The Ultra Rare Last Remaining Pokémon Style Guide Has Just Gone Up For Auction

InsertBid are well known for getting the most exciting pieces of gaming memorabilia on the planet through their doors, but their latest auction could be one of the rarest items that we've ever seen.

Back when Pokémon was being introduced into Western society for the first time, a Pokémon style guide was created for a meeting at Nintendo of America HQ. Imagine this: it's the first time the series has stepped outside of Japan, and these are the documents that have been translated so that Nintendo's employees in America could get to grips with what would later become one of the most recoginsable franchises in the world. This was at a time before any of us were playing Pokémon Red and Blue (Red and Green already existed in Japan of course), and these style guides would go on to help shape how we understood and embraced Pikachu and his pals.

As you might imagine with materials like this, it wasn't supposed to be something that was kept to one side and one day become a collectible. All of the guides were meant to be destroyed along with other internal documents. I suppose it was so that other companies couldn't get ideas from Nintendo or the press couldn't get hold of leaks, something that happens all the time these days with social media.

There are examples in this guide of what the story of Pokémon actually is too, with the guide explaining what age children in Pallet can adopt Pokémon. It's wild to imagine a world where people didn't know this!

Can you also imagine what would have happened if Pokémon had been announced before the marketing campaign? It could have been catastrophic! Now, this style guide is the only known surviving document from that internal meeting, making it not just a piece of Pokémon memorabilia, but a complete guide on how the phenomenon was essentially marketed to the rest of the globe.

I really love the fact that there was still so much up in the air with regards to names and characters too. It's mad to believe that there was ever a time when some of the characters we know and love never had English translations of names or had finished personalities for Western audiences. The guide shows lots of Pokémon from the 2nd Generation (Gold and Silver) without any names at all. It's probably the only document that can take us definitively back to a time when Pokémon was still in development, which makes it an absolute gem for Pokémon collectors and fans of gaming history.

The style guide is up for auction without any reserve. It has over 5 days left and is currently on $2,350, though I have a strong feeling it will get much higher! If you would like to make a bid, then head to the InsertBid auction page and try your luck!