisher:	Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
Part of:	Generation II
Ratings
CERO:	N/A
ESRB:	N/A
ACB:	N/A
OFLC:	N/A
PEGI:	N/A
GRAC:	N/A
GSRR:	N/A
Release dates
Japan:	November 21, 1997
North America:	N/A
Australia:	N/A
Europe:	N/A
South Korea:	N/A
Hong Kong:	N/A
Taiwan:	N/A
Websites
Japanese:	Space World
English:	N/A

The Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo is an early build of the games Pokémon Gold and Silver that was shown at Nintendo Space World '97 from November 21 to 23, 1997. At the time, the final game was estimated to be about 80% complete and was set to be released for the original Game Boy—the Game Boy Color would not be announced until late March of the following year. However, due to a variety of delays, including a complete overhaul to the game, it would not be released until late 1999.

During the two years after it was first shown at Nintendo Space World '97 until its final release in November 21, 1999, the game changed extensively from this early demo. As with the final games, the demo used the Japanese Pokémon Blue as its basis for development.

Up until 2018, little information was known about this demo, due to the majority of the game being locked off from players. Only a few photographs were taken, and most of the information known comes from testimony of attendees. On May 26, 2018, however, ROM files of both the Gold and Silver demos were anonymously posted online, including versions with debug menus, allowing players to explore data that was blocked off at Space World.

Beyond what was intended to be played appears unfinished: many Pokémon have unfinished and placeholder base stats; scripts, NPCs, and warp data is largely absent; collision data is missing; and some areas are completely missing. Nevertheless, a large amount of information can be gathered from what is present, including many redesigned or scrapped Pokémon designs, minigame Easter eggs, and a completely different region.

Gameplay

The demo begins with a monologue from Professor Oak, similar to the final game. However, there is no option to give the player a gender or a name, who is instead automatically a boy named Satoshi (サトシ)^G or Shigeru (シゲル)^S. Afterwards, the player begins in his room in a town called Silent Hill (サイレントヒル); this town is also named Silent Hills (サイレントヒルズ) in the Official Fan Book of Pocket Monsters (Japanese: ポケットモンスター公式ファンブック), published earlier in 1997. The player will already have 3000$ and eight Badges, although the Gym Leaders are blacked out. One of three first partner Pokémon, randomly chosen, is already placed in the player's party.

Type: Grass Unknown Held item: None ハッパ Lv.8 Tackle Normal   --       Growth Normal   --       Leech Seed Grass   --       Struggle Normal   --

Type: Fire Unknown Held item: None ホノオグマ Lv.8 Tackle Normal   --       Leer Normal   --       Struggle Normal   --       Struggle Normal   --

Type: Water Unknown Held item: None クルス Lv.8 Tackle Normal   --       Growl Normal   --       Water Gun Water   --       Struggle Normal   --

Silent Hill has exits to the west, north, and east; however, the northern and eastern exits are blocked to prevent the player from accessing unfinished areas. A Pokémon Center which the player can enter is present in the town, but all of its functions are unavailable. Silent Hill also has a laboratory, but it cannot be entered.

The player will then move west to Route 1, a typical route with a dungeon called Silent Hill (しずかなおか) in the middle. (Although the English translations for both サイレントヒルズ and しずかなおか are the same, they are written differently in Japanese: the town is a transliteration of the English term "Silent Hill" in katakana, and the dungeon area in Route 1 is the Japanese native translation for "Silent Hill," written in hiragana.) Silent Hill has the first Trainers to encounter in the game. After going through Silent Hill, the player reemerges on the other side of Route 1, where they will encounter another trainer. At the end of Route 1, the rival, automatically named Shigeru (シゲル), stops the player, and the demo ends. The demo will also end if the player blacks out.

Differences from the final game

The demo and the final versions of the Generation II games had numerous differences.

• 

  Morning

• 

  Day

• 

  Night

The demo was meant to be played on Game Boy hardware and was not designed to take advantage of the colors available on a Game Boy Color; as such, the colors available through the Super Game Boy were less detailed. The day and night system is present, but due to running on a Game Boy color scheme, the change in colors for the time of the day are just shades of blue. Playing the final games on a Super Game Boy yields a similar effect.

The intro lacks music, and instead of showing the Generation II first partner Pokémon at the end of the intro, Venusaur and Blastoise are shown instead; Charizard, which was present in the final game's intro, has a slightly less detailed design.

