>>54101387I looked a lot into it and I believe it was real because it aligns with way too much obscure knowledge and clues on the Internet about Spaceworld.
An interesting thing is that in Italian the Legendary Beasts have always been referred to as "Legendary Dogs" even in Gen2 times despite none of them really looking like dogs - but the beta ones do look like dogs.
Perhaps the nickname came from someone who was given some information before GSC came out even in Japan.
Anyway, it has been a while and I don't remember exactly what my thinking process was, but I compared all the few pictures from Spaceworld I could find with the leaked rom and there ARE a few inconsistencies.
However, if someone wanted to make it pass as real, they would be sure to replicate what was shown in those pictures to a it.
Most notably, it makes no sense that the doodle we had of Chikorita shared by a Japanese guy who actually went to Spaceworld doesn't match with the Chikorita in the Spaceworld Gold rom.
His doodle lacking legs and resembling more a seed is VERY suspicious because it'd be very counter-intuitive for someone to remember a creature clearly standing on four clear legs as anything else, and it is likely they couldn't even witness Beta Bayleef to actually conclude that Beta Chikorita was a seed about to sprout.
My guess is that the Spaceworld Gold that was leaked was actually not the one shown at the event, it was probably the version right after it which was extremely similar but with a few updates - such as finalized Chikorita.
