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Speculation Gen 9 Predictions (Development predictions, New Regions, Version names)

They actually were asked about this in an interview with Eurogamer

> Eurogamer: On Sirfetch'd in particular, it seems like it's based on an old evolution for Farfetch'd that was in the Gold and Silver demo that was uncovered - is it based on a cancelled design that never made it into a final game?

> Shigeru Ohmori: [Laughs] It's a completely new design. Really when we're looking at the UK as a region, we thought this kind of evolution, with it holding its leek like a sword and having a kind of shield design, really fit with this new region we were designing. So yeah, it's a new design.

That said, skeptical as I usually am of reading beta content as if it's some kind of secret decoder ring for more recent developments, I do think it's at least reasonable to suspect that the GS beta Leafeon was recycled. Though at the same time, I sure a lot of these instances that people point to might not be so direct as "recycling," per se, but rather that there's just a general concept that they've passed around the table before but decided not to go forward with at that time. "Eevee + Leaf Stone evolution" is a pretty obvious idea when you've linked Eevee to the three other stones, but for whatever reason, they rejected the idea in Gen 2. (Maybe they thought it was redundant on top of Jolteon, or the simultaneously added Espeon and Umbreon. Who knows?) Then Gen 4 came around and brought some new evolution methods. Maybe they felt that now it made sense to add new Eeveelutions and revisit the idea. Same for Mime Jr. - it's one of those late-Dex humanoid Pokémon, and many of the others were given baby evolutions in Gen 2. But maybe Mime Jr. was deemed redundant until a later addition (again new evolution methods in this case) reopened the conversation. And as far as the designs go, well, it's a leaf-themed Eevee and a tiny Mr. Mime. They're probably going to look similar to previous attempts whether it's intentional or not.

Plus, do we know how much of the design team even consists of people who've been employed since way back then? You know, theoretically the point of hiring newer, younger people is to bring new ideas to the table, not to rehash old ones. :p
I forgot about Leafeon. And yeah, I guess you just said what I wanted to say in a better way.

Also, on recycled designs, there's also one from one medium to another: Porygon2, who possibly got recycled as Pon de Lion, a mascot for Mr. Donut. Pon de Lion's designer even worked at Game Freak at some point, so maybe he just brought the design with him?
 
Well, to each their own. Personally, while I do think that Galarian Ponyta is adorable, the cotton candy fluffiness was a bit over-the-top to me. Galarian Rapidash's mane gives off more of a fairy tail princess vibe, which I personally prefer.

I adore Galarian Rapidash. I really expected something that I wouldn't like as much, but then it was revealed and I was like "Wow. Great job!". Galarian Rapidash is now my favorite Pokemon.
It’s the reverse for me: I sometimes adore the fluffiness but it’s Rapidash which looks weird to me. Everyone prefers different brands of floof.
 
I feel like India is next, because of Copperajah

gen 6 introduces a frog and a porcupine/hedgehog/chipmunk .. both species that are in Havaii and Borneo... islands...

In gen 7 I was thinking either England or Africa... turned out 2 starters were european... back then Owl and seal...

gorilla and chameloen would suggest Africa now... if next gen give us a snake fire starter...
 
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In gen 7 I was thinking either England or Africa... turned out 2 starters were european... back then Owl and seal...

gorilla and chameloen would suggest Africa now... if next gen give us a snake fire starter...
we have rabbits in africa too. Honestly, I feel like we have every starter (that isn't like a dinosaur) in Africa.
 
we have rabbits in africa too. Honestly, I feel like we have every starter (that isn't like a dinosaur) in Africa.

last generation grass was Owl, owl hunts for rabbits... interesting... tigers and gorillas dont have contact...
interesting that tiger was also a hindu relation there... primarina as seal or selkie was a scottish motive...


