Overworld Sprites

This is a sub-page of Development:Pokémon Diamond and Pearl/Sprites.

Note that many overworld sprites originally used common placeholder sprites, such as the large man, generic woman, and generic man. These will not be listed here under their revision history; only unique sprites will be. Additionally, any unique sprites found in the Platinum source's scratchpads may have once used a different palette to the final's, but will still be presented here with the final's palette. Overworld sprites can be found at src\data\rsc in the repository.

Gen 3 Leftovers#

There are some sprite files in the source leftover from Generation 3. Naturally, none of them ever received a revision in the repository.

Brendan and May's sprites from Ruby and Sapphire are present in rshero.imd and rshero_f.imd, but not the running sprites. Might've been used as placeholder for Lucas and Dawn at one point very early in development. Their files are dated December 27, 2004.

A large male NPC from FireRed and LeafGreen is present in bigman1.imd. File is dated December 13, 2004.

A small girl NPC from FireRed and LeafGreen is present in ojou.imd. File is dated December 8, 2004.

A male trainer NPC, present in trainm1.imd. File is dated December 13, 2004.

A female trainer NPC from FireRed and LeafGreen is present in trainerw1.imd. File is dated December 8, 2004.

Player#

Lucas#

In the first version, running sprites didn't exist yet, but running functionality did. Over each revision, many minor tweaks were made, with the most noticeable being the scarf and Pokeball insignia on the side of the hat being changed from red to black. Although the final sprites were made in April, they were not committed to the repository until late June.

Mostly minor tweaks were made to the cycling sprites. A revision exists between 1.2 and the final, but it's identical to the final aside from lacking the unique sprites used when stopped while mounted on the bike. That revision is dated March 31, 2006.

Several minor tweaks were made, and some frames were finalized before others.

1.1 (April 5 2006)	Final (July 13 2006)

An extremely minor change to a single frame used when starting to use the Poketch.

Dawn#

In boygirl.imd, an even earlier version of Dawn is found that's exactly a month earlier than the earliest revision of her own imd file. Multiple minor tweaks were made between that version and the first revision of her dedicated file. Over each revision, many minor tweaks were made, with the most noticeable being the color of the Pokeball design on the front of the hat changing. Although the final sprites were made in April, they were not committed to the repository until late June.

Again, an even earlier version of her cycling sprites can be found in a separate imd file, boygirl_j.imd. Mostly minor tweaks were made to the cycling sprites. A revision exists between 1.2 and the final, but it's identical to the final aside from lacking the unique sprites used when stopped while mounted on the bike. That revision is dated March 31, 2006.

Several minor tweaks were made, and some frames were finalized before others.

Rival#

The early version of the rival is present, being the same one seen in early screenshots of the game.

NPCs#

Red#

Found in herotex.imd in the CVS repository is a unique NPC who appears to use Red's FireRed and LeafGreen design (possibly the basis for his HeartGold and SoulSilver sprite). Not known to be present in the final game's data, and is completely absent from Platinum's repository. File is dated July 6, 2005.

Baby#

Stroller's handle was redesigned.

Boys#

Different hair color, hair style, and clothes color.

Completely different design, based on the version from FireRed and LeafGreen. Can be seen in a prerelease screenshot.

Youngster#

1.1 (November 15 2005)	1.2 (March 16 2006)	Platinum SVN Scratchpad	Final (May 4 2006)

Earliest version has different colored clothes based on the colors from FireRed and LeafGreen's overworld sprite, and the walk cycle motions are slightly different. Middle revision has slight detail tweaks compared to final. Scratchpad sprite has a slightly different arm.

Has differently-colored clothes, and walk cycle motions are again, a tad different. Based on the FireRed and LeafGreen design. Middle revision has minor detail tweaks and fixes compared to final.

1.3 (April 4 2006)	Final (July 4 2006)

The only difference is that the badge was swapped to the other side of the hat.

Girls#

Earliest version has a completely different design, one based on a tuber from FireRed and LeafGreen. Middle revision has very slight detail tweaks compared to final.

Minor changes to the feet.

Earliest version has differently-colored clothes and a different hair style, and still exists in the final game, unused. Middle revision has slight shading differences compared to final and differently-colored hair, and can be seen in a prerelease screenshot.

Fairly different design, with only the ponytail being kept mostly the same. Based on a FireRed and LeafGreen design. Can be seen in a prerelease screenshot.

Completely different design.

Rich Boy#

Slight detail changes.

Lady#

Several detail and proportion changes, which matches the earlier battle sprites for her.

Men#

This large male NPC is not only unused in the final game, but is one of a few sprites that are used as a placeholder for many, many other sprites in the game early in development. Seriously, this guy is everywhere in early builds. File is dated November 15 2005. Still exists unused in the final game.

Completely different design. Final version has extremely minor tweaks to the south-walking sprites. The earliest version still exists in the final game, unused.

