With Pokemon Sword and Shield set to launch in just a few short weeks, I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed.

It's not the lack of a National Dex, as I'm fairly confident those cuts aren't permanent, and I'm not hardcore enough to keep my Pokedex up-to-date anyways. Moreover, I actually think the curry cooking and Gigantamax battles (mainly fat Pikachu, AKA PIKACHONK) look really fun. But for me, the bread and butter of any new mainline Pokemon game is the new Pokemon, and with the exception of Wooloo, who will be in my final party regardless of their battle prowess, the new ones are kind of disappointing.

Sun and Moon might not have been the most memorable entries into the series, but Mimikyu––the ghost Pokemon that hides its terrifying appearance beneath a shoddy, crayon-drawn Pikachu rag because "it thought it would be able to make friends with humans if only it looked like Pikachu"––is arguably the best new Pokemon concept since Gold and Silver.

Nintendo/ Game Freak

Currently, Sword and Shield seems to fall short in comparison. Like, what the heck is wrong with Morpeko, and why does it look like a derpy Pikachu that fell into a mud puddle?

Nintendo/ Game Freak

This is a real shame because, as it turns out, Game Freak has had a few really great unused concept monsters in their pocket for over two decades. In 2018, a leaked ROM of a 1997 demo for Pokemon Gold and Silver revealed a whole slew of scrapped Pokemon. And while some of them later appeared with updated designs, a few––and maybe even the best of them––were ultimately forgotten.

Nintendo/ Game Freak

Thankfully, a Twitter account called "Dr. Lava's Lost Pokemon" has spent the past year faithfully hunting down and documenting info on the lost Pokemon species. It's a bit of a double-edged sword though, because now we know what we're missing.

One painful loss is an evolution chain of electric tiger Pokemon consisting of Kotora, Raitora, and an unnamed third evolution that received a back sprite but not an official frontal animation. As such, Pokemon researchers can only guess what might have been, but we still mourn for this cute little thickboi.

Another major loss is Wolfman and its evolved form, Warwolf, a lost Pokemon chain that seems to depict a strange monster wearing a werewolf costume. One could easily imagine an alternate universe wherein Warwolf plushies flood the Nintendo Store every Halloween.

Even more unfortunate, the Warwolf concept might have actually been translated into Swinub and Piloswine, who kind of suck.

But no loss feels quite as brutal as that of the Ditto evolution, Animon––a Pokemon that literally look like a screaming condom. Oh, what a world we could have lived in.

Of course, not every change was bad. The original designs for the Legendary Dogs were a lot less cool than the final versions.

All things considered, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune look a lot more powerful than En, Rai, and Sui.

Nintendo/ Game Freak

Similarly, the first Pichu design looks insanely doofy, and actually not that far off from Morpeko—which actually explains a lot.

Then again, why would they remove Turban, the shell Pokemon that clearly lives on Slowbro's tail (in spite of the fact that the game officially refers to it as a Shellder, which it so obviously is not).

Mainly though, we'd like to see Nintendo and Game Freak bring back Animon. Until the new games give us a proper condom Pokemon, the franchise will never truly be whole.