Generation I Pokédex entries were carried over as placeholders for Pokémon until new Pokédex entries were able to be written for them. All Pokédex entries for Generation II Pokémon use the same placeholder text:「はっけんされた　ばかりの　ポケモン　げんざい　ちょうさちゅう。」 In an odd occurrence, it was also possible to battle wild Pokémon twice in a row without moving from a grass panel; why this was an implemented feature at the time is unknown.

Kanto Route 1 music plays for all Routes. The music of Viridian City, Saffron City, and Pewter City plays for all cities and towns present. Trainer and wild Pokémon battles both use Pokémon Red and Green Gym Leader music. More tracks from Pokémon Red and Green are present for events that are not normally possible in this build.

Type chart

Several type match ups differed from the final version of the game. Notably, Normal and Dark would be super effective against Dark types, while Normal types would only take resisted damage from Dark-type moves, Water and Electric would have been super effective against Metal, and Poison would be resisted by the Metal type instead of Poison type moves doing no damage. Additionally, Bug and Poison remained super effective against each other, something that existed in Generation I, but was changed to Poison dealing neutral damage to Bug and Bug being resisted by Poison in the final version. Ghost and Dark would both deal neutral damage against Metal (like Generation VI onwards) instead of Metal resisting both types.

In the below type chart, bold text and a different shade of the color means that the type matchup is different than in the final version.

×		Defending type
Attacking type		1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	½×	1×	0×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×
		2×	1×	½×	½×	1×	2×	½×	0×	½×	1×	1×	1×	1×	½×	2×	1×	1×
		1×	2×	1×	1×	1×	½×	2×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	½×	1×	1×	1×	1×
		1×	1×	1×	½×	½×	½×	2×	½×	½×	1×	1×	2×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×
		1×	1×	0×	2×	1×	2×	½×	1×	1×	2×	1×	½×	2×	1×	1×	1×	1×
		1×	½×	2×	1×	½×	1×	2×	1×	½×	2×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	1×	1×
		1×	½×	½×	2×	1×	1×	1×	½×	1×	½×	1×	2×	1×	2×	1×	1×	2×
		0×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	1×	1×	½×
		1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	1×	1×	0×	1×	½×	1×	½×	1×	1×	1×	1×
		1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	½×	2×	1×	1×	½×	½×	2×	1×	1×	2×	½×	1×
		1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	2×	1×	1×	2×	2×	½×	½×	½×	1×	1×	½×	1×
		1×	1×	½×	½×	2×	2×	½×	1×	1×	½×	2×	½×	1×	1×	1×	½×	1×
		1×	1×	2×	1×	0×	1×	1×	1×	2×	1×	2×	½×	½×	1×	1×	½×	1×
		1×	2×	1×	2×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	½×	1×	1×	½×
		1×	1×	2×	1×	2×	1×	1×	1×	1×	½×	½×	2×	1×	1×	½×	2×	1×
		1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	1×
		½×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	1×	1×	1×	1×	1×	2×	1×	1×	2×
These matchups are suitable for the Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo.

Demo restrictions

As this game was meant to be publicly played at Space World '97, there were several restrictions put in place to make sure the game could not lock up or be set up to not work for other players. The only options available at the start screen are "ポケモンを あそぶ" (Play Pokémon) and "せっていを かえる" (Change Settings). There is no Continue option as the player is not able to save in the demo build. The player is given a random level 8 first partner Pokémon.

The player could only heal using Potions as Pokémon Centers are not accessible in the demo. PCs are also not able to be used. Trying to visit a Pokémon Center or use a PC gives the text of "under repair" or "being adjusted." This was likely to prevent a single attendee from hogging the demo by repeatedly healing to avoid blacking out.

The player and rival's names are random pre-selected names. First partner Pokémon and wild Pokémon that appear in the demo are not able to evolve. When an NPC loses, they do not have any losing dialog, presumably to make the demo faster to play. The player can only visit Silent Hill and early routes up to the forest area. When all the player's Pokémon faint, the game returns to the title screen to ensure the next person could have a turn.

Pokémon

Main article: Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo/Pokémon

Although only a few new Pokémon can be seen in the demo through normal gameplay, 100 new Pokémon had been designed at the time. Some of these Pokémon were kept into the final release largely unchanged; some had major modifications; others went completely unused. 16 of the unused Pokémon were related to the original 151 Generation I Pokémon, and two of the unused Pokémon were related to Generation II Pokémon which made it into the final release.