Colors are more saturated in the early version and some details were changed. Side sprites show very different proportions.

Completely different design, based on the FireRed and LeafGreen design.

Women#

Different colors and different hair style. An early frame of the final design was found in her scratchpad file, which depicts her with slightly different hair:

Colors are more saturated and hair appears more voluminous. Based on a FireRed and LeafGreen design.

Completely different design, once again based on a FireRed and LeafGreen design, but lacking the ponytail.

Middle-Age Man#

Has less hair than the final version and skin color is more tan. Can be seen in a prerelease screenshot.

Middle-Age Woman#

Hair style changed, face was redrawn, and colors were adjusted. Can be seen in a prerelease screenshot.

Old Man#

Skin tone is more tan, shirt is more teal, and originally had very stubby legs. Can be seen in a prerelease screenshot. Scratchpad has a full early set of sprites, but are identical to the final except for two walk frames, which have slightly different positioning of the eyes.

Old Woman#

Was redrawn, skin tone changed, and the legs were made visible.

Gentleman#

Proportions were adjusted.

Male Swimmer#

Platinum SVN Scratchpad	Final (May 2 2006)

A single early sprite for the male swimmer exists in his scratchpad, which shows minor differences with the arms.

Roughneck#

Platinum SVN Scratchpad	Final (May 2 2006)

Early version is slightly shorter.

Skiers#

Very minor changes done to their hats, and their north and south-facing sprites have a different motion.

Hiker#

A very different design that appears in a different art style, similar to the unused large man sprites leftover in the final game. The design has very different colors, being based on the FireRed and LeafGreen design.

Clown#

Has less detail than the final, matching his battle sprite that was also found in the Platinum scratchpads.

Cowgirl#

Minor detail tweaks here and there.

Artist#

Was changed to have his arms at his sides instead of on his back.

Cameraman#

Minor shading differences. An extra sprite exists where he holds the camera in the opposite arm while facing sideways.

Waiter#

Platinum SVN Scratchpad	Final (May 15 2006)

The upper half of an early version of one of the waiter's walk sprites was found in his scratchpad file, which depicts him with slightly different hair. This half has been attached to the bottom half of the final sprite for the sake of comparison.

Sunglasses Guy#

Early version is less chubby and wears differently-colored clothes.

Umbrella Lady#

Holds her umbrella lower than the final version. Some minor details were tweaked, as well.

Maid#

Different hair and outfit colors.

PC Workers#

Early version doesn't have a bowing frame... in the CVS repository version. A sprite for the early design was found in the Platinum SVN repository's scratchpad file. The red cross symbol was, as per custom, removed for the final version. Can be seen in a prerelease screenshot. Two full early sets of sprites were found in the scratchpad file, one identical to the CVS repository's early version, while the other is identical to the final except for two walk frames, which have very minor shading differences compared to the final. Additionally, an extra sprite is present showing her with a different hair style.

Hair color change.

Clothing color change. Early version doesn't bounce up and down properly when walking sideways.

Pokemart Clerks#

Middle revision has minor shading differences, and wasn't committed to the repository until late June. Final version had a palette change.

Shading differences, palette change, and the shoes changed color.

Gym Leaders#

Roark#

Early version lacks glasses, and some minor detail changes here and there.

Gardenia#

Mostly shading changes on the hair.

Crasher Wake#

Originally wore a Swampert-like mask and had a cape. This early design can also be seen on the trainer card in certain prototype builds of the game from the CVS repository.

Fantina#

Minor detail changes to the dress.

Candice#

A full set of early sprites is present in the scratchpad, but only two frames are different: her hair braids move differently.

Byron#

A very different design, with a completely different hair style and outfit.

Elite Four#

Each member of the elite four only got their own unique sprites in the form of placeholder sprites with their names written out in them before their final ones were made. However, Bertha and Flint have some early sprites found in their Platinum SVN scratchpads.

Main difference between the scratchpads and final is the hair and positioning of the eyes. Some minor shading differences are present, too. Three extra sprites that aren't part of a complete set are also present:

Two sets of early sprites, however, only three animations in total were different from the final. The only differences are the shading around the hair.

Cynthia#

Cynthia follows the same trend as the elite four; her early sprite is a placeholder with her name in it. She does have a set of early frames in her scratchpad, but not enough for a fully animated version.

1.3 (June 29 2006)	Platinum SVN Scratchpad	Final (July 14 2006)

Differences in the scratchpad sprites are mostly the hair. An alternate side sprite is also included that shows her eye.

Tower Tycoon Palmer#

Same deal as the previous.

Team Galactic#

Same deal for the leaders. The grunts have some early sprites present in their scratchpads.

