Earlier this month, Pokémon developer Game Freak suffered a massive data breach and ever since, details about and assets for projects new and old have been trickling out onto the internet. These have ranged from unused Pokémon who never saw the light of day, to information on upcoming games like next year’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A. In the midst of it all, one detail that’s surfaced is concept art for an unused form of one of the more controversial Pokémon in the original 151. It turns out that Jynx almost had a more powerful mega evolution form in Pokémon X and Y.
The art in the leaks depicts Mega Jynx as somewhat similar to her base form, a purple human-like creature with a red dress and long blonde hair. The Mega Evolution concept art shows a wardrobe change to a blue dress with what looks like snow or glitter down the fabric. Her hair is no longer straight down the sides of her body, and instead looks a bit more mangy and curly, extending down to the ground and dragging on the floor. Jynx’s eyes also look a bit creepier in the concept, changing into something dark and almost void-like. Mega Evolutions sometimes include type changes, such as Charizard’s turning it from fire/flying to fire/dragon. My kneejerk assumption was that this transformation could have turned Jynx from its typical ice/psychic type to an ice/dark one, but the leaks say that Mega Jynx would have maintained its original typing.
Despite getting a baby form in Smoochum in Pokémon Gold and Silver, Jynx hasn’t gotten a ton of love in the years since. While Electabuzz and Magmar—two other Pokémon from the first generation that, in some Pokémon circles, are considered to be part of a trio with Jynx—got pre-evolutions in the same generation as well as new evolutions in Generation IV, Jynx hasn’t gotten the same attention. Part of this might be because Jynx was a controversial Pokémon in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. The original design drew criticism for the ways in which its skin color and exaggerated facial features were reminiscent of harmful stereotypical depictions of Black people from minstrel shows and other racist depictions. This led to the Pokémon being redesigned with purple skin and some early episodes of the anime being pulled from the air. So maybe Game Freak is just gunshy about putting her back in the spotlight.
The Game Freak leak has unfortunately put several employees’ personal information at risk, but it has given fans an unprecedented look behind the curtain of Pokémon’s development. Some reveals have been harder to swallow than others, though, such as the alleged in-universe folklore stories featuring Pokémon like Typhlosion doing questionable things.