Many of the 151 Generation I Pokémon still used their sprites from Pokémon Blue as placeholder sprites during this time. Several Pokémon would have also gained either an evolution or a pre-evolution. Certain scrapped Pokémon correspond to, and may have inspired, later-generation Pokémon such as Leafeon or Lickilicky.

Many new Pokémon that were unused in the demo had placeholder base stats, which were all 50.

List of new Pokémon

Ndex	Sprite	Pokémon	Type
#152		Happa	Grass
#153		Hanamogura	Grass
#154		Hanaryū	Grass
#155		Honōguma	Fire
#156		Borubeā	Fire
#157		Dainabea	Fire
#158		Kurusu	Water
#159		Akua	Water
#160		Akueria	Water
#161		Hōhō	Flying
#162		Bōbō	Flying
#163		Pachimē	Electric
#164		Mokoko	Electric
#165		Denryū	Electric
#166		Mikon	Water
#167		Monja	Grass
#168		Jaranra	Grass
#169		Hanēi	Water	Flying
#170		Pukū	Water
#171		Shibirefugu	Water
#172		Pichū	Electric
#173		Py	Normal
#174		Pupurin	Normal
#175		Mizūo	Water
#176		Neiti	Flying	Psychic
#177		Neitio	Flying	Psychic
#178		Gyopin	Water
#179		Mariru	Water
#180		Manbō1	Water
#181		Ikari	Water	Metal
#182		Gurotesu	Water	Metal
#183		Ekushingu	Poison	Flying
#184		Para	Bug
#185		Kokumo	Bug	Poison
#186		Tsūheddo	Bug	Poison
#187		Yoroidori	Flying	Metal
#188		Animon	Normal
#189		Hināzu	Normal	Flying
#190		Sanī	Grass	Psychic
#191		Paon	Ground
#192		Donfan	Ground
#193		Tsuinzu	Dark	Normal
#194		Kirinriki	Dark	Normal
#195		Peintā	Normal
#196		Kōnya	Normal
#197		Rinrin	Dark
#198		Berurun	Dark
#199		Nyorotono	Water
#200		Yadokingu	Water	Psychic
#201		Annōn	Normal
#202		Rediba	Bug	Flying
#203		Mitsuboshi	Bug	Flying
#204		Puchikōn	Normal
#205		Ēfi	Psychic
#206		Burakkī	Poison
#207		Tāban	Water
#208		Betobebī	Poison
#209		Teppouo	Water
#210		Okutan	Water
#211		Gongu	Fighting
#212		Kapoerā	Fighting
#213		Pudi	Fire
#214		Haneko	Grass	Flying
#215		Poponeko	Grass	Flying
#216		Wataneko	Grass	Flying
#217		Baririna	Normal
#218		Rippu	Ice
#219		Erebebī	Electric
#220		Bubyi	Fire
#221		Kireihana	Grass	Poison
#222		Tsubomitto	Grass	Poison
#223		Mirutanku	Normal
#224		Bomushikā	Water	Fire
#225		Gifuto	Water	Ice
#226		Kotora	Electric
#227		Raitora	Electric
#228		Madāmu	Normal	Flying
#229		Norowara	Ghost
#230		Kyonpan	Ghost
#231		Yamikarasu	Dark	Flying
#232		Happī	Normal
#233		Shizāsu	Bug	Flying
#234		Purakkusu	Bug
#235		Debiru	Fire
#236		Herugā	Fire
#237		Urufuman	Ice
#238		Wāurufu	Ice
#239		Porigon2	Normal
#240		Namēru	Normal
#241		Haganēru	Metal	Ground
#242		Kingudora	Dragon	Water
#243		Rai	Electric
#244		En	Fire
#245		Sui	Water
#246		Nyūra	Dark
#247		Houou	Flying
#248		Togepī	Normal
#249		Bulu	Psychic
#250		Teiru	Normal
#251		Rīfi	Grass

Special entry animations

Pikachu and Sanī used the special "stars" animation, which would be later used for Shiny Pokémon. However, this demo lacked a special animation linked to Shininess.

Hōhō used a special "fade-in" animation, which remains in the final games, but is unused.

