Pokemon has plenty of iconic designs, but there’s no doubt that Eevee is one of the series’ most widely beloved. Eevee often goes hand in hand with Pikachu, and its several unique evolutions aren’t far behind the mascot of Pokemon itself. In fact, the lack of a new “Eeveelution” in any recent titles has become a cause for concern, but recent leaks have finally shed light on the matter.
The last Eeveelution to be added to the game was Sylveon, a Fairy-Type added in Generation 6 alongside the debut of the Fairy type itself. Sylveon was a welcome addition, to be sure, and has remained one of the most popular of the bunch to this day. If anything, this has made it all the more strange that there have been no new Eevee forms since. Apparently this confusion was not unfounded, now that a new wave of Pokemon leaks has revealed scrapped plans for a previously unknown Eeveelution.
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Pokemon Sun and Moon Leaks Reveal a Scrapped Eeveelution
Pokemon Left a Significant Gap in Eeveelutions After Sylveon
The Teraleak was sourced directly from Game Freak itself, with Centro Leaks posting much of the content directly on their Twitter account. While the massive leaks have included in depth character biographies and deeper lore about the Pokemon world as a whole, beta designs and cut content have no doubt been the main attraction. Despite all the exciting designs that have been leaked already, the reveal of an unreleased Eeveelution is by far the biggest shock yet.
After Eevee was first introduced in Pokemon Red and Blue, the addition of new Eeveelutions was relatively commonplace up until Sylveon was created. Considering each Eeveelution must be a unique Type from the others, one might think that this would limit developers’ options. This is far from the truth, as there are only eight Eeveelutions compared to the eighteen Pokemon Types.
While the first three were created together as a trio, the next four were added as two pairs of two. For this reason, Sylveon being added to Pokemon X and Y by itself was somewhat of a surprise, although many chalked it up to developers not wanting to distract from the new Fairy Type. However, many still assumed that the following game would resume the trend with another Eeveelution.
Pokemon Generation 7 Almost Gave Players the Eeveelution That Never Was
Apparently, Game Freak originally intended to meet these expectations after all. Pokemon Sun and Moon leaks have now revealed plans for a potential Flying Type Eeveelution that was cut from the final game. The leaks go so far as to suggest that there was even a full design completed for the concept, but that the official artwork was never digitized.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much the worst case scenario for anyone wanting to take a look at the design themselves. In simpler terms, not being digitized suggests that the design likely only exists as a physical piece of artwork hiding somewhere within the Game Freak office itself. This makes it almost impossible for any aspiring leaker to get their hands on it, but considering the similar hunt conducted for Mega Jynx and other unreleased designs, it’s still very possible that fans will get to see the original design eventually.
Generation 7’s cut Flying-Type Eeveelution has sparked a remarkable amount of fan excitement, which only begs the question of why it would have been cut in the first place. According to the Centro Leaks post that first revealed its existence, Flying Eevee’s cut was simply a matter of developers believing that the design was too similar to fan concepts. This criticism is admittedly heartbreaking to hear, as it suggests countless other concepts could have been scrapped for the very same reason.
The leak isn’t all bad news, as developers expressed in the very same comment that the concept could have very real potential in the future. This was spoken mostly in the context of a game in which the Flying-Type Eevee would be the “main character”, which unfortunately seems rather unlikely at this point. Regardless, the fan reception to the mere idea of a scrapped Eeveelution should be enough to signal that there remains a very clear demand for a brand-new Eeveelution to show its face, whatever its design may be.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is an ambitious new entry to the Pokémon video game series, releasing simultaneously worldwide in 2025. A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Released
- 2025