Proto:Pokémon Sword and Shield/Build 30

This is a sub-page of Proto:Pokémon Sword and Shield.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

This page is loooong... Consider grouping related content into additional subpages to ease readability.

This is a build of Pokémon Sword from December 22nd, 2017. The game is in a very early state at this point. It features an in-game mouse cursor to use many of its debugging features, and the build has a git commit hash of 51790cbcaaa69d65863ade5ba588fcd5109b4ed2.

Title Screen & UI

The title screen is very different, a still image featuring some Pokémon not present in the final game. Pressing any button from this point will bring you to a debug menu. Notably, the logo is also completely different to that of the final game.

Proto	Proto Art	Final

Early Logo	Final Logo

Postwick

Postwick has some finished textures, but it's mostly all placeholder, and lacking any finality in the NPC department.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Player's House

Almost everything about the player's house is unfinished, including the camera angles, NPC placement and lighting, particularly on the outside. The textures for a garden shed or garage are also completely missing at this point, but it was entirely removed at the time of the final. This building next to the player's house also appears in various concept art for the game.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final	Concept Art	Concept Art

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Hop's House

Even though Hop's house is mostly final on the ground floor, the rooms on the top floor are very much a work-in-progress. NPCs are also missing at this point.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

In both versions of the living room, there are photographs depicting a younger Leon, but the prototype has a higher amount of far more defined, early designs that aren't shown in the final.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Wedgehurst

Wedgehurst lacks practically all of its textures and is just as work-in-progress as Postwick. None of the buildings here have any functionality, aside from the train station which has a warp to the Wild Area.

Boutique

As with many buildings in the game so far, the Boutique is largely unfinished, and has a different placement than in the final; its location in this build would eventually be filled by the Pokemon Center.

Proto Placement	Final Replacement

It appears that its final location was instead planned to hold three separate buildings.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Pokemon Lab

Minus the lack of textures, object placement within the lab is still a lot closer to the final than many other areas in the game.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Pokemon Center

Not only does the Pokemon Center have a different placement (next to the lab in this build, but further upwards in the final), it's also largely unfinished on both the inside and outside. Camera angles and a lack of NPCs also differentiate it from the final.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Station

The train station still has a basic warp to the Wild Area, despite being largely unfinished. On both the inside and the outside, the camera angles are significantly different from the final's.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Wild Area

The hugely spacious Wild Area has a significantly different layout, and lacks textures when compared to the final.

Motostoke

Motostoke Stadium is largely unfinished when compared to the final.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Player Model

The player model (known as 'Gloria' in the final) is somewhat similar but also noticeably different from the final.

• She shares many of her limited battle poses and animations with that of the main character from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!. The text reads: "You are challenged by Shorts Kid Tarou!" (Youngster Josh)

Proto

• The protagonist has a Teddiursa charm hooked to her bag, despite that Pokémon not appearing in the final game (nor its evolution). This implies that the removal of Pokémon had not impacted development at this early stage. It was removed in the following released prototype builds.

Bag Model

• Using the title screen Debug Menu, what appears to be a test for customization and eye movement can be accessed in Saito\IrisTest. The Player Model shown here has a hat and hairstyle from Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, neither of which is possible to obtain in the final version of Sword & Shield. The rest of the outfit features clothes that do not seem to be present in the final build at all, with some exceptions to this having very early textures for options that would appear in the final.

To do: Where can this be found in the game?.

• Interestingly, an early, minimal design for Galarian Meowth can be seen on the model's bag that doesn't seem to be present in the final. On the texture file, an insignia resembling the Pokémon Sinistea can also be seen, which was another Pokémon added in Sword & Shield yet is not present in this build.

Front View	Back View	Meowth Bag Texture

• One of these textures (which can be found on both the Pink Dress as well as the Gloves) showcases a distinct "P" symbol that is not seen anywhere in the final game. It seems to bear a resemblance to the symbol seen on Peony's Expedition Uniform, which was first seen in the Crown Tundra DLC following the game's release.

Model View	Texture View	Peony

• On the textures for both the Pink Dress as well as the Meowth Bag, early icons for the first two Gyms can be seen. These stickers don't seem to be implemented in the final release.

Proto Grass (Dress)	Final Grass

Proto Water (Bag)	Final Water

• Gloria lacks her special animation for tiptoeing down steps from the final build.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

UI & Visuals

Rotom Dexes

The game has a minimap in every prototype build, with a design similar to that of the Rotom Dex introduced in Pokemon Sun & Moon. It functions somewhat properly, only moving in 8 directions and it moves even if you're running into a wall, but the map it displays is instead of Akala Island from the Alola Region, meaning that it obviously does not match up with the gameplay.

Icon	Map	In-Game

A pink Rotom Dex with a bow can also be found in the files, labeled as dummy_rotoko_00^q. The associated test screen places it in the upper right hand corner above the Rotom map. Interestingly, Rotom is notable for being a Pokemon that lacks an assigned gender, despite the feminine appearance of this Rotom in particular.

Girl-Rotom

Menus

The game has a completely different menu to the final. It lacks any functionality, and is missing many icons that are present in the final.