There was also a special "wave" animation, which was unused even in the demo.

Shiny Pokémon

Shiny Pokémon had much different mechanics than in the final games. Instead of exact DV requirements (Defense, Speed and Special DVs at 10, and Attack DV of 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 or 15), all Shiny Pokémon had DVs of 10 or higher for all stats other than HP, which translates to Shininess odds of 81/4096, or ~1.977%. Shiny Pokémon had no special star animation when sent out, although that animation is implemented in-game. For some reason, it only applies to non-Shiny Pikachu and Sanī.

Due to technical limitations caused by the Super Game Boy's hardware, each color palette also had an assigned Shiny palette. Thus, all Pokémon with a given color palette also had the same Shiny palette.

Color	Standard palette				Shiny palette
Green	#E7E7E7	#A7D787	#4FA75F	#272727	#E7E7E7	#BFAF87	#676757	#272727
Orange	#E7E7E7	#FFA757	#D75737	#272727	#E7E7E7	#B77F87	#8F172F	#272727
Cyan	#E7E7E7	#AFCFEF	#779FCF	#272727	#E7E7E7	#7FA7A7	#2F8787	#272727
Brown	#E7E7E7	#E7A77F	#AF774F	#272727	#E7E7E7	#A78F97	#976F5F	#272727
Yellow	#E7E7E7	#FFE777	#D7A707	#272727	#E7E7E7	#D7BF87	#EF774F	#272727
Blue	#E7E7E7	#97A7DF	#5F7FBF	#272727	#E7E7E7	#8797AF	#576797	#272727
Purple	#E7E7E7	#DFB7C7	#AF7FBF	#272727	#E7E7E7	#BF7F9F	#772767	#272727
Human	#E7E7E7	#F7B78F	#87779F	#272727	#E7E7E7	#BF9F6F	#77678F	#272727
Faded	#E7E7E7	#D7AFB7	#7F7F97	#272727	#E7E7E7	#979797	#575757	#272727
Pink	#E7E7E7	#F7B7C7	#E77FAF	#272727	#E7E7E7	#AFCFEF	#F7B7C7	#272727

Trainer Classes

This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Every Trainer Class found in the demo.

---

In the demo, the majority of trainer classes present would go on to be unused or have drastic character redesigns when compared to the final game. In this build, the Gym Leader "classes" work just like in Generation I, with each entry only being the character's name. In the final release they're all just known as Gym Leader, with their name added after it.

Trainer Classes

Trainer # (Hex) Class (Demo) Class (Final) Overworld (Demo) Overworld (Final) Battle (Demo) Battle (Final) Notes 01 ハヤト Hayato ジムリーダー Gym Leader The first Gym Leader, Falkner, has a different design. Leader of Old's Gym. 02 アカネ Akane ジムリーダー Gym Leader The second Gym Leader, Whitney, uses a placeholder sprite and reuses a copy of Bugsy's overworld sprites, though Whitney also is listed as the second Gym Leader internally in the final. West's Gym has Bugsy as the leader, meaning he may have already been decided as the second leader at an earlier point. It is unknown where she would have been battled, though a female Gym Leader can be found in High-Tech's Gym. 03 ツクシ Tsukushi ジムリーダー Gym Leader The third Gym Leader, Bugsy, has a different design. Can be found in West's Gym. 04 エノキ Enoki ジムリーダー Gym Leader The fourth Gym Leader, Morty, has a different design. Overworld sprites depict him with a ponytail, though this is never used in the demo. It is unknown where he would have been battled, though the Birdon Gym features pitfalls much like Morty's in the final game and is also the fourth city with a Gym, suggesting that he may have still been the fourth leader. Enoki was the name given to Morty in Ken Sugimori's early conceptual sketches for the characters. It seems to originate from the Japanese name of the Chinese hackberry, often referenced in folklore surrounding the ghostly light Kitsunebi, a kind of Will-o'-the-wisp. 05 オケラ Okera ジムリーダー Gym Leader N/A N/A The fifth Gym Leader, seemingly related to Pryce. Uses a placeholder sprite and reuses a copy of Jasmine's overworld sprites. The name Okera was Pryce's name early in development, with this class sharing the same ID of Pryce in the final game. It is unknown where he would have been battled, though Newtype would be the next Gym after Birdon and contains a male leader. 06 ミカン Mikan ジムリーダー Gym Leader The sixth Gym Leader, Jasmine, has a different design. Her overworld sprites go unused in the demo, so it is unknown where she would have been battled, since the gym in Blue Forest appeared to be a Ghost gym. It may suggest that Jasmine was originally a Ghost-type leader, or that the map was based on an even earlier arrangement of leaders. 07 ブルー Blue ジムリーダー Gym Leader N/A N/A The seventh Gym Leader, seemingly Red. Uses a placeholder sprite, with an overworld sprite of Red being in the Kanto Gym. ブルー is the default name for the player in Pokémon Blue. This does not refer to the rival character Blue, who is known as Green in Japan. It is unknown where he would have been battled, though the aforementioned Kanto Gym appears to be most likely, a role ironically fulfilled by the rival character Blue in the final game. 08 ガマ Gama ジムリーダー Gym Leader N/A N/A The eighth Gym Leader, uses a placeholder sprite. Gama may come from the Japanese name of the Common Cattail of the genus Typha, which is named after Typhon—a serpentine giant in Greek mythology. It is unknown where they would have been battled, though due to their placement as the final Gym Leader, this may be an early iteration of Clair, who uses Pokémon that fit a similar description in the final game, such as Dragonair and Gyarados.

