>>35818960First episode aired April 1998, during the period where the beta was mostly scrapped with the game being completely redesigned into the product we ended up with. It was also during the era when negotiations were happening with Nintendo of America in regards to releasing Red and Blue in the west as well as the anime. While the design does predate Catdog and I don't think they're similar enough for there to be grounds for suing even if didn't, it's a definite possibility that Catdog was a factor in moving away from that design.
