the craziest thing that was almost added into pokemon
back in 2013, pokémon x and y arrived on the nintendo 3ds as the first main series games with full 3d models. players had fun at kalos region, but a huge secret remained buried in the game files for over a decade.
in 2024, a major data leak uncovered it. game freak had been working on a feature called ‘my gym’ where players could design and build their own custom pokemon gym. you could choose the layout, create puzzles, pick a theme, and then share it online for other trainers to battle.
the system was pretty well organized. while you were offline, an ai copy of your trainer would defend the gym. if someone defeated your team, the game would turn that challenger into an npc guard who stayed inside your gym. over time, you could collect a crowd of real players who had beaten you.
unfortunately, the mode never made it. making the jump to full 3d graphics took so much work that the team ran out of time.