RUMOR: Pokémon Diamond & Pearl’s early sprites leak, revealing beta designs

WARNING: We are leaving this as a rumor, as the veracity of the ROM cannot be ascertained.

The Pokémon fandom has been abuzz with images that are being claimed to have come from an early (very early) build of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl. The leaked ROM shows designs for some Pokémon changed throughout development of the fourth generation games.

Below is a gallery of sprites that is currently floating around.

Some, like Heatran, were only refined before launch. Others such as Rotom and Arceus received drastic overhauls. PokeliYT created a video comparing the sprites for all Pokémon on Twitter:

Images of the trainers also changed, but the protagonists look very recognizable.

Let us know what you think of this and whether or not you preferred a beta design over the released version! Want to chat about more Pokémon or Animal Crossing topics? Join our Discord server!