Maps

Demo map of Johto

Main article: Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo/Locations

Although only Silent Hill and the route and forest leading from it to Old City are accessible in the demo, many other locations are programmed into the game. However, the inaccessible locations lack collision and warp data.

The final map of Johto shares little resemblance to the region present in the demo, which was based on the entirety of Japan, with Kanto included as a large city within it. Apart from Kanto and a prototype of the Ruins of Alph, none of the areas from the final game appear in the demo; however, some maps bear similarities.

Mini-games

This build of the game contained far more mini-games, with a total of 5.

Title screen

A hidden mini-game involving Pikachu can be played if the game is left idle at the title screen for an extended period of time. The player tries to avoid obstacles and collect musical notes while catching up to Jigglypuff. The game ends once Pikachu catches up to Jigglypuff and returns to the title screen. After playing, the title screen will have musical notes flying across the screen, rather than fire.

• 

  Alternate title screen for Gold

• 

  Alternate title screen for Silver

Picross

A picross mini-game featuring Pokémon was present.

Some Pokémon picross puzzles would later appear in Picross NP Vol. 1. Pokémon Picross would also be announced for the Game Boy Color; however, it was ultimately cancelled. A Pokémon picross game would not be released until Pokémon Picross in December 2015.

Poker

The poker mini-game was based on the real-life game of poker but with various Pokémon on the cards instead of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. It would be replaced with card flip in the final version of the game.

Memory game

A memory game is a game where the player attempts to match five pairs of cards in five turns. However, no coins are actually rewarded for any matches. This game remains unused in the final game.

Slide puzzle

The last mini-game is a 15-tile slide puzzle game where the player has to try rearranging the tiles to reveal who the Pokémon is.

Gallery

• 

  Title screen mini-game

• 

  Picross

• 

  Poker

• 

  Memory game

• 

  Slide puzzle

Items

Main article: Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo/Items

With the introduction of held items, many new items and Key Items were added that would be cut, have slight changes in how they worked, or be scrapped altogether.

References

Beta versions of Pokémon games

Generation I Red and Green • Yellow Generation II Gold and Silver (Spaceworld '97 demo) • Crystal Generation III Ruby and Sapphire • FireRed and LeafGreen • Emerald • Colosseum • XD Generation IV Diamond and Pearl • Platinum • HeartGold and SoulSilver Generation V Black and White • Black 2 and White 2 Generation VI X and Y • Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Generation VII Sun and Moon • Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Generation VIII Sword and Shield Unreleased Pokémon Picross

Pokémon demos Tech demos: Pikachu: DS Tech Demo Generation II: Gold and Silver (Spaceworld '97 • Spaceworld '99) Generation III: Ruby and Sapphire • XD: Gale of Darkness Generation IV: Diamond and Pearl • Mystery Dungeon: Gold Rescue Team Generation V: Black and White Generation VI: X and Y • Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Generation VII: Sun and Moon • Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! Generation VIII: Sword and Shield Pokémon game templates Core series • Side series • Spin-off series • Pokémon mini • Individual spin-offs • Betas • Demos

This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.