The Bunyoro rabbit or Central African rabbit ... biggest nemesis is a Serval?

could evolve into a lion... a cat grass starter?
maybe grass/rock? with egyptian motives? would make sense typing in desert against sandstorms and fire types.
give me a water/poison hippo and a fire/steel bull/ox/tauros and we have a nice team here


gen 6 gave us a legendary deer, bird and snake
taking we got a legendary Lion and Bat in gen 7, gen 9 could show diffrent legendary animals for next gen...
gen 8 gave us 2 wolfes, 2 bears, deer and a legendary dark/grass monkey...
Hmm Africa as whole with egyptian motives and a much wider desert areas... a icy mountain also is there...

but chameleons and rabbits are also in India... and here we have a check but not mate...

gen 7 we hat a tiger , gen 6 a hedhog as hindu warrior, delphox had a hindu dot on head, cinderace has a head decoration that could suggest also hindu or african warrior...

maybe the starter motives of footballer, drum player and spy would suggest south africa? I would hope for whole with egypt, sahara desert, ethiopia...
 
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Here's my prediction on the name. Pokemon Spectrum and Pokemon Rainbow.

Why? Well, first off, Game Freak seems to be a bit random. Most of us predicted "pokemon nebula/galaxy" as generation 8 due to Generation 7 being based off of the Sun/Moon.

Spectrum and Rainbow are perfect candidates for a Gen 9 game. Why?

Well first off, let's look at what pokemon games are named after.

Gen1 - Colors
Gen2 - Metals
Gen3 - Gems
Gen4 - Crystals
Gen5 - Colors
Gen6 - Letters
Gen7 - Astronomical Objects
Gen8 - Medieval Objects

I see a pattern that could have potential to form. Look at Generation 1-4 and Generation 5-8. What do they have in common?
Bingo. They're groups. Each group seems to begin with colors. Each group seems to be 4 generations.

So it's actually quite logical for Generation 9 to be Pokemon Spectrum and Pokemon Rainbow.

But, what are the D/P remakes gonna be named?

To figure this out, let's go back to generation 6. More specifically, ORAS. Notice how, like X and Y, the names are related to letters.

My best guess for the D/P remakes' names are:

Sharp Diamond
Sturdy Pearl

But then Generation 4 confuses us. It's remakes are named HeartGold and SoulSilver. However, it seems as though the 1-4 group has it's remakes based on rhymes and the 5-8 group is based on the core games.

So, problem solved, right?

Generation 3 would say "Well yes, but actually no.". Why?

It's remakes are named FireRed and LeafGreen.

This is a big problem for the theory of Sharp Diamond/Sturdy Pearl. But the thing is, with FR/LG, they're named after related things. Diamonds can be sharp (just think about the fact that a lot of professional saws use diamond blades) and pearls can be sturdy (since spheres are robust).

So, this is my guess. Game Freak is weird so honestly who knows what Gen 9 is gonna be named.
 
Gen1 - Colors
Gen2 - Metals
Gen3 - Gems
Gen4 - Crystals
Gen5 - Colors
Gen6 - Letters
Gen7 - Astronomical Objects
Gen8 - Medieval Objects

I see a pattern that could have potential to form. Look at Generation 1-4 and Generation 5-8. What do they have in common?
Bingo. They're groups. Each group seems to begin with colors. Each group seems to be 4 generations.
I wrote and erased multiple critiques of this pattern theory, but they never really combined all my complaints into a neat little paragraph so I'm going so list them instead. I am fairly confident that there is no overarching pattern in the naming of the games, especially not this one. I politely respect your opinion, but it's just too much of an extreme stretch.
  1. The labels you gave each generation are somewhat subjective. Couldn't I make the argument that gens 1-3 are all named after colors? And why the distinction between gems and crystals? Rubies and sapphires are crystals as well while pearls (which I don't think are crystals) and diamonds are considered precious gems. The fact that gens 3 and 4 share such similar names seems to weaken this theory because why make two individual members of a group similar to just each other instead of everyone else? Why doesn't the second group also have such a pair?
  2. The groups seem extremely nebulous and vague. So they share the same first member, but nothing else between them? If GameFreak were truly orchestrating an overarching pattern, why not have the names of the second games in the gen 5-8 bracket go metal-gems-crystals too? That makes far more sense than having the names afterwards be completely random. That's not to mention that the members within themselves don't share much in common, except for maybe in the first group.
  3. Most importantly, the fact that the gen 5 games are named after colors is most likely just a nod to gen 1. Gen 5 was full of homages to gen 1, see: the fact that BW introduced roughly 150 new Pokemon and did not have any non-gen 5 Pokemon pre-post game, had a lot of Pokemon that were similar in a variety of ways to their gen 1 counterparts (Golem vs. Gigalith, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan vs Sawk and Throh, etc.) and so on. To my understanding it was considered by GameFreak to sort of be a new beginning for the core series as well. The fact that the games are named after colors, like Red and Green, just seem to be another homage rather than continuing a pattern.
So it's actually quite logical for Generation 9 to be Pokemon Spectrum and Pokemon Rainbow.
This doesn't follow your pattern of having the first of a group of four be named after colors though. Spectrums and rainbows aren't colors, they just consist of colors. Unless you're implying that these games will be some sort of reboot or major event, hence the color-related but not actual color names, which I also don't think is likely.