The male Team Galactic Grunt has an extra palette row leftover in his palette file, which gives him blue hair:

Blue-haired Galactic Grunts were seen in some prerelease screenshots and footage. This early palette is not present in the female Grunt palette file.

Slightly different hair details and outfit.

Slightly different hair details and outfit. The hair also has movement in the early version.

Riley#

No complete set of early Riley sprites are present, but there's some early versions of him facing in all four cardinal directions, with minor changes to hair.

Marley#

Three complete sets of cardinal direction sprites are present in the scratchpad, all with small differences to Marley's face and hair.

Buck#

Four early sprites of cardinal direction facing for Buck were found in his scratchpad file, but only three differed from the final. Changes are adjustments to shading in hair and near his eyes.

Mira#

A full set of early sprites for Mira was found in her scratchpad, but only three walk frames differed from the final. All of the changes were done to her hair loop.

Extra Partner Trainers#

The five trainers who you can partner up with during the course of the game, Cheryl, Riley, Marley, Buck, and Mira are all internally named "seven#", with the "#" being a number from 1 to 7. Makes sense, except that there's only five partners, not seven. As it turns out, two partners were apparently scrapped. While their scratchpad files cannot be found in the Platinum SVN repository, they do have files in the CVS repository. However, neither ever seemingly received unique sprites. seven6 used man1 as a placeholder, while seven7 used woman2 as a placeholder, specifically the early versions of them. Their last revision, 1.3, which was committed on June 18 2006, replaced their placeholders with this other placeholder sprite, which is used occasionally throughout the development of the Gen 4 games:

No other information is known about these scrapped partner trainers.

Jasmine#

Early sprites have minor shading changes compared to final, as well as slightly different hair proportions in the back.

newchara0316_1#

Found in the Platinum SVN repository is this file, which contains a ton of early and unused sprites. Note that no palette file is supplied with it, so what's being shown here is several different palettes applied to it and then merged into one image to make the sprites appear as close as they can to their intended look, however, only palettes found in the repository were used. No matching palettes were found for: Marill, Pikachu, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Torchic, big man, baby boy, and a couple girl sprites. If the numbers in the filename are interpreted as a date, then this scratch pad could be considered testing out new sprites around March 16 2006. Some very early sprites for Lucas and Dawn appear here, the bigger big man shows up, and most other NPC sprites here were shown earlier on this page. Note that Munchlax and Marill don't have overworld sprites in the final game, and Plusle and Minun were scrapped (see below).

Pokemon#

Pikachu#

Minor shading difference on the tips of the ears.

Clefairy#

Two walk frames were changed, with slight changes to the arm poses.

Psyduck#

Minor detail changes to the eyes.

Torchic#

1.2 (March 16 2006)	Final (May 6 2006)

The earliest version of Torchic's sprites only had this one sprite in every frame. The final version is animated in all 4 cardinal directions. Minor details were adjusted.

Skitty#

1.2 (March 16 2006)	Final (May 6 2006)

Ditto to Torchic's changes above.

Plusle & Minun#

Plusle	Minun

Plusle and Minun were originally going to have overworld sprites in the game, but were scrapped and replaced by a placeholder sprite in the repository. No other frames exist in their files, and they're not known to exist in the final game. Both files that contain the above sprites are dated March 16 2006, and their revisions that scrapped them are dated June 18 2006.

Drifloon#

Had three extra rows of full sprite sets, with one being identical to the final. Differences include minor shading differences and arm posture.

Dialga#

1.2 (April 23 2006)	Final (July 3 2006)

Chest plate extends a bit further down than the final's, and the back legs were adjusted.

Palkia#

1.2 (April 23 2006)	Final (July 3 2006)

Wings were redrawn. Two more early designs were also found in its scratchpad:

The first sprite's wings look very different, while only half of the other sprite exists in the pad. Again, the difference is the wings.

Darkrai#

1.2 (June 29 2006)	Final (July 12 2006)

An obvious, cute placeholder sprite was in place for less than a day between revisions. 1.2 and 1.3 (Final) were committed on the same day: July 13, 2006.

Shaymin#

Shaymin's legs and feet are more visible in the early version. The face of the screen-facing sprites was redrawn. Four extra sprites for it were also found in its scratchpad:

Cresselia#

Platinum SVN Scratchpad	Final (July 2 2006)

Cresselia has an early design and animation present in her scratchpad file. Minor detail changes were also made.

Giratina#

1.2 (June 29 2006)	Final (July 12 2006)

Giratina used Dialga's early sprites as placeholder.

Starly#

The Starly that attack the player and rival at the start of the game were originally much larger. Platinum scratchpad animation has Starly at the final's size, but with different details. Another early extra frame is also present.

Objects#

Rock Smash Rock#

1.1 (December 19 2005)	Final (May 16 2006)

Color changed, and was redrawn.

Strength Rock#

1.1 (December 19 2005)	Final (May 16 2006)

Palette change.