A leaked internal Game Freak documentary about the making of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl has surfaced online, giving fans an unprecedented look at early, unused designs for the Nintendo DS games. The documentary, called "Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Behind the Scenes DVD — Make All", was never intended for public release, but a DVD copy was obtained by collectors, ripped and uploaded to the Internet Archive, prompting fans to pore over it for hidden design history.

The footage reveals scrapped or altered concepts, including an armadillo-like early version of the starter Turtwig, a Chimchar with flaming red rather than blue rear markings, and hints that Empoleon may originally have been a Water/Ice type rather than Water/Steel. Other discarded designs include a "Foam Dog" water starter, a gnome-like Delibird evolution and an early Sandyghast, with some fans speculating certain unused monsters may have influenced later designs such as Chien-Pao or Starly. Archivist Lewtwo has been central to authenticating and publicising the find, which traces back to a Japanese auction listing; the 43-minute documentary can be viewed in Japanese on YouTube or downloaded from the Internet Archive. Diamond and Pearl originally launched in Japan in September 2006, reaching the US in April 2007, and were later remade for Switch in 2021 as Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.