Dec. 2017 Proto	Final

Text (JP)	Translation	Notes
ロトムずかん	Rotom Dex	Though appearing in Sun and Moon as well as Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the Rotom Dex was never listed as a main menu option like this in those games (they have only a regular Pokédex option, written as 図鑑 like in the final version of Sword and Shield's menu). Its icon appears to be an early version of the icon used for the final game's Pokédex option.
バッグ	Bag	Uses the same text as (and a similar icon to) the corresponding option in the final game's menu.
ポケモン	Pokémon	Uses the same text as (and a similar icon to) the corresponding option in the final game's menu.
つうしん	Communication	This appears as an option in the Let's Go games' menu, though there it's written in kanji (通信) instead of hiragana. Uses a simple but seemingly unique icon, with the arrows presumably representing the two-way transfer of data in online multiplayer interactions.
レポート	Report	Uses the same text as (and a similar icon to) the corresponding option in the final game's menu (translated as Save in the English version).
せってい	Settings	Corresponds to the final game's Options option, though there it's written in kanji (設定) instead of hiragana (a switch that was first made back in the fifth generation of games with Black and White). Uses the Pokémon option's icon, possibly as a placeholder.

Saving

A very early rendition of the Save Screen can be accessed in fukushima\Report, and uses visuals from Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee! It also uses concept art for each of that game's Gym Leaders, instead of in-game models like in the final game. This predates the Save Screen that can be seen in those games' prototypes. The dates shown are always August 30th and 31st of 2017, likely meaning that was the time this menu was made.

A "Trainer Rank" stat is also present, with an experience bar to go along with it. It's unknown what this stat would have been used for, though. It was removed by the February build of Let's Go, Eevee!, although the space for them remains.

Dec. 2017 Proto (Sword)	Feb. 2018 Proto (LGE)	May. 2018 Proto (LGE)	Final (LGP)

Final (Sword)

Leader Icons (Sword Proto)

Leader Icons (LGPE)

Symbol Chat

When in the Overworld, crudely drawn emoticons will occasionally appear on screen, likely as a pre-cursor to the Y-Comm, codenamed as Symbol Chat. Default Player Icons that were clearly from Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon are also used as placeholders. Given past sketches as seen in Sun & Moon's concept stages, they appear to be drawn by the game's director, Shigeru Ohmori.

Symbol Stamps (Proto)

Symbol	Transcription	Translation
Cyndaquil	たのしい	Fun!
Squirtle & Pikachu	たいせんしよう!	Let's battle!
Clefable	あつまれー	Come here!
Ditto	つかまえた	Caught it!
Duskull	きづいて	Noticed something...
Orange Figure	はやいよ	So fast!
Pyukumuku	いいね	Nice!
Spoink	わかった	Got it!
Pikachu	こうかんしよう!	Let's trade!
Hoopa	またね	See you later!
Goomy	あつい	It's hot...
Deoxys	それ けっこうめずらしいやつ	That's a pretty rare one.

Y-Comm Stamps (Final)

In-Game

Music

To do: Confirm if the "unused track" is actually in this build.

Early Gym theme
On the title screen, an early slightly different version of the Gym Theme plays, featuring a much shorter loop than the final version. Present under 487182362.wem and 82217060.wem

Early Gym Leader Battle theme
A noticeably different version of the Gym Leader Battle music plays in a Gigantamax Battle mockup; said mockup can be found in the title debug menu under both Battle and Munakata\GMockUp. Located under 318579521.wem and 276060617.wem

Early Postwick
A version of Postwick which features louder instrumentation when compared to the final game's. Plays everywhere in the overworld except the early Wild Area. Located under 502912225.wem and 304455763.wem.

Early Wild Area (South)
A slightly different version of Wild Area (South). Listed as 500985442.wem and 55275699.wem.

Unused Track
A completely unused track; it sounds somewhat similar to a test track found in the May 2018 build of Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee! Found inside BGM_Common.bnk as 796575499.wem and 809740866.wem.

Early LGPE Route 24
Located under 316282988.wem and 873137837.wem is a version of Route 24 from Let's Go, Pikachu!/Eevee! with much more basic instrumentation.

Early LGPE Wild Encounter
An early version of the wild encounter music from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee! Found inside BGM_Common.bnk as 844023835.wem and 353946460.wem.

Alongside those, three music tracks from Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are present, those being Littleroot Town (916706406.wem), Route 101 (222006509.wem), and the Pokémon Center theme (924032260.wem).

Other

To do: List the referenced species.

• Using the game's "Performance Mode" setting in the debug menu, the game can run at an uncapped framerate. The final game is capped at 30FPS, which means that this debug option can result in an unusually smooth experience. The ability to do this appears to have been removed between this build and the March 2018 prototype.

• Leftover data for the Altar of the Moone can be found in the files at test\munataka\bg\mdl\battle_test.gfbmdl. It houses some basic 3DS textures for characters and the environment, as well as a model stand-in for Lillie, who obviously does not appear in the final.

Altar Model	Lillie

• By pressing - the player can enter a mode for testing the free camera, seen exclusively in the final game's Wild Areas - though its functionality here allows for more control than in the final. R and ZR are used to zoom in and out, respectively.

Proto Camera

• Only 54 Pokémon are available in this build. Curiously, some species that didn't make the cut in the end, not appearing even in the Expansion Pass content, such as Greninja, are present here.