Unused Graphics

Unsorted#

Unused Overworld Sprites#

A few badly-stretched sprites of the Plump enemy from Quinty, Game Freak's first game. Notably, these are from the shelved SNES version, whose existence was only hinted at by these sprites buried in Ruby and Sapphire until builds were found in the October 2024 Game Freak leak.

Quinty (Famicom)	Quinty (Super Famicom)	Pokémon RS

These sprites of the Acro Bike go unused because there is no way to get on the front wheel by bunny hopping:

A unused disguise is present for the Ninja Kid trainer class. It was meant to be used for the Ninja Kid trainer class if they were to appear in sand, which they do not. That idea was, visibly, dropped quite early; it never got further than a placeholder.

Unused Tiles#

Log bridge tiles located in ID 2. Comes in vertical and horizontal flavors. These may have been used as placeholders before the unique bridge seen in the final was implemented, as they can be seen on Route 104 in early gameplay footage.

Vertical bridge tiles located in ID 8. Obviously intended for use in Fortree City, which only uses the horizontal variant.

A door and alternate poster design located in ID 15. The door was possibly intended to be used in a Poké Mart, while the poster goes unused as every map using this tileset uses the poster with horizontal yellow and blue stripes instead.

Early Interface Graphics#

What appear to be interface graphics from an early stage of development can be found compressed deeply embedded in the ROM in location 0xD08000C to 0xD085D3, containing graphics for an HP bar and some Pokémon info text. Additionally, five Pokémon icons can be seen. From left to right and top to bottom, these are Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Blastoise, and Butterfree.

Blastoise's icon only has some minor differences from its icon in the final game, but the icons for the other Pokémon are vastly different; in the case of Butterfree, it's shown in an entirely different pose. The Japanese text, after placing the dakuten in the correct places, reads "Fushigidane", the Japanese name of Bulbasaur.

Another set of interface graphics, this time depicting Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur again and Charizard compressed in location 0xD07BF4 to 0xD07F57. Interestingly, the Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur designs are not identical to the ones above as they have thinner outlines, Ivysaur is thinner, and Venusaur's bud is larger. Charizard has a radically different design too, with a thinner head.

Both sets of graphics use the same palette located at 0xD07FB4 to 0xD0800B.

Shiny Celebi#

For the sake of consistency, every Pokémon in every Pokémon game is given a Shiny variant, and Celebi is no exception. However, because the only way to obtain Celebi legitimately was through distributions, which used checks that prevented it from being Shiny, its Shiny version was left unobtainable through normal means. This sprite may still be seen (in a lighter hue) if a Shiny Pokémon Transforms into a Celebi.

Unown Glyphs#

Within every single Japanese font, the Unown glyphs can be found. These are carried right over from Crystal's Unown Dex, which is also noticeable by the lack of a shadow that the rest of the letters in each font does have. These glyphs do not get used anywhere in the game; as a matter of fact, Unown is not even able to be caught or even found anywhere within Ruby and Sapphire, leaving this part of the font even more obsolete. The Unown glyphs would be removed in the updated fonts for FireRed, LeafGreen and Emerald.

Font	Crystal

Unused "Gen 1"-esque Font#

A tilemap for a font that also includes the Generation I health bar, alongside some other unknown icons. Unlike the Japanese Generation 2 fonts that were updated for Ruby and Sapphire, these were not given any form of shading.

This tilemap additionally also persists into Emerald, and the localized versions of Ruby and Sapphire. In Japanese Ruby, this font is present at 0067DC18.

Pokédex Pokémon Sprite Placeholder#

In the hex slots between Celebi and Treecko (252-276), there exists placeholder data. When one of these slots is forced to appear as a wild Pokémon encounter (by the use of a GameShark or similar device), it will use a sprite that looks like a pair of pixelated floating white question marks, and will be named simply "?".

This very placeholder sprite is seen in some early magazine screenshots of Ruby and Sapphire, and was originally used to represent a Pokémon the player hadn't seen yet in the Pokédex. It was eventually replaced by the question-mark-in-a-circle sprite used in the final. This newer version is used for some placeholder Pokémon slots as well, specifically those found in slots 0x00 and everything after 0x19B (the Egg's data).

Unused	Used

Unused Berry Sprite#

There exists an unused sprite for a berry almost identical to the used Cheri Berry, uncompressed at locations 3C17AC to 3C1C2B in Ruby and 3C1804 to 3C1C83 in Sapphire, with the palette (also uncompressed) coming right after in locations 3C1C2C to 3C1C4B in Ruby and 3C1C84 to 3C1CA3 in Sapphire.

Unused	Used

The main difference is in the shading of the berry's shine. Conversely, this graphic is actually used in the Debug ROM's Set Ram berry menu.

Unused Timer Ball Frame#

When the player throws a Poké Ball, there are three frames used: one for the ball closed, partially open, and fully open. Each Ball has unique sprites for the first two, however the Dive Ball, Luxury Ball, Premier Ball, and Timer Ball are the only ones with unique sprites for the fully open frame, with the rest leaving that space blank. A generic fully open sprite is used and fills the empty space for the rest of the Poké Balls due to an oversight, which also overwrites the unique Timer Ball fully open sprite. This is because the function only checks for Poké Ball IDs 6, 10, and 11 corresponding to Dive, Luxury, and Premier, but not ID 9 for the Timer Ball.

Unused	Used

Unused Battle Transition Sprites#

Two unused battle transition sprites exist for both Brendan and the Lass Trainer Class. These sprites could be seen in action in a pre-release trailer for the game. Only the Elite Four ever uses the Mugshot screen when the battle begins. It's possible these two sprites were only meant for this trailer or they were planning for every trainer to use it but wouldn't in the end.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: There's a LOT more. How many are actually unused?

Unused Battle Graphics#

Lock On#

An early(?) variant of the graphics used for the move Lock On is in the files for all of the Generation 3 games, with palette data intact in the ROM. It has two less reds than the final rendition.

Unused	Used

Unused Palette	Used Palette

Bell#

An early(?) version of the bell graphic, seen in the move Heal Bell, is in the files for all of the Generation 3 games, with palette data intact in the ROM.

Unused	Used

Gem#

A gem, split into three parts. May have been used for moves like Barrier and Light Screen.

Left	Middle	Right	Put Together

Lightbulb#

A lightbulb. May have been used for Tail Glow at one point?

Unused	Used
	N/A

Punch Impact#

A generic punch impact graphic.

Unused	Used
	N/A

Tongue#

Bizarrely, there's a humanoid tongue... and Lick does not use this, rather resorting to a "swipe up"-esque animation much like Generation II's, which would remain the case until Generation VI finally made it a proper tongue.

Unused	Used
	N/A

Plasma Ball#

A dispersing ball of electricity using black(?) smoke(?). May have been used for a electric move?

Unused	Used
	N/A