But then Generation 4 confuses us. It's remakes are named HeartGold and SoulSilver. However, it seems as though the 1-4 group has it's remakes based on rhymes and the 5-8 group is based on the core games.
Unless I'm misinterpreting what you wrote, the constitute words of the Kanto and Johto remakes don't rhyme at all.
pearls can be sturdy (since spheres are robust).
Pearls rank rather low on the Mohs Hardness scale, a 2.5/10 according to this pearl care guide due to how soft and scratchable they are, so I wouldn't exactly call them sturdy.
 
And why the distinction between gems and crystals? Rubies and sapphires are crystals as well while pearls (which I don't think are crystals) and diamonds are considered precious gems. The fact that gens 3 and 4 share such similar names seems to weaken this theory because why make two individual members of a group similar to just each other instead of everyone else? Why doesn't the second group also have such a pair?
To add onto this, Platinum isn’t a crystal and Crystal isn’t a metal, so the entire theory becomes moot.
So it's actually quite logical for Generation 9 to be Pokemon Spectrum and Pokemon Rainbow.
This doesn't follow your pattern of having the first of a group of four be named after colors though. Spectrums and rainbows aren't colors, they just consist of colors. Unless you're implying that these games will be some sort of reboot or major event, hence the color-related but not actual color names, which I also don't think is likely.
To add onto this, Pokémon names usually have some sort of contrast. Rainbow and spectrum don’t. Rainbow is a spectrum of colours itself.
 
Gen1 - Colors
Gen2 - Metals
Gen3 - Gems
Gen4 - Crystals
Gen5 - Colors
Gen6 - Letters
Gen7 - Astronomical Objects
Gen8 - Medieval Objects

GEN 9 - RENESANCE OBJECTS

ARMS AND ARMOR???

DAGGER AND CROSSBOW?

RIFLE AND DAGGER?

RAPIER AND CROSSBOW?

COLT AND DAGGER?
COLT AND RAPIER?


Basilisk (cannon) and Culverin?

Basilisk and Pike?

Basilisk and Spear??


Decoding Symbols in Renaissance Art

  • The Serpent. Snake is a spiritual symbol taken from the Bible. ...
  • The Ermine. The best example to decipher the meaning of Ermine will be by using the reference of the famous painting The Lady Ermine. ...
  • The Chalice. ...
  • The swan. ...
  • The Flowers. ...
  • The Colours. ...
  • The Pentagon/ Golden Mean/ Golden Ratio. ...
  • Holy Trinity.
New Beginnings: The Lotus Flower Symbol

These were mostly clay pigments like raw Sienna, burnt Sienna, raw Umber and burnt umber, to which was added, during the Baroque era, the rather unreliable Van Dyck Brown. These included Lead White, Gypsum, and Chalk.

Grind and Pigment?


Cannon and Ball?

Ribault and Spear?

Staff(caduceus, mace Scepter) and Calyx(cup)?
 
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Why? Well, first off, Game Freak seems to be a bit random. Most of us predicted "pokemon nebula/galaxy" as generation 8 due to Generation 7 being based off of the Sun/Moon.

In what universe was this ever the case?

