>>37139581I think the Tigers getting cut was just because they were a victim of circumstance. They were intended for Gen 1, but like a lot of other Pokemon gad to get scrapped for limitations. They seemed to be the front runners to get in in Gen 2.
However, this is where the Gen 2 trio, particularly Raikou come in. Remember their designs were outsourced to another artist, who probably didn't even know about these guys. That artist drew up the redesigns for the Gen 2 trio, and Gamefreak clearly liked them a lot, but then probably thought 2 species of electric tigers were overkill, so these guys got the axe. And sadly it seems they never got reconsidered afterwards.
The Beta GS had a lot of Pokemon that really would've worked great, like the black cat mon. This one could've been really popular, but probably got cut when they decided to retype Umbreon to be Dark type.
