>>36063638Yes, evolution was a very limited concept until late 1993 if my research is correct. Until then only Nidorans were actual evolutionary lines (Nidorino and Nidorina weren't designed yet).
When Bulbasaur and Venusaur were designed late into the development (they're 153 and 154 in the index list, so pretty late), maybe Ivysaur was redesigned to be more like a proper middle stage, and some of its previous traits were passed over to its fully evolved form. Nevertheless, that's how Ivysaur looked like in early dev, it was even referred to as Fushigisou in the design documents.
>>36063649Wait, wasn't this hi-res scan made public already?
https://twitter.com/helixchamber/status/1000094173352128512It's from the recent Tajiri manga. It's the first 17 Pokemon designed and programmed into the game, and it matches up with the final index list almost perfectly. Check out the Helix Chamber twitter for more research stuff, a new Gen 1 proto analysis is coming soon.
