What provisional name did Game Freak use before Pokémon was called Pocket Monsters?

Game Freak’s provisional name for Pokémon was Capsule Monsters.

Satoshi Tajiri initially imagined a game in which players collected creatures stored in capsules. The concept drew on Japanese monster media, collectible toys, and Tajiri’s childhood interest in gathering insects. Game Freak staff commonly shortened the early title to “Capumon.”

The name Capsule Monsters could not be trademarked, so the project was renamed Pocket Monsters. In Japan, the franchise launched under that full title, while international releases used the shortened form Pokémon. The accented é helped guide pronunciation in the international brand name.

This development history explains why Pokémon combines collecting with creatures that can be stored and summoned. The final name is not simply an English translation invented for overseas markets; it is a romanized short form of the Japanese title. The provisional name belongs to the project’s early design stage, before the 1996 games were released.