Prerelease:Pokémon UNITE
This page details prerelease information and/or media for Pokémon UNITE.
The pre-release images of Pokémon UNITE showed some several changes compared to what the players got in the public version of the game.
June 24th, 2020
 | To do: Better comparison of the icons from the attacks; including Pokémon which were seen while they switch through the Pokémon select in the video. |
The game was first released in a Pokémon Presents on the 24th June 2020. The video introduced the players to the general idea of the game and how to play it. Furthermore, the development team gets introduced and at the end there is a match showing two teams of playtesters fighting against each other.
The Pokémon selection menu right before a battle had a completely different look in the year 2020. The HUD and location the player is in is completely different. The mockup images of the Pokémon show them more in a default pose than in an attacking pose like it does in the 2021 build. Interestingly, the selection screen shows two Pokémon which were not in the game when it first released: Blastoise and Clefable. While Blastoise was confirmed to get added via update at some point, Clefable was not mentioned. There are also some differences in the graphics for the attacks for the Pokémon.
For Venusaur the image for the Unite Move Verdant Anger (icon 1) got some backkground changes and also was tilted a bit down. The basic attack (icon 3) shows the Vine Whip attack, however in the final version all basic attacks got a uniform icon. The icon for the ability Overgrown (icon 5) got some grass removed and the shining effect was placed different.
Lucario got some bigger changes in their icons. the Unite Move Aura Cannon (icon 1) got mirrored, and also got more details including lightnings. Meteor Mash (icon 2) was also mirrored and instead of showing an actual meteor it now shows a punching fist to match the attack description. The basic attack (icon 3) shows some claw attack in the pre-release image and got replaced with the default icon for basic attacks. The ability Steadfast (icon 5) was replaced with Lucario standing in flames in the released version while in the pre-release version it shows some heart in flames.
Another change which can be seen is the icon under the Pokémon name and next to the selected Pokémon at the bottom screen. It is the same icon as the early icon for Overgrown was but since Lucario also has it selected it might be that it was also some early image for the healing item which got replaced by the Potion somewhere in development.
An early version of the healthbar for Pokémon can be seen. It shows a different design for the healthbar itself, but also instead of a circle the level display uses some kind of tank which fills as more experience points the Pokémon has. Furthermore, the current points display doesn't show a Poké Ball icon and instead shows some hexagon shape.
Another big change is the map which transformed from a forest-like area into a stadium next to a beach. Additionally, wild Pokémon were changed. While the trailer shows Stufful, Toxicroak and other Pokémon, none of them are present in the released game. All of them were replaced by other Pokémon which makes this a unique but currently unused map.
July 15th, 2021
The week before the game officially launched, the official Pokémon UNITE YouTube channel published a trailer showing the game a bit. Weirdly, the information about the current level of a Pokémon and the experience points progress is completely missing even though it existed in images from the year 2020.
Additionally, some images were published on social media accounts which were taken from a later version in which the level information was already implemented.
July 17th, 2021
More images of the game were published. Based on the game design it looks like these were made before the trailer on one of the mobile versions. According to the images showing the battle pass and the time left for Season 1 they probably were made around the end of May 2021.
There are several changes of the Pokémon healthbar visible in the images. The healthbar itself looks slightly different than in the final release. It is splitted into section with black lines and these are splitted in smaller sections using half-lines. The released game uses white lines instead and gets rid of the half-lines. Additionally, the information about the current level, needed experience points for the next one and the information about current amount of Poké Balls holding are missing.
There is a screenshot showing the battle pass menu. There are several differences which can be seen. The most important part being the Aeos ticket rewards. In the final game the exact same rewards became 300 and 150 Aeos Tickets instead of just 40 and 20. It is unknown why this particular change was made.
Another change can be seen in the Season information field, the final game shows "First Half" instead of "Season First".
The light angle is slightly different which causes the shadow of the character in the pre-release image to be pretty long, while in the released game it's almost directly under the player and much darker.
The name field of the item has also a slightly different shape and the tect is split on two lines instead of just one.
Overall the whole menu looks slightly different, adding a button and the text "Battle Pass" to the top-left and another button to the bottom-left corner.
The shop screen for the Unite Battle Committee was changed a bit. It shows the short form "UBC" instead of the full name in the menu on the left side and the shop menu header. Another small change is the removal of the colon after "Unite License" in the preview images.
The menu for Zirco Trading got a similar change. In the pre-release screenshot the holowear text of the preview images has a colon which was removed in the released game.
Another change in the game design can be seen in the Aeos Emporium screen of the pre-release images. The Snorlax set shows three parts: hoodie, pants and shoes. It can barely be seen but it seems like the socks and shoes were not separated at some point of development and so each pair of shoes had a set pair of socks. In the final release of the game, shoes and socks can be equipped separately.
The customization screen for the trainer card got changed too. Based on the pre-release screenshot there were the subcategories Expression, Pose. In the released game these categories got replaced with the subcategory Trainer in which you then can select the expression, pose and also being able to move and rotate the character.
In the Pokémon menu the player can get several information about Pokémon. In the pre-release image a Talonflame wearing the Pilot Holowear skin can be seen. Interestingly, it's a static image of the Pokémon while the final game uses animated 3D models in this menu. Also Talonflame is listed as Intermediate difficulty, while it is listed as Novice in the final game. Furthermore, the moveset list seems to have a dropdown menu for multiple movesets which does not exist in the published version of the game.
The submenu for the progression has also a slightly different design. In the final version the required level information at the top is centered in the dark-cyan field. Also the word "Only" got changed to "Only One" and was put at the top right of the header so the text afterwards is not cut off. Last, the attack area got a slightly brighter color.
Also the images for the moves Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb got updated. The pre-release images show an early version of the map. While the Shadow Ball image is almost the same shot of Haunter using it, the Sludge Bomb image shows a completely different frame of the animation.
