The early days of the creation of one Legendary Pokémon, Lugia, which was originally never meant to appear in the games at all.
As the version mascot of Pokémon Silver, it can be a bit difficult to believe that Lugia was a fairly late addition to generation 2's roster. Yet, the Gold and Silver beta leaks from a few years back proved it to be true, as Lugia is not present at all in the 1997 demo. Instead, Lugia was commissioned by the anime's head writer at the time, Takeshi Shudo, to star in the second Pokémon movie, which would eventually be called Pokémon the Movie 2000. Originally, it was known only as Pokémon X, a name which eventually made its way into the anime as a Team Rocket codename for Lugia. Concept art has even been unearthed of an early Lugia with an X-shaped mark on its belly.
Lugia Was Created By a Writer For Pokémon's Anime
According to information compiled and translated by seizure event caused by the Pokémon episode "Electric Soldier Porygon." This incident ended up causing massive changes to the anime and the first film, and as executives dealt with the fallout, they weren't spending as much time weighing in on what the creatives were up to.
At the time, Shudo didn't expect Lugia to be used in the games, believing it would only star in the movie. However, the success of Mew's inclusion in Red and Green and its first movie appearance made it clear that any new movie Pokémon would need to be in the games. Lugia's name was apparently chosen by a vote, and seems to have won simply for sounding cool. The leaks prove that Lugia was added to Silver only a few months before the game's release in 1999, and just one month before Pokémon the Movie 2000 debuted in Japanese theaters.
Lugia Was Meant to Be Something Beyond Pokémon
Shudo was quite possessive of Lugia later in his life, as many of his translated blog posts indicate. According to these later posts, Lugia was meant to be something beyond Pokémon, a symbol of life for all living things, including humans. He saw Lugia as a maternal sort of Pokémon, and often regretted not giving it a female voice in the film. It was originally inspired by the Japanese sea god Ryujin, explaining its tendency to spend time underwater, despite its Flying-type nature. While many of these details were lost in its official debut, the signs are still quite visible to those who've learned of Lugia's origins.
All these details come together to make Lugia one of the most unique Pokémon in existence, one certainly worthy of its Legendary status. At least now, fans know who to thank for creating a Pokémon that's a favorite to millions.
Fans wanting to know more about Lugia's creation in Pokémon should absolutely check out Did You Know Gaming's in-depth video on the subject.
Source: Did You Know Gaming
