>>44895939The Pokemon creation process of gen 2 was heavily informed by Gamefreak coming up with lots of designs and ideas for prototype Pokemon, then combining their traits so they could fit as many of those ideas as possible into the meager 100 or so remaining slots that could be added to a Gameboy game.
For example, Pineco was a literal Grass-type pinecone at first, but became a Bug-type because its design was combined with the concept of a scrapped bagworm Pokemon that was later revisited more faithfully as Burmy. Similarly, Umbreon was a Poison-type, but was turned into a Dark-type so it could embody a scrapped line of Dark-type cats.
As for Sneasel, it started off as a generic Dark-type weasel, but in order to save slots, that weasel was combined with the infamous Dark/Ice Wearwolf line. This decision was made very late in development, which is why Sneasel's sprite looks so odd in Gold and Silver: It still has the colors of its original design.
