As Pokémon fans eagerly await more information about Nintendo's latest entry in the series, "Pokémon Sun" and "Moon," rumors and leaks about the series continue to emerge, with some all too happy to try and exploit an eager fanbase by "leaking" new Pokémon-related images and scans to gain their five seconds of fame.
This time, the leaks pertain to an image of two new Pokémon that appear to be Dragon types. Scans claiming to reveal new Pokémon are prime real estate for leakers. Considering that their name is the very title of the game, new Pokémon are the prime facet of every game. Furthermore, each generation brings something new to the table, whether its types or evolution, and some of these often come out of left field, so leakers going this route aren't too surprising. Dragon types are particularly good bait because they are among the rarest type, with only 40 Pokémon among them - they're also dragons, which makes them pretty cool by default.
The dragon types in question appear in an alleged magazine scan posted by a redditor named OneHornedStag. It shows 2D images of the Pokémon in their base and evolved forms, as well as what's supposed to be an image of the base form in-game. What's notable about these two is that their design appears to be inspired by Chinese dragons, which would make them the first since Gyrados in Gen I to utilize it - if it were real, of course.
Most times, rumors and leaks spark widespread debates about their authenticity. This wasn't the case this time around, as other posters quickly - and unanimously - deemed the scan fake. They determined that the scan was fake for three primary reasons: the Pokémon logo seen in the scan, picture layout and timing of the alleged leak.
First off, they note that the "Pokémon Moon" logo doesn't match up with the official one. Specifically, they say the logo is too far beneath the word "Pokémon." Second is the image as a whole. The users note that the image is cropped too close.
However, the biggest giveaway is the timing of the scan. Around the time of the first leaked scan, which emerged two weeks ago, that claimed to show images of the box art, starters and playable trainers, a report from Pokémon-focused website Serebii indicated that legitimate info about "Sun" and "Moon" will be coming from the Japanese magazine CoroCoro starting from next month's issue (April 15).
So with this latest leak proven invalid, what do we actually know about the game? Probably, the most important thing: a release window. Nintendo already confirmed during its Direct event late February that the game will see a worldwide release during the 2016 holiday season.
#PokemonSunMoon are coming to the Nintendo 3DS family of systems in late 2016!https://t.co/uF3yUWkgjS
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) February 26, 2016
In the meantime, fans anxiously awaiting information about the much-anticipated Gen VII entry will just have to wait for CoroCoro's April magazine to drop. Fortunately, it's not too long, just three more weeks.
