A new prototype build of Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl has surfaced online as part of the recent string of Nintendo leaks that began in late July, and apparently this early build of the game featured some familiar faces for fans of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue.

In late July, a massive number of prototypes for both released and canceled Nintendo games began to leak online. Now referred to as the Gigaleak, the veracity of the leaked information was initially in doubt, until one of the lead developers of the first four Star Fox games, Dylan Cuthbert, began answering questions about the Star Fox Gigaleak on Twitter.

RELATED: Nintendo 64 Leak Seemingly Reveals Zelda: Ocarina of Time Sequel 

The leaks have given Nintendo fans details on everything from source code for a canceled sequel to Ocarina of Time to a canceled Pokemon MMO from 2004. And now, something curious has been found in an early prototype of Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl regarding everyone’s favorite silent trainer from Red and Blue. Pokemon YouTuber Lewtwo has pointed out that Red was used as a judge in Diamond and Pearl’s Super Contests.

While this might seem like a scrapped grand feature that developer Game Freak had planned for the game, it is more than likely just a coincidence. As Lewtwo points out, many features of the final game are only partially working or are entirely missing in this prototype, so it stands to reason that Game Freak just tossed Red’s sprite into the judge’s booth to fill the space and later replaced it with a new art asset.

After all, this prototype contains many versions of sprites for the new Pokemon in the fourth-generation games that were later replaced with the sprites in the final game that players know and love, and it typically takes quite a while to finalize art assets in a game.

While the legality of how the leakers obtained this prototype version of the game is very much in question, this is still a fascinating peek behind the curtain at Game Freak’s process of developing Pokemon games. And only these leakers know if more interesting Pokemon tidbits will be revealed.

Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl are available on the Nintendo DS.

MORE: Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Remakes Seem Less Likely By the Day, But There's Still Hope