(Future) Gen 9 Region

[RileyXY1]

I don't think they did, at least for the only twelve regions part. I don't know if the devs came out and said that the Japanese names are the canon names.

As far as I know, they did not.

 

[KaylaBaraonda]

Eh, that’s just a fan theory and not concrete proof that there’s only twelve regions as GameFreak has never come out and confirmed it. I mean, there’s technically already twelve regions if you include regions from spin-offs that take place in the same universe (Orre, Fiore, Almia, Oblivia), and I doubt GameFreak would stop at twelve regions, core or otherwise, unless the games were no longer profitable. Plus, it's been implied that the Pokemon world is much bigger than what is shown in the games. See Copperajah's and Heliolisk's Pokedex entries in SwSh for example.

Unova and Alola have been described as pretty distant from the four Japanese-inspired regions, so I figure it would probably develop a language and ethnicity/ethnicities distinct from them. Ditto for Kalos and Galar. There's also been a few instances of in-game characters speaking a different language, and I believe for the English version of HGSS there's a character that speaks broken English, implying that it is not their first language (Looker in Platinum also speaks in broken English in the English version, however, it is noted that this isn't present in the Japanese version). These all point to the idea that there are multiple different languages in the Pokemon world.

Not only that, but there's several instances of many different languages existing in a relatively small region. Looking at a ranking of linguistic diversity, several of the top countries are actually on the small side. Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse country in the world yet ranks at 54th out of 194 or so countries in terms of area.


I don't think they did, at least for the only twelve regions part. I don't know if the devs came out and said that the Japanese names are the canon names.

1) spinoff games don't tend to have continuity with the main games because theyre made by diff people.
2) they could be distant, and people often do affect a lot of slang in their native language too.
3) regions are microstate sized. Just look at their artwork for the games and compare to our countries. The Pokéworld is much smaller and less populated than our world, likely also smaller and less populated than Papua New Guinea.
4) Even if now the games assume the map is like the real world map, eventually they'd have to limit the regions expecially if they make a game thats meant to be an all stars game with all regions.

 

[prog rocker]

1) spinoff games don't tend to have continuity with the main games because theyre made by diff people.

There's also another problem with the "twelve region" theory: they could do what Hirohiko Araki did with Jojo's stands. At first they were named after tarot cards, when he ran out of cards he used mainstream Egyptian gods, and when he stopped using them, he started using bands and songs.

In other words, they don't have to stick with that.

4) Even if now the games assume the map is like the real world map, eventually they'd have to limit the regions expecially if they make a game thats meant to be an all stars game with all regions.

Considering they had more or less problems with having two regions in the Gen II games, I don't think they will pull this off unless they do it in a severely limited way (as in, just some parts of the regions).

 

[RileyXY1]

I also think that the games won't end at Gen 12.

 

[Phosphene]

3) regions are microstate sized. Just look at their artwork for the games and compare to our countries. The Pokéworld is much smaller and less populated than our world, likely also smaller and less populated than Papua New Guinea.

Eh, I don't think there's much supporting evidence for this. I think the reason the regions and the population sizes of each region in-game are small is due to the fact that it would be a very tall order for GameFreak to build a region that is similar in size to real-life countries with similarly realistic populations. I believe the maps look tiny and cartoonishly compressed because they're meant to show players what they will see in-game--I don't think they're meant to be a fully accurate representation of the region. Plus there's no scale on any of the maps if I remember correctly so I don't think you can call them microstate sized without knowing their actual dimensions. I think GameFreak wants the player to fill in the blanks and imagine the regions as actually being country-sized. The player's imagination is meant to fill in what GameFreak can't depict. As mentioned before, it's implied that the Pokémon world is much larger than what is shown, which I think ties in with this.

4) Even if now the games assume the map is like the real world map, eventually they'd have to limit the regions expecially if they make a game thats meant to be an all stars game with all regions.

While I don't want to knock the possibility that GameFreak will reach a point where they'll just reuse regions, I don't think the reason will be because they want to create an all-region game (I don't think we'll see one due to the costs) and/or because they want the regions to line up with the Chinese Zodiac.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Even when they run out of the Chinese Zodiac, they still have a lot more animals to base the starters from.

 

[KaylaBaraonda]

Eh, I don't think there's much supporting evidence for this. I think the reason the regions and the population sizes of each region in-game are small is due to the fact that it would be a very tall order for GameFreak to build a region that is similar in size to real-life countries with similarly realistic populations. I believe the maps look tiny and cartoonishly compressed because they're meant to show players what they will see in-game--I don't think they're meant to be a fully accurate representation of the region. Plus there's no scale on any of the maps if I remember correctly so I don't think you can call them microstate sized without knowing their actual dimensions. I think GameFreak wants the player to fill in the blanks and imagine the regions as actually being country-sized. The player's imagination is meant to fill in what GameFreak can't depict. As mentioned before, it's implied that the Pokémon world is much larger than what is shown, which I think ties in with this.

While I don't want to knock the possibility that GameFreak will reach a point where they'll just reuse regions, I don't think the reason will be because they want to create an all-region game (I don't think we'll see one due to the costs) and/or because they want the regions to line up with the Chinese Zodiac.

Not the regions themselves, the regions can be anything, they can randomly put uncooked rice on a piece of cardboard and make that the region shape. Or there could eventually be such technology to make the regions neural network generated.

 

[RileyXY1]

Even when they run out of the Chinese Zodiac, they still have a lot more animals to base the starters from.

Yeah. I don't think that they would limit themselves to just 12 gens for an arbitrary reason.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

Yeah. I don't think that they would limit themselves to just 12 gens for an arbitrary reason.

This. Also... Pokemon is literally the most successful media franchise of all time right now! I don't think they're going to stop making Pokemon games unless somehow it stops making them enough money.

 

[prog rocker]

This. Also... Pokemon is literally the most successful media franchise of all time right now! I don't think they're going to stop making Pokemon games unless somehow it stops making them enough money.

Or it crashes and burns in the worst way possible.

 

[KaylaBaraonda]

Or it crashes and burns in the worst way possible.

Or Earth gets assimilated by an alien civilization.

 

[skywaffles]

Egypt.