People were talking stuff like Plus/Minus, King/Queen, and Crown/Sceptre. Not Nebula/Galaxy.

And it'd be a weird assumption to make given how ever since they started doing more "thematic" titles with Gen 5, there hasn't been a relationship from one generation to the next. Black/White are colors with philosophical implications. X/Y are references to the coordinate plane. Sun/Moon are celestial bodies. Why would people have expected Gen 8 to be another "cosmic" theme?

I am fairly confident that there is no overarching pattern in the naming of the games, especially not this one.

I mean, there... sort of is, very loosely, but only for Gens 3 and 4. There was an interview with Junichi Masuda about the development of Ruby & Sapphire, where he said this:

> Masuda: After Gold and Silver came out, it was a huge hit around the world, but shortly after everyone was saying, 'That’s it. The Pokémon fad is over! It’s dead!' It was a very stressful project, for sure. When we were first developing it, I had the idea in mind that it would be Ruby and Sapphire, and then the next games, including the titles, would be Diamond and Pearl, and in between we would do the remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, so we could create this structure where you could take the Pokémon from the Kanto region to the Diamond and Pearl games. Just as development began, however, trademark research revealed the names Ruby and Sapphire may not be usable, which would have hobbled plans for the next three games from the beginning. That coupled with the franchise perception made everything more stressful.

It seems Masuda knew he wanted Diamond & Pearl to be the names for the titles after Ruby & Sapphire. Apparently he was invested enough in the idea to the point where the possibility of not being able to use the names "Ruby" and "Sapphire" would have thrown his whole plan off-course? But he doesn't really say why he was so insistent on using those names or what they meant to him.
 
I mean, there... sort of is, very loosely, but only for Gens 3 and 4. There was an interview with Junichi Masuda about the development of Ruby & Sapphire, where he said this:
I meant as in a pattern that affected every single core series game, rather than just a few. I had a feeling there was a pattern with gens 3 and 4 since they’re all named after gemstones. Probably should’ve clarified what I meant, sorry.
 
I meant as in a pattern that affected every single core series game, rather than just a few. I had a feeling there was a pattern with gens 3 and 4 since they’re all named after gemstones. Probably should’ve clarified what I meant, sorry.

Yeah, I get you.

Another thing worth considering in this general discourse is that Masuda isn't directing the main series games anymore. Yes, he's still credited as a producer, but I suspect it's Ohmori coming up with the titles now, and I would think it's more likely that he would approach it with a bit of a different mindset from Masuda rather than them all being committed to some continuous, decades-long thread of interrelated titles.
 
For some reason, I can’t help but feel that Generation IX won’t have the traditional paired version release for their debut… Instead, we might get three debut titles to milk the next region for all it’s worth!

It might seem a bit more scummy from a consumer’s perspective. However, with SwSh’s high sales and the (somewhat) good reception of the DLC thus far, Game Freak/TPCi choosing to start off the generation with a trio of games would be the next logical step from a business perspective. The only issue would be how Game Freak would go about dividing up the version exclusives across three games.
 
It might seem a bit more scummy from a consumer’s perspective. However, with SwSh’s high sales and the (somewhat) good reception of the DLC thus far, Game Freak/TPCi choosing to start off the generation with a trio of games would be the next logical step from a business perspective. The only issue would be how Game Freak would go about dividing up the version exclusives across three games.
I kinda wonder about this, since Zelda tried to pull this off and in the end they went "nope".
 
Here are some titles that have come to my mind:

Pokémon Dawn and Dusk

Pokémon Vanilla and Pokémon Chocolate

Pokémon North and Pokémon South

Pokémon West and Pokémon East
 
I was going to say something about it being already used, but then I remembered that Sun & Moon were used by Robopon like 20 years earlier than Pokémon, so I guess they don't mind
I know it's been used by a pair of Digimon games, at least. That'd probably lead to a bunch of jokes by the two fandoms if they became the actual gen 9 game titles.

Maybe the next game titles could be centered around a natural vs. articifial theme? Off the top of my head, I think that's something the games haven't had as a main focus yet.
 
Please note: The thread is from 2 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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